Lords of Creation in the Playground (IC)

[Phobia]

Hagatha, Cassandra, The Peer - The Dark Grove

"Finally you gaze upon my true form!" The monstrous Weirdwood that was Hagatha declared with her horrible tree-mouth as Cassandra approached. Her roots sprawled out in every direction both above the ground and below it attached to dozens of Spriggins who watched from the trees.

"What say you now? You stand in my forest and my swamps an this very ground that nourishes me."

[Yeshon]

Strange Waters

Helfarch considered himself even tempered. When the tree god had slaughtered dwarves he did not intervene, for the tree god merely did what he did to defend his children. When the divine war seemed inevitable for a brief moment, Helfarch did nothing, considering himself unfit to intervene when both had legitimate grievances.

It was strange therefore, that twice today he had been so angered.

Helfarch drew his bow thrice, and thrice it sang, arrows of light formed by virtue of Ignus' string as he drew back and flew forth as he released. The arrows raced for the elemental, but passed it by, the arrows did no harm, but the cured skins of slain mortals disappeared as the arrows passed. The arrows severed not thread or magic, but existence.

"Do not presume,"

Helfarch began as calmly as he could, his voice carrying beyond the din of battle. "That mortal lives are some trophy to be worn."

He walked forward, towards the offender, she who wore the skins of the slain as if it were her right.

[thethird]

Eucle Neutral Ground

Eucle is satisfied with how Neutral Ground is growing hopefully soon it will have turned in the greatest metropolis atop Zalsaram and the only one where so many races can grow and work together. He hasn't yet gotten members of other races to join him; either they haven't had an interest in wealth, they have avoided the members of the Syndicate or they haven't been created. The only race that has come to his knowledge are the goblins, when they raided an unimportat hamlet, and hopefully some soon will be tempted by the riches.

There is one thing that worries the Wealth God. While he doesn't dream per se he has a connection to dreams and wealth. And he feels the ripples of what is to come at least when it is related to his own essence. And what some of the dwarves are doing scares and baffles him equally. If his knowledge of his own portfolio is true, and there is no reason to believe its failing, they were to create something big soon enough. Since this were the same dwarves sensible enough to steal the god's powers Eucle disregards asking nicely first.

The wealth god goes to the deepest core of neutral ground and donning once again his draconic gise he coils himself. The trees, the old trees that had grown on him while he stood on the first tree presence are partly imbued with Pernieth's power, they will serve. Eucle reaches for them as a focus and he changes them like he has changed the other trees of Neutral Ground, then with the trees imbued in quintessence he throws them deep into the dream land. They are now impossible to reach from the material but their dreams are strong and provide him a point to slip through. Leaving behind his material trappings Eucle, in the form of an old dwarf wearing a dark hood and carrying a dowsing rod starts to wander the dreamheart searching for the Ur-Priests dreams.

Yusri, Neutral Ground

The group continued yet further along Demiourgia, coming up to the gates of the spectacular city of Neutral Ground. Yusri, excited for the potential of rest for his group, rushed them all to the city gates, hoping to gain entry for the large and weary group, all of whom eager for the momentary respite a stay in the city would bring.

Yusri & Oxid, Neutral Ground

The "gates" of Neutral Ground part away creating an opening for the wanderers to come into. Inside the city is a mass of trees interconnected forming houses and buildings. Several of them don't seem to be truly connected and those that are more times that not are not joined in any way that would make sense. Luckily for the wanderers the ground level seems more or less stable and sane with tall trees growing housing construction in their trunks. The wood is of a pale white color, with thin trunks and branches that twist and mingle from tree to tree. Their leaves though have all the colors of the rainbow, giving the canopy and higher levels and even more eerie feeling. Embedded in the tree trunks there are several stones, jewels and pieces of worked metal. Many of those have magical illuminating runes and colorful inscriptions some might be arcane focus of purpose unknown while others might just be graffity pranks. In the ground, zig zaging around the tree bases, several canals of multicoloured water from Mezethera flow. There are other canals where water does not flow, it appears to be frozen in time, drops from a splash never reaching the ground.

There are many people in the city. Several market stalls are rounding the tree bases and the merchants, dryads, human, kobolds, elves, genasi, and dwarves offer their wares. There are many trinkets and valuables there, ranging from dried fruit drupes to dusted stones passing through emblazoned coral and bottled mist. That is not the strangest part of the market as there are other stalls, stalls that spurt perpendicular to the growing trees or that are upside down in the ceiling with no apparent discomfort to their occupants. Around the marketplace brownish insectoid creatures, as large as a small dog, run touching whatever is discarded with their antennae and somehow making it disappear.

Most humans can't see them, more than through the edge of their vision, and even then they are just a tickle of the imagination but there are other creatures. They are rich, vivacious, like idealized humans, elves, dwarves... One could venture to say that they were the mold by which those races were created. That was far from the truth, they were the blurred afterimage of the mortal races. The Quori had taken the shapes of those that fed them dreams and were confined to them, the fact that they could roam there was just another proof of the city convergence within the realm of the possible and the realm of possibilities.

When the humans have entered, and the gates have closed slowly behind them, a large shadow sets over the market. It doesn't take long for the creature projecting it to settle. He, for it's a he, is a large bettle-like dragon. There is some resemblance between him and the smaller creatures that roam the marketplace. For once he also has antennae, he sports three long pairs above his bug head. His body plate though are jet black refracting the light at the edges in many colours giving him an oily appearance whenever he moves or speaks. He rests in six strong clawed legs and looks at the newly arrived humans.

"Welcome to Neutral Ground. I'm Oxid, acting mayor, and master of the Syndicate. What do you seek in the city?"

[Ralasha]

Ignus
Wandering
Ignus steps out of the burning lands. Contest, and division. Curiosity sparks inside of her, she decides to see what it is they speak of.

Another step lands her atop the Challenge Mountains. She glances about, and steps away, now sitting in the branches of a great tree, she steps away, now standing amidst the ocean, she steps away into a dwarven mining camp.

She steps away, appearing aboard a ship at sea. She watches them for a moment from atop the mast, and steps away...

A city. Like a crude recreation of her own. She watches those there in a moment. The Fire Genasi among them avoiding her gaze. She watches them with disapproval.

[Toxic Mind]

Hagatha, Cassandra, The Peer - The Dark Grove

"What do you wish me to say, defiler of my kin? You have scorned the gifts that my Lord gave, corrupted his forests. And for what? I ask you why you have done this, so that I may tell my lord the reasons before I destroy you."

[Phobia]

Hagatha, Cassandra, The Peer - The Dark Grove

"Destroy me? Gehehehe!" Hagatha said in barely restrained glee. "How exciting! Long have I sat here planted and immovable crafting my own entertainment." She used a root to smash a pile of decomposing mortal bodies and broken dryad bits to emphasize her point. "And now entertainment has come to me. How exciting, how exciting. But you presume much little woman if you think that a great tree can be felled. We grow the biggest, we last the longest, and when my roots dig deep into the earth they root for keeps! I will still be standing ancient when your corpse lays at the base of my trunk!"

She paused for a moment as if in contemplation. "But you ask me why? They all ask me why and I ask them back in turn. Why do screams nourish my soul, why does suffering fill me with pure glee?" The great Weirdwood waxed philosophic for a moment. "Do you know why some men prefer to fight and some men prefer to farm? Do you know why some women love to **** and others are quite chaste?" Hagatha continued vulgarly, spitting at her with her horrible tree-mouth and letting the questions remain in the air unanswered.

"Maybe one day I'll know the answer but today I'll simply enjoy the benefits. Now, sister, allow me to give you the gift of ultimate suffering. I hope you try to resist screaming. That's always the most fun."

She flicked her roots and dozens of Spriggins leapt from the darkness attacking Cassandra all at once!

[Draken]

[Strange Waters]

Losing her adornments gives Aldegund pause, and thus she turns to the archer and the whole world sans those things she was doing battle with turn into a maelstrom of hues and currents. The visage of the duchess changes too, her armor splits asunder and her flames clad themselves in taut and pale hide in the bare arms and chest, although her face remains an inferno and she has no legs to speak of.

The overall creature is almost as lacking in sensuality as it is overflowing in garish wickedness.

"You! You feckless divinity who stinks of gear and grease, by what right do you interfere with my setting?"

The angelic figures far behind the entity lose their glamour and turn into the serpentine forms of Omen demons.

"You almost match the stench of the fiends yourself! Has Mezzethera been cavorting with the Visionary?! ZALSARAM WILL HEAR OF THIS AND TOPPLE YOUR TOWERS IF I DO NOT RECEIVE ANSWERS YOU MAGGOT-TAILED PIGLETS."

Aldegund appears to be talking to the demons when she shouts those last few lines. She does not seen to care to answer Helfarch's accusations.

[Toxic Mind]

Hagatha, Cassandra, The Peer - The Dark Grove

If Hagatha believed that Cassandra was still a dryad, albeit a clever one, there could be no doubt. Dryads were powerful in their own forests, capable of manipulating the trees and roots and vines within their own domains to great effect. But these forests and trees belonged to Hagatha now, and while Spriggans could manipulate them at her behest, but no dryads could touch the trees. But Cassandra was not a dryad. She was something far older, far more powerful. She is a primal force of nature, born before the seed that would become the corrupted Weirwood in front of her was even germinated.

"Pathetic."

The voice that issues from her mouth is not Cassandra's, not anymore. Thorns grow from her fingertips and fly through the air like pellets from a shotgun, shredding the leaves and vines of the spriggan. The spriggan's attacks miss by inches, and each is followed by a barrage of thorns, impaling the husks of her once-sisters. It is over in moments.

"I am no dryad, Corrupter. I am the Speaker, older than any tree beyond the First Herself. I am the Voice of the Father Who Seeds All. And you, creature of darkness, are nothing before him. Born to bring perfection into this world. I will ask you once more, and only once, and answer well, for my Lord has taken notice of you now, Interloper. Why have you done this?"

[Phobia]

Hagatha, Cassandra, The Peer - The Dark Grove

"Disgusting little creature." Hagatha spat at her as more if her toys are broken beyond repair. She hated when they happened. Toys were only fun as long as they functioned. "How dare you ruin my fun. You're so boring to watch. No struggle whatsoever. No show!" She complained like a whining child.

"Speaker is right because you don't hear, do you? My desires turned over in the depths of me until I had to let them out to play! My pleasure is inflicting pain." Hagatha looked a little unsure now. Her Spriggins had never failed this easily before. "I just want to spread the gift of pain to the world. My roots may have touched something.. Dark and deep.. Ancient within in the crust.." She mumbled, trailing off, still unsure. "The dreams, the madness, the constant waiting they all confuse things. The only reality is suffering!"

With her apparent coherent thoughts now over Hagatha lifted up many of her mighty divine roots and tied to restrain Cassandra once more but not with merely one but many.

"Now let me hear what a pretty scream you have!"

[Rainshine]

Trenco, On the Road

Trenco raised a hand in greeting as he entered the inn. The owner and proprietor glanced over at the new entry for the night and chuckled, the quiet sound growing into a cheer, growing into a roar as more people noticed the new arrival. Standing by the door, Trenco grinned and bowed with a flair of his cloak, acknowledging the chorus.

Soon enough, he was seated with a bowl of warm soup and thick chunks from a black baking pan that he dove into happily. When he was using the final few crumbs to soak up the last few drops, leaning back and licking his fingers, he saw the others in the room all gazing at him. Shaking his head mirthfully, he began to laugh, letting it shake his small frame. Only once the laugh was released was he able to stand, making his way over to wash the crumbs and juices off of his hands; only then could he make his way to a helpfully open area near the fire and unlimber his strings from his pack. Even the owner stopped what he was going about when that first string was plucked, setting a brief note as Trenco settled down. Another, another, then a quick chord.


“Oh, here’s his story, sad, but true!
A tale of an…”

He stopped, one slender digit scratching his beard as he looked over the audience.
“What do you think?” He cupped the hand to his ear as the audience roared its suggestions, then set finger back to strings.


“A tale of a badger, one I once knew!
He went down, down to Lakeside town!
And there he learned to toss the dice around!”

As he sang he played a rolicking tune, the story getting more and more ridiculous as it went on, until the final verse, when more than half the patrons were heaving with laughter. When the last note was plucked, he set the instrument down, unpacking his lap harp. The laughter settled as he tuned, and the first few chords set a quieter tone.

“There was a lass, alone in the isles,
There she lived, with her father and mother.
But ne’er did she see any other,
Not a soul upon to try her wiles.

Then one day, a storm arose,
From deep within the sea
And when it had gone, in the lee
A man she found, from where no one knows.”

Long into the “night” did string and reed and pipe rise and fall, the joy and fare of Trenco, until at last sleep took the last of the audience and the owner too, and Trenco curled up by the fire, content at his service this night, and slept the sleep of such.

Spoiler

Show

AP 5 - 0 (Mark the Chosen: Trenco) = 5

[Yeshon]

Strange Waters

"You! You feckless divinity who stinks of gear and grease, by what right do you interfere with my setting?"

"..."

The angelic figures far behind the entity lose their glamour and turn into the serpentine forms of Omen demons.

"You almost match the stench of the fiends yourself! Has Mezzethera been cavorting with the Visionary?! ZALSARAM WILL HEAR OF THIS AND TOPPLE YOUR TOWERS IF I DO NOT RECEIVE ANSWERS YOU MAGGOT-TAILED PIGLETS."

Aldegund appears to be talking to the demons when she shouts those last few lines. She does not seen to care to answer Helfarch's accusations.

"Inconsequential after-thoughts should know better than to speak for their master." Helfarch rebuked her as he walked forward. Closer and closer he walked, until it seemed he'd walk right into her and in the moment it seemed inevitable he vanished.

And Helfarch reappeared on her other side walking towards the demons of Omen. "And only cowards threaten what others could do."

He walked to the edge of the group and bowed slightly. "Greetings, I am Helfarch, The Pursuer, son of the Visionary, forged of Nightmare. I ask to speak on the behalf of mortals to the demons of Omen."

[Alber]

Yusri, Neutral Ground

Yusri stands before the dragon, the crowd behind him looking all around them, some reacting to the new environment with awe, some with apprehension, and a few with outright fear from the strange surroundings. Yusri, for his part, was actually in the latter group, though he was careful not to show it. It did not help that the creature standing before him possessed features that reminded him too much of the massive thing he saw in the Void who's throat a portion of him now resided. The man bowed low in front of Oxid, his hand staying behind him to keep in place the heavy sack slung over his shoulder.

"My good sir, we have traveled a long distance and our destination is still very far. We are looking for a place to rest for just a few blinks. We do not have much, and even less that we are able to give, but if you could extend your generosity to us, we would be very grateful, and I am certain our lord, Passaer, would be happy to bestow his blessings upon this already glorious city."

Passaer, The Void

Passaer, for his part, was restless. He had plans for his chosen that would bring the great rhythm he felt to a crescendo, but for now it was still utterly dull. He reached out, trying his best to feel for something unique. Eventually, he found it. An odd feeling, a breath that rose and fell to a rhythm entirely unlike the rest of the Playground. No. Not completely unique, he had felt something like this in others before, but he had ignored it as an anomaly before. Now that he was searching it stood out to him like a beacon, and now he could not un-feel it. It was captivating, and yet infuriating because it did not match the rest of the world's beat. Instead, it seemed to almost be heaving to a rhythm of its own. He wished to find out more, but he also did not wish to disturb it, so he decided not to bring it to him, as he had with Yusri, but instead to bring something of him to it.

Passaer felt within himself and let out what might have sounded almost like the sound of a mortal choking, as he spat out a mass of air and Passaer's own, ethereal flesh, which quickly coalesced into a form similar to the humans of the god's flock. As the creature gasped loudly as it took it's first living breath, Passaer quickly silenced it, taking a mound of chitin from his limbs and forming it into a strange device that forced itself around the new being's throat. The creature struggled against the binding, it's own self preservation kicking in even before it's senses fully had, as the device expanded to cover his face, mouth, eyes, and ears, forming an insect-like mask. Before the new being of flesh and air, Passaer's Voice on the Playground, could fully comprehend his situation, he found himself hurtling towards the Playground, and towards the source of the feeling Passaer had now fixated on.

Voice, On the Road

Voice landed quietly on the Playground outside an inn. His senses were distorted by the mask; he could only see as if through a thick fog, and could only hear over the noise of a whispering voice constantly chanting commands into his head. For a few minutes he struggled with the voices, trying to relieve himself of his bonds, and every time he disobeyed he felt a sharp jab of pain. It did not take him long to realize that following the voice's orders was easier than ignoring them, and so he walked towards the inn. He grabbed the tarp of a nearby wagon and covered himself in it, at the behest of the whispers in his head, before entering the inn as silently as he could. There, both he and Passaer, through his mask, could see, and more importantly, hear the spectacle in front of him. He saw the merriment and felt of performer and patron alike as they sang and laughed in front of him, as Voice stood silent in the back, unnoticed. The whole ordeal was quite confusing to the both of them. He had questions, and the performer was the obvious choice to ask them.

Voice waited patiently long into the night, until all had left the main hall. All, that is, except for the performer, who curled up next to the hearth fire. Once he had made sure there were no others around, the towering humanoid stepped forward and reached a hand out towards the sleeping Trenco, giving him a firm shake.

"You. I have questions." Said a soft but commanding voice from out of the mask. "Get up."

Spoiler

Show

AP 14 - 3 = 11: Create Avatar: Voice

AP 11 - 3 = 8: Gain Portfolio: Burden

AP 8 - 3 = 5: Gain Secondary Domain: Suffering

AP 5 - 3 = 2: Raise DR to 7 (Create Organization: Vagrants, Mold Land, Pestilience: Miasma)

[Gunhaven]

Dur'Kala the Jagged Spire
Atarka had heard Tiamet's call that the savages were fair game to rule over and launched into the air to find herself a race to lord over and bring forth a new age with. The brash and old red dragon flew for many miles before she caught eye of a jagged spire jutting off the coast with tiny, soot-colored morsels. Like an eagle stalking rabbits she circled the island thrice before plummeting down toward the Aram that scrambled to hide from the gargantuan predator. She managed to nab a mouthful of the little buggers and swallowed them in one gulp before she bellowed out "My Mistress Tiamet has decreed that your kind is under Our protection! I, Atarka, have come to guide you pitiful creatures to a brighter future! Is there any of you who dare challenge me?"

It was at that moment that Krenko emerged from the warrens with an idiot's grin on his face. Before Atarka could say anything Krenko belched forth a cone of flame and acid, Grenzo's flames covering the unsuspecting dragon. Despite being coated in fire the dragon was unharmed, the voice of the Cackling Flame booming out from around the dragon "Welcome to the party, disciple! My, what rage you have within your blood! I, Grenzo the Cackling Flame bestow upon you my Kiss! Make yourself comfortable upon My throne and gaze upon My followers! Together we will bring a new level of revelry to this land!" Krenko, with his grin, hugged the newest disciple of the party and set to work with the devote in turning their home into a suitable warren for Aram and Dragon.

Spoiler: AP

Show

Mark Atarka; forgot to mark Krenko at first.

[Shmee]

Tiamat, Demiourgia

The Queen of Dragons watched as the Chromatic Dragons subjugated the Goblinoid races under their dominion. Let her foolish Elder Brother and the Metallic Dragons use subtle approaches. Regardless, Tiamat still desired any advantages she could gain over her enemies, especially if the greatest of enemies was the world itself. Tiamat knew that the Cosmic Mother's plan was to strengthen mortals to prepare for the day when Zalsaram would need to be dealt with once more, but then there was the problem of its brood. For they too were gaining strength.

Perhaps Tiamat thinks, a subtle approach from time to time isn't that bad of an idea as she takes flight and opens a portal. For her destination was not on the Playground.

Erebus

The Queen of Dragons enters Erebus. No longer bound by the laws of the Playground that the First Creator had placed before he vanished, Tiamat is able to unleash her full potential should she wish to. For outside the Playground, was were the big boys played.

Tiamat looks at the Keepers who were gathering to see to his intruder. However this visit was purely for diplomatic purposes, so the First Daughter of the Cosmic Mother conceals her disdain of having to deal with lesser creatures, and instead puts on her warmest smile. As warm a smile as a five headed dragon can produce. "Greetings. I desire an audience with the Lord of Death."

The Void

Deep within the Void, the Cosmic Mother had slumbered since the defeat of Zalsaram, nursing her wounds. Yet this day, an event not seen since the creation of the Playground occurred, for but a moment, the Cosmic Mother stirred, rearranging the constellations and the locations of the stars , either delighting the Astronomers of the Playground, or driving them insane.

Yet, the Cosmic Mother continued to slumber.

Spoiler

Show

AP7=10-3: Raise DR to 7 (Actions done: Declared Divine Combat against Zalsaram:3AP , Created Dragonfire Adepts:1 AP)
AP4=7-3: Raise DR to 8 (Actions done: Created Artifact Phos: 3AP, Created Demiourgia: 2AP)
AP1= 4-3: Raise DR to 9 (Actions done: Created Artifact Oussia: 3AP, Created Dragons 2AP)

[Toxic Mind]

Pernieth, Cassandra, Hagatha, The Peer - The Dark Grove

A God of Thunder and the Sky would arrive out of a lightning bolt and thunder. The cataclysm of their arrival would herald their power and dominance. But Pernieth is not a god of the sky. He is of the earth, of growing things, of nature.

It happened in an instant, though to describe it would take much longer. A tree near Cassandra, once withered and dark, barren and gray, suddenly bursts into life, the trunk reinvigorated, the branches bloom green with leaves and fruits and flowers. Then it's growth becomes explosive. The trunk multiplies in size, and it's branches grow. It's roots split from the ground, half as large as the trunk, and two branches dominate the others. And in a mere instant, Pernieth was there, towering above the clearing.

As the vines close on Cassandra, a massive hand encloses her, the vines impacting into the thick bark of the hand. "Cease." Pernieth says.

[thethird]

Yusri & Oxid, Neutral Ground

At Yusri's word the big bug dragon produces a clicking sound. It takes a moment for anyone to realize that it's laughter. Then it presses it's mandibles into an aproximation of a smile.

"Your offer is considered adequate, the request for trade is granted."

His antennae move in strange circles and as he does several other people approach him. The people of Neutral Ground carry plates with food and clothing. Foodwise it's mostly fruits and vegetables of many different colors and even more shapes accompanying those there are roasted crustaceans not dissimilar to the ones that were running around the stalls before, accompanying those there are a selection of water, juices and strong distilled alcohols. The food is also exotic in it's tastes some are hard to describe in words, as if they were some bizare chef dreams. The alcohol is extremely strong and anyone drinking it will soon fall into a drunken stupor. The clothes that the Neutral Ground inhabitants carry for the humans are long and comfortable blankets that can envelop them whole.

"Eat. Rest. No need to be formal."

Once again the clicking sound, Oxid seems to be in good humor. He "eats" too one of his antennae descends into a food platter and as it does the whole thing stops existing.

[Phobia]

Pernieth, Cassandra, Hagatha, The Peer - The Dark Grove

"Who are you to command me? I have stood since the time of the Great Seeding, ancient and immovable.." Hagatha fumed in impotent rage and brought her roots and vines back closer to her. It made her feel safer to summon a few more Spriggins to stand around her trunk.

"You seem familiar and you're definitely not... average. Not with that entrance."

[Toxic Mind]

Pernieth, Cassandra, Hagatha, The Peer - The Dark Grove

"Forest." Pernieth says in answer. His hand unclenches, revealing Cassandra, unharmed. She turns and runs a hand appreciatively along the inside of Pernieth's palm, the only thanks needed for his intervention. She turns back to Hagatha, a smug look on her face. She loved nothing mroe than to reveal the absolute folly that some things conducted themselves with. "You stand before the Father of the First Tree, Guardian of all Woods, He Who Walks in the Heart. But you may call him Pernieth, and before you were this abomination, you were his child, as are all things that grow from the ground." And just in case that didn't get across, she leans forward. "Who do you think started the Great Seeding?"

[Alber]

Yusri, Neutral Ground

The human horde made the most of their few blinks in Neutral Ground. Despite not having much of value they still managed to work out enough deals around the city to resupply themselves well. Some, however, took to the city too well, and ended up deciding to not join their fellows on the trail, opting instead to take up permanent residence in the city. However, just as some decided to leave, so too did some residents of Neutral Ground find interest in the prospect of new locales and new markets, including a few proper Syndicate members. Finally, their wagons and sacks mended, their stomachs filled with something other than ravinisen, and new blood injected into the group, they continued on to the north.

[Phobia]

Pernieth, Cassandra, Hagatha, The Peer - The Dark Grove

Hagatha didn't immediately respond and looked a little taken back. Her Spriggins retreated a few steps away, it seemed silly and obscene to bring them out now.

"Pernieth." She said, twisting the word around in her horrible tree-mouth like a sour grape. "This is interesting. But these swamps are mine now." She continued, sounding more reserved than before like a child who had been caught playing with her mom's makeup.

"Maybe I have been.. Hasty. Yes. Hasty." Hagatha said, backing down in the obvious presence of the divine. "So what do you want with me?" The Weirdwood said after shooting a sharp glare at Cassandra. She still wanted nothing more than to wipe that smug look off her face for good.

[Rainshine]

Caravan of the Liliputians, Challenge Mountains

From above, the slowly moving train of wagons looked a bit like some sort of rainbow worm working its way across the topsoil. Figures darted here and fro laughing and shouting as the wagons trundled onwards. It had been a long day of travel, but the energy of children in any world seems to be that of its own special category. Even as they finally pulled off into a clearing, settling in to make fires, music, and food, there was plenty of vigor to be had. All kept an eye to the skies. They had spotted winged creatures of enormous size in the area, and such things were the center of not an inconsiderable bunch of curiosity. Many had these mountains pegged as their abode.



Trenco, on the Road

Wiping bleary eyes, Trenco slowly sat up, gazing around for the source of the voice. His eyes alit on the form, but the man’s face was… wrong. A quiet word, whispered into the space of a breath, brought light to the air and greater illumination to the thing on his face. Curious. The man had not been there that night, nor had any of the crowd possessed any such device. Trenco wanted to know more. Still, no reason to let him know that. Pitching his voice low and quiet, Trenco spoke, “It is customary in many places to allow a humble travelling performer the gift of an ample rest and a restorative meal, not to shake him awake at the wee hours of the sleeping time. Surely, sir, your questions can wait until morning.”

[Man on Fire]

Neiag, the worldb

In these times Neiag was traveling with Mond, honoring his request. But that was Mond's tale to tell, not the spider on the shoulder of a god. However, there was an even that took place during these days. Neiag grew accustomed to his spider form. Bigger than other spiders, by far, and sitting on an arm of a god who would make the moons, it came to no suprise they started to worship him as a diety of the spiders. He decided to accept this title and spread his dominion over the arachnids from which he came from.

One night, when they were resting, god of spiders felt hungry. And so he went hunting. He saw a snake that was eating one of his children. He hunted it and sank his poisonous teeth in it. He feed and he returned to Mond. The oldest tale, the simplest tale.

But with Neiag things never are so simple.

Was he aware what he did? Was this part of some plan? Was he not? Does it really matter? What really matters is that venom of a god was flowing inside dead snake's body. And, as everything that game from Neiag, the venom was a story. Story of a poison, corruption and evil, of tyranny and greed. Story that took a life on it's own and started to grow inside a dead snake. He grew strong, human torso and he grew in size. He grew strong, muscular hands, and he grew in size. He grew head and he grew in size. Snakes sprung from his head like evil hair and beard, hissing angirly and dripping venom, forming horryfying crwon around it. He looked down to the earth. He looked on the poison dripping from his hair and beard of snakes, how it fell on the grass and the grass died.
He liked what he saw.
His name was Emperor Venom and he was Neiag's horryfing gift to the world.

Spoiler: AP

Show

8 AP
- 3 Create the Avatar (Emperor Venom)
= 5 AP

[Ralasha]

Ignus,
Wandering

She steps onto the bottom of the world, and glances about. There is little here, but someone has been working on it, in secret apparently...

She steps away, back into her room atop the Temple in the nearly deserted city of Ravenglass.

She sits, cross legged and concerned over what she has seen. Devices intended to harm and kill...

[Man on Fire]

Emperor Venom, Burning Lands

There were legends in those days, about humongous reptilian monster, heard all around the world. He left people alone, but anyone who tried to bother him, be it of curiosity or other reasons, had meet cruel end. Spawn of Neiag wanted to be left alone. For now.

Being created from Neiag's poison, he felt no respect for the creation, nor the love for tales that are the mortal and god lives. Most of this world...he didn't like it. It was too chaotic, too free to take away what should be his, too cold. It wasn't like he would do it. He saw so much room for improvement.

Finally he found a plance he enjoyed. Hot, dangerous jungle of Burning Land. Finally he felt at home. And it was full of creatures like him. Snakes, lizards. Yes, he would create here. He would share the poison of his father, that run in his veins. And then, once it would reshape and twist their bodies, he would watch as they fight. For survival, for their loved ones, for their posessions. It was good. He wanted to rule only the greatest. He had plans, many plans.

Spoiler: Actions

Show

5 AP
- 2 Create Populace: Reptilians: Yuan-Ti, their cousins Naga and Lizardmen. Now all three of those groups are inhabitting the same part of Burning Lands, but spreading quickly.
= 3 AP

[mystic1110]

Pernieth, Cassandra, Hagatha, The Peer - The Dark Grove

The Peer was left forgotten in this battle between gods and avatars. Forgotten and little more than blind. He was a creature of fancy - and with these trees little more than wood, there were no dreams here.

So he saw the world in gray blinks of flat sandless desert - even though he was in a forest. Cassandra stood out like a bright green flame, Pernieth even more so he was like a giant holding up a green sun - the combined dreams of trees everywhere. Hagatha. . . . was like a green-purple depression more than anything.

Not that he didn't see these beings, as those beings, but for Demons, each being left an imprint on the world as well. He saw Hagatha as she allowed others to see her. . . but he also saw her pull on the dreams of others. She was like a black hole - sucking in the dreams of the dryads and the trees in the vicinity into her. Of course, she did no such thing - she merely didn't give them sleep - but that effect - represented through the dreamscape was like she was a mire that sucked in those around her.

The Peer wasn't afraid. . . he fought in worse wars. The Dukes and Duchesses of the Sleepless Ocean, her sisters and brothers, wove worse dreams than these.

He spoke in his mental screech of a language

The health of the trees is not my purview - but their sleep is.

[Lady Tialait]

Challenge Mountains, Ur-Priesthood

Two hundred red robed ur-priests stood at the shores of Challenge Mountains they looked toward Demiurgia, the holds had been decided to be expanded. The mythic lands beyond Mezzethera's embrace of the land masses, they would expand. The Ur-Priest empire was born this day, when a single Gramarist gestured across the ocean. Ten machines moved into actions, their miracles of magic allowed the priesthood a way to build their new empire. Marching across the bridge the two hundred ur-Priest and their servants, Artificers, Gramarists, and Kobolds moved. The bridge itself collapsed behind them leaving no way for them to return to the Challenge Mountains.

Quickly the thousand dwarves and kobolds built a city above ground, slaying any inhabitants that were there before and refused to serve the Ur-Priesthood. In one blink of the Cosmic Mother's eye, the work was done, and the city was built. As food was scarce, a dragon was slain to feed the Priesthood this day. 'Purity' the name of the first city they created.

[Alber]

Yusri, North Demiourgia

Yusri and company were at near wits end. Since Neutral Ground they had come across nothing but problems. They lost many of their number to numerous dangers in a swamp with strange, sick looking trees, and the winter had not been kind to them as they entered the rockier areas of the northern part of the continent. Worse, terrain and navigational issues resulting from the stars in the sky dramatically shifting had forced them off course far north of their destination. They had gotten themselves back on course and in the process of doubling back, but there was worry that their meager food supplies may not last until then. As Yusri plotted out their course in their current camp, a scout entered his hut. The scout informed him of a city that had been spotted, rather large from the looks of it. Strange, since not even the traders from Neutral Ground among them seemed to have been aware of it. He ordered the scout to take a closer look with a full regiment and to give a report when he got back concerning it, and whether or not it would make a good place to resupply. The scout nodded and left to his work.

[Lady Tialait]

North Demigoria

Yursi's scouts did not return. Agents of Purity had taken them, and what happened past then, only speculation. The Ur-Priests suffered no spies. The city of Purity was a city of technomagic wonder, and continued to expand. Pulling great amounts of the flesh left from the first conflict to fuel their continued expansion across the land.

[Draken]

Strange Waters



"..."



"Inconsequential after-thoughts should know better than to speak for their master." Helfarch rebuked her as he walked forward. Closer and closer he walked, until it seemed he'd walk right into her and in the moment it seemed inevitable he vanished.

And Helfarch reappeared on her other side walking towards the demons of Omen. "And only cowards threaten what others could do."

He walked to the edge of the group and bowed slightly. "Greetings, I am Helfarch, The Pursuer, son of the Visionary, forged of Nightmare. I ask to speak on the behalf of mortals to the demons of Omen."

"The GALL! I am - what awful noises erupt from her, spoken in the primordial tongue, are the very meanings of ancient, horror, violence and forever, but tongues of flesh and of demons are unfit to speak the rumbling of mountains and the churning of seas, much less the concepts of minds, and thus they name her something close, Aldegund, The Old War - , I am the might that The World turns against the gnats on his back!

The body of the primal duchess rumbles. Not the little visage before Helfarch, but The Carnificial Sea around him.

[Phobia]

Pernieth, Cassandra, Hagatha, The Peer - The Dark Grove

"Huawh?" Hagatha exclaimed before her gaze turned on The Peer once more. She had forgotten the odd looking creature that accompanied Cassandra. This one certainly didn't have the scent of the forest on it, but a scent of another flavor; salty, not earthy, more like the wetlands of her swamps than the trees.

"What good have the dreams done me? They kept me here, trapped, immobile, dreaming of what war and violence I could. I remember those dreams fondly. They filled my nights and days with endless torment.." The Weirdwood said wistfully. "But my nights are long and dreamless now! They simply kept me from expericing true suffering and real pain! Gehehehe!" She said in glee, even salivating a little. The presence of Pernieth seemed to be keeping her partially under control for now, but the stark madness that possessed all Weirdwoods lay just beneath the surface.