• Mature • [Seasonal Event] Dark Hearts B: Sharp Tongues

[Pegasus]

81st Ymiden, 718

"Ah, shit, will you just light!!"

That was the cry from Philip Carey. As he saw them coming, he knew that he had to act. There was a fleet of darkness coming to Scalvoris and it was his job to let people know what was happening. That they were being attacked.
"Oh, no.. no no no..."

The flint and tinder fell from his shaking hands as he realised that the fleet of darkness wasn't coming to Scalvoris. It was already here. The creature in front of him, swathed in shadows and bathed in darkness raised a hand and Philip Carey realised that the stars were really beautiful.

And then, as he wondered what that warm red liquid running down from his neck was, Philip Carey realised no more.

No warning flame was lit, yet a flare of bright, incandescent moonlight burst up into the sky. It was the middle of the night when they came. Sliding in on the ink-black water and barely visible. Black wood ships, black sails caressing the Ymiden breeze and their carefully crafted hulls cutting through the water almost silently. They had a number of targets that night, each place they went to they looked for something specific and each member of their crew with the same goal in mind.

No one saw them coming.

Like ink stains in blackness, silently the fleet of ships spread out that night. Three groups of them, three directions. They moved like specters and when they arrived, their crew moved. Dark sails, dark hearts.

Dark deeds.

82nd Ymiden, 718

Three places on Scalvoris were known to have been cut off. Faldrass, Immortals Tongue and Ishallr. Surrounded by black sailed ships and not responding to anything. Ships which had sailed near to them reported that the black sails were there, but there appeared to be no crew, not anywhere in sight. Yet, going near there provoked a feeling of deep unease in those on the water.

The Elements were staging a strike, but they asked for volunteers. Those who would be prepared to work a "stealth" mission. Each group who had signed up was assigned a leader (denoted by a * in the listing) - either a council member or a senior member of the Elements. They would be dropped off and were told, very clearly, that this mission was to help Scalvoris, but that it was likely to be dangerous. There was no intelligence to be gathered, no information which had been found on the black sailed ships, or on the reasons behind them arriving. So their mission was simple.

Get in there under the cover of stealth. Find out what was going on. Report back to the Elements regularly via the Echo Scroll given to the Group Leader and find out what in Idalos is going on.

And so.... that was where they found themselves. This group.

Immortals Tongue

Seeped in history, swathed in mystery - this place was where the Immortals themselves walked - or so the legends went. All sorts of unpleasant things had happened here, in recent history as well as ancient. It was here that this group was sent, to find out what was going on in the island of the shrines.

They arrived at dawn.

Kura was in charge of this group. They had each been given very limited time to get ready and so they were flown over on large black birds. Sigh they were called and it meant that they were dropped off on the eastern beach, just south of the mountains. From there what they did was, of course up to them. There were no indications of the blackship sailors here.

There was no indication of anyone.

OOC Info

!	Message from: Pegasus
	Welcome to our latest adventure! I hope you enjoy it and have a lot of fun here! This group consists of: Kura ~ Group Leader Alexis Rowan Devin One week between mod posts. I will post again on the 17th June No posting order. Going with a three strikes and you're out Please don't control the NPCs. Have fun! PM me if there's a question.

Objectives

!	Message from: Objectives
	As a group you must decide a tactic. a) What SPEED you are going? (Slow, Medium, Fast) b) What level of DETECTION (Low, Medium, High) (will impact Speed) c) What level of CAUTION (low, medium, high) (will impact Speed and Detection)

[Kura Wolfsdotter]

When word of the black sailed ships reached Scalvoris proper, Kura hadn't hesitated in joining the response teams. When she had been put in charge of a team, she had simply nodded and mounted the Sigh that had been assigned to her. Her group had winged out over the Immortals Tongue, which had been a source of trouble all it's own in the past, and when the Sighs got close enough to the ground, Kura jumped off her Sigh and landed in the grass, waiting for the rest of her team to join her. She hadn't spoken a word since the mission had started, but she figured now was the best time for introductions.

The Mortalborn was wearing her masterwork black leather armor, the black shirt, pants, and boots she wore under it, and the black hooded overcoat that had been designed to go with the set. There had been a minor modification made to her gauntlets to allow her talons to poke through, and her helmet was designed so she could wear her Nights Glow Glasses under it, which she was as it was quite dark at the time. She also had her bow, quiver full of arrow, and the Echo Scroll she had been provided with. In addition, the moment she landed her Velduris familiar, the bigger than average black wolf Phelan, materialized next to her.

When her team joined her, she looked around at them. She had worked with Devin a bit before, and had met Rowan, but the girl was entirely new to her. "For those who don't know, I am Councilor Kura Wolfsdotter. I've been to this island before, I helped stop a horde of rampagin' moss-monsters. However, we have no information about our current threat. We'll need to prioritize caution over everything else, we can't find out anything about the threat if we're dead or captured. Don't be worryin' about speed, anythin' that's happenin' here is already happenin', and us gettin' caught because we got hasty won't help anyone." she said, her tone calm, cold, precise. "Now remember, our job is information gatherin'. No unauthorized heroics, no runnin' off alone, nothin' like that, we clear?" she said, her very nearly a demand. Kura was clearly used to being in charge.

► Show Spoiler

My vote for priority: (Though Kura isn't making it seem like a vote, that's just IC)

Caution: High
Detection: Medium
Speed: Low

[Devin]

When Devin heard that ships with black sails were approaching Scalvoris and that the Elements were looking for volunteers, he immediately decided that he was going to be one of them. He didn’t volunteer because he wanted to help the frightened citizens of Scalvoris and take care of the threat of course, no, he volunteered because it seemed like there would be a lot to be gained from this so-called stealth mission. He had never been on Immortal’s Tongue or any of the other weird and mildly scary places that were part of Scalvoris before, but that didn’t matter. He liked seeing new things, and he was sure that he wouldn’t get lost. This, he thought, would be the start of a great adventure!

He was normally quite a flamboyant young man that wanted to attract attention everywhere he went, but this time he was actually wearing sensible clothes in muted colours that would allow him to blend in with his surroundings. He had a pair of leather boots and a set of leather armour on (and a shirt and pants and underwear and such of course). On his head he was wearing a black skullcap and a brown leather hat on top of it. He had mostly put the skullcap on so that he would be able to pretend to be a pirate in case they were discovered and claim that he wanted to work together with them. He was pretty sure that those ships were pirate ships. What else could they be?

He had also brought an eyepatch that he had stuffed into a pocket of his pants for now, and there was a short sword at his belt. It was of masterwork quality, and it was more expensive and more effective than any weapon he had ever owned before, and thus just perfect for this mission. There were also a few other items in his pockets, such as a piece of rope, the enlightened leaf he had found during his adventure with the magical tree and a small bottle of rum (in case he got thirsty or needed to drown his fears in alcohol).

Devin was pretty sure that he would be chosen as the leader for the mission because he was quite stealthy and good at disguising himself and deceiving people on top of it, so he was incredibly disappointed when he realized that that Kura woman would be in charge. He hopped onto one of those huge black birds nevertheless and enjoyed the ride. He even screamed in delight as they flew over the island, and he secretly decided that he would get such a bird one of these trials. He loved birds! A giant bird would be much better than a stupid horse!

“Devin Thorn, naturalist and swordsman, at your service”, he introduced himself to the rest of the team and saluted. He’d met Kura and Rowan before, during the incident with the tree. Rowan had seemed like a nice and funny guy to him back then, but he didn’t know Alexis at all, and he wasn’t sure what to make of her. She was a bit of a liability in his opinion. “I agree that we need to be cautious! What was so frightening about those moss-monsters though, if you don’t mind the question?” he asked because moss-monsters seemed about as frightening as a bunch of Tunawa to him (and probably belonged to the same species, too!). “Do you think that we’ll encounter them again?”

“Yes, ma’am!” he replied as Kura talked about no running off alone and other such things, as if he wanted nothing more than to obey her and follow her every command – which wasn’t true at all, of course!

Off Topic

Caution: High
Detection: Medium
Speed: Low

[Rowan]

At this point, Rowan should have known better than to volunteer for things on this Seven-be-damned island. He'd listened to Amaris twice and had to deal with crazy avians and trippy shit involving a weird tree and colours, and then he'd gone to explore that bloody Vault... he wasn't going to forget those experiences in a hurry. And yet here he was, again, doing something that was potentially stupidly dangerous and why? Well, mainly because it was potentially stupidly dangerous and he was a glutton for punishment. He'd come to like the adrenaline - and the reward - that came with these adventures and the good thing was that he didn't even have to drink loads of alcohol and punch someone in the face first!

So he'd volunteered, offering himself up to the whims of the Fates yet again in the hopes of doing some good for the island that he'd chosen to live on. The potential rewards were definitely a good motivator. He wasn't wholly selfish, only concerned about personal gain but he couldn't be said to be anywhere near noble either.

The young man had ensured that Janus would be taken care of, the monkey's babysitter found through some contacts of Amaris' so he didn't have to worry about the little simian. The Temple Monkey had been oddly upset at their parting, unsettling Rowan a little as it seemed ominous. His unconventional pet could predict things with uncanny accuracy sometimes before they occurred. It might just have been that the little thing was both smarter and more observant than he - a definite possibility - or he had some ability that the blond didn't understand. Either way, he'd relinquished him with more than a little worry before he went off to pack.

After his prior adventures, the young man had learned that anything, genuinely anything could happen out there and so if he couldn't be prepared for everything, he wanted to be prepared for as many eventualities as possible. Thus, he eventually squashed into his pack basic supplies like a tinderbox, his two waterskins, toiletries and his small cooking pot, which he didn't intend to use as a helmet this time. To go along with his small pot, he'd gotten himself an onion and two potatoes, reasoning that they'd need food and that a little soup never went amiss. He'd wisely invested in a first aid kit, which was squashed in his bag with everything else. He'd packed his black shirt as a change of clothes and opted for his dark blue one for now, covering himself up with the Cavini Cloak that he'd acquired after the incident in Sweetwine. He'd chosen to bring his combat knife with him as well because even if he didn't really know how to use it, it was better to have a weapon than not; he'd learned that when he was attacked by a wooden spider.

The last item that he brought with him was an odd one, the small object slipped into the pocket of his pants so it wouldn't be lost. He thought of it as his 'chill' leaf. He'd found it in his pack after Sweetwine, tossing stuff out afterwards and initially forgetting about it. He'd rediscovered it after a few trials, the leaf still in perfect condition and it had proved an item of fascination for him. He'd taken to carrying it more out of curiosity than anything else, slowly learning that when he had it in his possession that he seemed calmer, more in control; it made him chill out. Given his temper and how detrimental it could be, he'd decided that it was a very sensible thing to bring. He was likely to need a cool head on this mission.

When he finally set off, the young man found himself directed to a big black bird that they called a Sigh and which after he'd been up in the air on it, Rowan was inclined to call a 'Scream'. The flight was both terrifying and exhilarating; he preferred it to a boat ride but that was mainly because he didn't feel the need to spew his guts up at any given moment. Still, when the bird reached land again, he clambered off awkwardly and fell to sprawl on the grass that Kura had landed on with relative grace. He got up hurriedly, dusting himself off and running a hand through his blond hair with a sheepish grin.

"I'm fine, just a little overbalanced in case anyone was wondering," he explained, moving forward to join the others. Kura and Devin he'd encountered in Sweetwine although he couldn't say that he knew them. The girl was a total stranger but it didn't make much difference to him. He gave her a cursory glance before turning his attention to Kura, their leader. She explained the situation and what they needed to do, while also outlining what they shouldn't do. Rowan nodded along, wondering what unauthorised heroics entailed exactly. Would that be like what he'd done with Sephira when she'd been attacked by the birds in the woods or when he'd attacked a giant wooden spider for Amaris? He sure hoped not because then he couldn't make any guarantees. Although, he didn't know these people so he probably feel a pressing need to save them if they encountered danger.

"I'm Rowan, I... uh, seem to keep getting involved in this kind of thing," he said by way of introduction. "I hope that I've got enough experience to deal with anything... weird and troublesome. I do think that we need to be careful though. No sense getting ourselves noticed by moving too fast either. Sounds about right to me, Kura, but you sound like you know more about this than me anyway."

He gave Devin an odd look when he asked about what made the moss monsters frightening. He didn't see why it was relevant. How to deal with them if they encountered them again? Sure, sensible question. Why they were scary? No, definitely down there on the list of priorities. He didn't say anything though, just wondered what had prompted so an unusual query.

Off Topic

Caution: High
Detection: Medium
Speed: Low

[Pegasus]

I am the assassin, with tongue forged from eloquence
I am the assassin, providing your nemesis
On the sacrificial altar to success, my friend
Unleash a stranger from a kiss, my friend
No incantations of remorse, my friend
Unsheathe the blade within the voice
............my friend

Fugazi hated the Immortals and everything to do with them. Loathed them with a passion and intensity which almost certainly meant that he had been wronged by them in the past. Maybe he had, but no one asked him.

Or, more precisely, no one asked him and lived.

So, he had been charged with destroying Immortals' Tongue and it was a job he was more than happy to take. He would do his job, execute his plan perfectly. He knew what he was going to do, because they were not simple raiders, no. They had planned and prepared this for a long time. Walking among the Scalvoris residents for seasons now, questioning where they could, murdering where they wanted to. Fugazi looked upon it all, the dark cynicism of the Beast, the seductive cruelty of Raven and he felt like any parent would, gazing upon his children.

Except, of course, he was not actually their father. That would require intimacy with someone alive and breathing and Fugazi so preferred his lovers to be neither of those things.

They made their way through, to the place where the ultimate irony could be unleashed. He did not pause, but when keepers of their shrines came out and challenged him, he acted. It had to be quick, sadly, and he sang to them as he took his pleasure then left their bodies there, hopeful that he would be able to collect them up on the way out. Because his job could not be delayed. Not only would he burn Immortals' Tongue, of course, but as the elder and the greatest of them all, he would be the one to set in motion the Plan. The Reason for this. And that?

Death to all who walked on these accursed lands.

82nd Ymiden, 718

And so, the group landed and Kura decided that they would move slowly, with high caution and making sure that they kept their eyes open. Tihs would mean that their progress was slow, but that they would find things out along the way and that less of them were likely to die ~ hopefully! Kura introduced herself and immediately took charge.

Devin had subdued clothing and an eyepatch and so he was most definitely well prepared! He had his armour and weapon ready, which was a good thing, he asked questions of what they were doing and then he made it seem as though he was very much On Board with The Boss! Rowan seemed a touch more pragmatic about it, glancing at Devin a little oddly, but he was ready and willing to get going and do this. Whatever this was.

And so, they moved. Slowly, cautiously, eyes wide open. And as the light of dawn landed on them, their long journey began. There were tracks which were fairly easy to follow, here and there. A group, maybe ten or more, had made their way through here. The direction they seemed to be heading was towards the middle of the island. Towards what, exactly, it was hard to tell. Maybe it would become more apparent the closer they got.

Maybe they'd never get there. Who knows?

This being Immortals Tongue, of course, they passed a lot of shrines. Most of them were small and untended but as those who knew this place would be aware of, there were always those who tended their shrines, priests and priestesses who stayed here a short or very long time. Fanatics. Devotees. It all depended on your perception, really. They would almost certainly come across one or two of those, no matter what route they took.

And, indeed, they did

She was a young woman, dark of hair and with a black tattoo on her wrist in an intricate and delicate pattern - depicting who she was a follower of, should they know such. Of course, she wasn't going to tell them anything because she was dead. Very, very dead. Splayed out over the stone altar, she was shrunken and seemed to have been desiccated. And judging by the physical evidence left behind, desecrated too.

Whoever did this had committed the worst of atrocities against the dead. Lifeless eyes saw no one and her sunken face and cracked lips could speak none of her truth.

Consequences This Round!

Positive
Taking Charge! Unlocked: Kura stepped up to the role of leader. Plot point at the end!
Big Boy Scout! Unlocked: All pcs have come very prepared. Plot point at the end!
Team Player! Unlocked: All pcs have shown themselves as team players. Positive consequence!
Good Questions! Unlocked: Devin asked sensible questions. Positive consequence!
Hitting The Nail On The Head Unlocked: Rowan summed up why anyone ever joins these threads perfectly. Plot point!

Map

Map of Immortals Tongue

► Show Spoiler

NPC

Your opponent is: Fugazi
At the moment, you know the following about him:

• He is not a very nice man

OOC Info

!	Message from: Pegasus
	I will post again on the 24th June No posting order. Going with a three strikes and you're out Alexis has missed one round Please don't control the NPCs. Have fun! PM me if there's a question.

Objectives

!

Message from: Group Objectives

You each have eight points to spend, individually. You must decide how your pc is going to spend them. Please be clear in your post what you are doing. More than one pc may perform the same action - and it might lead to different clues! Please note - this a must do objective. Action Cost Investigate the murdered woman briefly 2 Investigate the murdered woman thoroughly 3 Investigate the shrine she was killed at briefly 3 Investigate the shrine she was killed at thoroughly 4 Explore the nearby area 3 Search her camp briefly 2 Search her camp thoroughly 6 Look for tracks 3 Look for clues outside the immediate area 3

!	Message from: Individual Objectives
	Please note: These are can do objectives. Kura: Use the words: movement, magnificent, mango and mathematics in your next post Devin: Use the phrase "people say the words 'I love you' far too easily, don't you think?" in your next post in a way that makes sense. Rowan: Make your next post 500 words or less.

[Kura Wolfsdotter]

Kura smiled at Devin and Rowan as they agreed with her plan, then let out a quiet laugh as Devin asked about the Mossters. "Fair question, as they don't sound threatenin', do they? There were corpses, human and animal both, taken over by a moss made by Lisirra, the Plague-Lord. You had to dismember or burn them, as they didn't feel wounds. There's was no intelligence, just feral savagery." she said, her tone grim. "We lost two Elements, and several of us were injured, but we managed to destroy the source of it all. Or at least, we hope we did." she said, before shaking her head. "There's been no reports of any of them, though, so I doubt we'll run into them."

As the group made their way down the island, following tracks that seemed just a little too obvious for her liking. Phelan ranged out ahead of them, his movement silent and stealthy as only a wolf on the prowl could be, though he kept talking in her head about how he had smelled a mango before they took off. He had developed a fixation on the scents of fruits lately, but eventually, she shushed the wolf's inner monologue and got him to focus on the task at hand. Eventually, they found their way to Famula's Shrine unchallenged, only find the local guardian dead. "Magnificent. A pity this should be our first real sign." she said, looking over her shoulder at the others. "We're goin' to pause a bit and search. Body, camp, shrine. I'm going to look around for tracks and other signs. So far, this as all been a bit too easy to follow for my likin'." she said, before she and Phelan headed into the camp. She searched the camp for a brief moment, looking for what stuck out. One of the others would be able to dig for deeper clues. Once she had given the camp a once over, she and Phelan went into the area surrounding the murder sight.

Tracks, clues, any sign of other life. The pair searched for anything out of the ordinary in the area surrounding the camp, shrine, and murder site. Nobody was perfect, everyone left clues, something she could use. She just had to find it. When that was done, she scoured the same area again, this time looking for tracks. If she found some that pointed at their target, she'd use Unshakeable Tracker to be able to keep from having any chance at losing them. The sooner they had this lunatic ended, the better for everyone involved. Still though, she doubted this would be a simple matter of mathematics, not some "kill one lunatic, save hundreds of innocents" type of deal.

[Devin]

For now, until he knew what exactly was going on, Devin decided, it would be best to follow the Kura woman and behave, so he trudged after her, occasionally casting a somewhat wary glance at her wolf, as if he expected the terrible beast to try and take a bite out of him any time. He looked at the nature around them too of course, because he wanted the others to believe that he was a real naturalist and not just a criminal looking for treasure!

Before long they were standing in front of some sort of shrine, and Devin turned his head - only to suddenly find himself facing a dark-haired woman that was lying motionlessly on the ground. He looked at her for a moment, furrowing his brow and then he abruptly made a step back as he realized why she wasn’t moving and why her skin looked so weird.

“She’s dead”, he informed the others somewhat stupidly, stating the obvious, and then he knelt down next to her and began to examine her quite thoroughly because his curiosity had gotten the better of him. He checked if she had anything with her, if there was anything in her pockets, if she had any wounds, and he checked the ground beneath her as well, because he didn’t want to overlook anything – anything that might be of value.

“She’s a Blessed of Famula”, he told them in a tone that was unusually bright because he liked knowing something that they didn’t. “Faith has a tattoo just like that”, he explained. “Maybe the one who killed her has something against Famula – or the Immortals in general? I heard that there is a whole city full of Immortal-haters somewhere”, he rambled and abruptly broke off because he had forgotten how that city was called - and because he realized that he ought to focus on the mission, for now.

Next, he decided to conduct a brief investigation of the shrine that the woman had been killed at and her camp. Even though the dead woman interested him the most, her surroundings might provide further clues as to what had happened on the island – and further opportunities to increase his wealth. Once he had done that, he turned to Rowan, a bright smile on his face and informed him, “People say the words ‘I love you’ far too easily, don’t you think? I’ll say them anyway. I love you – or rather, she loves you – that woman we met during the adventure with the magical tree!”

A few trials earlier he had set up his false fortune telling business in the town square again, and Rynata had walked into his tent. He had told her that the love of her life would be a blonde man with blue eyes, and well, Rowan happened to have blonde hair and blue eyes, so he'd spontaneously decided to play matchmaker!

[Rowan]

Rowan stuck his hands in his pockets, trudging alongside the others as they set off, following tracks that even he could see and he was no tracker. The prints were distinct enough and the area they covered was sizeable. Whoever or whatever they were, it looked like they far outnumbered the little group of travellers. Kura, their apparent leader, had a wolf but if they ran into trouble, he wondered how many opponents it could take on at once. If they were going to face lots of people or whatever, he didn't fancy his chances; the young man felt underprepared.

As they walked, he glanced around frequently, looking ahead in case whatever they were following in the footsteps of was there but also glancing behind, paranoid that something would sneak up on them. Now that he was here, he wasn't too pleased with his decision to come. There was something off about this and that sense of unease only increased when they came across the shrine and the dead body that was there.

Devin's rather excited exclamation hardly felt necessary as inching close to the corpse, he could see that the skin looked dehydrated. Surely nothing alive could have that sort of appearance. He had no idea how long she'd been dead but his eyes skimmed over her quickly, the blond not really wanting to take in too many details. His gaze danced down her body, searching for any sign of what had caused her death but certain... violations seemed evident and he blanched, his brief examination coming to an end as he shuddered. Sticking his hands back into his pockets and hunching his shoulders, he went off to investigate the woman's camp instead.

He walked around it first to gain a sense of what was present before he crouched to examine things in greater detail and rifle through things. Maybe she'd had supplies, maybe her killer had rifled through here as well and inadvertently left something behind or maybe by some insane chance she'd kept some record of what had gone on on the island, noting down when anything unusual occurred. Rowan was hopeful that he'd find something of use and so his search was a thorough one, at least partially motivated by a desperate desire not to be near the corpse.

When he thought he'd searched through everything he could, the young man wandered back towards the shrine, doing his best to avoid looking at the dead woman as he met up with Devin.

There was a time and a place for certain words and attitudes and so Devin's declaration felt... highly inappropriate given their current situation. Once again, he found himself regarding him oddly, even as he tried to decipher his statement. Amaris was no woman and his next thought, Sephira hated his guts. He had no idea what had prompted the odd declaration. “That’s… nice, I think. Why are you telling me this exactly, mate? Especially now when we’re… here… with a corpse,” he questioned cautiously.

[Pegasus]

Who decorates the scarf with the fugi knot?
Who camouflaged emotion in a thousand yard stare?

Assassing

Who gouged the notches from the family tree ?
Who hypnotised the guilt in career rhythm trance?

Assassing

Assassing

Fugazi walked, leaving a trail behind him and he did not care that he did. Let them come, he would end them. Let them come, he would feed on them and when they were dead they would serve him in every way possible ~ so much more versatile than the living. He glanced over as the volcano erupted and as the spewing fire shot into the air for all to see, Fugazi was pleased. It meant that the Plan could happen.

The Beast would have his revenge on Smooglenuff. Raven would seek the relic of Ralaith she so desired and their combined actions would, here, culminate in the utter destruction of Scalvoris. But not a quick one, no. No, the deaths would be slow, painful and wonderful, beautiful to watch and in the aftermath, the whole island would be his.

Swirls of ether moved around him and he kept moving. He did not speak, he did not need to. He was Fugazi and he would not allow anyone or anything to stop him. They strode, purposefully, forward and they headed towards the very middle of the island.

Towards the ruins where the first group of archaeologists had disappeared.

82nd Ymiden, 718

As they followed the trail - which was easy to follow, Kura was correct, they got to see the sight of Faldrass volcano erupting. It exploded outwards in a gust of fire and lava and detritus. There was a group on there, of course, on the island in the way that they were on this one. Was this part of the whole reason for the attacks? They probably didn't have enough information to tell, in truth. But Kura, at least, had been on this place before and she knew where the ruins were.

And the more they followed them, the more obvious it became where they were going. And then, they found the murdered priestess.

Kura searched for tracks, but not before giving the camp a once-over glance. That brief glance told her a lot, in fairness. The woman was minimalist to the point of sparse. But in the camp was a small dagger which caught the Mortalborn's attention. It glinted and looked to be very well cared for. It wasn't ornate but it was out of place among the priestess' things.

Of tracks, there were lots. Kura was right, this was easy. She was able to identify who she believed the leader was - and to determine what he had done. She got his scent, there was no worries with that - but she knew enough to know - he wasn't worried about being caught. In a way, he had made it easy for her - and easy for them to know what he had done to and with the body.

Outside the area, Kura found that at least one of his people wasn't as keen on his actions as perhaps they might be assumed to be. Or, they'd eaten something bad - either way, someone had vomited here and if she took the time to notice, it was like they were retching up the meager contents of an empty stomach.

Devin, meanwhile, had a look at the murdered woman. He ascertained that she was a worshipper of Famula but as he looked at her he saw that there was also a mark on her chest. Silver, in a pattern not unlike a shattered frozen lake, or some such. It seemed the poor woman was twice marked and by possibly a strange combination of Immortals. It made more sense, though, when he examined the shrine. It was certainly not a shrine to Famula but was, in fact, a shrine to Ziell. Not all of the shrines were easily identifiable, but this one was as it bore the Immortal's name, just in a small engraving on it.

Whilst Devin didn't spot the knife that Kura did in the priestess' camp, he did find a small journal. It appeared to be blank - next to it was a half empty pot of ink and a pen.

Rowan cast his eye briefly over the murdered woman and he noticed that there were bruises on her wrists where she had been held down. Then, he made his way to the camp and he searched, thoroughly. Or rather... he didn't.

Because Rowan quickly noticed something which the other two had missed. Whilst this was a camp, it appeared to be almost hastily set up. When he thoroughly inspected it, he realised that this was a fake camp, set up to distract. The actual camp, after a bit of searching, was hidden away and covered over. And there, Rowan found a camp of a messy, regular person. But the real clue?

It was a bedroll shared by two.
And so, they had clues and they had a direction. Unfortunately, what they also had was a situation as a few minutes later they found that the entire island they were on shook from the rumble of the volcano on Faldrass. There, ahead and in the general direction of the middle of the island was a low, deep grumble and the ground they were on undulated. Like this island was collapsing, almost.

They had a choice.

As the very earth beneath them trembled, they could go forward to the middle of the island and follow those who were doing this, or they could get the heck off of here. If they tried to get back, they might just have time. if they tried to go forward, they might just do something. But either way. They needed to do something - and fast.

Fugazi, meanwhile, let out a sniff and his lips curled into a smile. "My bride approaches," he said, softly.

Consequences This Round!

Positive
Rising to the challenge! Unlocked: All pcs met their "can do" objectives! Well done. The team has earned a "Stroke of Luck" in my next post!

Unknown
Betrothed; Fugazi and Kura? Hmmm. Well, he seems to think so. I wonder why?

Map

Map of Faldrass

► Show Spoiler

NPC

Your opponent is: Fugazi
At the moment, you know the following about him:

• He is not a very nice man

OOC Info

!	Message from: Pegasus
	Apologies for the delay! I will post again on the 7th July No posting order. Going with a three strikes and you're out Alexis has missed two rounds Please don't control the NPCs. Have fun! PM me if there's a question.

Objectives

!

Message from: Group Objectives

Decide on a plan. However, how you decide on this will be determined by posting order. Therefore, please adhere to the following: If you post Then decide... This is in the sentence you start with.... First Whether you stay and investigate or leg it home "It is obvious that we must, in this moment...." Second Whether you explore here some more or move immediately "As for our surroundings, I suggest we..." Third Whether you move fast and risky or slow and cautious "In terms of speed, it is imperative that we are...." Please note that each of these decisions is possible depending on what the first decision is - just tell me what you decide and I'll work it into my next post. There will be significant consequences for the rest of the thread depending on what you choose.

!	Message from: Individual Objectives
	Please note: These are can do objectives. Kura: Have your pc braid her hair Devin: Have your pc do a headstand Rowan: Have your pc scratch his bottom.

[Devin]

Rowan wanted to know why he was telling him this, and Devin grinned at him and proclaimed, “There’s nothing wrong with a little chat in front of a corpse. The corpse can’t hear us anymore. Besides, I wasn’t sure when I would see you again. You should really give her a chance! She’s nice!” That she was. Rynata had turned out to be an exceptionally useful involuntary accomplice. She was intelligent, she was kind of rich – and he really, really needed either Tio or Rowan to fall in love with her so that she wouldn’t show up at his tent one trial and demand her money back. He had already spent it!

Most people would agree that Devin was easily distracted and had a hard time focusing on the task at hand sometimes, and they were right. Instead of going back to the corpse and examining it further right away, he eyed the ground in front of him, and then he did a headstand. Unfortunately it didn't go quite as planned, and he fell over after just a trill. He rubbed his behind that was hurting rather badly now with a sheepish grin on his face, and then he quickly hurried over to the corpse again and searched it. He soon discovered a few more interesting things.

“Look at that!” he told Rowan and the Kura woman and pointed at the silver mark on the woman’s chest. “Do you think that’s a Blessing as well? Faith has three blessings, but none of them look like that!” He didn’t wait for their answer, but went on to inspect the shrine itself because a part of him was actually interested in finding out what had happened. “I think that’s Ziell’s blessing!” he informed thus showing them that he could actually occasionally be useful. “That’s a shrine to Ziell! The engraving says so! Maybe whoever killed her really hates Ziell?” he mused.

Things were going well so far, Devin decided as he grabbed the journal, the ink and the pen, although he was a bit disappointed that he pirates hadn’t shown up as he had really wanted to show off his masterful deception skills, to be honest. Everything changed a few minutes after they had finished inspecting the camp though. The entire island began to shake, and the thief let out a most unmanly scream before he turned to his companions again and informed them in no uncertain terms, “It is obvious that we must, in this moment think of ourselves and run!” He screamed the last word, and then he tried to grab Rowan’s hand and drag him away from the camp. He didn’t do that because he was some sort of Good Samaritan, but solely because he still needed him for Rynata.

The incident with the magical tree had been pretty traumatizing, and it had dampened Devin’s willingness to confront a possibly life-threatening situation head-on considerably. At this point he thought it best if they just went home again (and possibly returned later, when the island was safe again, if it would ever be safe again).