Horizon Walkers (Game Thread) Dead

[Lunar Templar]

"I shall take a turn on watch as well" Riviera said as she lay semi close to the fire. The rain and cold didn't bother her, even with her thin fur it got colder back home. "So how should we determine who takes watch first? Draw lots or go in the order we spoke up?" she asked, wanting to get the guard rotation out of the way before any one settled in for a nap.

 

[hiei82]

Dalrel started the fire with ease using some form of magic. Kes stood and turned, but remained near the fire to dry off a bit. "Nice trick" she said with a half smile. It was a very useful trick that.

"Whats the story with this village? Did you all find it like this or did you cause it?" Dalrel asked. Kes shook her head. "It wasn't us; Alex says it was the "Inquisition"... whatever that is." she offered. "Something about a plague he said; you'll have to ask him for more."

Turning to Riviera, Kes shrugged. "I don't care what order we take watch; I'll take whatever watch needs me." Kes said, moving away from the fire. She grabbed the clothes Des had given her and walked around a still-standing wall to change. No sense letting them go to waste when her own clothes had long since gone ragged.

 

[Terratina.]

"Are you cold as well?"

Cold, shivers, increased metabolic rate, reduced blood flow, the icy bite of the wind and rain - that was the thing mortal described as cold, correct?

"Yes." Serragish-Id answered and looked down at the pale ashen elf still in hand, "He's losing heat more rapidly than me though."

The elf was then put down by the fire as others began talking about taking watch and as the possessed woman sat down next to him. Warmth, heat energy sensed by the integumentary system, blood rushing to the skin's surface. It was a... relief.

However, there was one thing in the back of Id's mind: how long should it stay in the woman's body?

 

[DarkRawen]

"Yes. He's losing heat more rapidly than me though."

Des nodded, and watched as she put down Kyras. He looked through the clothes he was carrying, and gave her a blanket and the last decent coat among them.

"Here, the blanket is for him, and the coat is for you," he said, smiling. While Des still wasn't sure what he thought of her due to the incident with the dying mortal earlier, she was still a lady, and clearly had some concern for others, seeing as she had carried Kyras thus far. "If you need more, just say so, okay? It might be a good idea for you to rest now, since you were rather tired before." With that, he sat back down.

The other mortals were discussing guard-duties, and while Des could easily have offered to stay up, everyone else seemed eager to do it first. He put the rest of the clothes down, those who needed them could take them, and looked at the fire. It burned fiercely, and it, together with the shelter and the coat, was enough for him to feel comfortable. Not as comfortable as being close to a beautiful lady, but far better than how things had been for a while.

Speaking of beautiful ladies, did Kes change yet?

He looked around for her, and, after a short while, she returned, wearing the clothes he'd brought her. She was already pretty on her own, but the clothes looked a lot better on her than the rags had. Des smiled brightly, and stood up to greet her.

"I knew they'd look good on you," he said, complimenting her. "You look beautiful." He noticed that she wasn't wearing the boots, perhaps her kind of mortal didn't like boots, or perhaps she simply didn't need them. Even so, he was still beaming, happy that she was wearing better clothes.

"They're not uncomfortable, right? They look like they're a good fit, at least."

 

[hiei82]

"I knew they'd look good on you,You look beautiful." Des said as Kes returned from changing. Kes stopped at the words and stared suspiciously at him for a long moment. "They're not uncomfortable, right? They look like they're a good fit, at least." he finished.

Kes spoke up almost immediately. "I don't know what you want but you can save the flattery; whatever you think I have I don't." she said simply before taking a seat on the opposite side of the fire from Des.

 

[IFS]

"This dwarf still has plenty of fight in him. If any of your inquisition friends tries to sneak up on us, it'll be my axe that'll be asking questions."

Alex was glad some of their number were volunteering to take watch, though this response worried him, ordinarily he was confident in his fellow inquisitors ability but he had seen the dwarf fight. While it was unlikely they would make an appearance he would prefer not to see his fellows injured or killed.

"Thank you, but please if inquisitors do appear don't attack them," he said, just wake me and I will handle them."

With that said he settled in by the fire that Dalrel had whipped up and closed his eyes, quickly falling into a light sleep. Others similarly rested or kept watch, and the hours passed quickly, the rain faded and the clouds lightened as day began to break.

In these early hours of the dawn Dalrel noticed a strange carving in the wall next to him. An eye, though it appeared oddly lifelike, taking a closer look it blinked and vanished only to be replaced by a half dozen more identical carvings scrawling across the scorched wood each seeming to examine him and occasionally blinking out of existence.

 

[Terratina.]

The meat puppet gave Des a nod and assumed a sleeping position. Afterwards, the mindscape filled with strange imagery. What Id could see puzzled the being. A heap of organs? Naming them? Some sort of twisted anatomy lesson?

Whatever it was, it seemed pretty wasteful. That simply wouldn't happen in Yetzirah when common illusions could do the trick, besides, conjuring flesh was pretty taxing by itself - no wonder the other girl looked so thin. Regardless, Id saw no reason to stay and left at dawn. Having a body would've been nice but the host's thoughts and memories seemed a little scattered, in short, it wasn't worth the bother. If she were still alive, its mistress would snicker and wonder if Archinets did have the capacity for laziness. Then again, Id had killed her in cold blood. But could that be called cold-blooded murder? Even now Id felt nothing at all in regards to killing.

When the arcane experiment did feel was curiosity. It felt being drawn to the outside world, for the background energies felt a little more active than the world of The Liemian Empire. And so, Id hovered near the fireplace for a while.

 

[Josh123914]

Dalrel stood back from the wall, intrigued by the creatures that seemed to inhabit the walls. Then he remembered he had no clue whether these things were a danger to the group.
He looked outside, as a the sun cracked a reddish sky open like an egg, and then nudged at Alex, being careful not to disturb the others that settled around what was now a pile of hot ash.

''Alex?'' He asked, nudging the man, with no response. ''Aaalexxx'' He said again, this time trying to lull him out of sleep. After several moments of this he sighed, ''Alex.'' He said firmly, this time hitting the other one across the face.
''Come take a look at these for me.''

 

[DarkRawen]

"Come take a look at these for me."

Des hadn't been sleeping, just resting, but it wasn't until Dalrel tried to wake Alex up that he opened up his eyes. He sat up and looked at the eyes on the walls. Why and how they had appeared seemed to be a mystery, and so was the simple quiestion of what they were. A mortal device, or some sort of creatures? They were odd, certainly, but his own eyes went to Kes instead.

She had sounded rather... offended, before going to sleep, Des hadn't approached her after that, but he sort of wished he had. He decided to explain it better to her when she woke up, say that he didn't have any ill intents.

I wonder if I should word it less forward... or perhaps more?

Mortals all reacted differently to words, after all, and this one didn't seem swayed by his looks either. Des really didn't have any intentions apart from being friendly, though, would he be able to make her believe that?

Serragish woke up not long after Dalrel had spoken. She was yelling at first, then speaking, though, what she was saying was unknown to Des.

"Segsastal forng galcis? Cem Serragish selt,"

Des looked at Serragish, confused. He didn't understand the language she was speaking, but he walked over to her, smiling. "Hey, Serragish, are you okay?" he asked, his tone concerned. "What language are you speaking?"

 

[Anti-American Eagle]

As the sun rose Kyras eyes opened to the world. It was cold, he looked around for a moment wondering where he was. He wasn't in a cage so that was good. He remembered escaping to a desert, but he wasn't in a desert. He smelled burning, and saw charred grass and buildings. He didn't remember doing it so he doubted it was him.

Nearby were people, they appeared to be the people he escaped with. He saw a fire. He needed to be warm again.

After a minute of staring he stood up and walked over to the fire. He pulled his gloves/gauntlets off and set them down before crouching infront of the fire and shoving his hands in.

It felt good, electric to be out of the empire. He assumed he was anyway, he'd be manacled if he wasn't.

 

[Lunar Templar]

Riviera also noticed the strange eyes watching them during her watch but wasn't sure what to make of them, but kept an eye on them none the less. Besides that, the night was uneventful, she got a decent amount of rest but as the sun rose so to did she once more, stretched in the way all feline and feline like creatures do then sat down. "Where does one hunt in these parts, I'm rather hungry."

 

[IFS]

''Come take a look at these for me.''

"What is it?" Alex said, waking quickly and turning to see the wall covered in eyes which now sat perfectly still and unblinking "Did you carve those? I don't remember them being there before..."

Then all at once the eyes blinked and vanished leaving untouched wood behind. Alex tensed for a moment then forced himself to relax. Did the plague survive? How could they have burned the whole town and failed to destroy the source, or maybe... I need to look into this.

"Where does one hunt in these parts, I'm rather hungry."

"I was speaking Jaladarzix, who are you and how did we get here?"

Alex's train of thought was interrupted by the questions, "We came here from a horizon, don't you remember?" he said to Serragish, then turned to Riviera "You might be able to hunt in the forest, be careful though there may still be traces of the plague in the area." Though I can't be sure it would even affect a creature like you.

"In fact I would like some volunteers to help me explore the town, both for supplies and because the inquisition may have missed the source of the illness," he said "The source will look like some sort of rotting mass, and will have powerful magic about it, only fire can truly destroy it and it is very dangerous so if you don't want to help search I understand."

 

[Josh123914]

''only fire can truly destroy it and it is very dangerous so if you don't want to help search I understand.''
''Well,'' said Dalrel, exhaling loudly to emphasise his point. ''If only fire can destroy it, I'm morally obligated to join you'' he told Alex, immediately wary of what amorphous being could emit omniscient eyes that attach to the walls. He also made a mental note to get some sleep immediately after this.

He rummaged through one of the bags near the fire and pulled out a cold cut of fish (presumably stolen from the last feast) and left it to heat over the fire for a few minutes. ''Just, lets make this quick. I've been up all night after all.''

 

[DarkRawen]

"I was speaking Jaladarzix, who are you and how did we get here?"

Des frowned. "I'm Des..." he felt rather disappointed, he hadn't considered himself as that forgettable, not at all. Then again, Serragish appeared to be confused on other accounts as well. Des wasn't sure where to start, though, Alex did that part for him.

"We came here from a horizon, don't you remember?"

"Yeah, we did. We've been travelling together ever since that world with the--- well, the ones were we were kept prisoner." He tilted his head. "Does that help you remember?" Des smiled again. He wasn't eager to give her a lot of details, the woman would probably be happier if she didn't remember having killed -or at least seriously wounded- another mortal.

"If not, don't worry, we'll figure it out. Even if you don't remember me, you can trust me, I promise."

"In fact I would like some volunteers to help me explore the town, both for supplies and because the inquisition may have missed the source of the illness. The source will look like some sort of rotting mass, and will have powerful magic about it, only fire can truly destroy it and it is very dangerous so if you don't want to help search I understand."

"I'm immune to illnesses," he told Alex as he turned to the man. "They're not dangerous to me. Although... I'm not sure if I should leave when Serragish isn't feeling well." Besides, he wanted to be there when Kes woke up, though, he didn't tell Alex that.

"Perhaps I should just stay here and look after her?"

 

[Mr.Ivebeenframed]

Vaery's watch was uneventful except for the eyes he heard that seemed to look out from the woodwork. The sunrise brought another dreary day onto them. He went through his pack and fetched some jerky he found at the bottom which sadly was the last of it when he left his land. He would have to hunt or else...

"In fact I would like some volunteers to help me explore the town, both for supplies and because the inquisition may have missed the source of the illness. The source will look like some sort of rotting mass, and will have powerful magic about it, only fire can truly destroy it and it is very dangerous so if you don't want to help search I understand."

Vaerys detested any sort of magic. If the lad said was true then he didn't like the sound of them looking for a rotting mass of pure magic. If he couldn't destroy it with his axe then he didn't like it. He wondered what to do next and weighed the risk of going out there once more.

"Then you won't be needing me then." Vaerys declared. "Unlike our fiery friend here, the only way I can conjure fires is if I put match to my arse. I'll guard the camp in case anyone comes a knockin'. We're not alone out here."

 

[Anti-American Eagle]

Kyras listened to the conversations around him, it seems he wasn't the only one in the dark about where he was. Then the topic of some kind of corruption and inquisition came up. It would explain the char around him. He had control of fire, if it was particularly threatened by fire there was a good chance it was malevolent.

He pulled his hands out of the fire and started putting his gloves/gauntlets back on. "You've made me curious, I'll go."

He found an errant piece of charred wood on the ground and stuck it in the fire, he manipulated the fires to burn it as slowly as possible and give off little light. He only needed the spark itself, he then began to draw the heat from it directly into himself. The wood didn't need it and it felt cold around here.

 

[hiei82]

"In fact I would like some volunteers to help me explore the town, both for supplies and because the inquisition may have missed the source of the illness. The source will look like some sort of rotting mass, and will have powerful magic about it, only fire can truly destroy it and it is very dangerous so if you don't want to help search I understand." Alex said.

As he was saying this, Kes awoke and pulled herself up. She folded up the blanket shed been given and put it away from the fire. Having heard his words, Kes reached down to the edge of the fire and pulled up a sizable, still aflame log. Thereafter, he made her way toward Alex (though keeping a little distance from Des) and spoke up. "Any suggestions on where to look?" she asked, implying she was volunteering by the nature of the question.

 

[DarkRawen]

"I'm feeling fine I need answers not rest, I don't know how long it was out but it was too long. Now if fire is what you need, I think I have something you'll find useful."

"Ah, okay, if you're sure..." Des pointed at Alex. "I think he'd be the best to give you answers if you need them. I'm not exactly the most intellectual here." He chuckled, though, only for a short moment. He was about to ask if they did want him to come along, but stopped as Kes awoke and joined the group.

"Any suggestions on where to look?"

Des noticed that Kes seemed to be distancing her a little from him, and looked at her, hesitantly. Making a sound that could almost be described as a whimper -though, it was very likely that no one would hear it- he felt the same kind of sadness he had earlier. Disappointment, perhaps. Would she be even more bothered if he spoke to her now? Or was she over it by now?

I don't want her to dislike me. I really don't want that.

The best way would be to try to explain the misunderstanding to her, he supposed, though if it would make her dislike him even more...

"Hey, Kes, I'm sorry if I gave you the wrong idea yesterday," he finally said, speaking loudly enough for her to hear him without him having to step closer. "I only wanted to let you know that the clothes suit you, I didn't intend to offend you or take anything from you." He spoke with a humble and careful tone, whatever confidence he normally possessed seemed to have withered away for the moment, brought on by the thought of not being liked. Besides, he didn't want Kes to feel uncomfortable or sad either.

"Really, I complimented you because I felt that it was worth complimenting, and that was all. Please forgive me if I went overboard."

 

[hiei82]

"Hey, Kes, I'm sorry if I gave you the wrong idea yesterday, I only wanted to let you know that the clothes suit you, I didn't intend to offend you or take anything from you. Really, I complimented you because I felt that it was worth complimenting, and that was all. Please forgive me if I went overboard." Des said,without closing the distance.

For her part, Kes eyed Des suspiciously as he spoke. She wasn't quite sure what to make of the strange man. The fact he was denying any desire to take anything seemed odd to her. That certainly wasn't the usual way of doing things in the slave pits, but then she wasn't in the slave pits. After a long silence she spoke. "I... don't know. I've only known those words as a way to get things."

She thought a little longer before speaking again. "It's forgotten... for now. I'll be watching to make sure you're words are true." she finally said, before turning back to Alex. "So... places to search?"

 

[IFS]

"So... places to search?"

Alex smiled, glad to have so many volunteers though he was uncertain as to how to handle Des. Immune to disease? Yet he claims to be a demon, clearly one very different from those here. Either way it may not be safe to leave him alone with someone else... but then the others can clearly handle themselves, hmm.

"I'd suggest looking for damp spots but that's just about everywhere now," he said, thinking for a moment "Some of the homes may have had cellars that survived the blaze, its possible the source is in one of them, a few of the fields have their own wells so checking in those would be advisable as well, mostly we should split into groups of two or three and spread out to cover the most ground."

He knelt and drew a simple map in the dirt, depicting the town with the town hall to the north, the houses to the east and west, and the fields to the south.

"I'll go north to the town hall, whichever way you go be careful the source may manifest demons or other entities to defend itself so keep your wits about you."