Closed Every Action, A Consequence

For the protectors of Morwen's children.

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Considered one of the most mysterious cities in Mizahar, Alvadas is called The City of Illusions. It is the home of Ionu and the notorious Inverted. This city sits on one of the main crossroads through The Region of Kalea.

Every Action, A Consequence

Postby Kaleidoscope on July 8th, 2017, 8:25 pm

"Speech"

For the first time in that meeting, the young Vantha girl spoke.
Or rather, murmured in a soft tone expressing a simple fascination with the six-armed girl that spoke of Priskil. Jijimi inclined her head with a wistful smile, and urged the child forwards. She moved solemnly towards the girl, towards Nephti, and reached to touch her hand. Jijimi spoke then, her voice laden with the foolish, desperate hope that clung like viscous honey to everyone in that small, cramped room.

"First of all... how may I address you, stranger friend? We can't stay at arms length with our lives in the balance." Her laugh made Leido twitch with nervous, coiled energy. The elder woman ignored his mannerisms however, completely at ease with the strange man. They had spent their miserable days with him as their only point of contact with the world, after all. Leido, despite his strangeness, or even because of it, was the two Vantha's beacon of hope in the dark tunnel of their lives.

"Secondly Maro, what do you plan? Please tell me it is not more danger than is necessary. I couldn't bear to have others hurt in my name." She broke off as Leido excused himself, his delicate footsteps fading into the hallway. She let the Kelvic explain, her eyes widening as she held Klarress close, and was about to ask further questions, when her heart fell through her stomach as Leido re-entered the room.

His face was wild with the absolute desperation of panic. Perspiration jeweled on his forehead and his breathing was audible in the sudden, pin-drop quiet of the room. With a croak barely above the level of a whisper, he spoke, "We need to leave, now. Whatever plan you said, it has to be good enough, because there is someone at the door. We need to go, now!" Leido pushed through the crowd of people and scrabble at a door set in the wall opposite, fumbling with the catch to let the age-darkened door to swing open with nary a sound, revealing steps down into utter darkness. An exhale of cold, damp air blew from the descent, and the candles flickered gently, once. Klarress silenced a cough behind her tightened fist, eyes clenched shut as if blocking something painful.

"Go, go! I will stall them. But quick, quick, you all need to move!" He swore, and virtually pushed them down into the basement. As soon as the last was through the door, the light was cut off solemnly, and the brave group were left alone, in a silent, musty, cold basement, devoid of light and happiness.

They were quiet for a few moments. Jijimi shut her eyes, and felt a tear form, then fall past her eyelashes, down the crevasses of her aged face. Then she steeled herself. In the confusion, in the panic that she felt clutching her like weeds in a bottomless pond, she found a burning, fierce resolve. "This way. Follow my voice. No one speak until we are in the Underground. If anyone has a light, share it now. Then we follow Maro's plan." She had never thought she would face this in her entire life. She felt lucky to have enjoyed such freedom whilst she could have done, and her age gave her a certain sense of bravado. She had nothing to lose. Besides... if she were to perish, she would do anything to save her young ward. Absolutely anything.
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Every Action, A Consequence

Postby Maro on August 10th, 2017, 1:42 pm


When Jijimi asked Leido his name, Maro found it odd. The man had given it to him when he had approached Maro to join this daring escapade. Why, after all this time, over an entire season of contact with these two, had he never given them his name? Probably for the same reason Maro had asked the others here to not be associated with him. If the two had been found before tonight, they wouldn’t have been able to name Leido, if that even was his real name. It was a necessary precaution. Just as Maro’s was. If the Listeners took him, which they likely would, they wouldn’t be able to take the others, and the two Vantha just might make their escape.

He told Jijimi as much when she inquired about his plan. “I have things that I need to say, things that need to be heard. It won’t make the Listeners happy; in fact, it might be heretical. But it will draw an excess of attention to me. It will probably best be left for when we are back above ground. I imagine there are more Listeners there than in the Underground. As long as their focus is on me, you should be able to slip away without being noticed. Don’t worry about the danger. It is necessary. That is why it must be said. Besides, none of us would be here if danger would deter us. I think every one of us understands how dangerous being here is. For now, though, I’ll do whatever I must to help get us through the Underground.”

Maro had barely finished speaking when Leido burst back into the room. In a hushed whisper, he told them of people outside the door. If there was ever a time for leaving, it was now. As rapidly as the group could, they filed through the door and were soon left without light. In the empty darkness, Maro put his hand to the pocket that held the book of fairytales and felt hope swell in him. Autumn was the only hope he needed, and as quickly as fear rushed through him, it subsided at the thought of his return to her.

Jijimi asked for their complete silence and a light. Maro began to pull the vial of soulmist from where it hang on a chain around his neck. The soft glow of the material was just enough to see by for whoever was holding it, but it wouldn’t do the trick for those who were stuck behind the person holding it. He quickly stowed it away though when the Eypherian woman shared Priskil’s light once more. As for the silence, Maro agreed. There was no sense in alerting whoever was upstairs to their presence. Let Leido turn them away or, at the very least, buy them some time.

The mishmashed group followed a meandering path for a short while before they finally emerged into an eerie city beneath the earth. As with everything in Alvadas, nothing was quite normal. Nothing was right. As Maro glanced at the buildings that formed the sides of the narrow streets, he saw that even under Priskil’s light they continued on upward until they disappeared into the almost lightless sky. Red and crescent, a moon waited suspended in the sky, but even its light was meager.

Now that they were in the Underground, Maro felt more comfortable speaking. “I don’t think I should lead the way down here. I’ve never been down here, and I’m afraid my sense of direction has only ever gotten me lost.”
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Every Action, A Consequence

Postby Kaleidoscope on September 1st, 2017, 1:35 am

"Speech"

OOCWe have been unable to finish this off for many reasons. It was a lovely plot and concept, and you all wrote marvellously, but I'm taking my bow now and this thread needs to be tied off. Any questions about what happens, PM as always.

No sooner had Maro broken the silence, a tall man stood in the path of the huddled crowd. He stepped from the alley, masked in darkness before shadows sloughed from his skin to reveal baggy eyes and a cool, aloof gaze. It was obvious that he was looking at them. Silence fell heavily, even in the already oppressive atmosphere. Jijimi, oldest there, felt the keenness of her many years experience. It was telling her to run.

But running would give the game away, and they were mostly safe... at the moment. Instead, she began walking off at a tangent, picking the nearest, grimey alleyway and walking with a brisk pace. Teh others followed, to her relief. Someone tried to speak, but someone else sssh'ed them harshly, their voices close in the compacted space between rickety, dark buildings. Overhead the red moon hung, like an omen. Blood would be spilt, perhaps.

Some time passed, as they hurried through the dimness. One by one, the group shared its fears. They heard Maro speak, then Nephti, then others whose concerns soothed over Jijimi and Klarress like a balm. They were in safe hands. Now they knew to keep going, they found a way to talk and discuss their plans whilst on the move. There was a certain amount of back and forth, but they eventually decided what they should do.

It was as they were walking alongside a broken-fronted, dilapidated, abandoned inn that it happened. A crow-kite flew on black string, dangled by some god-forsaken child living alone. Rouge, skittish rat illusions flitted past the windows. Jijimi's heart skipped a beat as Klarress stumbled... and was gone. She halted, her ragtag saviours collapsing to a stop behind her. The same dark haired, moody-eyed man stood in their way. This time, he held the young Vantha in his arms. Her eyes were wide and dark, her body completely still.

"What's this we have here? Are you good folk trying to sneak these two away?"
The elder Vantha woman could do nothing but stare in agast shock, her mouth hanging open as dry tears convulsed and shook her throat. "Don't... Don't hurt her. She's just a child!" The man said nothing, merely stared with cold eyes.

"I get a very big prize for someone like her, someone like you too. I suggest you stay quiet." A lady wearing pristine white stepped from the nearby building, hand in hand with a grubby urchin girl. Jijimi's world was spinning out of control, there was nothing left to stop it. It was as if her mind were locked in the kite thay flew so high above, whilst her body worked on instinct. She felt herself lurch forwards, putting herself between the path of the woman in white and her precious charge Klarress.

Her hands clenched around the shoulders of the white lady, and then she gazed on in detached shock as a knife punctured her side, grazing a bloody hole in her shirt. She was bleeding. Klarress was now screaming, scrabbling with sheer and terrible terror at her captor, who swore and let her go. Jijimi stumbled, and almost fell. In the commotion, one of the group lifted her up. Their hands felt like the wings of a dove, soft and safe. She spoke in words she didn't hear, telling of a way to get to a boat in the Patchwork Port. She thrust Klarress into their hands... and felt arms pulling her too. She was too dazed to disagree as they tumbled up steps towards daylight.

Her eyes saw one last thing before the door to the city. A woman in white, staring with absolute venom. A child, tiny and melevolently still next to her. The man, the captor, holding aloft a man by the nape of his neck... She dared not look further. They were almost there now. Her feet were guided by friends, and her heart by the child next to her, the one that felt like her own. Soon they would be free.
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Stepped down from ST roles: 1/9/2017
Thanks for all the fish.
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