"I figured we should check outside to see what that was. If it's nothing.....or something we don't want to be with, then we turn back and check out the cages." Yelenn says moving to the door and opening it.
With a creak and plume of disturbed dust the doorhandle snaps off at Yelenn's touch, followed by the chunk of calcified wood it was attached, and then rest of it, revealing not only more light but also a warming (or paining) imagery for the magus. Seemingly endless green awaits outside, with fields of ancients rising triumphantly into the sky, their roots dancing all along the forest floor and right above it, revealing numerous stone boxes, some with intricate carvings and reliefs, some more plain.
Stepping out and looking around you realize it was not a dome you exited, or at least not always, but once a tower, now split in two as a mighty tree grows up through it, it's roots coiling around what's left of the base eerily like that of a snake's. Or Lamae's.
"Wow! These trees must easily be millennia old." Yelenn says, taking in the spectacular view after taking a while to get used to the sunlight. "Whatever civilization built all this was pretty amazing."
Looking around, she tries to figure out the direction of the sound they'd previously heard.
Going off the way that Mylyna has pointed there lies a trail where the mossy ground has not been overtaken by the roots, or they are so low and small that you won’t need to climb over them.
Gesturing for Mylyna to follow, Yelenn carefully begins to follow the trail, keeping an eye out for any signs of danger.
Following along the mossy path the two women find themselves moving along a short bridge made of twisted roots over a river filled ravine before back to the mossy trail snaking them towards the sound. Soon enough though they come across a giant slab of stone laying on the trail, submerged partially in the soft moss.
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The felinitous creature continues to meditate.
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Yelenn continues along, eyes on the trail.
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As they moved along the path Mylyna looked around in interest. She hadn't been to this part fo the island before and she actually found it rather pretty.
Mylyna was just beginning to relax when she saw something...wrong. She reached out to grab Yelen's shoulder and said, "Hey, isn't that a coffin lid? How didn't we hear that fall?"
Looking to where Mylyna pointed, Yelenn considers the heavy looking lid. "Maybe that was the sound we heard when we were inside. If so it fell from.....somewhere over there." she says following the most likely path of it's descent.
Looking up the two women are able to determine the trajectory of the lid means it most likely belongs to the coffin a way off the ground above them nested in the thicker roots of a tree. It’s almost vertical but not enough to tell if anything is inside it.
You hear the sounds of two women talking below.
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Sh'kahn lifts his head at the noise of others. He then attempts to quietly conceal himself while watching them below - he didn't know if he could trust these newcomers, him being a newcomer to wherever-he-was himself.
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Unable to see inside the coffin due to it's elevation, and lacking any ability to fly, Yelenn once again conjures a quartet of bobbing lights, sending them up to illuminate the stone coffin, mentally instructing them inside of it.
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Mylyna considered what Yelen said about the sound and nodded her agreement, "Guess so. I wonder if something was in it? I just hope it's not another armor monster."
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"Well, there doesn't seem to be anything in it. Do you want to explore around here more, or head back?" Yelenn asks Mylyna after the lights fail to trigger anything.
Mylyna considered what Yelen had suggested and looked around for a means of reaching the coffin. She wanted to make sure there was nothing inside of it before they moved on.
"If you're going to climb it, be careful. I'll cover you." Yelenn says, looking up at the stone coffin, the words to a ranged spell on the tip of her tongue should anything hostile appear.
Nodding Mylyna slithered over to the nearest roots and began to make her way up to the coffin. It took her some effort but once she reached it she peered in carefully in case there was something nasty and mean inside.
After climbing all the way up to inspect the contents of the coffin Mylyna discovers it to be bare.
As Mylyna indicated the coffin's emptiness, Yelenn found herself breathing a sigh of relief. "So do you want to continue exploring around here a bit more, take advantage of that running water back inside or head back the way we came?" she asks her companion, while trying to guage the time of day and taking in the details of the massive forest.
There is light filtering in, but actual time of day is hard to asses here with the trees blogking the sky.
Finding nothing inside Mylyna slithered back down to the ground and considered Yelen's question. She missed her cave already but finally nodded and said. "There's water here, as long as we can make a fire to stay warm with stay and explore around here again after we rest."
Although the flora surrounding you, the moss and roots and flowers, is moist and the air slightly humid the Lamae's cantrip would be more than enough to start a fire, presuming you can gather up sufficient kindling.
"Okay, I'll gather up some firewood while you get settled." Yelenn says setting down everything but her immediate gear.
The Student proceed to spend an in inordinate amount of time hacking at a nearby root bigger than herself with her scimitar in order to claim enough moderately dry wood for Mylyna to set ablaze.
Gathering everything up and building the makings of a fire, Yelenn sat back as Mylyna lit the fire. "I have rations if we can't find anymore fruit." she said, blushing slightly as the remembered the melon from earlier that morning. "And running water is always good."
Mylyna shifted and began to curl around the fire as Yelen spoke to keep herself warm. Her coils made a loop around Yelen once, then twice, and ended with Mylyna's torso next to hers as she said, "Good, I don't know if I can find anymore fruit out here." she sighed then and continued, "At least I have company now."
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The color rushing to her face, Yelenn smiled, her body relaxing into Mylyna's coils, her hand unconsciously caressing her smooth scales as she became very aware of her companion's presence. "Yes, definitely better than being here alone."
Long gone are the days of elegance in cerulean Veluriya, in the opulent palace of the Shahzada. Long gone are days of the cool and calm, of the serenity and safety of the marbled pools. Long gone.
The Court of the Black Flame saw to that.
First with poisoned whispered and twisted letters they cut you and your family out, like paper figures linked to each in the hands of a cruel child. Then they carved. With the louder words, a miasma, to run you out, and then in naked steel they cut your family down when you tried to flee, ugly red splashed over the beautiful blue. Staining it.
But they didn’t get you. Haven’t got you. Not yet.
Fleeing took from place to place, nowhere to call home, but plenty of places to hide, to explore, to experience. To build yourself back up. But the Court would not have that. And so they sent out their trusted servants, riders on horses and on the wind, like a plague, across the land, until they got to you again, or rather, their words did. Just as deadly as the others they spat horrid whispers into the ears of those left ungauarded, and those, no matter how noble of soul, began to listen to the whispers, for you can denounce to an audience, defend, but not against a whisper to someone you have never met.
And so their works found you, knights and priests who serve the light, fooled. A miscarriage of justice as you were brought before the Sun King. Blame fell at your feet, for what happened at the palace, at other palaces. Portents they discovered, planted to be found, implicated you thoroughly and without remorse.
A pox on the land you had become without even knowing it, a waking curse. A blasphemy unto peace and existence.
And so the King deliberated, just a boy, but surrounded by wisdom from the planes, decided your judgement. Guilty of action or not, for it would be hard to discern without investigation, and that would be too risky, lest other realms of blue fell, he sentenced you to the Isle of Nightmares, Bastarache. His Efreeti Vizier, who are not known for their mercy, cautioned against this, not wanting their lands and the Isle to interact for any amount of time, least of all with him as a conduit. And so they talked, your fate, a simple chat.
And then did the Wishmaker sigh and nod to the boy, and turned to face you and moved his arms. And then it all began to blur.
When your eyes open you find yourself in an unfamiliar room on an unfamiliar, yet very comfortable bed. There is a dresser across from you and a door, closed. A pleasant though heavy scent wafts through the air, someone had been burning incense most likely, aside from the smell the darknened room is cloaked in purple, going beyond the covers and the tapestries and patterns on the wall, there seems to be a whole sheen of violet filtering over your eyes.
Fading off to sleep, if you choose to do so, leads to an uneventful night from any outside forces, if there were any at all that is. Waking as the sun filters down you are met with the same image as before you closed your eyes. A forest full of roots and moss and graves.
A distance down the path you see the green and greys being pierced by little bits of colors, flowers.
Yasmin awakes in a strange place. She looks to one side to see if her water jin is still there; without the jin, her powers are greatly weakened. She slides off the bed - she is still garbed. At least if she was transported, she was not molested. Not to her knowledge, anyway. She casts about for her traveling pack, her weapons, anything that will give her a better sense of security.
Her nose twitches at the scent of incense. Who lit it? In whose home has she found herself? Is her fate now to be a serving-girl, a concubine, or... is this home empty, and now a prison?
She checks the dresser, looks to see if there is anything else that might be of use, or give her some clue to her new whereabouts.
As she gets up, the floor soft, not a rug but carpeted, Yasmin goes about the room she finds her belongings neatly upon or in the dresser. Also on the dresser is a small mirror, which, if gazed into, reveals her feature perfectly, absent the purple haze filtrating the room.
Yasmin takes a moment to look into the mirror, wondering about the strange violet overlay.
"I wonder if I'm in another realm? Trapped... in a mirror? Is that the way they decided to imprison me so that my elemental ties wouldn't affect the rest of the world?" she says to herself as she collects her armaments and traveling gear.
The mirror provides no answer when prompted by Yasmin talking to herself, no verbal ones anyway.
With her gear stowed and her bow ready, she checks the door to see if it's locked.
It is not.
She presses quietly and slowly on the door to open it while peeking around the corner, bow in hand...
The door opens to reveal a hallway, with more doors lining the walls heading down to the left, further than she can see, if she looks to the right, the hallway ends with a stairwell heading down.
"Hmm... no windows so far, so I can't tell if I'm on the ground level or not. I might as well head down, if it looks like a cellar I can come back up..."
She cautiously makes her way to the stairwell and slips down it with care.
The stairs only go down one flight, depositing her into a new short hallway. At the end it seems to open up more into a room with seats and a door opposite her. In the right side of the hallway there’s a door and right after it seems to turn into a counter facing the room.
"Wish I had a journal or some way to make a map..."
Yasmin heads down the hallway and looks over the counter that faces the room - perhaps a serving shelf to connect to the kitchen?
The counter separates the main room into a smaller room, which is most likely what that door opens to. Resting on the counter is a young woman with features similar to Yasmin, her head on her arms, and her breathing is not quite a snore.
Yasmin’s continued talking doesn’t seem to have woken her yet.
Yasmin approaches cautiously, then prods the woman's back with her bow. "Who are you?" she asks, dreading the reply.
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”Whaz-huh?!” the woman responds with a start and a jerk, before settling and slowly rising up, her blue eyes blinking blearily. Her face, underneath her dark hair, is quite beautiful, with a gold ring and chain running from her nose down to her clothing, or lack thereof. Garbed in seemingly a simple blue sash that is straining to hold all of her curves and impressive chest she is also adorned with more golden jewelry and chains intricately running over her body, two very prominent rings showing through near sheer fabric covering her breasts with tiny chains coming down from them.
Finally waking enough to register Yasmin her eyes quickly twitch up to the Sha’ir’s hair before back down to her face, her blue stained lips turning into a sultry smile as she props her elbows on the counter followed by her chin on the back of her hands as her fingers, covered in golden clawed rings seemlessly interlock. ”I am Sani, oh most honored guest. Did you sleep well?” she purrs out her answer.