War of the Dragon (RP)

[nekoryuuha]

For the first time, Maerlyn was taken aback. No one at all? Not even Sylvia or Ceraph...?" she asked before pausing to listen to Jenkins explanation of marrying. She resolved herself to ask Sylvia later. She stated to say something when Jenkins made the inquiry about the Harpy store. The woman fell silent as she looked back up at the sky. "Someone once say, that if you visit certain mountain forests and fall asleep away from the group, you would be awakened to the sight of a beautiful, winged woman smelling of fragrant oils that would fulfill your every sexual desire. But take care, for she is no woman, but a Harpy in disguise. And if you continue to sate your lusts with her, you'll be eaten, never to return home again." She looked at him, her gaze undecipherable. "Is this the story you speak of, Jenkins?" she asked, having recited it almost word for word.

[GamerKale]

"That would be the one, well one of them at least. And no, not even Sylvia or Ceraph. Not that I think I have anything to worry about when it comes to the cleric. That's just the way I am, if you can't handle that then we should stop this before I get too emotionally invested." His eyes became tinged with yellow and the ring stopped radiating. "With recent events I get the feeling that would be bad for everybody involved." Jenkins stood and moved to the opposite side of the crow's nest from Maerlyn, he found himself welcoming the biting cold. A more fitting companion than a traitorous harpy.
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The ring around Zorlo's neck pulsed, hungry for the fear Jenkins was feeling. Both fear of himself should he lose himself to his suddenly very dominant emotions and fear of betrayal, which may have been helped along a little by the ring. The paladin's presence made it difficult for it to affect anybody else, but the farmboy was more vulnerable even at this distance.

[nekoryuuha]

Maerlyn watched him silently as she stepped back slightly to lean against the wall of the Crow's nest. This was all so new and confusing to her. Harpies just weren't this complicated in the nature of offspring. "Then... I'm going to tell you something, so that you can make a decision yourself. Harpies are known to rarely let anything not Captivated by their songs approach within 10 feet of them. Do you know why, Jenkins...?" she asked him as she ran a 'hand' down one wing. She didn't wait for him answer.
"One can think of it as protection. You've seen me up close, held me, touched me. You can tell that I'm far less sturdy then you. So 'Protection' can be considered the reason. But there's another. Secrecy. If you don't know they're dangerous, wouldn't you be put on guard if they smelled like death? Harpies normally carry the scent of the things they kill. We're very messy eaters after all. But the Harpy in the stories don't have that smell even when she reveals herself. Odd, don't you think...? " She opened her wings and fanned the air at him, the breeze warm and smelling of warm, scented oils and her own musky scent. But the scent she said Harpies smelled of, the dying meat, wasn't there. Even though she ate the Mastiff just over a day ago. "It doesn't, because that Harpy is unique. The story's are only partially true become it's near always the same Harpy. Those Stories aren't about all Harpies.... They're about me..." she finished, waiting for his response.

[GamerKale]

The stories are all about Maerlyn? That's, that's just so utterly ridiculously absurd! There was only one thing to do in this situation. "Ahahahahahahahaha!" Jenkins started laughing uncontrollably. He managed to turn around and look at Maerlyn and his eyes weren't giving off any light and he couldn't stop laughing. Of all the possible things she could have said, she said something so utterly impossible I simply can't help myself. I finally fall for a girl and not only is she a harpy but she is the harpy. "I'm haha I'm just heheheh this is just ahahah" Jenkins finally put his hand in his mouth and bit down to stop himself laughing. He didn't bother healing it right away. "I believe you. I just don't know how I'm supposed to react. It's so utterly and perfectly ridiculous. You are the harpy and I want you to commit yourself entirely to a farmboy." He sat down and looked up at Maerlyn, suddenly feeling the weight of things. "Maerlyn, we can talk about what we've done and what we want from each other, but when it comes down to it we just have to ask ourselves one simple question. Do we have the capacity to love one another?" He looked at her with suddenly very tired but violet eyes.

[nekoryuuha]

Maerlyn wasn't really sure as to what to say as Jenkins exploded into laughter. It definitely wasn't the reaction she first thought would come from him. But then, this was also better then the worst case reaction she'd been prepared for. But when she listened to his explanation, even she had to smile as she sat on the railing and relaxed as he finished. "Seems like an easy enough question, I guess...." she said as she looked up at the stars. "Say...what's 'Love', exactly?"

[GamerKale]

"Color to a blind man." Jenkins said with a heavy sigh. This isn't going to work, is it? He took a long sip of rum, the glow changing to blue, Well, it's no longer of a shot than beating Drelliel, so I'll try. He stood and wrapped his arms around Maerlyn's shoulders and looked up at the stars as well, "It's like if joy were a blanket you could wrap yourself up in and... I don't know. You just know it when you feel it. Although it is often confused with lust, but that has a kind of reddish- blind man." His eyes dulled to their human green circles as he discarded the subject, "You want me to stay for the remainder of your watch?"

[Zorolo]

Zorlo sat up and cracked his neck. He'd finally gotten enough sleep to justify getting up and going out for a walk. The green-haired man went onto the deck and watched the water flow quietly back and forth. "It's peaceful... oddly so... I'm not sure what to make of this," the Paladin said as he looked behind him. "What do you think, Sylvia?" he asked, preventing her from sneaking up on him.

The Cleric sighed. "Drat... you're good," she mumbled, crossing her arms and stepping over towards the edge of the ship. "So... what are we gonna do... after that dragon is dead?"

Zorlo shrugged. "We'll figure that out after this, ya know? No sense in worrying about things that haven't happened yet. Plus, it isn't like our lives are terribly complex. We should feel bad for the others after this. We return to service of the temples when this adventure is done... but what do they do? After all, their mundane lives aren't exactly a nice way to break themselves of being formerly important."

The woman blinked and looked thoughtfully at Zorlo. He was right... of course. She hadn't thought of it that way. "R-really? You mean... people will just forget?"

Zorlo nodded. "Not at first... but as time passes, they will forget. These events will become like a dream to them if peace is restored... and slowly, those heroes that saved them will become the figures of stories, disproportionally distant from the original purpose. Aside from that, there'll likely be other changes, but that is unimportant."

Sylvia seemed thoughtful as she stood on deck and watched Zorlo. "So... what can we do?"

Zorlo laughed. "The same thing we always do... go somewhere else. After all, both of our kinds aren't specifically attached to anything. Why not go somewhere remote to get away from it all?" he asked, smiling.

"Hmm..." Sylvia said as she looked at the ring around his neck. "What about them. Can they come?"

Zorlo shrugged. "Only if they want to."

[GamerKale]

The rest of the voyage passes uneventfully and they arrive back in Seat in the late afternoon. Captain Newgate bids you all farewell and suggests that each of you consider joining his crew full time, he does not tear up but he does take the musket back from Jenkins and hands each of you a number of coins. Notably he hands Ceraph and Sylvia a much smaller share and Shanks apparently didn't even get that. Either he had already been paid or he wasn't going to be. An odd looking woman tackles Jenkins. "UNCLE!" "Vi? What are you doing here?" "Professor Stanfield sent me to retrieve you and your friends." "Professor Stanfield?" "My brother. He failed to mention he had suddenly become a professor." "He also mentioned something about a "special case" and gave me a scroll of teleportation to bring her to his classroom." "He probably meant Ceraph, she's definitely a special case." "Cool, so I'll just take her and see you all at the tower then? Oh yeah, Jenny-" "Victor." "Uncle, what happened to your eyes? They're purple and glowing. "Oh that, it's uh... Maerlyn. It's Maerlyn's fault. She cast a spell on me." "Maerlyn? Who's-" Vi's eyes fell on the disguised harpy. "Oh, no, ****!" Vi shoved Jenkins into the drink. "You disappear, we all think you're dead and you're off with some floozy on a pleasure cruise!" Jenkins flounders for a moment before he grabs hold of the pier. "Vi, I have not been on a pleasure cruise. I will be happy to tell you all about it when I am not sopping wet!" He grabs Vi by the ankle and drags her into the water too. "Ah! *gargle gargle* Jenkins pulls himself and then the woman up and she punches him in the arm. "Why'd you do that, now I'm wet too." One magic spell later and she was completely dry and her hair was perfect once again. "And now you're not. You still haven't figured out how to break that polymorph spell, I see. Isn't there an archmage who should be able to undo that around there somewhere?" "What can I say? When I botch a spell, I botch a spell. At least I'm not blue like the secretary. So, where's Ceraph?" "I'm sure she'll be along shortly. Oh right, introductions. This is my niece, Violet. Violet this is Zorlo, his fiance Sylvia, Maerlyn, Rain, and apparently Mr. Stanfield. We've just been calling him Shanks though."

[nekoryuuha]

"Nice to meet you, Vi-dear," Maerlyn replied as she absently placed a hand on the large water/wine sack she had hanging from her hip. Not that there was likely any liquid left inside it anymore since it was now a hiding place for Ceraph while the party was around town, much like Maerlyn's own disguise. She happy to also note that like before, the disguise's hair color reflected her Feather color, giving her long, fiery-red & Orange hair.
But that was beside the point. Being Shanks' brother meant the Professor was also an Elf. And judging by Vi here, his knowledge of them coming, and producing the teleportation scroll, it was likely he knew magic. An Elven wizard to ask about Spectral Dragons. She had to smile at that. It's like we're being guided... Hell, maybe we are, she thought to herself as she crossed her arms. "Say, Vi? I'd actually like to go as well. Ceraph's pretty shy, after all. so It might be easier for you and her if I go along to," the Harpy explained with kind, but knowing smile.

[Zorolo]

Zorlo looked at Jenkins. "Shanks? I've been calling him uncle, but that's something else."

Sylvia shrugged. "Whatever, Z, for now, let's look around town. I don't want to just stand around and do nothing! Come on!" she said, dragging Zorlo off somewhere to look for something. She wasn't quite sure WHERE she would finding something that wasn't magical related, but for now, she didn't care.

Zorlo simply sighed. Things were so incredibly complex, and yet he couldn't help but remain calm during these events. He still had fights to solve if this dragon could be killed. And even after that, things wouldn't get any easier. After that he'd have to start playing the "married" man to Sylvia. "Such misfortune," Zorlo said to himself with a heavy sigh.

[GamerKale]

"You can take more than one person with you, yes child?" Vi Looked at Shanks indignantly, "I'm no child. And yes, I can, up to myself and three others. Assuming I get the scroll to work right. Teleportation is still an advanced spell for me." "I'm sure you'll do fine. I'll be going with you, Ceraph, and Maerlyn." "What about me?" "Go dry off. You'll get everything soggy as you are now." "And who's fault is that?" "Can't hear you, casting a spell." Vi opened up her spellbook, apparently scroll didn't necessarily mean an actual scroll as she cast the spell from the book's pages. "Guess I should get to walking."

The classroom is covered in green light from the glass wall behind a wall of green plants in the back of the room. There are several empty tables covered in the most heinous of torture devices pens and ink wells, all of the materials needed for written tests. At the head of the classroom is an elf with long red hair leaning back in a chair with his face hidden by a thick stack of papers in hand, probably the test. "Cool, it worked. So this means I get a one hundred and don't have to take the test tomorrow, right?" "That's correct, Violet. You may go now." "Woot!" Violet skipped out of the room. And professor Stanfield set the papers down smiling, "Maerlyn, good to see you again, I'm glad you're making good use of my necklace. Aratarilfran, it's been a while since we've seen one another." "You're not wearing the doctor get up, are you even still going by Kale?" "When it comes up, yes. Mostly I'm called Professor Stanfield or just Professor." "So what, he bribed you with what tenure? "That and he gave me full run of the libraries." "You mind if I?" "No, please. Hit him once for me." Shanks left the room, apparently to go beat somebody. "We have some time before the others get here, I don't have any more classes today, and you have a questioning look in your eyes. What's up?"

((Recap for Kai, if he needs it and sees this. There was a little drama on the ship, but nothing really that worthy of note and the party is back in Seat. Where the story started. Jenkins is walking to the wizard's tower and Maerlyn, Ceraph, and Shanks just got teleported there by Jenkins's niece. Zorlo and Sylvia are off exploring the city.))

[nekoryuuha]

Maerlyn merely chuckled as Vi and Shanks left. "You again... First as a Doctor, then a Professor. I'm starting to wonder if I should be amazed or wary of you, but that would be neither here nor there. Oh!" She paused to reach down and take off the wine sack, uncapping the top as she lowered it. "By the way, this is Ceraph, whom we came across on what His Grace, Marco, called the Isle of Hope," she suddenly said as the Slime-girl flowed out into a large, thick puddle before forming up into the humanoid form she usually took. Shyly, she waved at Kale before sliding slightly behind Maerlyn's leg. "Cute, isn't she? But anyway, Yes, I do have a Question. I was told to seek out information from an Elven Wizard about the 'Children of the Spectral Dragons'. Ever heard of them, Professor?"

[GamerKale]

"Yes she is." Kale waved back at Ceraph and then picked up a wand from his desk and made his way to the back of the room. "I'm not a wizard, but I am an Elf, and I know a little about the spectral dragons and their "children". Not sure if there are any elven wizards left anyways. Spectral dragons are a subset of an extremely rare and long extinct breed of dragon known as void dragons." He waved the wand and words and images made of light began forming in the air, helping his presentation. "Void dragons breathe things in, rather than out. A red dragon" a red dragon breathing fire appears behind him, "breathes fire out in a cone while a void dragon would breathe things in a cone into their mouths where things are crushed and converted into energy for the dragon. Spectral dragons could breathe in light and also emotion rather than simply consuming everything in their path. Although they could also avoid all of the physical stuff and just take the life straight out of things. I could go on for hours about the myriad theories of how a void dragon became a spectral dragon, but I don't know and since they're all dead it doesn't matter. There were seven spectral dragons, they were each extremely powerful, some text refers to them as gods. Each represented a color and the embodiment of a single emotion and inspired whatever emotion they embodied in those around them. The colors were Red for Rage, Orange for Avarice, Yellow for Fear, Green for Will, Blue for Hope, Indigo for Compassion, and Violet for Love. The light spectrum, hence why they were called Spectral Dragons. As powerful as they were the elves decided to harness that power for their own ends and so the seven were hunted down and rings were made from each of them. These rings were sometimes called their children. The rings had much of their parents' powers, the raw power of each ring varied from child to child though, and for a time things were as intended, but eventually the children took on more of their parents' traits and drove their wearers and all those near them mad and used them as thralls to fight a war between themselves. Most of the rings were destroyed during that conflict and the Dysterria Wastes were created. A handful of the rings survived though and two, one red and one violet, caused that elven war last century and the final conflict between the wearers created El Tear."

[nekoryuuha]

"I... I see..." she replied as she thought about the things that she'd just heard. It was definitely a lot of info to take in at once and even more so as she looked back at the Golden Fear ring from the Isle of Hope and the blue stoned ring he'd taken to wearing lately. She was certain the Yellow was one of them. It even acted like Kale'd just explained, but the blue was different. It seemed to help, but could it be doing more then that...? She wasn't sure, but the more she looked back in it, the more she at least understood the changes Jenkins had been under going this time. It certainly explained his killing the Shadow Mastiff. He sucked out its life and anger. No... He'd been doing it before that, wasn't he? If the blue ring was also a 'Child', then his healing kisses were nothing more then him using Spectral Breath to suck out injuries. If that's the case, I think we've come across not one, but two 'Childs' then... she thought to herself as she looked back at Kale.

"Ummm..." It was Ceraph, of course. The girl was so quiet that the Harpy had nearly forgotten her. "What's... 'El Tear'...?" she asked. It was just as well. Maerlyn wasn't sure if it was wise to give up the information she'd just learned.

"And if you wouldn't mind, I've got another question after you answer Ceraph's," Maerlyn added in. "Namely, what do you think would have to a person with prolonged exposure to one of those rings?"

[GamerKale]

"Oh, right. Aratarilfran mentioned you were ignorant." A map of the continent appeared, oddly missing the giant wall of mist that covered the majority of it. "Oh." Kale gasped before he applied the mists. "That line scarring the area north of here." Seat lit up for a second on the map. "That is El Tear, it's a giant ravine. Literally a tear in the earth's crust. This massive area down here is the Dysterria Wastes, a vast desert, well it was, but now it's all glass and... Elf ashes."

Kale turned to Maerlyn and shrugged, "If your concern is for the paladin, I wouldn't worry. His deity will shield him from the ring's effects. Although, it is unlikely he will ever have a good night's sleep again while he carries the fear with him. If you're simply asking from a purely academic point of view, my guess would be that the bearer would have a strong desire to put the ring on, but as long as they aren't wearing it the worst that should happen is they feel the ring's emotion strongly admittedly a particular powerful ring might be able to do more than simply influence the emotions of those nearby. It's like if you had a ring of feather fall in your pocket, it's a handy magic item, but completely useless if you're not wearing it. But in the instance of the spectral rings even if they put one on, they wouldn't be able to do much except be consumed by the emotion and become slave to the ring's will. They were designed so that only we could access their abilities, of course, that also makes us much more susceptible to their influence."

[nekoryuuha]

((Sorry, everyone. I've been really deep into Elsword & Rusty Hearts amongst other things.))


Maerlyn merely nodded as Ceraph tilted her head slightly. "Okay..." Ceraph replied at first as Maerlyn thought silently to herself. Seeing that no one seemed to mind her asking questions, she decided to continue. "What's glass & Elf ashes? And why is... is... " she paused a moment. "...that place full of it?" she asked before another thought interrupted her child-like curiosity. "Come to think of it...What's a Desert...?" she added in off-handedly as Maerlyn tried not to explode with laughter. Regardless, this wasn't a bad way to breach the seriousness of the topics floating in her head. And so, the two waited dutifully for Kale's answer.

[GamerKale]

Kale sighed, "Ignorant was an understatement." He withdrew a palm sized silver object from his pocket and used it to light one of the tests on fire before he moved some of the plants aside and knocked on the clear wall behind. "This is glass. It's hard and transparent, meaning you can see through it. Not all glass is perfectly transparent though and many types are colored." He replaced the plants and returned to the now destroyed test. Kale picked up a handful of the black ashes and tossed them at Ceraph. "That is ash. It is what typically remains when something is burned. Specifically those are paper ashes. And I am an Elf. So knowing all of that, what are Elf ashes? Right ashes created by an elf being burned. As for a desert." Kale changed to a different wand and touched it to Ceraph's "head". She found herself in well a desert the only flaw being that she wasn't actually being dried out though she felt as though she were. He then tapped Maerlyn as well, casting her into the same illusion. "A desert is a hot nearly lifeless place where water is scarce and the ground beneath you is tiny coarse particles at night the temperature drops drastically because the sand does not hold heat well." He let her suffer the illusion for a minute before he placed the wand upon their crown's again. This time a rainbow of terribly painful and powerful raw magical power passed over and through them, when it was done the desert sands were replaced by burning glass beneath their feet. Kale sat at his desk and waited for them to either break free or the illusion to fade.
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Jenkins was unfamiliar with the city, but it was hard to get lost when your goal was a giant tower. He was within sight of the main gate when something unexpected happened. A dark haired man with an angular face and clad in blue robes came running out of the front entrance, chased by Shanks. Who suddenly ran into an invisible wall. The dark haired wizard stopped next to Jenkins breathing heavily. "Wall of force, works every time." Shanks punched the wall and cracks appeared in the air. "The hell? That's never happened before. Surely it's just a fluke." Another blow and more cracks spidered through the air towards the sides of the archway. "Huh, I'm sure I cast that right." "Archmage?" Jenkins asked uncertain. "What? Oh, yes that's me. Archamge Xander Rickel, you can just call me Xander. Have we met?" "Uh, no, but cu- cot- con- things made me think that you were who you are. Like an angry elf trying to kill you." "Now why would you think an elf would want to kill me?" "Stig told me about what happened the day Drelliel was freed." "Oh, so are you going to help him?" "No, but I'm working on trying to deal with the dragon problem you created." "Oh good, humans, or whatever you are mr. glowing red eyes, taking an interest in trying to save themselves. Can't wait to hear the story later. Anyways, I have to run." "Actually, wait, there's one more little thing you could do for me, if you don't mind." Xander looked at the spiderweb that had been his wall and sighed. "Make it quick." Jenkins kissed Xander and started draining his emotions. The archmage shoved Jenkins away, confused and as Jenkins could tell frightened, much more of him than the elf that had just broken through his wall of force. Jenkins waited and watched the chase for a minute. Why did I just try to kill him? Oh right, he caused all of this. Not like killing him will help any though, but he had a lot of whatever that bluish purple one is. His eyes faded back to green circles as he entered the tower and was met with a strange sight. The receptionist was a woman whose entire body seemed to be dyed blue, he blinked several times making sure his eyes weren't in mood ring mode before he stopped trying to figure it out. "Uh hi, I'm Jenkins and I'm looking for professor uh what was the name again?" "Stanfield?" She asked smiling helpfully. "Uh, yes I think that was it." "He's expecting you. Just take the disk in that alcove up to the seventeenth floor and follow the signs for "Magic Devices"." "Thanks uh," "Blue, it's what everyone calls me." "Thanks Blue." Jenkins made his way to the alcove, he looked at the floating disk on the ground doubtfully. "If you're not busy later, you want to get a drink?" "Uh, maybe, I'm kind of busy. Trying to stop a dragon from killing everyone and stuff." "Haven't heard that one before. Just get on and say seventeen." "Ok, thanks again Blue. Seventeen." Jenkins found himself whooshing up to the seventeenth floor and got off the disk unsteadily as he started looking for the room.

[nekoryuuha]

At first, Maerlyn was amused by the effects even as she watched Ceraph's reactions to what she could 'see' and felt from the Illusions and calming her after the wave of pain that turned the desert to glass. "I have to admit this is quite the illusion..." she murmured as she stooped to pick up a piece of the cracked glass beneath her.

"Illusion? What's that?" Ceraph asked, distracted from her own looking around.

Maerlyn shook her head. "No, Don't worry about that yet. Take a look at the glass. You won't see it like this normally," Maerlyn replied as she handed the piece of glass to Ceraph, whom engulfed it for a 'better feel'. The Harpy replied, shifting on the hot glass as she noticed that Ceraph appeared to be panting and was dripping more from the heat. As Much as she wanted Ceraph to continue learning, this had gone on long enough. Almost as if hearing her decision, the illusion shimmered and wavered for a moment before vanishing, leaving them back in the classroom with Kale. Ceraph looked around a moment, once more confused before she realized they were back. Maerlyn moved to start fanning the heated Slime-girl gently with her wings. "That was rather informative, Kale. Thanks," she said.

[Zorolo]

Zorlo and Sylvia walked around quietly. In reality, they were just killing time while the others did their stuff. They couldn't help, nor affect the others, but they also couldn't really do anything themselves for now. The two simply sat down to dinner and watched the people move about the city.

"Sure is odd... to think this could all be gone soon, huh?" Sylvia asked, causing Zorlo to pause before he was about to bite into his food.

Z simply nodded and sighed. "I guess. I think that if we don't do anything about it, then it will be the end... but I don't plan to let things end that way. No sir!" Zorlo said proudly as he bumped his fist against his chest. He had new armor and a new sword. He'd use these tools to the fullest and slay the monsters.

"Really ready, huh, Mr. Paladin. Well, let's keep on our toes. I'm sure our allies will need us!"

Zorlo nodded and smiled. "Yes. Yes they will. But for now, we eat!" Zorlo exclaimed as he dug into his food. Sylvia simply laughed and followed his lead.