[The Sanctuary] A Door to Somewhere

Ialari reestablishes a link to her Dominion so that the snakes, newly born of her blood, have a place to call home.

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Built into the cliffs overlooking the Suvan Sea, Riverfall resides on the edge of grasslands of Cyphrus where the Bluevein River plunges off the plain and cascades down to the inland sea below. Home of the Akalak, Riverfall is a self-supporting city populated by devoted warriors. [Riverfall Codex]

[The Sanctuary] A Door to Somewhere

Postby Ialari Pythone on February 23rd, 2016, 12:25 am

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10th Day of Winter in the Year 515 AV

Ialari had only recently arrived in Riverfall and found lodging at The Sanctuary yet she already had her hands full of projects. The first one, or rather the first two, were the snakes that she had somehow given birth to through a strange new magic. The magic allowed her blood, when smeared in a healthy amount upon a roughly snake-like object, to turn that object into a living breathing snake, bonded to her as if created through Izentor. Two snakes had been created, Arith and Reth. After that, Ialari crafted a potential gift for Kavala in the form of an Izentored bracer that would aid her newfound friend in acquiring the skills of blacksmithing. Finally, Ialari needed to find Arith and Reth an appropriate home away from the frigid cold of Winter and in a place where they could thrive. The only place she could think of was her Dominion. The problem with that plan was that she'd need to create a new Dominion Door in which to reestablish a link to the Dominion. Having yet mastered each space shaping skills to create numerous doors, she was still limited to two. She already created the original door that linked The Retreat on the eastern coast of Syliras to the Dominion and then created a door that led from the Dominion to Riverfall. Unfortunately they weren't two-way doors which meant she would have to destroy one to create another.

The process of destroying one door in exchange for another seemed easy enough in theory. She would simply have to add the right patterns to the new door that would essentially nullify the one that brought her to Riverfall and replace it with one that led from The Sanctuary to the Dominion. Her experience with such things however told her that there was always an element of unpredictability when it came to toying with the Ukalas. While her skills had improved dramatically since that fateful day that Izurdin and Dira had given Ialari their support in learning the Lost Discipline, there were still so much that she didn't know.

As with the door leading to Riverfall, a physical door wasn't required. When dominating the initial space, it was helpful to have a physical door if only to give the Domineer a familiar point from which to enter. Having already established her Dominion as well as having claimed more space afterwards, the need for a physical doorway was not there. This meant that Ialari could draw a symbolic door upon any flat surface and thus establish the desired link. The door could be on the wall, the floor or even the ceiling if she so wished. Opening it was as easy as activating the symbolic trigger mechanism. With a physical doorway, the latch, knob or handle served in this regard. For a symbolic doorway however, the means of opening that door would have to be crafted into the door's actual design.

When it came to these types of doors, Ialari was fond of using her own blood as the trigger. It prevented unwanted opening of the door by outside forces. As Ialari pondered possible locations, the obvious choice for the general spot was her chamber. Looking around her room, she considered her options. "I could put it on the wall...but it would be too obvious. Even if I covered it with a curtain or tapestry, a door would still be clearly seen by anyone who looked behind it. It would look like a complex drawing to anyone not knowing what to look for but it would raise too many questions." She considered a moment a spot on the ceiling but entry from the physical world would be problematic. Plus, if she were to step back out through an open doorway on the ceiling, she would fall.

It then occurred to her that maybe putting the door under the bed might work. Pushing the bed up against one wall, Ialari looked at the floor and noted that she could easily put a door there. It didn't have to be all that large, maybe just big enough for her to step into comfortably. If she made the patterns correctly and altered the right symbols, she could make it so that stepping through the floor would lead to her simply stepping into the Dominion as if walking through an upright door.

The bed would easily conceal the door and add an extra layer of discreetness. The mere thought of reconnecting with her Dominion sent shivers throughout her body. It had only been a few days since was last there yet still the longing to return was strong. Having spent so long straddling the two realms, Ialari had grown accustomed to being a creature of both. Even though she knew the Tree of Death would be waiting for her upon her return, she at least now knew something of why it was there. The tree held the fractured pieces of her soul. In order to access those pieces and reforge herself into who and what she was truly meant to be, she needed to learn what it was to be alive. She'd spent so much time among the dead and on her own, isolated and alone. In order to access those other pieces, she had to know what it was to truly live with only one piece. How long that would take and how she would know if she'd succeeded was still unknown but her Dominion, in an odd sort of way, had told her she would know when it happened.

"I'm going to need some paint. Probably don't want to let anyone know what I need paint for though." Looking to the collection of seashells that Ialari brought with her to Riverfall, she had at least half of the ingredients she would need. It was easy enough to grind the shells into powder and she had enough of them that she should be able to make a small door from them. All she needed was something to bind the powered shells with. With a kitchen just a short distance away, eggs would likely be available to make the binding. Thankfully, the kitchen was only really active during certain times of the day when the staff and guests of The Sanctuary had their regular meals. This left many openings for Ialari to take a few eggs without question. With the various projects Kavala had need of in the forge, Ialari felt she could easily pay back the use of a few eggs.

Taking a few moments to retrieve some eggs from the kitchen, she returned to her chamber to assemble and prepare the paint.
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Remade In My Dominion!

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Ialari Pythone
I'm Poison.
 
Posts: 619
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Joined roleplay: August 13th, 2009, 3:26 am
Race: Isur
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[The Sanctuary] A Door to Somewhere

Postby Ialari Pythone on February 23rd, 2016, 1:52 am

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With a bowl she had borrowed from the kitchen along with several eggs, Ialari gathered up the majority of her remaining seashells in order to make the paint. She figured that since Riverfall was on the coast of the Suvan Sea, getting more shells wouldn't be much of a problem. Taking a handful of shells at a time, she used her metallic hand to crush and grind the shells into powder. It took several handfuls to get enough powder to mix with the eggs that she broke, one by one, into the bowl. Having forgot to grab some utensils in her eagerness, she was left to mix the concoction by hand. It was messy but after a few choice words and a bit of effort, she was able to make a suitable, if not clean, batch of paint. The color of the paint didn't matter so the gray-brown mixture that she created would suffice.

With the bed out of the way and an open palette available in the form of the floor, Ialari sat next to where the door would be drawn. If the floor had been rough or even moderately worked stone, she would have simply used the shells to scrape the patterns and symbols she needed. Since it was fine black marble however, she felt the paint would be less of an intrusion on the craftsmanship. Although it was a minor detail, to an isur, undo damage to something so architecturally fine was just not acceptable.

With the bowl of paint next to her, Ialari dipped her finger into it. With careful strokes of her finger, she began drawing the outline of what would be the door. As she continued drawing lines with her finger, she realized that her choice of a small door was the right one as she didn't think she'd have enough paint to make anything bigger. Slowly the outline of the door came to be. For a guide, she used the shaft of her staff for a straight line as it was of isurian make and she had no doubt as to how straight it was. When she finished with the outline, it was about two and a half feet square which would be just big enough for her to enter along with a light amount of gear. Ialari took special care to go back over the outline and clean up any smudges or smears in order to keep them as crisp and straight as possible before continuing.

The outline set, she started on the inside details. She focused on the internal lines and patterns that would charge the doorway with magic that would link it directly to her existing Dominion. She'd studied the patterns in the Dominion Scrolls time and time again until she knew them from memory. At certain points within the patterns, specific symbols were added to ensure the doors stability. When it came to the combination of patterns and symbols that would mark the door as replacing the existing one-way door already leading to Riverfall, Ialari paid special attention to getting the details right. Again she went back over the patterns in order to clean up any rough edges by using what remained of her tattered clothing that she brought with her. When she finally reached the part of the door that would act as the trigger to open it, she drew a large circle in the center. She then dipped the palm of her hand in the pain and placed her hand in the circle. This created a painted print of her hand so that once the door was activated, she need only lay her hand over the print with a bit of her own blood on it and the door should open. When she wished to close the door, she would need only to repeat the process.

The drawing of the door took the better part two hours. When Ialari was satisfied with the overall form, she considered it all but complete and prepared for the next step. In order to charge the door and transform it into a link between the physical world and the Ukalas, Ialari would have to add an initial bit of her blood to the final design in order to symbolize her intent to open the door as a bridge. Once the blood was added, the door would be ready for the grand opening. With her injured hand still healing from when she cut it sharpening her dagger days before, Ialari used the fingers of her other hand to reopen the wound. This brought tears to her eyes as the pain of opening partially healed flesh was no small matter. The wound began to bleed once more although not quite as profusely as it had originally. At each outside corner of the door she let a few drops of blood fall into tiny painted circles. When the last drop of blood fell in the last circle, streaks of red shot out over the painted lines. In a specific order, the red streaks spread across the various lines and patterns inside the door’s outline until ending at the center circle containing Ialari’s painted handprint. A smile crossed her face as she recognized this as a sign of success. All that was left was to place her blood palm in the center of the main circle and the door should open.

Turning to Arith and Reth who both lounged about lazily on the bed, Ialari said, “Shall we?” Ialari closed her used the fingers of her injured hand to coax more blood from her palm and spread it about. She clenched her fist several times and flexed it while moving her fingers in order to get as much blood covering her hand as she could. Then with but a slight second of hesitation, she placed her hand on the painted print.

The painted, blood streaked lines and patterns of the door ignited in a flickering red flame that quickly consumed the entirety of the door before pulling away from the center outward. It looked as though the floor itself was being torn open within the confines of the door until what remained looked like a window to another place, to Ialari’s Dominion.
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Remade In My Dominion!

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Granted Flashback Threads between 510 and 512 by Tarot.
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Ialari Pythone
I'm Poison.
 
Posts: 619
Words: 923994
Joined roleplay: August 13th, 2009, 3:26 am
Race: Isur
Character sheet
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Medals: 7
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Overlored (1) Riverfall Seasonal Challenge (1)
2013 Mizahar NaNo Winner (1) 2012 Mizahar NaNo Winner (1)

[The Sanctuary] A Door to Somewhere

Postby Ialari Pythone on February 25th, 2016, 1:23 am

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Ialari picked up Reth, the largest of the two snakes and draped him over her shoulder before lifting Arith with one hand and allowing him to wrap himself around her arm. Making sure that the door to the room was locked, she stepped back to the edge of the Dominion Door and took a step into it. As she stepped in, the door caused a slight folding in the space of her Dominion resulting in her stepping up from the floor inside. It wasn't how she'd planned the door which told her that somewhere in the door's design was a flaw that changed the orientation. She intended for the door to exit into the Dominion as if it were situated upright like a traditional door. Her experience with crafting such mystical doors was limited which is how she rationalized the mistake. Thinking back on the door's design, she considered the numerous points where she could have drawn something wrong or didn't have clean enough lines. Finally deciding that it was a problem best resolved at some other time, she allowed the feeling of returning to her claimed, magical space to sink in.

When she first constructed the doorway to her first Dominion years ago, it had been more as a part of a trap for the maddened wizard, Amir Berliotz back in Nyka. The Dominion that Ialari had claimed back then was where Dira, Goddess of Death, took the mad wizard into her fateful hands and left Ialari with a gift, her mark as a sign of acceptance and support. It was then that Dira took Ialari on something of a tour of the Ukalas. There, Ialari was exposed to beauty, terror, wonder and possibility that no mortal could hope to comprehend without the aid of the divine. The experience forever changed Ialari's outlook on life, reality and what she was capable of.

When Ialari chose to leave Sahova for the eastern coast of Syliras, she didn't know what to expect. All she knew was that she needed isolation in order to further explore the great secret the gods had shared with her. Dominion had been taken from the mortal world untold ages ago when the gods realized that the greed and selfishness of mortals was leading to a crisis within the Ukalas. The mortal Domineers were claiming more and more space and threatened to crowd out the gods in their own home. In response, the gods broke the doorways leading from the physical world to those Dominions and wiped the memory of the magic from all living beings. While some, like Amir Berliotz, had discovered pieces and parts of Dominion through terrible displays of magical torture and interrogation; literally pulling the memory fragments from the souls of their victims, the true nature of Dominion remained hidden. That was until Ialari stumbled upon some of this information, pursued it and ultimately proved herself to Izurdin who blessed her with the Dominion Scrolls. The Scrolls contained all of the secrets of Dominion and with it Ialari was the first mortal in mortal memory to practice the art.

When she established her second and primary Dominion at the pre-Valterrian ruins she fondly referred to as, The Retreat, it was a testing bed for what was possible once one had claimed a piece of the Ukalas for their own. The Dominion, the one that Ialari now stood in the center of, started out as a small space carved out of an ever-shifting landscape. Every time she entered, left, and reentered the Dominion, her surroundings had been different. Anything from vast, open fields of grass to mountain tops to fantastical subterranean caves, there was no consistency in what she could expect to step into each time she walked through the door.

It had taken the better part of two years spent living and breathing within her Dominion for the space to finally become anchored. When it finally did, Ialari found her Dominion placed in a vast underground cavern. Parts of the cavern floor were smooth and flat while others were rocky and uneven. The prime element that had always been a part of her Dominion was an ancient, gnarled oak tree that loomed over 80 feet in height, just a little bit below the cavern ceiling. The tree, known to Ialari as, The Tree of Death, had been present since her first Dominion with Dira. Dira had eluded to the tree as being some sort of symbol yet she never elaborated. From the tree hung numerous dead bodies. Each body held the face of Ialari and each body appeared to have died some gruesome death before being hung from the tree. The only thing not representing death upon the tree was the figure perched at the highest point. This figure, the one that always looked down upon Ialari whenever she stepped into her Dominion, was a jet black, statue-like figure baring Ialari's face. Raised silver veins spread across its body making it look like it were made of the same divine material as Ialari's arm.

At first, the tree remained just outside the invisible barrier that made up the border of her Dominion. After extended time spent in the Dominion studying the Scrolls and practicing what they had to teach, Ialari was finally able to expand the borders of her Dominion and grant access to the tree. All was done with the guidance of an unlikely figure, the echo of Amir Berliotz. Having allowed the mad wizard to use her body to reforge his shattered soul, even after his ultimate demise he left a bit of himself within Ialari. In her Dominion, that bit of Berliotz was fused with Ialari's subconscious and given shape by the Ukalas. Although this echo was merely a deeper part of Ialari that she didn't consciously control, it raised questions that Ialari may not of knowingly voiced otherwise. It had some answers to many of her questions yet in the end, those answers were ones that she deep down already knew.

Eventually she discovered that there was much more to her original question of WHY than he ever could have imagined. The bodies on the tree were in fact pieces of Ialari's soul; a soul that had been shattered for some unknown reason an unknown amount of time prior. With the aid of the shade of Berliotz and a strange feeling from the tree itself, Ialari realized that in order to piece the dead back to life, she had to understand what it was to be alive. She had to experience life, even if doing so with a broken soul, in order to be able to approach the reforging of her own soul with confidence and the mental fortitude needed to survive the process.

As she stood in her Dominion, looking upon the tree and its contents, she was further reminded of why she had traveled to Riverfall in the first place. Pulling her gaze from the tree, she instead looked upon the beauty that her will had created over the course of five years. The cavern ceiling, rocky and uneven, was split in a few spots by fissures leading to some unknown land above. Sunlight slipped through the fissures and created illuminated spots of warmth and light on the cavern floor. In the places where the light touched, grasses, flowers and even small trees had grown. In the darker parts of the cavern, mosses and lichens blanketed the stone. The flowers, grasses and trees were all things Ialari had introduced to the Dominion from the outside world. With them she also brought, both knowingly and not, a variety of insects and small lizards that seemed to thrive in the space.

Able to influence a bit of the weather as well as temperature and mood of the Dominion, Ialari had been able to bring about a small pool of water, neck deep at its deepest point, with a small brook trickling from it toward crevices in the cavern floor. She usually kept the overall temperature cool yet comfortable and the air moist though not all that humid. The sunlight from the fissures above provided points of increased warmth but Ialari could filter that light if she so chose by willing into existence a high level, thick fog. As far as the cycle of day and night was concerned, there wasn't one. There were parts of the cavern that were always dark and then of course there were the spots that were always light. While the cavern itself was just over a hundred feet high, the rest of it was so large that Ialari was barely able to make out the cavern walls. Her claimed space within the cavern was roughly 10,000 square feet in size which, while quite large, only offered her so much room to move until encountering the invisible barrier that marked the border of her Dominion.

Now having returned, Ialari could feel all the senses that she had learn to share with the Dominion. Her bond to the space had grown significantly over the years and as such she felt a sense of belonging, control and peace while in the space. It was these feelings she hoped to instill upon her two reptilian children. Kneeling down on, she pulled Reth from her shoulders and sat him in front of her along with Arith. The two snakes seemed to hesitate at first but quickly began to slither outward in exploration. Ialari watched as they disappeared into the grasses and rocky nooks. If they indeed shared anything with Ialari, she was pretty certain they would avoid the tree in favor of the more comforting parts of the Dominion. There were countless places, even in the comparatively small space she controlled, to hide and the sunlit spots were perfect for sunbathing.

Even with the collection of insects and lizards that inhabited her Dominion, Ialari knew that she would have to find a much more substantial source of food for the snakes but at the same time not infest her magical home with pests. She had some ideas but for the time being she planned on relaxing in her Dominion before pursuing any other plans.
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Remade In My Dominion!

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Granted Flashback Threads between 510 and 512 by Tarot.
User avatar
Ialari Pythone
I'm Poison.
 
Posts: 619
Words: 923994
Joined roleplay: August 13th, 2009, 3:26 am
Race: Isur
Character sheet
Storyteller secrets
Medals: 7
Mizahar Grader (1) Trailblazer (2)
Overlored (1) Riverfall Seasonal Challenge (1)
2013 Mizahar NaNo Winner (1) 2012 Mizahar NaNo Winner (1)

[The Sanctuary] A Door to Somewhere

Postby Ialari Pythone on February 25th, 2016, 4:50 am

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Ialari walked over to the small pool of water that lay across from the Tree of Death on the far side of her Dominion. There was a large boulder next to the pool where a stream of sunlight shined down and heated the stone. Ialari climbed on top of the boulder and laid down. The boulder was somewhat flat on top and big around enough to provide her with a good place to relax. The sounds of insects and gentle trickling water filled her ears. Her Dominion blended some of her favorite environmental elements; mixing forest and the underground aspects in a oddly cohesive way.

Ialari had just laid down, closed her eyes and let herself feel the beauty of her surroundings when she shot to her feet faster than she could take a breath. Although she didn’t actually hear the sound, she could feel it. It was as if someone had taken a piece of fabric and tore it down the middle. The sound of which is what she felt followed by a terrible chill that shot through the hair on her head. Her eyes frantically scanned the Dominion in a desperate search for the source of her extreme anxiety. It didn’t take long to find it. Several yards away Ialari spotted what looked to be a hole being ripped open in mid-air just inside the invisible barrier. Ialari had read of possible hazards to claiming a Dominion. The Scrolls told of the Ukalas having suffered greatly during the Valterrian. There was mention of how souls leaked from the domains of Syna and Leth through holes in the fabric of reality; the separation between the UKalas and the physical world.

According to the Scrolls, a Domineer had to be prepared to encounter any number of threats to their Dominion. These threats were many and included drastic changes in atmospheric conditions as well as the landscape itself. There could be tearing between dimensions, decaying of the Dominion itself or even invasions by otherworldly creatures.

From what Ialari was seeing, it looked to her to be a small tear of sorts in the invisible boundary that separated her Dominion from the rest of the Ukalas. Somehow, something had found a way in. Whatever it was, Ialari could see something dark, moving on the other side; that side looking to be dimly illuminated by some unknown force. As the dark shape began to emerge from the tear, Ialari realized that she was unarmed. Any real weapons she owned were now in her chambers back in The Sanctuary and she didn’t keep any others in her Dominion as she hadn’t needed them…until now.

For a moment Ialari entertained the idea that whatever was coming through might not be a threat. That idea was quickly crushed as not one, but two figures emerged. Both were vaguely canine in form but stood about shoulder height to Ialari. They were covered in what appeared to be black and dark gray bone or shell plates with bits of greasy black fur sticking out from where the plates met each other. They had short, stubby tails and four legs with three-inch long claws. Their heads however were the most disturbing part of their appearance. They had no eyes; not even sockets where eyes would normally be nor were there any ears to be seen. They had long necks with heavily plated heads with very short snouts that sported mouths filled with broken, jagged and very sharp teeth.

Although she was unarmed and unprepared to handle such a threat to her Dominion, Ialari refused to let thoughts of hopelessness enter her mind. Ok, Ialari, you knew this was a possibility, you knew that every time you stepped through that door, something could be waiting for you; waiting to take this place from you. Come on! You don’t need a weapon, you are a weapon! The gods gave you this secret because they knew you were capable of defending it. Ialari, scared out of her mind yet still trying to put herself in a more stable state, raised her metallic arm in preparation for a fight. Whether she lived or died, she would defend her Dominion to the end.

Shouting as loud as she could to get the invader’s attention, Ialari stood on top of the boulder, waiting for the creatures to make the first move. At hearing her shout, the “hounds” didn’t seem to react. Without ears, perhaps they were deaf. Their short, toothy snouts however began to wiggle as if sniffing the air. This caused their deformed heads to point right in Ialari’s direction. They immediately jumped forward in a sprint toward her. Not exactly sure how to respond, Ialari waited the short few seconds for the hounds to close the distance. When the first one took a leap at her from the ground to the top of the boulder, she swung her metallic fist at the same time. Her fist slammed into the hound’s armored head. Unfortunately, all that the punch accomplished was knocking the creature to the side and forcing it to scramble down the side of the boulder back to the ground. The second hound, instead of leaping, slowed and circled around the boulder so that Ialari was effectively flanked by the two of them.

As Ialari attempted to reposition herself, looking to one hound and then the other, the two creatures continued to maintain a flanking position which kept Ialari from being able to focus on either one. In her travels, Ialari witnessed the tactics of wild dogs taking down a small dear. They would circle and nip at the deer until it was too scared and too weak to fight back. Its attention was always kept scattered which prevented it from fleeing or even trying to adequately defend itself. Ialari saw that happening as the two hounds worked in tandem to keep her attention scattered by moving erratically and making false attempts at leaping at her. Trying to keep her head about her and stay patient in hopes of an advantage opening up, Ialari was quickly seeing that this was not going to be a contest she could win with strategy.

Reality setting in, Ialari slowly lowered herself in preparation for a risky and extremely foolish jump. Picking one of the two hounds, Ialari took a couple steps and jumped down at the creature. At the same time, the hound jumped at her and the two collided. The hound overpowered her in the collision leaving Ialari holding onto the underside of its neck as the two fell back to the ground. Ialari’s back slammed down on the cavern’s stone floor, momentarily taking the wind out of her yet not breaking her grip with both arms around the hound’s neck. The hound flung its head side to side while snapping its jaws at Ialari in an attempt to deliver a fatal bite.

It was all Ialari could do to hold on to the beast as it flailed about. Her fingers curled around the armor plates of the hound’s neck. Being so close to the thing, Ialari had to hold back the urge to vomit at the horrendous stench of filth that surrounded the creature. The armored plates on the hound’s body felt like they were actually a part of it; perhaps some sort of exoskeleton. The hound’s claws tore into Ialari’s shoulder forcing a painful scream from her. The wound also brought with it a renewed rage from the isur as she found a good hold on one of the armored plates on the hound’s neck. With her metallic hand and arm, she flexed and ripped the plate from the creature’s body sending a shower of blood across her face and chest and forcing a horrific cry from the hound as it now struggled with renewed effort to remove Ialari.

The hound bit down on Ialari’s metallic arm just above the elbow only to find that it was like biting a solid piece of iron. Taking the opportunity presented, Ialari reached into the open wound created by her tearing bone plate away and began squeezing, punching and mashing any solid matter her metallic hand came into contact with. Punch after punch slammed into the hound’s wound while Ialari also grabbed flesh and even bone, crushing and twisting until she was able to sink her arm up to her elbow in the beast’s body. Unfortunately, the other hound did not sit aside and allow its partner to be alone.

Although Ialari was wrestling with the wounded animal, the healthy one circled around the two looking for an opportunity to strike. It found it when one of Ialari’s legs was free of the struggle. With a terrible bite, it clamped down on her leg forcing her off hand to release the one hound in an attempt to punch the head of the other in hopes of releasing her. The biting hound shook its head hoping to break Ialari’s leg and shred flesh and muscle. Thanks to her dense isurian bones, Ialari’s leg did not break but the tissue damage was extreme. Ialari’s punches with her off hand bounced off of the hound’s armored skull while her metallic hand continued to pummel, dig and shatter anything in its way. Quickly, with a guttural groan and hideous wine, the wounded hound fell to its side where Ialari finally released her death grip on it. This left her free to attempt to remove the other hound from her leg. Already the pain was near blinding as Ialari began punching the remaining hound with both fists. The armored plates on its body were surprisingly resistant to the power of the isur arm but taking a cue from the success against the first hound, Ialari searched for a grip on one of the armored plates that protected the hound’s head.

The hound continued to violently shake its head back and forth as it still tried to break Ialari’s leg. Accustomed to blocking out extreme pain, both mental and physical, Ialari fought to keep her wits about her and find the grip she so desperately needed. That grip finally came as she slipped her fingers into a joint between the plates on the hound’s head. With everything she had left, Ialari pulled with both hands on the plate, tearing it from the beast’s head where she then began an onslaught of punches into the exposed wound. This caused the hound to finally release her leg as it stumbled back, separating itself from Ialari. Ialari scrambled back as well and tried to stand only to fall. The hound continued to clumsily stagger back to the tear it had come through. Ialari unable to followed watched as the beast finally made it to the tear and collapse inside. Then, to Ialari’s pleasant surprise, the tear sealed, leaving her laying on the cavern floor with the now dead hound laying a couple yards away.

Quiet returned to Ialari’s Dominion. She lay on the ground, pain racing through her body from her shoulder and her leg, though more from her leg. Looking down, all Ialari could see was a mess of blood and torn flesh where the hound had been tearing away at. Though it looked horrible, she hoped she could at least, once she had the strength, bandage it up enough to get by. That was at least until she could find Kavala who had already displayed an amazing ability to heal. Sadly, approaching Kavala for help would likely bring countless questions that Ialari was unsure of how to answer. In the meantime however, she needed to at least try to patch herself up and then get a closer look at the monster who invaded her Dominion.
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Remade In My Dominion!

Character Sheet

Granted Flashback Threads between 510 and 512 by Tarot.
User avatar
Ialari Pythone
I'm Poison.
 
Posts: 619
Words: 923994
Joined roleplay: August 13th, 2009, 3:26 am
Race: Isur
Character sheet
Storyteller secrets
Medals: 7
Mizahar Grader (1) Trailblazer (2)
Overlored (1) Riverfall Seasonal Challenge (1)
2013 Mizahar NaNo Winner (1) 2012 Mizahar NaNo Winner (1)

[The Sanctuary] A Door to Somewhere

Postby Ialari Pythone on February 26th, 2016, 3:45 am

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Ialari moved to a sitting position before attempting to scoot a few yards to where she kept a small selection of supplies. These were things she gathered and placed in her Dominion in case she would ever need them. The collection was not extensive and included two barrels, one just under half full of dried tea leaves and the other almost as full of dried tobacco. Both were salvaged from an old shipwreck she had discovered on the beach years prior. In addition, there was a small chest that had been enchanted with Dominion allowing it to hold double the normal contents. Inside there was a pile of old, tattered and frayed clothing, some battered and well-used pieces of cookware and some left over sail cloth and netting. Leaning against the chest was her old poisoncrafter kit. Although well used, the kit still retained a few tools for collecting and processing poisons. Although the supplies were meager, they did provide Ialari with some material in which to wrap up and bind her wound. Sitting in front of the chest, Ialari pulled out the bit of sail cloth and tore a piece from it. She also took some of the old netting before dragging herself over to the pool of water. There she attempted to stifle her cries of pain as she worked to clean the wound as best she could. As she dipped it in the water and gingerly tried to assess the true damage done, she noted that she was lucky that the hound had not continued chomping and chewing once it bit hold of her. It clamped on and shook which if she had any less durable bones, her leg would have been broken rather severely. Instead, she was left with a very deep bite; the teeth marks sinking nearly to the bone. The broken tissue was already starting to swell a bit and the blood continued to leak into the water.

With another shout of pain, Ialari pulled her leg from the water and tightly wrapped the bit of sail cloth around the wound while securing it with the netting. She would definitely need to see Kavala and hopefully convince her new friend of healing the wound like she did the nasty wound on Ialari’s back. After inspecting the now wrapped wound, Ialari could see spots of blood soaking through the sail cloth but at least the bleeding as a whole was reduced. She couldn’t let it go for too long due to the possibility of all manner of infections setting in. The conversation with Kavala over the wound was not something Ialari was looking forward to. Explaining how it happened wasn’t something that was going to be easy as Ialari was not a fan of outright lying, especially to those who’ve displayed the kindness and trust that Kavala had. She may end up having to show Kavala what happened rather than tell her which would lead to a whole new world of complications. There was a part of Ialari however that almost wanted to share the sight of her Dominion with the konti. It was a place that Ialari had kept secret for so long and one that weighed heavy on her shoulders.

With her wound bound, Ialari once more dragged herself across the ground until she was at the small doorway back to the Sanctuary. Though she was not ready to return, she needed to retrieve something. Laying down on her belly, she pulled the upper half of her torso into the doorway. On the opposite side she raised up out of the doorway and reached over to where her staff lay on the floor nearby. She had used it to guide her lines when drawing the outline for the door so it was still in reach. Next to the staff was her dagger With the staff in hand, and the dagger tucked into her skirt, she lowered herself back through the door which, in the Dominion, resulted in her sliding backward while still laying down. Turning over, she sat up and then used the staff for support as she tried to stand on her good leg. As she struggled to stand, she succeeded after a couple of pain filled minutes. It was then that she realized that her shoulder had also been clawed somewhat deeply. She was so focused on her leg that she forgot about the pain and blood coming from the four jagged tears on her left shoulder.

Her shoulder wound wasn’t nearly as bad as the one on her leg but it would still need some attention. Using her snake-headed staff for support, Ialari hobbled back to her chest of supplies, gathered some more cloth and then went back over to the pool. Leaning down with the continued aid of her staff, she began cupping water in her hand and using it to try and clean the wound. Although far from perfect and also needing further attention, she was able to wrap more cloth over her shoulder and across her chest. There were a few times she accidently shifted some weight to her injured leg which drew a number of violent curses and painful cries. When she was finally cleaned up the best she could and her wounds were at least temporarily bound and not bleeding as badly, she turned her attention to the crumbled form of the hopefully dead hound a few yards away.

Hobbling over to the body, she stood on one foot while poking at it with the end of her staff. It wasn’t breathing nor was it moving in any way. She even poked at the brutal wound she’d inflicted on it, just above its shoulder and lower neck, yet it still didn’t move. Leaning down next to it, still hoping that it wasn’t just playing dead, she got a better look at her fallen foe. The hound had stood with its back at Ialari’s chest level. It was a bit longer, head to tail stub, than she was tall. Bony plates covered its back and sides as well as its neck and head. They were as large as dinner plates and were apparently attached to the beast’s flesh. Smaller, fist-sized plates covered its underbelly with all of the plates overlapping in a way that allowed for maximized protection while still allowing for maximized mobility. The stench surrounding the creature remained and the tufts of greasy, filth covered fur that made its way through some of the joints in the plating was an interesting experience in disgust.

Ialari used her staff to move the hound’s head around and realized that she was originally correct in that it didn’t have any eyes or ears. Its squat snout did have rather large nostrils which revealed that it likely didn’t need to see or hear since it looked to have a rather advanced sense of smell. Sticking the end of her staff in its mouth, Ialari opened it a bit and examined the large, jagged teeth. While it looked truly terrible, the hound’s mouth looked similar to that of actual canines in that, if it were diseased and dirty, it at least didn’t look as bad as it probably was. That brought her only slight comfort.

A few feet away, Ialari found the bony plate she had ripped from the hound’s body. A few feet from there was the one she’d pulled from the head of the hound that fled. Picking up the nearest plate, she looked it over with a studious eye. Indeed, it appeared to have been attached to the flesh of the beast; there was still bloody, torn tissue stuck to the underside. Returning to her examination of the body, Ialari poked around in the wound she’d created. Although she couldn’t be completely certain, it looked as though she managed to cause serious damage to the tissue in the neck before crushing some of the bones in its neck.

Ever the scavenger, Ialari, now sure that the hound was truly dead and it didn’t appear as though its partner was coming back, at least not yet, began pondering what could be done with the corpse. An otherworldly creature such as it could provide all manner of useful materials including some potential reagents for possible magecraft projects. Retrieving her poisoncrafting kit as well as many of the pieces of cookware from the chest, she laid the items out next to the corpse. Trying to sit in a way that didn’t put too much pressure on her injured leg, Ialari tried to block out the pain long enough to begin her work.
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Remade In My Dominion!

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Granted Flashback Threads between 510 and 512 by Tarot.
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Ialari Pythone
I'm Poison.
 
Posts: 619
Words: 923994
Joined roleplay: August 13th, 2009, 3:26 am
Race: Isur
Character sheet
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Medals: 7
Mizahar Grader (1) Trailblazer (2)
Overlored (1) Riverfall Seasonal Challenge (1)
2013 Mizahar NaNo Winner (1) 2012 Mizahar NaNo Winner (1)

[The Sanctuary] A Door to Somewhere

Postby Ialari Pythone on February 26th, 2016, 4:15 am

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The wounds on her shoulder and especially her leg throbbed and burned with pain. She wouldn’t be able to engage in much more than some superficial collection from the hound’s body. If it weren’t for the fact that she didn’t know when she would return, she would have left the body for later. Instead, she struggled to push through the pain and get as much done as she could before she couldn’t take it any longer. She started with taking a bowl in one hand and her dagger in the other. She cut into the hound’s neck around the killing wound. She continued to cut a few hand-sized pieces of flesh from the body while collecting them and blood in the bowl. She could bottle up the blood in the few remaining vials and beakers from her kit for examination and use later. Next, Ialari began cutting away a number of the bony plates, starting with the larger ones before moving on to the smaller ones. She stopped after having removed five of the larger plates and six of the smaller ones. There were still more plates left to remove but for now, Ialari was happy with what she got. While she wished she could do more, the pain from her wounds was becoming too much of a distraction. Taking her time while trying to avoid pushing herself too far, she began pouring the blood she’d gathered into a few vials and a couple of beakers. She put the two chunks of flesh in the last two, small empty jars that remained in her kit. Between the blood, the flesh and the plates, Ialari had a good collection of items to work with. Before finishing with the body, she did all she could to drag it over to a short, somewhat flat piece of stone that she sometimes used for a make-shift table. She pulled and pushed the body up on to the stone and left it there.

When she returned, which hopefully wouldn’t be long, she would continue her disassembly of the corpse. There were still several of the bony plates left as well as the need for dissection and hopeful harvest of whatever organs the creature may have. Then of course there was the bones and skeleton that could also provide not only useful materials but also perhaps some insight into how best to combat these creatures if any were to return in the future.

Once she had gathered up her collection supplies, she went to the doorway, leaned through and placed the gathered items on the other side of the door on the floor of her chambers. Pulling herself back into her Dominion, Ialari hobbled off in search of Arith and Reth. They hadn’t been anywhere she could see during the battle which was a relief. She could still sense their presence and went in the direction her senses told her she would find them. Sure enough, she located Arith lying still in some grass and Reth curled up nearby behind a random pile of stones. Ensuring that they were alright, she said quietly to them, “I’ll return soon.” The snakes had plenty of water and there were insects and some small lizards that they could hunt and eat if they wished to. Ialari figured it would work well enough at least until she could get some rodents or some other steady source of food for them.

She left the two snakes and returned to the doorway back to The Sanctuary. The pain of her wounds was growing and her leg made it so that entering the doorway wouldn’t be easy as she would have to put weight on it. Instead, she sat down and crawled through the door and out onto the floor of her chambers. There she lay sprawled out on the floor for a few moments before making her next move.
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Remade In My Dominion!

Character Sheet

Granted Flashback Threads between 510 and 512 by Tarot.
User avatar
Ialari Pythone
I'm Poison.
 
Posts: 619
Words: 923994
Joined roleplay: August 13th, 2009, 3:26 am
Race: Isur
Character sheet
Storyteller secrets
Medals: 7
Mizahar Grader (1) Trailblazer (2)
Overlored (1) Riverfall Seasonal Challenge (1)
2013 Mizahar NaNo Winner (1) 2012 Mizahar NaNo Winner (1)

[The Sanctuary] A Door to Somewhere

Postby Ialari Pythone on January 21st, 2018, 4:14 am

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Thread Grade

Dominion 5
Unarmed Combat 5
Medicine 3
Investigation 2

Lore: Replacing one Dominion door with another
Lore: Gathering ingredients to make paint in a short amount of time
Lore: Reestablishing a link to her Dominion
Lore: Encountering a tear in the Ukalas that allowed outside threats to invade her Dominion
Lore: Being introduced to dangerous otherworldly creatures
Lore: Fighting off an attack on her Dominion from otherworldly forces
Lore: Basic anatomy of hound-like otherworldly creatures
Lore: Dissection and collection of samples from a dead otherworldly creature


Items: Various preserved pieces and parts of a Ukalas based, otherworldly hound-like creature (Blood, bones, flesh, armored plating)
Image
Remade In My Dominion!

Character Sheet

Granted Flashback Threads between 510 and 512 by Tarot.
User avatar
Ialari Pythone
I'm Poison.
 
Posts: 619
Words: 923994
Joined roleplay: August 13th, 2009, 3:26 am
Race: Isur
Character sheet
Storyteller secrets
Medals: 7
Mizahar Grader (1) Trailblazer (2)
Overlored (1) Riverfall Seasonal Challenge (1)
2013 Mizahar NaNo Winner (1) 2012 Mizahar NaNo Winner (1)


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