To Break The World: Embers (IC)

[EdroGrimshell]

The red comet. The last sight before blackness overtook you.

The image is burned into your mind, and you feel... something... from your chest. Not a burning, but, it's the closest your mind can come to for the sensation as you slowly wake from the darkness, to be met by a bleak cavern that seems to smolder, traces of red, orange, yellow, and white light giving just enough light to see by.

The cavern could not be natural, it is almost a perfect dome, yet, one aspect could only be natural, a single pillar of stone that could only be a fused stalactite and stalagmite sitting in the very center of it. It is lined with the same almost burning effect as the rest of the cavern, only so much brighter, though even as you watch, they dim, casting shadows into once open crevices, passageways leading away, looking for all the world like natural caverns.

The not-burning sensation intensifies for a moment, and you instinctively look down, only to see a black abyss in your chest, ringed by the same embers of the surrounding rock, traces of flame creeping up from it every few moments. A burst of flame and something erupts from it, falling to the ground with a dull thud.

A stone, cloaked in red embers and shedding ash. The rock twitches, and you feel it do so. There's a connection, one you... (DC 20 The Planes check).

Spoiler: OOC

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Well, since you didn't pick your symbiont before coming here I decided to give you a custom one, hope ya like it! Stats to be discovered on bonding!

We can use Discord as the OOC, I think.

Oh, and that thing on your chest? Yes, I ripped it off from Dark Souls 3.

[Haluesen]

Spoiler: OOC

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Oh I didn't know I was supposed to pick one before! I thought it was something that we would do after the game started. Well I've never used these before, so a custom one sounds great! Yeah Discord for OOC sounds good though I am doing this one because you are offline at the moment I think.

Oh and a Planes check: (1d20+3)[22]

Harik groans as he starts to awaken, hands feeling for the stony ground below him even with his eyes still shut. Although he acknowledges the image in his mind he doesn't initially accept the strange feeling, imagining it as just some after-effect of passing out in a strange way. But his eyes do open and he sits up, and the reality of the situation is something he can no longer ignore.

"Wh-what? Ugh, this is..." His low voice fills the silent room as his eyes adjust to the strange lighting. Left to right his head swivels, scanning the room and the passages about. "This is so unusual...how did I get here?" While he's questioning himself he feels the increasing heat and gazes down. "What the hell?!" As one might reasonably react when seeing a flaming hole in their body. But as he reaches to touch the strange addition to himself that is when the fire erupts and he falls back to the ground in surprise.

Once more the shifter sits up groaning in a mix of pain and confusion. The twitch alerts him to the curious stone at his feet. With a quick movement he takes a more feral sitting pose, leaning up on his toes. Hesitantly his hand reaches close to the burning stone, not sure why he'd want to touch it but also needing to know just how this was happening.

[EdroGrimshell]

The 'stone' is not truly a stone, it's far too light for that, feeling far more like a chunk of charcoal or a partially burned chunk of wood rather than any kind of earth. The ashes swirl around it, turning red and orange, hiding the outline of the stone. Before long, Harik's hand is coated in a layer of ash, and the burning... creature... rests there.

A few seconds of it seemingly doing nothing but the cloud of ash, then the ash bursts into motion again, two small clumps of ash form and sling past Harik's shoulder, a shriek of pain from behind him alerts him to danger, allowing him to turn and see a strange creatures that looks like a combination of bat and cat, ash burning its side.

Spoiler: OOC

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Either Roll for Initiative or try something else...

[Haluesen]

In that initial few seconds Harik holds that small ashen being, curiosity fighting with caution in his mind. This thing is surprising and new, but it is also an overall strange situation. This is all before he can come to any sort of decision, and suddenly there is ash flying past his head. The animalistic shriek is normal to him, something to ground his mind with, and he turns to face the unusual creature. An animal? Something otherworldly? It was really hard for him to tell. It certainly wasn't normal.

All Harik had to rely on here was instinct. He didn't want to fight this thing but he had to be prepared for that possibility. Running seemed like it might be difficult. So he backs away a couple steps from the creature slowly, standing in his usual semi-crouched position and eyes the beast.

Spoiler: Nature

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(1d20+2)[7]

[EdroGrimshell]

The animal hisses like some of the domestic cats Harik had seen in town before, though it's much louder than he's used to. As he backs up, the animal licks its lips, the ash that had been on its nose removed to show a slight burn, it eyes Harik warily, then, when Harik takes his third step back, it dashes past, circles the room, and goes down a tunnel with a flair of its wings, which light up as they brush the walls of the cavern, the same cinder pattern going up and down the wings for the brief time he can see the creature go down the tunnel.

[Haluesen]

Harik was quiet as the thing vanished down the cavern and slowly relaxed from his aggressive pose, although as normal he still walked like a savage beast. His eyes lingered as it traveled away and left embers in its wake. In fact he could now take in the whole area with the threat gone, at least as far as he could tell for now. It seemed he was in a very strange place. The comet was still fresh in his mind, and though he didn't want to jump to conclusions it was likely at least somewhat responsible for this strange new situation.

There was so much that could be seen around here. Twisting caverns, smoldering embers, weird beings. That brought the small...fire...ash...ball...thing back to mind. Once more he lifted it, this time up to his face to look closer at the thing. As he was gazing at it he paced around the central stone pillar.

[EdroGrimshell]

A crackling noise echoes from the stone-thing, and words seem to just... pop like a log on fire into Harik's head, well, a single word, actually, 'warm'. Yet, the word is filled with an affectionate emotion, 'safe' the word comes through again. There's a feeling, a pull, between the new marking on Harik's chest and this... elemental?

[Haluesen]

Harik finds the feeling of words that make sense when they shouldn't being put into his mind to be both interesting and mildly unnerving, as well as somewhat familiar. His head tilts as he studies the small stone being. He wasn't sure now if he felt a near-burn or not now, but it didn't seem like touching this little guy made it worse at all. And so Harik gives in to his curiosity and puts the thing to the cinder-wreathed mark on his chest.

[EdroGrimshell]

The ash parts from the stone to reveal what looks like a burning coal that immediately jumps into the mark, the ash swirls around Harik before settling on his skin, making it look a light grey color.

Spoiler: OOC

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One Point of Wis Damage and you feel a second pool of essentia, but you can't put it into your own abilities, instead feeling two other receptacles.

[Haluesen]

After this took place Harik stops and looks around at himself and the odd skin tone change, though he was afraid to try to brush it off. It was all so strange. And that odd double feeling in his body...Harik was still not quite experienced with this power from within himself. So far all he could do with it after all was enhance his shifting ability slightly. And now there was another source of that energy and some other way to use it.

With a grunt Harik paced around. A dim burning pillar, many paths, a cat with large wings...well he didn't want to potentially face that thing, and he had to get moving to either find his way out of here or find a reason to stay longer. So Harik picked the path around the room just to the right of the one the cat-bat escaped down and followed that way. He moves quietly and glances left and right as he walks.

Spoiler: Checks just in case

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Move Silently: (1d20+3)[18]
Spot: (1d20+8)[18]
Listen: (1d20+8)[14]

[EdroGrimshell]

The path Harik chose is a narrow one, and he has to crouch low at points to get through. It takes a good ten minutes to get through to the other side. It felt like the tunnel led up, and he was proven right when he came to a ledge overlooking a lake, one that, reflecting the odd light of the stone surroundings, appeared to be on fire. And he even sees the cat creature down at the edge of the lake, with three others of its kind, drinking. All of them have wings that are glowing bright reddish orange. They stop drinking shortly after Harik arrives, but they do something unexpected, they open their wings and use them to scoop up water, all three then making their way to the tunnel that could only lead back to the cavern Harik had previously been in.

[Haluesen]

Harik stays tense and nervous as the group of creatures took their leave, only settling once they were out of sight. One worried him enough, four was quite a bad prospect. But with the area clear he approaches the lake. His head went left and right as he looked around at the fiery lights around him. With little else to do other than explore a step at a time, Harik first touches the water then if it seems normal takes a drink.

[EdroGrimshell]

The water is almost warm to the touch, but otherwise normal, though he does hear that voice again, though this time it says 'cold!' instead. The water itself is actually moving, which might be why it's not quite lukewarm. Still, it seems safe enough.

The water has a mineral taste, in a good way, like from a natural spring, which you guess this would count as.

(Roll a Spot check)

[Haluesen]

Harik recoils for a moment from the water at his new partner's word out of confusion, but didn't mind it too much. "I wonder if you can hear me speak..." Harik murmurs quietly before drinking the water. With a nod of approval he goes to take another drink. That's when he notices how the water shifts in a pattern that indicates that something is coming away. So he backs away from the edge of the water back to the ledge he was originally on when he came in here.

[EdroGrimshell]

A moment of quiet, then Harik hears it reply with a soft 'hear you' that pops into your head.

The thing in the water keeps going to where you were standing, and starts to plod out. A salamander, a really big salamander. With white orbs for eyes. Its mouth snaps at the air for a moment, then stops as it sniffs audibly, its head shakes its head and turns to go back into the water. Harik can track its movements, and spots it make a sudden turn to another spot, where he sees a dark spot on the far side of the lake, drinking from the water. Too far away to make out, and it only takes a minute before he sees the salamander surge out to try and attack the drinking creature, which dodges, but gets the salamander latched onto its tail. The tail separates and the two separate, the black creature into another cavern, and the salamander into the water.

[Haluesen]

Although his attention was on the creature in the water Harik did take note of his partner's response. Still he wanted to stay quiet now since the thing seemed to rely on sound or something else. Clearly it couldn't see and it didn't seem to smell him. But he felt much more confident about dealing with something like this, and it would make it safer to explore the place.

Harik's plan was to move a bit closer into the water and swirl it around with the tip of his longspear, drawing it from his back. After he made similar motion to what he had done when drinking he took a crouched position with his weapon held tight, ready to lash out the moment something poked out of the water.

[EdroGrimshell]

With his eyes on the salamander, he sees it almost immediately swerve to approach him. It's barely a minute before he sees it start to slow as it approaches, coming in slowly and quietly, it's almost impossible to track even with Harik knowing it's there.

Spoiler: OOC

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Make your readied attack and roll for initiative.

[Haluesen]

Harik's eyes narrow as he does the best he can to focus on where the salamander would be. There's a moment of tensing in his body before a release like a spring, his arms jabbing forward with the pointed spear end. A growl escapes his lips, the hunt on!

Spoiler: Rolls

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Initiative: (1d20+2)[13]
Attack: (1d20+4)[21]
Damage: (1d8+3)[8]

[EdroGrimshell]

The spear finds its mark and the salamander starts to thrash, missing its chance to attack back.

[Haluesen]

Harik keeps within the appropriate distance for using this spear, a small grunt to himself affirming his conviction. With another sharp motion he jabs forward again at the beast.

Spoiler: Rolls

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Attack: (1d20+4)[14]
Damage: (1d8+3)[7]

[EdroGrimshell]

The spear strikes again, but this time, the salamander is able to surge forward to bite at Harik's leg.

Spoiler: OOC

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Attack Roll: (1d20+5)[10]
Damage Roll: (1d6+3)[5]

(1d100)[90]

[Haluesen]

Harik yelps sharply from the pain as he pulls away from the salamander, watching the blood drops fall. For a moment he sees red, and imagines unleashing that savage rage inside of himself and letting the animal loose. But then he considers this place he's in, and his new attachment. So instead he calms and looks into himself, focusing on that strange reservoir of energy and muttering to himself. "Ash..." And take a slow movement back from the salamander, spear still held up.

As the ash swirled around him now, Harik watches with curiosity. It doesn't seem to feel as bad as he would imagine being surrounded by ash would be. Prepared for more to come, Harik takes a defensive posture with the spear held close to him.

[EdroGrimshell]

The salamander makes to bite again.

Spoiler: OOC

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Attack Roll: (1d20+5)[21]
Damage Roll: (1d6+3)[9]

Miss chance: (1d%)[10]

[Haluesen]

It's a near miss as the jaws nearly tear into Harik. That ash cloud is quite helpful. With a calm glare he backs up again, and then jabs forward with his spear!

Spoiler: Rolls

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Attack: (1d20+4)[23]
Damage: (1d8+3)[9]

[EdroGrimshell]

With that attack, the salamander gives a final thrash and flops into the water, at the very least no longer able to fight.

The ash settles once more, seems it only starts up when he feels threatened. For another moment, things are quiet, then 'Ash, name?'

[Haluesen]

Harik glances down at the little elemental with a neutral expression. It wasn't like this was at all a usual situation. After a moment he shrugs and nods. "Sure, you're Ash now. I'm Harik." Then he walks over to the salamander. It is no longer a threat but he also can't leave it to suffer. So he lifted his spear up and then gave a swift stab downward to finish the salamander.

Spoiler: In case the rolls are needed

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Coup de grace since it is helpless, automatic critical with a longspear.

Damage: (3d8+7)[22]

[EdroGrimshell]

The spear pierces the salamander's head and ends its life, though it does leave the water bloody, it is flowing away from the body, towards the far side of the spring.

As this happens, he gets an affectionate crackle, akin to a fire pit, from his little elemental companion. There are no words, but it feels like what cats do when they purr.

[Haluesen]

Harik isn't quite sure how to feel about this. He's never had any sort of pet, and this acts like a pet while also seeming quite a bit smarter. He shrugs and pulls the salamander corpse from the water and then cuts off a decent chunk of meat to collect and hung it on his satchel before debating what to do next. He definitely wasn't going back to the original dome chamber, not unless he had to. Surely there had to be other ways to go, right? And so he started to skirt along the edge of the lake until he got to the first tunnel away he could find and went that way.

Spoiler: Customary Rolls

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Move Silently: (1d20+3)[18]
Spot: (1d20+8)[21]
Listen: (1d20+8)[9]

[EdroGrimshell]

It takes almost fifteen minutes of walking before he runs into a problem, he's run out of wall, the spring-lake seems to be fed from this spot, and extends a good distance before more dry land. It would take time and effort to cross, and he doesn't know how deep the lake goes or if there's anything like those salamanders hiding in the current.

[Haluesen]

His head goes left and right, thinking on this. From what he could tell either he was going back to where he started all this or he was crossing the possibly dangerous water and following a mysterious other. He may as well be certain of there is any danger to be found here. Harik changes as he lets his inner animal out, hair growing thicker on his body and face contorting to an extended muzzle, complete with pointed teeth and a strong nose. It twitched here and there as he sniffed around and poked into the water with his spear again.