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Post by Bloody Mary on Aug 14, 2021 18:57:09 GMT -8
The Knight of Storms worker her magic, singing in language unspoken and forgotten as the arena floor was spun into a dense forest. The root networks were as large as trees themselves, with deep pits of mud and creek making the groundwork unrecognizable to those participating. "Welcome, competitors. You are to dive into the dark and unknown in order to retrieve a gift, so that the tired spirits of our Wards may find rest before the needs of the Ashen Hunt. Your Rite is an offering...a Skogtroll hoards the prize, but beware of angry spirits and their fetters. There is but only one gift. I bid you good luck in seeking tribute. Your Contracts are expected and welcome. The Thorns hunger for ideas and glamour." |
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Post by Wayland on Aug 14, 2021 23:32:02 GMT -8
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Post by Gavin Graves on Aug 14, 2021 23:37:09 GMT -8
The heavy plodding of a large creature echoes down the entry passage to the arena floor. Not so heavy as to noticeably shake any of the structure, but enough that some observers became aware something was entering the trial.
Emerging from the shadows of the tunnel came a hulking and sinister grizzly bear. It halfway had the countenance of a hobgoblin to it when viewed from angles where its face could be seen. The claws on the creature were beyond anything observable in a wild grizzly, extending at least a foot beyond the end of its paws. Those familiar with Gavin started to piece together the menacing features with the telltale feeling of exposure. A surreal awareness of one's arteries and their heartbeat was a common side-effect.
Gavin took a moment to get his bearings from his new position standing tall on his hind legs. It was one thing to see the space from the vantage point of the arena seating, and another to be immersed in the trees. The sight lines had shifted considerably. He had made a point of earlier looking for the taller of the trees within the forest with peculiar qualities or deformed shapes to help with his navigation. Watching him, he seemed preoccupied with the treetops for some time.
Then he set off to his task, violently shredding his way through the forest with the intent to obscure his presence once very close to the target.
Strength is a kind of guile, right?
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Post by Lucas Chevalier on Aug 15, 2021 4:00:47 GMT -8
Destiny felt like it was calling the Gravewight once more. After the last couple of disasters between the other courts interacting with the dead, he felt a dire need to win this competition. He didn’t trust the information to fall into the hands of the others. However, he was up against some stiff competition as traversing through the Hedge wasn’t his area of expertise.
Luckily, there was someone he could call upon with contracts being in play.
The Fairest strolled over the nearest door, dipping his hand inside of his pouch once more. He pulls out a ring that is meant to have a gothic flair to it although he’s not able to pull out one that’s customized to his liking.
“I have a guest! And not just any guest! Oh no! I have the bravest and the most cunning of their kind. After all, who else would be brave enough to dive into the Darkness with one such as myself who once resided in the Underworld? To the one that answers the call, I will reward them with the bones of chickens so that they will recall how cowardly those who feared the darkness were. “
At the mention of fetters and agitated spirits, Lucas activates Bind the Dead.
Lucas then instructs the Hobgoblin that their task is to retrieve the gift behind the Troll and to bring it to him. The more discretion the better.
When Lucas gazes ahead of him, he realizes that the chances of him moving forward from this point as the lead are moot.
Lucas will do his best to keep up with the Hobgoblin while not drawing any unwanted attention to either of them. After he activates Light-shy, he will pop Morning Glory. That way, he can float along after the Hobgoblin while trying to figure out where the skulking creature is going.
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Post by Krakenbox on Sept 1, 2021 11:32:57 GMT -8
Think about it from the perspective of the crowd. The competitors enter the arena, a horrific swamp. Thick with flies and humid as hell, the space is the kind of place nobody wants to go. Watching through the haze, the crowd gawked with glee as the would-be champions began to spin the Hedge and start finding their way. People were doing fine work, sensible work, but the challenge was difficult. Kai Rose dropped out early, her wayfaring skills far outdone by the leaders. The thing was, nobody could see anyone. Between Wayland's incredible stealth, Lucas's invisibility and planeshifting, and so on, the crowd could only anticipate what was to come based on the movements of the Hedge itself as it bent to the competitor's wills. They couldn't see the one that blitzed his way through, the Hedge itself parting violently as a track was drawn decisively, heading directly for the Prize. They could only see the trail being blazed. The Freehold was a-twitter. Who was out there? The Troll knew. Peering through some sort of magical stone, Lucas' blood ran cold as the monster stared directly at him, despite the magic, before redirected its attention to a rampaging bear thundering through the forest. The Darkling blessing slipping the Fairest from its consciousness, the threat took precedent. The bear's Hedgespinning was incredible, and its navigation was unlike anything the Freehold had seen in years. The troll did the only thing it could do, roaring at the other predator as the bear exploded out of the bush in front of the cave. Lucas slinked behind the soft clicks of his summon. Within, he could see what it was there to get... and its gentle minder. Smiling broadly, holding the cracked egg lovingly in two arms, a glowing Sentry sat on a bed of Thorns. Lucas recognized the suitcase sized copy of what was presented with the Winter effigy. It appeared to be slowly hatching, with crystalline ice void of light and diffusing the world around it. The Hedge parted so that the observers could watch. "Hello!" the androgynous, glowing being said to the Hobgoblin in an excited voice. They had never met anything quite like it. Lucas' summon retreated back, clicking and hunching its shoulders in a submissive posture. Then Sentry snickered with excitement, skipping after the deathly creature with airy bare feet, "But you passed the test! Are you scared adventurer?"The bone collector was terrified of the Sentry, fleeing back into the Hedge as it melded with the scenery as if its life depended on it. |
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Post by Gavin Graves on Sept 1, 2021 13:43:06 GMT -8
The Beast thundered through the last wisps of the underbrush. His powerful muscled surged with the spike of adrenaline when the skirmish with the Skogtroll was joined. By most standards, the creature was quick witted and well prepared to respond. It couldn't account for the speed at which Gavin was moving though. Bears generally cannot move with the alacrity seen here.
The troll did the only thing it could in the wild hopes it could avoid the rending claws jetting toward its bark covered flesh and set itself fully to the defense.
The effort manifest in twisting and roiling branches that might catch and turn a blade or land it in the hardened knots of past season's shedding.
The Bear's already monstrously long claws, at the command of glamour, honed to an obsidian-sharp edge as they cleft into the towering troll's trunk. The Beast was not trying to preserve the wood like a lumberjack would by cutting across. He reached for the heartwood swiping downward with both forepaws and allowed gravity and his bulk to lend aid to the strike.
The troll groans low and slow at the shock of the blow as it slipped through the rings upon rings of growth. Its many seasons of bark were no match for the horror wrought upon the world by a Faerazor. The bulk of the tree-creature was split nearly in two down the middle, from the center of the chest and down.
The creature, now with an almost comically widened gate, staggered in placed desperately wishing it could simply scare this inconceivable threat away with its fearsome dread powers. Its wishes manifested nothing.
Gavin sensing the increasing vulnerability of his prey unleashed an unyielding and powerfully telegraphed strike across its form. It could do little to stop him. The blade-claws struck with precision, connecting the previous wound like a 'T.' Its massive bulk split into three pieces and tumbled gracelessly to the bog-floor with a wet slap as it landed in the muddy surface. Its sap-like ichor oozed out onto the ground and floated on the water as little globules nestled close to each other and clung to the bark elsewhere.
The troll wasn't even Gavin's interest here, it was merely in his way. It hadn't even settled on the ground before the Courser had cambered on toward his true target: the gift this tree guardian was supposed to protect.
A rumbling roar came as he galloped signaling his victory over the monster to the wider arena and to his competition as he bore in that direction.
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Post by Lucas Chevalier on Sept 1, 2021 23:01:30 GMT -8
Lucas had an idea.
Maybe it would turn out to be a stupid idea that left him looking like a fool. Maybe it would turn out to be a terrible idea that brought harm onto him.
Maybe. Just maybe. It was an idea that would provide him with an answer to a question that had been lodged in his mind ever since that fateful night with Golden Boy and Riley.
Hearing Gavin's roar of victory signaled that the troll was no longer a threat. It he was going to roll the die this was the time to do it.
The Gravewight stepped back into the plane of existence that the others were in and he freed himself from the magic that caused him to disappear from the mind.
He could barely keep his eyes on the Sentry because of the massive amounts of power that radiates from them. Time to see if he could get them to look at him.
Drawing upon the sorrow he had harvested into glamour, the Gravewight used it to shed his mask. Life faded away from him. All the color in his skin disappeared causing his skin tone to transform into a perfect pearl-gray color. The brightness of his eyes became otherworldly. When he smiled, his teeth were a radiant white and his canines were noticeably more visible. Every feature sculpted on him was flawless and inviting.
With his mask gone and his mein in full view, he was death perfected.
The fae magic within him flowed freely and he had to wonder if the magic inside of him held similar necrotic properties to the magic flowing from the egg. He raised a hand to tap into the magic flowing through his kith. Except instead of changing any conditions he let the magic charge in his hand instead.
"I'm the one you want to talk to, not my assistant. "He called out to the Sentry and when he smiled at the Sentry the energy behind the smile was radiant.
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Post by Krakenbox on Sept 2, 2021 12:13:01 GMT -8
The Sentry's eyes widened at the sound of the Skogtroll's corpse thundering to the floor. A small 'o' formed as the dashing Fairest emerged from the realms of the unreal and forgotten, stretching their neck to see if they could catch a glimpse of the chaos beyond the cave entrance, or where the Hobgoblin scampered off too. Alas, the bone collector was melded with the scenery, obeying its instincts to not interact with a sentient extension of the Freehold's wards.
"Assistant or not, it's the one who found me, silly," they laughed, clearly having fun with the twists and turns as they held the egg tightly. Their tongue stuck out a bit, though more in spirit of the game than any trace of haughty superiority. Lucas held their attention, in all his gothic move-star charm.
"I think you're the one assisting!"
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Post by Gavin Graves on Sept 2, 2021 14:20:45 GMT -8
The massive grizzly tears to a sliding stop, piling up dirt around the furrows created in the process. He let out a rolling growl and snort as one would imagine a bear might do if it tried to talk. His feral deep brown eyes cast between the Arcadian revelation and the Sentry with its ward. Listing his head to one side in a form of shrug when it became clear no one could understand him, he released the glamour that held his shape and returned to his rugged jean-clad ginger form.
"G'day. Right, so this adventurer is not afraid or anything here, but I've been told there may be vengeful spirits about. I'd like for you to come with me now. I know the way out. I'll keep you safe now that the troll is no longer holding them at bay. Plenty of folks who'd like to meet you too I imagine where we're headed." He was earnest in his concern, thinking it would be likely for yet another layer to this test. He was eager to keep the early edge rolling in case the situation turned into a running escape. It would be less than ideal to let Lucas unleash a number of contracts to pull the contest in his favour. He knew he couldn't compare with a Fairest in that regard. This was a Summer test, but Gavin wasn't eager to win by hurting a fellow Freehold member, which is where his skillset leaned.
A creeping desire entered the Courser's mind. The egg called to him in a way that was uncomfortable. It was an instinct to take the egg. The shape of it reached out and echoed in his thinking over and over as a memory etched dozens of times over would. It was distracting for him.
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Post by Lucas Chevalier on Sept 2, 2021 20:32:51 GMT -8
Lucas merrily laughed along with the Sentry. He was picking up on the creatures child like disposition which was strange and maybe even a little disconcerting considering the Sentry was in charge of protecting the wards. Then again, who was he to question a being that lit up the different planes like a newly birthed sun?
When Gavin made his appearance he knew the clock was ticking. The Fall courtier had destroyed the Troll within seconds. Fighting was one way to get here and that wasn't Lucas's strong point. Battle strategy and maximizing uses of resources was another and he was proving to be rather good at that.
"I'm a bit underdresssd for such a wonderful event, eh?"
Lucas winked playfully at the Sentry before snapping his fingers a couple of times. The first time didn't take by the second time he was able to reach inside of his bag to draw out clothing. With his raw Arcadian magic rippling all around him, the clothing manifested around his body. Not only did he physically look the part of Death Perfected but he had the outfit to go along with it.
The clothing manifested in a decorative military style jacket that looked liked it belonged in the Napoleon era except instead of being designed for function, it was the style of uniform that was meant for celebratory. The colors were a complimentary mixture of black and grey.
Now that he looked the part it was time to act the part. He wanted all eyes on him so they could feel the raw animal magnetism behind the force of his personality and perhaps radiating such confidence could even lure his hob goblin companion back.
The magic surrounding the Fairest rippled and flared all around him as his natural energy intertwined with the part of him that was connected to the Wyrd. He flashed an outright dazzling smile at the Sentry before bowing his head.
"You don't need either of us to keep you safe. You've kept all of us safe for so long. Thank you for that. But we should leave here as you know there's much for us to do. You can trust me to hold onto that for you while we walk out of here together. After all, I am from the season whose effigy helped nurture this new energy into being and I even made my own contribution to it. I would love to hear more about you on the way out and I can tell you more about my contribution to the effigy if you'd like."
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Post by Krakenbox on Sept 14, 2021 21:39:29 GMT -8
The Sentry gasped as Gavin appeared, laying out the plan of survival and escape. They shuffled a bit towards him, squinting with a skeptical look, before their mouth maintained a little 'o' to Lucas' dazzling display of glamoured regalia.
"That sounds fun! And with that I name Lucas Chevalier the victor," They announced, before nodding to Gavin as well, "That was a very good fight. They way you move through the Hedge- I can do it too!"
Their mien lit on fire.
The blaze ignited the scene like a match to paper, burning away the edges of teh Hedge, and then beyond as a hole in reality was punched to oblivion beyond. The world was unwriting itself like a collapsing star, shredding the Hedge as they strode confidently forward, halting as Destruction Incarnate turned their head back towards Lucas, waiting for their prized escort.
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Post by Lucas Chevalier on Sept 16, 2021 7:11:22 GMT -8
The smile on Lucas's face was as dazzling as the Arcadian clothing he wore. Truth be told, he had his doubts on how far he was going to make it. Now here he was. The winner.
The Fairest was considering attempting to do a back flip to celebrate when suddenly a door way into oblivion opened.
Well then.
He drew upon the Crown Arcadian magic pulsating through him to keep his wits about. Before joining the Sentry, Lucas moved over to shake Gavin's hand. This victory was enough for Lucas to finally let go of the grudge he had been holding against the Beast.
"Nice work, Gavin. You annihilated that Troll." Lucas stared at Gavin while he held his hand out to be shaken. His eyes shifted towards the egg he was holding and then back to Gavin's eyes.
After the two were done shaking hands, he returned to the Sentry's side. The Fairest steadied his shoulders, evened out his shoulders, and then he stepped onwards into the strange unknown.
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Post by Bloody Mary on Sept 16, 2021 11:09:08 GMT -8
"Careful."
The Knight of Storms gestured as Lucas edged towards the Sentry, "When it's active, you'll be unmade. They're just trying to copy Mr. Graves' Hedgespinning in all this excitement."
There was a hard line to her jaw as the arena had a straight line scored of existence, shaking her head as her and Cinder started to mend the Hollow like a cauterized wound.
"Fitting you should have it. If you're determined to keep it, please make sure it gets to Roger." There was a finality to her statement, letting the Fairest manage himself and the potential consequences to come if he chose to ignore the prompt.
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Post by Gavin Graves on Sept 19, 2021 15:52:56 GMT -8
Lucas gleaming with Fairest magics proved there was little room for Gavin to hold the Sentry's fickle attention. That left Gavin with the decision whether or not to press his strongest advantages in this situation much as Lucas had done. It was a Summer arena after all and violence, within bounds, was generally acceptable. The wild call from within, hearing the thumping of his heart and the echoes from hunting drums haunting his past, pushed for him to give into the primal urge to warm his claws with blood and scurry away with the egg. The vampire's pure Arcadian form did not help him to put a reign on the instinct.
It had been mere moments since the adrenaline surge and violence that had already started. There was only one thing in the scenario that didn't remove all the stops from the Beast's drive: the friendly offered hand. A reflex took over--a human reflex--he shook Lucas' hand, settling the end of the contest and the disturbing math running in Gavin's head.
Lucas received a surprise in the handshake anyway. Gavin had reshaped the maneuver into an arm clasp.
"Looks like you win." A gross smear of sappy ichor and slippery mud now stained Lucas' summoned garb, a transfer from the troll and arena floor. Gavin grinned wryly at the opportunity to remove the 'untouched' appearance Lucas had from their mutual adventure in the Hollow. "Not many can keep up with me in here," genuinely impressed.
He didn't care that Lucas had not managed to accomplish the task on his own and did not differentiate the achievement. The power of humanity was getting things done together. That was the power of the Freehold as well.
When the Sentry lasered away a column of the Hedge to sear a path, it and its effect consumed his attention for a time. On the pathway out, he collected and labeled samples from the liminal broken edges of Hedge bog and annihilation, observing the Sentry and its playful affect, and the egg as cargo. When Mary interjected with a warning, he noted that as well to help him in shaping what he would learn here.
As much as he had not won the contest, he was still determined to make the most of being close to winning. He was like a blood hound when it came to Occult knowledge.
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