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No Enemies To Be Seen [Open]
Posted: Sun Aug 07, 2022 7:29 pm
by Imogen
Searing 40, 122
By the time Imogen Ward reached the gates of Drathera, the mists which had assailed the harbor for days had cleared, but the aftermath of the chaos mists was visible at a glance. The city's western approach showed signs of fortification; barricades made from spiked wood, supplemented with bags of sand and barrels of whatever happened to be lying about, a tactic undoubtedly conceived of during Ecith's prior struggles with the Imperial regiments. Ominous, ugly splatter marked the barricades, proof that they had not been raised without cause.
On the other hand, little of the wood and masonry around the gate showed more than light damage; more evidence that whatever had assailed the city was not of colossal size. On the other hand, one of the huge wooden barricades bore a huge burn mark, which continued for several meters before and beyond the impromptu wall. What manner of beast could have caused that?
When Imogen had left the city just weeks ago, the gates were open and unguarded; not a single member of the armies serving guard duty had seen any reason to bother travelers coming in and out of the country. Now there were questions; even citizens were being stopped, albeit respectfully, as the shaken city tried to gather information about the scope and shape of the disaster which had just occurred.
"Hoy! Foreigner? Name and travel!" one of the Orkhan soldiers called to Imogen as she approached. Seeing the sudden roadblock and checkpoint, her immediate instinct had been to simply sneak into the city; it wouldn't have been much of a challenge. Still, someone looking to apply for citizenship in a foreign land probably shouldn't start unnecessary trouble with the authorities. "State your name, purpose, and where you've come in from!"
”Imogen Ward” she replied, ”Late of the city-state of Zaichaer in Karnor; most recently back from, uh, family business in Gihah K'uvfoi'uv Fi'uv.” That wasn't a lie, technically or otherwise.
"That's... westerly, near the big river deltas? What news?"
”Still standing, when I left, but hard-pressed. There was some sort of... wind, six days ago, which froze the village's water, left it open to attacks by the fire Primal. I did what I could.” She didn't dare talk too much about the Vonaoid Koid, lest the guard start digging into why she had gone to a Primal's lair while on holiday. ”Returned to look for passage back to the continent and alert the Shield Army, but...”
Imogen didn't finish that thought. One would have to be blind not to see that Drathera had just suffered some kind of assault too- hell, even Imogen had noticed it.
"Another one." The Orkhan soldier spat, "And on the same day?"
The soldier thought about the matter for a moment, then decided that this kind of shit was above his pay grade. Imogen seemed harmless enough, but the General was going to want any information about the state of affairs in the villages. Plus...
"The Harbor's oeon'uv ohie" the man told Imogen, an Ecitherse expression which did not bear translating, "You need to get to the Third Shield command post and tell the officers what you saw in Gihah K'uvfoi'uv Fi'uv. If I give you directions, will you go there?" The man seemed strangely uncomfortable with the idea of just ordering her to go somewhere, which Imogen found a little endearing. Still, if the harbor was truly oeon'uv ohie, she was going to need to know more about what happened to the city.
”Yes, I will go now.” Imogen replied.
~~~
Two of the shield armies had a joint administrative building between the inner farm district and the harbor; unfortunately, this had spilled out into the streets, with temporary pavilions set up to process the arrivals of citizens coming with news and injuries. When she arrived, Imogen made her initial report to Ri'uvue Ohaip, the officer overseeing the intake, who directed her to wait in the plaza until his commanding officers determined whether they needed a statement. She made a point of indicating her willingness to provide assistance if required, but there seemed to be plenty of soldiery on hand.
To that end, she found an unoccupied bench in a shady corner of the plaza, with a grand view of the mountain, rearing up behind the buildings of the city, and settled in to wait.
Re: No Enemies To Be Seen [Open]
Posted: Thu Aug 11, 2022 11:33 pm
by Vinsue
Vinsue had come to the city before the mist storm in hopes of finding a teacher to help her learn more with the sword or spear. Her cousin had been so nice as to let her stay a few days and the invitation was made longer after the storm. For her family feared her traveling home so soon after the storm. As the trip could be dangerous and many dangers may have been awakened. But plans change as they so often do. Instead of looking for a teacher she was helping her cousin clean up. The worry was slowly eating at her. What had happened to her village, were they okay?
***
"Bonzi, I can't take it any more. I'm going to see if there's any news from home." Vinsue said, strapping her sword to her side.
"Good idea, but I don't see why you must take a weapon with you every time you leave." Bonzi said.
Vinsue rolled her eyes at the conversation she has had over 20 times this week. "Just be glad I'm leaving my spear behind. Besides, always be prepared."
"Honestly, what's the worst that can happen? It's not like a primal is going to be in the city. And if it was, it would kill you."
"What makes you say that?"
"Your stupid enough to attack but not skilled enough to do anything." Bonzi replied.
Ok maybe being stuck in a city was driving her mad but honestly who wasn't stressed right now? Instead of continuing this spiral of a conversation she decided to simply leave. Maybe Bonzi was right she wasn't ready to face a primal but plenty other dangers were possible. Besides, the sword was a great conversation starter.
Vinsue took her time as she descended the stairs as she was not wanting to get winded. She was shorter than the average citizen which meant the steps were a little wider than she would have liked but at least she wasn't a kid. Climbing these things at 5 years old would be a nightmare. A shadow passing over caught her eye, causing her to look up. Of course it was a Ci’uvan and its rider. Instantly her hand reached up to her scar. The first one she interacted with left its mark. But to be able to fly would make this trip so much easier.
Finally at the bottom she headed towards the guard stations thinking they might have some info. But as should be expected the stations were packed and lines stretched farther than she would be willing to stand in. Well she could go to a tavern later and change information then. But for now she would find a place to sit down and rest. As she was not ready to climb those stairs quite yet. Seeing a near empty bench she sat down. Vinsue could see the person she sat beside had been traveling recently. "Any news?" She asked.
Re: No Enemies To Be Seen [Open]
Posted: Tue Aug 23, 2022 11:42 pm
by Imogen
Imogen blinked as the bench she was on suddenly squirmed, bending beneath her, and she looked to her right just in time to see an unbelievably large woman sit down. Dragons above, the girl wasn't even Orkhan, and yet she dwarfed Imogen by nearly a solid foot. What did they feed the people here? Could this really all be down to dragon dung, like the people of the city claimed?
Well, speaking of dragons- Imogen wasn't quick to notice details, but it only took her a few seconds to realize that she was talking to a horned person. Some kind of dragonspawn, then, if not a dragon herself. What she wouldn't have given to travel back twenty years and tell her little Ork self that not only were the tales of dragons real, they were on practically every street corner in Ecith.
"Sorry," the Sunsinger answered, shrugging at the larger woman's question, "I just got into the city myself, and I don't know much. They're making me wait here to tell them what happened to-" Imogen almost said my village there, which was both a major faux pas for a foreigner and exactly the sort of thing which would have brought out Chief Oping's smuggest smile. "-the village I've been at. The mists there froze the rivers, almost destroyed the entire settlement."
That was the strangest part, to her. The Dreadmists were a danger everywhere. Never in so great a concentration as she'd seen here, to be sure, but little bits of threat, nonetheless. But to freeze the rivers and drive the Koidherd towards Gihah as they had done...? To Imogen, it bespoke some sort of intent, which the phenomenon of pure chaos simply should not have.
"Were you in the City when the mists hit?" Imogen asked, curious. The guards hadn't spoken to her long enough for her to gather much in the way of information about just what had happened here. "What's with the scorch marks? Were the dragons trying to burn the mists out, or some such?"
Re: No Enemies To Be Seen [Open]
Posted: Wed Aug 31, 2022 7:48 am
by Vinsue
The mist had frozen the rivers. This seemed slightly preferable to what happened to this city. Then again being a tropical region people are not used to the cold. She wondered how many people froze or if it was just the rivers that froze and the climate was left untouched?
But it raised the question of what had happened to her village, Ouno'uve. They were strong and smart, they would survive. She had to keep believing that statement. "Ice. That's definitely not good. How are they handling it?" She said
"I was in the city," She said. In response she chuckled at the observation or more the image of dragons burning the mists. Realizing that reaction was rude she rethought her response. "Unfortunately that would not work, and that is not what had happened."
She had been in the library when the mists had first hit but with all that happened as long as it had happened she got to see the effects.
"It lasted 3 days, the scorch marks are from dragons who changed both mentally and physically. They became invisible, and started destroying the town. Some of the others grew tails and claws and going completely feral." She said.
Actually this was a point she should have argued with her cousin. "I guess the best thing to note is to stay prepared. And for the most part if things fall without reason be prepared to fight a dragon you can't see."
She looked around at all the people. "Also lots of residents are missing. Word is the storm made them disappear. But there is part of a ship that turned to stone in shallow water. Or so I've heard. Haven't really had the time to check it out "
She suddenly remembered she wanted to test a theory but did not have her spear with her. It wasn't a big deal as she could test her theory later. It's not like the invisible dragons were all dead.
Re: No Enemies To Be Seen [Open]
Posted: Mon Sep 05, 2022 12:04 am
by Imogen
"Turned the dragons invisible?"
Now it was Imogen who was sounding rude, but she couldn't keep the incredulity from her voice. She'd never considered that dragons might be afflicted by the Dread Mists, but she was forced to begrudgingly confront the notion now.
The dragonflights, of course, were the most ancient and powerful of all the races of Ransera, beings between gods and mortals. Before she'd come to Drathera, she'd thought of them primarily as legends, but meeting the Librarians had been all the evidence she needed to know that at least some of the stories were true. She wasn't especially anxious to find out for herself exactly which of the other myths were also more than legend.
But the thought of one of those great wyrms, say, the ancient red Librarian she had met a month and a half prior, becoming chaos-warped and going feral like the other mist monsters? That turned her stomach, and no mistake. No wonder the scorch marks were facing the wrong way.
"Fires above and below, I don't know how you fight that." Frankly she wasn't all that sure how you'd fight a visible dragon, so the invisibility struck her as really piling it on. "But the river freezing was serious. They rely on it to keep back the primal, you see. Gihah and the Voniad Koid, they hate each other; even Gihah's death couldn't end their animosity. Had to get the river running again, or it would have trampled the village flat for sure."
The news of the disappearing residents was bad, of course, but the mention of the harbor confirmed her worst fears.
"Are there... any boats still sailing, then?"
If the ships were stuck at anchor in the harbor--or worse, petrified--she was going to have a big problem getting back to the mainland. It was like Ecith didn't want to let her go.
Re: No Enemies To Be Seen [Open]
Posted: Mon Sep 05, 2022 8:02 am
by Vinsue
"I know I would not have believed it either. I have always seen dragons as well, almost like gods. Mighty, majestic, magical, unkillable, maybe even invincible . Not that anyone had a good reason to want to kill one before this." She said, Honestly she believed this and she believed that since mom was a dragon then maybe she would have some of these traits. But thin all this happened. And no matter how great the dragon was. She saw them become affected by the mist. She saw them turn evil, and scariest of all she saw them die.
"Nobody was prepared to fight a full on dragon. Much less one we can't see but this city is strong and people far and wide came to help. I on the other hand wanted to know if there was a way to know if there is a way to reverse it. I had a theory that if I can collect the soul of one of the invisible dragons then they may be able to find out what happened and reverse it," She said.
She knew first hand how dangerous the primals are. And two having a turf war near a village would have definitely been a disaster. She nodded in understanding. She now understood it wasn't simply a lack of water issue. "Primals are a danger. At least the water got fixed? Hopefully before they had a chance to cross?" She asked. Vich'uvi, the Shadow Viper was the one she was most familiar with as that was the one who killed her mom. And the driving force behind her trying to learn how to fight and kill it.
"Yea, the boats that had protected enchantments on them are still afloat. There are also many foreign boats in harbor. Most are trying to help with the rock ships from what I hear. But again that is only word of mouth. I have not been over to the ports to see," She said.
Re: No Enemies To Be Seen [Open]
Posted: Sat Sep 24, 2022 11:17 pm
by Imogen
Gods? That was a new one.
Her time at the Pfenning had exposed her to takes on the draconic rooted in several different cultures. Zaichaer, of course, characterized them as monsters, if fabulous ones. The entire saga of the warrior who had bathed in dragon's blood and become immortal was a perennial favorite, though like every native Kathalan opera it seemed to end with everyone heartbroken and dead. She'd seen works out of Atinaw, adapted for the High City, and the dragons there seemed invariably viewed as aides, guides and companions to heroes, in much the same fashion that Ecithian legends treated elemental spirits.
But only the truly ancient greatwyrms were ever revered in a religious sense in Karnor. She wondered what it would be like for a citizen of Drathera to live in the shadow of the homes of beings they considered divine?
No time for cultural synthesis right now, though. Dr. Imogen Ward's thesis would simply have to wait for a better time.
"Yes, the mages of the village and I were able to break the curse before the fire-beasts could reach the village." It had been extremely close, and not without casualties. Imogen felt a faint pang of guilt, a brief moment of wondering- could more people have survived if she'd had more control of the Sunsinger magics? "It should be a while before the primal thinks to return. And anyway, I'm going to kill the damn thing."
Imogen almost blinked with surprise at her own words, but she felt their veracity at once. When she'd come face-to-face with the primal, she'd been frozen with fear, driven to frenzy. But her uncle had taught her more than once that you couldn't simply let that kind of fear prevail forever. If she didn't kill the thing, it was never going to stop haunting her.
"Well, eventually. It's pretty big. So what have you-"
The Sunsinger's words were cut short as a sudden gust whipped through the square-turned-emergency-military-station. Papers flew in the little pavilions set up by the officers, and people across the square instinctively looked up to see if something had just passed.
But there was nothing there.
Imogen felt a sudden pang of fear in her belly. "W-was that-"
Re: No Enemies To Be Seen [Open]
Posted: Sun Sep 25, 2022 8:38 pm
by Vinsue
Wait, did she just say she was going to kill a primal? Vinsue looked at the person she had sat beside, realizing that there was a lot more to her than had met the eye. But her determination wavered with the comment of its size.Vinsue realized they had that anger in common. She too was going to kill a primal just, she had a different one in mind. She was going to kill the damned snake that killed her mom. "Perhaps I could one day help you kill it. Then perhaps you can help me with the shadow snake." She said, but before she had a chance to say anything more something passed.
Perhaps it was just the wind. Hopefully it was just the wind. Something inside her said it was something far worse. Wind did not have a downward force. There was no mistaking it for anything other than the wind from the wings of a dragon. A dragon not seen. Vinsue immediately stood up hand on the hilt of her sword. "Unfortunately," She said. "Of all times to leave my spear at home." Her cousin would find this situation funny. He also will be mad that she went to fight. He was more protective than most and yet he shouldn't have. She was an adult after all.
True there were other spears but they were not her spear. They were not engraved with scrivening. This meant she could not try to catch the dragon's soul nor could she see if she could reverse the effects. She didn't want to harm a dragon but one life to save many was the cost.
"You stopped a primal right? Then this should be a walk in the park."
She immediately started to jog following the confused people and wind tossed trail. She hoped that perhaps she could do something. Even if it was just to be a distraction.
Re: No Enemies To Be Seen [Open]
Posted: Sun Oct 09, 2022 11:52 pm
by Imogen
"What-?" Imogen exclaimed as the larger girl sprung to her feet, causing the entire bench to wobble under the force of the sudden shifting of weights, "Wish you had your spear? You're not planning to attack that thing, are you?"
In truth, Imogen was only just adapting to the idea of an invisible dragon- but the sudden blast of wind, the overwhelming presence which had passed over the small assembly of Orkhan admitted of no other explanation. The soldiers in the square were, credit to their ranks, not panicking, but quickly forming up, watching the skies. Even the civilians present seemed to be trying to move out of the way, and many of them were suddenly sporting weaponry- not Reaved swords, but sturdy pikes, chakram, or shortbows. Though Imogen was no Sembler, she could see fitful glows of magic, runes lighting up in the streets below as the magically gifted of the population prepared to face the coming attack.
"I didn't stop the Vonaid Koid!" Imogen hissed after Vinsue, "The river did that, not me. I ran from the primal, okay? I got the hell away from that slouching mountain of fire and pain before it incinerated me!"
Maybe not the time for a rush of self-recrimination or an emotional confession about her own shortcomings, but the young warrior couldn't help but let slip a tinge of bitterness to her tone. It was one thing to be confronted with a monster you couldn't yet defeat, but quite another to be driven to blind terror by its presence alone. In her mind's eye, she could clearly see the great beast of fire and molten rock towering in the cavern, nothing between herself and it but the shimmering heat of the simmering air.
...speaking of which.
Imogen looked up, scanning the sky, but saw no sign of the phantom wyrm at all. Nothing.
Well, that was what they'd said had happened to the corrupted Greens. Still, it was disconcerting. Vinsue had begun to run after the beast, but was she, even? With no sign of the dreadwyrm save the commotion of its passing, how could one hope to know if they were tracking it? Imogen shook her head. It didn't matter- if the phantom dreadwyrm chose not to attack and they could not find it, fine. If it did reveal itself in an assault, better to be nearer than further, perhaps.
The Sunsinger let the power of Animus overtake her body and darted after Vinsue, easily catching the larger girl. With a flick of her wrist, she summoned her great golden spear, limned from tip to butt with the silver fire.
"Do you have any way to tell where it is?" Imogen asked, breathing heavily, "I don't know where to cast."
Re: No Enemies To Be Seen [Open]
Posted: Mon Oct 17, 2022 8:16 am
by Vinsue
"I have scrivening written on it and I wanted to test it." Simple, short but that's all she said. The reaction of the crowd easily answered Imogen's first question. Everyone was ready for the possible fight. Many of which had already fought an invisible dragon or crazy person in the past few days.
Vinsue stopped running as she heard what Imogen had to say. Now was a time to track and prepare for an attack not a time for a speech but if the other could spill the truth then she should help a little. She listened as she looked around before turning to the shorter person. She was not mad or scornful. "To be brave is to face your fear, otherwise you are not afraid you are bravo which means you a fake. To run means you're smart. But sometimes even the smart must stand or fall"
Vinsue then turned away again and listened. Beast hunting was something she was known for. True tracking and killing was easier when one could see their target but fear not this was only complicated for some. "You gotta teach me how to summon weapons like that." She said, This would be extremely handy right now. "If I'm not mistaken someone with Semblance should be able to see it and." As she said this a dust storm raised from the dirt as a mage made the dragon visible by covering it with mud. "Like that."
Vinsue immediately began looking around for something to draw with. Finding a stick with a chard end and a bottle she immediately took it. "Keep it distracted." She said. True she did not have her spear but she had a dragon shard and some Scrivening knowledge. She took a note on the dragon's location as she began drawing a circle with lines and script. Other Scrivening mages noticed and started drawings of their own. She would place the bottle in the middle. "Pray this works" she said