Forums » Fantasy Roleplay » A Forest's Wayside Shrine (Open)

Laying on a small, rarely traveled path that branches through the underbrush off the main road, lays a small wayside shrine to the spirits of the forest. The pious and the superstitious come to this little shrine to leave offerings before a guardian statue, with prayers for safe passage through the forest.

Or at least, the Mortals do.

For within the forest is the playground of all manner of ghost, spirit, monster, and fey. All freely existing within the shadows and shades of the boughs. It is enough to give any human pause.

Monsters come to the shrine as well, seeking wisdom or favors or simply a laugh from the guardian statue.

For to sit before the wine-covered stone canine, is to be heard by a earthbound yokai that calls the shrine home. He is a fickle creature, but if you attract his interest, he will bless your visit.

The shrine is open to whomever comes with offers or needing shelter. So anyone may come as they will and stay as long as they keep in the good graces of the spirits and the guardian.

(May I join this?)

(It does say Open, doesn't it?)

A human girl with brown hair walked in the area. She was drawn by the sense of power and the 'paranormal' activity around it. She had been traveling for a while now but she thought it would be great to relax a little. Her legs dangled from a tree branch and her hands rested upon her knee.

She was deep in thought untill she heard a nearby sound. Being startled by the noise,she fell out of the tree and landed hard on her back. Her fishnets were also now torn. She yelled a little from the pain,now panting for the air that had been knocked out of her.

He brown eyes gazed at the trees and other plants that seemed to cover the area like a mere tent. Her two weapons came loose on the way down from the fall. They lay sticking out of the ground just and inch from her leg. Luckily they didn't hit her leg.

She moved through the trees because higher ground was usually safer. Now that she lay on the ground,she was truly scared.

There was a loud snap of tree branches and a short yell, followed by the spun of someone falling, scrambling to their feet and then running again.
David was breathing heavily, the evil cackle of a shade sounding right behind him. He had his bow drawn, but what could it do against a ghost? One the wielded cycles too. His bare feet wore cut up and sore and he had several slashes up and down his back as he fell again, tumbling into the clearing where the statue and girl were.
David's wolf ears perked up and his bushy tail wagged once at seeing, "P-please! Help! A shade!" he gave a scared whimper and ran to help her up before the shade could get any closer.

Are shook his head a bit as he sniffed, the wolf's mind had been racing lately, distracting him, and it didn't go well for him when he had to do anything at his job. As he came upon the male and the woman he smiled lightly "Sir I smell blood, you should be bandaged or sewn up soon. If you can point me to who did this I will deal with them and then handle the bandaging." Are's smile was purely benevolent at the moment and there was a slight glow to his eyes when they were open

He put a hand on his kodachi and waited, his mind suddenly cleared.

The cacophony outside disturbed the quiet within the shrine. It echoed through a small, kept hole in the roof, into a nest of ivy and wild flowers. The nest was occupied by the large body of a green furred, strangely marked fox...who napped there, sunbathing. His ear perked, he rolled an eye open, and yawned lazily. His mind was aflame with curious pondering over what would disrupt his normal day's routine. He silently crept out the hole, and peeked out of the vines covering the hole in the roof...What was all this then? A human and a pair of wolves. Wolves where not common. They where all but extinct on this island. And yet two, in such a small time. Intriguing. One of them seemed injured. Not a good sign. What would be so callous as to injure such a rare thing?

The foxes paws itched to come closer, to reveal himself and find out. But...as he knew from hunting, one must wait for the right moment to pounce.

David turned to the wolf, a scared look in his eyes as the shade cackled again, sounding like it was coming from everywhere at once.
A searing pain soared up his back as he got cut again, but when he turned, there was nothing and he glanced back at the wolf, "T-there's a shade somewhere... I don't know why it's attacking me," the wolf boy whimpered, tears of pain coming to his eyes as the cruel laugh resounded through the trees yet again.

Are walks over, drawing the kodachi from it's sheath "Dark spirit fight fair, if you want to mess with someone mess with me!" Are's blade took a fiery glow to it as he prepared himself "If all you can do is fight someone who's already hurt then you don't deserve to be in the world."

"He ssstepped over my grave, hidden by time," the dry voice rattled the leaves, still sounding like it was everywhere at once, "I will do as I pleasssse with him!"
David fell as new cut appeared on his chest but the attacker was still no where to be seen. He curled up into the fetal position, blood starting to pool around him and tears flowing freely down his face.

The green fox had seen enough. He pressed his paws more firmly to the planks beneath his feet, breathing in and out slowly as he focused...and then called upon his magic, woven into the wood and stone of the shrine to make it an appropriate den, and pushed hard against it with his mind. His magic responded, pushing out like a fog displaced by a heavy wind, as the Fox's sphere grew.

It would make it easier to weave his tricks, if he was in his place of power. He forced the invisible sphere of his fox magic outwards towards them, letting it pass over them, and then temporarily tying it to the trees the confrontation was to take place.

Though invisible, there where signs of the fox's interference. The fox's demesne exaggerated things; the wind felt crisper, the flowers seemed more vivid, the blades of grass tussled in a more animated manner, the shadows in the boughs of the trees deepened, and the sunlight felt warmer and brighter.

Then, this completed, the Fox began to laugh a barking laugh, as he moved from his hidden napping hole in the roof of the shrine, and down to the forest grounds. He slunk along the underbrush, all his senses keen for the signs of the ghost, but he barked in challenge all the same, "Silly ghost. To attack one so close to the protection of the shrine? Certainly, it is to invite misfortune upon yourself." The fox's instinct was not to be a brazen being, but to be cautious and clever. "But first...I shall clean thy mess."

The fox emerged from the brush, not approaching the fallen David too closely, but revealing himself. He swished his three tails behind himself, sweeping through the grass. His chest swelled as he took in a deep breath, and with it, some of the life of the forest around him. The grass beneath the fox wilting and dying, before the strange green fox let forth this held breath, and his magic was borne on a gentle breath of air towards the injured man, to heal him with life taken from the forest itself.

Are shakes his head "Maybe you should have someone mark it. The poor man probably wouldn't know about your burial site without a marker. You want to fight ssomeone appear and fight someone who can fight back you coward!" Are's eyes shifted as he looked for the spirit.

The only thing the teen could feel so that he knew that something had changed, was the heat of the sun, warming his body and the long grass tickling against his nose and bare feet seemed to have doubled in sensation and he couldn't help but laugh through his tears.
After feeling the strange breath, he couldn't help but wonder what had happened and he slowly opened his eyes, looking directly at the strange fox.
"Thank you..." he whispered, his tail wagging once.

The fox brushed his paw over his nose in dismissal of he appreciation. "Tis not my doing, not completely. The forest decided to give of itself for you. I was merely the channel through which it found the magic to help. Now...let us attend to this ghost."

The fox pawed his way quickly over to the side of the man with his kodachi, he kept his back to the man's back, watching for signs of the shade. The fox meanwhile was thinking for a bit of magic or trickery he could use to make the ghost show itself.

"You help the one who defiled my grave! I died defendig this forest and he just rambles through it with no care!" the voice echoed everywhere.
"T-that's not true!" David protested and tensed himself for another slice from the shades cycle, but there was none and he glanced around nervously.

Are shook his head "My my, you assume many things spirit... Either you leave him alone and appear or be found and defeated." Are sat down and listened while he tried to decide how to approach this a different way.

"You mortals have no respect for anything," the shade hissed and then the presence vanished completely and a cold breeze passed through.

The fox chuffed lightly, barking rhetorically, "I'm mortal?"

With the presence of the shade gone, the fox ambled away from the man with the Kodachi. He slunk over to the injured wolf and nosed it. "Get up, you're fine."

Danger averted, the fox let his focus drift, and the sphere of influence from the shrine shrank suitably back to merely the wood, stone, and clay of the shrine. He wasn't satisfied with this result.

He moved them back towards the shrine, but rather than enter it, he was heading to a small dug burrow a distance behind it.

Are sheathes his weapon and looks to the fox "You know that that spirit should be pushed out, it is wrathful and that is dangerous." Are went to the shrine and sat, meditating before it. The wolf's eyes closed as he cleared his mind and made himself calm.

The boy sat up, "Thank you very much," he nodded to the green fox and slowly stood.