Dance of Fire, OOC chat and summaries

All sorts of out of character chat.
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water
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Dance of Fire, OOC chat and summaries

Post by water »

This is the official chat and summary thread for Dance of Fire, the plotline involving rampaging Djinn and a woman named Nalinthine. We're tentatively planning sessions on Wednesday evenings from 9:00 pm EST onward.

Don't forget to join #talktalk on darkmyst for all the ballpit fun you could ever, ever want.

*pelts*

ALSO, PARTY PEOPLE- feel free to hit bornfor up on skype (bornforwater) or in PM or on the forums to request one-on-one time. He's absolutely willing to do this, just has been busy as crap recently. Request, and it shall (hopefully) be yours! These once-a-week things are all that's set in stone, not necessarily all that will happen.

Keep your eyes here for super fun happy tiemz.

Not one of the superheroes, and want to be one? Just jump in! Almost all of what we do is open to general public, and intentionally so. We love new people (especially ones that show up regularly). Please be one!

SUMMARY OF EVERYTHING PRIOR TO THERE BEING A FORUM POSTis right here, more recent stuff is divided into new posts by weeks below!

(warning, wall(s?)otext)

PART I
1. Nalin released various small animals with “quiet “ rabies in the city. Mark, living in the Wharf as a dog, saw her doing this and figured out what she was doing. Nalin noticed him noticing her, drove him mad with a simple touch, and saw to it that he himself was contaminated with rabies. “Quiet” rabies spreads like wildfire among pets and the poor in the city, though it is nearly unrecognizable as a disease. The only symptoms are sleepiness and a raised body temperature.
2. Mark went to the Inn to try to find someone to help. He is unable to communicate and ends up getting killed by a group of adventurers- Bullbound (bob), jadmai, and others.
3. Nalin procured a human servant (Bullbound) who is capable of working summoning magics that she herself cannot.
4. Nalin had this servant (Bullbound/Bob) procure samples of holy water, as well as many other minor things. He was forbidden to enter her house.
5. The ghost of Mark Hindfoot appears two times- once in the street, trying to communicate but unable, once in the Inn attacking people. It is always accompanied by a female voice screaming loudly in Arangothek about a woman and a book, and how she is “speading it, please listen- she is spreading it, and she must not get the book.” Unfortunately, being in Arangothek, these words are not understood, or poorly so. The warnings go unheeded.
6. Nalin has Bob pick up a delivery from the Dondarel estate- a rather poorly-wrapped beautiful old gem-encrusted book with a large red ruby in the center. It has an odd magnetic draw to it, and one can hardly resist the temptation to read it. Bob becomes entranced by this thing, calling it his “precious” and refusing to let it go- except to Nalinthine, of course.
7. Nalin kidnaps Oliver, Bullbound, Lauryl, Elsal Koehlas, Jadmai and many others. These are held captive in a large underground cavern beneath her home in the RLD.
8. The spectral image of a half-elf frees Oliver and Jadmai from their bonds once Bob and Lauryl have been carried off to a main chamber- she speaks softly first in Arangothek, then in Common- and her touch is icy, icy cold. She fades in and out of view, and then finally altogether.
9. The adventurers acquire a sapphire and moonstone dagger from the chest of a dead elf, and find a young noble called Snurri ul-Kaduti ul-Marten Dondarel.
10. A fight ensues when the summoning of the Djinn (Nalin’s ultimate plan) goes horribly, horribly wrong. Bob, rather than reading the incantation forwards, reads it backwards- and only partially. Lauryl’s struggles on the large pillar knock the soul gem free, and it impacts with an enchanted dockworker called Evander. The half-summoned Djinn inhabits his body, and he and Nalin turn on the adventurers.
11. After the large fight, in which Oliver is horribly burned and Nalin escapes and Evander seemingly returns to normal, it is revealed that Snurri ul-Marten is the original summoner of Nalinthine. He had been suffering from amnesia caused by a spell from Nalinthine. He had utterly forgotten that she even existed, until he saw her face and heard her name. After the revelation, his personality totally changes- from that of mouse to normal man.
12. The captives all seemingly return to normal, losing their enchantedness- Snurri leads them out of the cavern. He pays for any healing they need, and also pays to keep the authorities’ noses out of this. He is so thorough that rumors are mostly disregarded as just that- rumors and speculation by gossips. He has been the center of rumor before, after all.
13. Evander, the dock worker, and Bob, the survivalist, are frog-marched to the royal church where their addiction to the ruby-encrusted book is cured. After this, the book is secreted away to gods-only-know-where, and well-hidden.
14. The adventurers are handsomely compensated and left to their own devices- Snurri retreats back into his house.

PART II

15. Concerned about the book, the group starts hiring people to try and break into Snurri’s house to find it. They want to destroy it. They hire one Alain.
16. Lauryl visits Snurri in the afternoon, finds him peaceful and reserved. He gives her a necklace in the form of a hand with an open book and an eye on it. This is later shown to have the power to make people treat her more fairly and kindly.
17. Alain successfully breaks into Snurri’s house, stealing the book and bypassing almost all security measures. He also takes several vials of essential oils, a letter from Nalinthine to her former master, and some other odds and ends.
18. Alain presents the letter and some of the oils to Jadmai and Bob in the Inn. Bob takes one of the sheets of the letter, and, unable to read it, goes marching in the streets declaring that the end is nigh. He is picked up by the guard, and because of his babbling, Oliver and Lauryl are as well.
19. Oliver, Bob and Lauryl are interrogated by the guard. After determining that Bob is most likely completely mad (the guard would have heard of such a huge thing as a fight belowground involving djinn, after all), all three are released. Bob is given a warning and told that he should see a mental health practitioner.
20. Due to suspicion cast upon him by the letter that Bob holds and the rumors on the street, Snurri ul-Kaduti is held overnight until specialists in djinn language can be found (the letter was in Djinni). During the afternoon of his second day in jail, Alain walks into the building and has a conference with the young noble- after some negotiations, the note that incriminated the man vanishes entirely- and Snurri is released. Though Snurri tries his best to reason with Alain about letting the book go, the man refuses.
21. Alain, in the meantime, hides the book in some hidden place. Where, no one is sure.
22. A ghost appears in the inn, a young woman- she slaps Bob, stabs his hand with a quill, after writing some rather telltale words- “I live in the book, you idiot, and you didn’t listen when I told you.” She vanishes soon afterward, but is followed by Ravynetti Tivuard.
23. She manifests again in the garden of the ul-Marten estate, sitting on a bench near the apple tree. Her essence is captured by the necromancer from afar, who determines that she is not a ghost at all- but some kind of remnant of a still-living soul elsewhere. Something beneath the tree anchors her to this place- but also to someplace far, far away. Acting out of motivations purely of his own, he places her in a temporary physical form- telling her that it will last a week, and a week only. The woman determinedly sets about to do what she needs to.
24. Snurri ul-Kaduti ul-Marten’s home is ransacked and emptied. The young noble vanishes completely, leaving not only a ruined house, but a dug-up garden, as well. The apple tree that Lauryl had sat under is ripped from the ground, roots and all. It lies dying on its side.
25. Bob enters the house to investigate, and finds nothing- until he enters the master bedroom. There, the figure of a woman in an ice form greets him in a familiar manner- threats and harsh words. She looks oddly like Nalinthine, and introduces herself as Nasada- just Nasada. After some talking together, it is revealed that she does not have much time left in this body. A picture of herself, drawn with familiar hand, portrays her as a living half-elf with blonde hair. She does not know what she is, but has some information for Bob, even though he is apparently a complete idiot and has ignored her warnings in the past. She tells him of a dock worker which has been acting erractically- and implies that it might be worth looking into.
26. When anyone checks the home for her or any trace of Snurri later on, they are both gone without a trace.
27. Bob, ignoring the advice of the guards, hires Lucian to do some scouting out in the city, to try and find out who or what is still spreading the silent rabies. Lucian discovers that the dock worker, Evander, is waking up in the middle of the night and walking around laying hands on both people and animals. Soon afterward, every living being that the man touches at night manifests the disease.
28. Bob heads down to the docks to visit the worker during twilight, just before sunset- finds him to be a simple man both in mind and in habit. When the sun goes down, however, the man falls quickly asleep. Bob leaves, then spies the man walking around not too long afterward. When he speaks to him, the change is immediately apparent- the simple-minded fellow is gone, replaced by something intelligent and mysterious. Before they can talk for very long, however, a strange young man on the rooftop of a nearby building shoots a magical bullet into the creature’s body. When it screams and feels pain, Bob feels the same exact pain- and both he and the dock worker end up on the ground. When they reawaken, the strange presence is apparently gone from the dock worker, who flees.
Last edited by water on Thu Apr 18, 2013 6:51 pm, edited 2 times in total.
water
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Week of 17-APR to 24-APR

Post by water »

29. An elderly man in leather, with detached blue eyes, and without emotional expression arrives in the King’s Inn, demanding information on Bob or Lauryl or Oliver. When he encounters Bob, he starts pressuring him to give up the book- insisting that it belongs to him “ by rights”, and that honor insists that he have it. A fight breaks out, in which the man and Bob are shown to be equals- with the help of Jadmai, he is herded towards the door. When Ravynetti Tivuard shows his face, the man shifts form into that of a large black wolfhound, then flees.
30. Alain, the thief in the night who has posession of the book, confronts Helvisu (the odd old man) where he's holed up for his time in the city. The two, while at first mutually distrustful of one another, agree to work together to gather the materials required for destruction of the book... and Nalinthine. They'll need materials, though, which require collection.
31. Nalinthine reappears in the city, first to her half-summoned brother, who exists in the body of Evander ul-Lifield. She gives him a piece of the soul gem which had been used to summon him originally, and keeps seven other pieces for her own use. Evander's night face is instructed to call up "the little ones" that evening, which he does. Being that he is only half-summoned, however, his working goes awry and he ends up calling up about a fourth of the current infected.
32. A small exodus of the infected to the Back Alley draws the attention of the adventurers, who upon following it discover that Nalin has implanted seven key members of the horde with the crystal shards. She is apparently hunting the elf-woman who had been turned to ice by Ravynetti previously, as her soul apparently is required to power the book, and the longer the girl is away from it and in her ice body, the weaker Nalin and Evander grow. A fight breaks out, in which it is established that Nalin, Evander and Bob (likely also Snurri) have got psychic connections to the mob. Each death hurts them physically, with a cumulative effect meaning that after the horde turns on the adventurers present and they begin slaughtering the crystal-bearers and general infected, Nalin flees back into the fire of the street-lamp.
33. There were seven infected which were implanted with crystals by Nalinthine- a man, a woman, a child, a cat, a bat, a dog, and a rat. Four of these have been killed- the man, the woman, the child, and the dog. This leaves three crystal-bearing servants still in the city, and three shards at large. (Not counting the one given to Evander.) Ravynetti has posession of two of the crystals, Alain has destroyed one with his enchanted sword, and the other captured crystal is imbedded in the skull of the dead male bearer which Jadmai has.
34. Bob, lauryl and murdoc are walking in the wharf district, going to see Evander. They spot the man, who hurriedly rushes away through the crowds and to his house. They follow him, only to be surprised by Alain kicking in the back door of the home. Alain banishes the Djinn with a ritual dedicated to his patron, but not before Evander’s night face releases the crystal in his right hand. It is shot at Lauryl, and sinks deeply in- impossible to retrieve. Bob finds himself connected to some kind of strange hive-mind, aware now of the location of one of the crystal servants (a bat). Thinking that he can cripple the movements of Nalin by causing pain to himself and thus to the whole group, he slices open one of his arms and his leg. Lauryl passes out from the damage, and a single bat falls from the sky, a crystal embedded in its chest. This animal is eaten by Vivienne Moreau, a chimera who had happened upon the scene. Bob is dragged to the healers, no one dies. Now there are 5 dead crystal having infected. This left only a cat and a rat.
34. Jadmai discovers that placing the crystals in water eventually causes them to deactivate. They let of steam and forceful winds for several hours- enough to shove a ship along the surface of the water. This kind of deactivation does not harm the remaining crystal bearers in the way that forcible shattering and harvesting does.
34. Bob kills the crystal rat! It is found out that many of the humanoid infected standing together- particularly those with crystals- can generate a powerful protective spell against anyone who tries to harm them (who does not have a djinn signature). They find that infected with crystals- even non-humans like the rat- can whammy someone (Influence), and that the death of one of the crystal-bearers has a larger cumulative effect on the remaining. As their numbers dwindle, the consequences for death become ever greater. Bob's crystal and the rat's crystal fuse into a larger one, egg-shaped and perfectly smooth. Remaining crystal-bearing infected: 1, a yellow-and-white cat called Lenigi.
Last edited by water on Tue Apr 23, 2013 1:55 pm, edited 1 time in total.
water
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Monday updates

Post by water »

This is from the stuff that happened Monday evening. For Sunday, see above post.

The ice creature explains that her name is Nesada, that the body which they see is not her own. It was gifted to her by a man whose name she does not know- and is coming to an end. Her soul is powering the book- same as many souls had before it. It is being consumed for energy by the magics in that book- and the current Djinn’s resemblance to her is no coincidence. Nalin exists only because she pulls power from Nesada’s soul. She had been with Snurri on the night that Nalinthine had been summoned- and a terrible price was paid for the djinn’s entrance into this world. Nesada’s body- she indicates a block of ice under the water, about the size of a corpse, but impossible to look through- has died, and Nesada can never return. She is hiding from Nalin because she knows what revealing herself would cause- Nalin could use her to track the book’s whereabouts, or even summon the book from afar. If she is returned to the book when this body dies, then the djinn will know exactly where it is. It is only because she has eluded Nalin’s clutches that the book remains at large and unfound. She explains to Lauryl that though she shattered the crystal and has sent the silence into remission, she cannot cure her- cannot cure any of them. As far as is known, the disease is permanent. Lauryl will likely never be the same. (But keeps the whammy-ing, hooray!)
Nalin must be killed, however. And Nesada cannot remain here. When this ice body runs out of juice, she will be taken back to that book and have to escape again. With it powered, Nalin can easily track it- and Nesada cannot allow that. She pulls the necklace that Snurri gave Lauryl from around Lauryl’s neck, clasps it between her hands, and then hands it to Murdoc. “Your father was the one man who understood what was going on. He acted with direction. I pray you are a better man than even he. Take this necklace, please. Take it and wrap it around that woman’s neck. “ Whammy! Murdoc probably wants to. … He should. He really ought to. Be a good person, Murdoc. Lauryl cannot touch this necklace, either- or any of the infected- else it will be rendered useless. Put around Nalin’s neck, or touched to her skin, it will paralyze her and all infected- Lauryl and Viv included- making it easier to kill the head honcho. "If things go well… I shouldn't speak in uncertainties, as there is little time for conjecture. But kill that creature, and you may set things back to the way they were." A significant glance at Lauryl.
To everyone present: “Break the crystal on the cover. The dagger that you found should do the trick. …The book is..” She closes her eyes, concentrating. “It’s in the city. A man named Alain. Or… Helvisu. I’m not sure which. I hear both names, so perhaps they are two people. Please.” Then her body falls apart, melts, and BAM, magically they are outside on the farm again, Lauryl mostly unhurt, Faralith drenching wet but with many crystal fragments, and Murdoc with the necklace. The cat hauls ass in the other direction, gone before they can catch it.
water
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Finale, Act 1

Post by water »

The adventurers are in the Inn when Vivianne walks in, acting strangely. Balk divines that she has been affected by Nalin's touch, and has been with her recently. Bob and Vivianne both start reacting to a large magical presence in the distance, which to them seems to be lit golden. Lenigi the cat leads them off towards the thing, while lightening strikes twice in the same spot.
As the group approaches a rundown farmhouse, they see Helvisu, the grizzled old shifter, sitting with the Book spread on his lap. He is reading a passage from the Book. Alain, on seeing them, lifts a hand and tells them to stop approaching. Nalin is trying to light fires so that she can jump closer and disrupt the reading, he explains. They need to help him keep the fires down, otherwise...
Helvisu gets the cat's crystal with the help of Murdoc, and is holding it in his hands when lightening strikes him directly- and then splits out, flickering between each of them. Alain, in the middle of consecrating the ground against fire, is also struck.
The magical effect of the crystal and the book and Helvisu and Nalinthine and lightening-made fire in the pages of the book cause a ripple effect- and the crystal rips the souls from everyone present, transporting them into a different realm.
water
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Finale, Act 2 Scene 1

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The adventurers find themselves inside the book, in a large bubble-like structure. Grass is beneath their feet and everywhere that the bubble goes- but it's a finite area, and beyond the bounds of it there is nothing but sand and distant mountains. A few arabesque buildings with tall spires punctuate the landscape. A statue of a topless and faceless woman holds the Book in outstretched hands. Many djinn are approaching from the distance.
Nalinthine surprises them all, grabbing Lauryl around the mouth from behind, and threatening her life. With the help of Murdoc and Alain and Vivi, Lauryl is freed- but not before Nalin claws the everloving crap out of Lauryl's face. Alain, with the moonstone dagger, stabs Nalinthine in the stomache. Vivianne tackles her, and with snake hair restrains and attacks her at the same time. All of this damage the djinn takes in stride- but when that necklace is put around her neck, and Lauryl and Alain strike the final blows (alain with his sword to her neck, lauryl with an ice arrow to the chest), the djinn is finally and totally killed. She bursts into flames, then is encased in ice due to the enchantment on the necklace.
Just when all seems well, the djinn outside of the large bubble in which the adventurers find themselves start to find ways in. Katemai Paela, in his true form, steps through. Helvisu, mortally wounded by the lightening, tries to make it to the book, but dies before managing. What will they do now?
water
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Finale Act 2 scene 2

Post by water »

Nalin dead, Katemai Paela (the second djinn) steps forth. Lauryl shoots him with an enchanted arrow, and he collapses to dust! They've found an effective weapon, but it's limited in number of uses. More and more djinn make their way through the protective summoning realm's bubble, flooding the space between the adventurers. Lauryl drops many of them, Balk turns into a gigantic blob thing, and Alain and Murdoc attempt to read the book (which had been in the hands of the statue.) Bob distracts the djinn with Jewish folk songs and dance. Vivianne attacks the djinn horde. Alain, seeing more djinn stream in and attack Lauryl, leaves Murdoc to attempt to decipher the words. The book speaks to him deeply, and Murdoc begins to read. Nesada, on the ground, screams about being eaten- and of the price that they must pay to find their way. As he reads, the scenery outside of the bubble changes, until they see that they are in their own world again. All of the others make their way out- but at this point it is revealed that their only way out has a terrible price. Murdoc has paid with his soul, and can never leave. As they are ejected into the safety of their own world again, Murdoc inside the bubble fades away- but not before the adventurers get a glimpse of a woman with golden hair and glowing yellow eyes, horns and great batlike wings. She reaches to touch his chin- and then they are gone from sight, vanished.
water
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Posts: 41
Joined: Tue Jan 29, 2013 12:17 am
Characters: Lots. Ask me; I forget the whole list.

Aftermath

Post by water »

The heroes return to their bodies- two fewer than they were when they departed them. Helvisu and Murdoc lie dead on the ground, Lauryl wailing. Alain, struck by lightening, is saved by Vera Tivaurd. The book has exploded massively, shattering the main giant ruby into 22 tiny shards, most of which are gathered up by Bob. Alex gets one also. Ravynetti Tivaurd assists in cleanup, and Bob takes whatever crystals he can get and soaks them in holy water for a fornight to disenchant them. He keeps, however, the small strange white stone that he'd gotten from collecting the soul crystals of the slain djinn.

Part of the main wall of the city, to the north, was severely damaged by the expanding waves of the explosion.
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