Darkness...
Silence...
Nothing...
Then... a breath... breathing. The familiar, yet somehow unusual feeling of air moving in and out of lungs. And sound. Other creatures breathing. As eyelids part, light rushes in...
You have feeling, it rushes into you mind, you feel your extremities, arms, legs, hands feet, the touch of clothing on your body. Cold from your skin. Your cold, you know this, and something... there just away from your mind, something bad, some thing sad, but what. Sound, you can hear others moving. Your sitting, something hard pushing into you back. You open your eyes and see.
The Room is large, close to empty, white walls, windows that overlook a vast city, the ceiling is high up, clean well lit. Tuning your head you see others, all sit like you, on well made sets, all in a circle facing a standing a table. On the surface of the fading writing that is gone before you can remember of view it. Each of the figures sitting with you look as you do at each other.
Your mind races, where are you, no WHO are you, a name comes into your mind, and as you look at things, information unpacks in you mind, like rooms full of terms and meaning. Knowledge just seems to be there, you take a moment to think to explore your own minds and then your name, it comes, you have a name and you know things. Looking at yourself you know the names and use of the things about you. Those with familiars find them then, another part of yourself, they like you have a moment of confusion and then know things. You know to talk, you know you can see things, words with meaning. Then that feeling again, anger, sad, bad feeling, something... but its gone.
There as you find your own minds and being, a disembodied voice from the rooms says.
"Greetings, I am sorry this is a little disorientating, we try to make this as painless as possible, please feel free to get up and explore this room. The table behind you has food and refreshment, you may feel hungry. Please try not to worry and relax, your are in no danger, far from it in fact. Your administration 'Agent' will be along shortly in person to explain things and help you. Please take this time to get to know each other and Enjoy the hospitality."
And then the voice stops,
You can see no doors in and out of this space and the windows have no means to be opened. The wall moves and a table slides out with all manner of fine food and drink of it, some most strange.
You all do feel very hungry, like you have not eaten for a while.
Shaeda has the slim body one expects of a halfling, but with the curves of a gnome, and breasts that might make a dwarf blush. Still, her brown hair frames a rather average looking face, and her brown eyes don't sparkle or glow, but she has a strong personality that shines through her being.
At less than three feet tall, and not thirty pounds, she certainly isn't an imposing figure, but with the power of her deity behind her, she has the confidence of those thrice her size and twice her age.
She wears a leather and lace jerkin about her torso, with long sleeves, and a small plate of metal attached to her left sleeve. From the waist down, she wears leather britches, with some lace fringe at the seems, and with lace cuffs coming out the bottom of the pants legs, and in fact the sleeves of her jerkin. At her belt, she has a whip, a dagger, and a strip of leather that some might recognize as a sling. Her tricorn hat is festooned with gears and dials, which if watched might occasionally step forward a tooth or two.
About her head fly a number of objects of indeterminate function. Each slightly different from the rest, but they are contraptions of copper, leather, and steel, with maybe some wood thrown in on a few. They too seem to pulse with an energy, and their internal cogs move of no apparent reason, causing the propellors, or on some of them the nozzles, to propel the things in various patterns around the woman's head. Despite all odds, they never collide. One of the objects presently glows with a pale green aura. She has about her, some other similarly odd other accoutrements.
"Shaeda?" she thinks to herself. Yes, that's right, "Shaeda Stormborn." That's all she could remember. Was it a family name? Or was she born in a storm? What storm? Where? A storm of sand? Wind? Ice? Rain? Fire? She didn't know. She took a step. Something felt wrong. Hmmm, weapons, and armor. Right they hung loose, but wrong. She cinched up some buckles. Things became right. "How did I know to do that,"? Still, something was missing. No, "things" not "thing." She searched herself quickly. In the pouch on her belt. She pulled out a number of small items. "Whirligigs," her mind responded giving her the name of the items. They were of all shapes and sizes, but they had similarities. Each had a small propellor on it, wait, no, a couple had nozzles, not propellors. One by one, she set them in the air around her head. As she did so, the propellors spun, or the nozzles, ummm, "nozzed?" No, that wasn't right. The nozzles started pushing air out of them, a different means of propulsion it seemed. The objects began to spin around her head. When she had done five of them, she stopped, the last four were different. They felt different, their power, what was it? "Aether" she thought, as the word sprung into her head. Yes, the aether was different for these four. The first five could do things, they helped her, but these four, they just fly. She wasn't sure why, but she took one of the four different ones and set it to flying around her head. The other three she tucked back into the bag.
Her weapons, whip, sling, dagger. She grasped them each in turn. Once she did, she immediately realized what she could do with them. One of them, the whip, it too had aether in it. It had power. Her clothes, no, it was armor, she reminded herself. Very light for armor she realized. "That is probably for the best," she thought, controlling the aether would be more difficult if she wore something heavier. "Controlling the aether? Why did I think of that? Can I control it? What is it?" No sooner had she asked each question, she knew the answer. She could control it. She understood it, but she couldn't remember ever using it, or how she learned to do so. She was sure she must have learned it. To test her control of the aether, words came to her mind, her hand moved instinctively to a separate pouch and pulled out an object to focus the aether. She reached out and touched the whirligig knew only how to fly. Instantly it began glowing with the pale greenness that the aether imparted to it. "So that's why I flew the extra one," she marveled. It seemed she knew things before doing them, or that she was doing them before knowing them? It was confusing. Wait, did she have it? She checked her breast pocket, and plucked it forth. She opened it, not knowing a moment ago that it could be opened, but she knew what she should find inside. Yes, it was there. She felt its power. She deposited it back into the pocket.
The voice? What had it said? What language was it? Wait, languages? She knew several languages. Elven? But had she ever even met an elf? Hunger and food it had said. Yes, she was hungry, and she was sure she wanted to eat, but this room, with it's large pictures on the wall. Strange art. Strange room. Those were clearly a table and chairs, but not like anything she had ever seen before. Huh? What had she ever seen before? It seemed like these weren't like anything else, but she couldn't remember other tables, or other chairs, or other rooms for that matter.
Who were the others in this room? Friend, or enemy? Did she have friends, or enemies? Better to keep an eye on them. But the food. There was a magnificent spread of food, one like she had never seen, ummm, again, was it? When had she last eaten? There were definitely foods she didn't recognize, she would avoid those.
She moved towards the table. Her senses were keen. The senses of a warrior. "Am I a warrior?" The question lay unanswered in her mind, as she grabbed some of the food, and started eating it with her hands right next to the serving table. She was hungry, very hungry. And thirsty too. Grog? Was there grog? There was, and a mug her size. She splashed down a mug of grog before looking again at the others in the room. She marveled that the whirligigs didn't get in the way of her, eating, drinking, or looking.
"My name is Shaeda Stormborn, and I am not ashamed to admit, but that is about the limit of what I can tell you about myself at this time."
Slowly, groggily, she awakes. A soft groan escapes her lips as she tries to open her eyes.
"Mmm!"
There is only the briefest flash of sapphire before she screws her eyes shut against the glare of the room. A glare probably made worse by the very fair skin of her face and exposed fingers. Her clothes were black with a few blue accents, which helped keep her from being blinding to look at. Her hair was silver at the roots, though it did fade to a dark blue at the ends. Her chair, as it happens, is also tipping. The wheels roll and the chair goes clattering out from under her while she falls straight to the ground with a surprised squeak. The eagle that had been sitting in front of her blinked twice and looks to where the young woman had fallen. Other than that, the small raptor didn't do anything in reaction.
"Owie," she groans, her voice soft and melodious, even if it is think with sleep. She pulls herself up, giving a good view of the numerous rings and straps that adorn her clothing. Some of those rings and straps seemed to be in odd places, as if they were meant for securing gear rather than adjusting the fit of her clothes. There's a soft susurrus of clinking links as she stands. Beneath the heavy waist cape she wore, mail that came to her knees could be seen. On the left sleeve of her jacket, just below the shoulder is a symbol of a sword wreathed in flame embroidered in blue thread.
As soon as she comes to her senses from the fall, she panics, frantically checking her belt and shoulders. Finding her blades on her hips and her pack still on her back, she relaxes somewhat. Her missing bow and quiver, though, that is causing her expression to remain a mask of tight-lipped worry as she fishes a pendant from beneath her jacket and begins to rub the back of it with her thumb. From the way her arm moves, it's likely she's not even aware that she's done that. She keeps looking around, searching, until the voice starts, causing her to jump about three feet into the air with a yelp.
"Hey! Wha--" she starts to ask, but the voice fades away, and food is brought out. The woman is wary of the buffet. The eagle, on the other hand, is far less cautious and nabs a piece of steak before fluttering back to the table to eat.
The woman sighs, and after a moment, has piled up a plate full of meats, cheeses and fruits. She wasn't just hungry, she was ravenous, and fretting on an empty stomach would do her no good. She nearly chokes, though, when Shaeda speaks up. After a moment of catching her breath and pounding her chest to dislodge the morsel that had nearly done her in, she seems to notice the others for the first time.
"Oh, uh? I-I'm Mia Curseborn, a-and this is Cirrus," she says, pointing to the contented eagle enjoying the steak.
"Uh, hi. Have any of... you... seen.... a... bow?"
Between bites, Shaeda muses, "Curseborn and Stormborn eh? So that could be a clue as to why we're all here. Cirrus you say? Like the clouds? Pretty name, for a pretty animal. Is he pretty tame?" Shaeda raises her voices to the others in the room, "I don't suppose you lot also have names indicating details of your birth do you?"
Mia blinks at Shaeda, then giggles at the pun.
"Yeah, I guess I did name him, though I don't remember it. As for being tame, this buzzard would do anything if you feed him," she says with a chuckle.
Cirrus, for his part only gives an indignant sniff before going back to his steak.
Black leather high boots with matching pants and a long sleeved shirt make up the first layer. A black leather mid length sleeved pointed hood robe, that opens up to the chest with feather like designs embossed as trim makes up the second layer. Atop that is a black leather high collar mantle that opens in the front with slits up the side to the shoulder, burnished gold trim and a pair of embossed serpentine dragons at the foot of the mantle, finish off this layer. Embossed black high leather gloves with claw like tips, a featureless burnished golden mask, and a stylized tall flame like burnished gold collar piece that sits upon his shoulders completes this set.
Stirring to life below the mask, his eyes slowly open. Disorientation takes him as he absorbs the scene and sensations. A growing panic creeps in as he raises his hand up to his face. It hits the mask he did not know he was wearing. He spreads his hand and fingers around the altered sphere that makes it up. Without any holes or indentation of any kind he is able to see and breath through it as if it were not there at all, still now that he knows it's there he can feel it once more. Apparently he had grown accustomed to it while being unable to remember when. In fact his memories were void of anything but facts, none of which had much to do with him personally. The panic had disappeared sense he had felt the mask, a strange calm coming forth. He carefully scanned the world around him, listened to the strange voice and watched the other two who had stirred. He had not moved much or responded yet, his scanning incomplete. His eyes were drawn to a orb laying before him, golden and perfect. It suddenly exposed a single eye staring back at him, his first instinct was to lash out but he felt something before he did. A kinship with it, a familiar feeling and connection. The orb was his and as close to him as his own flesh, the eye disappeared behind a layer of flawless gold. It rose in the air and hovered before him a moment, then landed behind his head on the collar piece he only now felt. As if it were designed to be the orb, no Achith's perch. For that was it's name, his arbiter inevitable familiar.
He proceeded to take an inventory of himself as best he could with his lacking memories. He had a number of potions, scrolls, and items of power. He looked into his small bag and found nothing, a word came into his mind, he opened it again and found it full with more then it should be able to hold, again he closed it and with the word it was empty once more. Interesting, he thought as he searched the many pockets of his belts, a strange gem caught his attention. He tossed as a reflex into the air, it orbited on it's own around his head. Not unlike the metal tidbits of the small woman, halfling his mind responded unbidden with it's knowledge.
The final and largest object of power that belonged to him was a staff that had been leaning against his chair. He wrapped his claw like leather fingers around it, they settled easily into a grove unseen in the black and white entwining wood. Using it as support he rose to his feet. Inclined to answer the halfling's question.
"I am Sinuo Tlunar, unless that means something to you. I admit it means nothing to me save that it is mine."
The mask had no baring on his voice oddly enough, yet it was strong, smooth, sharp, and a little surprising to him. He had not expected his voice to sound like that, he had a sneaking suspicion that it did not by nature.
Although short, Ebon Pennyfeather is obviously very powerful, with his large round body supported by spindly legs. His clothes are neat and his mithral hauberk well polished. A well-worn leather belt is cinched about his torso, gently clinking chunks of metal and assorted gems hang off of it. A thick green wool cloak covers his large shoulders, and a kilt, accented with silver thread and dyes, covers spindly legs that belie his immense power and agility. He has light grey eyes over which his feathers are dyed in a manner that resembles giant white eyebrows. His matt black beak features intricate swirling designs of silver and white paint.
Ebon Pennyfeather opens his eyes upon the world for what could be the first time "Where am I?" He looks down at his hands, seeing the intensely black feathers that cover his massive arms, his neatly manicured talons flexing as he feels his strength "What's going on?". He sees a large round silverlike shield, polished to perfection, the feather-like relief circling the outer perimeter fills him with pride. "This is mine. I'm sure of it". He starts to reach for it, but a small thud and a soft voice startle him. He jumps to his feet, the chair wheeling off behind him, crashes into a wall with considerable speed. His immaculately polished mithral hauberk shines brilliantly as it catches the light from the windows. Looking around the table he sees the others for the first time. His head full of questions he makes to speak but is interrupted by the disembodied voice.
"I don't like this, I don't like this at all..." He holds a hand to his belly "But I am hungry". Seeing some of the other make for the food table, instinctively he picks up the shield and slings it over his shoulder before following suit. He gets to the table just as Shaeda asks her question. "My name? It's umm... It's Ebon, Ebon Pennyfeather" he replies in a soft cooing voice staring into Sheada's eyes, his head flitting to and fro in constant motion. "Pleased to meet you. Do any of you know what's going on?" He asks, extending a powerful talon in greeting...
Before anyone can answer, he glances at the food and immediately picks up a handful of meat, stuffing it into his beak, all other thoughts forgotten.
"What's going on you ask? Why, we're eating of course. Eating, and greeting, or so it seems." She closes her eyes and checks her mental registry briefly before opening them again and stating rather matter of factly, "You sir, are a tengu. I cannot say that I have ever met your sort before, and yet I do positively identify you as such, and a male of your species at that. Apparently, there is a difference of opinion as to your proper taxonomic nomenclature; are you carnivorous by nature? As for me, I am omnivorous." Thus saying, and having finished preparing a small sandwich consisting of two differing pieces of meat, wedged between some hard stalked breed of darkly colored cabbage and slathered with several condiments, she pops the creation into her mouth and promptly spits it out. "Yuck! It turns out that I don't much care for ebony cabbage," she explains. "Who knew?" With a shrug, she replaces the cabbage wrapping of her sandwich with a green leafy lettuce variety and proceeds to wolf the thing down with abandon.
"Note to self, just because I am familiar with something, does not mean that my familiarity is based on like, or dislike. It could just be raw knowledge from a book and should be avoided, or tested empirically."
"That's a lot of big words for one so small" Pennyfeather replies, mouth still full "But if you're asking if I like cabbage..." he grabs a handful of leaves and stuffs them into his mouth, almost swallowing it whole "Oh ho ho, yes! Yes I do!" he hops a little in excitement, studying the table for the next thing to try.
Libi's face is pretty but slightly off putting due to her angular otherworldly features. Thanks to her bloodline, she has vestiges of two faces on either side of her face, which are covered by wild long blond hair.
Her body is athletic, but voluptuous. She moves with the grace and litheness of a cat on the prowl. Her soft skin is a goldish brown, and covered in stylized fire tattoos.
Her mithral chain clings close to her shapely body. Mithral serpents coil around both her soft but toned upper arms. Her bare feet are covered in fire tattoos with dark red polish expertly covering her toe nails. Her Fingernails are long and strong also covered in dark red polish. Peaking out of the nail polish of every nail are sparkling bejeweled dragon outlines.
Orange, red, and blue silks wrap her torso. A serpent sliver belt cinches her wrap close to her waist Her ample thighs peak out the sides of the high slits on either side of her wrap. Her cloak is a black mesh with varying displays of romantic congress as a theme
Libi shakes with fear as the unknown whirls about her. She looks up, and sees the others. She slowly grasps some of the world around her. Her name. She knew her name, but her past, if she ever had one, does not exist. The greeting startles her out of her inner thought and emotional swirl of panic and fear.
The voice added confusion, instead of alleviating it. A part of her wanted to crumble, lash out, and cry. Her lower lip begins to quiver. She grasps the table with white knuckle intensity. It was solid and real. Yet her life was not. It was a void filled with strange sights, sounds, smells, and peoples. The little one speaks. She listens. Around the table, one by one they reveal names. The names are meaningless to her, as are their faces. She tries hard to maintain dominance over her emotions. Her eyes slipped close. She listens.
Her table mates don't seem to have the issues to the strangeness to this existence that she has. Maybe they hide it better. Her mouth moves to speak, but her voice finds no purchase. She loosens her grip and rubs her hand delicately across the table. She feels it's coldness and hardness. It was real. It starts to anchor her. She looks up and tries again. Libidinous Prax She says in a quivering voice. Tears start to roll down her face.
Sinuo moves towards the table, he felt a shadow of hunger but not the gnawing that came with it. He rubs two of his fingers together, feeling a slight bulge of something around it below the gloves. Again unbidden the knowledge came to his mind, a ring of magic that allowed one to go without eating or drinking. It's magic would infuse you with vitality so that only two hours of sleep was needed to rest. Useful, yet he questioned the reason behind it's acquisition.
Then again simply because one did not need food or drink did not mean they had to be deprived of it. He removes his gloves, pocketing the pair, removes his pointed hood to fall upon his back. Finally he reaches for the mask, something stirred for a moment. A feeling he could not quite pin down, he disregarded it and heard the click of the mask unbinding at the back of his skull. Removed and placed in a large pocket with in the folds of his black robes, his face finally was exposed. His hair was pulled tight on his head, black strips here and there, his features were sharp and pointed, his skin pale alabaster. His ears long and pointed, leading one to wonder how they ever fit in that mask to begin with, finally his eyes. Twin pools of pure solid gold with no whites.
The sensation hit him hard, a sense of self awareness far greater then before and hesitation. A whirl of questions come into his mind and he seems to try to take in everything around him at once to find answers. A growing sense of being overwhelmed starts to come over him. At this the nesting orb rises out of it's cradle, stopping before him. He senses a cold calm coming from Achith, spreading to his own mind the tide grows flat with in. He lets out a breath he did not realize he was holding. Achith in his orb form flies over the food presented.
Shaking his head slightly he scans the platters left before him. His eyes fall over something. Uttering a word, the platter gives off only the faintest traces of magic, a flicker catches his sight. As he looks on he finds more among the many that hold magic. Despite his inability to truly feel hunger his stomach rumbles loud enough to be heard by those near by. Achith suddenly shifts around, somehow he knew it was staring at him. He shrugs in reply, he liked magical food or so he thought considering the reaction. He intended to find out shortly.
With that he grabs a empty plate and plucks randomly, to others point of view, at dishes. Filling his plate and retaking a seat, using the utensils provided he cuts into a small cake. The brown cake proves very chewy and takes time to consume. Upon completion, sounds of stretching and pooping can be heard for a few moments.
"Ah leap cake."
Unlike before his voice was quiet and subdued with only half the smoothness. He did not seem to take notice of the change, perhaps it being the norm rather then the exception. He moved on to other dishes on his plate. Never sampling any without the use of his utensils or a napkin placed to retrieve any wayward bits. Axhith orbited slowly around him as he ate. For a moment he looked in the direction of another that had stirred and spoken, not taking part in the others conversation. He thought for a moment then spoke.
"Um maybe trying the newlife soup will make you feel better. It's that one over on the left next to those fist sized black fruits with orange spots."
He spears a few small oddly shaped lemons with his fork before devouring them. Again chewing alot due to their nature and taste. The little of his skin exposed starts to slowly glow and shed off light.
"Lantern lemons, so sour but good."
He remarks to no one in particular.
"Prax is certainly an interesting name deary" opined Shaeda, "and while you are certainly pretty enough, it strikes me as brazen to announce your predilection towards lustfulness to a room full of strangers. Although, given my overall lapse in memory, I cannot positively ascertain that moral turpitude is to be frowned upon as a social norm." She pops a couple grapes into her mouth. She turns towards the elf and naturally switches to what she presumes is his native tongue.
In Elvish: "And you, of the long lived tree dwellers. Remember you aught of your past, and do you care to share a name with us?"
Libi moves from sorrow and fear to anger. She was not fully cognizant as to why. Maybe it was the queerness of the situation, Maybe it was her tablemates callousness to her emotional suffering and more interested in stuffing their faces. Maybe it was the first question posed to her had a tone of superiority in moral judgement.
It's my name. Unless you are telling me that you can shoot out lightning and gusts of wind from your nether regions, Stormborn Libi sneers at the food, and shoves the plate in front of her. It slides from the table to the floor with a clatter. Grapes jump, like people from a sinking ship, to bounce on a sea of stone tiles.
She grabs her gear, and dons her backpack. Walking over to the window, she tests the glass with her hand. Moving closer she looks out on the city, looking at it very carefully.
|
First, in his head appeared the image. Giant insect walking in darkness through the blood flows. Whole oceans of blood. He felt that the insect exudes evil, it doesn't feel any sympathy to anyone. It does not feel kindness to anyone. But it is able to respect. And it respects me. "I? And who am I?". The image of a majestic insect began to disappear. He madly wanted to run after him, to stop him, to follow him. Albeit at the cost of his life. It was so perfect...
"...But it's too late. Reality. Darkness. My whole being dwells in the darkness. In fact, I never saw the world the way as it see others. I don't remember anything about myself, and I understand that. But I understand that there are things deeper than memory. Things that makes your personality. And one of these pillars for me is darkness. I do not see as other creatures, but the way I perceive the world is much more complex and full. Inside my head - three-dimensional picture of space that I can rotate and examine as I want. I feel nearby other beings. Humans, elves. Perhaps someone else is. I don't see them, but once sensed, I won't be confused. Smell. This is a unique. Well, the smell can be muted. But the unique rhythm of the pulse you coldn't change. Well, ok, the object can change himself with the help of magic. But the way he moves, the way to cut through the air, the way to breathe, how he flickers - it is forever with him. And I can feel it in the vibrations in the air, I can hear, I can feel it by every millimeter of my skin. I need to understand who I am and where I am. Gotta get out of here. It doesn't feel right. I don't remember anything about myself, but I remember hundreds of ways to kill another creature. It's very strange. It is necessary to establish contact and work together to get out of here. Somewhere. Then we'll decide what to do next".
...He thought about all of this, listening to the voices around.
He has long black hair and a black beard. But it almost do not pay attention. What you can't look away - it's his very strange eyes. They have no pupil and iris. They seemed to consist entirely of molten silver. There is something bewitching in this eyes... But in a much greater degree - something frightening and repulsive.
"My name is Berstuk. I know this is a strange question. But... does anyone know... what's the plan?"
Sinuo looked at the uncouth halfling, blinking at her. Achith stopped his orbit and rotated in her direction, granted with it's perfect sphere shape he doubted anyone else could notice.
"Miss Stormborn was it, your mistaken. My people normally do not dwell in tree's, merely among them. Hardly a rare trait among civilized races. I have already given my name and answered the question of memories. You may not have been paying attention."
Replying in the common tongue. He does not offer more or reacts to the one named Prax's outburst. He set's his utensils down neatly on a folded napkin and uses another to dab his mouth clean, folding it as well before he sets it down. Finally utter another word, allowing magic to cleanse him. When another stirs and speaks he is replacing his gloves.
"Mr. Berstuk as far as I am aware, we are to await an agent who will explain things. Personally I plan to do just that."
He fishes for his mask for a moment. Placing it back upon his head, it gives a small snap to signal it's secure. He raises his pointed hood back in place, the light from the lantern lemons disappearing with the last of his exposed skin.
"From there it depends very much on what the agent says."
His voice reverted back into it's full bodied form. A trace of foreboding in that last sentence.
There is a slight clicking sound and then unseen or detected you hear a voice inside the room with you
"You can't get through the class..."
Says a pale skinned woman, now standing to one side of the room, she stopped talking as she looked down as sheet of paper, looks back up and say's if if she had just read the name.
Dhampir Female
Age 30ish Height 6'1" Weight 41lb, Hair: Jet Black, Eyes: Jet Black Body: Slender and tall, Skin Pale, Voice: Husky.
Physical Looks: Ynja Eva Ragnavold is a tall, slender and well-defined female Dhampir and to put it bluntly she is also shocking beautiful. Perfectly jet black hair reaching her shoulders, slender legs, and a fine figure all add to this. From her pale blemish free skin to her jet black glinting eyes. Ynja seems a statuesque of unearthly human beauty.
: Ynja's clothing is some form of well-made advanced black leather like uniform. It's practical and it speaks of a highly civilized look. For a start it has zips, Velcro and studs and an over all machine manufactured look. It would seem very out of places next to spell slingers and sell swords down the local Inn, but fine on any modern city street. This odd uniform consists of Fine Boots, Pants, undergarments, a combat bodice and a long Leather Jacket.
"Libidinous Prax."
Taking her time to say the name right, then she adds.
"believe me, I and others have tried, that city out there vast as it is, seems out of our reach"
She looks at you all,
"Now I know you must have a lot of questions and I am here to help, and"
Once more she looks at the lip of paper.
"Berstuk Cert, There is in deed a plan of sorts, but 1st I need to check the ones that did not awaken."
She walks to the table where, three others still sit, they seem life less. One in some strange body suit from head to toe. One color with nothing on it. Another seems some kind of primitive orc, in rag like animal skins with a lump of wood formed into some kind of weapon. The last a well dressed woman, her clothing a ball gown of some kind. All three seem dead, not even breathing. She talks out a pen and makes some marks on the paper, the she places on the table.
"Stand back please"
The paper glows a moment, then the three figures fade. The paper stops glowing and she pick it up. She then takes one of the now empty seats.
"If one of you would be so kind as to bring me a coffee, black thanks. I will try and help you as best I can with all this"
She waves a hand interacting the space.
"But before we start let me just say, I have been just where you are now. I know just what your feeling. Its in a work scary and worrying. But that will pass trust me. So have a seat if you wish and ask away."
She looks at you all with a smile.
Libi looks at the beauty that has appeared out of nowhere, and her demeanor changes. She smiles at her. She walks to the coffee pot and pours a cup. She moves in close to the new comer. She hands her the cup and light touches her finger as she hands her the cup. She lingers just a little. Your name would be a good start.
Mia sees the woman, Libidinous, or did she go by Prax, begin to cry, then turn angry at Shaeda's question. The young woman didn't know what "libidinous" meant, but she did understand hurt, and something had clearly hurt this woman. Before she can do anything, Prax sends the plate falling to the floor and gets up. She barely notices Berstuk's eyes and only shrugs at his question, both in answer and as an apology.
She didn't understand where this compassion, this need to help people who were hurting came from, nor did she care. Her hand is once more rubbing the pendant, but this time, another one had come out from her jacket. A medallion in the shape of a pentagon with the same insignia that was embroidered on her left shoulder embossed on the front. She takes a deep breath to steady her nerves then approaches the obviously angry woman.
"Hey, what's wrong? I... I'm sorry if we did something to upset you. May... be..." Her voice trails off as she sees, truly see, the vista from the window. Her eyes widen as she takes a step back, not in fear of the height, but in fear of how big this city is. She wasn't too worried about her memory. It'd likely return in time, she knows, though she didn't know how she knows. Something in the back of her mind was screaming at her now, telling her that whatever she was looking at was wrong, too wrong.
"I-i-it's wrong," she whimpered as she began to back away from the window. "It's wrong!"
Needing to get away from that impossible sight, Mia turns and runs for a corner away from the windows. She curls up, trying to keep herself from unravelling at the seams. She knows the place was wrong, knows that what she had just seen had to be wrong. It was--
With a sudden, sickening dread, she realizes that she can remember nothing, and it was not coming back. She knows that people who have been knocked senseless had trouble remembering things, but they could normally remember something of their past. Anyone that could remember nothing was either dead or a drooling invalid that would have to relearn everything all over again. This? This was something else. She could remember everything but who she was or where she'd come from. The only clue she had was this gnawing, caustic fear that something about what she'd see was horribly wrong. She knows the supposedly superfluous rings on her belt are for ropes to help her climb, but not why she needs them. She knows the eagle, Cirrus, is her friend and companion, but not how they'd come together. She knows that the pendants around her neck are hers, but now why she has them.
She stops rubbing the round medallion and holds it up before her, looking at the tri-point knot with a circle threading through it. She turns it over, to find words engraved on the back.
"From Nia to my beloved sister," she reads softly, not caring who hears or notices her.
Sister.
The word echoes in her head as the implications become clear. She had a sister, family, somewhere, and she could not remember them. The realization hit her hard, too hard, and her composure crumbles as she begins to weep into her knees.
Cirrus, loyal to his master, glides over to her, and offers what comfort he can by staying near the distressed woman. Mia looks up for a moment, just long enough to see Cirrus there. She continues to weep, but at least she no longer feels alone.
Still, though, it was wrong.
All of it was wrong,
The still teary-eyed woman looks up at the woman's advice to stand back, then promptly tries to embed herself in the wall at the sight of the bodies just fading. Whatever is going on, it is obviously tied to some potent, and dangerous, magic.
Mia doesn't move from the floor, and is soon glaring at the back of Ynja's head.
"Where's Nia," she asks in a cold, deadly voice when the strange, darkly beautiful woman leaves the floor open for questions. Her eyes glitter like a gem under pure starlight as they narrow. "Where's my sister?"
Looks at Mia
"You have a sister?, interesting you seem to know more about who you are than I do. I have a name and a description here on this paper. It just says what you look like, It says nothing of your past. So you saying you have a sister, that is interesting. We the 'constituted' as control calls us, O and I mean me as well in this. We all came to being in this room. Just as you just did. Some of the older 'constituted' say others even older found they had a past. But there are none here now that have. None of us here now remember much if anything of who or where we come from before this place. When I think of my own past I feel is a moment of pain and darkness and nothing. Yet I know things. You can as control but it says nothing of where or how we got here. It only tells us what we needs to be done and who needs to do it. It told me to come here and meet you, and help you understand the ways of this place."
Then takes a sip of her coffee.
It?
In answer to the woman's question, Mia just holds up the chain from which the round pendant with the engraving is hanging. She lets it twirl a moment, then hides it down the neck of her tunic.
"So, does this 'It' know what became of my bow and my quiver? I remember having those, even if I don't remember anything else about them," She asks, her tone less icy, but still decidedly cool. "What sorts of missions does this 'It' have us sent out on?"
"Quite a touchy bunch it seems. An elf that insists elves don't live in trees? Whatever! A girl with a sex name, who seemed offended when it was pointed out?"
Shaeda decided she'd not get into a verbal sparring match with these, and would instead just listen for a bit.
She looks at the round pendant,
"Interesting"
She going into a jacket pocket and pulls out a flat white rectangle about 3"x2" long/wide.
There is an odd design on it and a Name. PALRUN Co
"I had this on me when I came into being here, or reconstituted as others before me called it. I know I worked for this PALRUN Co, but I have no memory outside of that. Others are the same, names on clothing and items. Some even have letters and images, none understand more than a little bit of what they mean."
She picks up the white card and puts it away, then takes her coffee one more.
"The 'IT' you talk off, you have all ready meet. The voice that comes from the spaces here. It talks to us, to me, it asks us to do things. It asked me to come here and be your administration 'Agent'. I was happy to do that, you see we, we agents here, chose to do what it says. Others did not, you see, you can if you wish chose not to. You could say, chose to stay in this room, bash your head on that glass, it in a ball and cry, meany have."
She smiles and looks over at the windows then back.
"But no more food will come and if you wait to long here, the room empty's and others come into being. I have seen it more than once."
She looked a little sad.
"But I was not one to do that, when I came into being the administration 'Agent' who did what I'm doing now, said doing as the voice says, as 'Control' says gets you out and about, and may get you places where you can find out more of who you are. This is what I am going say to. I have no idea where your from, how you got here. I only know 'control' wants you here and it wants you to do things for it. Just as I did and am doing. Now if you're willing to do that, when we are done here you can come with me and I will show you more of what we do here. It really is up to you."
On being asked about the bow.
"All we have is what comes into being with us in this room. You could find another, and once we get out this room, we can talk about how but for now I am sorry I can't help beyond that"
Sinuo rose from his chair with his staff, his familiar had taken it's place back in it's cradle.
"I see no point in lingering. Answers are rarely given and even then best earned instead. What would this control have me do and what is to be gained by doing it? I do not bother with half made promises of recovering my past, I insist on more solid compensation."
He was a little surprised at himself, yet it felt familiar. More then that it was reasonable both to be rewarded for work and keep moving forward. Their was no point staying here or mourning some unknown past, it was not hard for him to imagine some considering the loss of their past a gift. Then again one would need to be aware of it to a certain degree he supposed. What he did not like was how this Ynja described things. It made it seem as if they were the result of some sort of resurrection or ill form teleportation that reformed the body. The question was if the memory loss was intentional or a side effect. He did not like ether option. Oddly enough he felt better dwelling on such problems, even if he did not like their possible results and answers. Strange.
"Those who forget the past are doomed to repeat it," Shaeda opined. "That sums all of us up I guess. I'm in!"
Mia doesn't say anything, just stands and scoops up Cirrus so he can ride on her pack. She then turns to Ynja and makes a motion for her to lead on.
Libi furrows her brow. She shakes her head and says, So our choice is to follow the dictates of 'Control' or stay in this room to starve and eventually be dis-constituted in favor of someone new. She shakes her head again. she looks to the ceiling and calls out to her new 'god'. 'Control' do we even have a real past? Or are we just a dream of yours made real? Is Mia's sister a real person, or a manifestation to facilitate some weavings of motivation that you have for us? Will I find clues in my pack to move me forward? Are we just supposed to have faith?
She looks at the others. She knew the answers didn't really matter. maybe I can find meaning outside of this place, or even within it. But letting this manifestation of life to end in this room would be a sin.
She looks at Ynja. Lead the way then.
Pennyfeather stayed at the back of the room, quietly seething at the revelations. "So we're free to do as we will are we?" Voice filled with anger, "Just so long as we do what it says, or starve to death... Well that's just great isn't it! And what about those poor souls you made just disappear, what say did they have in all of this?". He strides over to where he woke and picks up a backpack and a quiver full of javelins, "I wish to speak to this 'control' myself! But I have a feeling that just isn't going to happen. Take us then to where you must, but know this. I am no puppet!" he says, voice still brimming with rage "I will not unquestionably obey a disembodied voice who, for all I know, kidnapped us all and stole our memories" he gestures to everyone in the room.
After donning his backpack and quiver, he picks up a dagger and slides it into a sheath on his belt. "Lead on".
Ynja looks around at your faces.
"Such it was with my group, I called out and wanted to know why? there were two who had not come fully reconstituted. Our administration 'Agent' did as I just did, mark it down on the sheet and then they disappeared to who knows where. I have no idea and none here do. As for what is next, with all groups one of you will hold a book, it has many names, Ours with called the tome Pandora, other I know of where called, The way would ways, the Manuel of happenings. But one of you will have a book so who has it, thats what we need now."
Sinou knew the origin of his power, knowledge. Transcribed to a tome of his own in order to bind that power. But he doubted his was this book, the tome was written of from his hand and knowledge. His power, his magic was not granted but earned and learned. Still he supposed it could not hurt to check. He thinks the word and his empty pack becomes full once more, he opens the flap and looks.
There he saw his tome, another pair as well. These he knew to be empty, waiting to be filled by his own hand. Then their was yet another, hold on. He did not remember this tome or it's purpose, it gave him a strange feeling. Not like his other items or even his familiar, he felt a connection but not a old one. It was a new connection, one that had no place in his past he was sure. Extracting the tome, he holds it out in his free hand. Having read the title before displaying it, it now gleams on the white cover. It's color along with softly glowing nature a sharp contrast to his dark clothed form.
"This tome is not from....before. I think it is what the agent speaks of. It's titled The Bible of Dreams, it holds some strange power. I can feel it."
Ynja Smiles.
"That is your groups book"
She looks at the sheet she has,
"Sinuo, keep that book safe at all time, that is your groups single most impotent item, that book means life and death."
She stands
"Then if your are ready its time I showed you around."
Then she talks to the space itself.
"Control, the new greap is ready"
one wall of the room slides back with out a sound, reveling a large and high Corridor She leads you down it, there are doors to the left and right all closed with no means that you can see to open them. You come out into a large space You can now see a few others walking about, they seem to be going here and there, or talking. Some stop and look your way then carry on. She leads you down another corridor to a door that opens as she gets close. The space inside looks like a living space.
There are 8 rooms, two large as stables and decked out as such.
Ynja waits as the door the follows you in.
"This will be you living area, please feel free to explore"
The windows show a view of rolling hills and fields, you can see workers in them. But none of the windows open.
she waits while you look around.
There is a cooking and eating area, its well stocked with food and drink of all kinds. Each room has a bathroom and large walk in closet.
Mia looks overwhelmed as she looks around the place. Everything here seems wrong to her, though she can't seem to figure out why.
"Is there a place Cirrus can make a nest," she asks as she looks in the door of one of the bedrooms.
"Control Can you make a room that fits the needs"
A door closed to one of the extra rooms and when you open again there is a small enclosed garden with a class roof.
Mia tries to blink away the illusion, but after a moment is forced to accept that it is real.
"So," she says as she and Cirrus peek in, "Could you make one with some big tall trees?"
"What is this place? Everything is... different somehow. It's like nothing I've ever seen before. That is assuming I have ever seen anything before."
Pennyfeather explores the room, with equal parts curiosity and anxiousness "What would possess builders to hide so much of the sky the way this place does?". He turns to the others who woke with him, "I know it sounds odd given our current situation, but does anybody else feel ill-at-ease with the way everything looks? Shaeda, you have those strange metal umm... birds, floating over your head, is there ought familiar to you of this place?" something shiny catches his eye, he moves towards it distracted for a second "Sinuo, I believe you called yourself. Do not take offence, but everything about you strikes me as, well, peculiar. Do you have any feelings, good or bad, about the way things are here?.
He touches the metal object, a torrent of water comes flooding out of it, making him jump. "What sort of magic is this!" he asks pointing to the tap in the kitchen.
Sinuo placed away the book, causing it to disappearing into his pack. As the move along he looks over the place with a careful eye, nothing seemed familiar. Not so much the result, handle less doors that moved on their own could be from clockwork or magic, rather the manner. He heard no gears or grinding of stone that spoke of clockworks, nor did he sense any magic at play. In fact he sensed an absence of magic at work, which did not sit well with him. A question pointed in his direction brought him from his contemplation's.
"I do not generally rely on my feelings. That said this place makes me ill at ease. Their is no magic here as far as I can tell. I do not like unexplained devices."
He has a thought.
"Control, can you make a room with books detailing the use and workings of everything in this general area as well as all related subject matter."
It could not hurt to ask for a library detailing how everything worked and it's underpinnings. At least no more then asking a craftsmen about his craft, if for some reason it denied this. Then they would know someone or something was involved beyond a machine, control could not be trusted would be all but a fact.
@Sinuo
"Books, yes..., I am sorry but they one thing you will fine very hard to get around here. But, Information, not so"
She indicates a image that come on to a wall in the main space.
On the wall a screen comes on, on it is an image of the very rooms you are in,
If you go over and look close you it is moves, as if panning around the space. Some thing light up. Placing a finger on the object in the image brings up an animated images. The animation shows someone using the object you just licked on. Its use and function only. Nothing of the how it dos what it dos.
Other than that control says nothing and seems to do nothing.
A snort could be heard behind his mask.
"Selective information more like it. Deceit by omission."
He left it at that. He did not believe the information was unavailable, nothing was perfect or flawless. Someone or something needed to maintain, build, and repair things around here. That it could be done without any knowledge of it's workings was not possible. He would learn by observation, their was also the question of power source. He would be free of this place or pry it's secrets as the price for his stay.
Libi walks to Sinuo. Speaking of information. Can we all examine the book? After all, if It's vital to our continued existence, maybe we all should be more familiar with it.
Achith rises up and places itself between Libi and Sinuo.
"I will have to decline, as it is tied to my existence and you have shown yourself to be volatile. I do not feel the need to risk it. I can feel a connection to the tome akin to that with Achith."
He nods towards the featureless gold orb.
"That along with apparently being chosen to care for it, makes me protective of the item. You need not concern yourself with it's security."
He opens the bag he had placed it in, showing it to be empty.
"Apparently in the past I was very security conscious. None can steal the item form me, much less damage it. A claim I do not think anyone else among us can make, correct me if I am mistaken."
He speaks with little emotion, more as a statement of facts. Behind his mask he watches the moody woman carefully. She was to unpredictable from what little he knew. So he would be cautious for now.
Libi takes an adversarial posture. So I'm supposed to trust you with my life, when I know nothing about you? Much less you know anything about yourself. She looks around to the others. It makes me very suspicious of this one, who hold sway of life over death with us, and refuses a simple request to even look at the book. What is he hiding from us? Are the rest of you willing to be held hostage in ignorance?
Mia moves between Libidinous Prax and Sinuo, making a calming gesture to both of them.
"I don't think we can afford to be distrustful of each other. He has a point, though. Out of the three of us, he's the only one that hasn't had a breakdown of some sort," sha says to the agitated woman before turning to Sinuo. "Would you be willing to let us read the book if you were there with us? That way you could be sure that neither of us, or anyone else, is trying to harm it."
"You can trust that I will not endanger my own life. As to your other questions, they can be posed to any of us, you are no exception."
Again his tone is merely a statement their is no heat in it.
"If anything you have shown yourself to be hostile and unstable. Now you seek to instigate conflict and division among the group. Throwing suspicion because I do not trust you anymore then you trust me. Would anyone place something that ties to their life in your hands? Would you? I rather doubt it, if you say otherwise you only prove my point."
He brings his staff slightly forward with a sharp tap.
"Your reaction is exactly the reason I refused you. You only strengthen my resolve and justify my response."
As the aasimar gets between them and speaks, he listens. Again knowledge comes unbidden to his mind, his own spellbook and it's protections placed by his own hand. He could do the same he supposed, it would require time and privacy though.
"I would be willing, under certain conditions, to do as you ask. But I pick the time and place. Proper preparations must be made, less our weakness prove our deaths."
"Now now, let us be calm about this" Pennyfeather says, holding his hands up in a placatory gesture "I agree with Mia. We must be willing to trust each other. For better or worse, we are in this together." he says in a soft voice while walking up to the others "That sounds reasonable to me Sinuo, we must look at this book together sometime and..." he gestures towards Ynja "I don't feel it wise to read whilst we are being watched anyway. Should we not get as much information from this 'agent' while we still can?" his voice hushed so that Ynja cannot hear.
I'm as calm as the grave. Libi says with a cocked eyebrow. I just wonder what happens later when Sinuo starts issuing dictates with the threat of ripping out out a glowing page if we don't comply.
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Shaeda had been absorbing as much as possible. She touched the various metals. She felt the smoothness of the glass. She marveled at the light sources. She made an effort to determine if this was all illusion, or powered by aether, and she was stymied on both counts.
"You mean my whirligigs," she responded belatedly. "They are items of copper, iron, and platinum, the easier to work metals, and powered by the aether, but all of this?" She shakes her head. "I recognize, or at least I think I do, some very advanced metallics: aluminum,niobium, titanium, nickel, and wolfram, and several composites of those.. There are several that I am sure I don't know, and a few I can guess at. Those panels there, I would name as sky-steel, but thus my knowledge ends. I do not know how to work it, nor why my memory calls it that. The clear glass panels, windows they are, are recognizable as being of extreme purity and strength. Without memories of what I have seen before, I can only assume that my unfamiliarity and awe at these materials implies that my own people have little or no abilities to match the locals here, and yet metallurgically, my own equipment seems a bit superior to most of yours." She points to the covers on the lights, and some other items, "as for those, I am completely unfamiliar with those materials. They seem as a translucent bone, of varying colors, and yet, I doubt they are. No, I am as perplexed as the rest of you."
She considers the conversation. "I do not care about the book, except to understand what makes it so valuable to us. If it governs my fate, then I want to know how and why."