Lord Pie

Red Rose

Fritz

Fritz stared in utter disbelief for a moment, his mind very briefly failing to process just exactly what he was seeing. It was definitely real and it was definitely happening, this creature, not an animal, not a person but something else. He briefly remembered an illustration he had seen in a book once, a book filed with tales about fairies and imps of all kinds. Before he could process what was happening, the fairy man was beside him, sniffing him and examining him, a strange look of curiosity mixed with something else, a look that made Fritz somehow a little nervous.

Suddenly it was speaking, calling him a weak creature and a foreigner, a foreigner in his forest. His forest? Was this some kind of forest imp fairy creature? Before he could think the imp suddenly snatched his bag away, routing through it and pulling out one of his books, flipping through it with a fascinated gaze before saying "So you are an alchemist, I thought as much. This must be your spell book then, hm? I've never seen its like, what sort of spells does it teach?"

Fritz again was speechless and couldn't muster an immediate response. alchemist? Spellbook?

"Sparrot! Have you ever seen anything like this before?"

Sparrot? Fritz stared down at his chemistry book where it lay in the grass, struggling for a brief moment again to speak, but eventually blurted "It's a chemistry book", his statement hanging in the air for a moment before he suddenly burst out with questions.

"Who are you? What forest is this? what are you, a fairy? Did that bird really just talk? I-…"

Sparrot

Sparrot watched the human boy suspiciously from the branch where he was perched. Aergar dealt with the boy in an appropriate manner, investigating it's strange little satchel, reviling it's odd little book. Fascinated Sparrot watched as Aergar questioned the human, he to wanted to know what level of magic this human was capable of, surely such a creature could indeed be a powerful ally for his love. Maybe the human would destroy Aergar, such an event would be impressive.

Suddenly the human boy spoke, not the booming words of some incantation or curse as Sparrot had expected, but instead a snivelling statement followed by a string of meek questions that did nothing other than display how little knowledge this beast possesses.

Suddenly Sparrot leapt from the branch, swooping directly towards the boy squawking the entire time, he scratched at his face with his crooked talons causing a few small cuts. The boy cried out and recoiled, Sparrot swooping over to an adjacent branch, landing quickly before settling into a dead unblinking stare with human. This human did not impress him, he didn't like it's strange style of its clothes or funny little voice, not one bit.

Red Rose

Okay, but it won't be such a large detailed post sadly. I'm limited in the evenings just to my phone, much harder to get a bunch done up - but will definitely post as soon as I can.

Red Rose

Sparrot

Sparrot’s small eyes fixated suddenly, his mind bursting with excitement as he spotted below him the forest imp he had been waiting for, already eager to please his one and only. Before the bird could consider its course of action however a gentle voice drifted up from below.

"Ah, Sparrot, you give yourself away. No other bird would so brutally murder an innocent fairy. Come now and show yourself."

Sparrot turned his head and hopped forwards slightly, now that the imp knew he was here and waiting it would be pointless to attempt to conceal himself, not that it mattered to his agenda. Leaping from his perch and taking flight for a few brief moments Sparrot cawed before landing on a branch this time only slightly higher than the ground, practically eye level with his quarry now.

"The wind is very strange tonight, what kind of sorcery is your master up to this time, eh?" continued the imp "He shouldn't meddle so with my forest, I might become angry."

The subtleties of Aergar’s tone was lost on the bird, who continued to cock his head back and forth as he spoke. Was the imp aware of his master’s plot already? Impossible, surely he referred to something of little to no interest – after all, only Phrenesis said things that were interesting.

“Aergar Wald” squawked Sparrot, his voice cracked and slightly shrill, as always involuntarily phrasing his sentences like a peculiar tune “it is not we, who meddle with your forest”.

The bird paused briefly and narrowed its eyes as it gazed deep into Aergar, taking in the imps features and mannerisms once more. Though his brain and memory were fragmented Sparrot recalled this one, the joy he had felt at the sprites’ mischievous antics and somewhat cruel nature, the complexity of his thoughts and actions went beyond the scope of what the bird could comprehend, but he knew he was capable and was not the enemy of his master, and that was all he needed to know at this moment.

“Aergar Wald, it is time again, this time, all time” began the bird eccentrically “the darkness grows and with it so can we all, grow, grow grow! Phrenesis my love wants Aergar Wald, and so Aergar Wald must be told, and so he is told”.

The bird twisted its head suddenly and gazed down at the little mauled fae that lay in the leaves at the imps feat before he suddenly added “it did not know, it did not want to go. So quick, so easy, off it does go. Into the dark, I wonder, does it now know?” Pleased with his cryptic words Sparrot squawked once more before he fell silent, watching Aergar intently as he did so.

Fritz

Fritz groaned, his head hurt and he tasted the tangy and bitter flavour of soil. Opening his eyes slowly he realised that he felt very strange, like his entire body was a little numb and tingly and was just starting to wake up. Looking around he could see that he was still in the forest, but it somehow looked and even felt different somehow. Rubbing his cheek Fritz realised that he must have landed face first, a smudge of soil up his face and his glasses where nowhere to be seen. Beside him lay his bag, however it looked like it had come undone and some of his books and things were missing, he quickly rifled through and realised that he only had his chemistry book and his notebook. Several others including a history book, algebra book and his fantasy books were gone. He was also missing a few of his things like his pencil case and a packet of gum that had been in his bag. Standing up he stretched out as he looked around, the trees surrounding him looked different somehow, more… naturally tree-like if that even made sense. The air smelt clean and rich, scents of the forest assailing his senses from all around.

Looking up he gasped slightly at the sight of the sky, the stars being clear and visible and far more numerous than he had ever seen before. Picking up and shouldering his bag he took a few steps forwards before realising that he had no idea where he was or which way to go to get home. Frowning slightly he decided that the only thing for it was to try and make his way out of these woods one way or another, and so started to walk forwards, however this time deciding to stick to any trails that he could find that may guide him out of here.

After only a very short distance he heard something, the sound of words making their way through the trees, instantly grabbing his attention and pulling him towards the source of the sound. He couldn’t make out the words but he could tell it was two people who were talking, one of them sounded very strange indeed, though the other didn’t sound like anyone he had heard before either, his curiosity now burning within him. Moving forwards quietly now Fritz peered around the edge of a tree, spotting suddenly a figure stood a short way away in the distance he froze as he realised that the person in question wasn’t particularly a person at all. The first thing to give it away was the pair of short horns protruding from his head, coupled with his definite otherworldly and unnatural appearance Fritz suddenly realised that something very strange indeed was going on. The next thing that came to his attention was the other person who was speaking, or again the fact that it wasn’t a person at all but rather a dark raven perched on a branch who was uttering whimsical nonsense as far as he could tell.

Questions began to assail Fritz’s mind, who and what were these people? Where on earth was he? What were they talking about? He strained his ears intently trying to listen, but all he heard were some squawks and something about going into the dark. Shifting forwards slightly Fritz flinched as he stood on a sizable twig, a very audible ‘snap’ emanating from it a piercing the moment of silence. He remained very still for a moment before deciding not to try and stay hidden like some eavesdropper who had been caught red handed, and so took a step away from the tree and into the open, his heart pounding with both excitement and fear.

“H-hello?” he managed to blurt out, his voice traveling clearly across to where the pair were stood, his pulse still racing as he waited for an answer.

Phrenesis

The sweet sickly smell of sugar was thick and pungent within the small backroom of the shop, mixed with numerous other odours associated with flour, honey and general baking. A pot atop the large iron stove was filled with a dark gooey paste, stood before it was a young woman who was covered in all manner of different substances, flour smudged across her chin and neck, one hand coated in dried honey with bits of different nuts and seeds stuck within it, even a bit of egg shell had managed to find its way into her long auburn hair which was tied back into a haphazard bun. Rubbing her eyebrow she managed to add a splotch of the dark gooey paste to her face before she sighed loudly and twirled herself backwards and onto a wooden stool sat beside a counter covered in all kinds of ingredients.

“Impossible, impossible…” she mumbled to herself absentmindedly, pausing for a moment in deep thought before she suddenly exclaimed “I know!” reaching over to a small crate that was obviously out of place in the small kitchen, its wood being old and somewhat rotted after a period of long storage. From within the crate she pulled out an old cobwebby jar and attempted to open it several times with her hands, the lid staying stuck fast. After more failed attempts she sighed excessively once more and exclaimed to herself “daamn these fragile arms…”

After a brief moment of thought she shrugged before throwing the jar directly down at the ground with all of the strength she could muster, causing it to shatter as the finely ground contents spilled out onto the floor. “I suppose there are other advantages to keep in mind” she continued, reasoning with herself as she took a brief moment to once more run her hands up her body before resting them briefly on her chest and giving a quick squeeze or two as she did so an unhinged grin remaining upon her face. Reaching down she took a pinch of the substance that had spilled from the Jar, sprinkling it into the troublesome looking mix that was now beginning to bubble as it heated. Licking the remaining powder from her fingers she then licked her lips and made yummy noises saying “Oh it’s been so long since I’ve enjoyed powdered unicorn!”

The woman continued in this way, speaking to herself and adding various ingredients into whatever she was making. At one stage she picked up a wooden cutting board which was covered in eggshells, bits of dough and a few other bits of miscellaneous kitchen waste before taking it outside to where there was a grate that fed down into the little cellar the shop was built upon. “Here you go daddy!” she said merrily, sweeping the waste down the little shoot to where the girl’s shackled father was restrained, the refuse tumbling down and out of sight into the gloomy cellar. The stubborn baker man had gotten too smart for his own good, having realised after the other night that his daughter was being possessed by some kind of malevolent spirit and then trying all manner of stupid folk cures to rid her of it. Phrenesis had been entertained at first, mocking and toying with the man by pretending to be driven out before then continuing to return and torment him, eventually it had gotten to be too much and he broke the man’s will a little. As much as the man begged to be trusted and assured Phrenesis that he wouldn’t try to escape or tell anyone whilst the spirit was in possession of his daughter for fear of what it might do, the chaotic spirit had in turn decided to lock him securely in the cellar where he could do no harm. Once there Phrenesis had begun to question the man on all manner of topics regarding baking and such delicious treats, bombarding him with some of the most senseless and ill-considered questions he had ever heard, the spirit clearly knowing nothing about baking at all.

Moving back inside the little kitchen the woman once more began to sing and prance around as she continued to make what would undoubtedly be some very very bad pastries, giggling to herself the whole time.

Lord Pie - Hailfire.

Splendid. I shall use this post for anything relevant.

Red Rose

Well just as an idea maybe he could stumble upon the two, become confused and curious - experience the twisted side of this world first , but only briefly maybe? The others could arrive, Sparrot would leave due to her presence and leave the darker side out of it for then?

Yeah sweet post :)

Rome

Awesome. How many people were you wanting to get the show on the road? :)

Red Rose

Yay, yeah I'm definitely looking forwards to everything :) I hope the others also post soon, I'm looking forwards to learning more about Duplo especially! Everyone should be able to react so well and get some good stuff going :)

Red Rose

Yeah, that’d definitely be good!

Well there is no hurry I suppose, maybe the scroll mentions some location or something like that? Maybe he just starts to wander around and bumps into/is found by one of the other characters who takes him to Ada?

In terms of the ‘bad guys’, Phrenesis is just starting out a new crazy plot (relating to a village baker’s daughter), which will draw in Clirkus’s character I hope and will target Ada – which will hopefully bring that side of things together once she has met up with the ‘main’ character.

Red Rose

Yeah I figured that it wasn’t so important what he had with him and what not, figured his bag had one or two school books in there (like chemistry and algebra, for example), and maybe a few other books (like some fantasy and history or something) but yeah they can definitely be left around at Ada’s or elsewhere. I figured the important thing was getting him there.

I don’t know exactly what type of thing you had planned but Fritz can now be found pretty much anywhere unconscious, glasses knocked away and ready to begin the ‘adventure’.

I hope I didn’t go overboard with the first post but was just trying to get everything nicely introduced and rolling from my side of things :)

Red Rose

Phrenesis

The night was cold and dark, only a sliver of moonlight penetrated the clouds offering some little natural illumination but not enough to see clearly. A tall and imposing figure sat atop a midnight black horse, his face and body cloaked in shadow as his penetrating gaze surveyed the poor souls brought before him, shackled and locked, covered in dirt and clearly mistreated. A small fat and grubby man emerged from the darkness that lay shrouded over the path and he approached the tall and unmoving figure before bowing slightly and in a thick heavy accent he barked “As requested I have brought them to you, oh chaotic one.”

The tall figure turned, moonlight showing his face for a brief moment and revealing his pale and scarred completion. His left eye was also covered by a few tatty bandages, showing clearly that the eye itself had been removed, leaving a gaping and messy hole which was clearly becoming infected despite the rough bandage covering it. “So you have” responded the figure calmly and coldly, offering no words of praise or other indication of his feelings to the grubby man.

Silence dominated the scene for a moment as the grubby man shifted uncomfortably, obviously afraid to ask for the payment he so desperately wanted. The tall man dismounted from his horse and strode over to the two huddled and shackled figures, taking pause to examine them in the moonlight as best he could. The first was a man with shoulder length dark hair, clearly on the wrong side of his youth as grey was dotted throughout his hair and his face showed the wrinkles that came with age. He also had a large bruise on his face from where he had been obviously struck, the mud covering his baker’s style clothing showed that he had also been dragged for some distance with little care to his wellbeing. Next to him was a young woman, clearly much younger and slightly better treated, though also covered in some dirt and a few signs of abuse here or there she seemed mostly unhurt.

“What do you want with us?” begged the shackled man, the sound of fear clear in his voice. The tall one eyed man ignored him and gazed intently at the woman before moving his face towards hers, causing the shackled man to cry out and attempt to struggle against his restraints and add “leave her! Leave my daughter alone”. In a few quick and powerful movements the tall man had unlocked her shackles and pressed something into her hand as he moved his face intently closer to hers.

Just as it appeared the man was about to kiss her he froze and stared intently into her eyes. Suddenly from every tiny orifice in the man’s face a black oozing gas seemed to expel itself and rush into the woman’s face, the whole process taking no more than a few seconds or two before the tall one eyed man collapsed backwards into the dirt, leaving only the woman stood as a strange bemused expression soon covered her face.

The fat grubby man rushed forwards, obviously concerned and confused that his employer had collapsed. He crouched next to the man who lay in the dirt with his one eye staring dully up towards the moon and poked at him once or twice before it became clear that he was indeed dead. Suddenly the young woman took a small step forwards and with the knife that the tall man had placed in her hand she slit the fat man’s throat in one smooth and graceful movement, his beady little eyes bulging for a split second before his writhing body collapsed next to that of the tall man, blood spilling out across the dirt as a meek gurgling sound escaped him.

From the shadows it the treetops above a raven cawed several times as it floated down from a branch where it had been watching and waiting, landing softly on the young woman’s shoulder before staring at the man who remained shackled and crouched over.

“Now father…” began the woman, her voice now sounding cold and distant, a sarcastic twinge in her tone “don’t worry about anything, everything will be fine – after all it’s time for the fun and games to start” Suddenly a huge grin spread across her face as she began to gently stroke the raven on her shoulder with one hand, the other tracing her own body shape as if to explore the new form that he, Phrenesis had taken.

Fritz

The small stone skipped rapidly across the still lake, ripples spreading out from each time it bounced through the water before it disappeared in a little splash. Sat on the bank atop a fallen tree was Fritz, several books spread out around him with bits of paper and some pencils littered about. He was bored after spending the last hour or so intensely studying the chemistry book that he didn’t quite understand, the many chemical chains and diagrams combined with the small text now starting to give him a bit of a headache and so he had started to skip stones across the surface of the lake.

Skipping another stone he grinned as it bounced clean across the lake and to the other side, landing on the opposite bank and giving him the idea to explore around to the other side. Packing up the books and things quickly he stood and stretched out before jumping down from the log and beginning his short walk around the edge of the lake, his eyes wandering all around as he did so. He whistled a little every now and then as he made his way, occasionally stopping to examine something here or there that peaked his interest. He soon found himself on the opposite side, and after that he found himself following a little trail that lead away from the lake and through a large field before it eventually lead him to a small looking wooded area he wasn’t familiar with. He paid little attention to where he was going and just instead focused on enjoying himself.

The small wood itself looked relatively uninteresting, though since he had not explored it before and he guessed that he had enough time to wander through some trees before having to return for the evening meal, he decided to investigate and see if he could find anything interesting or of note. Making his way into the woods he felt a little strange and tingly, or almost like he was being watched by something or someone. Pushing the feelings aside he continued onwards, ignoring the strange sense of foreboding that passed over him briefly as he made his way into the shade of the trees before leaving the little trail as he followed his feet forwards at his whim.

The wood itself seemed normal as any he had been in before, some insects and slightly interesting plants caught his attention, but nothing out of the ordinary. After quite some time he started to wonder why he hadn’t found the edge of the wood yet, after all it was only small and he had only been walking in more or less a straight line and should have come out at the other side by now. He started to worry a little as more time passed, if anything the trees seemed to be getting thicker and more densely packed together – and he hadn’t seen the trail at all since he left it upon entering the woods, and sometime in the next few hours the sun would be going down.

Picking up his pace Fritz began to run slightly through the trees, trying to turn as little as possible he soon began to realise that he had somehow gotten hopelessly lost in the woods that had appeared so small yet obviously wasn’t. More time passed and he soon began to think he would be stuck in the woods for the entire night, his mind going to how much trouble he would be in when he did manage to return.

As the surrounding forest began to get darker and darker, the sun starting to set slowly above the treetops Fritz suddenly found himself in the strangest little clearing he had ever seen. It was only small but the trees all seemed to stop, no vegetation inhabited the centre of the circle at all and the only thing there was a small puddle of shiny clear looking water. Reflected in its very still surface was the full moon slowly rising into the nights sky, however it looked different somehow, magical almost. Peering into the pool intently at the reflection Fritz gasped slightly, totally in awe at the sight before him. He reached down with his hand brushed the surface of the pool causing ripples to break the perfectly flat surface. Suddenly everything around him rumbled and shook almost like how he would imagine an earthquake to feel, only with a much more jarring and bizarre feeling. He soon started to feel very dizzy and found himself pitching forwards, the small pool now shining more brightly than it was a moment ago. He fell head first into the pool, the liquid rushing forwards to meet him as it surrounded and engulfed him, smoothing out any feelings or sensations he had and rendering him unconscious as if he were in a very deep sleep.

Unknown to Fritz he has just passed through one of the very few portals that connects the human world to the world of Emanseria during one of the brief moments it was active. His adventure is about to start.

Sparrot

Sparrot sat waiting, as he had been instructed to by his love, his small eyes tracking all movement in forest that he could see, watching and waiting for the one his master had instructed him to wait for. As he waited he fixated on a small fae creature that was moving its way through the tree-branches closer and closer to him. It was a small fairy type creature, Sparrot was sure of it, having seen quite a number of them in his time that looked similar. 'Like tiny feet-walkers, they are, but with wings and a much smaller size Most silly looking' he thought to himself. His love ignored such creatures almost completely and as such Sparrot was content to do the same - that was until the little creature came within a few inches of the bird and had the audacity to smile and wave with its tiny tiny hand.

Lightning quick and without warning Sparrot struck out with his beak stabbing at the surprised fae several times in rapid succession, causing severe and fatal trauma to its face and torso. The cruel act failed to register to the bird, its mind simply urging it to strike again and again before the creature lay dead and Sparrot stood over its body before beginning to feed. It tasted horrible, thick, hot meaty and peppered with the unsavoury flavour that always seemed to accompany the magical creatures he fed upon, it also led him to realise that he wasn’t hungry and was beginning to make himself feel nauseous by gorging himself. Without a thought Sparrot nudged the little fae’s body off from the tree branch causing it to plummet to the forest floor far below. ‘One down, one lot more to go’, thought the bird in its muddled little head before it turned its attention back to the task at hand.

‘Where, oh where are you - Aergar Wald’ thought the bird, singing to itself slightly as it did so ’My love wants to meet you, and so I make it so, oh Aergar Wald’.

It had been several years since the bird had last set its eyes upon the woodland fae he was searching for, but Phrenesis had assured Sparrot that by waiting exactly here he would be able to spot the Imp some time or other, and when he did he could let him know that Phrenesis had a use for his services once more.