This forum uses cookies
This forum makes use of cookies to store your login information if you are registered, and your last visit if you are not. Cookies are small text documents stored on your computer; the cookies set by this forum can only be used on this website and pose no security risk. Cookies on this forum also track the specific topics you have read and when you last read them. Please confirm whether you accept or reject these cookies being set.

A cookie will be stored in your browser regardless of choice to prevent you being asked this question again. You will be able to change your cookie settings at any time using the link in the footer.

Hello There, Guest!

| Register
Home » Search » Roster » Whitepages » Records » FAQ » Guidebook
» the calm before the storm
Open Blood Falls 
Waker
Currently championing:
#21
You don't know why you're not stopping her. You don't know anything about her—she's not your friend, but certainly not your enemy, and that practically makes her your friend, anyway. So why are you just standing there with the others, a hen in the henhouse, staring as she tempts death?

Only the sleek stranger starts towards her, but it's too late; the river swerves to get away from Kiada's burning stick, rising up in a wave and splashing the pale mare.

You didn't even cry out a warning.

What's wrong with you, Waker?

The mare backpedals away, covered in sticky red waters that look like a mixture of blood and mud; awfully close to what actual blood and mud looks like, at least. A shiver born from memory travels down your spine.

She seems unhurt, but you don't ask her if it's truly so; both of these shameful things weigh on your mind, so you turn your head away, looking somewhere else, but not seeing what it is. Your gaze cuts through it and into nothing, a cage built from these distressing thoughts and uncharacteristic moments.

Then a creature rises from the rivers, its disembodied teeth fitting back into its mouth; a bear, or something that once was a bear. Crystals jut like mountaintops from its spine. Its voice brooks no argument. Its breath infuses you with the strength of the mountains, but no clarity. Disturbed, you watch the others. It is the sleek black stranger who takes initiative again. It doesn't surprise you. He seems crafty.

Unlike you.

Roscorro seizes onto the plan, with Rixen's clear voice cementing it over the roar of the river; your long-ish tail flick once as you glance over to the other bank. What use it creating a dam and fortifying the shore if it will just spill over on the other side? Your ears flit, backwards, forward, backwards, and like that, you've made your choice. You tip back on your haunches, momentarily frozen like a statue, before launching yourself into the sky; your powerful wings beat, once, twice, thrice, and then you're climbing higher, passing well above the red roar.

You touch down on the other shore, and busy yourself with tasks similar to the ones performed on the other shore—pushing boulders with your neck.

Waker goes to the other side of the river.
Renegade
Currently championing: Vourib
#22
This is my world.
This is my kingdom.
I rule with a fist of ice.

I soar above the mountains. This is my small kingdom, my own home to rule. The Crimson walls of my palace are stained white with snow. Yes, my kingdom, my world, all mine. The sky is clear today, but the frost hangs in the air. My spotted wings flap gracefully as I fly through the High cliffs and passes between the mountains. My cat like ears prick at the sound of the falls. I knew better than to go there, for the crystal bear who lived near the falls didn't like me all that much. But today I heard unfamiliar voices by the falls. I couldn't help but go and take a look. With my large leopard paws I padded quietly to the cliff where the red water poured down. There were people down there. They were all gathered around the pool at the bottom of the Blood Falls. They were arguing about something and some were moving rocks. One white mare was soaked as if she had taken a swim in the red waters. I study the interesting characters below. One has antlers atop his head, the blood soaked mare had white wings atop hers. There were unicorns and pegasi and horses, but one stood out from the others. Horns ran down his back and he had talons instead of hooves. He seemed dangerous, but the others not so much. I debated whether to go down or stay up here, but then the ice bear god who lived here arose from the river. I felt torn between helping the strangers and hiding from the god. He surely would not hurt me in front of so many witnesses. I decided that their need was strong enough. I leaped into the sky and dove down to join them on the bank of the bloody river. "Hello, I am Renegade of the Blood Mountains. May I be of any assistance?" I waited there for a reasonable response.

"Talk"
Renegade
Renegade
Rift Presence
Currently championing:
#23
the Rift
The river was nearly a living thing, however, as Rixen began to speak orders following Roscorro’s lead, Vourib watched as Seiji and the others began to pile the rocks in to create the dam. Grinning to himself beneath the shroud of clouds and snow, he watched as the river writhed angrily. It was wearing itself down as it tried to retaliate against those that fought the currents to build the dam. They worked and worked, struggling and helping one another to move each boulder and rock into position.

Even little Eira helped by moving small stones to fill the gaps. It was almost enough to soften his corrupt, dead heart. He remained still, watching and waiting until the river admitted defeat.

Thankfully it didn’t take long in terms of a god’s lifetime, but it did take them awhile. Certainly they were exhausted, but eventually the crimson hues of the river died down, a strange kind of stillness taking over the once rushing waves. No longer did they lash out at anyone near the water, no longer did it breach the riverbanks. Instead, it was an almost eerie kind of stillness – which to Vourib was a success.

His ghostly figure rose from the pale snow as he looked down upon them all – a wide smile growing over his pale muzzled lips. “Very good.” His deep voice rumbled down the waterfall, nearly silencing the roar of it. “You all have done well. Perhaps now the Blood Falls will remain calm for quite some time.” He offered somewhat thoughtfully before giving them all a bright grin and disappearing into the falling snow atop the top of the waterfall.
image


Congratulations! You’ve calmed the river. (Sorry for the delay in responding to this, better late than never right?)

Anyway, for participating, everyone here received rewards! It was all dependent upon dice, as always. If you received a charm it is considered a normal item and you can post it in your profile with the proof linked here!

Taivas gets "Vourib Bracer: a band of blue crystals set in silver that wrap around the leg and can deflect an incoming magic."
Waker gets a bear charm.
Rixen gets a waterfall charm.
Rosco gets a waterfall charm.
Seiji gets "A bear shaped hair comb speckled with blue crystals that give the wearer a small boost of energy when exhausted."
Renegade gets a bear charm.
Kiada gets a waterfall charm.
Eira gets a "Bear head necklace with blue crystals for eyes. It shrouds wearer in red fog when it senses incoming attacks."
Valkyrie gets a waterfall charm.
Aurelia gets a bear charm.

We'll archive the thread in approximately two weeks so everyone can get their replies in. :)
» Presence of the Rift «


Eira
Currently championing: Reszo
#24
Eira...

It seemed their combined effort was working. As Eira placed another small stone against the crevice of two strategically positioned boulders, the wrathful river began to slow its course and fold back into the bed it should rightfully occupy. Hours had passed slowly, perhaps even half the day had been lost to this supernatural struggle, and the small, malformed yearling was fighting back the tears of her exhaustion when at last a strange stillness overwhelmed the raging torrent. Her lungs purged a heavy, labouring breath and her knees ached, desperate to fold into the soft mud left in wake of the event.

Instead, Eira stood in the open by herself, with legs splayed (not unlike a newborn’s), breast heaving while her weary eyes sought the impression of the bear god as he materialised once again from the snow atop the waterfall, high above them all. His rumbling voice descended, commending their work generously and suggesting that there should be no repeat to challenge them—this news alone easily delivering the feeling of relief through the ill child’s faint-heart.

A small smile tugged at the corners of her mouth, yet it seemed to weaken as the bear again vanished from her sight.

Nervously, she passed her eyes across the others still gathered, surprised to see upon them symbolic adornments that had before, not been. Her chin dipped then, towards her own well-furred breast. Upon it was a necklace like theirs, though she could not see that it was instead a bear with exquisite blue-crystal eyes. Amazed, undeniably so, her brightened gaze ascended towards that of Roscorro, Kiada and any other who seemed equally as inspired by the unexpected offering.

"I am a book of snow,
a spacious hand, an open meadow,
a circle that waits,
I belong to the earth and its winter."

- Pablo Neruda, Winter Garden
Valkyrie the Hopebringer
Currently championing: Caevoc
#25
VALKYRIE
She stood in the storm


Note: permission to power play Eira/her charm

Still heavily cloaked in the river’s tarry residue and none the closer to providing the onward-toiling crowd with a less troublesome plan of action (her thoughts had been consumed, rather, in cleansing her pretty, pale hide), Valkyrie was stunned to find herself standing a good while later in the deepening shade of late afternoon. She surveyed the work with a vain eye—her own, of course—and was disgruntled to discover that she’d achieved nothing more than working the filthy, staining substance deeper into the pallid fibres of her coat; and her nose was soiled now too!

Aggrieved by the situation her eyes flounced from the unshakable covering, finding, in turn, the dam of rocks which seemed now large enough to corral the wild rapids and filter its violent course towards the South. The fools had indeed worked hard, and still, Valkyrie noted, they continued, carting one rock and then the next to block the water. Paper-thin nostrils fluttered tiredly and she fastened her jaws around the emergence of a yawn. Really, she had far better things to do than fight the elements and invest intelligence into such idiotic endeavours—it was as bad as the tree…

“I’m—

Her voice broke, eyes broadening suddenly around sight of the storm failing. All at once the river began to slow, thin and, a small time later, still. It eased back into the course it had always followed and the waterfall beneath the reemerging god (who looked like a bear?), seemed to foam and froth with less vehemence. It worked, she muttered softly, hardly willing to offer them the benefit of the realisation—though the evidence was plain and clear.

A voice tumbled down from the top of the waterfall and a rather smug smile ignited through her expression. “Of course, you all would have drowned had I not been so willing to sacrifice myself,” she murmured boldly, accepting their gratitude whether they sought to offer it or not. Adornments began to appear upon them as the voice and its owner above soon after vanished, though Valkyrie was less than impressed to find a trinket that looked like the falling water before her, nestled above the black on her chest.

Curiously, she scanned the gifts that others had received—many as useless as her own, all seemed to have the bear and waterfall theme—but only one particularly sparked her interest. Bright blue eyes hastened towards the same-coloured crystal gaze which beamed by the breast of the worthless welp, Eira. Before she knew it, Valkyrie’s lips were gliding forward, her mind intrigued by the variance, until, at the last moment before contact, the charm began to billow and cloak its owner in smoke.

The Shieldmaiden withdrew instantly, startled, her greedy heart swollen with fascination—she wanted that necklace, not the morning one that seemed to have no capacity greater than flapping against her skin… In a second, while all other eyes appeared diverted (not that it would have mattered should they see), the waterfall was torn from her neck and cast into the mud at her hooves; the nearest lifted quietly and placed the weight of ungratefulness down across it before she turned a final glance toward’s the charm she so coveted. Valkyrie said nothing more, stepping from the shoreline and retreating into the tree line from whence she’d originally come.

and when the wind did not blow her way,
she adjusted her sails.



img
Rixen the Vine King
Currently championing: Vjanta
#26
Rixen
Rise and rise again until lambs become lions;
"We need a few more over there!" I directed, gesturing with my head to a patch of mud and rock where the water was beginning to leak through. Grabbing a bunch of soil-covered sticks between my teeth, I shoved them into a small crack that I’d spotted just below my knees to the right. This makeshift dam seemed to be working, but it wasn’t time to celebrate yet. The water still raged on, gurgling angrily.

Then suddenly it seemed to die down. Almost out of the blue. The sounds of its rage became less noticeable by the minute as the water shrank back into the base of the waterfall. Becoming more aware of the sound of my ragged breath now that there was no roaring waves to drown it out, I noticed that I was still breathing hard. My chest heaved in and out, and the white parts of my coat had turned translucent with sweat. I looked around at the others, who seemed just as winded as I was. Smiling as best I could between each inhalation, I commented half to myself, "Well, that was an abrupt end." It was surprising. Not to mention a relief. 

Then the bear god reappeared from the snow. He smiled, and his words oozed with praise for our efforts. I too hoped that the Blood Falls would not lash out again - this seemed like an intriguing place, one that I knew I’d like to come back and explore someday. Thinking about the towering waterfall, I remembered Kiada telling me that she had been born here. My attention snapped back to Vourib as he began to pass out gifts to each of us, offering my a small waterfall charm, which I accepted with a gracious bow of my head. As Valkyrie muttered some angry comment beneath her breath, I was busy grinning, thinking about how it would make a nice decoration for my antlers. Then my eyes moved to the other horses, examining and admiring the beautiful trinkets that each of them received. We could all probably have used a bath. We were all a little winded. But we had succeed; at present, no one was too concerned about washing up. 

"TALK HERE"

image
{Image: untitled_drawing_by_indelyde-dceus9t.png}
Seiji the Hopebringer
Currently championing: Caevoc
#27

In his own way, Seiji continued his efforts. Once he had begun to work, his eyes darkened and his mind closed in around the work: rolling the largest stones he could still roll. Directing them when one of the others called to do so. In time, his breath came shorter and he felt the burn of it in his muscles. But he did not despair, even as the water continued to roar. He felt good, keen on his task and surrounded by allies. No one in any danger, anymore. Just the whole of them working toward the same end goal.

And then, abruptly, it was over. The water calmed. Seiji stepped back, traces of sweat pale on his flanks, and blinked. First at the water, then at the others, equally surprised, and then up near the top of the falls where the great bear reappeared. Its voice rolled again through the chilly air, deep and reverberant, filled with power. But it spoke calmly, and then it disappeared. Seiji blinked after it, a strange yearning in his heart. Before he could stop himself, his head had lifted slightly, lips parting around a word which still refused to come.

Wait —

He sighed, instead. How could he question anyone here, even a god, without his voice? Seiji stepped back, the warmth born of hard work leeching away quickly in the frigid air. Again, he felt cold. Again, he felt lost. He glanced one final time at each of the others, only vaguely registering the new adornments they sported. Only glancing briefly at the new charm in his own mane: a shape reminiscent of the bear.

It did him no good.

Nodding to anyone who happened to look his way, should he seem rude, Seiji turned and wandered back into the snow, a black mark on the peaceful landscape.

img by Tildae @ flickr


Seiji out!
Waker
Currently championing:
#28
You sink into the work with little thought of anything: your body strains against the unfamiliar load, struggling to find the most efficient ways to accomplish a task you weren't ever meant to perform. But, you think as you shove another boulder into place in your half of the dam, that's what hope is about. Doing what shouldn't—couldn't—be done, or at the very least trying.

So perhaps that is what you're all doing to the river: hoping. Perhaps that is what calms and stills it, and not the manual labor, the sweat and the strain.

You don't know, and you can't tell. Your tired body quivers; the waters grow nearly silent. The red liquid snaps a few more times, and then resumes its almost river-like behavior.

Where it came from, you don't know. Where it goes, you don't know. It's just a river on a mountainside.

You tremble with exertion, your body steaming into the cold air. The bear reappears, thanking you all after a fashion, and then disappears again. You blink, and look towards the other shore. The icy girl approaches the filly, who is engulfed in a red fog. You don't understand it, and you don't question that, either; the sleek, black stranger drifts away like the shadow he is.

The trembling turns to shivering as you bleed warmth, and you hug your wings closer to your sides. Your pulse is fleet and tired.

You should feel something—joy, or perhaps pride in what you've done—but you don't. You just feel tired and cold, and with a groan you make it back to the other side, to stand near Roscorro, trying to soak up some warmth radiating off of him as you wait for the group to leave.

[ Waker goes to stand near @Roscorro ]
Explorer Kiada
Currently championing: Vjanta
#29

KIADA
troy falls a thousand times
in every dream i dream

Darkness roared and raged within her heart, but with each step into the ruby waters she found that it became lessened, as if part of her was yearning to be returned to the place of which she was born. Roughly, and her voice perhaps a bit raw from the emotions strangling it, tried to come up with something to say. But people were moving, helping place the rocks within the river in an attempt to make the dam and create a way for the Blood Falls to relax and go back to normal. She found her dark head reaching toward the water to drop the rocks, her icy eyes a stark contrast to the red surrounding her, as she looked to others who did the same. The darkness in her heart soothing, though she wasn’t certain if it was the land she was in or her mental shields handling it better.

A sigh escaped her lips, sweat breaking out along her scarred withers while they worked, but the work didn’t seem to last long. While they all diligently put rocks within the river, she listened as the roar of the waters died down and the ruby waves became soft little pools against her body. Her ears flicked forward in curiosity at the event, then up toward Vourib on his perch, eager to get a look at this creature. A sigh left her lips again as soon as he vanished and she retreated to the waters edge, shaking her pelt to rid herself of the water the best she could.

Then, when she opened her eyes and looked down at the sodden ground at her feet, a shining little silver trinket in the shape of a waterfall lay perfectly there. Suddenly pleased with the outcome of the event, however abrupt it may have been as Rixen put it, she smiled quietly to herself. With Khairi’s help, the two easily managed to clip the new trinket to her necklace of others, making it far easier to keep track of them. She glanced around once more before deciding to go stand nearby Rixen, offering him a small smile, then looking to the others around them to see what they had all received.

"Talk."

like ashes, like ashes,
like a star burning out —



img | bg


Kiada stands near Rixen!

TROY FALLS A THOUSAND TIMES,
IN EVERY DREAM I DREAM.
(LIKE ASHES, LIKE ASHES,
LIKE A STAR BURNING OUT.)