Quest [Festival of Illusion] Sacrilegious Faith

[Kuvarakh]

Kuvarakh didn't know exactly how anyone finds the Womiyu, despite his few years of residency in Alvadas. His experience was that they always sort of turned up, and not always when you wanted them to.

The building itself blocked the view of much of the crowd, but that benefit would only last moments. The hypnosis he had imposed on the few people around him had been to deflect their accusations that 'Mr. Swanson', as he called the Dhani near him, had been the perpetrator of this crime. For this reason, Kuvarakh felt he didn't dare involve him any further, but there was a large man with a kindly, but obviously concerned, demeanor that also seemed to take an interest in the Dhani's situation.

He waved furiously at this "bear" of a man, to get his attention, and then pointed at the Akalak. "Take him out of here! I'll add some confusion to help." There wasn't time to tell him to try to find the Womiyu. Besides, the Akalak had already stated this desire plainly enough. Kuvarakh didn't know if the big man felt obliged to follow the instructions of a total stranger, or for that matter, if the Akalak was going to cooperate either.

He turned to Mr. Swanson. "Lyseer, back me up." He knew that the Dhani was aware of his hypnosis ability, but he knew he also needed to stay very close to the truth. He hadn't taken the time to see down which alley the Akalak had fled. But there was one nearby that he knew he HADN'T.

As the angry crowd surged around the corner, Kuvarakh targeted a single man near the mouth of the particular alley and stretched a sphere of djed his way. As the man's haste led him into the djed bubble, Kuvarakh laid a sense of 'importance to the left' on the man's perception. As the man instinctively turned to look, Kuvarakh placed the impression of 'certainty' in his mind.

He was rewarded by the man's sudden shout "Down here! I saw him go this way!" The crowd slowed and milled suddenly in indecision, some hesitantly claiming they thought they'd seen the purple man go a different direction. Kuvarakh could only hope something would happen to support his target, because his head was splitting, on the verge of overgiving.

[Licearsvansan]

A dead body lay sprawled out in a gruesome fashion before Svan, an angry mob surrounded him, and now he was hearing voices in his head. It probably wasn't healthy that this wasn't his first time in such a situation.

The snake took a frightened step backwards before realizing that running would only incriminate him. Okay Svan keep calm. You have been in worse than this. Another unhealthy truth Now first thing we need is an alibi. The snake's eyes flicked over to Artur. Svan had found few people more obviously innocent and kind hearted than this bear Kelvic, and innocent was just what he wanted. The snake was all but ready to hide behind his bear "friend" when suddenly Svan was given a new and better alibi.

Up on the roof was a big purple man, an Akalak if Svan remembered correctly. Strange, Svan thought to himself. He hadn't seen an Akalak since his time on the east of Mizahar. Which was perfect, because not only was this man at the top of the crime scene, he was different from the rest of the people here. And being "strange" when a murder had just happened, was rarely a good thing. Eager to cast the blame off himself, and not in the least bit concerned about the Akalak's possible innocence, Svan looked up at the Akalak and gaped his mouth as if surprised. Just as he had hoped, people quickly took notice of his expression and turned their heads to see what their supposed criminal was staring at.

The snake was just about to congratulate himself when suddenly a voice spoke out to his side. "Stay calm, do not run. That will only make you look guilty."

Svan turned to the man and saw...a face he didn't recognize. Well at least he seeeeems friendly. Suddenly there was a commotion in the crowd as the purple man jumped. Svan smiled, unable to hide his amusement at someone having to endure the pain of falling off these buildings. Then the man next to Svan spoke again to both him and Artur. Normally Svan wasn't in the business of helping strange men with their problems, but only Dhani knew his full name and they would know better than to use his mother's name. The snake then remembered that there was one man who referred to him as Lyseer. Unfortunately, a few too many blows to the head had left Svan somewhat splotchy memory, and he couldn't remember exactly who knew him as Lyseer. The most he could remember was that it was an old friend.

Probably.

Svan nudged the bear with an elbow, "Don't worry, we can trust this guy. Just get them out of here." Svan gestured back to the Akalak and girl. The crowd soon turned the corner, and Svan saw one man shouting for the group to head down a wrong alley. The snake looked briefly at Kuv beside him and smiled. The Dhani then casually began to make his way down a neighboring alley, and once out of sight of the crowd he sprinted down it. The sound of his hurried footsteps may have attracted some attention, but Svan quickly turned the corner before anyone could see him. The snake paused to catch his breath for a moment and wondered exactly how he was supposed to make a distraction for Kuv without making himself look guilty. There were people looking down the path to his left. However, there were only three buildings between him and the crowd, and they would surely recognize the figure flitting across the alley as Svan and not the purple man. being a former suspect, Svan couldn't exactly persuade them to come down this wrong path. Svan bowed his head low in defeat, but strangely found his answer at his feet.

The snake smiled looked for the position of the sun. In his current spot he was covered completely covered by the shadow of the building behind him. However, that shadow didn't cover the entire alley. Svan could still hear the arguing of the mob at his back which meant that they hadn't quite yet chosen a path. That being said, it sounded like there were some members who were now dead set on not going down the path Svan wanted them to. Unfortunately for Svan, that meant he couldn't just let things play out. I just know I'm going to hate myself for this. Still keeping his body hidden from view, Svan moved away from the back of the building and let the sunlight strike him. He then began his best act of being a tired fugitive who was trying to figure out which way to run next. It was an act Svan had an unsettling amount of experience with. Someone down the opposite side of the alley quickly caught sight of the long shadow Svan was casting on the wall, and shouted to the others. The snake's shadow spun its head around as if surprised before quickly tearing off in the opposite direction. Just as he had hoped, and feared, the mob gave chase.

Svan turned up and down every path he could take in an attempt to shake his followers, but the group followed every turn and before long Svan was beginning to doubt he could escape them. After roughly a chime of running, Svan could hear that a good deal of the people had given up, but a few of the more athletic and persistent ones were still behind him. Hopelessly out of breath, Svan knew his odds of out running these last ones were feeble, and so his mind raced for a new solution. A large metal bar handing over an alcove at the end of an alley gave Svan an idea. Using one last burst of energy he rushed forward and untied the cloak from his neck. As he reached the alcove he realized that this bar had likely been used to hold a curtain and act like a make shift door. Despite that, nothing was on the bar, and there was now a flimsy looking wooden door behind it. Ooh, it looks like somebody moved up in the world. The Dhani quickly reversed his cloak and draped it over the bar so that the dark black side of his cloak was shone instead of its usual grey. Svan then ducked behind his own cloak, gripped the cloth to the steel at the ends and attempted to stop breathing. From behind the cloth he could hear the sound of feet turning the corner, and running towards him. A few moments passed where Svan was certain that he would be found, but the steps continued onward, and headed off in a different direction. Svan waited about a chime for the people to move by before he let his cloak fall.

He was met with a fist to the face. Svan doubled backwards and crashed into the door behind him, nearly breaking it. Apparently he hadn't fooled everyone. Before him stood a single hairy looking man. He had likely abandoned the others at some point and caught notice of Svan's hiding spot. The snake wasn't sure if this man had waited for him or had just seen the cloak, but Svan hardly found such a detail important at the moment. Svan slumped down to the ground and lifted a dizzy finger towards the door. "Be careful, you almost broke it." Svan's attacker shot a confused look to the door, and Svan capitalized on it by delivering a kick to the man's groin. As the man bent over Svan shot up the other leg to smash into the man's face.

The Dhani stood back up and looked down at the, now unconscious, attacker. "Enjoy the Festival~" The snake smirked, and without another word he headed back to try and find his friends.

[Artur]

Artur had been shocked, surprised, confused, and even now dumbfounded by the situation that unraveled before him. Yet found that Svan's asurance was enough for him to listen to this pale man that spoke for him, and it didn't turn out to be so strange for the bear to follow the orders that was given to him. Although clueless the bear just looked back and forth between the two and nodded, one last look to his friend Svan before he made off down a seperate alleyway to try and follow the blue man that had taken off after a quick and bold exit from the angry mob. His pace was at more of a quick jog then a run as he went onward down the alleyway, a turn to the right here followed by another right later when he went on down. After he continued this for about five to ten chimes he found that he had yet another thing to add to his list. Lost.

"Oriana help me..." He whined as he looked around, a frantic search for a familiar route or person to show. He looked up to the sky and muttered a silent curse to the illusions that affected this city, for he hadn't a single clue how far he had gone now, he could've warped to the other side of the city for all he knew. With a worried sigh he walked onward to a street that he thought familiar, there were people about but no one that looked to be from the angry mob it seems. Maybe he could figure out where his friend and pale helper was if he poked around for a bit. 'Think Artie, where would you find Svan when he needed to get away...' He pondered as he looked around, a steady pace down the street as he collected his thoughts. It was then the idea hit him, an idea that would be his best clue if memory served correctly.

'The roofs! Svan could've climbed onto a roof to try and get away, maybe if I keep an eye out I'll see him.' He figured with eyes to the sky now as he filed each building, some he couldn't see the roofs of but he had an approximate guess at Svan's height. He probably would've seen his friend even if he couldn't see the top of a roof. His attention was all focused on finding Svan now, the blue man and the girl he carried away definitely gone and lost as he was. He wondered what was happening now that he had ran off, if something else might've gone wrong just as soon as he left the group like the confused obedient Kelvic he was.

[Kuvarakh]

Kuvarakh found it difficult to stand. His head was pounding, but it was a random pattern, not a throb. He dragged himself to a shaded corner, covering his eyes from the lights to prevent the aggravation to his headache. It was focused behind his eyes as that was generally the avenue of dispersal that he used to spread his hypnotic djed bubble.

He might not have been hit so hard, but he'd been in too much of a hurry to pace himself. At the back of his mind he wondered if an overgiving headache was in any way related to a normal human headache. He did not think he got those anymore. There were theories about the origins of headaches and he was inclined to think it was blood related, both because of the throb, in time with a pulse, and the fact that he didn't get them anymore. This headache was of course, due to overgiving. But in the regular course of his existence, he never got them. And even now, resulting from overgiving, there was no pulse for it to pound along with.

But he still felt sick and that just made his head hurt more. He needed to lie down somewhere in quiet meditation. He found a door and reached up to grapple for the handle. It opened and he tumbled inside, lying full on his back, arms out and up. He pulled them in and folded one behind his head and laid the other across his face.

Outside, only half registering in his awareness, people were shouting in anger. "He was here a chime ago!" and "Did anybody see where he went?" and "He's gonna pay for this!" and "Look around, everyone, he can't have gotten far." Kuvarakh wasn't that concerned by what was, to him, background noise. The quiet calm of the building's interior was a balm to his aching head.

"Who the petch are you?" a harsh voice grated. "What's going on out there?" Kuvarakh cringed as he could picture some wrinkled old sourpuss listening to the voices calling for justice and mentioning some hidden murderer. "It's you they're looking for, isn't it?"

"No..." Kuvarakh tried to protest but his head seemed to implode in his skull when he tried to manufacture some passion for his voice. Instead he groaned.

"HE'S IN HERE!" the scratchy voice of damnation called to them. There was a moment of suspended silence. Then a roar of retribution rose as a hurricane to blot out all hope as the crowd converged on the doorway, the old man holding it open and spitting on him.

[Esra Lesque]

Esra removed himself from the situation. He wasn't ready for what was unfolding in front of him. He watched, but everything felt distant.

"Get him!"

It was the quietest shout Esra had come across in his relatively short lifetime, and Esra paid it no mind.

Dead. He's dead -- He's in front of you, and he's dead.

That was the shout that took precedence. Even as he looked up and saw the Akalak flee from the rooftop, Esra did not give chase. He just sat back, shocked, and allowed part of his mind register the "facts" as they were presented to him.

Dead. He's dead -- A purple man pushed him from the rooftops.

The information didn't help Esra's situation at all, but the Womiyu would be here any minute, right? They couldn't just let something like this happen. The festival would continue, and he would be able to visit the stalls of the gadgeteers, and chefs, and artists, just like every other year, right? The boy began to wander in his withdrawn state. He slowly approached the stall where animated wooden ducks were being sold earlier. As he got closer, one of the ducks walked up to him, quacked enthusiastically, and gave birth to a small egg. When Esra reached for the egg, his morph started to fade. It began with the soft tingling of skin returning to a familiar size and shape. Still, boy picked up the egg and put it in his backpack. He wanted to take the waddling wooden creature itself, but that would have been stealing. In his current stupor, Esra decided pocketing the duck's young was somehow better.

The image of the broken man's pieces -- the blood, the brain -- it was spreading through Esra's still physically intact head, infecting each of his senses like a plague. That couldn't have been a painless way to go; it was so... messy. Esra thought about the pieces of skull on the stone as his new face continued to disappear. The bones in his skull and the cartilage in his face gradually snapped back into place. It was a pain Esra had felt before, but nonetheless, Esra screamed and nearly fainted upon smelling the familiar, coppery scent of his own blood. He couldn't help but wonder if his own head was going to erupt in a shower of brain and blood, just like the man from earlier.

Brain, and blood, and bone, and bone and brain, and blood, and... Quack. There was another duck. Esra looked down at the child's toy, bemused, when he heard another mimic the call of the first. This time the sound came from his left. Esra took a step back and turned so both ducks were in front of him, waddling in his direction. Each duck stopped and laid its respective egg.

Quack.

There were three, and four, and five more. They never seemed to come from within his field of vision. Each laid a small wooden egg and continued their goofy, waddling march. The ducks were quickly losing their original charm, only adding to Esra's panic.

Esra ran towards the direction of the mob, head pounding. Somehow, he hoped to find solace in their company. He wanted to be nowhere near the creepy ducks or the pieces of the dead man on the ground.

I'm going to be a part of the festivities. The thought from earlier seemed to take on its own new, twisted meaning.

[Licearsvansan]

Petching perfect! Svan thought angrily to himself as he jogged down the alleys and streets of Alvadas. He had forgotten that the streets readjusted themselves every so often, and now the young Dhani was thoroughly lost. He was now looking back and forth between the streets, reading the signs above the doors in hopes of finding some landmark to help lead him back to the others. As he approached a bend in the road Svan spotted the sign of the Withering Rose. Oh? Hey, Artur works there. Svan thought with a smile as he recalled their first meeting. Still staring at the sign, Svan rounded the corner and bounced off of something strange. The Dhani fell down into a sitting position, and looked forward to see the bear Kelvic before him. "Hi Artur, funny running into you at a place like this."

Rising back to his feet the snake dusted off his pants and smiled to the bear. "I'm going to assume you are just as lost as I am. Correct?" The snake chuckled slightly and raised a declarative finger into the air. "Don't worry, I have a plan. More importantly it doesn't involve getting lost in a garden of evil plants." Svan reached to the bottom of his backpack to grab the length of rope from it, but his eyes went wide as his hand caught nothing but air. He moved his hand some more and found the loops of cloth that he normally tied the rope to, but there wasn't even so much as a strand of string. Panicking slightly, the Dhani moved his hands to check the side pockets of his bag and found nothing but an empty flask and a bit of lint. Hidden beneath his cloak the items of his flat backpack weren't likely targets of a pickpocket, and surely there were easier marks than Svan's somewhat hidden bag. Still, had he really been so foolish as to have taken his bag with nothing in it? Suddenly Svan remembered emptying his pack so that he could carry the various things he had hoped to buy today.

Cursing himself silently, he gripped onto Artur's hand, and led him into one of the larger roads where various vendors and items were strewn out throughout the streets. The Dhani released the bear and made a motion for the bear to wait there until he returned. Svan scanned the booths, stands, and various attractions muttering in a frustrated fashion all the while. "No, no, no, no, n-wait!" Svan spied a coiled up rope lying on a table. There were various other trinkets and doodads on the table next to it that would have caught his attention, but for now at least Svan only cared about getting back to Artur as quickly as possible. Svan waited a moment until the apparent vendor of this little display was thoroughly distracted by a potential customer, before the snake allowed himself to approach his target. The snake approached from behind the vendor and fished out a few Mizas from his coin purse. He placed 7 gold rimmed Mizas on the table and casually picked up the rope. His intention was to simply walk away as if it had just been a regular purchase, but just before Svan took hold of the rope, it caught hold of him. Svan jumped back and bit his tongue to keep himself from squeaking in shock. Behind the owner of the stall Svan flailed his arm desperately trying to get the rope to release him. The Dhani quickly realized that he was making a scene, and so he stopped squirming and scanned his surroundings. Thankfully everyone was too busy being distracted by the other vendors and festivities to pay him any mind. Only one small child saw Svan being attacked by the rope he had tried to pilfer, but when the child tried to get his mother's attention she hushed him and returned her focus to whatever it was that she was trying to buy.

Not eager to push his luck any further and unable to free himself from the rope, ducked into a side street and hid under the shadow of a building. Now that he no longer ran the risk of being seen Svan was able to put full effort into freeing himself. First he tried simply tugging at the rope and begging it to release him, but even with all his Dhani strength he couldn't remove it. With the rope slowly working its way up to wrap around his throat, Svan saw no other choice but to cut it off. Pulling on his thumb and pushing it into shape Svan slowly morphed his nail into a razor sharp claw. By the time he finished, the rope-snake had was not only coiled about his throat and arm, but his his chest and stomach as well. The Dhani could feel his ribs crushing slowly, and only his left hand between his neck and the rope kept it from squeezing his head off. Svan raised his morphed claw to the rope at his neck and readied himself to bifurcate this wretched thing. However, as he prepared to kill the rope, Svan felt a strange pang of guilt. Maybe it was the phylonurist in him talking, but it just didn't feel right for a Dhani to murder something that so strongly resembled a snake. Begrudgingly Svan placed his claw against the rope like a warning and spoke in his native tongue. "Let me go at once or Siku help me I will cut you in half and hang you with yourself!" The rope loosened its grip at once Svan felt the air rushing back to his lungs. Slowly the rope drew away from Svan and coiled itself into a neat pile on the ground with only a single bit of it sitting up like a snake's head. Smiling, Svan patted it and whispered something along the lines of "good boy" in Dhani before he picked it up and headed back to Artur.

Once he found Artur again, Svan held the rope up high and handed it to the bear. Speaking in common again the Dhani said, "Okay Artur, I'm assuming you bear form has a good nose, but a random bear walking through Alvadas might cause a bit of panic. However, on a day like today we might be able to get by with it if we put up a good act. I want you to go and morph into your bear form, and tie this rope around your neck like a leash. Then I want you to come back and I'll make up some story about how you are actually my dog and that you got turned into a bear by a wizard today. That way you can use that nose of yours to smell out the scent of blood and take us back to Kuv." Svan smiled and decided that it was best to leave out the part about how the rope was stolen or how it had nearly killed him.

Still smiling quite innocently, Svan whispered, "Don't strangle him." in Dhani.

[Artur]

oocI apologize for the delay, I've a lot going on nowadays but I can still keep up.

As Artur had his eyes to the roofs of buildings he had all but given up hope, it was now more then ever apparent he did in fact lose everyone at the festival. That is... until one of the said people happened to bump into him. Somehow Svan had managed to find the bear and boy did he thank Oriana for that, even though the man was just as lost as the Kelvic at least the two were together. "Svan! Man am I glad to see you." He responded to his friend with ease in his mind, a vacant nod to the definite assumption that the two were both lost. Svan seemed determine that they would find their way around though, and when he remarked about their first misadventure the both shared Artur laughed on the inside. He did hope that there would be no carnivorous plants involvef after all.

Artur found himself ever curious as to what Svan needed so badly, enough to where he nearly wanted to just follow Svan anyway when he was told to wait. Still the bear waited patiently with arms tucked at his backside, fingers fumbled with one another as they helped to pass the time. When Svan returned he had a rope and further instruction for the bear to follow, and yet no story as to how the rope came to his possession. 'Hm. Guess he must've bought it or something.' He figured with a shrug as he took the rope, although he wasn't all too sure at how to tie the rope any. Still Svan's idea didn't sound all to crazy, quite simply easy really if one thought about how simple it was. For all Alvadas would know Artur was just a pet brown bear. So he went on to the hidden reach of a nearby alley, looked at one end of the rope as clueless as ever only to find it wiggled a bit. Amazed and awed he dropped it as it only coiled itself back up when it hit the ground, thus remained still when it completed its task. Artur only shook his head as he stumbled a bit and stripped off his shirt, he dropped his shirt next to his sandals as he loosened the hemph around his waist so the trousers would fall to reveal his nude body. He sighed as his human form took in the warmth of the spring air before he finally backed away from his belongings. Within a moments notice a quick flash filled the alleyway and soon vanished as quick as it appeared, and Artur's shift from man to bear had been completed just as quick. The bear stood on his hind legs at first, but when he went down to all fours he looked at the rope Svan gave him.

He had the idea that maybe the rope would tie itself around his neck if he gave it the chance, and even though the choice itself was scary to make he would follow the instructions his friend gave him without question. Artur's head came near the rope nervously as he hesitated, but when the end of the rope that acted as the snakes "head" came up from the coil it slithered (supposedly) to the bear and coiled up his right arm. The rope then happen to make its way around Artur's neck and proceeded to make a snug leash for his supposed master. Artur gave a few low bear chuckles in surprise at how strangely calm this rope was, and wondered how Svan came to own such an interesting thing. After he finally had his clothes and sandals all in his mouth, he returned to Svan with curious brown eyed upon the man as he waited for his clothes to be taken. Next came the challenge of using his nose, which was something Artur didn't really enjoy putting effort into. He was, after all, a lazy bear. He held his nose to the air and took in deep sniffs to find the possible scent of blood like Svan mentioned earlier, the only problem was the bear could only pick up the scent of that overly sweet scented spikey orange he picked up from the stall earlier. His nostrils burned and itched from the smell and pretty soon he found that the itching was what led to an oncoming sneeze, which he just snorted and covered his nose with his left paw as he looked to Svan. The bear had forgotten that scented fruit was still in his pocket of his trousers.

[Kuvarakh]

Hands clutched at his ankles, dragging him into the angry throng, where more hands grabbed his arms and others pushed his back or pulled his coat until he was propped up to face an impromptu court. For his "defense" were a few people that insisted they had "seen him among the crowd when the body fell, and that he couldn't have been up there" to push the victim off of the roof.

For the "prosecution" was the old man, still sneering with contempt at anyone who disregarded the fact that "the murderin' bastard was hiding from justice" in his shop. There were also several people that added their insistence that "this guy had helped the other suspects escape and was obviously part of whatever crime was being committed." Right on cue, the targets of his hypnosis seemed to come to the conclusion that someone had tricked them somehow and they "knew all along that his associates had done it and he had somehow muddled their thinking with drugs or magic."

Of course, once the opinion began to prevail, the fence-sitters joined in and the ones that would have attested to Kuvarakh's innocence were cowed into silence. He was too spent by overgiving to give any rebuttal against the accusations. He was slammed into the exterior wall of the old man's building. Hateful voices grew close in hissed threats of torturous penalties for murder. His Nuit existence was paraded in verbal recriminations as though it was proof of anything leveled against him. Soon, every mishap related to the festival was laid at his conspiratorial feet.

"Accidental" elbows slammed his ribs and knees showered his hips and legs with bruises. Out of nowhere, someone grieving the death of their vaguely identified loved one pushed through the crowd to slap him hard across the face, to the cheers of the crowd. The cheers took on a new tone with the prominence of the word "Womiyu". Before anyone appeared to take charge or identify themselves as members of the city guard, a chant grew. Anger and mob frenzy fueling its volume.

"SI-LENCE HIM,...SI-LENCE HIM,...SI-LENCE HIM,...SILENCE HIM..."

[Tapestry]

Your Reward is in the Weave

Kuvarakh:

Exp:

• +2 Dancing
• +2 Hypnotism
• +1 Investigation
• +1 Observation
• +1 Leadership

Lore:

• Alvadas: The Festival of Illusion
• Hypnotism: Enforcing misdirection with certainty

Comments :

Super shame this didn't continue. I'd have loved to see how he got out of this. Needless to say, the Womiyu now have their eyes on Kuvarakh...even if they did not intervene this time.

For everyone else. PM me when you get your ledgers updated (those who are still not grey-named) and I'll regrade for you

TAPESTRY