The Ruins of Serathlia

[Eikre]

The Ruins of Serathlia [Preloader Entertainment]

The OOC and Sign-up thread...for when you lose it.


[STORY] What does it mean to stand the test of time anyways? Does it mean you survived? Did you leave an imprint on the book of history? Are you remembered in the hearts of others?

Regardless of the answer, the fact still remains that Serathlia, once a powerful city-state, failed in its test.

It was a grand place. High walls protected the city, with its design not unlike others of its kind. However, as with all power, there was corruption. Others without it decided that they were going to take that power, and distribute it amongst themselves to garner the full power of Serathlia's magics.

Only problem was: They failed, though only in the course that the fighting reduced the city they were fighting for to ashes and rubble. In a magical cataclysm, the city was destroyed, and its inhabitants were either dead, dying, or missing.

But there was still power to be had. Magical residue like that is going to do strange things, and possibly lure stranger.

Present Day Storyline:

It was a night to be remembered. It was the coming of age party for one Eikre Dar'Nell. There was great fun, and awesome music. In the intrests of giving back to the community that had housed him for so long, he gathered his friends to a table, and laid out a map that was given to him as a present.

It was a map to, and inside, the fabled ruins of Serathlia.

Not questioning where it had come from, nor questioning the danger, the only topic being heard at that table for hours after he had unrolled the map was the adventures and the loot to be had inside the ruins. Rare magical doohickeys and weapons were inside, waiting to be claimed! A fun adventure to kick off traversing the world and beyond! Did I mention the loot?

After a bit of planning, the idea was they had a week to get together as much supplies as they could and set off for the adventure of their young lives.

[/STORY]

[OOC] The week-before things basically pre-journey shennanigans to get used to the fact that we're all friends here, and have been for a while. We may as well get to know each other...no? [/OOC]

[IC]
Eikre rifled through his pack for a little bit, and pulled out a quickly drawn map of the area, whistling to himself a little ditty he picked up not that long ago. Sitting outside the tavern of last nights events, with the mid-day sun shining over his head, he brought out a writing stick, and started to circle places where there was a couple of rumors of things like goblins and such. Hey, they kind of need SOME money to go out and buy a few provisions. Unless you like sleeping on the hard dirt.

His first circle, and marked afterwards with a "II", was a little goblin camp in a cave, presumably a bored raiding party that had done relatively well...they are goblins after all. The second circle, marked "I", was a house. A friend of Eikre's had mentioned a couple of things gone wrong with her constructs. He stuck the writing stick in his mouth, and chewed a bit on it as he tried to remember anything else that was coming to mind. It was all kind of blocked by a general excitement only garnered with the prospects of a grand adventure.

Giving up, he looked up and around at the village, and waited for his party of last night to get back to him...he couldn't really do all of this alone, could he?
​

 

[afrobutt]

The sun shines radiantly on that which is beauty
revealing the slender curves of elegant gems
reflecting the smooth flow of the gentle waters

Cuno smiled as he looked at his latest poem. "I smell a masterpiece." he said confidently. Cuno was up in a tree overlooking a small lake. "As long as my inspiration lingers..." he said, looking down at his "inspiration". In his line of sight were 3 young girls, tanning on the shore of the lake. They had come to this place around noon, unaware that they were being watched.

Cuno didn't consider himself a pervert, quite the opposite. If he were to reveal himself to the fair maidens, they would only become flustered and shy. Yes, Cuno's magnificent looks had a tendency to woo any female within sight. Cuno found that this more natural scene was his true muse. Leaning back against the trunk of the tree, Cuno stared at the sky. "Now this is a way to spend an afternoon." he declared happily. Although there was a slight nagging in the back of his mind. There was something important he was supposed to be doing, he was sure it was of the utmost importance.

But at that moment, he heard a shriek of pleasure, and looked back toward the lake. The three girls had ceased their boring tanning, and gone out into the shoals to play. Enchanted by the girls, splashing one another and making every inch of their bodies a glistening marvel, his nagging thoughts had evaporated into the air.

 

[GuardianOfHearts]

Talith was buckling on her swordbelt, her stylus held in her teeth and her witch hat on her head. After sheathing Illume and slipping the stylus into the teal band on her hat, she grabbed her boots and jammed her feet in as she half-hopped down the stairs. Lacing up your boots while walking is a bit precarious, but she didn't want to keep Eikre waiting for too long.

Then she was out of the Inkspell Manor, into the bright midday sunlight and on her way to the tavern [her boots were fully on now, and she could stride]. She cuts across the field, kicking up pairs of dragonflies buzzing around the creek that fed into the lake. Heavy splashing and the occasional giggle told her that the water was also being enjoyed by humans as well as insects.

Not all the lake-goers were actually in the lake, however. Passing by, she saw someone in the tree above her, or the back of their head, at least. But it was a familiar golden head, and seeing it made her stop. Her grey eyes rolled skyward [or, rather, hit the brim of her hat]. Cuno was here instead of meeting up with Eikre? What was he doing- oh. Another splash, followed by girlish laughter. Well, that.

She considered take out her stylus and creating a spell to startle him, but that would take time and precious effort which she wanted to save up for their excursion. Instead, she got his attention a more mundane way.

Hands on her hips, hat pushed back and her head tilted to the side, Talith said, "Cuno, you are incorrigible."

 

[afrobutt]

Cuno smiled as he heard that familier voice, leaning off the edge of his branch "Haha, you know it's just a little inspiration!" he said, jumping down to the ground. Facing Tanith now, he rubbed the back of his head and smiled. "What can I do for you?" he asked her

 

[GuardianOfHearts]

Talith gave her friend a long stare, then decided that he had forgotten that they were supposed to meet Eikre. That was better than blowing him off to find his "inspiration" at least. She looked beyond him at the barely-clad girls swimming, eyebrows raised.

Then, she deliberately whacked him on the back of the head.

"We're meeting Eikre at the tavern today, remember? Now, in fact. So quit skirt-chasing and come on. You can write more poems later."

Taking her stylus out of her hat band, she twirled it between her fingers as she turned and started to walk to the tavern again, mentally going over her runes. She wanted to try out some new spells today that she had been working on, and what better time than before the start of their little quest?

 

[afrobutt]

During Tanith's long pause, Cuno had simply smiled. But in the back of his mind, he was worried. He hoped that the girls had not heard Tanith, or noticed Cuno jumping out from the tree. They might catch on to his inspiration trips. They might stop coming to the lake! Or even worse, they may stop wearing bikinis!!! As Cuno pondered this terrible thought, Tanith reminded him about Eirke.

Cuno smacked himself on the head, that was what he was supposed to be doing. Catching up to Tanith's oddly quick strides, he spoke to her. "Hehe, sorry about that." he apologized. "I can be forgetful at times". Even though he had forgotten about the adventure, that didn't make it any less important to him. This adventure was his chance at fame, not to mention inspiration greater then any woman could give him. And he had always wanted to get out of this small, closterphobic village. Indeed, the prospects of large glorious cities called to Cuno in his dreams.

 

[Tobuoi]

Alethia: Trying hard not to let the cigar smoke get to her, Alethia fingered the edges of the cards she had in her hand, anticipating the other players' next moves.

The five of them were sitting at a round wooden table inside of the tavern. Alethia was the only girl at the table and the men were all at least eight years older than her. Of course, they didn't know this. When you were a small Mara girl, no one questioned your age, in fear of offending you. Indeed, many a Marans had caused commotion at this very tavern, accused of not being of age when they really were. It was because of this that Alethia was able to chug down pints in between turns.

Where is everyone? she thought to herself, only to be interrupted by the grizzly man sitting across the table. "Hey, you," he grunted. "Oh, right..." Alethia thought to herself for a moment before smiling impishly and slapping her cards down on the table, revealing them. It was a good hand, apparently, as the other players were overwhelmed with either awe or rage. "Well, gentlemen, it's been fun!" Alethia stood up off of the unbalanced stool and reached over the table, embracing the coins and treasures that had been laid down.

The same grizzly man across the table threw his glass down to the floor in frustration. Alethia was startled, but made great efforts to seem completely unphased. "What, can't handle a girl who can play cards?" This only made him more angry. "You cheated!" he yelled, throwing over the table and causing Alethia to fall backwards over her stool. She scrambled to her feet, keeping her distance from the fallen table, and held up her hands. "Hey, calm down now."

 

[-Arcana-X-]

Aylin: Scrambling to gather her items together, a young women closed her shop in the small merchant town. It had been very good business today with almost all of her new weaponry sold or at hold and the profits she had gained were reasonable. "Great!" she thought, "Soon, I could have enough to offer more of a variety..."

Turning over a sign on the wagon saying "Open", she securely locked everything before going to her next destination.
So it had been true, that there was a way to the fabled lands of Serathlia. A beautiful empire unfortunately crushed by the conflict of power. That's how it always was in those days.
She had recieved the news from the direct source, a client named Eikre Dar'Nell who she quickly became friends with whenever she came to this town. She liked the spark of adventure in him and his friends.

"Excuse me?" she asked a person walking down the road, "I've seem to have lost my way. Do you know where the nearest tavern is?" The person smiled and told her directions to the tavern. "Thank you!" she called and went on her way.
She walked down the road and almost neared the entrance when she heard angry shouting nearby. Looking behind her, she saw a familiar face.

 

[GuardianOfHearts]

Talith soon entered the village, a small but busy enough place teeming with travellers passing through, merchants, and ambitious craftsmen. It was set at a good location, and so attracted a lot of business. She walked past people in all sorts of actions that stem from commerce, buying, selling, hawking, haggling, thieving, smuggling, and everything in between. A few shopkeepers, taking note of her obviously well-off status, tried to harass her into buying their wares. Most people, however, recognized her witch's hat and the stylus in her fingers and let her be. Nothing good ever came from ticking off a witch, it was said. You could be turned into a toad.

Thinking about that, Talith sighed ruefully. That was just a rumor. Talith couldn't perform any forced-shape spells. Only witches who learnt the concoction trade could do that, and even then, you'd have to force a transformation potion down someone's throat first. The potionscraft was a long, difficult, often tedious subject either way, despite the fact that there were hundreds of books on it, while the Inkspell clan only had one book on runeology. And a very unimpressive book at that.

If only she could find the secrets of her near-dead art! Ancient cuniform, artifacts, a gramarye, even scrawlings on a crumbling ruin would do. Anything to teach her the deeper words- runes for sight, for memory, for sorrow, for joy, for transformation....

Tucking her stylus back into her hat band with another discontented sigh, she pushed open the side-door to one of the local taverns, thinking to find Eikre somewhere inside. What she found, however, was not Eikire. Instead she saw broken glass, a table being tipped over, and a small blonde girl flying backwards over her stool. A tall, slightly-more-than half-drunk man was looming threatening over her, fuming. The air reeked of alcohol and the obvious tension before a brawl. Several people [the more sober ones] had paused in their activities to watch.

And the girl was Alethia.

If Talith was a wolf, her hackles would've raised and her teeth would've bared. But she wasn't a wolf, just a witch, so instead she whipped her stylus back out as her protective instincts awoke. Illume was handy as well, but the problem was that drawing a sword in a tavern was like asking a fight to start. She was trying to stop one.

Not only was she going to guard her best friend, she was going to sort out this mess before the whole place went up in flames. This drunken, angry man was an idiot, but there were decent people in here as well. Decent people who would immediately come to Alethia's defense. But his friends would go to his side, and soon enough a regular brawl would break out. That was just unnecessary.

So as the drunken agressor began to take hold of his chair, Talith darted past him and beside Alethia, slightly in front of her and with her stylus pointed at him.

"I really don't think you want to continue the discussion you were having with my friend," Talith informed him pleasantly. "Why don't you pick that table back up and see about paying the the nice inkeeper for breaking his glass?"

The young man grunted, looking down at her with belligerence in his bleary eyes. "Whaddyou think you're gonna do about it, girly? You're barely a mite bigger than she is."

"I have certain advantages."

One of the other gamblers cursed. "She's a witch! Don't-"

"Shaddup!" the man roared. "This're Maran's a a li'l cheat!"

He made as if to swing a heavy arm at them, but Talith was ready. She flicked her stylus in the air lightening-quick, drawing a rune in the shape of a cross with two small boxes on either side. Bright gold ink hung there for a split-second, shining, as Talith screamed, "Shield!"

The man's arm connected with her ward, and the air in front of them shimmered as he stumbled back. He stared at them, blinking and dumbstruck. Talith drew another shining rune in front of the now-invisible warding one, a vertical line flanked by two short diagonal lines.

"Move!" she commanded, throwing out her empty palm.

The force-shield thrust forward and collided sharply with the man, throwing him to the ground entirely and knocking him out cold. Talith mentally reined her shield in once it was past him, before it could render any bystanders unconscious as well.

She glared coolly around at the tavern's crowd, customers with mouths agape over their tankards, maids stopped short of serving, the barkeep's rag missing the glass he was polishing. After a minute, normal activity resumed as the man's friends began to drag him out and right the upended table and stool.

When she was sure that there were to be no repeats, Talith turned to Alethia and smiled.

"I'm sorry, did you want in on the fun as well?"

 

[Eikre]

Eikre, hearing two distinct voices that he recognized, replaced his map in his pack, and stood up to trace where the sounds where coming from and why. Alethia and Talith if he wasn't hearing things wrong. He walked into the tavern behind him, and watched a scene unfold.

Well...I think scene is the right word. Talith basically showed, once again, why not to mess with a witch. And not just because it rhymed with a synonym for a female dog, though others used that word just as often. To cool the tension a little bit after her escapade, Eikre joked in his melodic voice, laced with calming overtones, "Talith, if you wanted a drink, you could just ask instead of scaring some poor drunkard." He walked to the bar and asked for a firewine, if only to pull the barkeep out of his amazed stupor. Once the liquor was in his hand, he showed it to the witch, and joked, "See how easy that was?"

 

[afrobutt]

Meanwhile Cuno had been daydreaming, as usual. In this day dream, he was performing a monologue in front of thousands of screaming fans (all female of course). To the left they awed in amazement, to the right they shrieked with glee. All around him the bards played minuets and serenades of his greatness, bravery, and cunning. And there was Cuno, basking is the glory of it all. And it was that point that Cuno walked into a tree.

Rubbing his forehead, Cuno laughed at his own absentness. "I suppose the bark is worse then the bite for me!" he sang, referring of course to the tree bark. Cuno then stood up and patted his robes down, although he froze for a second. "What...." he started, suddenly alert. "What... what was I thinking!" he shouted. "The bark is worse then the... what possessed me to say such a thing?!?!" he cried, falling to the ground in shame. "What kind of idiot would even contemplate such a.... oh!" and then he started laughing, rising to his feet and patting himself off once again. "There's an obvious answer really. The physical trauma I encountered from that cursed tree must have jumbled my creative thinking!" he concluded. "Of course, a genius such as myself would never make such an amateur comment." Conscious as well as ego restored, Cuno set off once again for the tavern.

Upon arriving at the tavern, Cuno saw a few villagers walking away from in what seemed like worry and fright. "What is the matter, fine sir?" he asked the nearest townsperson. "One of the drunks started getting rowdy, ...and then I'm not quite sure what happened." the man said with a hint of confusion. There was a long pause. "Now when you say witch..." Cuno started to ask, before realizing the man had left him. "The nerve." Cuno puffed, deciding he would just investigate the scene. Entering the bar, he saw the exact people he had expected to find. The witch (in more ways then one) Talith, a true magnet for these kinds of scenes Alethia, and his friend Eirke with a smug expression on his face. "I see Alethia has been drinking a little much once again." he said to Eirke (although loud enough for his Maran friend to hear), taking a seat next to him.

 

[Tobuoi]

Alethia: Alethia cleared her throat and shook her head in response to Talith's jest. "No, no, that's...quite alright. And uh," she turned to her feminine, witchy friend, still wide-eyed. "Thank you. I was barely keeping up with what was happening."

Alethia's attention (well, at least, so it appeared) moved to Eikre's demonstration, though she was still too dumbstruck to make sense of what he was saying. And when did he get here? Alethia sighed and attempted to clear her thoughts, only to be interrupted by Cuno's smart remark to Eikre.

"Oh, I know that it's hard to imagine," she began to retort, "any sort of girl other than the ones with their corsettes pressing their breasts into their faces, but still, I'll have you know that it was only so that they'd let me play with them!" She added, with her hands on her hips, "I don't feel the slightest bit tipsy." However, this was seemingly disproven when she soonafter hiccuped.

She frowned and turned to her friends. "Oh, and I didn't cheat!"

"Well, I don't see how there's any way you could've," one of the players said, as he inspected the area of the riot. The other men were looming over the unconscious one. "Whatever you can find is yours," the man added.

Alethia smiled. "See? Not much of a problem, afterall. Oh, and I won us a lot of money."

 

[GuardianOfHearts]

Talith tucked her stylus back into the woven band of her hat, pushing the brim up a little to show the raised eyebrows over her grey eyes. She shrugged in response to Eikre's joking, hands resting leisurely on her hips. "You know I don't drink," she said to the elf. She gave him a half-smile anyway. Her abstinence was born from necessity rather than choice. As a witch, alcohol screwed rather severely with her magickal empathy. She prefered being sober to being half-mad. Besides, she could always be counted on to keep her good sense during even the rowdiest of parties.

With her former antagonist gone, Talith set to helping Alethia pick up the fallen coins and other little valuables. The broken glass was still a problem, however.

Noting that the nearby serving maid was eyeing them nervously and making no move to clean up the mess, Talith sighed and once again brought of her stylus. She crouched down, and carefully drew another rune in the air over the glass. There was no need to rush this time.

She drew another vertical line, flanked this time by inward-facing crescents, and as it glowed gently gold, she said, "Move."

The myriad shards, great and small, trembled and swept themselves into a neat pile. That would make things easier. She didn't really feel like stepping on glass.

Talith stood up as the rune faded, putting her stylus back where it belonged.

"Glad to see you could join us, Cuno," she said archly. Talith turned to Eikire. "Are we only waiting for Aylin to show?"

 

[Eikre]

Downing the firewine during Talith's comments, considering the wine was for him anyways, he nodded, "Yeah. Once she shows up, I have a friend who'd like us to look at some of her...creations. I think I mentioned last night she'd be willing to pay some money for us in exchange for taking care of her golems." He smiled as the liquor burned it's way down to his stomach, with the lingering taste of overpowering spices and cinnamon. He raised the empty bottle to Cuno, his fellow girl-chasing artist, in a sort of mock toast.

"So," Eikre said to him, pointing the bottle's opening to the red mark on Cuno's forehead "What girl didn't like your over-flowing poetry this time? I assume you mentioned her chest somewhere in those verses, judging by the red." He smiled as he waited for the joke to go over Cuno's head, adding playful insult to minor injury. May as well keep his wit sharp, or these adventures could get rather dull.

[OOC] Short post is short. Leave me alone.[/OOC]

 

[afrobutt]

Cuno laughed, pouring himself some sake. "You know I only reveal those lines after a few shots of alcohol." Cuno commented, bumping his elbow's with Eirke's. "Ah, then there's this." he said, rubbing the before mentioned spot on his forehead. "Yes well, I was daydreaming again you see. A stunning fantasy really, and this tree appeared out of nowhere." Cuno made a loud clapping noise with his hands. "Crashed right into it!" he exclaimed.

"But enough of my woes, I've got something much more interesting to chat about." he said, taking a sip from his saucer. "I was down at the lake, where our pleasant witch found me." Cuno said, indicating a finger over at Talith. "And the females I found there." he said, pausing for epenthesis. "Gorgeous!" he said slyly, running his hand through his golden hair. "Perfect! That stage where they're young enough to dazzle you, yet matured enough to send your head spinning." Cuno took another sip of sake, then turned back to Eirke. "Anyway, what was that bit about golems?" he asked.

 

[-Arcana-X-]

"Daydreaming about beautiful girls again, Cuno?" Aylin said as she seated herself at the table. Cuno's sly personality, might I say perverted, didn't match with hers.
"Sorry I'm late. Some fight occured on the street and I had to take a detour. I heard it was between some gamblers, a Maran, and a...witch?" she asked with a smile at Talith and Alethia.

"So," she directed at Eikre, "What's up?"