Mokley

Wings Askew

So, who's still hanging out who plans to post? ;)

Mirror, Fox, Key

@c3p-0h yep, absolutely! Go for it! :D

Moonfiend

Eevee? Yes. Probably. Queen Eevee. Cute and cuddly and means well but isn't too effective -- but there's so much potential.

The Tales of Winding

Today was Tuesday -- the second Tuesday in Summer, in fact -- and what a beautiful Tuesday it was. White puffy clouds scudded softly across the blue sky like cottony tortoises floating on their backs. Sunlight gleamed and twinkled on the gold and blue gilding of the village clock tower, which ticked and tocked and bonged nine times for the morning.

The wide open village square was full of wooden carts with baskets of unusually bright fruits, and bunches of flowers, and fresh-caught fish, and polished trinkets from the far end of the Long Road. A gaggle of children ran laughing through the square trailing a long-tailed kite in the sky above them, happily disturbing the customers of the Glass Key Cafe, who sat outside at little tables with their blueberry pancakes and apricot tea.

The mayor, this morning, was doing just that. Mayor Thistlecatch poured strawberry syrup on her pancakes and ate while she listened to the Pooths' latest security report.

The Pooths stood on the mayor's little wooden table in the square, huddled together and jabbering, while Boo Pooth cleared his throat. "Miss Agatha's feline companion was reported missing at five o-eight in the evening yesterday," Boo recited. "At five-fifteen we split up and commenced a search of the village for signs of Miss Agatha's feline companion. At ten-forty we reconvened and declared Miss Agatha's feline companion to have gone missing without a trace."

"That's the fourth one since last week," the mayor mused, and she took a thoughtful bite of blueberry pancake. "Has there been any activity at the watchmaker's shop?"

"No movement has been sighted or reported since Mister Skilton was last seen at the Glass Key Cafe on Sunday last week at eight o-five in the evening according to Miss Lark." Boo stood straight and solemn before his siblings, who tittered and fidgeted behind him.

"Well, keep an eye on the shop for me, will you? Thank you for the update." The mayor bowed her head with a smile, and the Pooths saluted her and clambered their way off the table, their little bells jingling.

Mayor Thistlecatch opened to the last page of her sketchbook and resumed work on her drawing of the clock tower. The days were clear and peaceful -- and if the only problems plaguing the village lay in missing cats and a reclusive watchmaker, there was little for the mayor to do but to watch and to listen to the hum of the village.

The Tales of Winding

Excellent -- added to the list!

I plan to post today if all goes well and the coffee keeps flowing. As previously discussed, I'd like to try and focus the beginning of gameplay on separately identifying how the weird changes in Winding are directly affecting your character, and what (if anything) they're going to do about it. No pressure to acknowledge the existence of the other characters if they don't naturally pass by one another in the course of the day.

Just thinking aloud, and some points for myself to come back to now and again. I'm used to dropping characters immediately in the middle of disaster, and I'd like to challenge myself to keep things entertaining without falling back on characters' survival instinct, haha.

Edit: Post done!

I invite everyone to simply post about your character's morning, and I'll respond to that. This is mostly just to set the scene, but should anyone like to interact with the mayor or the Pooths you're of course free to do so.

There's also an update on the Characters tab for these new NPCs. :)

Unquiet

@shylarah Go to get killed, to save Amune and Grace from harm -- but then, she did say that she can't die, so who knows?

Unquiet

“Something’s watching. It’s big, and it’s close.” One hand went to grasp Nor’s clothing, seeking comfort from someone she could trust. “I’m scared...what do we do? I don’t want it to find us.”

She floated into the cavern, and she saw three. Two were also prisoners from the Stone, and the third was the 'scared god'. Rose cleared her throat, "You two must step aside." She said, nodding towards Amuné and Grace. "I have business with the other one."

"We have to go," She said, once more bundling the voiceless girl into her arms and hurrying further into the cavern.

"I don't know what you are," She said silently, pushing her thoughts deeper into the cave, "But I will accept you if you help me protect these two."

While Rose struggled in the grip of stone hands, the trio escaped deeper into the cavern, past the last of the bones and swords, past the reach of the dim stormy light.

Nor breathed quickly, her thin arms draped around Grace's neck as they sprinted along the uneven stone, and she stared back at the cave opening and at Rose who had been sent to kill her.

"I'll go," she said in her lilting language that only Amune could understand -- but when she looked down to the little girl all she saw was terror. Nor knew that if she gave herself to the woman at the cavern entrance, Amune would be left without a friend -- but if she remained, Amune was in danger of being killed in the crossfire. Desperately, she reached down over Grace's shoulder, beckoning Amune to take her hand. "I am here, you are safe. Please, Amune."

The floor of the cavern dipped and led them down a rough incline, where a few trailing weeds and vines led the way into the deeper, wider, darker rooms. Wet stalagmites glittered in the last gleams of light; walls of twisting pale formations peeked from behind pillars of old stone; a lake like black glass was at the room's center, with a trail of still water that stretched into an arched corridor at the opposite end. Another hallways stretched to their right, filled with a forest of stalagtites and stalagmites. Everything was completely, stiflingly silent. Stepping into this cavern was like entering a new world that had yet to be formed.

Grace would feel a presence in her mind -- a new knowledge, like a memory just remembered. The God of the Caverns, Shaiollesh, was with her. It was a quiet, patient, and very old presence, strengthened by a drop of Grace's blood and the reach of her mind to its own. Through Shaiollesh, Grace knew that the one that pursued them worked in submission to Lha-tak, the God of Natural Disaster, and that there was much danger from such power that Shaiollesh could not control -- but the God of Caverns' power could be channeled through Grace, and they might escape.

Grace knew that she determined where the cavern corridors would lead -- she could create hallways, change their direction, or block them completely with only a thought and a touch of the stone. It would be done soundlessly, as if the cavern had always been according to her will. She could also feel the location of the room below the Stone, the one below the broken floor, where the gears and cogs had ground up many of their fellow prisoners.

A little songbird trilled within the cavern -- the only sound besides their own footsteps. Amune, especially, would feel within the bird a presence of comfort and love, like a mother to her child. The little bird's eyes glowed blue, little pinpricks of light in the dark cavern. It could do nothing on its own, but it would watch over them, flapping overhead from perch to perch. It asked nothing of them.

"Excuse me, Kitty and Birdie." She would not ever use their full names as they were no god of hers. "I regret to inform you, uh, big fellas that I'm not buying what you're selling. N-nope. I refuse both of you... I mean... all of you. You can't just walk up to a girl and proposition them out of nowhere. You have to earn her trust first."

Ngubrath, the bear-panther, the God of Volcanoes, turned on Rain in a heartbeat. Its great teeth gleamed in a rumbling hot snarl, and it snapped its jaws in her face, inches from taking her nose clean off. The power and heat its molten body exuded was enough to melt skin should she dare to touch it. Ngubrath stepped forward, forcing Rain back with the power of its hot aura; the ground under her feet started to steam and crack -- but there was little the god could do to the environment without a human to channel the power. It could, however, attack her personally. It could devour her if it chose. It shoved all these thoughts into her mind, and a promise that she would be eaten if she did not comply, for if Ngubrath could not have her then it could not allow another god to claim her.

Behind Rain and to her left, the front door of the Stone was wide open, and just beyond it the gaping hole led down into the machine-filled cavern below the Stone. To her right, a green weedy path led around the side of the Stone, and beyond it the cliff dropped steeply.

Th'ctu, the owl, the God of Dreams, gave Rigby a swift kick; the child stumbled with a yelp, grumbling. After a moment, though, his eyes widened -- and he grinned broadly. "All right, all right, I gotcha." Rigby stood up straight, and he closed his eyes and stepped toward the cliff -- his body seemed to dissipate into thin air.

He stepped out of the air beside the crumbled doorway, his outstretched to his sides. "Whoa, trippy." He laughed, and forgot that he was supposed to be helping Rain out of her predicament.

The Tales of Winding

@Bombardier this is definitely creative, haha. Approved! So is his guard tower. If you want to write up a few sentences on it I can add to the locations list. :)

As for the origin of the dung, the village's waste has to go somewhere...

The Tales of Winding

@Bombardier Go ahead, slap one up there, let's see what ya got! :D

Unquiet

@shylarah Aw, hope you feel better soon! <3

So what would Amune do at this moment? :)