Quest Annihilation

Alea, Shadowfang

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A village cut off from the rest of Mizahar by the Valterrian, slowly reestablishing contact with the outside world.

Annihilation

Postby Tabarnac on October 2nd, 2012, 6:21 pm

62nd Summer, 512 A.V.

"Lord of the Deep," swore the lonely Svefra who had agreed against all rational thought to ferry them to the remains of Denval. In fact, there was no Denval, not anymore. Alea's home had ceased to exist but for the refugees who had come through Avanthal. Some had stayed, remarking at the warm weather in the Everwinter City, and others had continued east, the bulk settling in Novallas if rumor were true, and still yet others continuing on around the continent in a continual diaspora.

It was enough to make a girl feel lonely.

Denval had always had a rather dangerous, rocky harbor, requiring the odd ship with a deeper berth to loose anchors farther away and let the barges and ships with shallower drafts ferry passengers and cargo to the appropriate quays. Now a strange ring of coral set with jagged rocks closed it all in. Alea remembered collecting bits and pieces of coral on the pebbly beaches, but nothing like this, and it had appeared far too quickly as those things go, apparently dredging rocks up from below to crown the reef, which required the water to remain healthy.

But Hekh Farstriker found a way in, or rather, his Tavan did, and he brought the casinor expertly through a break in the coral crown. His Tavan wouldn't follow, as the water was not salty enough, and tasted wrong, which made the man all the more skittish, but then he didn't want to find out what happened when he angered a Zith, so he found them a spot to bump up against shore, which was now glassy, black, and smooth. He jumped ashore with a rope to find a big enough rock for a makeshift mooring.

"This isn't how I remembered it," he said with his strange accent.

Nor Alea.

Gone was the familiar sight of the Stranger's Rest with its smell of food and degtine, Denval's signature spirit. The Quays, the skyglass spire of the Chapterhouse of the Order of Radiance, the Captain's Hall, the Chapel, the Temple of Nikali; all was gone.

Her house. Oluse's house.

Everyone.

Everything.

But the surrounding mountains and rockfalls were blooming as if in tiered gardens, and the plants, even from far away, seemed strange, too big. No, this wasn't Denval. Not anymore.
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Annihilation

Postby Alea Davenport on October 7th, 2012, 3:12 am

Denval. It hadn't been that long since she'd left--less than a year--and yet it seemed like a lifetime. At the sight of the glassy black landscape, she almost wondered if perhaps they had missed Denval by a few miles or so. There was nothing left to suggest to her that this was what had once been home. With apparent largeness of the trees, it felt more likely they'd mistakenly landed somewhere in Taldera. Maybe the storm had gotten them turned around?

It almost didn't seem real. Logically, she trusted the experienced sailor to know where to find the city, but in her heart, it hadn't quite sunk in that everything was gone. Her home still existed in her memories, and was seemed no farther away than it had in Avanthal (though that had been plenty far).

Beast, her Gilding, was quiet for once, either sensing that something was off, or just saving up mischief for future use. Perched quietly on his back was Tom, the family cat Alea had taken with her when she'd left home. If the cat noticed he'd returned home, or that there was anything strange about it now, he showed no sign, unperturbed as usual by the world around him.

Alea glanced at the Zith next to her, wondering silently what he thought of all this. She couldn't help but get the feeling that there was something really scary going on. She didn't like feeling scared. She decided to approach fear the way she approached danger: by jumping in headfirst without thinking too hard about the consequences.

She took a deep breath and said, "Well, we came here to investigate, right? Let's get to it." She took a few steps inland across the glassy beach, stepping lightly, feeling like the ground might break under her feet. She wasn't actually sure what the plan was, whether they were going to camp somewhere or look around first, but she assumed someone would stop her if they had a better idea than she did.
Last edited by Alea Davenport on October 12th, 2012, 4:30 am, edited 1 time in total.
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Annihilation

Postby Shadowfang on October 10th, 2012, 4:10 am

Shadowfang leaned against the railing, looking out across the glassy sand beach into the virtual jungle beyond. When he had left for Denval, he did not know what to expect - a place like Sunberth, or a place like the Spires. Apparently, this place was modeled after the latter. Though... it didn't remind him of the treetop city. It did not seem like a city at all. Perhaps, he had thought, the city was through the jungle, past the thick growth. But from the general chatter he heard around him, this appeared to be... or have been... Denval. This place was not well kept by any sentient beast. It just seemed... overgrown. 

And it just felt wrong.

There was something in the air that made his most animal instincts recoil, urging him to be cautious. The air smelled funny, the sounds his sharp ears could hear coming from the place were unnerving. It all just felt like it should not be. He figured he should not worry, however. He always got anxious and excited when visiting a new place. This should have been no different. But it just felt weird. He glanced toward the girl, Aela, and asked "What is wrong...? Is this... Denval?" It would have normally been an open question, asked of anyone, but he knew Aela better than he knew the other man. The two had... "talked" on the voyage.

As the other two began to move ashore, Shadowfang spread his wings and took to the air, always trying to face away from the blinding sun, much more comfortable in the freedom of the air that me was on the ground. He felt both tense and at home because of the sight of the jungle before him. He remained airborne above the people walking on the beach below him. If they were going to be his "team" then it made sense that he should watch from above. He began to leisurely fly toward the thick overgrowth, waiting for one of the men below to enter it before he did, his fear overpowering his curious nature. His teeth clenched as he felt his left arm go numb again. What would they find once they reached the city?
Last edited by Shadowfang on November 3rd, 2012, 8:06 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Annihilation

Postby Tabarnac on October 12th, 2012, 4:19 am

FYI :
Hey, y'all. They're on a casinor, so there's only Hekh piloting it. No other sailors. So if you could edit your posts to reflect that, I'd appreciate it. Sorry I wasn't more clear.


Hekh, for his part, preferred the rock and roll of the sea under his feet, and so being ashore here felt doubly awkward. He looked around, still confused, both at the colorful water and the gigantism of the flora. He tugged on his dreadlocks, tied back with a leather thong, then looked to his passengers. They had paid, after all, and so he had brought them, but now there seemed to be nothing here and he would have been more than happy to get back on his casinor and sail away. Things were dangerous enough at sea since the storms, let alone upon the cursed shore.

"What shall we do?" he asked them. The girl was a native and the other was a monster. It seemed the girl would guide them, though it didn't look like she would find much to assuage whatever grief the city's passing might inspire in her.

The sun was high now, but there was no telling what they might encounter out there, and he was loath to be separated from his ship, the which was his ticket to life and freedom. But he supposed if he were to find his ship wrecked upon the shore, he would want to investigate too, for all the good it would do.

But Alea was already starting off, and the monster took to the air, so he cursed in his native tongue under his breath and hurried after her. From above, Shadowfang would get a different view of the same thing: overgrown foliage that would have been more at home, perhaps, in Falyndar than in Kalea. There were the tracks of animals, and certainly he could hunt. There were streams running down into the lagoon, and birds drank from it, so the chances were good that it was potable.

But with no real landmarks she recognized, it was up to Alea to decide to gather food, to hunt, collect water, or set up a camp. There were only animal tracks to follow...
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Annihilation

Postby Alea Davenport on October 24th, 2012, 12:08 am

When Hehk voiced the very question Alea had been wondering, she realized just how much she had been depending on having large numbers of Vantha to aid in the investigation of what had happened to Denval. The Captain would probably already be ordering people about, but now it was just the three of them. And since none of them was particularly inclined toward leadership, it fell to Alea, the token native, to decide what to do.

This was, of course, insane. No one in their right mind would put Alea in charge of anything. And yet, there did not seem to be an alternative. It finally dawned on Alea that no one was going to make this easy for her, that this was her quest now and it was her responsibility to see it succeed.

It only took a few steps for Alea to realize that getting lost would be just about the worst thing she could do, so she stuck to the edge of the lagoon until she came to the first stream. She let her horse drink as she spoke to Hekh (and filling Shadowfang in whenever he decided to land).

"Considering that we don't exactly know where we're going, we should probably make camp nearby. It's not far from the ship, and there's water nearby. I'd suggest we make short trips, less than a day's journey, in various directions from the camp until we get a better idea of what we're looking for." Denval had not been a big city; if something in Denval itself had caused its destruction, they should not have to go far to find it. That was, of course, assuming they had indeed landed where Denval's port used to be. The entire landscape had changed since she'd last been here. She doubted she could even find where her house used to be. "In the meantime, Shadowfang, can you hunt for our food? I think I remember that being one of your jobs on the ship. If that's not sufficient I can fish as well. While we're on the subject, does anyone know how to cook?" She wanted to make sure their basic needs were met--food, water, shelter, escape route--since finding whatever destroyed Denval wouldn't do them much good if they were too dead to enjoy the mystery.

Knowing she would feel better once she had a camp set up, she looked around for a suitable place. There was a flat space between a couple of trees not too far away, and she unloaded Beast's saddlebags (shamelessly disturbing her cat in the process), and unpacked her tent. The tent was large enough to fit them all comfortably, even if Shadowfang chose not to sleep outdoors. (She really wasn't sure what sort of sleeping arrangements he preferred. She supposed she would have to ask him.) When the tent was stable and not likely to topple over, she found a space a couple yards away and cleared away the dry twigs and leaves to make space for a fire pit. If Hekh was willing to help she would enlist his aid in gathering firewood, as she searched for stones to ring the fire pit in addition to fallen branches and sticks.
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Annihilation

Postby Shadowfang on October 30th, 2012, 6:05 pm

At the suggestion of a hunt, Shadowfang was off like an arrow from a bow, flying through the dense jungle, nearly keeping from massive tree limb to massive tree limb, just like in the Spires. When the fun of flying had lessened, he spread his wings one final time and parachuted to the ground, bending his knees as he landed to absorb the shock. Strange, he had not yet heard or smelled anything like an animal. He looked down at the tracks in the soft ground and lowered himself to the ground to look at them. Shadowfang was not a tracker, but these tracks were deep and easy to see. They should be easy enough to follow.

He got down on his hands and the balls of his feet, his rear hitched high into the air, like a four legged animal and followed the deep animal tracks, eyes to the ground and nose to the air. The tracks had a smell. It was unfamiliar; something he did not think he had ever smelled before. He followed until he caught a whiff of something that excited him. Blood. He continued, continued to follow the tracks, moving faster, until he came upon what he saw. A wounded animal, nearly dead, lying on the ground and breathing shallowly. It was of medium size, and something he had never seen before, but it looked edible enough. He looked back at the tracks. They went past the animal, deeper into the jungle, so it wasn't this wounded beast's. 

He drew his dagger and plunged it into the beast's throat, picked it up, and began carrying it back to the campsite. 

When he returned he unceremoniously dumped the beast onto the ground, looked at the other two, and pointed a clawed finger into the jungle. "Tracks go into the jungle. They are... different. I do not recognize them. They are not from an... animal I know about."
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Annihilation

Postby Gracen on November 11th, 2012, 10:20 pm

OOCSo sorry! I thought I had subscribed to the thread and y'all were just ignoring me. Now I will definitely see your posts.

The Zith disappeared for an uneventful hunt and returned, at least, with a strange thing, something like a wolf and something like a goat. Neither Alea nor Hekh had seen anything like it; not surprising for a sea-faring Svefra, but this was Alea's homeland transformed into something entirely foreign. But when he returned, Alea and Hekh had set up a camp and the sailor had gone down to sit on his boat, more comfortable there and making the excuse that he would get some fishing done in case Shadowfang couldn't find suitable prey.

But he wasn't long, and returned soon after the Zith with an odd fish and an odd look on his face.

"Water's brackish," he told them. "Not entirely salty, but not fresh either. Tastes strange. Like minerals or something. Strange fish, too." He lifted it for them to see, bright orange, with three eyes.

It was getting dark, and so he gathered firewood per Alea's request, hoping she was better at starting a fire than him, but assuring her that he could cook palatable food, at least.

"Seems like there isn't much to see but animals and plants twisted by those doom-storms. How long are we going to stay?"
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Annihilation

Postby Alea Davenport on November 17th, 2012, 8:05 pm

Alea couldn't help but feel annoyed at the sailor's pessimism. She hadn't come all this way to give up easily. She shot him a glare, but managed to refrain from snapping at him. After all, she reasoned, Hehk had not been on this journey from the beginning, and he couldn't be expected to know what it meant to her.

She explained her plan while she assembled twigs and sticks into the arrangement her father had taught her was best for starting a fire. "Something cause Denval to explode, well after the storm. You cold see the explosion from Avanthal." Her parents had told her the rest, about the evacuation, how they had been forewarned that something would happen so everyone could get out. "This was well after the storm. I want to know what caused that explosion, and I don't plan to leave until I find out."

When she had the sticks arranged the way she wanted then, she struck her flint and steel, trying to create a spark that would ignite the tinder. It had been a while since she'd had to light a fire, so it took her a few tries, but she soon got the hang of it and had a small flame cheerily licking at the kindling above it.

The strange animals should have been worrying, but to Alea, it wasn't much different than exploring a new land with strange creatures, which had been the whole point of leaving Denval in the first place. It was a little odd that the strange land this time was where Denval used to be, but if she could handle Talderean beasts and giant sentient apes, a few strangely-shaped animals would be easy. Right?

She decided to turn her mind to the problem of navigation instead. “Shadowfang, did you see anything else while you were flying around? Any landmarks, or any kind of pattern in the landscape?” She couldn’t quite wrap her mind around the idea that nothing had survived. Surely there would at least be rubble? Though it might be hard to see through all the trees... “Anyway, I think we can assume that whatever we’re looking for is either within the boundaries of Denval, or very close by, so all we have to do is search the area within the mountains.” Alea was trying very hard to stay optimistic. Denval hadn’t seemed that big growing up, but now that it was completely unfamiliar and overgrown with trees that all looked the same, it was going to be a lot of ground to cover. And since she didn’t know what they were looking for, it would be all too easy to miss a vital clue, or go in circles. But Alea knew they could do it! Optimism!
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Annihilation

Postby Shadowfang on November 24th, 2012, 7:57 am

Shadowfang blinked at her question. He had been listening intently to all that was said, but the problem here was his memory. He turned his eyes to the sky, as if trying to search his brain with his sight, and thought. He remembered hearing things in the thick, almost unnatural silence of the jungle. At times, sounds were all around him, but at other times, there was nothing, nothing at all. After a few moments, he nodded slowly. "I cannot say... what they were... but there were sounds. They did not sound like birds. Not any that I have ever heard of. Other than that the... forest just got thicker the... deeper I went. ...And the tracks. There were the tracks, but they... were the only tracks I saw... others were too small or not there. And that was enough talking for him. He was getting a bit better, but he still did not like the process of translating from his language to Common and back.

He wrapped his wings around his body and stared at the soon-to-be meals. They were going to burn them. He did not like his food burnt. There was no flavor, too dry, and it was hard to chew. He liked the meat raw, where the juices could ease the passage into his throat and the flavor could dance around on his tongue. All he wanted to do was eat. Eat and go home, though was conflicted about that last part. He was curious, wanted to learn more about this forest and what strange, weird creatures lived here, but his base, animal instincts did not like it. The place felt unnatural, like it should not be. Shadowfang understood that new places were supposed to feel odd and strange, like his transition from Xy to Sunberth to The Spires. But there was always something vaguely similar in between those places, something he could not put his finger on unless he thought about this forest.

This forest just seemed off. He could feel it in the air, almost like the odd feeling that the mist in the Spires had left many people with. This place just seemed... not of this world. Whereas Alea seemed excited to explore, Shadowfang suddenly felt much less so. "I do not like this place..."
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Annihilation

Postby Gracen on December 3rd, 2012, 9:02 pm

Indeed, the place that had been Denval was impossible. A close inspection would show large stretches of glassy, flat rock as if the gods had wiped clean a slate. But rocks had fallen down, foliage invaded with the apparent speed of a fungal infection. There were the animals and birds, the strange water of the lagoon. No, there was little if anything to remind a Denvali girl of the home of her youth. But Ivak was alive; magic afoot. And yet none of the trio had much in the way of magical training or knowledge to study their environs on that level, so all they could rely upon were their observations, which for the time being were frustrating.

"Is there a way," Hekh hazarded as the fire came alight and the world huddled darkly around its licking flames, "that we can triangulate some landmark, or where a landmark should be, from the shoreline? I mean, do you know where your house was? Do you know where your Captain lived? The lighthouse I remember is gone. The Stranger's Rest with its delicious degtine... also gone."

Perhaps she didn't like him or his methods, but he was trying to help.

"In any case, it will have to wait until morning. We won't find anything in this dark." He pulled his coat closer about him despite the relatively balmy air. He didn't like not knowing what surrounded him. At sea, he was at home. But this place was not even a comfortable landing.

But he had agreed to take them there. The Zith could escape by air, and Hekh by sea. But the Svefra was responsible at least for the girl, because Shadowfang couldn't carry her to safety and she couldn't climb her way out unless the terrain around Denval had been significantly altered, which didn't seem likely.
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