Link: https://www.sylestia.com/forums/?thread=99346&page=12#120 Author: Aphelion Time Posted: 9/18/2021 at 5:28 AM "You will receive what you wish," Chantille says. "It is alright to not be used to it all. You will have time to accustom yourself to your surroundings once you are full and well-rested." Some more walking later, the dirt path slowly turns into a stone one, and then into a polished one made of tiny white rocks lapped together like the scales of some silver snake. It is smooth under your feet, but not slippery. You would expect it to lead to a gate of some sort, or at least some human structure that indicated an end to the wilderness and a beginning to civilisation, but instead, it leads straight to a cliff face. In fact, it ends at the cliff face, as if the road once continued on somewhere but the mountain was dropped on it. Chantille walks up to the rocky face as if it was normal, and raises a hand. Light gathers around her palm for a brief moment, then peters out, leaving you to wonder if she had tried something and failed. There's silence, and that possibility becomes more likely by the second, until something happens. The rock begins to shift, portions of it sinking inward as if it were melting, forming a tall structure of beams and planes, intricate curls of stone becoming clear as the rock moulds itself into a tall door. A crack splits down the middle, and with nary a sound, it swings open, revealing a glittering corridor.

Falcon's jaw drops of its own accord as what was once rock transforms as if it were no more than clay. And even at that... how could stone, one of the most earthly materials, be altered so easily?

It was ingenious; to have such a structure, entirely hidden from view unless you already knew of its existence. Was it a vanity project, purely to impress, or did Chantille's people have reason to hide this construction from sight? He tried to maintain his cool - not very successfully.

"How did you do that?" he asks, awed, walking after her. He regards the corridor with wide eyes, wondering if the stone were to return to its original form, would he be trapped forever?

Link: https://www.sylestia.com/forums/?thread=99346&page=12#119 Author: Aphelion Time Posted: 9/18/2021 at 5:20 AM You are led to a tent at the centre of the camp. It is the largest and most well-decorated, with streamers and tassels adorning the sides, and intricate patterns of birds and beasts sewn into the cloth. The procession continues forth, the rest of the camp curiously following along as much as they can without being too conspicuous about it. The boy who had found you holds open the flap of the tent for everyone to enter. When you pass the threshold, everything goes silent, as if the hissing of the rain and the crackling of the fire had been cut off. You find yourself inside a massive space, much larger than what the tent had suggested from the outside. The walls are so far out that you can't see them, and fade into darkness. The space is lit by hanging braziers of flame, suspended by thin chains in the air between a row of thick wooden pillars wrapped layer by layer with tapestries of various nature scenes. The ground is heaped with ornate carpets that your feet sink into as you walk on it. The woman in front leads the group to a raised platform, on which is a wide wooden table engraved and frilled with gold. There are three seats behind the table - the middle one raised higher than the rest. In these seats sit three people. A tall woman with dark hair and striking amber eyes looks down on you in the middle, her posture rigid straight yet with grace. On the left, a man with greying hair leans forth, folding his hands on the table in front of him. On the right, a girl who seemed no more than fifteen with curled golden locks and baby blue eyes. "Matriarch Ensanje," the woman leading the procession bows. Everyone follows suit, the boy, the warriors, and even your guards.

Crystal follows their leads and bows as well. This was definitely what she had in mind when she watched the camp the first time. Perhaps it was for the best though that she just followed their leads. Crystal remembers as much etiquette as she can hoping not to offend anyone. She will not speak unless spoken to, remain respectful, and keep calm. Her time on the streets had taught her very little about these kinds of situations.

I'd love to play! Can you hold me a spot and I'll put in my character tonight?

Heyo! This is first come first serve, so unfortunately I will not be holding any spots. However, there shouldn't be that much of a problem since there's only one other person ahead of you if you get your application in. I don't know of anyone else who is interested, so your spot is pretty much guaranteed.

Also, please refrain from posting in the RPG thread, for things like this you can message me instead ^-^

Link: https://www.sylestia.com/forums/?thread=99346&page=12#115 Author: Aphelion Time Posted: 9/16/2021 at 11:35 AM "Ehhh," she says - yells, rather - over the thrum of the engines. "We're going to a little place called Heftshold! Nobody really cares what you do or say there! You'll find all sorts of people and creatures much more exciting than an inconspicuous traveller who happens not to know a lot about the place - not that those people don't come along, so you'll be fine!" You travel for a long time in the air, covering leagues of ground, but eventually you lose sense of your bearings. Everything looked the same, just red-brown sand with the occasional canyon breaking down, or a few weird knobby rock structures surging up from the ground, sometimes forming majestic arches. Dotting the expanse of earth are clusters of shrubs and green things that look like plants, but didn't have leaves, looking like thick poles stuck into the earth. Soon, in the distance, you see a splotch of darkness against the sky. They are clouds. Black clouds.

The only answer that crossed his mind was a nod of aknowledgement and a small "Oh, alright, good to know." Even by his standarts it fell a bit flat tho so he somwhat felt the nead to comment on the senary to avoid killing the conversation. " From here the world realy have a strange almost mystical beauty..."

Your head smacks into the ground. It's sudden. The rest of your body is slack and out of control, as if you had simply tripped and couldn't catch yourself. However, unlike a simple trip and fall, your mind is distraught, grasping for stimulus from the outer world from beyond the pain of the scrapes on your face. Everything is bright, smears of colours, and you can't make sense of any of it.

Slowly, sense returns to you. You place the colours around you into categories, into shapes, and into objects. You seem to be lying on a stretch of grass, the tiny green stalks bending softly under your weight. Just by your head are some rough rocks; a little bit over and you would have had a very not good experience falling face first into the ground.

Your muscles scream in protest as you force yourself into a sitting position, swaying when the world spins. Steadying, you squint and look at your surroundings. You seem to be in the middle of some grassy plain, close to a small dirt path a few steps away. It's empty, nobody travelling on it, but it bears the marks of wheel tracks, horse hooves, and foot stamps.

Following the road with your eyes, you squint even more as it travels into the distance. It's hard to see what it is exactly, but you think there is a smudge of darkness against the blue sky. Buildings, maybe?

Nicote decides to hope those are buildings.

Grimacing he checks himself over for injuries as he tries to think back to whatever happened before this. He's pretty sure he didn't collapse in the middle of (almost) nowhere just like that....right?

She giggles, seeing the surprise across your face. "A little engineering on Seraphys' part," she grins proudly. "It really is not a big feat." The inside of the hallway is pristine, the walls etched with swirls of shimmering dust like someone had crushed a diamond into glitter and painted along the impressions. The space is lit by glass orbs that hold something glowing inside. Upon closer inspection, you notice that these orbs are not hanging from anything, but rather hovering in the air above you, unsuspended.

The hallway is long and empty, and so quiet that every sound echoes and bounces like little whispers flitting back and forth. It should feel cold, desolate, the way it is made with its standoffish walls and unblinking lights, but it feels warm and welcoming instead. Eventually, the ground begins to slope upward.

After a few seconds, the woman in front straightens. One by one, the people around you rise.

"Adjudicator Errant, Adjudicator Koshner," the woman speaks again, turning to address the people on the sides of the person sitting in the middle. She bows to them as well, but not as deeply as she had to the woman in the middle - Matriarch Ensanje, you assume.

"Welcome back, Anlarke," the Matriarch speaks, and even if the room was already silent, the silence falls heavier. Her words carry through, every breath hanging, waiting for more. Her eyes come to rest on you for a second, then move on as she surveys the rest of the group, paying you no more special attention as if you were just another one in the crowd. "Report?"

"The target airship has been seen and identified, roughly eighty degrees heading, going thirty-five knots." The woman in front, Anlarke, says, slipping into a stiff, military tone. "On our return journey, we encountered a cavewalker which we eliminated, as well as this traveller," she gestures at you. "She claims she was simply passing by in our territory."

The matriarch leans forward in her seat, steepling her fingers and resting her elbows on the table. "Cavewalkers, hmm. We should look into that more. Errant?"

The girl beside her perks up and pulls out a thick book, flipping it open with a thud. The silence is filled with scribbling as she begins to write. The Matriarch now turns to you, and you feel like cowering under her gaze.

"How did you get here? Speak the truth. We have no patience for lies. None of that 'just passing through' nonesense."