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spellgrinders2017-06-17 07:42 pm
spellbindmods) wrote in spellgrinders2017-06-17 07:42 pm
( TDM | #1 )
You blink and that's all it takes. At first the picture doesn't come in clear, like you're waiting for a screen to fully load -- more aptly, it's like you're waiting for a camera to focus so you can find image clarity. Before you happened to rapidly close your eyes and open them, your life was normal...well, normal for you, anyway. Fighting an alien, making a quesadilla, dying. And then that blurry picture suddenly takes over. Depending on your situation and ability to acclimate, you may not fully understand what's happening. A dream, a hallucination. But when you feel the trunk of the trees surrounding you, it's oddly...real. The smell is real. The moisture on the ground is real. The small grass snake you find slithering close to your feet seems very real as well. There are a few other sensations that also begin to feel a little more like reality with every passing second. Like the fact that your intuition is trying to tell you something that doesn't seem plausible. One is more obvious -- you now have a new piece of jewelry inserted snuggly between your collarbones. Maybe that's when you realize it is real. When you realize that there's no delusion here -- you aren't where you once were. But if that's the case...where are you?
There's also a mysterious trail of soft, felt bags, tied off with thin rope, leading your character to what appears to be a specific destination. These items can be as useful as a granola bar to as seemingly useless as a stapler. Let's just say that some of these mysterious objects are pretty out there. They're free to travel off the beaten path, but that comes with its own perils. Maybe your character has a power that could fend these creatures off...? They aren't exactly happy about sharing their territory. |
After an hour or so of trekking through the forest, you finally come upon a break in the tree line that reveals to you an area that appears to be inhabitable. Your first stop is the large mansion that sits in the valley of the opening...if anyone is here or there's a way to get out of here, the house makes the most sense, right? There are a variety of rooms in this mansion, and you're free to explore them. You also spy a lot of crates sitting in the middle of the floor in one of the main rooms...are you curious enough to open them?
If you want some specifics, there are a few rooms of note: the game room (containing a working pool table, non-electric pinball machines and a card table with supplied chips and multiple decks), the cellar (filled with a variety of liquor and wines, all aged quite well) and a large room upstairs that contains a glass ceiling and a variety of books in a foreign language. One more thing -- if you happen to go rummaging around, you may find tiny pin cameras. They're minuscule...you may not even notice them unless you look hard enough. At this point you notice that you aren't alone -- there are other people in the same boat as you! When they're around you, that signet you feel in your chest tingles slightly. The sensation isn't unpleasant, but instead like a warm tingle is spreading from their neck outward. You instinctively attempt to talk to your fellow kidnapping victims, and that works just fine...but what are all these voices you hear in your head now? Are you crazier than you thought you were?
For those more inclined to adventure, there's also another building to investigate. From the outside, it looks very circular and unidentifiable, but upon entering you'll discover that it's a fully-functioning bath house.
|
Exploring the mansion and the bathhouse was fun and all, but aside from the crates they didn't prove to be very useful. When you came into the clearing, you also saw a row of very colorful buildings down near the beach. It makes sense that this area may be more beneficial to any escape plans you have, and taking a dip in the ocean might be nice! It's not until you reach the beach huts that you realize that murky blue color you spied wasn't the ocean. It's outter space. There goes any hopes you had of swimming to safety.
Even though it turns out the ocean was a lie and you're precariously close to falling off the edge of the world, the area around the huts is decidedly beachy. Sitting on the beach is a lobster trap, though about 10 times the size of any you might have seen before. Inside are more felt sacks, though larger. The weirdest part is that peering through the bars, you notice each has a nametag attached. The reason you know this to be true is because you just spied your own name written on one of the labels. There's also something else underneath it. The descriptor may not mean much to you yet, but it will soon: it's the title of their newfound magic. In each felt sack is a sort of starter kit: a set of dated and drapey plainclothes, a bag of dried boar jerky, a leather flask filled with water and a small tube of sunblock (the writing is in a bizarre pictograph language, but the giant picture of the sun on the tube should explain the purpose). There's also a rolled up paper tied with a string that reads as follows: "Welcome. Things will be explained in due time. For now, understand that you have been blessed with a gift of magic. Look into your brain and feel the instinct for both. Practice makes perfect."
...What if you're a wildcard, though? Someone who doesn't play by the rules and follows a different path, no matter what direction the world may be guiding you in? This island is large and contains many areas of interest, from crystal streams to hidden locations. Maybe you want to do something different...so break the mold and explore!
|
no subject
[ he moves closer to her. where her hand is outstretched, he lets her brush against his fingers before withdrawing from the touch; she can decide if she wants that or not. ]
no subject
Don't waste my time. Identify yourself.
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[ spoken like a cop, too, or at least a couple of the cops that he's played with back in naples. giorno sighs. ]
My name is Giorno Giovanna.
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What can you tell me about the surroundings, Giorno.
[ More a demand than a request. Someone has probably never said 'please' in her entire life. ]
no subject
There are a lot of trees in this forest, and I found a felt bag tied to one of the trees. Inside is a paperclip.
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[ She lowers her hand from where it is shading her eyes briefly, watching the forest swim before raising her hand once more. She'll just have to manage without this child. ]
no subject
Where are you from? You don't act like most people.
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[ Clearly an Abovegrounder. She doubts she will meet any of her kind here... It was not generally a good omen to see the Hel-folk in the sunlight. It was a task they only preformed in dire circumstance. Carla had been aboveground once before, hunting a fugitive and the relic they had stolen. She had been prepared for that, prepared to travel at night, prepared with a map and rations...
Not shuffling along with a child as her unwelcome escort. ]
no subject
What do you do there?
[ her unwelcome escort will keep walking with her as she gropes around trees while they move in the forest. as she more or less didn't want her help, he just keeps his distance as they walk and talk ]
no subject
[ An easy recitation. The history of Vos was a story woven into the fabric of all its denizens. To be Hel-folk was something more than just citizenship, it was a dedication. That is why, even though the Witchfinders are feared... they are intrinsic to that dedication. ]
I am a Lieutenant to the Witchfinder class, Lieutenant Morir.
no subject
[ because she mentioned 'cavern'. and he imagines a series of interconnected tunnels the way ant colonies work, all underneath acres of land. what an odd way to live. can't say he's all for it either. ]
Didn't know witches still existed. [ although he supposes that somebody of his powers would be called a witch .... ] Do you like your job?
no subject
[ So... no. Not like ants, but she supposes if he has not interacted with the insect clans, he would not know much of their delineations.
As for the other question, well... No one has ever asked her that before. It was assumed she enjoyed her 'job', it came with a number of privileges, if nothing else. She could go anywhere in Vos, do anything, was capably trained well enough to navigate the Underground relatively safely, she could even survive the aboveground. She will even survive this.
But was that enjoyment... and who was he to ask. ]
What does it matter?
[ Another trait of the Hel-folk, they were not quick to speak too openly. Suspicious. ]
no subject
[ and she seems like she's been a lieutenant all her life, with the way she talks and moves stubbornly through the forest despite needing help, or maybe; she had needed help and decided she's better off without it and she's fine with that, who knows. it's a kind of attitude he's familiar with if he thinks about certain types of people back home. ] What's finding witches like?
no subject
She was good at her work, no less. Something which annoyed her elder brother, he would have loved to have kept her out of his regiment, but begrudgingly he was forced to admit her skills. She enjoyed rubbing that in his face, they were always competitive with one another... The eldest and the youngest in a fight for supremacy while their middle brother ignored them both to tally supplies in the backs of wagons; the inheritor to their family's trading fleet.
Donovan had yearned for the politics of captain. Carla the thrill of a hunt. They see eye to eye rarely. ]
Difficult, and dangerous.
[ She stops to frown at him. ]
The squadron is elite, our workings are not for gossip.
no subject
Why do you need to hunt them?
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[ She says we, but it has been generations upon generations since then. Once, the reflectors in their eyes were new: modifications made to some through trade with Araneae doctors. It became so common, that the children began to be born that way. Such evolution takes no small amount of time. ]
no subject
And your family? Are they all Witchfinders too?
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[ A bored statement, she had flouted that life. Donovan used his position to their family's gain, opening gates when needed, sending troops to guard caravans when there were problems on the horizon. Not all the insect clans were amiable about the Hel-folk.
Carla used her position for her own gain and amusement. She always was a selfish one. ]
You ask too many questions, and give away nothing about yourself.
no subject
There's nothing much to say.
What do you want to know, Lieutenant?
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Where I can find shelter from your hateful sun. Guide me and then I will feign my interest.
[ As if she's somehow offering him something to look forward to. Her appreciation for social nicety seems low, even for Hel-folk. ]
no subject
[ there's a couple of bags strung along the forest which seem to be leading to somewhere; he's seen people moving towards there, uncertain, as well, so that could be a destination. who knows. ]
Will you die otherwise?
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You are an irritating child.
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I can also pretend to rely on you. It'd be interesting, but I think you'd hate me for it even more.
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[ Hate was at least an interesting emotion, full of heat and obsession. ]
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[ a tilt of the head. ] In my city, we have a lot of sunshine all year round, it's always crowded, and there are tons of tourists. But the women are pretty, and the men are ... useful, I suppose. A lot of art, if that interests you.