[center][b]Day 13[/b]
[item=Stonespine][/center]
Zylen sluggishly raised his head off his office desk. At some point in his personal research, he had succumbed to sleep. Struggling with sleep in light of yesterday’s encounter, he had entered his office as the sun’s rays peeked over the horizon. Preferring to be productive over another futile attempt at sleep, he got to work, finishing up the shelf of books he had started on the morning prior.
He rearranged his notes, taking in a deep breath before yawning. He was unsure how long he slept for, but at least he had been left alone. Skimming their contents briefly refreshed the Fae on where he had left off writing. The events of yesterday had finally given him a reason to start writing down everything that had begun to accumulate over his stay. Rachael’s appearance in front of them had only reinforced this idea, so once he got the opportunity to sit down and write, he did.
He had started with writing about Tobias and Rachael, wanting to get the suspicious dragons done and over with. He didn’t need to linger on them longer than he had already. He then moved to recording the names of the buildings and areas the portal exits lead to. This was more for later, since him and the others would undoubtedly begin to return to them. Where he had dozed off at, and now continued, was the previous staff.
He started with the obvious. Darryn Willow, the previous archivist, had his role for close to eight years by the time he suddenly went mad and disappeared. Zylen also managed to find the names of Clair Eventide and Justice Redbloom, but no hints as to their employed part in the mansion. They likely were close to Darryn based on the frequency of their names. Were they possibly the scribe and librarian at the time, or were they something akin to researchers like Meir? The Fae scribbled down the thought in the margins by his notes.
After that, he moved onto what he had the most clues about. The books he had been working with. He wrote about the strange redacted acquisition papers, the types he had stumbled across, and the single book sitting locked up away from the others at the moment. He was sure to note the strange somewhat unreadable enchantment placed upon it, knowing it may come in handy later.
These notes flowed neatly the missions the group had taken part in, starting at the confusing relic Meir brought back from the dig site. No matter the location, each one of their tasks so far resulted in the discovery or interactions with something that wasn’t quite right. In the world of Sornieth, ripe and full of magic, Zylen could easily write these off as some sort of elemental magic at play. Yet for all the magic that had to be at play, he couldn’t pinpoint an elemental source for the experiences.
He kept at writing his many thoughts for a couple more hours before hunting down a couple empty folders. He then labeled them, stuck his corresponding notes inside, and sorted them into a few of the now-empty filing cabinets. Taking solace in his work, the Fae left his office, pausing to talk to Meir about the Mirror’s own work before using his personal break to find a place outside to sit and enjoy the weather.
If not for the distant tangle of thorny branches marking the edge of the property reminding him, Zylen had a hard time believing they were in the Tangled Wood. The mansion grounds had been cleared of the signature intrusive vines of the territory and most of the evergreens, replacing the exposed ground in a carpet of lush grass and plenty of gardens, flowerbeds, topiaries, and a large courtyard. The area was also coated in a plethora of illusions, making it difficult to access if you weren’t aware of its location.
After a bit of lounging around on one of the terraces, the Fae spotted Jaxon. The Guardian had wandered into the area to trim a line of hedges, making quick work of the unruly twigs that had grown to stick out. Zylen took the moment to flutter over to the much larger dragon, striking up a conversation. It soon led to discussion of his work, which he eagerly shared. “I finally wrote down everything that’s been distracting me. Having them organized for easy access will be beneficial going forth. I know none of you are interested….”
“And who are you to tell me I’m not?” Jaxon interrupted. He wasn’t upset at the statement delivered by the Fae, only curious. “That’s quite an assumption to make, what with Meir around.”
“You always look so at home out here and you never bother to enter the library. If you wanted to discuss personal encounters or ideas, you would at least visit to talk. You know I’ll listen.” Zylen paused as he had to bring up the researcher again, “As for Meir, I still don’t want him to get involved. I don’t know where my work is taking me, and if it begins to take an unpleasant turn, an inexperienced dragon such as himself doesn’t need to learn of what I find.”
“But then how is he to learn of such things?” Jaxon challenged, “He can read all he wants, but there will come a day in which he experiences such things first hand. Would you rather it be now, while you both are in the dark? Or, as you are headed, would you prefer to wait and dump everything you know on him at once when the situation requires it?”
Zylen lowered his fans in defeat, “I suppose you’re right,” he sighed, “Meir is very intelligent and has been eager to help and support. If anyone will help me, it’s him.”
“Glad I could get through to you.”
“I should talk with him. Catch him up on what I’ve got so far.” Zylen prepared to say farewell when a point he had forgotten to address intruded, “What about you? Are you interested?”
Jaxon let out a chuckle, “You got me with your assumptions. I’d much rather continue tending the grounds than discuss such things. If I do see or encounter something noteworthy, I’ll be sure to let you know.”
Zylen raised and lowered his fan in a laugh, “You had me really doubting my read of you for a moment there!” He paused to regain his composure, “Thanks for your support, even if it’s only a little.”
Bidding Jaxon farewell, the Fae fluttered back inside the mansion. Meir was inside waiting, and it was about time Zylen gave the researcher a long-awaited talk. It had been denied from the Mirror for long enough.
------
@Galehaut @TrashMomma @Spectator @megara17 @Jetdrana @CirrusAscending @Tynethyne
Finally! More food! And no mimics to beat up the team! Jaxon, Zylen, and Clancy were today's team, with Jaxon and Zylen gaining one level each and Clancy reaching level 4! It's nice to get some exp on Clancy, so now only Eowyn is stuck at level 1.
As for today's plot, it's nothing much. Introducing a couple names that'll come up again later, a bit of recap, the Jaxon and Zylen interaction I wanted for a while, and an off-screen conversation that happens between Zylen and Meir. Another job starts tomorrow as well, so hopefully my element and result rolls this time make it last more than a day.
One has to be careful when eating a cactus. No one likes a belly full of needles.
25
3
Zylen sluggishly raised his head off his office desk. At some point in his personal research, he had succumbed to sleep. Struggling with sleep in light of yesterday’s encounter, he had entered his office as the sun’s rays peeked over the horizon. Preferring to be productive over another futile attempt at sleep, he got to work, finishing up the shelf of books he had started on the morning prior.
He rearranged his notes, taking in a deep breath before yawning. He was unsure how long he slept for, but at least he had been left alone. Skimming their contents briefly refreshed the Fae on where he had left off writing. The events of yesterday had finally given him a reason to start writing down everything that had begun to accumulate over his stay. Rachael’s appearance in front of them had only reinforced this idea, so once he got the opportunity to sit down and write, he did.
He had started with writing about Tobias and Rachael, wanting to get the suspicious dragons done and over with. He didn’t need to linger on them longer than he had already. He then moved to recording the names of the buildings and areas the portal exits lead to. This was more for later, since him and the others would undoubtedly begin to return to them. Where he had dozed off at, and now continued, was the previous staff.
He started with the obvious. Darryn Willow, the previous archivist, had his role for close to eight years by the time he suddenly went mad and disappeared. Zylen also managed to find the names of Clair Eventide and Justice Redbloom, but no hints as to their employed part in the mansion. They likely were close to Darryn based on the frequency of their names. Were they possibly the scribe and librarian at the time, or were they something akin to researchers like Meir? The Fae scribbled down the thought in the margins by his notes.
After that, he moved onto what he had the most clues about. The books he had been working with. He wrote about the strange redacted acquisition papers, the types he had stumbled across, and the single book sitting locked up away from the others at the moment. He was sure to note the strange somewhat unreadable enchantment placed upon it, knowing it may come in handy later.
These notes flowed neatly the missions the group had taken part in, starting at the confusing relic Meir brought back from the dig site. No matter the location, each one of their tasks so far resulted in the discovery or interactions with something that wasn’t quite right. In the world of Sornieth, ripe and full of magic, Zylen could easily write these off as some sort of elemental magic at play. Yet for all the magic that had to be at play, he couldn’t pinpoint an elemental source for the experiences.
He kept at writing his many thoughts for a couple more hours before hunting down a couple empty folders. He then labeled them, stuck his corresponding notes inside, and sorted them into a few of the now-empty filing cabinets. Taking solace in his work, the Fae left his office, pausing to talk to Meir about the Mirror’s own work before using his personal break to find a place outside to sit and enjoy the weather.
If not for the distant tangle of thorny branches marking the edge of the property reminding him, Zylen had a hard time believing they were in the Tangled Wood. The mansion grounds had been cleared of the signature intrusive vines of the territory and most of the evergreens, replacing the exposed ground in a carpet of lush grass and plenty of gardens, flowerbeds, topiaries, and a large courtyard. The area was also coated in a plethora of illusions, making it difficult to access if you weren’t aware of its location.
After a bit of lounging around on one of the terraces, the Fae spotted Jaxon. The Guardian had wandered into the area to trim a line of hedges, making quick work of the unruly twigs that had grown to stick out. Zylen took the moment to flutter over to the much larger dragon, striking up a conversation. It soon led to discussion of his work, which he eagerly shared. “I finally wrote down everything that’s been distracting me. Having them organized for easy access will be beneficial going forth. I know none of you are interested….”
“And who are you to tell me I’m not?” Jaxon interrupted. He wasn’t upset at the statement delivered by the Fae, only curious. “That’s quite an assumption to make, what with Meir around.”
“You always look so at home out here and you never bother to enter the library. If you wanted to discuss personal encounters or ideas, you would at least visit to talk. You know I’ll listen.” Zylen paused as he had to bring up the researcher again, “As for Meir, I still don’t want him to get involved. I don’t know where my work is taking me, and if it begins to take an unpleasant turn, an inexperienced dragon such as himself doesn’t need to learn of what I find.”
“But then how is he to learn of such things?” Jaxon challenged, “He can read all he wants, but there will come a day in which he experiences such things first hand. Would you rather it be now, while you both are in the dark? Or, as you are headed, would you prefer to wait and dump everything you know on him at once when the situation requires it?”
Zylen lowered his fans in defeat, “I suppose you’re right,” he sighed, “Meir is very intelligent and has been eager to help and support. If anyone will help me, it’s him.”
“Glad I could get through to you.”
“I should talk with him. Catch him up on what I’ve got so far.” Zylen prepared to say farewell when a point he had forgotten to address intruded, “What about you? Are you interested?”
Jaxon let out a chuckle, “You got me with your assumptions. I’d much rather continue tending the grounds than discuss such things. If I do see or encounter something noteworthy, I’ll be sure to let you know.”
Zylen raised and lowered his fan in a laugh, “You had me really doubting my read of you for a moment there!” He paused to regain his composure, “Thanks for your support, even if it’s only a little.”
Bidding Jaxon farewell, the Fae fluttered back inside the mansion. Meir was inside waiting, and it was about time Zylen gave the researcher a long-awaited talk. It had been denied from the Mirror for long enough.
@Galehaut @TrashMomma @Spectator @megara17 @Jetdrana @CirrusAscending @Tynethyne
Finally! More food! And no mimics to beat up the team! Jaxon, Zylen, and Clancy were today's team, with Jaxon and Zylen gaining one level each and Clancy reaching level 4! It's nice to get some exp on Clancy, so now only Eowyn is stuck at level 1.
As for today's plot, it's nothing much. Introducing a couple names that'll come up again later, a bit of recap, the Jaxon and Zylen interaction I wanted for a while, and an off-screen conversation that happens between Zylen and Meir. Another job starts tomorrow as well, so hopefully my element and result rolls this time make it last more than a day.
[center][b]Day 14[/b]
[item=Miniature Wallaby][/center]
“A trip to the Southern Icefield huh?” Meir spoke as he finished reading over the note handed to him. “I take it you’re not going because of your size?”
Zylen sighed. Meir didn’t hesitate to bring up who all was tagging along, “Yep. As usual, you’re going in my place.”
“And what of Eowyn and Jaxon?”
“Eowyn’s plumage will help her stay warm. Jaxon’s large enough to help shield the two of you at night in case weather gets bad. That’s my theory at least. Hopefully you three will find a place to find shelter. I’d hate for you to have to deal with the cold out in the open.”
The Mirror beamed at Zylen, “No need to worry! The professor suggested we spend today preparing after all. I’m sure we’ll have it under control once we’ve started.”
The Fae sighed, fans lowering slightly. The Mirror may have come from the Southern Icefield, and may have known how to survive, but that wasn’t true for his companions. At least he would keep things lively, “Anyways, what do you think of the job itself?”
“Well, labs aren’t uncommon in the Icefields. Cold weather is good for preserving samples and supplies. It is strange to find one this old emerging from the ice, but that makes it more fun than anything else.” Meir paused, “How do you think the professor got permission for us to examine and takes out what we want?”
“That’s what has been confusing me as well,” his gaze shifted to the table as he processed the information. “My first theory is that he was informed of the discovery, and simply asked if he could send his assistants to check it out. It makes sense, but I can’t help but think that it’s off in some way. Maybe Tobias or some other member of the Holland family is involved? They are on good terms with the institute Saile works for after all.”
“I can see that,” Meir chimed, “I did a bit of digging and the family are well-established as merchants and traders. Perhaps in exchange for us being the ones to gather whatever’s inside, they ask for some of it? I’m sure there’s bound to be something worth selling in there.”
“That makes sense,” Zylen paused, “That doesn’t answer as to why this lab. Surely if the professor wanted notes, he’d look to more recent scientific discoveries, right?”
“As a researcher myself, yes. Recent discoveries are preferred when performing your own experiments or when writing papers and journals. However,” there was a gleam in the Mirror’s eye, “This may be a risk of sorts!”
“A….risk?” Zylen’s fans folded and unfolded into a strange array to express his confusion, “I don’t get what you mean.”
The Fae felt the enthusiasm as his assistant spoke, eager to share new information with him, “What I’m saying is that this might be an experimental lab! Whoever was in charge set it up away from a clan to test a theory they might have had. The experiment could be about anything, but whatever happened, the procedure never produced positive results, or the results never made it public. The reason why doesn’t matter, since the experiment’s note and components could be inside waiting for us to grab and compile them!”
“Sounds exciting,” Zylen raised his fans in joy, “and exactly why you’re going over me. You know what you’re looking for far better than I do.”
“You flatter me Zylen,” the Mirror lowered his head bashfully, “This may be my field, but I’m far from as great as you make me out to be. If you had the position I’m sure you’d be better with how well you pick up information.”
“I’ve told you about that before. I may learn and remember new information quickly, but I don’t go looking for it. Well, most of the time at least. Topics that are interesting enough I’ll look into.”
“Like the mysteries you talked to me about?”
Zylen sighed. Never missed a beat, “Yes, like those, and yes, I’ll be looking into what I can while you three are gone.” He gestured towards the library entrance, “Now, you should tell the others what’s going on. You need to prepare for the bitter cold after all.”
“Of course!” The Mirror rose to his feet, starting towards the door. He paused as he opened the door, turning back to face the Fae, “What do you plan to do until then?”
“Something with the mystery research. I’m sure I’ll think about what exactly before dinner.”
--------
Unexpectedly, he had found information on Justice Redbloom while cleaning up and reorganizing his desk. As he started to clean out the remaining filing cabinets, he located an old piece of paper stuck inside one of the unlabeled folders. He didn’t think much of it at first, as it was a formal document regarding items sent out of the mansion and items obtained on when the courier returned. Nothing of note other than for what was sent to the archives and what was sent to one of the storage rooms. Neatly written, the note was signed by Justice, alongside their scribe title.
It was the only important information on the piece of paper, but it was more than enough to establish a couple things. The most obvious was that Justice was the head scribe at the same time Darryn was archivist, connecting the two together. The second was that based on the energy and tightness of the hand that wrote the paper, Justice was almost certainly a Spiral. Zylen was quick to write both pieces of information on a small slip of paper to file into the dragon’s folder, ecstatic at his discovery.
With a handwriting sample, finding more of Justice’s writing was easier now. Looking through the unsorted stack of papers on his desk, he located more documents, setting them aside for later reading. He filed the rest away in the sole green cabinet he had been using as a catch-all for the ever-growing collection of miscellaneous papers and incomplete documents. Most of the mass of papers had been moved from the other filing cabinets, though some originated from his desk’s drawers, and a couple had been placed on the lids to the boxes he grabbed from the archives. Thankfully they all fit within one drawer for the time being.
Zylen’s afternoon and a large part of his evening was spent thinking about where to go next in his investigation of the mansion. Part of him wanted to continue digging into Justice, but that required digging into the writing room and likely more of the archives, neither of which he was eager to do with how much lay within the rooms. His next idea was to continue with the books in his library, since locating more of the redacted books would be helpful as a safety precaution. Without Meir for support or Eowyn to confirm any magical abnormalities, the Fae knew the decision was unwise and he ran the risk of possibly harming himself.
This internal arguing continued until he finally got an idea that would keep him occupied, while also allowing him to learn more about the mansion. He laughed about the simplicity when he came to the conclusion, but if it worked, it worked. Somewhere, likely in the archives, there had to be layouts of the mansion, both old and new. And with a building this large and old, there was bound to be all sorts of secret rooms, cavities, hallways, and so on. Filled with confidence, Zylen went to bed with a plan for tomorrow.
Maybe Clancy would join him on his little treasure hunt.
---------
@Galehaut @TrashMomma @Spectator @megara17 @Jetdrana @CirrusAscending @Tynethyne
RNG said here, have more battles so Eowyn can not be as vulnerable to death. After all those battles, Jaxon is level 7, Meir is level 6, and Eowyn is level 5! With Jaxon at level 7, this means Death Battles with him on the team go to the Scorched Forest and oh boy. I've lost so many dragons there in previous pinkerlockes. So many. It's such an unfair difficulty spike and I hate it. Hopefully it isn't as severe of a roadblock this time.
That said, mostly conversation this time! Figured I'd treat reveal of this task and the discussion over it with talking this time around. Also, Zylen's gonna go on an adventure in the mansion. Hope he has the magic to float through all of that. [s]I'm also totally not using this as an opportunity to finally explain the layout of the mansion.[/s]
Finally, weekly update on the document!
[img]https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/588558275830611978/796227570387386438/Screen_Shot_2021-01-05_at_11.02.27_PM.png[/img]
I've broken 20k words and I'm only two weeks in. I'm kinda impressed. Also, the page count jumped some since I finally changed font to Times New Roman 12. I like Arial, but when it comes to writing like this, I prefer Times New Roman.
Commonly kept near lairs as lawn management or a ready-to-eat snack.
64
7
“A trip to the Southern Icefield huh?” Meir spoke as he finished reading over the note handed to him. “I take it you’re not going because of your size?”
Zylen sighed. Meir didn’t hesitate to bring up who all was tagging along, “Yep. As usual, you’re going in my place.”
“And what of Eowyn and Jaxon?”
“Eowyn’s plumage will help her stay warm. Jaxon’s large enough to help shield the two of you at night in case weather gets bad. That’s my theory at least. Hopefully you three will find a place to find shelter. I’d hate for you to have to deal with the cold out in the open.”
The Mirror beamed at Zylen, “No need to worry! The professor suggested we spend today preparing after all. I’m sure we’ll have it under control once we’ve started.”
The Fae sighed, fans lowering slightly. The Mirror may have come from the Southern Icefield, and may have known how to survive, but that wasn’t true for his companions. At least he would keep things lively, “Anyways, what do you think of the job itself?”
“Well, labs aren’t uncommon in the Icefields. Cold weather is good for preserving samples and supplies. It is strange to find one this old emerging from the ice, but that makes it more fun than anything else.” Meir paused, “How do you think the professor got permission for us to examine and takes out what we want?”
“That’s what has been confusing me as well,” his gaze shifted to the table as he processed the information. “My first theory is that he was informed of the discovery, and simply asked if he could send his assistants to check it out. It makes sense, but I can’t help but think that it’s off in some way. Maybe Tobias or some other member of the Holland family is involved? They are on good terms with the institute Saile works for after all.”
“I can see that,” Meir chimed, “I did a bit of digging and the family are well-established as merchants and traders. Perhaps in exchange for us being the ones to gather whatever’s inside, they ask for some of it? I’m sure there’s bound to be something worth selling in there.”
“That makes sense,” Zylen paused, “That doesn’t answer as to why this lab. Surely if the professor wanted notes, he’d look to more recent scientific discoveries, right?”
“As a researcher myself, yes. Recent discoveries are preferred when performing your own experiments or when writing papers and journals. However,” there was a gleam in the Mirror’s eye, “This may be a risk of sorts!”
“A….risk?” Zylen’s fans folded and unfolded into a strange array to express his confusion, “I don’t get what you mean.”
The Fae felt the enthusiasm as his assistant spoke, eager to share new information with him, “What I’m saying is that this might be an experimental lab! Whoever was in charge set it up away from a clan to test a theory they might have had. The experiment could be about anything, but whatever happened, the procedure never produced positive results, or the results never made it public. The reason why doesn’t matter, since the experiment’s note and components could be inside waiting for us to grab and compile them!”
“Sounds exciting,” Zylen raised his fans in joy, “and exactly why you’re going over me. You know what you’re looking for far better than I do.”
“You flatter me Zylen,” the Mirror lowered his head bashfully, “This may be my field, but I’m far from as great as you make me out to be. If you had the position I’m sure you’d be better with how well you pick up information.”
“I’ve told you about that before. I may learn and remember new information quickly, but I don’t go looking for it. Well, most of the time at least. Topics that are interesting enough I’ll look into.”
“Like the mysteries you talked to me about?”
Zylen sighed. Never missed a beat, “Yes, like those, and yes, I’ll be looking into what I can while you three are gone.” He gestured towards the library entrance, “Now, you should tell the others what’s going on. You need to prepare for the bitter cold after all.”
“Of course!” The Mirror rose to his feet, starting towards the door. He paused as he opened the door, turning back to face the Fae, “What do you plan to do until then?”
“Something with the mystery research. I’m sure I’ll think about what exactly before dinner.”
Unexpectedly, he had found information on Justice Redbloom while cleaning up and reorganizing his desk. As he started to clean out the remaining filing cabinets, he located an old piece of paper stuck inside one of the unlabeled folders. He didn’t think much of it at first, as it was a formal document regarding items sent out of the mansion and items obtained on when the courier returned. Nothing of note other than for what was sent to the archives and what was sent to one of the storage rooms. Neatly written, the note was signed by Justice, alongside their scribe title.
It was the only important information on the piece of paper, but it was more than enough to establish a couple things. The most obvious was that Justice was the head scribe at the same time Darryn was archivist, connecting the two together. The second was that based on the energy and tightness of the hand that wrote the paper, Justice was almost certainly a Spiral. Zylen was quick to write both pieces of information on a small slip of paper to file into the dragon’s folder, ecstatic at his discovery.
With a handwriting sample, finding more of Justice’s writing was easier now. Looking through the unsorted stack of papers on his desk, he located more documents, setting them aside for later reading. He filed the rest away in the sole green cabinet he had been using as a catch-all for the ever-growing collection of miscellaneous papers and incomplete documents. Most of the mass of papers had been moved from the other filing cabinets, though some originated from his desk’s drawers, and a couple had been placed on the lids to the boxes he grabbed from the archives. Thankfully they all fit within one drawer for the time being.
Zylen’s afternoon and a large part of his evening was spent thinking about where to go next in his investigation of the mansion. Part of him wanted to continue digging into Justice, but that required digging into the writing room and likely more of the archives, neither of which he was eager to do with how much lay within the rooms. His next idea was to continue with the books in his library, since locating more of the redacted books would be helpful as a safety precaution. Without Meir for support or Eowyn to confirm any magical abnormalities, the Fae knew the decision was unwise and he ran the risk of possibly harming himself.
This internal arguing continued until he finally got an idea that would keep him occupied, while also allowing him to learn more about the mansion. He laughed about the simplicity when he came to the conclusion, but if it worked, it worked. Somewhere, likely in the archives, there had to be layouts of the mansion, both old and new. And with a building this large and old, there was bound to be all sorts of secret rooms, cavities, hallways, and so on. Filled with confidence, Zylen went to bed with a plan for tomorrow.
Maybe Clancy would join him on his little treasure hunt.
@Galehaut @TrashMomma @Spectator @megara17 @Jetdrana @CirrusAscending @Tynethyne
RNG said here, have more battles so Eowyn can not be as vulnerable to death. After all those battles, Jaxon is level 7, Meir is level 6, and Eowyn is level 5! With Jaxon at level 7, this means Death Battles with him on the team go to the Scorched Forest and oh boy. I've lost so many dragons there in previous pinkerlockes. So many. It's such an unfair difficulty spike and I hate it. Hopefully it isn't as severe of a roadblock this time.
That said, mostly conversation this time! Figured I'd treat reveal of this task and the discussion over it with talking this time around. Also, Zylen's gonna go on an adventure in the mansion. Hope he has the magic to float through all of that. I'm also totally not using this as an opportunity to finally explain the layout of the mansion.
Finally, weekly update on the document!
I've broken 20k words and I'm only two weeks in. I'm kinda impressed. Also, the page count jumped some since I finally changed font to Times New Roman 12. I like Arial, but when it comes to writing like this, I prefer Times New Roman.
@Galehaut @TrashMomma @Spectator @megara17 @Jetdrana @CirrusAscending @Tynethyne
There's not going to be a post today. I've got a headache making it hard for me to focus, plus work was super rough today so I'm drained from that. I'm not sure I'll be able to make up this lost day tomorrow, but if not, I'll definitely be able to make it up Friday or Saturday.
@Galehaut @TrashMomma @Spectator @megara17 @Jetdrana @CirrusAscending @Tynethyne
There's not going to be a post today. I've got a headache making it hard for me to focus, plus work was super rough today so I'm drained from that. I'm not sure I'll be able to make up this lost day tomorrow, but if not, I'll definitely be able to make it up Friday or Saturday.
[center][b]Day 15[/b]
[item=Pink Chalcedony][/center]
After a cheerful lunch full of anticipation and excitement over the task ahead, Zylen had finally found himself alone with Clancy. The Pearlcatcher had remained strangely silent for the entirety of the meal, only chiming in when attention was pulled to her. At first the Fae thought it was due to the staff, but was met with equal silence when he began to talk about his plans for the day. Finally caving in, he finally proposed she help him.
The response was as expected, “Absolutely not. I told you I’d be a voice of reason, nothing more.” She sighed heavily, “I knew you were going to pull something like this the instant the others left.”
“Could you at least help me dig through the archives for layouts?” Zylen pleaded.
“And why should I trust you to not persuade me into finding more?” Clancy scowled, unamused by the Fae’s attempt at convincing her.
“You’ve seen the size of the archives. Your help would save spending a day searching alone. I’m not looking for anything else out of there. Besides,” His fans lowered in shame, “Your thing is architecture right? You’d know where to look.”
“Correct,” the Pearlcatcher’s gaze still bore through him, “But the archives aren’t like your precious library. There’s no neat little sections that point you to where the blueprints or whatever you desire are hidden.” She bared her teeth practically spitting her words out now, “No. All you want is an extra pair of claws. Sorry, but I’m not wasting my time looking through [i]these[/i] old words.”
Clancy stood up and left the room without another word, abandoning Zylen’s endeavour before he could protest further. Now alone, he was devastated. Sure, he hadn’t expected Clancy to accept joining him for walking the mansion, but to refuse helping to look? The time was more likely to be spent chatting since he didn’t often get a moment alone with someone who wasn’t Meir.
Lingering on the unfortunate turn of events would get him nowhere. Calling for a staff member to care for Clancy’s deserted dishes, he put his own away in the kitchen before begrudgingly dragging himself to the archives. Without any extra help, it would be a slog finding anything specific. There was a reason he had only grabbed old boxes at random before now.
Opening the door to the archives revealed the expansive main room, filled with what would be the most “recent” additions. However, in Darryn’s absence, a large part of his work was missing from the many shelves lining the walls. A locked room to the Fae’s right lay the archivist’s office. Unlike the three that could be found in the library to accommodate breeds of all sizes, this one was a single size, with three doors of different dimensions. Foggy glass prevented a clear look into the room, and Zylen promptly ignored it this time around.
Instead, he entered the first of many backrooms housing older material. There were probably a dozen of these rooms from what Zylen had explored, each filled with floor to ceiling shelves, cabinets, crates, and so much more. Everything had been documented and put in its proper place supposedly, but after who knows how many centuries, there were bound to be mistakes. Previous archivists had done well enough organizing everything by date, but outside of that, the area was a mess. It wasn’t uncommon to find loose papers or objects haphazardly thrown into or onto a box with a corresponding label.
Unraveling a nearby scroll, Zylen quickly became aware of how frustrating his task was going to be. The contents revealed a detailed map of a small clan, the date stamped in the top right corner. The timestamp made it easy to locate the corresponding box nearby, which uncovered nothing of note. The action wasn’t repeated as the Fae skimmed through more and more of the rolled up papers. With only dim lights above, he was unaware of the time passing beyond the steady ticking of an unseen clock. He may have been there for an hour or for half the day. Regardless, he discarded the task for another day, heading towards the exit of the room he was in.
Then he blacked out.
Panic set in as Zylen regained consciousness, but he didn’t find some unseen attacker, nor was he bound or trapped in any fashion. He was, however, in a different part of the archives from before he fell unconscious. [i]That[/i] led to the Fae channeling his Shadow magic in an attempt to hide himself, quickly darting through empty spaces on larger shelves and down rows in case of a pursuit. He never heard or saw any signs of being followed, and quietly slowed to a stop to catch his breath. That’s when he realized he was holding a scroll.
He was more shocked by not dropping the aged paper than its contents. Unrolling it unveiled multiple papers, each detailing a different floor of the mansion in great detail. What excited Zylen were the aged notes written on top of the architectural designs. Some had faded into illegibility, but the ones he could briefly read were exactly what he needed. Scrawled onto the pages were the signature swirls of a Skydancer hand, and on the few larger letters he could read, he was certain it was Darryn’s.
Taking the notes back to the library, the Fae made quick work of separating and decoding what he was looking at. The first floor, and the one he was currently on, held a majority of the public rooms he had already seen, while also including guest rooms for larger breeds. As he generally didn’t spend time on the first floor outside of the library and main dining room, he was unfazed by how much he had missed. There was a ballroom, a second, smaller dining room, a small personal theatre, a set of rooms for personal meals between two and four dragons, and a [i]lot[/i] more.
Lingering on the library, he quickly found it encompassed the first three floors of the mansion in that area, taking up the most vertical space of any room. The archives proved the largest overall, and as Zylen scoured over the area it covered, he saw why it was contained to the basement. A note on the page denoted an area that had to be added while Darryn was archivist, in preparation for future additions. The remainder of the area was dedicated to storage, minus a door the Fae didn’t recall seeing anywhere before.
This led him to the most interesting paper in regards to a second basement level, but he wanted to deal with areas he had access to first. The second floor was purely staffing quarters (for those not in positions like Zylen) and rooms dedicated to more mundane tasks of the mansion. Here was where laundry and linens would be washed, cleaning supplies were kept, and extra common objects were kept, such as replacement dishes. The third and fourth floors were purely for housing medium and small breeds. The fourth floor was actually split in two, but the small size of the halls meant the two floors encompassed the same space as the third. After that there was the attic, serving as storage for what Zylen assumed was furniture and other miscellaneous objects for the upper floors, much like the basement stored larger furniture.
Before diving into the notes, Zylen looked over the relatively sparse second basement. For an area kept hidden from view in some fashion, for all intents and purposes it was only more storage. Perhaps more akin to a wine cellar? There [i]was[/i] one present there, but for some reason the previous Archivist had scribbled the label out, replacing it with text that had since worn away.
He wasn’t ready for what he found in the notes. Well, what he could read of them. Most had worn away into illegibility, and those he could read made no sense without the context. There were warnings about what not to do in certain rooms, names of old associates and what rooms they occupied, and vague suspicions and theories on others. Looking deeper into the names worried the small dragon however. While he couldn’t make out all their names, he noticed a trend that nearly all of them had been crossed out, with only a couple at the time of this map’s abandonment. Could he call it that? The paper was far older than the Skydancer’s employment based on the date it had been marked with.
Casting worry aside, he noticed that Darryn had written large walls of text for the portal room, library, and archives, but there wasn’t as much for the writing room. For such an important role, it seemed odd that there wasn’t as much dedication put towards it. Maybe Justice had a say in what was put there? If so, why only that room? The growing number of questions weren’t what he expected in looking at the mansion’s layout, and they would have to wait until later.
Unfortunately, night had fallen some time ago by the time he found his way out of the archives. His exploration would have to start tomorrow.
--------
@Galehaut @TrashMomma @Spectator @megara17 @Jetdrana @CirrusAscending @Tynethyne
Finally got this out for the night! I obviously don't have time to write for today's pull, but tomorrow should be easier for me to write more than this.
Nothing much to say here. A lot of exposition and me finally getting a reason to try and explain the mansion layout. Essentially, there's technically six floors, but the fourth and fifth are so small in size compared to the others that they wind up combined on any layouts. The extra space on those floors plus the attic are used for storage. There are two layers to the basement, but both are used for storage outside of the space for the archives.
Other side notes: Clancy isn't happy for reasons Zylen doesn't know about. I will also detail some of Darryn's legible notes in Zylen's explorations of the mansion.
I will say this now. There will be more mansion layouts in the future. And those come with their own little quirks. Let's just say this isn't the only map with Darryn's writing on it.
The Crystalspine Reaches, once granite mountains, are now entirely made of chalcedony after extreme arcane vortices warped their physical properties. Prolonged exposure to this radioactive silica can make non-arcane dragons very ill.
45
After a cheerful lunch full of anticipation and excitement over the task ahead, Zylen had finally found himself alone with Clancy. The Pearlcatcher had remained strangely silent for the entirety of the meal, only chiming in when attention was pulled to her. At first the Fae thought it was due to the staff, but was met with equal silence when he began to talk about his plans for the day. Finally caving in, he finally proposed she help him.
The response was as expected, “Absolutely not. I told you I’d be a voice of reason, nothing more.” She sighed heavily, “I knew you were going to pull something like this the instant the others left.”
“Could you at least help me dig through the archives for layouts?” Zylen pleaded.
“And why should I trust you to not persuade me into finding more?” Clancy scowled, unamused by the Fae’s attempt at convincing her.
“You’ve seen the size of the archives. Your help would save spending a day searching alone. I’m not looking for anything else out of there. Besides,” His fans lowered in shame, “Your thing is architecture right? You’d know where to look.”
“Correct,” the Pearlcatcher’s gaze still bore through him, “But the archives aren’t like your precious library. There’s no neat little sections that point you to where the blueprints or whatever you desire are hidden.” She bared her teeth practically spitting her words out now, “No. All you want is an extra pair of claws. Sorry, but I’m not wasting my time looking through these old words.”
Clancy stood up and left the room without another word, abandoning Zylen’s endeavour before he could protest further. Now alone, he was devastated. Sure, he hadn’t expected Clancy to accept joining him for walking the mansion, but to refuse helping to look? The time was more likely to be spent chatting since he didn’t often get a moment alone with someone who wasn’t Meir.
Lingering on the unfortunate turn of events would get him nowhere. Calling for a staff member to care for Clancy’s deserted dishes, he put his own away in the kitchen before begrudgingly dragging himself to the archives. Without any extra help, it would be a slog finding anything specific. There was a reason he had only grabbed old boxes at random before now.
Opening the door to the archives revealed the expansive main room, filled with what would be the most “recent” additions. However, in Darryn’s absence, a large part of his work was missing from the many shelves lining the walls. A locked room to the Fae’s right lay the archivist’s office. Unlike the three that could be found in the library to accommodate breeds of all sizes, this one was a single size, with three doors of different dimensions. Foggy glass prevented a clear look into the room, and Zylen promptly ignored it this time around.
Instead, he entered the first of many backrooms housing older material. There were probably a dozen of these rooms from what Zylen had explored, each filled with floor to ceiling shelves, cabinets, crates, and so much more. Everything had been documented and put in its proper place supposedly, but after who knows how many centuries, there were bound to be mistakes. Previous archivists had done well enough organizing everything by date, but outside of that, the area was a mess. It wasn’t uncommon to find loose papers or objects haphazardly thrown into or onto a box with a corresponding label.
Unraveling a nearby scroll, Zylen quickly became aware of how frustrating his task was going to be. The contents revealed a detailed map of a small clan, the date stamped in the top right corner. The timestamp made it easy to locate the corresponding box nearby, which uncovered nothing of note. The action wasn’t repeated as the Fae skimmed through more and more of the rolled up papers. With only dim lights above, he was unaware of the time passing beyond the steady ticking of an unseen clock. He may have been there for an hour or for half the day. Regardless, he discarded the task for another day, heading towards the exit of the room he was in.
Then he blacked out.
Panic set in as Zylen regained consciousness, but he didn’t find some unseen attacker, nor was he bound or trapped in any fashion. He was, however, in a different part of the archives from before he fell unconscious. That led to the Fae channeling his Shadow magic in an attempt to hide himself, quickly darting through empty spaces on larger shelves and down rows in case of a pursuit. He never heard or saw any signs of being followed, and quietly slowed to a stop to catch his breath. That’s when he realized he was holding a scroll.
He was more shocked by not dropping the aged paper than its contents. Unrolling it unveiled multiple papers, each detailing a different floor of the mansion in great detail. What excited Zylen were the aged notes written on top of the architectural designs. Some had faded into illegibility, but the ones he could briefly read were exactly what he needed. Scrawled onto the pages were the signature swirls of a Skydancer hand, and on the few larger letters he could read, he was certain it was Darryn’s.
Taking the notes back to the library, the Fae made quick work of separating and decoding what he was looking at. The first floor, and the one he was currently on, held a majority of the public rooms he had already seen, while also including guest rooms for larger breeds. As he generally didn’t spend time on the first floor outside of the library and main dining room, he was unfazed by how much he had missed. There was a ballroom, a second, smaller dining room, a small personal theatre, a set of rooms for personal meals between two and four dragons, and a lot more.
Lingering on the library, he quickly found it encompassed the first three floors of the mansion in that area, taking up the most vertical space of any room. The archives proved the largest overall, and as Zylen scoured over the area it covered, he saw why it was contained to the basement. A note on the page denoted an area that had to be added while Darryn was archivist, in preparation for future additions. The remainder of the area was dedicated to storage, minus a door the Fae didn’t recall seeing anywhere before.
This led him to the most interesting paper in regards to a second basement level, but he wanted to deal with areas he had access to first. The second floor was purely staffing quarters (for those not in positions like Zylen) and rooms dedicated to more mundane tasks of the mansion. Here was where laundry and linens would be washed, cleaning supplies were kept, and extra common objects were kept, such as replacement dishes. The third and fourth floors were purely for housing medium and small breeds. The fourth floor was actually split in two, but the small size of the halls meant the two floors encompassed the same space as the third. After that there was the attic, serving as storage for what Zylen assumed was furniture and other miscellaneous objects for the upper floors, much like the basement stored larger furniture.
Before diving into the notes, Zylen looked over the relatively sparse second basement. For an area kept hidden from view in some fashion, for all intents and purposes it was only more storage. Perhaps more akin to a wine cellar? There was one present there, but for some reason the previous Archivist had scribbled the label out, replacing it with text that had since worn away.
He wasn’t ready for what he found in the notes. Well, what he could read of them. Most had worn away into illegibility, and those he could read made no sense without the context. There were warnings about what not to do in certain rooms, names of old associates and what rooms they occupied, and vague suspicions and theories on others. Looking deeper into the names worried the small dragon however. While he couldn’t make out all their names, he noticed a trend that nearly all of them had been crossed out, with only a couple at the time of this map’s abandonment. Could he call it that? The paper was far older than the Skydancer’s employment based on the date it had been marked with.
Casting worry aside, he noticed that Darryn had written large walls of text for the portal room, library, and archives, but there wasn’t as much for the writing room. For such an important role, it seemed odd that there wasn’t as much dedication put towards it. Maybe Justice had a say in what was put there? If so, why only that room? The growing number of questions weren’t what he expected in looking at the mansion’s layout, and they would have to wait until later.
Unfortunately, night had fallen some time ago by the time he found his way out of the archives. His exploration would have to start tomorrow.
@Galehaut @TrashMomma @Spectator @megara17 @Jetdrana @CirrusAscending @Tynethyne
Finally got this out for the night! I obviously don't have time to write for today's pull, but tomorrow should be easier for me to write more than this.
Nothing much to say here. A lot of exposition and me finally getting a reason to try and explain the mansion layout. Essentially, there's technically six floors, but the fourth and fifth are so small in size compared to the others that they wind up combined on any layouts. The extra space on those floors plus the attic are used for storage. There are two layers to the basement, but both are used for storage outside of the space for the archives.
Other side notes: Clancy isn't happy for reasons Zylen doesn't know about. I will also detail some of Darryn's legible notes in Zylen's explorations of the mansion.
I will say this now. There will be more mansion layouts in the future. And those come with their own little quirks. Let's just say this isn't the only map with Darryn's writing on it.
[center][b]Day 16[/b]
[item=Volcanic Remnants][/center]
Zylen didn’t attempt to find Clancy when he finished breakfast. He wrapped up some work in his office, grabbed the maps, and began his extensive exploration of the mansion. With all he had to traverse through and examine, he dedicated his entire day to the task.
Minimizing backtracking, the Fae started his search in his place of work. The library’s block of notes, like many others, had been worn away. One intact portion in particular stood out from among the rest of the writing. A simple statement of, “He can feel what’s wrong. He....ask him for help.” The middle had faded with a majority of the words, but the passage brought with it an interesting question for Zylen. Was this about his role, the previous librarian, or something to be found within the libraries walls?
Having only scoured the books in any detail, Zylen looked around at display cabinets, desks, tables, and so on for anything that wasn’t a book. Disappointed to find nothing that hinted at what the note was referring to, he instead assumed the note referred to his current role. At least, he hoped it referred to his role and not the abilities of a previous librarian. Zylen was happy enough knowing he had a better grasp of his workplace before moving onto the next set of rooms.
If there was one thing about the notes he took comfort in, it was the lack of them for hallways. The most he’d see would be mentions of some of the countless decorative tapestries, vases, statuettes, etc. found within the corridors. They often read as “Needed for…” or “Tied to…” before fading into ineligibility alongside many of the other notes. Such extensive fading made Zylen question the quality of the writing utensil used on the paper, but he assumed Darryn’s extensive use of the map would affect it as well. Regardless, he needed to move on.
The first floor took the longest, as expected. To save time, he followed the notes he could, deciding to save extensive explorations for later. In most cases at least. When Zylen discovered one note read, “...look behind the scenes…” for the theatre, the Fae attempted to figure out what the Skydancer’s words meant. Sadly, any doors leading to areas outside the audience were locked, stopping his endeavour as abruptly as it started. The ballroom showed promise for future explorations however, as many of the doors leading into and out of it had remained unlocked. While the areas they lead to were more for the other staff, this meant more areas to explore in the future.
Onto the second floor, he found difficulties in looking around for a different reason. He wasn’t a part of the staff, so as he stepped foot into one of the rooms pertaining exclusively to them, he was ushered out and told he wasn’t allowed inside. Not wanting to fight the staff, he postponed a search until he could afford staying awake late enough for there to be minimal members awake and present. As most of the remaining rooms were locked guest bedrooms or mundane storage closets, it wasn’t long until he was making his way to the upper floors.
As expected, he couldn’t enter any of the guest bedrooms on account of locks, minus two. Both had been noted by Darryn, the first having a broken lock, and the second requiring a bit of brute force to open as the door didn’t have a lock, but was partially jammed. Both rooms still held a typical guest room setup, but some small boxes of miscellaneous objects had been added to them. Initially, Zylen believed there to be a theme to the contents of the boxes, but as he found none, he came to the conclusion that they had only been added as a way of enforcing that they were not to be used.
Continuing on, Zylen was shocked at the number of guest rooms. Recalling the job applications he saw for the mansion, there were certainly a lot, but nowhere near enough to fill all the bedrooms the Fae came across. As usual, he theorized why this was, and this time the answer was relatively simple. If every dragon Saile had accepted belonged to small breeds, he would need the rooms to comfortably accommodate them all. Granted, it made it nice for temporary guests as well, but so far, Zylen had yet to see a single dragon not employed at the mansion visit, whether through the portal room or the front door.
The strangeness of not having guests ate at him as he explored the attic and eventually made his way to the basement. There was nothing of note in the attic beyond how old some of the stored furniture and decorations were. The place likely hadn’t been cleaned out in decades, likely because there wasn’t a reason to. He observed similar material in the basement storage area. He was all too familiar with the archives, but made note of a previously unknown room to him. With no label to the locked door, he had assumed it to be a separate storage room, but based on the map in his claws, it was far more important than he assumed.
Named the Reliquary Room, Darryn’s notes were far more ominous here. Apparently even he didn’t initially have access, stating he had to steal the key in order to open the door. Zylen couldn’t make out too much more, but whatever was housed inside, the previous archivist had been sure to add a warning. If “PLEASE BE CAREFUL” wasn’t unsettling enough, it appeared that the Skydancer either had problems discussing the room’s contents, or was being intentionally vague. The Fae took the warning to heart, making the decision to wait until a new archivist was hired and was well settled into the mansion before even thinking of looking into the room’s contents.
With only one floor left to explore, Zylen began his search for the door into the second basement level. Turns out the door hadn’t been well-hidden, but at the same time, with how many boxes and pieces of furniture that were everywhere in the basement, the entrance was easy to look over. Using magic to slowly relocate the blockage, he realized that the stone door before him was rather strange. Ornate carvings covered the door, most worn away with time. On top of that, Zylen made out various indentations that once housed [i]something[/i], his first guess being jewels of some kind. He huffed at the door providing even more questions to pervade his mind. At least despite its size, these sorts of doors opened magically, meaning he would be able to open it easily. Otherwise his exploration would end there.
The descent to the second level was unbelievably dark. Unlike the level before it, the lights here no longer worked, their magical charges and bulbs having depleted long ago. While Zylen’s origins and upbringing in the Tangled Wood meant he could see relatively well in the dark, even he struggled until his magic attuned with the area some. Not wanting to remain down for long, he examined what he could, even locating the mostly-empty wine cellar Darryn had been so eager to cross out. Finding nothing unusual, the Fae returned back upstairs.
As expected, his little journey through the mansion’s floors had taken almost the entire day, and after a late dinner, he returned to his office. The rest of his night was spent writing down what he had found, creating new folders for his newest topics that left him with questions. With how quickly he was filling up the first drawer of the first filing cabinet, he was glad so many more lay empty around him. Despite the growing number of mysteries, Zylen felt he was making progress. More to look into may have been frustrating, but it was better than dead ends or nothing at all.
The Fae wasn’t expecting a folded up note on the floor of his room when he retired for the night. Slid under his door at some point in the day, he picked it up and moved to his bed, sitting down to read the note.
He raised his fans in surprise when he recognized Clancy’s handwriting, [i]“Sorry about yesterday. I shouldn’t have taken my frustrations out on you. If it’s any sort of apology to you, check behind the painting in your room. Find me tomorrow and I’ll explain.”[/i]
Curiosity peaked, Zylen made his way to the landscape painting hung above his bed. Carefully removing it, he was shocked to find a switch that, when charged with magic, opened a small compartment on the adjacent wall. He was disappointed to find the space empty, but after a trip downstairs, he decided to use it to house the maps he had found. Grabbing the ancient Wildclaw claw from the back of the drawer he had hidden it in, he also added it within the cavity. At first he kept it as a reminder of his first task, but since then, he believed there may be more to it.
But like everything else, it would take time.
----------
@Galehaut @TrashMomma @Spectator @megara17 @Jetdrana @CirrusAscending @Tynethyne
Had to fight another headache to get this one out today. Sadly this means I couldn't do a make up day like planned, but that means I'll simply do it tomorrow.
Today is more mansion exposition. Zylen finds some things and gets blocked from others. Also, yep, I've got my own version of artifact storage now. It's gonna be [i]fun[/i] once the cast has access to it. It'll be a bit before that however.
Since I pulled a food item today, I'm going to get those battles in tonight before bed so they're out of the way. If you guys suddenly see the dragons involved on a coli team or with an extra level or two, that's why. I won't be updating the profiles until I get that day's writing out.
Final note, but I've officially given up on trying to give these a length limit. If they end up at less than two pages, good. If they end up being six pages or more, also good. I'll write however much comes to mind from now on, even if I suffer. Looks like I'm sticking to ~3 pages as of recent, so that'll probably be what to expect for the most part. [s]Hopefully[/s]
Minerals from deep within the earth are now freely available on the surface.
80
Zylen didn’t attempt to find Clancy when he finished breakfast. He wrapped up some work in his office, grabbed the maps, and began his extensive exploration of the mansion. With all he had to traverse through and examine, he dedicated his entire day to the task.
Minimizing backtracking, the Fae started his search in his place of work. The library’s block of notes, like many others, had been worn away. One intact portion in particular stood out from among the rest of the writing. A simple statement of, “He can feel what’s wrong. He....ask him for help.” The middle had faded with a majority of the words, but the passage brought with it an interesting question for Zylen. Was this about his role, the previous librarian, or something to be found within the libraries walls?
Having only scoured the books in any detail, Zylen looked around at display cabinets, desks, tables, and so on for anything that wasn’t a book. Disappointed to find nothing that hinted at what the note was referring to, he instead assumed the note referred to his current role. At least, he hoped it referred to his role and not the abilities of a previous librarian. Zylen was happy enough knowing he had a better grasp of his workplace before moving onto the next set of rooms.
If there was one thing about the notes he took comfort in, it was the lack of them for hallways. The most he’d see would be mentions of some of the countless decorative tapestries, vases, statuettes, etc. found within the corridors. They often read as “Needed for…” or “Tied to…” before fading into ineligibility alongside many of the other notes. Such extensive fading made Zylen question the quality of the writing utensil used on the paper, but he assumed Darryn’s extensive use of the map would affect it as well. Regardless, he needed to move on.
The first floor took the longest, as expected. To save time, he followed the notes he could, deciding to save extensive explorations for later. In most cases at least. When Zylen discovered one note read, “...look behind the scenes…” for the theatre, the Fae attempted to figure out what the Skydancer’s words meant. Sadly, any doors leading to areas outside the audience were locked, stopping his endeavour as abruptly as it started. The ballroom showed promise for future explorations however, as many of the doors leading into and out of it had remained unlocked. While the areas they lead to were more for the other staff, this meant more areas to explore in the future.
Onto the second floor, he found difficulties in looking around for a different reason. He wasn’t a part of the staff, so as he stepped foot into one of the rooms pertaining exclusively to them, he was ushered out and told he wasn’t allowed inside. Not wanting to fight the staff, he postponed a search until he could afford staying awake late enough for there to be minimal members awake and present. As most of the remaining rooms were locked guest bedrooms or mundane storage closets, it wasn’t long until he was making his way to the upper floors.
As expected, he couldn’t enter any of the guest bedrooms on account of locks, minus two. Both had been noted by Darryn, the first having a broken lock, and the second requiring a bit of brute force to open as the door didn’t have a lock, but was partially jammed. Both rooms still held a typical guest room setup, but some small boxes of miscellaneous objects had been added to them. Initially, Zylen believed there to be a theme to the contents of the boxes, but as he found none, he came to the conclusion that they had only been added as a way of enforcing that they were not to be used.
Continuing on, Zylen was shocked at the number of guest rooms. Recalling the job applications he saw for the mansion, there were certainly a lot, but nowhere near enough to fill all the bedrooms the Fae came across. As usual, he theorized why this was, and this time the answer was relatively simple. If every dragon Saile had accepted belonged to small breeds, he would need the rooms to comfortably accommodate them all. Granted, it made it nice for temporary guests as well, but so far, Zylen had yet to see a single dragon not employed at the mansion visit, whether through the portal room or the front door.
The strangeness of not having guests ate at him as he explored the attic and eventually made his way to the basement. There was nothing of note in the attic beyond how old some of the stored furniture and decorations were. The place likely hadn’t been cleaned out in decades, likely because there wasn’t a reason to. He observed similar material in the basement storage area. He was all too familiar with the archives, but made note of a previously unknown room to him. With no label to the locked door, he had assumed it to be a separate storage room, but based on the map in his claws, it was far more important than he assumed.
Named the Reliquary Room, Darryn’s notes were far more ominous here. Apparently even he didn’t initially have access, stating he had to steal the key in order to open the door. Zylen couldn’t make out too much more, but whatever was housed inside, the previous archivist had been sure to add a warning. If “PLEASE BE CAREFUL” wasn’t unsettling enough, it appeared that the Skydancer either had problems discussing the room’s contents, or was being intentionally vague. The Fae took the warning to heart, making the decision to wait until a new archivist was hired and was well settled into the mansion before even thinking of looking into the room’s contents.
With only one floor left to explore, Zylen began his search for the door into the second basement level. Turns out the door hadn’t been well-hidden, but at the same time, with how many boxes and pieces of furniture that were everywhere in the basement, the entrance was easy to look over. Using magic to slowly relocate the blockage, he realized that the stone door before him was rather strange. Ornate carvings covered the door, most worn away with time. On top of that, Zylen made out various indentations that once housed something, his first guess being jewels of some kind. He huffed at the door providing even more questions to pervade his mind. At least despite its size, these sorts of doors opened magically, meaning he would be able to open it easily. Otherwise his exploration would end there.
The descent to the second level was unbelievably dark. Unlike the level before it, the lights here no longer worked, their magical charges and bulbs having depleted long ago. While Zylen’s origins and upbringing in the Tangled Wood meant he could see relatively well in the dark, even he struggled until his magic attuned with the area some. Not wanting to remain down for long, he examined what he could, even locating the mostly-empty wine cellar Darryn had been so eager to cross out. Finding nothing unusual, the Fae returned back upstairs.
As expected, his little journey through the mansion’s floors had taken almost the entire day, and after a late dinner, he returned to his office. The rest of his night was spent writing down what he had found, creating new folders for his newest topics that left him with questions. With how quickly he was filling up the first drawer of the first filing cabinet, he was glad so many more lay empty around him. Despite the growing number of mysteries, Zylen felt he was making progress. More to look into may have been frustrating, but it was better than dead ends or nothing at all.
The Fae wasn’t expecting a folded up note on the floor of his room when he retired for the night. Slid under his door at some point in the day, he picked it up and moved to his bed, sitting down to read the note.
He raised his fans in surprise when he recognized Clancy’s handwriting, “Sorry about yesterday. I shouldn’t have taken my frustrations out on you. If it’s any sort of apology to you, check behind the painting in your room. Find me tomorrow and I’ll explain.”
Curiosity peaked, Zylen made his way to the landscape painting hung above his bed. Carefully removing it, he was shocked to find a switch that, when charged with magic, opened a small compartment on the adjacent wall. He was disappointed to find the space empty, but after a trip downstairs, he decided to use it to house the maps he had found. Grabbing the ancient Wildclaw claw from the back of the drawer he had hidden it in, he also added it within the cavity. At first he kept it as a reminder of his first task, but since then, he believed there may be more to it.
But like everything else, it would take time.
@Galehaut @TrashMomma @Spectator @megara17 @Jetdrana @CirrusAscending @Tynethyne
Had to fight another headache to get this one out today. Sadly this means I couldn't do a make up day like planned, but that means I'll simply do it tomorrow.
Today is more mansion exposition. Zylen finds some things and gets blocked from others. Also, yep, I've got my own version of artifact storage now. It's gonna be fun once the cast has access to it. It'll be a bit before that however.
Since I pulled a food item today, I'm going to get those battles in tonight before bed so they're out of the way. If you guys suddenly see the dragons involved on a coli team or with an extra level or two, that's why. I won't be updating the profiles until I get that day's writing out.
Final note, but I've officially given up on trying to give these a length limit. If they end up at less than two pages, good. If they end up being six pages or more, also good. I'll write however much comes to mind from now on, even if I suffer. Looks like I'm sticking to ~3 pages as of recent, so that'll probably be what to expect for the most part. Hopefully
The amount of writing you do for each post is incredible!
Hope you are feeling better, take a break if you need it.
@Tynethyne
Thanks! I had initially planned to try and stick to 1-2 pages daily, but with how things have been going, that got thrown at the window real fast. It’s been quite nice to do so much, even if it takes a while some days. Sometimes I have ideas and get distracted and other days I have tje simple problem of struggling to figure out what to do with Zylen.
As for how I’m feeling, I’m doing fine! The headache last night was nowhere near as bad as the migraine I had that required me to miss a day. I usually do a mix of headache medicine and a nap to fix these, but it didn’t work at all on Wednesday. I’m not worried about missing days since if worse comes to worst, I can always make up writing on one of my days off.
@Tynethyne
Thanks! I had initially planned to try and stick to 1-2 pages daily, but with how things have been going, that got thrown at the window real fast. It’s been quite nice to do so much, even if it takes a while some days. Sometimes I have ideas and get distracted and other days I have tje simple problem of struggling to figure out what to do with Zylen.
As for how I’m feeling, I’m doing fine! The headache last night was nowhere near as bad as the migraine I had that required me to miss a day. I usually do a mix of headache medicine and a nap to fix these, but it didn’t work at all on Wednesday. I’m not worried about missing days since if worse comes to worst, I can always make up writing on one of my days off.
[center][b]Day 17[/b]
[item=Amelanistic Racer][/center]
Clancy was surprisingly absent from breakfast that morning. For wanting to meet up with Zylen at some point, a gathering such as this was ideal. The conversation focus could be on something mundane until they finished, and then they’d migrate somewhere more private. The missing Pearlcatcher was smart enough to know as well. Concern ruining his appetite, he excused himself and took off to her room, hoping to find her there.
What resulted was Zylen colliding with her as he blindly turned a corner. The impact did little to the larger dragon, but for him, it knocked the breath out of him, glasses falling to the floor and hat tilted eskew. After a minute of recuperating, and a bit of quiet laughter from Clancy, the two turned around and made way to the Pearlcatcher’s room. Best to do it now since they were together.
Once welcomed inside the more spacious room belonging to his associate, Zylen perched on the table she had been using for some sort of personal reading and writing. He avoided peering at the pages laid out before him as to not be nosy, starting up a conversation, “So, what was it you wanted to talk to me about?”
“Straight to the point today, aren’t you?” Clancy cast a sharp glance his way, but at least he didn’t read her usual frustration and anger with it.
“What? Would you prefer I pry about yesterday’s behaviour? Or perhaps I should ask about your work here?” He tapped on one of the closed books, fans half-spread to help emphasize his sarcasm.
“I get it,” she moved the book he had touched, swiping the one underneath it, “I said I’d explain, and you want an explanation. Friendly chat later and whatnot.” Opening the book, Clancy proceeded to slide out multiple small slips of paper with writing on them. She sighed heavily, “I felt a tad guilty about denying to help you. So, when you left on your little ‘adventure’ yesterday, I grabbed a few books from the library on strange architecture. I’m surprised you didn’t look at one before you did.”
Zylen lowered his fans in embarrassment, “I thought a map would be more direct. Show rooms and passages that became hidden over the years. I didn’t want to go blindly looking for them and wind up lost either.”
Clancy shook her head in disappointment before mumbling, “I see why you wanted my help then. You’re a smart one, but you certainly have an odd way of going about it.”
The Fae chuckled, fans waving some, “I’ve read more than my fair share of books. If I can avoid reading more, I do, even if that means three hours looking for maps.”
“Anyways,” the Pearlcatcher flipped open the book again, this time to one of its many bookmarked pages, “I found this one particularly helpful. It’s rather uncommon to find books about methods of hiding things within architecture. Sadly it appears this mansion doesn’t rely on many of the simple methods this book outlines, but there was one that’s quite obvious once you know what you’re looking for.”
She turned to face the painting over her bed. Like Zylen’s room, she had a one of a landscape, albeit one of a tranquil plain rather than a forest. “I must admit it was a fluke, but it saved me visits to the rest of your rooms to figure it out.” She moved to the painting, and revealed a switch identical to the one in Zylen’s room, opening a largely empty cavity save for a couple journals. Clancy smiled, “The idea is that you use the same type of painting to mark which rooms contain a switch like this. In this case, any guest bedroom with a landscape will have a switch to a hidden cavity.”
“Why something so simple then?” He inquired, slightly confused.
“It’s probably leftover from when the mansion housed proper guests instead of employees. These rooms are often reserved for important guests, where they are informed of the switch in order to store valuables.” Her grin widened, “I thought it’d be perfect for you and your little mysteries. The staff doesn’t appear to know anything about them, so you should be safe to store whatever you find that you don’t want them to see.”
Zylen began to thank her when he realized something about the entire situation. Something that made him lower his fans in suspicion, “....How did you know my room contained a landscape painting? I know for a fact you’ve never been inside.”
Clancy was silent for a moment, thinking before finally answering, “I know someone told me you had gushed about the painting. I don’t remember if it was Jaxon or Meir, but I found it surprising you had an admiration for art. Guess that’s why the information stuck with me.”
The struggle to recall information followed by the relaxation in the Pearlcatcher’s movements told Zylen his coworker was telling the truth. He raised his fans in feigned happiness, instead of the relief he felt knowing she hadn’t snuck into his room at some point. “That’s certainly [i]one[/i] way to know that. I’d be shocked, but I can be the same way sometimes.”
Neatly stacking the remaining slips of paper, Clancy handed them over to Zylen, “These are my other notes I was able to make. Based on the mansion’s age and structure, they might come in handy. At the very least, they’re a start.” As if prompted, her gaze became intense, “This is merely part of my apology. I may be willing to help in the future, but I am not dragging myself into whatever hole you’ve dug. Got it?”
Clutching the papers firmly in his claws, Zylen lowered his fans some, “Thank you. Really. This means a lot to me.”
“It’s nothing much really,” Clancy was taken aback by his comment, her eyes shifting away from him, “Anyways, we should get back to work. The Institute sent me a fresh stack of photographs and documents to look through so I need to get started.”
“Right, I’ll leave you to it then.”
The Fae spent the majority of his day continuing his catalogue of books. After the physical and magical strain exploring the mansion had on him, something simple and honestly mind-numbing was what he needed. As usual, there were no new strange books he recognized from the redacted papers he kept on him as he slowly made his way through each shelf. He felt relief in not finding any, but at the same time, [i]not[/i] finding any came with a creeping unease. If they weren’t in the library like the acquisition papers said, where [i]were[/i] they?
At some point, Meir and the others returned, but Zylen didn’t realize until dinner that night. The Mirror showed his typical energy and excitement on the surface, but like the other two, he wore exhaustion on his face. It had been a difficult trip for all of them. The brief discussion revealed little, but the Fae was able to pick up on a few details. The portal did in fact lead to the one owned by the Holland’s, and they had been greeted by a young Pearlcatcher by the name of Maria. Their trip was brutal and none of the three were in the mood to discuss details at that time.
Upon returning to the residence, any and all physical components and materials recovered from the lab had been handed off to be distributed between the Holland family, Saile’s institution, and to the professor himself. However, there were notes on the experiments and data recovered from them. [i]Those[/i] were kept to be taken back to the mansion. Without a proper archivist employed, responsibility for filing them away had fallen on Zylen.
And Zylen was prepared to read every last word.
-----------
@Galehaut @TrashMomma @Spectator @megara17 @Jetdrana @CirrusAscending @Tynethyne
So, boyfriend distracted me from getting this done early. I'm going to start on the next entry, and if I get it done before rollover, I'll post it. If not, I'll finish it tomorrow sometime. I was really hoping to get both done today so I could be caught back up, but whelp.
As for the battles, this was [i]hell[/i]. I nearly lost all three dragons involved multiple times, with Meir barely staying alive on literally 2 health points at one point. Regardless, Jaxon and Meir are level 8 and Clancy is level 7 now! [s]Jaxon, please stop showing up on team comps. You're making this scarier than it needs to be with your constant involvement.[/s]
I decided to save the notes recovered from this most recent mission for today's pull, if only to prevent this day from becoming over five pages longer. In similar news, I keep forgetting that italicizations I do in the doc don't automatically transfer in here so I keep forgetting to put them in. I've been doing better about remembering as of late.
Fond of living in terrifying writhing pits surrounding buried treasure. Racers... why did it have to be racers?
25
3
Clancy was surprisingly absent from breakfast that morning. For wanting to meet up with Zylen at some point, a gathering such as this was ideal. The conversation focus could be on something mundane until they finished, and then they’d migrate somewhere more private. The missing Pearlcatcher was smart enough to know as well. Concern ruining his appetite, he excused himself and took off to her room, hoping to find her there.
What resulted was Zylen colliding with her as he blindly turned a corner. The impact did little to the larger dragon, but for him, it knocked the breath out of him, glasses falling to the floor and hat tilted eskew. After a minute of recuperating, and a bit of quiet laughter from Clancy, the two turned around and made way to the Pearlcatcher’s room. Best to do it now since they were together.
Once welcomed inside the more spacious room belonging to his associate, Zylen perched on the table she had been using for some sort of personal reading and writing. He avoided peering at the pages laid out before him as to not be nosy, starting up a conversation, “So, what was it you wanted to talk to me about?”
“Straight to the point today, aren’t you?” Clancy cast a sharp glance his way, but at least he didn’t read her usual frustration and anger with it.
“What? Would you prefer I pry about yesterday’s behaviour? Or perhaps I should ask about your work here?” He tapped on one of the closed books, fans half-spread to help emphasize his sarcasm.
“I get it,” she moved the book he had touched, swiping the one underneath it, “I said I’d explain, and you want an explanation. Friendly chat later and whatnot.” Opening the book, Clancy proceeded to slide out multiple small slips of paper with writing on them. She sighed heavily, “I felt a tad guilty about denying to help you. So, when you left on your little ‘adventure’ yesterday, I grabbed a few books from the library on strange architecture. I’m surprised you didn’t look at one before you did.”
Zylen lowered his fans in embarrassment, “I thought a map would be more direct. Show rooms and passages that became hidden over the years. I didn’t want to go blindly looking for them and wind up lost either.”
Clancy shook her head in disappointment before mumbling, “I see why you wanted my help then. You’re a smart one, but you certainly have an odd way of going about it.”
The Fae chuckled, fans waving some, “I’ve read more than my fair share of books. If I can avoid reading more, I do, even if that means three hours looking for maps.”
“Anyways,” the Pearlcatcher flipped open the book again, this time to one of its many bookmarked pages, “I found this one particularly helpful. It’s rather uncommon to find books about methods of hiding things within architecture. Sadly it appears this mansion doesn’t rely on many of the simple methods this book outlines, but there was one that’s quite obvious once you know what you’re looking for.”
She turned to face the painting over her bed. Like Zylen’s room, she had a one of a landscape, albeit one of a tranquil plain rather than a forest. “I must admit it was a fluke, but it saved me visits to the rest of your rooms to figure it out.” She moved to the painting, and revealed a switch identical to the one in Zylen’s room, opening a largely empty cavity save for a couple journals. Clancy smiled, “The idea is that you use the same type of painting to mark which rooms contain a switch like this. In this case, any guest bedroom with a landscape will have a switch to a hidden cavity.”
“Why something so simple then?” He inquired, slightly confused.
“It’s probably leftover from when the mansion housed proper guests instead of employees. These rooms are often reserved for important guests, where they are informed of the switch in order to store valuables.” Her grin widened, “I thought it’d be perfect for you and your little mysteries. The staff doesn’t appear to know anything about them, so you should be safe to store whatever you find that you don’t want them to see.”
Zylen began to thank her when he realized something about the entire situation. Something that made him lower his fans in suspicion, “....How did you know my room contained a landscape painting? I know for a fact you’ve never been inside.”
Clancy was silent for a moment, thinking before finally answering, “I know someone told me you had gushed about the painting. I don’t remember if it was Jaxon or Meir, but I found it surprising you had an admiration for art. Guess that’s why the information stuck with me.”
The struggle to recall information followed by the relaxation in the Pearlcatcher’s movements told Zylen his coworker was telling the truth. He raised his fans in feigned happiness, instead of the relief he felt knowing she hadn’t snuck into his room at some point. “That’s certainly one way to know that. I’d be shocked, but I can be the same way sometimes.”
Neatly stacking the remaining slips of paper, Clancy handed them over to Zylen, “These are my other notes I was able to make. Based on the mansion’s age and structure, they might come in handy. At the very least, they’re a start.” As if prompted, her gaze became intense, “This is merely part of my apology. I may be willing to help in the future, but I am not dragging myself into whatever hole you’ve dug. Got it?”
Clutching the papers firmly in his claws, Zylen lowered his fans some, “Thank you. Really. This means a lot to me.”
“It’s nothing much really,” Clancy was taken aback by his comment, her eyes shifting away from him, “Anyways, we should get back to work. The Institute sent me a fresh stack of photographs and documents to look through so I need to get started.”
“Right, I’ll leave you to it then.”
The Fae spent the majority of his day continuing his catalogue of books. After the physical and magical strain exploring the mansion had on him, something simple and honestly mind-numbing was what he needed. As usual, there were no new strange books he recognized from the redacted papers he kept on him as he slowly made his way through each shelf. He felt relief in not finding any, but at the same time, not finding any came with a creeping unease. If they weren’t in the library like the acquisition papers said, where were they?
At some point, Meir and the others returned, but Zylen didn’t realize until dinner that night. The Mirror showed his typical energy and excitement on the surface, but like the other two, he wore exhaustion on his face. It had been a difficult trip for all of them. The brief discussion revealed little, but the Fae was able to pick up on a few details. The portal did in fact lead to the one owned by the Holland’s, and they had been greeted by a young Pearlcatcher by the name of Maria. Their trip was brutal and none of the three were in the mood to discuss details at that time.
Upon returning to the residence, any and all physical components and materials recovered from the lab had been handed off to be distributed between the Holland family, Saile’s institution, and to the professor himself. However, there were notes on the experiments and data recovered from them. Those were kept to be taken back to the mansion. Without a proper archivist employed, responsibility for filing them away had fallen on Zylen.
And Zylen was prepared to read every last word.
@Galehaut @TrashMomma @Spectator @megara17 @Jetdrana @CirrusAscending @Tynethyne
So, boyfriend distracted me from getting this done early. I'm going to start on the next entry, and if I get it done before rollover, I'll post it. If not, I'll finish it tomorrow sometime. I was really hoping to get both done today so I could be caught back up, but whelp.
As for the battles, this was hell. I nearly lost all three dragons involved multiple times, with Meir barely staying alive on literally 2 health points at one point. Regardless, Jaxon and Meir are level 8 and Clancy is level 7 now! Jaxon, please stop showing up on team comps. You're making this scarier than it needs to be with your constant involvement.
I decided to save the notes recovered from this most recent mission for today's pull, if only to prevent this day from becoming over five pages longer. In similar news, I keep forgetting that italicizations I do in the doc don't automatically transfer in here so I keep forgetting to put them in. I've been doing better about remembering as of late.
[center][b]Day 18[/b]
[item=Venomous Toridae][/center]
Despite his excitement to get a hold of the notes to read through, Zylen’s day started with writing the job report. Meir was present as usual when he started gathering the trio for discussion of the past few day’s events. Meanwhile, Eowyn appeared upset as expected by now as she walked through the library’s entrance, eyes skimming the shelves nervously as she saw something within the texts upon them that the others could not. Jaxon arrived last, finishing trimming the hedge maze and cleaning himself up before making his way inside.
The Guardian’s presence seemed to ease the tension in the air upon his arrival. He struck up a conversation with the others as the Fae gathered writing materials and distributed them among everyone. It eased him some to see Eowyn not looking like she was going to kill him at the slightest misstep. After what he had called her for last time, the hostile behavior was not out of place. Jaxon likely confirmed this had nothing to do with another strange book, so her eyes only reflected the normal amount of hostility she held towards him and Meir.
After a rather pleasant conversation talking about how their days had been so far, Zylen awkwardly transitioned into why they had gathered together. The report started off smoothly, with a recap of the preparations made due to the nature of the area they were to walk through to reach their destination. Meir provided a fair number of details in regards to his research, while Jaxon added a personal nervous comment. The Fae had never known that the Guardian’s wooden staff was his Charge up until that point. The cold weather may have resulted in unwanted damage to the staff, so he had asked Eowyn to double check the enchantments on it before they left.
Meeting with Maria in the Holland residence was a strange occurrence to everyone involved. The Pearlcatcher welcomed them warmly, gladly giving a short tour of the areas they would be allowed to explore. Despite her willingness to show the three around, the trio always felt as if they were being rushed between rooms. On top of that, they never saw any family, their questioning about it being deflected back on their careers leaving most of them away from home. Jaxon stated he kept his guard up after that, knowing something was off, even if they never found out what.
Zylen paused to write some of his own personal notes down before he had them continue. Their meeting with Tobias and now Maria confirmed suspicions towards the family. Respected traders or otherwise, there was something about them that him and now the others weren’t liking. With his notes for later research written down, he turned focus back on the rest of their trip.
As suspected, their trip had taken them through a massive expanse of nothing but snow, and their first night had to be spent with Jaxon keeping the other two as warm as possible away from the elements. Meir proved himself dependable the following morning as a snowstorm kicked up, using his magic and knowledge of the area to keep them on-route. They had reached the lab by that afternoon, but only after a scuffle with a pack of Permafrost Impalers that had been using the area as shelter.
Despite habitation from the wildlife, the lab’s interior was intact and in good condition. As the trio rummaged through the many drawers and cabinets, it was unsurprising to see some supplies were taken out upon its abandonment. No signs of raiding meant a lot of the supplies leftover remained, and in as pristine a condition as expected. Time had made some of the chemicals inert or unusable, but the trio made quick work gathering what they could.
Meir was the one to find the notes. His time spent in his home clan had meant shadowing the head scientist and their assistants at one point, and he’d picked up on a few tricks. When information was classified and meant for a select few eyes, the scientists would cleverly hide them. So, with a little help from Eowyn, the Mirror was able to find a magically sealed compartment. If Jaxon hadn’t been there, unlocking it without damage to the documents inside would have proved impossible. Whoever had made it had been clever, using a lock that only responded to Nature magic.
Once opened, Meir snatched up the contents, placing them all into a sealed container to protect them on their journey back. They spent their second night in the lab, and almost the entirety of the following day fighting another storm on their way back. Between the fierceness of the storms and run-ins with hostile wildlife, the trio began to see why the lab had laid undisturbed for so long.
They never got the name of the Holland member they handed the supplies to. Unlike Tobias and Maria, he was an aging Ridgeback, and didn’t say a word as he collected their findings. Maria gave no answers as she led them back to the portal either, only reassuring that the materials would be in the right hands soon enough. Too tired to pry further, the three made their way back to the mansion for a much needed dinner and comfortable rest.
Gradually compiling the notes the others had made, Zylen dismissed Eowyn and Jaxon and got to work writing a formal report to send off to the professor. Meanwhile, Meir returned to his room to grab the research papers and journals from the lab. The Fae assumed he’d forgotten to bring them with him to the library, but upon returning, the Mirror bashfully stated he didn’t want to get them mixed up with his usual mess he made with the papers and books he grabbed.
Seating himself at a nearby table, Zylen started poring through the many pages handed to him, asking Meir questions as they popped into his head. He wasn’t familiar with a lot of the terminology used, but thankfully the Mirror happily filled him in on their meanings. Whoever wrote the notes did a good job ensuring they never wrote their name down, and for a good reason. From what the Fae could gather, he and the other scientists were infusing abandoned dragon eggs with magic to record the effects it would have on the structure of the egg and embryo inside.
Horrified by some of the more graphic results when opposing elements were combined, Zylen skipped past the remainder. He didn’t need to read pages and pages of the head scientist’s opinions and observations if the tone remained as dry and clinical as this. He felt some relief when he hit a second section, but that all too familiar sensation of having found something out of place quickly returned. Far shorter and with very few entries, the last pages of the main journal chronicled the discovery of a pool of magic with no real elemental alignment and their following infusions of the magic into eggs. Zylen was grateful he didn’t read any entries where the embryos lived longer than a day. He didn’t want to know what would become of them if they had.
The loose notes gave him insight as to what might have however. They held the latest dates of any of what he read, and consisted of quick scrawls that likely were to be transferred to the journal he was looking through moments before. Apparently they had found a way to make the embryo survive initial exposure to the magic and were keeping a close eye on its development. He found nothing on if the egg had hatched or not, but whatever the end result, the lab had been abandoned shortly after the last of the written notes. The pages remaining stashed away suggested the writer intended on returning, but that had never happened.
In the middle of condensing his findings, the all too familiar form of the greeter Skydancer made her way into the library and towards the two dragons inside. Zylen acknowledged her arrival briefly before returning to his writing, Meir’s voice eagerly asking if there was another employee at the entrance.
“Yes,” she started, “But welcomes are different this time. She wishes to meet everyone one at a time for tea.” She paused while waiting for the two to focus in, having grabbed their attention, “That is alright with the both of you, yes?”
“Of course!” Meir’s bright tone echoed through the mostly empty library as he loudly replied.
Zylen raised his fans pleasantly, “It’ll be a nice change from the normal.”
“That’s great!” the Skydancer clapped her hands together, “Any preference as to which of you would like to meet her first?”
“How about you go first?” Meir offered to the Fae, “It would give you a break from all the writing you’ve been doing.”
“That’s….very thoughtful of you,” Zylen rose out of his chair, “Thanks.”
“Right this way then,” the Skydancer took off, gesturing with her tail for the Fae to follow.
There was an abnormal amount of energy in the air as he made his way through the halls. He spotted more of the staff out and about than usual as they made preparations somewhere in the mansion. He couldn’t make out their quiet murmurings among one another, but underneath their excitement, there was mild unease. Zylen wondered briefly what such a buzz could be about, but as he was guided into one of the personal dining rooms, he was almost certain as to what was happening.
[img]https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/537779856474243072/797950800370073614/Syke.png[/img]
Seated comfortably at a table clustered with far too much dried tea sat a grey Tundra. She was adjusting the loose scarf around her neck as Zylen entered, and gently smiled upon seeing him. Before taking a seat, she spoke up, her voice as soft as the look in her eyes, “Welcome,” she motioned to the tea in front of her, “Could you please pick one before you get comfortable?”
He silently picked out one of the bowls filled with darker leaves. He watched the Skydancer walk out with the bowl afterwards, leaving the two alone. She spoke again once he sat down, “Apologies. I try to have tea whenever meeting someone new. I’m not surprised this place has a wide variety, but it’s nice. More options for strangers to choose from.” She paused, timidly rising from her seat, “Would you mind if I got familiar with your sent? It’s okay to say no.”
“I have no qualms about it. Go on ahead,” Zylen remained motionless as the Tundra made her way to his side of the table. She carefully sniffed the air around him, watchful of her distance from him.
Once moved back to her seat, she spoke again, “You smell of paper and ink. A bit of another lingers on you. A coworker maybe?” She trailed off before suddenly perking back up, “Oh where are my manners! I didn’t even introduce myself. My name’s Elanor Sykion.”
“Zylen Myst.” He responded curtly, “You’re the archivist, correct?”
The comment surprised the newcomer, “Why yes I am. How’d you know?”
“The mansion hasn’t exactly been subtle about it since your arrival.” He lowered his fans some, “We have a lot to talk about, but I think it’s best discussed over tea.”
---------
@Galehaut @TrashMomma @Spectator @megara17 @Jetdrana @CirrusAscending @Tynethyne
First day down! I definitely will have the writing for today's pull out later today.
Anyways, I made a joke about if my next dragon was a Tundra I'd make them the archivist, so here we are. I kinda didn't like the name she automatically came with, so that's her last name now. I am super happy to have Elanor as my archivist with how I've got her personality planned. You'll see more of that in the writing for today's pull.
I'll be adding in her profile momentarily, but it may take a minute. A voice call I needed to be in started while getting this ready to post. It's partially why my commentary is a bit shorter than usual.
The venom of a Toridae can be dangerous to Fae, but larger dragon breeds are able to shrug off the effects.
2800
Despite his excitement to get a hold of the notes to read through, Zylen’s day started with writing the job report. Meir was present as usual when he started gathering the trio for discussion of the past few day’s events. Meanwhile, Eowyn appeared upset as expected by now as she walked through the library’s entrance, eyes skimming the shelves nervously as she saw something within the texts upon them that the others could not. Jaxon arrived last, finishing trimming the hedge maze and cleaning himself up before making his way inside.
The Guardian’s presence seemed to ease the tension in the air upon his arrival. He struck up a conversation with the others as the Fae gathered writing materials and distributed them among everyone. It eased him some to see Eowyn not looking like she was going to kill him at the slightest misstep. After what he had called her for last time, the hostile behavior was not out of place. Jaxon likely confirmed this had nothing to do with another strange book, so her eyes only reflected the normal amount of hostility she held towards him and Meir.
After a rather pleasant conversation talking about how their days had been so far, Zylen awkwardly transitioned into why they had gathered together. The report started off smoothly, with a recap of the preparations made due to the nature of the area they were to walk through to reach their destination. Meir provided a fair number of details in regards to his research, while Jaxon added a personal nervous comment. The Fae had never known that the Guardian’s wooden staff was his Charge up until that point. The cold weather may have resulted in unwanted damage to the staff, so he had asked Eowyn to double check the enchantments on it before they left.
Meeting with Maria in the Holland residence was a strange occurrence to everyone involved. The Pearlcatcher welcomed them warmly, gladly giving a short tour of the areas they would be allowed to explore. Despite her willingness to show the three around, the trio always felt as if they were being rushed between rooms. On top of that, they never saw any family, their questioning about it being deflected back on their careers leaving most of them away from home. Jaxon stated he kept his guard up after that, knowing something was off, even if they never found out what.
Zylen paused to write some of his own personal notes down before he had them continue. Their meeting with Tobias and now Maria confirmed suspicions towards the family. Respected traders or otherwise, there was something about them that him and now the others weren’t liking. With his notes for later research written down, he turned focus back on the rest of their trip.
As suspected, their trip had taken them through a massive expanse of nothing but snow, and their first night had to be spent with Jaxon keeping the other two as warm as possible away from the elements. Meir proved himself dependable the following morning as a snowstorm kicked up, using his magic and knowledge of the area to keep them on-route. They had reached the lab by that afternoon, but only after a scuffle with a pack of Permafrost Impalers that had been using the area as shelter.
Despite habitation from the wildlife, the lab’s interior was intact and in good condition. As the trio rummaged through the many drawers and cabinets, it was unsurprising to see some supplies were taken out upon its abandonment. No signs of raiding meant a lot of the supplies leftover remained, and in as pristine a condition as expected. Time had made some of the chemicals inert or unusable, but the trio made quick work gathering what they could.
Meir was the one to find the notes. His time spent in his home clan had meant shadowing the head scientist and their assistants at one point, and he’d picked up on a few tricks. When information was classified and meant for a select few eyes, the scientists would cleverly hide them. So, with a little help from Eowyn, the Mirror was able to find a magically sealed compartment. If Jaxon hadn’t been there, unlocking it without damage to the documents inside would have proved impossible. Whoever had made it had been clever, using a lock that only responded to Nature magic.
Once opened, Meir snatched up the contents, placing them all into a sealed container to protect them on their journey back. They spent their second night in the lab, and almost the entirety of the following day fighting another storm on their way back. Between the fierceness of the storms and run-ins with hostile wildlife, the trio began to see why the lab had laid undisturbed for so long.
They never got the name of the Holland member they handed the supplies to. Unlike Tobias and Maria, he was an aging Ridgeback, and didn’t say a word as he collected their findings. Maria gave no answers as she led them back to the portal either, only reassuring that the materials would be in the right hands soon enough. Too tired to pry further, the three made their way back to the mansion for a much needed dinner and comfortable rest.
Gradually compiling the notes the others had made, Zylen dismissed Eowyn and Jaxon and got to work writing a formal report to send off to the professor. Meanwhile, Meir returned to his room to grab the research papers and journals from the lab. The Fae assumed he’d forgotten to bring them with him to the library, but upon returning, the Mirror bashfully stated he didn’t want to get them mixed up with his usual mess he made with the papers and books he grabbed.
Seating himself at a nearby table, Zylen started poring through the many pages handed to him, asking Meir questions as they popped into his head. He wasn’t familiar with a lot of the terminology used, but thankfully the Mirror happily filled him in on their meanings. Whoever wrote the notes did a good job ensuring they never wrote their name down, and for a good reason. From what the Fae could gather, he and the other scientists were infusing abandoned dragon eggs with magic to record the effects it would have on the structure of the egg and embryo inside.
Horrified by some of the more graphic results when opposing elements were combined, Zylen skipped past the remainder. He didn’t need to read pages and pages of the head scientist’s opinions and observations if the tone remained as dry and clinical as this. He felt some relief when he hit a second section, but that all too familiar sensation of having found something out of place quickly returned. Far shorter and with very few entries, the last pages of the main journal chronicled the discovery of a pool of magic with no real elemental alignment and their following infusions of the magic into eggs. Zylen was grateful he didn’t read any entries where the embryos lived longer than a day. He didn’t want to know what would become of them if they had.
The loose notes gave him insight as to what might have however. They held the latest dates of any of what he read, and consisted of quick scrawls that likely were to be transferred to the journal he was looking through moments before. Apparently they had found a way to make the embryo survive initial exposure to the magic and were keeping a close eye on its development. He found nothing on if the egg had hatched or not, but whatever the end result, the lab had been abandoned shortly after the last of the written notes. The pages remaining stashed away suggested the writer intended on returning, but that had never happened.
In the middle of condensing his findings, the all too familiar form of the greeter Skydancer made her way into the library and towards the two dragons inside. Zylen acknowledged her arrival briefly before returning to his writing, Meir’s voice eagerly asking if there was another employee at the entrance.
“Yes,” she started, “But welcomes are different this time. She wishes to meet everyone one at a time for tea.” She paused while waiting for the two to focus in, having grabbed their attention, “That is alright with the both of you, yes?”
“Of course!” Meir’s bright tone echoed through the mostly empty library as he loudly replied.
Zylen raised his fans pleasantly, “It’ll be a nice change from the normal.”
“That’s great!” the Skydancer clapped her hands together, “Any preference as to which of you would like to meet her first?”
“How about you go first?” Meir offered to the Fae, “It would give you a break from all the writing you’ve been doing.”
“That’s….very thoughtful of you,” Zylen rose out of his chair, “Thanks.”
“Right this way then,” the Skydancer took off, gesturing with her tail for the Fae to follow.
There was an abnormal amount of energy in the air as he made his way through the halls. He spotted more of the staff out and about than usual as they made preparations somewhere in the mansion. He couldn’t make out their quiet murmurings among one another, but underneath their excitement, there was mild unease. Zylen wondered briefly what such a buzz could be about, but as he was guided into one of the personal dining rooms, he was almost certain as to what was happening.
Seated comfortably at a table clustered with far too much dried tea sat a grey Tundra. She was adjusting the loose scarf around her neck as Zylen entered, and gently smiled upon seeing him. Before taking a seat, she spoke up, her voice as soft as the look in her eyes, “Welcome,” she motioned to the tea in front of her, “Could you please pick one before you get comfortable?”
He silently picked out one of the bowls filled with darker leaves. He watched the Skydancer walk out with the bowl afterwards, leaving the two alone. She spoke again once he sat down, “Apologies. I try to have tea whenever meeting someone new. I’m not surprised this place has a wide variety, but it’s nice. More options for strangers to choose from.” She paused, timidly rising from her seat, “Would you mind if I got familiar with your sent? It’s okay to say no.”
“I have no qualms about it. Go on ahead,” Zylen remained motionless as the Tundra made her way to his side of the table. She carefully sniffed the air around him, watchful of her distance from him.
Once moved back to her seat, she spoke again, “You smell of paper and ink. A bit of another lingers on you. A coworker maybe?” She trailed off before suddenly perking back up, “Oh where are my manners! I didn’t even introduce myself. My name’s Elanor Sykion.”
“Zylen Myst.” He responded curtly, “You’re the archivist, correct?”
The comment surprised the newcomer, “Why yes I am. How’d you know?”
“The mansion hasn’t exactly been subtle about it since your arrival.” He lowered his fans some, “We have a lot to talk about, but I think it’s best discussed over tea.”
@Galehaut @TrashMomma @Spectator @megara17 @Jetdrana @CirrusAscending @Tynethyne
First day down! I definitely will have the writing for today's pull out later today.
Anyways, I made a joke about if my next dragon was a Tundra I'd make them the archivist, so here we are. I kinda didn't like the name she automatically came with, so that's her last name now. I am super happy to have Elanor as my archivist with how I've got her personality planned. You'll see more of that in the writing for today's pull.
I'll be adding in her profile momentarily, but it may take a minute. A voice call I needed to be in started while getting this ready to post. It's partially why my commentary is a bit shorter than usual.
[center][b]Day 19[/b]
[item=Stardust Sap Lamp]
[b]Warnings: Agoraphobia, Falling, Hopelessness[/b][/center]
Zylen was anticipating the newest member’s arrival as he sat in his office. After their conversation the day before, Elanor had agreed to meet up in private to continue it. Between needing to meet everyone else, her tour, moving in, and getting accustomed to her office in the archives, her day had been completely filled. Now, with his current findings sorted into neat piles on his desk, the Fae waited expectantly for her knock at the door.
After a gentle rapping on his office door, he let the Tundra in, letting her take a look around before finding her seat. He observed some tension in her body as she entered, which dissolved once she got settled in her seat. Her voice remained as soft ast their previous meeting, “So, what’s your big project? You had such enthusiasm about it when we talked yesterday.”
Zylen smiled before holding up one of his folders, “I’ve been looking into the mansion pretty much since I arrived here.”
“What made you do that?” She questioned, “Sure I found my treatment odd, but nothing that would start me looking into this place.”
“.....you haven’t had a chance to look through the archives yet have you?” He pulled out one of the many redacted acquisition forms to hand over, “This is one of many I’ve found. I bet the rest of the archives have more, but I’ve stopped looking for them at the moment.”
“Maybe this would start a search into your library, but I’m clearly missing something,” she paused, thinking for a moment. Something had clicked this time, “This has to do with the contents of the archives I maintain. Or, rather, the lack of some content.” She made eye contact, “That’s why you commented about me not going through them.”
He nodded, “It’s alright if you haven’t. All it would have done is potentially save some explanations. Keeping it simple, the previous archivist took all his work and some of his predecessor’s and has hidden them. There’s also nothing between the time he was here and your arrival, meaning your additions will be the first in years.”
“Then, there’s our employer,” Zylen started, having to quickly stop Elanor as she went to question him again. “I don’t necessarily find him questionable, but his institution, partners, and even the tasks he sends us on have been. I’m sure you recall the one we read over breakfast that we’ll be leaving for later.”
“Yeah. A trip into the Shrieking Wilds in search of some strange creature that’s been terrorizing nearby clans. Only the two of us are to go and we’re to gather information, not actively hunt it down.” New confusion arose in her expression and she wrinkled her nose, “You’re right, this is strange. Why not send Jaxon or Meir along? Jaxon knows the area and Meir’s a researcher.”
“Glad you’re catching on.” Zylen smiled at the new dragon’s initiative, “My best guess is to give the two of us more time to figure each other out. Which leads rather nicely into another thing I’ve discovered if you’re willing to hear it.”
Elanor looked at him attentively, “Please do. This is quite interesting to hear about. My role is turning out to be more important than I ever thought possible.”
“Indeed it is,” out of habit, he pulled out his file on Darryn to hold, “It makes me wonder why the professor chose you to serve the role out of all other applications he received.
And so they continued back and forth until Zylen was able to catch the Tundra up on everything he had uncovered, from the Holland family, to the maps he had uncovered, to the locations they had been to. He made sure to leave no note untouched, and the entire time, he answered Elanor’s inquiries the best he current knowledge allowed. He promised duplicates of his existing and future notes as well as job reports for her personal use and for storage in the archives when asked as well. Overall, he was incredibly thankful for her cooperation, and she returned the gratitude in spades with the information he provided.
As they left for dinner, Zylen found himself elated in his new ally. Working together, the two of them were bound to make progress far quicker than before, especially with Elanor’s role as archivist. The Tundra had the ability to go through whatever files she wanted at any time, so with an understanding of what he was after, she’d set aside anything that might help him out.
He went to bed in the best mood since he arrived. Tomorrow, he and Elanor had a job to attend to.
---------------
Falling.
That’s what Meir awoke to.
He spread his wings out in his panicked state, hoping the decrease in velocity would allow him to get bearings on his surroundings. Instead of a blue sky with the ground below however, he only saw an endless expanse of grey, as if lost in a dense fog. The feeling of cold moisture on his scales only cemented the feeling. Other than for the wind in his ears, he could hear nothing, and if it weren’t for him being pulled down, he would’ve believed that he wasn’t moving at all.
He had to be inside a cloud. That was the only explanation he had. So, he fell into a dive, waiting to emerge into the open air. Down and down and down he fell, moving at a speed he didn’t believe possible until the roar of air in his ears threatened to deafen him. The longer it went on, the more his spirits fell with him, until he started to slow his descent and spread his wings to coast along once more.
Panic returned now. What was going on? Was he trapped in an illusion? If not, what was this place? Was it nothing but this cold humidity? It couldn’t be, not with how he knew the world. If there was gravity, that meant there had to ground, right? Then where was it? He dove again, and when he found open air this time, instead of relief, it only brought dread.
There was a ground. He could see the greenery below and the cloud he emerged from above. Yet even at the speed he felt himself moving at, he wasn’t drawing any closer. Sure, he measured progress in the distance away from the cloud, but unlike what he knew, the planet below didn’t grow closer. Instead he found himself stuck between solid ground he’d never reach and the endless air above and around him.
He wasn’t sure how long he switched between gliding, diving, or simply falling before the dread and fear set in. He’d been at this a [i]while[/i] now, and had yet to make progress. His wings ached, his ears were ringing, and his body was beginning to sting from the air constantly buffering against it. If he had suffered this much with nothing to show for it. How much further could he fall before he fell unconscious? Even if he were to [i]die[/i] here, would his body ever reach the land below for another to find?
He dove again, desperately searching for any signs of closing the seemingly infinite space between him and the footing he wished to feel. He fell until tears filled his eyes and he was screaming against the wind in protest. He wouldn’t die here. He [i]couldn’t[/i]. Not with all he had left to do. The life he’d yet to live out. He didn’t want to become lost to whatever this place was, doomed to fall forever, even long after he passed on. On and on he fell, his cries ever weaker as fatigue threatened to force him unconscious.
As his vision began to fade to black, the ground below was still as far away as when his endeavour began. All his effort, all his energy, for nothing. He might as well have not done anything at all. With those hopeless thoughts he welcomed unconsciousness once more.
Meir awoke slowly from his nightmare, drained and questioning himself. What [i]was[/i] he doing here?
-------------
@Galehaut @TrashMomma @Spectator @megara17 @Jetdrana @CirrusAscending @Tynethyne
Finally got myself caught up! Got a fun pull today. Meir finally became the victim of a Mark, this time belonging to the Vast! We'll see the effect that's had on him tomorrow. As usual, point out if I missed any warnings I should include.
For a summary: Zylen introduces Elanor to his work and catches her up to speed. Elanor is a relatively open-minded individual, and while she has her questions, she's not one to immediately doubt or question others and their ways of thinking. She's also incredibly happy to have someone like Zylen to fill her in on these sorts of things. It's better than her stumbling through things on her own.
Meir has a nightmare about falling forever towards something he'll never reach. He will not be okay after this.
Tomorrow Elanor and Zylen go off to the Shrieking Wilds to hunt down information on a strange creature. Who knows what they'll find once there. [s]I say this like I don't dictate the path these jobs take for the most part.[/s]
A specialized lamp that uses sap from birch trees in the Starwood Strand. It emits an eerie blue flame.
41
Warnings: Agoraphobia, Falling, Hopelessness
Zylen was anticipating the newest member’s arrival as he sat in his office. After their conversation the day before, Elanor had agreed to meet up in private to continue it. Between needing to meet everyone else, her tour, moving in, and getting accustomed to her office in the archives, her day had been completely filled. Now, with his current findings sorted into neat piles on his desk, the Fae waited expectantly for her knock at the door.
After a gentle rapping on his office door, he let the Tundra in, letting her take a look around before finding her seat. He observed some tension in her body as she entered, which dissolved once she got settled in her seat. Her voice remained as soft ast their previous meeting, “So, what’s your big project? You had such enthusiasm about it when we talked yesterday.”
Zylen smiled before holding up one of his folders, “I’ve been looking into the mansion pretty much since I arrived here.”
“What made you do that?” She questioned, “Sure I found my treatment odd, but nothing that would start me looking into this place.”
“.....you haven’t had a chance to look through the archives yet have you?” He pulled out one of the many redacted acquisition forms to hand over, “This is one of many I’ve found. I bet the rest of the archives have more, but I’ve stopped looking for them at the moment.”
“Maybe this would start a search into your library, but I’m clearly missing something,” she paused, thinking for a moment. Something had clicked this time, “This has to do with the contents of the archives I maintain. Or, rather, the lack of some content.” She made eye contact, “That’s why you commented about me not going through them.”
He nodded, “It’s alright if you haven’t. All it would have done is potentially save some explanations. Keeping it simple, the previous archivist took all his work and some of his predecessor’s and has hidden them. There’s also nothing between the time he was here and your arrival, meaning your additions will be the first in years.”
“Then, there’s our employer,” Zylen started, having to quickly stop Elanor as she went to question him again. “I don’t necessarily find him questionable, but his institution, partners, and even the tasks he sends us on have been. I’m sure you recall the one we read over breakfast that we’ll be leaving for later.”
“Yeah. A trip into the Shrieking Wilds in search of some strange creature that’s been terrorizing nearby clans. Only the two of us are to go and we’re to gather information, not actively hunt it down.” New confusion arose in her expression and she wrinkled her nose, “You’re right, this is strange. Why not send Jaxon or Meir along? Jaxon knows the area and Meir’s a researcher.”
“Glad you’re catching on.” Zylen smiled at the new dragon’s initiative, “My best guess is to give the two of us more time to figure each other out. Which leads rather nicely into another thing I’ve discovered if you’re willing to hear it.”
Elanor looked at him attentively, “Please do. This is quite interesting to hear about. My role is turning out to be more important than I ever thought possible.”
“Indeed it is,” out of habit, he pulled out his file on Darryn to hold, “It makes me wonder why the professor chose you to serve the role out of all other applications he received.
And so they continued back and forth until Zylen was able to catch the Tundra up on everything he had uncovered, from the Holland family, to the maps he had uncovered, to the locations they had been to. He made sure to leave no note untouched, and the entire time, he answered Elanor’s inquiries the best he current knowledge allowed. He promised duplicates of his existing and future notes as well as job reports for her personal use and for storage in the archives when asked as well. Overall, he was incredibly thankful for her cooperation, and she returned the gratitude in spades with the information he provided.
As they left for dinner, Zylen found himself elated in his new ally. Working together, the two of them were bound to make progress far quicker than before, especially with Elanor’s role as archivist. The Tundra had the ability to go through whatever files she wanted at any time, so with an understanding of what he was after, she’d set aside anything that might help him out.
He went to bed in the best mood since he arrived. Tomorrow, he and Elanor had a job to attend to.
Falling.
That’s what Meir awoke to.
He spread his wings out in his panicked state, hoping the decrease in velocity would allow him to get bearings on his surroundings. Instead of a blue sky with the ground below however, he only saw an endless expanse of grey, as if lost in a dense fog. The feeling of cold moisture on his scales only cemented the feeling. Other than for the wind in his ears, he could hear nothing, and if it weren’t for him being pulled down, he would’ve believed that he wasn’t moving at all.
He had to be inside a cloud. That was the only explanation he had. So, he fell into a dive, waiting to emerge into the open air. Down and down and down he fell, moving at a speed he didn’t believe possible until the roar of air in his ears threatened to deafen him. The longer it went on, the more his spirits fell with him, until he started to slow his descent and spread his wings to coast along once more.
Panic returned now. What was going on? Was he trapped in an illusion? If not, what was this place? Was it nothing but this cold humidity? It couldn’t be, not with how he knew the world. If there was gravity, that meant there had to ground, right? Then where was it? He dove again, and when he found open air this time, instead of relief, it only brought dread.
There was a ground. He could see the greenery below and the cloud he emerged from above. Yet even at the speed he felt himself moving at, he wasn’t drawing any closer. Sure, he measured progress in the distance away from the cloud, but unlike what he knew, the planet below didn’t grow closer. Instead he found himself stuck between solid ground he’d never reach and the endless air above and around him.
He wasn’t sure how long he switched between gliding, diving, or simply falling before the dread and fear set in. He’d been at this a while now, and had yet to make progress. His wings ached, his ears were ringing, and his body was beginning to sting from the air constantly buffering against it. If he had suffered this much with nothing to show for it. How much further could he fall before he fell unconscious? Even if he were to die here, would his body ever reach the land below for another to find?
He dove again, desperately searching for any signs of closing the seemingly infinite space between him and the footing he wished to feel. He fell until tears filled his eyes and he was screaming against the wind in protest. He wouldn’t die here. He couldn’t. Not with all he had left to do. The life he’d yet to live out. He didn’t want to become lost to whatever this place was, doomed to fall forever, even long after he passed on. On and on he fell, his cries ever weaker as fatigue threatened to force him unconscious.
As his vision began to fade to black, the ground below was still as far away as when his endeavour began. All his effort, all his energy, for nothing. He might as well have not done anything at all. With those hopeless thoughts he welcomed unconsciousness once more.
Meir awoke slowly from his nightmare, drained and questioning himself. What was he doing here?
@Galehaut @TrashMomma @Spectator @megara17 @Jetdrana @CirrusAscending @Tynethyne
Finally got myself caught up! Got a fun pull today. Meir finally became the victim of a Mark, this time belonging to the Vast! We'll see the effect that's had on him tomorrow. As usual, point out if I missed any warnings I should include.
For a summary: Zylen introduces Elanor to his work and catches her up to speed. Elanor is a relatively open-minded individual, and while she has her questions, she's not one to immediately doubt or question others and their ways of thinking. She's also incredibly happy to have someone like Zylen to fill her in on these sorts of things. It's better than her stumbling through things on her own.
Meir has a nightmare about falling forever towards something he'll never reach. He will not be okay after this.
Tomorrow Elanor and Zylen go off to the Shrieking Wilds to hunt down information on a strange creature. Who knows what they'll find once there. I say this like I don't dictate the path these jobs take for the most part.
Them FR 0:00
