Mokley

Mirror, Fox, Key

That bad? xD Oh dear.

Mirror, Fox, Key

Ok! There you go!

I see three obvious choices that each of you has every opportunity to make individually. There are probably more.

Please do consider your decisions carefully. ;)

Mirror, Fox, Key

The path they walked was old and deep; it wound between ancient trees and under dark canopies filled with chattering and rustling. There was barely room to walk single-file between the thick brush and mossy trunks and fallen trees and boulders knotted with vines. Strange insects buzzed, bright butterflies fluttered among hanging tendrils of flowers overhead.

The felidrakes all went quiet and curled into frightened balls of fluff and scales.

Spook slowly closed his fingers around the hilt of his sword.

_{humans trespassing.}

A chorus of flutelike whispers hissed in the air around the travelers. The woods were stifled, quiet and dark.

_{they burn us.}

Something lithe and dark shifted among the leaves. It clung to the tree with graceful limbs, watching them with silver eyes.

_{they break us.}

Something thin and sinister skittered down the trunk of a tree. Its eyes flashed, and it giggled hollowly.

_{we will burn them.}

Leaves rustled all around them. Eyes shimmered in the shadows -- hundreds of silver eyes, swaying and blinking in the darkness.

Ahead, the end of the path was clear: beyond the next bend of the road, the forest ended abruptly and the path continued into a sunny flatland. They just had to break into a run, and within a few moments would be free of the woods and the whispers.

_{we will break them.}

It all happened so fast.

Spook turned, his sword half-pulled from the scabbard, as a child-shaped, wood-skinned creature leaped like a spider upon him. Spook thrust the blade clean through its chest, but the thing clung to him like a parasite, pressed a splintered hand against his mask and engulfed his head in living, churning wood that erupted from the creature's arm.

Spook -- blinded, suffocating and off-balance -- tore at the creature in a fruitless attempt to shove it off of him, but the thing was fastened tightly. The creature shoved a splinter into his chest, and Spook reeled backward and slammed into a boulder like a ragdoll.

The path to the open plain was clear.

Whispers hissed all around them, and a swarm of creatures scrabbled closer.

<sub>they burn us.

they break us.

we will burn them.

we will break them.</sub>

Mirror, Fox, Key

@jordy0403 good to see you!! <3

Ok.

I'm going to write something.

I'm not sure what yet.

BUT I WILL WRITE IT.

Moonfiend

@drewccapp what is this tomfoolery? XD I based the map on a sigil I found on deviantart. So there's double plagiarism? Haha!

Edit: I guess this looks pretty damn similar! I've never seen it. xD The idea for the city map as a sigil came from Fullmetal Alchemist originally, haha. The actual symbol on the map is apparently a "magos circle," which seems to be a thing according to google.

Lantern

The old woman had just paused to wipe her brow with a sleeve when Artemis' voice called up from the barrier. She squinted at the red light of the lantern and the highlight of the young lady's appalling state of dress. For a moment her eyes went wide -- and then she huffed again, brushing her palms on her skirt.

SQUAAAAAWK! SQAAAAAK! SQUAWK SKWAAK SKQAAAK!

A bird inside the house had suddenly started making a racket, and the old woman beat the roof with the handle of the axe until the bird finally shut up.

"And now someone's crossed the lake barrier!" she howled in complete exasperation. The old woman sat with a thump on the roof and laid her head on her hands. "Everything's in shambles, I can't go chasing trespassers now, war or no war, Argen's dead, the rat is dead, there's a tree in my kitchen and I haven't had breakfast."

With her hands folded over the handle of the axe and her head on her hands, the old woman groaned and hummed to herself, nearly falling asleep.

Meanwhile, to Artemis' left, a child wearing a white mouse-mask peeked around the boulder at her -- but hid again when the old woman called out.

"Young lady! Come along, then, don't gawk and dawdle! Come, come, this side of the barrier before a Kith makes off with your pocket change." The old woman waved Artemis closer, but she didn't stand up.

"At least you had the sense to bring that thing with you," she said in a tone that suggested there had been other, less intelligent travelers that had come before Artemis. "If you'd like to help, you could start by getting rid of this tree."

---

The lake was still, moonlit and serene.

Water lapped against the sides of the raft.

In the distance, a white bird skimmed along the surface of the water.

Deep below the water's surface, throughout the lake, something sparkled -- golden flecks of light, turning and flickering, like the water of the grotto beneath the blue Lantern's tree. The healing water.

Schools of fish broke the surface, wriggling and shining in sprays of bright water. Not far away, something huge touched the surface of the water and then dove deep again, shaking the raft with its ripples.

Someone was standing on the water behind Anise.

She was pale, tall and proud, clad in sheer white like the moon, with impossibly long greenish hair that floated softly on the lake. She smiled with thin dark lips.

"I suppose you want something in return, Princess Anise of Riverforde."

Moonfiend

@Eodwyn Aether absolutely! :)

@rechonq Whatever you think is reasonable to find there, go for it. I don't think you'll find drugs though. Sigils maybe. Also realize the entire city is basically up for grabs right now. :)

Moonfiend

Did a thing. :)

@OnlyThePie I made some assumptions about how Ethan would react to being attacked -- please do correct me. :D

Moonfiend

BAM!

Instinctively, Maria whipped out her notepad and pencil, and wrote down what she liked to call her "Air Mine" sigil, which was three wavy lines surrounded by a circle.

While Maria's sigil took shape, the Grit stuffed its head down into the trolley, snuffling and hissing, ropes of ooze dripping from its fangs.

Moth had apparently lost it, because the young auditor stuck his hand out toward the creature's nose as if to pet it -- as if this grotesque, scaled, spiked thing were no more dangerous than a puppy.

The Grit's nostrils flared, and it snuffled at his hand expectantly -- but when he had nothing to offer, it shoved Moth aside and lunged at Florence.

Maria thrust the sigil into the face of the Grit on the ceiling, causing the sigil to emit a blast of air directly into its face.

The surprised Grit yelped and yanked out of the trolley, shaking its head and coughing. A split-second later it took out its rage on Ethan, the only human on the trolley roof. The Grit tackled him in a flash of scales and claws and teeth, but it snapped its jaws on empty air. Ethan had, of course, used a sigil to jump himself to safety.

Vincent didn't think, he acted. He grabbed at Kat's arm and looked her in the eyes cooly. "C'mon."

Before she even had a chance to nod in agreement, or protest, she was being dragged along as Vincent dashed towards an unopened door just off the landing. Reaching it, he attempted to open it- and it swung open immediately, revealing a pitch- black interior.

Maria took whatever time she had to shout "Run!" and sprint as fast as she could after Kat and Vincent. "Wait for me, guys!"

POP

Salt and dust slammed into the side of the trolley, leaving behind white smoke approximately the size of an adult male. Otto sailed through the air and slammed into the landing's door frame (not at all gracefully). He looked in all directions, and made eye contact with the others who made it into the dark doorway. "Still works!"

Flor rapidly followed the old man into the room a little more gracefully, until he saw the old man in the doorway and flung his momentum in another direction to avoid him. He may have been able to catch himself, but then a woman was in his way. He shifted himself just enough again to avoid her and fall flat on the floor. Regaining his control, he got up again. "I'm fine! What are we doing now?"

Releasing her hands, the sigil of light on Kat's right hand began to glow. It didn’t produce much light from a distance, but it was enough to dimly illuminate the features of the room in front of them. Holding it out in front of herself and Vincent, Kat quickly looked over her shoulder at the others as she ran inside.

“This way!”

Vincent closed the door and slid down the wall into a seated position. He could barely see in the dim light of Kat's sigil.

"Anyone hurt?" Vincent called out to the people in the room.

"ARE YOU HURT?" A robotic voice beeped from a corner of the dark room.

Kat's sigil dimly illuminated the dusty white floors, empty white walls, stacked padded chairs, and plastic-wrapped machines of an unfinished infirmary. Covered hospital beds were lined against the wall to the left, and curtain rollers had been installed without curtains. Directly across from the door was a set of double-doors labeled "SURGERY", a smaller door labeled "STAIRS", another labeled "TOILET", and the last: "ROOMS 8F1 - 8F4".

The wall to the right had been stuffed with shelves of boxes and hospital supplies. There was also a big, metallic blue robot with flashing eyes.

"DO YOU HAVE AN APPOINTMENT?" the robot announced eagerly. It creaked as it stepped out of its corner and whirred toward the gathered group. "ALL THE MEDICAL PROFESSIONALS ARE CURRENTLY BUSY. IS THIS AN EMERGENCY?"

BANG BANG SCRATCH

The door to the outside rattled as the Grit pushed and scraped at it, determined to get at the prize that had got away.

Somewhere in the distance outside, a long low howl rang out.

The Grit abandoned the door, its attention attracted elsewhere. All seemed quiet.

Mirror, Fox, Key: Chapter Two Now Recruiting

Still open. :) *bump*