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+--- Thread: [Quest] Ignis Fatuus (/showthread.php?tid=6407)
RE: [Quest] Ignis Fatuus - Shango - Apr 29 2019
The hybrid peered at the others, half-indifferently, his spike-feathered tail flailing to and fro for a moment--cat-like.
Shango looked back down at the pit. Now it was empty: dark, spikes, with no rain or forest or creatures. Uninteresting to him. He eyed the jump: he could make it easily, especially with his wings, but it was just far enough that making it cleanly was another story.
He braced himself, again cat-like, calculating: and after a moment he just leapt, scalefeather wings spreading to try and carry him safely across the spiked gap.
For a split-second he realized that it was farther than it looked--and then he was scrabbling at the far side, hanging and flapping and twisting as he tried to pull himself up. He let out an angry, irritated yowl, clawing at the stone, tail thrashing once more as he attempted to balance himself to get back out. For the time being he was stuck there, hanging at the edge.
RE: [Quest] Ignis Fatuus - Thothaga - Apr 29 2019
Yoosung's cry alerted her to Pride's folly. The big oaf was about to walk off the the ledge! For a split second, Thothaga considered if saving him worth it, he was, after all, the biggest fool she's met.
Her gut decided for her.
In a single movement, she turned and spat a cord of silk from her abdomen towards him. As if fate favored it, the web stuck. Thothaga yanked it back with all her might, hissing.
RE: [Quest] Ignis Fatuus - Miru - Apr 30 2019
With her warning the glazed look vanished from the kiten's eyes and her friend backed away from the precipice in fear. Relief was only temporary as Miru's gaze shot toward the deer now, wanting no member of their party to have to face the dangers below. As fortune would have it though that large creature had already been saved by their arachnid companion.
Her voice trailed off for a moment, struck with the realization that she had nearly seen this friend's destiny cut short by the machinations of the holder of strength. She kept her distance out of respect, but still held close as though guarding a precious object.
Though admittedly this was a different spike than she imagined would prove most troublesome to her friend.
Everyone seemed okay now, or at least mostly okay.
Tags:
RE: [Quest] Ignis Fatuus - Game Master Dark - Apr 30 2019
As the last of them grappled with reality, the visions--the whispering, the false illusion--at last all fell away. Suddenly the cave seemed... normal, a simple, dark cave, though the spiked pit was certainly real enough. Now, however, a simple bridge was visible across it: a safe stone archway, easy to cross.
Should the Gembound choose to continue on, they will find a short, broad corridor beyond, curving sharply: and at its end, a large, shallow pit, like a bowl, simple to walk in and out of. Compared to the hellish nightmares of the past hour or so, it might seem strangely... average.
Here, in a pool of phosphorescent light cast by several hovering wisps, waited the Masked Merchant. His hands were steepled together. Once they were all present, he would speak...
"Success. A passed test." A strange sound, like grating claws over stone, trickled from behind the mask, and then--"You have earned... your rewards." A wave of his hands, and a cascade of glittering blue-green light would pass over those present, reenergizing them, bringing with it a strange new understanding of a way to use their Wisps.
"You have proven yourselves. Worthy. There is another... trial. A place... of testing. A place... none have been... in aeons," the Merchant continued, his gentle voice still eerily rattling. "A vast place. Deadly... Great risk. Great... reward. I will call upon you... soon. You may answer... and learn the final secrets of... these," he went on. The wisps around him danced and flashed, and suddenly hurtled upward, exploding into the ceiling in a blinding burst of blue-green light. Heat seared around them, not burning but still hot, and as the blinding light faded, they would find themselves in the mouth of the very first chamber of the black cave.
The door was now open, their escape route clear: and the Merchant was there, standing beside the open cave mouth. "...and if you choose... to unlock it. Then you may open... the Trial's door."
Participating Gembound have earned the following spell:
Wisp Projectile (Arcane)
Medium Intensity Offensive. Hurl the summoned wisp at an enemy or object to burn them. A single wisp will probably only slightly affect a target. Failure may result in the wisp burning the user instead. The user must have a summoned wisp already before using this spell.
Participating Gembound may now exit the thread at their will. They will also be invited to join a new Quest thread in the near future...
@Yoosung @Miru @Wilder @Thothaga
RE: [Quest] Ignis Fatuus - Wilder - Apr 30 2019
Wilder panted, her eyes wild with fear and her ears tucked far back. She stared at the pit with horror and shock, barely even noticing the others around her anymore. She didn't notice Pride almost throwing himself in nor Thothaga stopping him. She didn't see Shango try to bridge the gap, all she saw was a bridge appear and she didn't hesitate to dart across it.
In the dip of the room, she locked eyes with the creature before them. The Merchant was back and Wilder dared to hope that this was the end, the real end. No more fear, no more tricks or traps...this was their reward.
His speaking of another room, another trial, it made her shiver and want to run far away and never come back here. She didn't ever want to step into another stupid trial ever again, although her feelings would probably change once the terror had passed. When the blinding light came, Wilder flinched and cowered back, staring at it wide-eyed. She was shivering out of control. It seemed that the spike trap had been the last straw.
As soon as she saw the opening out into the greater caves, she didn't stop to talk. She didn't turn and say anything to the others. She shot out of the darkness and into the familiar light of Monoceros, taking in a deep breath of the free, clean air and immediately collapsed, slumping forward unconscious.
*exit
you don't have to move her or anything she'll just take a small nap
RE: [Quest] Ignis Fatuus - Shango - Apr 30 2019
The hybrid scrabbled, with a short, dismayed wail, at the wall. Then--suddenly--there was a bridge, and with a few rapid claws at it, he got a grip and hauled himself up. His wings flapped, boosting him. He glanced back at Miru.
He didn't really stop to wait to ensure everyone else was okay; his one-track mind assumed that if he was, then they were, and so he trudged off into the darkness ahead. The cave seemed far less scary now, anyway.
When he found himself before the Merchant he stopped short, listening, not really grasping much of it but accepting it nonetheless. And then, while he was still processing all of this, there was magic, and light, and a flash--a boom--and he was back in the very first cave!
With a short, strange croak-squawk he turned, looking around him, one taloned paw dangling midair.
The wisp shot out of the cave, searing its way along the dead tree and vanishing beyond. Quickly he bounded off, oblivious to all else--chasing it--his thorny body vanishing into the bright light outside the cave.
The Masked Merchant's offers were forgotten almost at once in favor of magic, light, and freedom.
exit Shango
RE: [Quest] Ignis Fatuus - Pride - Apr 30 2019
Pride froze in place as the last of the imagery faded. It took him a moment to come back to himself--and to realize that he was webbed in place, that Thothaga had rescued him.
He blinked back at her, his mind still swimming with the power the illusion had held over him.
"I--am sorry. It felt so real-... thank you." He then glanced around, coming--gradually--to realize that the entirety of the cave had changed. No longer was it breathing, black, organic; no longer did it pulse and swirl with wet-slicked patterns. Instead it just looked like... stone, regular stone.
Slowly, likely following the others--and trying his best to feebly kick off the remains of Thothaga's life-saving web--he paced ahead. Wilder had shot off, vanishing into the darkness past the bridge. But Pride could not find it in himself, could not find the energy, to be worried. It seemed that their trial was over, at last-... unless this was, perhaps, another trick?
His ears pricked forward, warily, but as he rounded the final curve he found the Merchant there awaiting them.
Quietly he listened--and when the burst of light and magicka came, he wanted nothing more than to follow Wilder to the exit, collapse into a lump, and sleep alongside her. But knowledge lay here, and so--after glancing to Thothaga, wondering if she felt the same--he spoke.
"Worthy-... of what? What is this--final trial? I do not like that you risk the lives of others for these games. It is not right," he added grimly... but there was not much power to his words; there was very little besides pure exhaustion.
RE: [Quest] Ignis Fatuus - Thothaga - May 10 2019
Whatever illusion the Merchant had over this place had long dissipated after she crossed the bridge.
They had passed.
Thothaga bubbled with excitement when she heard these words.
*Exit Thothaga
RE: [Quest] Ignis Fatuus - Yoosung - May 10 2019
Yoosung's teeth closed shut on nothing, clicking together in that uncomfortable way, and he was sure he was going to watch the Stag die. But then the spider was moving, striking him with a piece of webbing and pulling him back. 오, 동굴 감사합니다. he panted, fur flattening against his skin. Oh, that had been too close.
He wanted to be home, to be back in his den. The odd hybrid leaped, barely clearing the pit, and the fox spoke to the cat. A stone bridge appeared, suddenly, leaving them an easy way to cross the pit.
The dog watched as the others cleared the bridge safely, the cat bolting across it, the stag moving slowly, the spider easily crossing it, before following, his dull claws clicking too loudly for his ears.
And then, suddenly - the Mask Marchant. Despite himself, the dog snarled, flashing his teeth, the fur along his spine standing on end. He snapped at the light that enveloped him, teeth closing, once again, on nothing, only vaguely listening to him. Suddenly, he knew how to use his Wisps, and tested it out by sending one surging towards the Masked Merchant.
He didn't wait to see if it struck before turning, following the kitten outside.
-exit Yoosung-
RE: [Quest] Ignis Fatuus - Game Master Dark - May 11 2019
It did not react as Yoosung's projectile impacted it, for a moment, the burst of blue-green fire coursing over it without seeming to do much damage, flickering as it engulfed half its form. Only after a long moment did the Merchant turn, staring with that strange mask after the dog.
"That will be... remembered," it intoned, to itself, before looking back to Pride. Continuing to seemingly burn, without burning, it went on. "Worthy... of surviving. Worthy... of continuing." Without further explanation it turned, the fire vanishing--and a moment later it was clear that the Merchant was no longer present, either.