Forums » Fantasy Roleplay » Dust in the Clouds(CLOSED)

There is a clearing in the woods about a day's walk from the nearest town and half a day's journey from the closest tavern. As such, this clearing is well used as a midway point for travelers to pause and rest for the night. Leaves have been scattered artfully about, creating a circular earthy floor. In the middle of this floor is a darkened area decorated with stones of different shapes and sizes. Currently a young woman is crouched around said circle of stones. Just a few moments earlier she had placed a stack of sticks broken from trees, two larger branches she had found, and a few bits of tree bark. Perfect for a fire. Her hands were out, over the dry brush, and a look of concentration covered her face. "Come on....slowly....you can do it..." She mumbled, reaching up a shoulder every few seconds to swipe at the bits of red curly hair that was getting in her way. "Just a little more..." Under her hands and in the wood itself a small red glow was beginning to form.

A woman was walking through the woods, her feet moving around as to avoid stepping on anything that might make noise. Her curly black hair bounced slightly with each step, and slung over her shoulder was a bag of fresh fish. She sighed as she moved around a tree in her way, and as a squirrel paused to look at her she stopped too. She growled at it, then laughed as it leaped away into the nearest tree.
The amusement didn't last long though, and her face showed how bored she was as she trudged through the woods. Nothing particularly exciting had happened so far that day, and she was itching for some fun to pop up somewhere. She even went to the tavern earlier that day, but luck would have it that nothing much happened there either. No fights at the tavern, not even any bears at the river. Morgan looked around the woods lazily, then remembered exactly where she was. Or more importantly, where she was near. Close by was a sort of meadow or clearing where passerby's would occasionally camp out at as they went from one place to the next. Sometimes, she saw children there too, and loved giving them a scare. Now smiling, she paused to tie her bag high up in the nearest tree, then set off for the clearing.
Careful to be quiet, she parted the leaves of a bush and peered out. The sight was a bit hazy as a few of the leaves slide out of her grasp and blocked her view, but she knew she saw someone a bit short and the orange-red glow of a fire starting to grow. She backed away silently. Along her arms and legs, thick brown fur was beginning to emerge, and her face seemed to stretch out. Her nails formed into claws, and rounded ears sat on top of her head. The transformation wasn't pretty, though within a minute she had reverted back into the body of a grizzly bear. She tried smiling sinisterly, but all that happened was that her lips twitched up and above her teeth a little.
Hehehe, bet this kid didn't think a bear would join her little camp tonight...!
Morgan, now a bear, went right through the bushes and out into the clearing, her weight making the leaves and branches crackle underneath her paws. She marched up right behind Shita, and opening her mouth she roared as fiercely and frightfully as any bear could. A few drops of spit flew and dribbled over her lip, and when she was done she paused to see her victim's reaction.
Bet they're scared outta their wits, hahaha! Even better if it turns out to be one of those other animal brats!

Just as quickly as a summer storm, a shape even darker than the night sped from a corner of the clearing. There was no noise other than the sound of wind and leaves rustling, yet the air was still.

The town's local water mage had been sleeping in the corner of the field and was awoken by sinister intentions. Within a second his fluid like, satin skin was reflecting moonlight in between the girl and the bear.

"Pick on someone your own size." The mage spoke in an angry, frustrated tone. He absolutely hated seeing people trying to be "tough" or scaring others. "You want to mess with someone while they sleep?"

Pluvio chanted a few words quietly while raising his hands. A funnel of water five feet high spun from in front of him, twirling like a cyclone in the night air. It made contact with the bear, drenching it completely. Pluvio's eyes were narrowed, his black eyebrows fading against his skin which had been dark brown, but was now obsidian black. His skin color had changed with his spell casting.

"Behave yourself and stop trying to disturb others' sleep". He knew who he was talking to. He had seen someone take the form of a bear.

Shita reacted quite skillfully to the roar of the bear. Well, she reacted quickly in any case. The terror of an unexpected loud noise shivered down her spine, causing the girl to let out a high pitched, terrified screech. Her eyes widened in a completely different kind of fright then, as she looked down at the small flames now growing more quickly. If she lost control of the fire... "No no no no no" she panicked, not quite paying as much attention as she probably should have to a potentially attacking bear. But then, just as she thought she had regained control, something moving too quickly to be seen darted down into the clearing. This was the last little bit of shock the red haired girl could take apparently. She jerked again, further startled, and her control over the fire was released. Flames sprang upwards in a spiral of uncontrolled ferocious beauty. It was loud, it was big, towering over the now three members of the little clearing.

"Awww shii" Shita didn't get the words out as, turned out, the third member of this little band had some high end control over water. The attack may have been intended for the bear, but by being near by it calmed both Shita and the flames. The fire roared at first in protest, then quickly lowered back down to something of a more controlled flame. Throughout this, the girl had shielded her face using both forearms, and when she noticed the heat rescinding, she peaked out from between them, finally turning to the other two in the clearing.

"Who....what.....bear!"

Eri was walking towards her next destination to find a place to stay for a while. She had been moving non-stop since that incident a few months ago. She kept walking until she heard battle noises. She approached the sounds, and saw a a bear and some other people fighting. "why are those people fighting a bear..." she said to no one in particular. She got curious as to why they were fighting, and decided to take a closer look. She removed her eyepatch, revealing her blue, roman clock-clock like left eye. Then everithing became grey and stayed still: she used her power to stop time. She approached the people while stoped-time to take a closer look at what was going on.
However, as she was approaching them, she tripped on a rock and fell on the ground, breaking her concentration and resuming time. "Not good..." she said in a monotonous tone, as she got up and took a few steps back.

Morgan felt thrilled as the shrill scream took up in the night air, though quickly vanished as she moaned in confusement as something dark flashed in front of her. She tilted her head and focused her sight on what stood between her and her entertainment. It was a man, apparently very angry at her for sneaking up on someone.
She would have laughed and brought back a sarcastic remark after his second question, but she obviously couldn't. It was one of the things she hated about bears and turning into one. So, instead she started to turn back to human as Pluvio cast his spell, drenching Morgan from head to claw. She sputtered and stood up on her hind legs, shaking out her brown shaggy fur.
Who does he think he is?! She thought, the irony lost on her.
Getting me all wet and cold! What did I ever do to him?!
She was nearly done turning back as a drowsiness washed over her, then ebbed away as another person joined their little spat.
Morgan, now human again, wrapped her arms around herself and suppressed her shivering . Her black hair clung to her scalp and her clothes did the same as well as turn a few shades darker from the water. She took one look at the girl on the ground before turning back to Pluvio.
Walking up to him, she grunted and said-
"Hmph, well look-ie here, we're 'bout the same height now, what-do-ya-hafta-say-ta-that?" She said in a dangerously soft voice. Morgan stood up on the tops of her heels to better stare him in the eye, her own eyes narrowing and a frown crossing her lips.

A tinge of guilt swept across Pluvio and he started feeling bad about drenching the girl. 'Well, she looked meaner as a bear', he told himself mentally.

As clouds passed the full moon, the sky became brighter and everyone got a better look at each other. Pluvio had been wearing fine, loose clothing of a silvery silk. His boots were black leather and looked like they were well-crafted. His clothing had ornate details embroidered, such as a golden swirling wave that could barely be seen in the nighttime light.

Crickets seemed to get louder, as if they had stopped to watch the battle between bear, water, fire and time... And now had moved on with being crickets.

It had appeared these people had been brought together. Things like this were fate and fate was something to be acknowledged.

Pluvio addressed the shapeshifter. "Now, now... We must use our powers for good." Apparently he rationalized his passive aggressive, well... aggressive use of a good drenching as good. "But maybe she can help the water evaporate. We could use a good campfire, hmm?"

It was late, but now they were awake and drow were used to getting little sleep. Some thought they were nocturnal.

For a moment Shita was speechless with the scene before her. The bear...just turned into a girl? Transformation magic maybe? She looked at the dark skinned man. Okay he absolutely just used magic. Was he a Drow? Shita had heard of Drow before and knew their description but had never seen one. There wasn't anything for it though. Did they notice the explosion? She wasn't sure but chose to keep it out of the conversation just in case. "yeah.." She laughed weakly "There is definitly a fire going....ta da...." Then she looked at the bear....girl...whatsit. "Weren't you a bear for a second?" Her words might have seemed calm, but her voice shook a little bit. She was still a little startled by all that had happened.

Eri kept her left eye closed during all the time. After tripping she let o of her eyepatch and it flew away. She couldn't let others see her left eye, or her true nature might be discovered. Thankfully her long, lilac hair covered part of her eye, so she wouldn't seem as suspicious. Though she was more of a mage, she was wearing leather armor, resembling an assassin, so she would be harder to discern to the ones going after her.
However, she didn't know that, no matter how well she disguises herself, her body had an unique magic signature, since she wasn't a human, and a trained mage could detect that.
And so she just stood there, lost in deep thought on what to do next.

(( Do you guys have anything in mind for what our characters are gonna do after this scene? Maybe they can be swept up in a prophecy or something? ))

Morgan was expecting something at least a tiny bit aggressive or defensive or of the like, and what Pluvio did end up saying put her off guard enough to shimmer down a bit. She stepped back a pace and looked over his clothing. Not really anything great for the woods. Maybe he wasn't planning on staying here long? And the sword seemed to say that this guy probably saw some fun once in a while. Something she liked and admittedly wanted to be apart of, if it was true.
"...Oh fine, Mr. I'm so noble!" She teased, flicking the underside of his chin.
Leaving the moment to hang over Pluvio, she hardly glanced at Eri as she walked over to Shita. The girl was just so quiet that Morgan forgot she had arrived in the first place.
She placed a large hand on the girl's head and ruffled her hair playfully.
"I think it was a bit longer than a second, but yeah, I was." She flashed her a toothy grin before crossing over to the campfire. She sat down next to it and rested her hands on the ground, then hunched back over and brought her hands closer to the fire to warm her up. She sighed happily as the heat flickered across her skin and slowly started to dry off the water still clinging to her.
Morgan remembered why she came here in the first place as she sat by the fire, and felt that it turned out even better than she had hoped. Okay, so she did get soaked during the night, but it was exciting. She looked back up at Pluvio.
"So, where are you gonna go after this?"
Her eyes moved to his sword.
"Are you skilled with that? Do you fight people?"

Pluvio tried to take in the scene. He really didn't know what to make of anyone. They all seemed mysterious in one way or another. His train of thought was inturrupted when the shapeshifter flicked his chin. His head bounced at the flicking suddenly, as if he was stung by a bee.

Pluvio made quick eye contact with Eri. As far as he could tell, she was just a normal girl. He waved and motioned for her to come by the fire.

He crossed his legs and took a seat next to the new fire, his green shimmery eyes reflected the light and glowed. "So many questions." Pluvio felt safe around the former bear now... She just seemed... Mischievous...

"I had to bring special Runes from the Drow village into town. This sword was to make sure nobody interfered. Nobody did." His mouth opened up, revealing a bright white smile. It went away as quickly as it appeared, replaced by a slightly stoic, yet friendly face.

"You know what goes well with campfires? Stories.. Has anybody got any good ones?" Pluvio's eyes got a little wider with anticipation. He made eye contact with the three females, one by one.

(What sort of prophecy? If nothing else, we could always explore a haunted mansion?)

(We could at least find a way for some kind of excitement. A haunted mansion might be interesting.)

"I've got a story to tell." Shita said quietly, picking up a nearby stick and drawing in the dirt a bit. Now that the young girl was a little closer to the clearing Shita could see her. She glanced at the other girl, acknowledging her presence, and took a nervous breath.

"There use to be a thriving village filled with people. It was pretty self sufficient. Some families grew crops, others fished, and some chopped wood. They all traded within the village itself, and occasionally with outsiders. You know, your normal every day place with plenty of normal people."

The stick scraped and scratched into the earth, slowly bringing bits of dirt and rock closer to Shita's waiting feet.

"In particular there was a brother and a sister who took care of the wood. They didn't live in the village exactly, but close enough to be considered a part of the community. It was a wonderfully peaceful place where you just sort of knew everyone."

More dirt made it's way to her feet until a nice pile had formed there.

"One day though, so early in the morning that the sun hadn't risen yet, all of the men just got up and left the village. Disappeared over night. The brother, right before leaving, woke his sister up and promised to return. He gave her a gift, " Shita clutched at something underneath her shirt, probably unconsciously, "and then she fell back asleep. When she woke up he was gone." The stick slipped softly to the ground, and the girl dug her hand softly into the pile of dirt.

"The village itself sort of fell apart after that. Without the men it was harder to harvest the crops, less people needed wood, the sister found it hard to make a living. After three or so months she decided to stop waiting for the men to return. She decided to go searching herself."

Shita brought her hand straight up from the earth, and as she did to the dirt slid from her hand landing not in the a pile but in the shape of a young man. Unlike her work with fire, this earth magic seemed to react to her every thought. All the details were there from short shaggy hair to a kind expression on the young man's face. If it hadn't been about three feet high and made of earth, one might think it were a real person.

Shita glanced around at the group she had found herself with, "Has....has anyone seen someone who looks like this? I'm looking for him. Or news of an army? Some of the villagers think maybe all the men were recruited during the night, though that story doesn't sit well with me."

(An haunted mansion sounds nice)

Eri listened intently at the story, but felt a chill once the army was mentioned. She had some bad memories regarding the military. "Army...bad..." she mumbles. She quickly shook her head to drive away bad thoughts. Her hand instinctively held the small pouch hanging on her waist. For some reason she felt more at ease whenever she held that pouch.
She then realizes she might have a spare eyepatch inside the pouch. She opens it and searches for it with her hands. She gives a small smile when she finds what she was looking for. It was a black eyepatch with an emblem she's never seen before. It resembled a shield with a keyhole in it's center. She quickly wears the eyepatch on her left eye and sighs in relief. She was so used to wearing it by now that it felt weird to not wear an eyepatch for long periods of time.
She then returns to her nearly emontionless face as she points at the dark clouds in the sky. "We should...find shelter..." she says.

(( sounds good to me too ))
Morgan listened to Pluvio. She nodded once as she listened to him talk.
Wonder what woulda happened if I tried scaring him instead of her... she thought, looking into the fire as she did. Her mind drifted off to an imagined battle scene between bear and drow, which quickly grew ridiculous when dragons and ninjas were added. She snapped out of it when Pluvio asked something she missed. She looked around before noticing Shita had began telling a story. She leaned back at the beginning, and yawned part way through. It wasn't the most epic of tales. She starting listening more intently at the part of the mens disappearance, and she looked in awe and slight envy as Shita had molded the dirt into a detailed shape of a young man. The thing was three feet tall too, and she scooted back a bit as she found it a bit creepy. Morgan was startled to learn this person was real instead of fiction, and she squinted as she tried to remember if she had seen him around before. It didn't ring any bells. Maybe if she had the scent she might recognize him. Faces just didn't really stick with her memory that well.
"Don't think I've seen him around." She said with a yawn. As Eri talks Morgan looks over as though surprised to find she had been there all along, though she does nod in agreement after checking the sky for herself.
"Makes sense," she said.
My cabin'll be too small for four people...maybe that mansion I saw once? Was anyone even living there? Didn't look it, so I guess it don't matter.
Standing up, she brushed the dirt off her pants.
"I know of a place we can stay." She offered, starting to walk off towards the woods.
"It's, err, right up this hill,"
Pretty sure it is anyways.
"so come if you wanna." She finished, sticking her hands in her pockets as she went around a few trees.

Pluvio shook his head. It had been an interesting story, yet unsettling. "I wish I could say I bore news... I don't though. I'm just passing through this part of the land."

News of men being recruited for the Army was not something Pluvio liked the thought of. He had a long lifespan and he hadn't done military time for 30 years, which was just a small fraction of his life.

The shapeshifter spoke of a place they could travel to. 'Maybe I should watch out for this group', Pluvio said mentally to himself. It was really more about not being alone for the first time in a long time and not wanting to be by himself once again.

"I'll come along with you. Maybe there will be clues. Or... Something."

The drow didn't really have much of an idea of what the place was like. He figured he might as well explore and learn about this new part of the landscape. In all his decades, he had never been much further away from the drow village than the roads around this clearing.

"Oh....yeah well, no one ever does." Responded Shita to the expected replies. Even so, the disappointment was evident on her face. Then she noticed most of the group leaving, and the thunder clamoring in he background. "Hey! Wait, what about....about the fire..." She mumbled, frantically looking between those leaving and the flames. Surely the storm would put it out? "But...what if it's heat lightning?"

Choosing instead to wait back long enough to dust the fire over with a few layers of dirt, Shita then found herself hurrying after the group, clumsily returning a handful of earth to one of her glass bottles. It was a tricky thing, running with the bottle open and gliding sand down the mouth and into the bottle itself, but at this it appeared the girl had quite a bit of practice.

"Don't leave me!" She announced, not wanting to be left alone in the storm.

(sorry for not answering for so long, i've been pretty busy)

Eri nooded as she followed the others. She wasn't very good at expressing herself, so she didn't speak much on the way.
However, she soon got bored and started looking for something to do. She started rumaging trough her pouch until she found a stick and started twirling it in her hand. Why she had a stick in her bag is something even she doesn't know.
Feeling that it would take a while to reach the place, she kept twirling the stick in her hand as she walked, not paying much attention to where they were going.