[hr][hr][center][img]https://fontmeme.com/permalink/230605/b188b8e9cb2b405065c58f91ded076a7.png[/img][hr][img]https://media.tenor.com/rLjTeD6cKhQAAAAC/dr-strange-doctor.gif[/img][hr][@BlueSky44][@Nallore][@Trainerblue192][@PatientBean][@Blizz][@Kirah][@KazAlkemi][hr][h3][color=FF0000][b]Limbo[/b][/color][/h3][/center][hr] Perhaps it is your resourcefulness, Carolina, that caused my spell to choose you. I do not understand it myself. Your magical ability is undeveloped and weak. If any of my successors were a mistake, it is you. You rush forward into the maze, hoping to outpace the carnivorous plants behind you. But they are all around you. The boundaries of this horror are alive. As you run past them, more and more of the hedge wakes up, hungering for your supple flesh. I hope you have plenty of color pencils. You will be in need of them. The cloak of levitation tugs at you, trying to beckon you to go up into the sky. Perhaps there, you could spot your friends and rejoin them? The hedges attempt to eat you again, but for now, you are able to outrun them. But eventually, you will tire... and then they will devour you whole, body and soul. [center]* * *[/center] "Duh!" Ananym told Mads with a laugh. "There's tons of us - all of Limbo is crawling with demons. Don't you know that?" she then sniffed, her yellow eyes widening. "Woah, you have... a [i]soul[/i]. That's so weird! Can I poke it?" Ananym asked. Not very many people in Limbo had souls. Ananym's father had once had one, I can unfortunately attest. As did most of the demons. Demons are not born in Limbo. They are shaped. At Jack's arrival, the other demons started to scatter. They, it turns out, did not want to test this newfound weakness against gravity for themselves. Their eyes lingered on Ananym for a moment longer. She laughed. The demons made way for the staircase, planning on running down the impossibly high tower as fast as they could. Ananym grabbed what looked like a slingshot. "I bet I can kill at least twelve, how many can you get, Jackass?" she asked. She loaded the slingshot with a strangely glowing red orb and took aim, planning on hitting the fleeing demons as they left. It was funny to her. The spiral staircase kept them from having real cover. "Are your friends here to play with us?" she then asked, looking at Mads and Annika. You do not want to play her game. Your life depends on it. [center]* * *[/center] The shadow makes no moves or designs on you. It simply lurks, waiting. The goblet in front of you seems to be beckoning, Edus, Prudence, and Runa. With each blink of your eyes, the fantasy plays out in front of you. You cut the throat of an innocent creature. You fill the goblet with blood. And as you drink, you are changed. You are transformed, transcending your mortal form into something far more. Steel yourself against this temptation. The sound of a baby crying alerts you - it is coming from the entranceway of the mausoleum. [hr][hr][center][h3][b][color=#a81a75]Runa the Grey[/color][/b][/h3][img]https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/db4f97a911c55834e8956c78fb0d486b.jpg[/img][hr][b][color=#a81a75]Location:[/color][/b] Limbo [b][color=#a81a75]Skills:[/color][/b] Intuition [b][color=#a81a75]Spells:[/color][/b] N/A [hr][hr][/center] They hardly seemed surprised at Edus' description of what was in front of them. Runa had killed too many sorcerers for their power to be shocked at blood magic. In fact, there was a time where they had considered specializing in it and taking it for their divinity. Ultimately, she had decided against it - it seemed too, as her late husband would have described, [i]edgy[/i]. [color=#a81a75]"A self made witch. But yet, I sense a string upon you, one that will allow you to never glean your full potential,"[/color] they commented. They appreciated that Prudence had clawed her way to where she was, that she hadn't had expensive tutors or books, that her own force of will had gotten her there. But Runa sensed something about the hex witch, something that they believed if severed would allow Prudence to go onto greater glory. It was one thing to channel power from another; it was another to channel the power of oneself. [color=#a81a75]"It is a dull tale, I am afraid, as to how we two met,"[/color] Runa said. [color=#a81a75]"But I shall tell it, as you two decide what to do with that which is at hand. I am too old for blood magic."[/color] She was curious as to the choice that would be made. She had a feeling she knew what Edus would do, but Prudence was an unknown. Perhaps she would take more power into herself. Or perhaps she would not. [color=#a81a75]"I met this one as a young maiden, in the old days of Midgard - but not yet old, in the way I am old. He was a brother in arms to my late husband, a shapeshifter who could harness the power of the sun. I accompanied my husband on many journeys, working my spells, and came to be acquainted with Edus in that way. He is a good man, as rare as that may be."[/color] They said all of this matter-of-factly, as if they had been recounting the items they had foraged in the woods a long time ago. They knew there were details that they had omitted that would be of interest, particularly to Edus, but they did not care. She could see the vision, now, in her mind's eye. They would kill Edus again. They would fill the goblet with his blood. They would raise it to their lips and they would drink. The promise of power was simply an added benefit. They had long since been forced to consume others to survive. It would be no different than a snack.