Pezzle

The Five Senses - Second Arc (Accepting New Players!)

Collab with Fetzen and Pezz570
Tayla
Týfurkh

Interactions with @Fetzen

---

Týfurkh did not know at this point which kind of shock was more drastic for him: The fact that he apparently had hurt the Lord quite a bit more severely than intended, or Tayla's quite dramatic intervention. Honey ? Love bug ? Teddy Bear ? Týfurkh's mind was stunned enough at this point to not really notice the subsequent 'Big, dumb idiot' anymore -- which probably was not that bad a thing after all.

Stuck somewhere between an outraged Lord Ru'Tev, now paying a lot of attention to put it mildly, and Tayla whom he really hoped was just doing the theatrical performance of her life, Týfurkh took a bunch of moments to settle into the new situation and find his words again. He definitely had not expected things to 'escalate' this quickly.

"Crazed ? Oh please!" he exclaimed towards Ru'Tev, trying to give his words the attitude of an indignant husband. "Of course she is not! She just has a different opinion about my clothes! She thinks it is a bulky mess, but I think it is one of the best things you can do while in a divergence! Everyone can step on anybody's foot at any place, or you could just ram your toes against some solid thing at any time! Neither of these events will bother you much if you wear protective boots, which is exactly what I'm doing!"

“Oh, of course!” Ru’Tev spat sarcastically. “How silly of me! Why hasn’t anybody living in this hole thought of that?! Oh wait, I know! Heat exhaustion for one. Or worse yet, taking a tumble down the hill of the crater, denting their armor, and getting impaled from within. Concussions. Sudden overexertion. Having a stray knife veer of course and stab them in-between the metal plates of the armor. Geez, I wonder how many times we’ve seen any of that happen here?”

Whether Týfurkh was truly convinced of his words ? He didn't really feel like being to tell that himself, he just kept going based on spontaneous ideas. "I seriously apologize for what has happened, but I beg you not to put all the blame on me. You just turned around so quickly I couldn't stop in time, and that would have happened to other people as well."

No, he absolutely did not want to go into the prison of this damn place. He'd rather enjoy listening to Sil talking about puddles for days on end!

"See! Just like I said. Just a big, dumb idiot with -and I can’t emphasize this enough- a very tiny pecker." Tayla made a gesture with her hand just to further emphasize her point about Týfurkh’s alleged tiny pecker.

Lord Ru’Tev looked at her mouth agape before looking back at Týfurkh. “Are you sure she’s not Crazed? You know I lock those people up, right?”

”How dare you! Of course she is not crazed! She just has difficulties to admit that anything else than a very tiny pecker would be way too much for her to handle, so she always tries to divert the focus away from herself. Also she can’t keep her bubbly mouth, Isn’t that right ?”

Týfurkh pointed his head down into Tayla’s direction the same moment as he wrapped his arm around her shoulders to squeeze her against him a bit. A not so gentle bit to be honest for he wanted Tayla to suffer that small bit she absolutely deserved!

Tayla winced from Týfurkh’s tight squeeze but forced a smile on her face. She then reached up and smacked him on the back of the head. Of course, in order to do so, she had to do a short hop. "Honey!" She said, looking aghast. "Watch your mouth! This is a public space!"

She then quickly turned her attention back to Ru’Tev. "But yes. These are things I’m working on." She said, giving a smile as sweet as she could muster.

At this point, the giant realized he, theoretically, could have very much disposed of her by just giving the Lord’s question a positive answer. What kind of a dick move would that have been though ? And it was too late for it anyway, now he had very much joined the boat and Lord Ru’Tev could declare both of them to be crazed quite happily, he thought.

”One question, if you allow for it: If the divergence is so dangerous and so much of a nuisance, why do you run a whole settlement inside of it ? Couldn’t you run that prison with the minimum amount of people absolutely necessary and keep the rest out of this place ? Then, from time to time, you could shift duties so it’s not always the same people who have to bear the burden ?”

The Lord eyed Týfurkh in annoyance, as if wondering whether the man deserved any further attention from him. At that moment the serving woman approached Ru’Tev’s meal in hand.

“Um… my lord…” She said hesitantly. “We have your meal ready.”

Ru’Tev blinked. “Senses woman, am I just surrounded by Crazed? Have you not seen my foot? Go and send for the doctor already!”

The woman hesitated. Looking from the meal in her hands to the lord. Ru’Tev sighed. “Just put on the table.” he said.

“Yes my lord.” She said with a slight bow. After placing the meal on the table, she said, “We’ll send for the doctor at once!”

Lord Ru’Tev, grumbled and grabbed hold of the tableside to help hoist himself up onto a nearby stool.

Releasing herself from Týfurkh’s grip, Tayla moved forward to assist him.

Lord Ru’Tev eyed Tayla and sniffed but accepted her assistance. “At least there are manners in there somewhere.” He grumbled.

He then eyed his food, took a bite, and then glanced back in Tayla and Týfurkh’s direction. He frowned as if dismayed to see that they were still there.

Sighing, the Lord relented. “The prison is built on top of ancient ruins. These ruins have strange magic nullifying properties which have an area of effect. With effort, we have found ways to reroute this effect to areas of our choosing. However, the further we route it from the ruins, the less effective these nullifying powers become. Therefore we have no choice but to build the prison at the heart of the Divergent. There is no other way around it.”

The Lord took another bite before wincing from the pain in his foot. He looked back to see that Tayla and Týfurkh were still there. The lord groaned and put down his utensils annoyance. “And you both are still here!” The lord looked up towards the ownership of the Hangache. “Will somebody please remove these people from my presence? I believe they’ve spoiled enough of my day already.”

The Five Senses - Second Arc (Accepting New Players!)

Tayla

Interactions with @Fetzen

---

"MOTHER F#$%-"

Suddenly alert from the scream. Tayla poked her head inside. Their target, Lord Ru'Tev, had collapsed on the ground cradling his broken foot.

Tayla smirked. Well, there was no way he was escaping from them now.

Abandoning her post, she walked up besides an amused Chres. The man leaned back in his chair and downed a sip of ale.

Tayla frowned. What had been the point of giving him one of her flasks of water if he was just going to drink soon after?

"What happened?" She asked.

“Our good old tin man crushed the good lord's foot.” Chres said smiling.

Tayla raised an eyebrow. A lopsided grin on her face. "So you going to jump in then?"

“Nope.” Chres said as he took another sip of ale. “I think I'm good here.”

Tayla sniffed. Her head rose in disapproval.

Chres eyed her, frowned regretfully, then opened his mouth as if to walk back on what he said... But, Tayla was already gone. The man wasn't worth another second of her time.

Tayla rushed up besides Týfurkh and grabbed his left arm with both hands. Tugging his arm downwards, she hugged it between her chest. Acting as if she were Týfurkh's significant other.

"M-m-my foot..." Ru'Tev stuttered. His eyes were wide and he looked as if he were moments away from going into shock. "Pierce my eardrums!! My foot... it's broken!"

Tayla, snapped her head towards Lord Ru'Tev and gasped. "Honey! Look what you've done!" Releasing her grip on Týfurkh's arm she tossed it to the man's side. "See?! This is what I'm talking about, Love Bug. Your tin can isn't the fashion statement that you think it is! It's just a bulky mess that gets in the way of me and your supple skin." Tayla said, flashing Týfurkh the sweetest smile she could muster.

It was a smile that didn't fit her face. In fact, she could feel the corners of her mouth and eyes twitching under the stress of faking it.

"Fucking hell!!" Lord Ru'Tev shouted at Týfurkh. "Are you daft? Do you not know that we are in a bloody Divergent?! What are you thinking wearing that thing in this place?"

Tayla pushed Týfurkh aside playfully. "That's what I keep telling him!" Tayla said. "I mean how are we even supposed to keep the mood going when things get spicy? It literally takes him an extra 30 minutes just to get undressed!"

"To get undress?!" Ru'Tev sputtered seeming dumbfounded. "Bloody my Senses. Do you two louts not know who I am?"

"An... unfortunate victim?" Tayla said trying to play dumb. "Taken to his knees by our everlasting love?"

"Everlasting Love?!?!?!" He said exasperated. "No, you imbecile! I'm the lord of this town and prison!"

Tayla gasped, clasping her mouth with both hands. "A Lord?! For real?! Oh Honey, Remember? You were just telling me a second ago how you always wanted to meet a lord in person! And look, here we are!"

"Senses woman! What is wrong with you? Do you not realize what this means? With the snap of my fingers, I could have your 'Love Bug' tossed into a cell for negligence. Everlasting love be damned! You better start acting your place before I tear that love in two!"

Tayla released a second gasp and fell to her knees in a bow. "My Lord, I didn't realize you had such power! Please, your greatness, forgive me and my big, lovable Teddy Bear. He's just a big, dumb, idiot after all. A big, dumb, idiot who likes to over compensate with an oversized bow."

Placing her palm to the side of her mouth, Tayla whispered just loud enough for both Týfurkh and the Lord to hear, "Don't judge a book by its cover. His really is just a tiny pecker."

Lord Ru'Tev turned flushed in the face. "Are you Crazed woman?"

He looked around to the other patrons in the Hangache. "Am I the only one here who thinks this woman might be Crazed?!" He asked the people in the tavern.

The Five Senses - Second Arc (Accepting New Players!)

Chres
Tayla

Mentioned @13org

---

Tayla shrugged when Karina thanked her. As if it were no big deal.

"He smells like puddles!" Sil corrected.

Chres frowned and eyed Akai. "Coffee, huh?" He said. "Gives me energy, huh?"

"And super it's delicious!" Sil said happily.

"Familiars don't have taste." Chres muttered.

"None what-so-ever!" Sil agreed proudly.

Tayla smirked as she slinked outside the room. There she guarded the back entrance.

Chres nodded as Karina took her place, just before Ru'Tev entered and started his meal.

The Five Senses - Second Arc (Accepting New Players!)

Chres
Tayla

Mentioned @13org@Fetzen@JerkChicken

---

Hider

“Wake up, you drunken fool!” Came a muffled voice.

Splash.

Chres snapped awake, sputtering and coughing from the bucket of cold water washing over him. His head throbbed like there was no tomorrow. His mouth, tongue and lips bone dry. A pool of vomit stained the left side of his shirt which had long since crusted over with bits of hay glued onto it.

With a groan, Chres opened his eyes. Though his vision was still blurry, he could make out that this was not the room at the inn that the army’s gold had purchased for him. Indeed no. This was a stable. The sound of horses and the smell of dong attested to that.

Senses. He did it again, hadn’t he? He had drank himself into oblivion with his new drinking partners Týfurkh and Jen. Except this time he had foolishly decided to stay behind when his partners had called it a night.

A girl giggled right beside his ear. Chres flinched. The sound of her giggle made his head feel like it was going to burst.

“Hurray!” The girl said, talking in quick succession. “Puddles! Puddles! Puddles! Puddles! Puddles! Puddles! Puddles! Waaaaaaaaaaaahhhhooooooooooo!!!!”

Chres’s familiar, Sil, zipped around his soaked body, flying left- right- up- down-

“Senses… Sil…” Chres groaned

sideways- backways-

“Sil.” He said more insistently.

circles- zigzags-

“Sil!” Chres snatched Sil out of the air. “Please stop.”

“Iiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii can’t!” Sil said in a jittery voice.

Even when snatched out of the air, the damned familiar wouldn’t stop moving. Her sporadic movements made Chres’s entire hand shake.

“Too! Much! Coffeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!!!!”

Chres sighed, exasperated. “Coffee?”

“Special type of brown puddle!” She said in a rush. “Akai gave it to me!”

“Akai?”

“Yes! Akai!”

“Why?”

“Because! Coffee! Gives! Meeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee! Energy!!!!!!!!!!!!”

“I know what coffee does! Thing is, Sil, you’re a familiar. You can’t drink coffee.”

Sil suddenly stopped moving. “Oh, really?”

“Yes, really. Coffee does nothing for familiars.”

“I see… well in that case I’ll just be normal broken Sil then.” She said with a smile.

“Normal, broken Sil?” Chres repeated.

“My mind. It’s broken. Just like yours!” She exclaimed happily. “See? Normal!”

Chres frowned. What did she mean that her mind was broken?

“I SAID, WAKE UP!” Came a voice behind Chres.

Chres turned in time to catch a glimpse of Tayla as she dunked a second bucket of water onto his face.

Once again Chres found himself coughing and sputtering, as an excited Sil shouted “Hurray! More puddles!”

“Pluck out my eyes, Tayla! I’m already awake, damn it!”

Tayla smirked at him. “I know.” She said as she dropped the bucket to her side. “That was for wasting so much time talking to the familiar.”

“For talking to Sil, you mean.” Sil corrected her happily.

“Oh?” Tayla said as she eyed Sil. “It has a name, does it?”

“It does!” Sil exclaimed with an overjoyed expression. “It does have a name!”

Tayla couldn’t help but smirk at the response, but the smirk was quickly smothered in a second.

“Get up, and get dressed into something clean and decent. If you don’t hurry, we’ll miss him!”

Chres grunted and struggled to his feet despite feeling on death’s door. As he rose, his head collided into a bucket of feed hanging above his head. His hangover compounded in pain as Chres doubled over in a squat. His hands clutching his head. Damn Divergent luck!

“Fucking hell! Couldn’t you have thought to warn me?”

Sil rolled over in laughter as Tayla smirked.

“There was a thought.” Tayla said. “I simply chose to keep my mouth shut.”

Chres eyed her in annoyance before relenting. “Come on then.” He grumbled, “Better not delay much longer.”

---

Chres and Tayla made their way down Horizon’s Dip. Chres now sporting some clean clothes. Much had changed since the Battle of Shimmertown and the pactmaker’s second encounter with the Being. For one Chres’s entire purpose had changed. Due to the pact, Chres could no longer seek out a miserable death to scar the world’s memory of him. For now, he knew the world would have no memory of Chres upon his death.

And so Chres drank.

Unable to rely on others' memory of a miserable death as punishment for his deeds, Chres was left with one other option. To find out what he ‘didn’t understand’ about his wife’s predicament and hope that whatever he learned exonerated him. However, finding out what he didn’t understand of a dead woman was like asking someone to fix a statue that you just smashed into a billion tiny pieces. Just where do you even start?

And so Chres drank.

Furthermore, what if he found out that he did deserve punishment? Just what would he do then? How would he punish himself when his best option was now void?

And so… Chres drank.

When Chres had stopped drinking, it was not because he had been a drunk, but because of one terrible night and deed he did when he just happened to be drunk. He had stopped drinking so as to make sure that he wouldn’t forget. He had stopped drinking to make sure he couldn’t escape the thing he’d done. Now that he had started drinking again, he had done so for all the reasons he had forced himself to stop.

Chres shook his aching head as he and Tayla walked down the winding stone walkway which navigated through the haphazard buildings that cropped up along the northern slopes of Horizon’s Dip. They stumbled once or twice, on small outcroppings of stones that somehow managed to catch the tip of their boots when taking a step. Such things were expected with the bad luck common in the Dip. For that reason they had made sure to take the trek slowly.

Their caution paid off, though not entirely. While they made it down the slopes without injury, someone had decided to empty their chamber pot out the window just as they were happening to walk by. For the most part, the worst of the disaster was avoided. Although the splattering did reach their boots.

Tayla tsked audibly at the mess.

“This is what I get for helping a lousy drunk.”

“Lousy drunk! Lousy drunk!” Sil repeated happily as she zipped to and fro.

Chres merely grunted, hand to his head. Gingerly he moved ahead of Tayla while stepping around the mess at their feet.

Tayla frowned in frustration, as she hurried to keep up.

“You know, over the years, I’ve seen a lot of useless men. But the ones like you are the worst of them.”

“I know.” Chres agreed in a calm and quiet voice.

Tayla scowled. “Men like you have no regard for the people around them. They slink off in the middle of night, drowning themselves in ale. Senses be damned if something should happen to us in your drunken stupor! Senses be damned if we actually need your help!”

Chres grunted. What else was there to do? Afterall she was right.

Tayla’s frustration mounted.

“No self respect. No dignity. Walking around smelling of yesterday’s stink.”

Chres simply nodded.

Tayla’s eye twitched in response.

“Why are you even here, Chres? Why even bother?”

He shrugged. “I’ve asked myself the same question quite often lately.”

Why even bother? Chres didn’t know. Because Karina had asked him, along with the other pactmakers, to come on this latest mission of hers? A mission to investigate who’s behind the recent Crazed attacks? No that wasn’t why. He had started to respect Karina. To maybe even respect their growing friendship, if their current forced relationship could even be called a friendship. But Chres had not come here for her.

Had it been for the reward? The Empire had offered Chres and the other pactmakers a generous reward to ensure their loyalty for the mission. Plenty of gold, half in advance, the rest after mission completion, and even a favor from the Empire that is within reason.

No. Chres thought. That’s not why I’m here either.

Then why was he here? Not for loyalty. Not for his ‘comrades’. Not because it helped him with learning what he didn’t understand about the situation with his wife cheating.

“Because,-” Chres found himself saying. “-being here is something.”

Something other than the sinking abyss that had become his mind.

Tayla frowned as she took a moment to chew on his answer.

Chres rubbed his aching forehead as they continued on their way. His mouth was still parched. And the sun was too bright, even with the Divergent’s unnatural shade.

“Here.” Tayla said, offering Chres one of her many waterskins. “Should help with your hangover.”

Eying the waterskin, Chres met Tayla’s eyes. “I don’t n-”

“Take it.” Tayla said more firmly as she shoved it into Chres’s hands and walked ahead of him.

Frowning, Chres took a swig of water. Then, realizing just how parched he was, he ended up downing nearly half the skin. The entire time, Sil hovered next to him, cheering him on.

“Yeah, Chres! Eat that puddle! Show it who’s boss!”

Chres ignored her, of course. Tayla, however, smirked as if amused.

“Thanks.” Chres said, when he finished.

This time it was Tayla’s turn to grunt.

For a minute longer, they continued like that in silence.

“If you thought so lowly of me, why did you come to find me this morning?” Chres said, breaking the silence.

“Not ‘thought’.” Tayla corrected. “I still ‘think’.”

Chres frowned. Her recent gesture of kindness seemed to suggest differently.

“Little Miss Princess asked me to look for you.” Tayla answered after a moment

“Do you mean the actual princess who has been traveling with us or do you just mean Karina?”

“Who do you think?” Tayla asked with a smirk.

“Karina?” Chres answered.

Tayla only continued to smirk.

Aside from the pactmakers and the soldiers that Karina had hand picked to come with her, Karina’s father had required Karina to bring another person along in their travels. Chres didn’t think much of it, until Karina revealed later that this person was actually Princess El’lysael, the Princess to the Nation of Sight. Apparently the woman had run away from the palace to assist the Empire in overthrowing her father.

The revelation was a shock to Chres. The woman certainly didn’t look like a princess. Her hair had become a tangled mess and she donned common traveling clothes. Her clothes weren’t even neat and clean. They had become worn and wrinkled. Not to mention that they were splattered in mud, because apparently the girl would take every opportunity she got to jump into a bit of mud along the road.

But now, the oddity seemed to click into place. The girl seemed to be reveling in her new found freedom. Finally free of the chains that society laid upon her. Of course she would take the chance to jump into a pile of mud! Of course she didn’t bother to make her hair prim and neat!

Lys, the name she asked them to refer to her by, was to be their secret weapon. Their way to have an air of legitimacy with Lord Ru’Tev. To convince him to let the Empire into his prison for investigation. Their way to sway him to the Empire’s side while bringing the other prison lords along him.

So far, their secret weapon wasn’t being taken seriously. Lys was being stood up day after day. Today, however, was going to be different. Today, the Pactmakers were to work together to force Lord Ru’Tev to speak with Lys. Even if it meant cornering the Lord.

“You know,” Chres said. “Karina doesn’t like it when you call her princess.”

“Tough.” Tayla said flatly. “You don’t get me without the sass.”

Chres sighed. An action that earned him a look of annoyance from Tayla.

“She asked me to join her on this mission, which must mean that at the very least she was willing to tolerate my sass to some degree.”

“Yes, but where do you think she will draw the line?”

“I could very much ask you the same question about her and your drinking.” Tayla shot back.

Chres frowned and nodded, accepting the comment. Tayla tsked.

“Honestly. Where’s your backbone?”

Tayla sped up, forcing Chres to increase his pace. Eventually, the two of them had reached their destination. A tavern with a name that only made Chres all the more aware of his pounding head. A tavern known as ‘The Hangache’.

Chres suspected that the name served as a comfort to the people. A purpose similar to the inn they were staying at. An inn known as ‘The Ill Omen’. It was a name the locals hoped would ward off the bad luck common in a Divergent.

Lord Ru’Tev was known to dine at The Hangache on occasion. Particularly the morning before heading out on travel, and the morning after he returned from said travel. And it just so happened that Lord Ru’Tev had left on leave five days prior, only having arrived back the night before.

Chres entered the tavern’s back entrance. Tayla however hung back to guard the exit. They were the last of their group to arrive. Everyone else was situated elsewhere. Everyone except the princess that is. Every time Lord Ru’Tev spotted her, he would high tail it in another direction. Same for Karina who had already tried approaching the man a number of times. Though admittedly he did seem to avoid her to a lesser degree. As for the others, including Chres, they were not on the Lord’s Radar.

Chres took a seat in one of the back corners. When the serving girl stopped by, he made sure to order a small ale. An action that he was sure earned him a look from Karina. The white haired woman stood across the room in the shadows.

Chres took a sip from his ale, and gagged. There had been a hair in his ale. A hair that was now in his mouth. Damned Divergent luck.

Pushing the ale to the side, Chres took a look around the room. Lord Ru’Tev had not yet arrived, it seemed despite Chres having arrived late. Well at least he wouldn’t get too much of a verbal beating for his tardiness.

He sat there waiting for a little over three minutes before Lord Ru’Tev entered the tavern through the front entrance. The man took a seat by a window and ordered his usual meal. Sitting alone, Lord Ru’Tev dug in.

The Five Senses - Second Arc (Accepting New Players!)

No problem Dragonfly. I completely understand. :)

The Five Senses - Second Arc (Accepting New Players!)

Initial post is up. I'll be making another post for my two characters later this week or next. It should go and set the mood of current events, but basically we are currently set to met with some officials at the Crazed prison. You are all welcome to make a post before I make my next post if you so wish.

All old characters from the previous arc have their own rooms at an inn called 'Ill Omen'. They named it Ill Omen hoping that the name would ward off the bad luck which is common in a Divergent.

My initial post has an explanation for what a Divergent is.

@Dragonfly 9 You are still welcome here if you are interested. Just keep me updated. Based on our rate of posts previously, I image that you still have some time before things take off :)

The Five Senses - Second Arc (Accepting New Players!)

Year 4256
47th day of the month Olfaccium.
Late Summer
Nation of Sight - Horizon’s Dip
Early Morning

The sun rose upon the large crater known as Horizon’s Dip. Nearly a mile in size, Horizon’s Dip was an unusual landmark which scared the northern central lands of the Nation of Sight.

Based on marks of erosion across the crater’s surface and sedimentary samples taken by the Nation of Hearing’s scholars, Horizon’s Dip had once been a crater filled with water. Now, that water had largely disappeared into reservoirs beneath the crater’s surface. The only water that remained were tiny trickling streams that flowed and pooled towards the crater’s center, which then drained out into channels beneath the surface.

For thousands of years Horizon’s Dip has been pooling water into its deep underground reservoirs yet the crater remained largely dry land. Where all the reservoir water went, nobody knew, though some theorized they emptied far out in the depths of the ocean. Perhaps shooting out from underwater vents beneath the ocean’s crust.

Over the years, the crater had become a settlement to some, and a prison to others. Along the steep slopes of the crater, many colorful buildings and houses had cropped up in a chaotic cascading fashion. People lived along the northern slopes. Many of them were workers at the prison centered atop a hill at the bottom of Horizon’s Dip.

It was an ancient prison, built upon mysterious ruins from long ago. Ruins of strange dull blue stone that was too straight and perfect to be made by any tool known to man. Ruins that had been built over and turned into a castle of sorts. Ruins that held strange powers. Powers that could neutralize a magic weilder’s ability to wield magic. They were ruins perfect for imprisoning the Crazed.

None of these things, however, were what made Horizon’s Dip unusual. What made Horizon’s Dip unusual, was perpetual shade that coated the crater in one form or another. A shade like being under a cloudy sky in the day time. A shade never fully pierced by street lamps at night.

It was one of many similar ruins across the land of Saencila. The area around these ruins were known as Divergents. The Nation of Sight housed four such Divergents total. Each with a prison town built to lock away the crazed. Each with its own individual quirk that seemed to defy the natural way of things.

Much of the population chose to steer clear of Divergents. Their unnatural nature brought with it much superstition. The Priests of Senses called them pockets of evil that tainted the mind and senses gifted from God himself. Others viewed them as bad luck. Regions that drew ill will and angry spirits.

Whether or not that were true, such superstition seemed to hold merit. For when within a Divergent, bad luck seemed to happen at a rate higher than chance. Bad luck such as the immediate breakage of newly purchased objects within the day they were purchased. Early onset arthritis at the age of 16 - 20. The inability to obtain winning streaks when gambling. Or even the stubbing of one’s toe on a tiny stone outcropping from the ground just a few centimeters.

Stairs were features that no buildings had in a Divergent. They were just too dangerous. Too many people tripped and broke a leg. Instead, rough ramps were constructed when people needed to reach new heights. Ramps that were not too steep. Ramps equipped with ample railings.

Scholars had varying views on just what Divergents were and where they came from. Some theorized them to be places where the fabric of reality grew thin. Others believed them to have once been places of mystical worship which have since become defunct. Yet still others believed them to be akinned to the Distortion - a theory that Cult of Insight was known to reject wholeheartedly.

Regardless of their theories, there was one consensus that all scholars had. A Divergent was no place to live. Too much bad luck for a civilization to thrive.

So it was an abnormality, in Saencila, to find settlements around a Divergent. An abnormality that the Nation of Sight was alone in. Regardless of superstition and facts, Divergent Ruins and their magic quelling powers were just too useful to not be harnessed for the imprisonment of Crazed.

Horizon’s Dip was the original of such prison towns. It was a prison town that all other prison towns in the Nation of Sight were modeled after. A prison town run by Lord Ru’Tev. A family with much history and influence across the other three prison towns in the Nation of Sight.

So as the sun rose upon the crater known as Horizon’s Dip, its beams of light unable to fully penetrate the shade as per ushe, one wouldn’t be wrong to think that today would be just an ordinary day in the prison town. However, that way of thinking would be wrong. For today, a group of Pactmakers and a princess woke in the town. The group of them having only gathered two weeks prior.

These people were here on a mission given to them by the Empire of Touch. A mission of investigation to see if this prison town had anything to do with the Crazed attacking their lines. A mission of politics to gain influence with the Ru’Tev family so that similar investigative teams could gain access to the other three prisons in the Nation of Sight.

As the sun rose ever higher, the people of Horizon’s Dip rose from their beds and set out to work.

The Five Senses - Second Arc (Accepting New Players!)

Updated map with four new towns. All of these towns center around prisons for the Crazed. These prisons are built on ancient ruins with strange magic deterring powers. they exist elsewhere in Saencila but are usually shunned by the normal populace and are considered bad luck.

The start of this arc will begin in Horizon's Dip which borders territory taken by the Empire of Touch.

The Five Senses - Second Arc (Accepting New Players!)

FYI, I'll be making the first post during the first week of the new year.

The Five Senses - Second Arc (Accepting New Players!)

No Worries Dragonfly. it is the holiday season afterall. Just wanted to make sure I was doing my due diligence. Let me know if you have any questions :)