Horizon Walkers (Game Thread) Dead

[Josh123914]

Nettil's head was pounding after slamming it against that rock, but that feeling subsided as she drifted off to sleep.
She dreamt of the wave. A wave as large as the one that night, but bigger, as though there was somehow more water added to it, making it faster but smaller at the same time. Nettil dug in her heels and created the same pillar as before. The wave eclipsed the hill in front, and washed away the others, before slamming into the front of her pillar. The shock sent her flying off her pedestal, and headfirst towards the ground.
Nettil closed her eyes, but felt the impact of a marble floor. Sunshine was filling through windows behind her. She got up and inspected her surroundings. Potted plants lined the shelves and vines grew on the walls, and there were steps spiraling upstairs. Nettil went to inspect where would be her room. She entered the room and looked around.
Total silence.
Then, Nettil peered into a cupboard, but instead of clothes or papers found only smoke. She tilted her head up and found most of the room engulfed in smoke and fire. A figure was in the room with her, but she couldn't make out who. The figure took a step forward, but as it did a crashing noise was heard as a chunk of the ceiling collapsed.


Nettil gasped and threw her eyes open, only to discover she was wrapped in her cocoon shaped sleeping position. She shivered from the cold, damp weather, and nearby heard Zuria.
"Wake up everyone."
Nettil stood before Zuria could get to her, tossed her blanket into her bag and then headed towards the water. Her reflection presented a face that Nettil considered attractive, and long hair that was now starting to get in the way.
Nettil then rummaged through the bag again. "Shit." she muttered, realizing she hadn't brought a container or even a cup for water. She splashed some icy water in her face and then drank with her hands. Her hands were more coarse than the night before. Rougher, but at the same time with looser skin. Nettil couldn't put her finger on what exactly caused this, and went on to dry herself. As she pulled out the small cloth, one of her sandals somehow shot out of the bag.
"I won't be wearing those anytime soon." she lamented, before packing everything back into the bag and tying the top and returning to the rest of the group.

"Morning," she said quietly to the others. On picking up her new staff Nettil recounted who was in the group; Of them, Kes and Des no doubt loathed her by now, while Kyras most likely thought quite lowly of Nettil for her request the previous night.
As they all squeezed onto their transport, Nettil slided the staff beneath her, and sat her bag on her lap.

The journey was long and frigid. While on board, Nettil was tempted to fall asleep, but couldn't will herself to. She thought of other travels by boat she took at home. Most were on larger vessels, with sturdy hulls and the like.
Nettil looked at the looming glaciers and was reminded of Sal. She felt guilty for losing him, but if she wanted answers she probably wouldn't get it from the group. She pushed him to the back of her mind again, and pulled open her bag to reveal a smaller pouch. In lay dozens of unique seeds. Some large, some small, quite a few were vibrant, but Nettil treasured most of them, reassuring herself that she will rebuild what once was.

After counting each seed and assessing them, Nettil looked up to see that the raft had stopped, and their de facto leader was asleep. Nettil felt the need to say something, but wasn't sure what. Something, anything to fill the space that was the current slate of silence.
She made an audible, "Hmm" and then continued. "Awfully cold, isn't it?"

 

[Lunar Templar]

The morning up to the point where the raft seemed to stop was pretty uneventful, people got moving, fires put out, and people left to fend for them selves, assuming they even lived.

She's seen worse.

when Nettil finally said something Lucia was laying on her side staring out over the water. "Compared to where I'm from, it's not so bad" Lucia said in reply to Nettil's comment, looking back over her shoulder to find Zuria quiet literally, a sleep at the wheel. "Oh for ..." she grumble before getting up to wake Zuria "Hey! We're not there yet, wake up!"

 

[hiei82]

[HEADING=1]SPECIAL NOTICE TO ALL PLAYERS[/HEADING]

Due to the result of the survey of the players, the consensus is to take a break from this game for 2 weeks. Game will resume 18May15. For further details, see the spoiler tag below

During this time we will put together the new recruitment thread, though we will not launch it until this Horizon is nearing completion.

Thanks to everyone who answered the survey!

Spoiler: Survey Results

Survey Results

Full Survey Results [https://docs.google.com/forms/d/1ScesRMT_PYcI0Ka7Cv6TRxYn-J3Ash2qVn1ahD9lI08/viewanalytics?usp=form_confirm]

Break: looks like a 2 week break is the number the most people can agree with so let's go with that.

Replacement: Looks like no one save Avo has any intention of switching out characters and most think that it be done by special review of existing players.

Recruitment: The average number of players people want added is 3, but with a large standard deviation relative to the scale, skewed toward the higher end. So it looks like 2-4 new players, depending on submissions. These will also be judged by the group as a whole.

New Horizon: Rawen and Josh have both submitted horizons. We can figure out what to do with this as the recruitment drive begins.

[HEADING=2]Edit[/HEADING]

As of today - 18May15 - the game is now back from break.

 

[DarkRawen]

The night before going with the raft was a quiet, if cold one. It wasn't until they got onto the raft the next morning that something actually happened, though Des did, with some interest, watch as Kes skinned the goats.

When they were drifting on the raft, Des spent most of the trip worrying about Kes, trying to make the raft-ride more pleasant for her. He had noticed that she hadn't been well on the larger boat either, and he would sit next to her, offer to rub her stomach or some water he had prepared -there was so much snow- every now and then. After a while, he realized that what she wanted was probably akin to some peace and quiet, and instead offered to help out with getting the raft moving, only to hear that Zuria apparently had it covered. He didn't really sleep, but after a while, he closed his eyes, head against Kes' shoulder, and relaxed.

When the raft stopped moving, Des didn't make much of an effort to get up or even open his eyes. He only muttered, lazily, to Kes.

"Do you feel better now? The raft has stopped."

"Awfully cold, isn't it?"

It was Nettil's voice. He wasn't sure if they were still supposed to be angry with her, so he gave her a non-nonchalant, sort of friendly reply.

"It is. I'm freezing."

 

[hiei82]

"Do you feel better now? The raft has stopped." Des asked. He'd spent much of the trip trying to help her. There wasn't much he could do to help, but the thought was nice she supposed. "A little." Kes finally answered in a soft tone. Even stopped, the waves and movement on the raft made up the bulk of the shifting so Kes still felt sick.

She heard Nettil complain about the cold and Des respond, but Kes remained silent. She didn't really have a leg to stand on; literally and figuratively. She could hardly comment on Nettil disliking the cold when she couldn't handle the boat. Fortunately, the discussion was quickly paused by the sudden arrival of... something.

Janice - as the being introduced herself - apparently wanted some chains broken. For her part, Kes didn't really have a problem with it. She had her own distaste for chains so she could understand where Janice was coming from. Further, if the being could get them to land... well, Kes had a bias against the ocean so she'd be grateful. Of course, she had to wonder why the woman was in chains in the first place. Also, if Janice wanted her to break the chains, they'd have to get to land first.

"I'm okay with breaking the chains, but I'd need to get to land first." Kes said once a break in the conversation came before throwing up slightly into the sea.

 

[DarkRawen]

"A little."

"It'll be better soon, I'm sure of it."

"Perhaps we could make a deal, looks like there none nearby to help either of us. But maybe you can help me. As you can see my hand are rather tied, and not for fun. Would any of you adventuring types happen to be strong enough to poor little me free? I'm Janice by the way. What bring you out here anyway?"

All of a sudden, an odd, woman had appeared. Chains, several sets of arms an snakelike, she wasn't a regular mortal, he wasn't sure she was a mortal at all.

I think we should help her.

Before he had spoken his mind, however, Kes started talking.

"I'm okay with breaking the chains, but I'd need to get to land first."

Des rubbed Kes' back as she threw up, and he looked towards this Janice again. She looked akin to the way some mortals described demons where he came from, and he had to admit there was a familiar sense about her looks.

"I'm with Kes. Bring us to land, and we'll break your chains, okay?" He smiled, warmly. "I don't know why you're here, or why you're chained, but we'll help you if you help us. At least..." he trailed off. Des suppposed they would have to listen to the others in the group as well.

But she doesn't look evil.

Evil in his eyes, at least, was a rabid, ugly thing, like the people that would burn young maidens for being a little different than the rest, or the ones who wage wars for their own benefits. It was a mortal thing, judgemental and cruel. Des lacked such evil, and thus, he wouldn't judge.

"That's what I think."

 

[Josh123914]

Nettil hopped off the raft and managed to keep both feet dry, and listened to the large snake woman.

"As agreed?"

"Oh, of course." Nettil stated, taking a step forward to the large being and pulling out her staff, pointing it at the chains with one eye closed.
It was at that point she remembered the dead goat, and Kes' anger at her aiming. It was on target last time, but just in case, such a violent weapon could shear off bits of flesh along with the chains.
"Sorry," she said, lowering her weapon rather than firing, and then looked back to the others for someone else to break the chains.

 

[Lunar Templar]

Lucia had been silent the whole time, a side the sound made by shaking the snow off her gear. As for this serpent woman, Lucia had little to add. There didn't seem much reason to distrust her, for now anyway, but an accord was reached to remove the chains, Kes volunteering to be the one to remove them, though at the moment she seemed predisposed to losing her meal.

So Lucia stepped up after Nettil moved out of the way. instead of just breaking them though she looked for a lock of some kind. Breaking the chains would be easy, but that'd cause undue wear on her gear. With a sign though, she drew her sword and wedged it between the links, and with a sharp twist, snapped the link and broke the chain.

 

[Josh123914]

"You can't be serious? You?re helping this?"
"Well, at least I didn't try to break the chains" Nettil thought, relieved, before speaking. "We were in a frigid sea, with icebergs and cliff faces everywhere, and this... being." She said, gesturing towards Janice, "Decided to push us to shore. Now, if Janice was going to kill us or something, wouldn't it make more sense for her to do so while we were stranded on a rickety barge?"
She said, hoping Zuria satisfied with her justification.

"But, we probably should have woken you up." Nettil added, biting her lip on why exactly their unofficial expert in this world was asleep.

 

[Anti-American Eagle]

Sitting in the boat as things went Kyras did what he could to keep himself warm. What little could be burned around him was needed whole to keep everyone alive. His mind as people moved was placid as he looked into the water the cold keeping it so as things came to a stop and voices came. When movement came suddenly he turned to look at the thing that had dragged them to land as the moving stopped again. A flicker of recognition came in his mind from the days before the bloodsport as he looked at the creature.

Kyras couldn't place why he recognized the situation but he did and so he turned to the creature and asked "Why are you chained?" before looking to Zuria and asking "Why is she chained?"

 

[IFS]

"Why is she chained?"

"An excellent question," Alex said "however we aren't likely to get an answer we don't like from Janice here."

He had been watching and thinking curiously since they had discovered Janice, Zuria seemed strangely against unchaining Janice but had given little in the way of an explanation as to why. Could be any number of reasons, rational or irrational, if she can't explain herself then she's not worth listening to though.

He turned to Zuria "If you've got a reason we shouldn't free her let us know," he said "otherwise I am perfectly in favor of following the bargain we have set. She has done no harm to us, and has even offered assistance."

Of course that doesn't mean I won't keep an eye on her, but that's an easy enough thing. At the moment though she's been more help to us than Zuria, so if I had to take a side between the two... hmm. Well let's hope it doesn't come to that.

Smiling at Janice he approached her "Let me see the chains," he said "perhaps I've heard of something like them in my travels."

 

[Josh123914]

Chained up to keep me from unchaining others
Nettil looked at Janice and then to Zuria. "Well then what do we do? Leave her and continue on our way?" she asked, wondering where exactly they are supposed to go from here.

 

[hiei82]

Kes glanced back and forth between Zuria and Janice. Clearly the pair had some history and it wasn't pleasant. This in particular left Kes in an awkward position. On the one hand, Janice - the "mother of the sea" - had helped them and they'd made a deal to break her free in return. Kes preferred to keep her word. Further, Janice spoke of "unchaining" others; a cause Kes agreed with. The fact that these Stharn had locked her up at all was a point against them as far as she was concerned.

On the other hand, Zuria had helped her on the previous Horizon to free slaves and Kes still felt she owed the woman for it. Further, if Janice was the literal "mother of the sea" as her title suggested, than Kes had a reason to dislike her. Further, while she didn't condone slavery of any kind, she also couldn't help but wonder what 'terrorizing' the Stharn meant.

All the while, the two seemed to hurl challenges and insults and accusations at each other; none of which held any meaning to Kes at all. This just served to annoy Kes; how was she supposed to know what to do if they didn't explain anything? "Will one or both of you just say what's going on! I at least don't know anything about your conflict; much less what a "mother of the sea" is." Kes finally said, once her frustration had boiled over.

 

[DarkRawen]

Des was happy to be back on land, and he was happy that the others were willing to help out this mysterious lady as well. However, then came the less pleasant part, the chains didn't seem that easily broken after all. Some sort of magic, apparently, though Des had no idea what, this wasn't his home. Besides, he never had experienced a lot of magic before horizon travelling, the mortals where he came from believed in a lot that wasn't true.

So does mortals everywhere, apparently.

Of course, then it went from bad to worse, Zuria woke up, and apparently there was a disagreement between Zuria and Janice. Des didn't understand why everything had to be so complicated.

"I don't know why she's chained up but it's not important. That's the mother of the sea, terrorised my people for centuries before I killed her. I've been defending the Stharn ever since, figured it was a sort of justice to use one of her own gauntlets."

"Chained up to keep me from unchaining others."

"Well..." Des started. "If you were enslaving people, you can't really say that you're better than her. You've already killed this beautiful lady once, shouldn't she the very least be able to walk free? Besides, we made a deal, it wouldn't be proper to disregard it." It made no sense to Des, surely being killed had to be enough of a punishment. The fact that she might not have gotten killed didn't strike him, as it did not sound too strange for him to have someone get resurrected.

He then got closer to Janice, before noticing something odd. Her vitae was... not where he expected it to be. There was a large amount of vitae from the water, enough for him to be able to sense it from where he stood.

"Why is your vitae underwater? Could it be... that this isn't your real body?" he asked, tilting his head. "If so, wouldn't it be better if we removed whatever is keeping you there?" His voice bore no suspicion, he had no reason to doubt her, after all.

 

[Lunar Templar]

Lucia, having failed her attempt sheathed her sword, took a few steps away from this 'Mother of the Sea' and just let her and Zuria argue, though she kinda started to tune it out after a little bit.

It was starting to remind her to much of some of the more asinine bickering she'd had to deal with between nobles back on her world and it hadn't gotten more tolerable since the last time. Though in this case it seemed more like some one arguing with Leviathan, for being Leviathan.

 

[IFS]

Mother of the sea? A goddess perhaps? The very thought made Alex shudder, whether you liked the gods or not they had power, their very existence had weight, and he for one was not about to stand against a goddess. They say that the illness in my world began from the injuring of a goddess, I cannot let such a thing happen here. Besides which it was the utmost hubris to stand against the divine, regardless of the divines intent. Besides which Janice had helped them already and offered them further help, Zuria seemed to fear for the people of the Horizon, which gave him pause, but still he knew where he had to stand.

"It doesn't have to be like that return my gauntlet and you can go. I'm not anyone here's enemy, I can even show you a way out."

"I stand with Janice," he declared, moving to stand alongside the woman "though I would know what you intend for when you are restored. More specific than 'to keep from unchaining others' if you please."

The gods can be fools themselves, I will not fight her so if she intends to bring calamity the best I can do is attempt to dissuade her from such a course.

 

[Josh123914]

Nettil watched the display and shivered despite being clothed in more layers than an onion, and listened to the others- who had clearly ignored her last question.

Zuria continued to debate the Leviathan, while the quiet bookish one named Alex declared to side with Janice in the matter.

Apparently they had been ignoring Kes as well, ignoring her personal qualms with the discussion;
"Will one or both of you just say what's going on! I at least don't know anything about your conflict; much less what a "mother of the sea" is.

"From what I can gather, Zuria used to defend her people from Janice, who used her **** to flood this place" she said, kicking away some ice from her feet at the thought. "Zuria has a gauntlet that maybe isn't supposed to be hers, and was using it to keep evil at bay."

She then gestured at the ocean and then the group. "Now, obviously that has failed, since Zuria was part of your group when I met you all, meaning she couldn't possibly be guarding this ice heap, but the S'tharn engage in slaving, which makes me question what kind of people Zuria considers worth defending. Or do you not consider slaves "people"?"

Nettil then moved her posture and looked up to face Janice. "Supposing we do free you," she asked, quickly darting an eye to Alex and Lucia, then back to the beast. "What will you do? And don't lie. Honestly, there's no benefit, considering I have a less than emaculate opinion of the S'tharn way of life as is."

Nettil would apologize to Zuria, but that time would come later, and honestly doing so now may undermine her entire interpretation so far.

 

[DarkRawen]

Too much was going on at once for Des to speak up. He knew better than to get into a discussion between two ladies who hated each other as much as Janice and Zuria seemed. However, from what he could gather, the Stharn were bad people, very bad people, and Janice, wanting to free slaves, was the lesser of two evils.

So, we should help Janice.

At least, Des thought that was how it worked? He himself knew how cruel mortals could be, how they could wage wars for eternities for profit. Sure, they would claim it was in order to protect themselves, but if neither had attacked, there would be no reason to defend. For all the sins he was fond of, lust being the main one, he didn't find pride to be commendable, or even pleasurable. Pride and wrath were only used to harm others, he thought. When he heard that Alex stood with Janice, he found himself stepping next to the demon hunter.

"I do as well," he said, though he took distance from the fighting between Zuria and Janice, he still wasn't sure which of them they would end up helping. It depended on what the others chose. Still, this made him angry, the way they were bickering, throwing insults like small children, and the way it became clear how horrible this Horizon actually was. And most of it was mortals' doing. It reminded him of the first Horizon he had visited, and though he had tried to ignore it there, simply remembering the cheering made him narrow his eyes.

"These Stharn seem despicable, and if they can't play nice, then I have no issue with the whole lot drowning. The wicked will be punished and the innocent will get their reward. I may not know what happens to the mortal soul afterwards, but I do know for a fact that hell exist."

For those who had travelled with Des for a while, his anger was surprising and unfamiliar.

 

[hiei82]

"SAY THAT AGAIN WHEN YOU'RE FREE! If you're freeing her do it already, these head games accomplish nothing and I'm getting sick of the snake speak." Zuria said; summarizing Kes's feelings on the matter. While she couldn't be sure, it sounded like Zuria was defending some kind of slave-trade empire and the only way to stop them was freeing some kind of sea monster who freely admitted to eating people and genocide.

While Kes could see Janice's point - there were many times she'd have favored death over continued enslavement - she didn't agree with her on making that decision for them. Denying them the choice was another form of enslavement. Further, while she could sort of understand Alex and Des standing with the Mother of the Sea - they both had beliefs in gods and afterlives after all - she couldn't agree with the decision herself.

By the same note, she couldn't agree with Zuria. She defended these Stharn who were clearly the worst offenders. Overwhelming military power, slave taking and training, rule by fear... as far as Kes was concerned, they were of the same breed as the Liem - just monsters that made play at being human.

And yet, where the others seemed to be dividing up between Zuria and Janice's camps, Kes didn't see why they needed to. The solution seemed obvious to her. "Zuria. I owe you for helping free those slaves. However, if you stand with these "Stharn" then you're of my enemy. The Stharn have built their empire on the backs of slaves and should pay for it in blood." Kes said, her voice holding no mercy for them.

From there she turned to Janice. "I agree that the Stharn should pay, but you're a monster by your own right. If you plan to eat people and destroy this world you're just as evil as the Stharn. You took us to this island under lies and so I don't see any reason to help you. You don't need your full power and you don't deserve it."

"All we need to do is destroy the Stharn city-ship ourselves; no more slave empire and no giant monster on the loose." Kes finished. As far as she was concerned, it was the best path. From there, she began making her way to the canoe and eventually the Stharn ship. If Janice or Zuria tried to get in her way... well then she'd just have to deal with it.

 

[DarkRawen]

"All we need to do is destroy the S'tharn city-ship ourselves; no more slave empire and no giant monster on the loose."

Des looked towards Kes, trying to bite his tongue so that he didn't look as angry as he felt. Kes deserved none of his scorn. She had a point, though, if they could do both, that definitely would be preferable. However, he was given no chance to voice his agreement, as Zuria then tried to appear as if she was the one who was thinking about the innocent.

"Des you bastard, you think whatever comes next makes up for what happens in this world? You think there's some sort of justice, have you not seen what this world is like? Would you gods really settle for this is the were capable of better? You'd kill children and babies, of both sides. If that's really what you want then I'll say the same to you I did to the mother of the sea, do you understand what I intend to do?"

Des shook his head, and closed his eyes for the briefest moment, feeling more anger building up. "Don't you mortals dare push this over on me! I am a peaceful demon, I've always been a peaceful demon. However, if these people keep slaves, then those mortal children might as well grow up to be as rotten as their parents, and do as much harm. For now they remain innocent, yes, but that would likely change. A human life is short, but for those captured it will be pain. If it would stop the suffering, then how can you question me? Why are these mortal children more important than those of animals, who you so gleefully slaughter, or those mortals who get forced into slavery because of your people? Are the only children not allowed to be sacrificed those you consider your kin?" he said with disdain, bright orange eyes making his inhuman nature clear.

"So don't use your flawed, selfish mortal morality to judge me! I have interacted with more mortals, woman and men, than you've ever seen, and I've given them relief during these wasteful wars of yours! I know that there are innocent people, better than a little girl like you. So don't call me a bastard," he continued. While he wanted to further challenge Zuria on what she had said, Des didn't want to get into a discussion. Being angry felt bad, after all, an unpleasant burning in his chest.

"I change my mind, however, I'm not going to try talk to you. You're not worth it, none of your people are worth it." With that, he turned to follow Kes. He could help her, or the very least get away from the stupid humans. Wearily, looking at the ground, he took her hand, trying to get some sort of comfort. If nothing else, it kept him from getting more enraged.