Fathomless Sunset - Letramenia

[DeletedUser28032]

Kaiden had never been more grateful to be away from a place as he was when they turned their backs on that tower and headed back into the forest. The place had just felt wrong from the very moment he’d set foot within its grounds with the eerie feeling of being watched compounded by the loss of his powers. It’d taken him a little while to pin point exactly what it was that had been bothering him but it finally hit him that for the first time in the better part of half a century he hadn’t been able to hear the trees; the sudden disappearance of their whispering conversation making the silence almost deafening for the Ranger.
When they eventually found the stream that the woman within the tower had spoken of Kaiden turned his back to it so that Red would be able to wash her clothes with a modicum of privacy but without leaving her completely undefended should anything catch her unawares “She seemed rather determined to keep us away from Cecia” Kaiden said from over his shoulder “…it kind of makes me think that there’s something there worth seeing…then again we were supposed to be on our way to Grelin…what do you guys reckon then? Grelin or Cecia?” he asked. Personally he was inclined to go and see Cecia if only to glimpse its walls from a safe distance so that he could say that he’d seen the fabled homeland of the Arina the city of the gods…now that’s something that got to be worth seeing!

 

[Apelatia]

The Stream

About a mile to the southeast of the strange tower, a small stream bubbled through the forest, flowing down the slight slope in the direction of the plains beyond, where it would eventually become a tributary of a larger river, no doubt. As it was merely a stream, its depth was a mere half metre, and its width was perhaps three metres at best. However, the area of the forest that the three companions had encountered contained less trees than they had encountered on their journey to the area; the trees in this area were more widely spaced, but to contrast their earlier scenery, these trees stood tall and proud, as they watched over the plain beyond the boundary of the forest...

Finadil

The group passed into the town without incident - the two solitary men in uniform standing by the first white buildings which marked the end of the Northern Road paying the perhaps unusual-looking group which passed inside little more notice than they would a passing crane fly. Inside the 'entrance' there lay a large open area through which people made their way into different areas of the town. At this time of day however, the circular area was nigh on empty, except for a congregation of beggars that stood around gossiping to one another. It was they that knew the intricacies of all that went on within the town's boundaries. As they drew close together, Mezonas spoke quietly to the group, "We have the funds to stay wherever we wish without consequence, however I would rather we did not go to somewhere too extravagant whilst we are here. It is to those kind of places that thieves and robbers swarm... I'd rather that we all got a good night's sleep somewhere a little less prominent." He cast an apologetic smile in Iatairris' direction, before continuing, "I'm not very familiar with this place however, so we'll need to find somewhere to stay first. I'd suggest that we split into two groups, and then meet back here just before darkness falls to discuss our findings. Irris, I'd like you go with...Salty, if that's not a problem? Gemina and I will take Wallace with us. Any questions?" The ancient man waited long enough to hear anything that the group had to say and reply before setting off towards the western side of the town, clearly leaving the other side for the pair to discover.

---

A long street led off to the eastern end of the town, and it was down this road that Arkadi and Iatairris presumably were meant to go.

 

[DeletedUser31931]

As they came to the stream Jokir had cooled off slightly, his irritation at the ranger had subsided and he decided to make amends this evening with the man, or at least attempt to settle their differences. As they arrived at the stream Kaiden called over his shoulder to him and Red and Jokir decided to respond first calling back, "I'm all up for viewing Cecia from a distance, hiding in some trees so long as we don't get anywhere near it, that's one thing that that woman was fairly insistent on and I am most certain I do not wish to meet with my doom there. Our original objective was Grelin and so I say it would be much easier to backtrack and make our way over to there but if we've come this far it would be pointless to waste this trip for nothing except sullying Red's clothes."

Having stated his piece he lapsed into silence, Kaiden's response would probably give him some indication to the ranger's current feelings towards the assassin he leapt across the stream, summoning his knife from the shadow of a tree, but kept his back to the stream as well, that way they would provide cover from both sides whilst also allowing Red to keep her privacy.

 

[DeletedUser13682]

Shortly after leaving the tower, Akana felt her powers come back. She had been forcefully anchored to the ground for too long, not that previous circumstances hadn’t kept her grounded. But that was by choice, in consideration to the others to not get separated from them, leaving them vulnerable to attack. Right now, however, she felt that the benefits to jumping from tree to tree outweighed the risk of leaving the others in the group exposed to all kinds of attacks. “I will you guys at the river to meet,” Akana announced, before leaping up into the treetops, bounding along toward the promised stream. A few minutes later, she ran into a small cut through the trees, revealing a stream. Looking down on it, Akana saw that it was only a couple feet deep at most, barely ten feet wide.

”If we dig the hole here, we can then route the water down, and creat the illusion of a horizon!” Akana gave Pomu a blank stare for a moment, then took his sketches and looked at them. “It won’t work. See, people can swim right over! They’d fall to their watery deaths.” Pomu took the sketch back and shoot his head. “No, there’s a wall there. It just cuts off slightly below water line instead of slightly above. You’d have to climb over the wall. Trust me. We can convince the bath house owners. You’re a maintainer! You know these things best. Everyone will go with a plan that you support.” Akana shook her head and got up. “I’m only an apprentice. Still have over a year left. Nobody will listen to me. Speaking of bath house, you coming? Or are you just going to sit here, moping over your stupid idea?”

The stream was nowhere deep enough to enjoy swimming in, but it would work for a bath, barely. Akana jumped down and landed next to the stream. She took off her armour and set it down next to the tree she had jumped down from. There weren’t any cleaning liquids nearby that could get stains out of leather, so that would have to suffer the results of Akana’s experiment, though it had seen plenty of blood and other staining liquids over the years, so it should be fine. Akana then gathered some sticks and using a rock sitting in the river, rigged up a place to keep her clothes soaking without worrying about them floating away. By the time the others arrived, Akana had disrobed and began cleaning the dried mixture of vomit and black liquid from herself.

As she cleaned up, the others were discussing on their course of action. Should they head straight for Grelin, like they originally intended, or keep sidetracking to Cecia, despite the mysterious woman’s orders to stay away from that place, on threat of detainment. Jokir wanted to see Cecia from a distance. Kaiden would probably want the same. “Our mission is this this army of darkness to disprove,” Akana called out to the others of the group, who had assumed a sort of guard stance. Perhaps they weren’t comfortable standing around after the tower. “However, my ancestry can to Cecia be traced. I would like my ancestral home to visit. We are nearby. The plan has sense.” Akana went to her soaked clothes and attempted to remove what liquids she cold from their surface. Using various nearby natural materials, Akana managed to get most of the vile mixture out. She donned her clothes and got out of the stream. For now she would carry her armour, until her clothes got around to drying off. “Let us go,” she stated, as she walked down the path. She would stay with the group for now. They needed her protection, after all.

 

[DeletedUser28032]

Stood with his back to the stream and with half an ear listening for the tell tale signs of an intruder sneaking up on them, Kaiden gave a brief nod of his head as one by one the rest of the group agreed to go and see Cecia, even if they did acknowledge the fact that they were supposed to be going to Grelin “Sure a quick look won’t hurt, it’s not like we’re going inside” he replied, though to be honest he wouldn’t object to wandering around his ancestral home for a couple of hours should the opportunity arise. New experiences were few and far between for one who had lived as long as he had and so the chance to see something new was almost irresistible just wait until Iatairris hears about this...assuming off course I can get a word in edge ways.
Kaiden waited until Red had finished the unenviable task of cleaning the foul smelling oil from her clothes before turning in the direction of the city they’d glimpsed from atop the watchtower. With the trees once again parting to allow them passage it shouldn’t take them very long to reach their destination. Cecia, city of the gods!

 

[Deleted User - 819397]

(OOC: Apel, Tiger's been MIA long enough that you have the capacity to take over Arkadi until such time as he returns, same with Whisper/Chloe and Wallace/Naut...how'm I the only player left in this group?? )

Iatairris was transfixed by the larger town...she'd grown up and spent her whole life in a tiny hamlet, so to her this seemed like a city. She gawked openly, silent for once as she took it all in. When Mezonas explained they shouldn't stay someplace too fancy, she smiled. "That's ok, I haven't stayed at ANY place before aside from my house, my friends' houses, the woods on the way to your place, your place, and my c-" she cut off suddenly, looking bashful. Her crystal cave was the most sacred place she knew, and she wasn't sure if saying she'd spent nights sleeping in such a domain would be looked down upon. She didn't think it was a problem, but she knew you weren't allowed to sleep in a church if you didn't have permission, and she didn't ever get permission to sleep in the cave...

Mezonas assigned Arkadi to go with the young, energetic girl to check out one of the main roads and try to find a place to stay, calling the man 'Salty'. Iatairris burst out laughing at this. "Salty? That's great! I love that name...I'm going to call you that now too, ok Salty? Let's go, I want to look around!" Without waiting for a response, she took off in the designated direction, eager to see what this larger town had to offer.

 

[DeletedUser]

Arkadi raised his eyebrows as Mezonas decreed that they should stick together for safety, then immediately declared that they should split up. To make it worse though he would be going with the permanently smiling and unnaturally happy Iatairis.
"Salty? That's great! I love that name...I'm going to call you that now too, ok Salty? Let's go, I want to look around!"
"I'm going to slowly cut off your limbs someday." He muttered as the girl skipped off down the street. Reservedly following her he kept an eye out along the fronts of the street markets lining the... well... streets. If any of his old 'friends' were here he would be sure to spot them first.

 

[DeletedUser31931]

As Kaiden agreed to their plan to view Cecia from afar, Red set off down the path, carrying her armour over her shoulder. With a quiet sigh to himself, wondering how he had ended up with a group of people just as deranged as him, and why he hadn't left earlier. Summoning his knife he flipped it around for a short while, twirling it in his hand and then sending it flying into the trunk of a tree before it would dissipate into shadows and slip back into his hand, reforming into it's manifold shape again. He lazily manipulated the shadows as well, practising forming a wall of shadows around him, sustaining it for a short while before allowing the shadows to return. He had discovered over the years that the further he was from the shadows' source and greater the shadow he was controlling then the more exertion it placed upon him, he could build up his strength though, almost like a tolerance, through daily practice like this. Holding shadows in positions and manipulating them built up what could almost be described as a muscle memory of some sort. Jokir continued walking in silence, keeping pace with the other two, he was not going to speak unless spoken to.