• Closed • [Creeksong Cavern] Perfection of the Visage

[Elowen]

Images of past and present reflected in the world around her. They were distracting. They tried to take her attention away from what really mattered. From the imposter. She couldn’t let that happen.

Her hands turned into fists. Her breathing grew more labored as she struggled against whatever was happening around her. Ultimately, she returned to her breath in an attempt to stay in control. And it worked to an extent though her body remained tense.

When the man seemed to suddenly pass, her caregiving nature was not triggered. The healer in her did not wake to rush to his side. She watched the deceased man with a mixture of frustration and rising anger. She was too worked up to think in the same ways as she did outside the caverns. So she looked at the body once and then watched the strange stone roll their way, taking a step back as the notes of a lullaby filled her ears.

That fear and longing she had always caried inside her bellowed upon hearing the melody. It flared up like fire fed unlocked, breathing fresh air. A part of her knew the song even if she did not know the words. But there was no memory she could assign to them. It was a mystery filled with pain. It did nothing but worsen her state. As unbalanced as she had been, this threatened to tip the girl over the edge again. Winston, being on her shoulder, would possibly notice that her body’s temperature seemed to suddenly rise a few degrees to near fever.

Something had to be done. She cared not for what the ferret, nor the other man wanted. All she wanted was for this to stop. This had been a mistake. She was lured here and there had been nothing but misery and trickery within these tunnels. All she wanted, was to go back to the shack, lock the door and curl up. She wanted the comfort of dark ignorance.

So driven by emotions, the girl acted. She took a step forward and then raised her foot to kick the stone as far away from her as possible with as much force as she could muster. And she would do just that if no one stopped her.

[Azrael]

31 Ymiden 724

Whatever the best child of Edasha (as he considered himself) saw in the light of the gem didn't matter. What he did in his moment of clarity did. The old warlock fell and expired. His words hung in the mortalborn's mind. The warlock was not committed enough. But I am. Azrael's thoughts betrayed him. His eyes revealed clear fascination with the gem.

Azrael stopped Elowen.

He stopped her for many reasons but one gripped his heart most firmly. Among the lesser reasons, he stopped her because he was bound to his word. Whether the promise he made constituted a contract his mortalborn powers would bind him to or not, he didn't want to take the chance. He stopped her because kicking a crystal might hurt her feet more than him lifting her and moving her away from it. He stopped her because he was curious. He stopped her because he had come all this way and wanted to take something back with him- rotten treasure hunter he was. He stopped her because he didn't want to have to chase after the crystal that had so fortunately fallen at their feet.

Yet the reason he believed that he stopped her, was his true mother. Edasha. Perfection was hers and hers alone. Even when he found himself to be perfect, she alone could find a flaw. He was jealous of that. He would not let this trail run cold.

He stopped her in a fairly peaceful way. He was larger. He was more practiced in combat. All he did was put out his own leg to catch Elowen's before she could strike the crystal.

"It's too pretty to waste. Be mad, not wasteful." Azrael said as if his advice was some sage revelation. It wasn't. It was almost a warning. He was going to take the crystal. He would not be stopped easily. He didn't want any conflict. Everything about how he stopped Elowen and his tone were meant to imply such, but he wanted the crystal. He was the mortalborn of desire. He always got people what they wanted. Now, he'd take what he wanted. "I will take it."

His words spoken, Azrael went to pick up the crystal.

[Winston]

A careful touch

When Azreal made a passing comment about 'making spirits' the ferret's ears literally pricked up a notch. "Yuh cun MAKE spirits?" Now was. perhaps not the taime for this discussion, so he suppressed the further really of questions he had in favour of making sure to find and grill the man later in life. "Yuh gonna 'ave tuh tell me about dat one some trial."

The ferret admired the man's oath, it was of course his to give as he saw fit, though being stuck down here in the cave didn't' really appear to him personally. It was, whatever the case, quite a noble offer, so decided the Cadouri, whihc formed another reason to get to know them better some trial.

As the old man fell to the ground, the feret let out a gasp of shock. "My gads! De old geeza jost DIED!" Ignoring the crystal, a trinket he was certain would just result in the next fool that touched it to die of old age and failure, he made his way to the old man to try and heal him... Nothing Winston had could cure a person of being old, but try he would anyway until futility was satisfied, the man turned to dust and he looked back up with an apologetic expression at the group. As the song of his beloved Immortal creator rang out, he let it evelop him as the mere thought of her so often did, warm and comforting.

The man had a powerful want for the crystal, an emotion the ferret could understand and as he gently prevented the girl from striking her quarry, Winston protested only in a very gentle but firm warning. "Please. Me nat asking yuh to leave et are share any part af et, bit me know a ting are two about dees tings and ef yuh will allow et, me will try to cantain et far yuh tuh take... mar safely?" Whether the man believed him or not, the offer was genuine and born of a desire to avoid him or any of them becoming trapped down here in illusions. He offered a charming smile.

If the man consented, then Winston would take some time to study it briefly to ensure nothing he did would harm it.. or them, use his

various tools to handle it without direct contact

and eventually, contain it, if only temporarily,

with his latest (if still rather unrefined) creation

.

If he did not consent, the the ferret would merely attempt to 'not be too close' when the final contact between fool and gem happened.

Either way, the gem was Azreal's to take without contest.

All template credit, love and admiration goes to Pyrre Ej'qy

[Pig Boy]

Imperfection's Demise

Azrael allowed Winston, before he reached for the crystal, to do what he would to 'contain' the magic in the stone. As soon as Winston unleashed the anti-magic webbing, a change came over the air. The stone, which was effectively a powerful ensorcelled well, began to rapidly decay with smog. The smog had several effects, but only one of which was comprehensible to those present.

A blinding flash and swirl of yellow colors began wrapping around the three, until a vision appeared at the other end of the Vortex, giving the trio a show of how this shard had come to be. They found that in spite of their lack of context, they understood the narrative meaning of everything they were shown.



Acothley left the others behind, Faith Augustin, Vivian Shiryu, and Doran Thetys, in Westwind Ruins. He teleported to the very apex of the clock tower in Westwind, where everything had started so many arcs ago. This was no ordinary clocktower however. It was Ralaith's Shrine of Time. The shards of Imperfection from the Cavern, the Ruins of Westwind and its degradation into a literal ghost town, and Ralaith's abandonment.

Acothley wished to open up a wound in the fabric of time, from Ralaith's realm in Emea, across o Creeksong Cavern, uniting a nexus of Desire and Possibility. To begin to bring about his perfect world, he needed this artifact to give him the power to reveal those hidden desires in others. He needed to wound Ralaith, and in so doing, devastate the concept of linear and static timelines.

He needed to create the perfect world, before it could be revealed.

So this was where he chose to reveal himself as a Visitant. Rather than seek the world out in the vastness of Emea, and the Beyond, he would bring it to his own hand. He struck a Rending portal, looking into the depths of Ralaith's realm, from into which a scry was left in the Shrine of Time by a mage priest of Ralaith long forgotten. Yet Acothley's research had borne the knowledge to him. He would look into that wound in Time itself, and rip it from one end of Rharne's Territory to the other, in Mistral.

He tore a wound that crossed from the Emea to the material realm of Idalos, from Westwind to Creeksong. As it did, a well began to form in the palm of the revealing VIsitant's hand. A yellow crystal, smaller than the one Azrael had reached for. Yet pulsing with the power that was contained in the Visitant's intent. As the wound was struck, several things had happened, Westwind returned to its former self, albeit several decades in the past before it had fallen to ruin. The Pigasus returned to Idalos, having long been extinct. Slimes returned from the muck of Westwind, to spread out and infect the alcohol supplies of Rharne once more, and Imperfection was brought back to the cavern, from whence she'd been banished.

Thus, as all of this was undone, all of this magic contained and crystalized in the Covetous One that Acothley held in his hand, several more things would happen. The vision of the past vanished before Winston, Azrael's, and Elowen's eyes. Instead it was replaced by a sudden burst of explosive light energy, golden in hue as the crystal's smog overwhelmed them all, and then sank deep into their bones.

The magic of the Covetous One was undone, and Imperfection's malformed egg had been thwarted. The damnable spirit would not return to the world. Instead, the Covetous One's powers sank into each of them.

Azrael was gifted a certain, as yet undefined power over Desire, through an expansion of his mortalborn domain. He could feel it, though he knew not what form it would take just yet.

Winston felt the essence of Possibility infused into his own body, giving him an unrealized potential to manipulate that aspect of the Covetous One. In time, he would understand it was an ability to see into the most beneficial future for an individual and how that might be realized by a mere touch. A glimpse of possibility.

To Elowen, however, the runt of the crystal sank into her burning blood and into her bones. Imperfection was her gift. She would realize after some time, that with a mere touch of her hand three times per cycle, she could reverse a quality of a material object to have the opposite effect.

Then suddenly as the golden glow enveloped them, it disappeared, leaving them in the darkened cavern. Alone with each other, and the gnosis that had been forced upon them.

[Pig Boy]

Elowen

Feedback

Elowen really made a splash here didn't she? Lots of interesting developments arose from this, not least of which was the destruction of the Covetous One and the potential damage done to the Warlock.

Not to mention the closing of the time rift and prevention of Imperfection's Return.

Good job!

Rewards

• Points Bank: +5 - Finish Collaborative Thread with 2 other PCs (not including your PC)
• Renown: 20
• XP: 20

Knowledges

• Detection: Careful observation can bear fruit
• Discipline: Ground yourself in a stressful situation

Loot

• a pouch of goat weed flowers and valerian root
• Custom Ability: Imperfect Touch: Three times a cycle, Elowen may touch a item or object, and impart a material flaw to it. She can do this as per transmutation's ability to introduce flaws to objects they've altered. Only flawed qualities can be introduced this way at an expert level.

Azrael

Feedback

Azrael Azrael Azrael. What are we going to do with you? You really have to stop accidentally birthing dark spirits. Kidding aside, he was a joy to moderate here as usual. And he had some special impacts that will come clear in time, I'm sure.

Good job!

Rewards

• Renown: 20
• XP: 20

Loot

• Expansion to Azrael's Desire Domain. PSF a new power when you want.

Winston

Feedback

AAaaah Winston. You're a menace! But you did the right thing here, even if you didn't mean to destroy the Covetous One, you've disempowered a Kingpin! Winston really is a super hero. All that aside, he's done well here yet again, and provided a level head even in the chaos of the moment.

Good job!

Rewards

• Renown: 20
• XP: 20

Knowledges

• Hunting: Checking for tracks of a child
• Investigation: Using tracks to confirm whether what you saw was true or not
• Detection: Confirming what you see is actually real
• Discipline: Resusting external urges
• Discipline: Resisting the sensation of sensing a major fracture
• Linguistics: Using other languages by way fo symbiotic possession
• Discipline: Reminding oneself to not believe everything you see
• Discipline: Resisting bad memories to focus on the task at hand
• Mount: Biped: Avoiding falling off when a person stumbles
• Teaching: Teaching in a live and potentially dangerous situation
• Meditation: Finding ways to help others meditate through stressful situations
• Discipline: Refusing to fools for illusions
• Leadership: Leading reluctant people in things that are most important even if they are going to do things anyway
• Socialization: Biped: Bending your knees while riding a jogging girl
• Detection: Avoiding being blinded to ensure you have the chance to still see SOMETHING.
• Discipline: Suppressing distractions, even nice ones, when in potential danger

Loot

• Promise of the Future: The destruction of the Covetous one has given him an unrealized potential to manipulate that aspect of the Covetous One. In time, he would understand it was an ability to twist fortune in subtle ways to make sure that a person's greatest wishes for the future may have a better chance at coming true. This ability may only be used once per cycle, and then with moderator oversight to determine the exact effects.