Edge of Darkness - Powered by vBulletin
Ended
Watch
11 - 20
DISPLAYED
51
POSTS

(Astral Dive II) The Staircase

This is for adding a Search Category to the thread.

Note:
This is NOT a Notification for another member.
Page 2 of 6 First 1 2 3 4 5 6 Last
  1. #11
    Puck's Avatar
    Presence
    Striking Looks
    (Snarky)
    Puck

    Nimbus

    Winds blow around the mage, varying in intensity depending on the spell and parting abruptly after.
    Puck Scenes
     

    +1
    SL
    1
    PRE

    Campanella's ghost of a smile is returned with a wide grin from the Enchanter. When you're hamming it up to distract from your slight nervousness, it's nice to be noticed. Otherwise you just look like a fidgeting dumbass.

    He listens to the others as he finishes his construction. Hopefully it was enough to keep the light out of his face. Hard to go on an Astral dig when you can't even get to sleep, or was the artifact going to take care of that for him? Should he have asked that first? Too late. His pillow fort is made and he had to lay in it. He pulls one of the blankets Campanella provided up over his shoulder and around his neck, wiggling slightly inside his cocoon inside his fort.

    "Ready when you all are."

    If they get separated Puck's going on an adventure. Well, a different adventure. But still an astral dig? So technically the same adventure. He's definitely not going for stairs and leg day.

  2. #12
    Phoenyx's Avatar
    Presence (Focused)
    Trained Observer
    Dexterity (Lithe)
    Phoenyx
    Spells and Gear

    Monthly rits (cloaked):
    Supernal Vision (Pot 6)
    2E Life Shield (Pot 5)

    Gear: Smartphone, Pistol (Beretta M92, +2 lethal), pair of daggers, tonfa, Reinforced Leather trenchcoat (1/0), motorcycle (street bike)
    Phoenyx

    Nimbus: a pair of fiery scarlet wings unfurl her with an eagle's screech.
    Plot Stats

    Def - 6 (4 Dex+Life/2)
    Armour - 3/2 (Life/2, Trenchcoat)
    Health: Matriarch - 1B/7
    Willpower 3/3
    Mana: 9/9
    Vulgars Cast: 0
    Personal Spells 2/3
    [6] Supernal Vision (Monthly Ritual)
    [5$] 2E Life Shield (Monthly Ritual)
    Active spells: 3/7
    [3$] Complex Transmission

    Gear: Smartphone, Pistol (Beretta M92, +2 lethal), 2 spare clips, pair of daggers (one is magical focus), Reinforced Leather trenchcoat (1/0), Purse ($57, gun permit, driving license)

    2
    PRE

    Phoenyx listened carefully to Campenella, cocking her head slightly. "Will we still have our ability to manipulate the Arcana in the Astral, or are we separate from that part of our souls there?" she asks. "Otherwise, I am ready."

    Mentally the Arrow began running through fighting forms. If there was danger there, it was her responsibility to protect the others, and she was going to fulfil that duty whatever the cost.

    She placed her hands on her knees and closed her eyes, slowing her breathing.

    All ready for the Astral!
    Obrimos Adamantine Arrow, Cloaked Monthly Rits (in minisheet)

  3. Likes Yumyumcrow liked this post
  4. #13
    Yumyumcrow's Avatar
    Campanella
    Campanella

    Campanella
    Ingrid

    2
    PRE

    "The Arcana are the works of the Awakened Soul. They work... In the Astral Sea. Not always how one expects, however."

    Campanella was moving as the group settled.

    Nodding once to Crystal he left briefly and returned with some incense which he planted on the table around the Obelisk sculpture. The scent slowly but surely filled the space, drawing the voyagers deeper into a calming trance.
    Breath in.

    Breath out.

    Breath in.

    Breath out.

    Fall away inward (or centre, depending on the techniques used).

    Drift down.

    Down.

    Something slithers against your leg.

    Breath in.

    Breath out.

    Drift down.

    Something reaches out of the dark and snags you. Drags - no, not dragged. Yanked! - you down with deliberate force and ever increasing speed. It becomes hard to breathe, such is the sudden speed.

    Then pain. Pain as you don't just pass through the Astral Boundary, but shatter it!

    Remember to take -1 mana for passing through the Astral Boundary. The pain is the mana being pulled from your Pattern.


    You flash by the Oneiros so fast you barely know its there and crash into a sea of mists and broiling ethereal.

    Your senses congeal quickly as does consciousness - and you drop a short distance, landing solidly on your feet.

    On your feet and on cold hard stone...

    The group find themselves on a strange and ruined Escher-like structure: a set of stairs and landings, looped together. The structure appears to be made of a crumbling, green, stone that has been carved with high gothic arabesques and lines. The stairs have baroque balustrades, chipped and cracked. Statues stand in corner's - wizards and warriors in medieval and renaissance attire: some are crumbled, some are eroded, some are scorched by fire.

    On each landing are two portals. Some portals, dimly seen in the haze, appear dark; some appear bright with light spilling from whatever is beyond their earthen frames; some seem to flicker erratically.

    Other portals lie away from the structure, floating on platforms of rust and stone, orbiting the Escher-like landing as it...
    hovers...
    spins...
    sinks...

    Through the billowing mist.

    It parts and below, hovering far and away, is a curious chiaroscuro landscape - it might, in some dreamy way, be Sacramento and the Californian central valley. Sparks tingle and burst from this dreamy vision of Sacramento: frizzing into existence like sparks from hammered, hot, metal on anvil - or bright corals during a spawning event.

  5. Likes Aeolus, , Xadun liked this post
  6. #14
    Crystal's Avatar
    Striking Looks
    (Captivating)
    Manipulation
    (Disarming)
    Resources
    Barfly
    Eidetic Memory
    Crystal

    Nimbus

    Walls and the Floor become slightly tilted, there's a sickly sweet and sharp smell in the air. Faintly, the sound chains (and even fainter: the sound of leather) can be heard. More powerful spells make the sounds more pronounced and colors seem to pulsate.
    Active Stats

    Astral Dive II
    Health:
    Mana:
    WP:
    Armor 0
    Defense 2

    Vulgar +/-0
    Active Spells: 1/4
    Personal Spells: 1

    [2] Third Eye
    [4R] Misperception

    (Passing the Boundary)Mana 1 Spent
    +1
    SL
    3
    PRE

    Some questions were answered, some were left open - the thrill of the unknown awaited. Crystal got comfortable and tried to calm his mind enough to sleep at this time. Luckily, when a Moros offers you incense you know you're in for some quality stuff.

    He felt his heart rate slow down, became conscious of how each of his limps grew heavy and how the smoke-filled air entered his lungs and filled his whole body with relaxation.
    He didn't mind the fleeting sensations of touch going up his legs - maybe the incense had some dissociative components? - but then there was this sensation of falling you sometimes get right before falling asleep, only times a hundred. Crystal wanted to shout out, but either he was too much in this limbo of awake and asleep or the meta-physical sensation really forced the air out of his lungs.

    Calling it falling would do it no justice: for one, falling usually didn't feel like your skin was on fire and your brain wanted to burst out of your skull.


    Once he landed, he could finally voice all the sensations stuck in his anxious brain for what felt like the last hour of this definitely-not-nice trip. "FUCK!" He yelled out and actually stomped a foot on the ground. This was intense, probably more intense than anything he had done in the last few months.

    Now that that was dealt with, he took a deep breath and looked around. His mind had some troubles grasping what he was seeing, but maybe his Path gave him a slight edge on that end. It was confusing, fascinating, and made the Mastigos a bit sick to his stomach when he tried to think about it too much, but he was already kind of familiar with the idea that Space as the Sleeper knew it was an illusion. Still, Campanella definitely didn't undersell the mystique of it all. He wondered what the lied beyond the portals and what the light (or lack thereof) meant. They would have to decide on a course of exploration. Speaking of:

    He looked around for his fellow travelers. Should they be already here with him, he'd give them a wide smile that probably didn't look as shaky as he felt. "So.. that was something, huh?"

    Active Spells: -/-
    Equipment: -/-
    Willpower 3/6
    Mana 5/10
    Health: Willpower: Mana:


  7. Likes Yumyumcrow liked this post
  8. #15
    Puck's Avatar
    Presence
    Striking Looks
    (Snarky)
    Puck

    Nimbus

    Winds blow around the mage, varying in intensity depending on the spell and parting abruptly after.
    Puck Scenes
     

    +1
    SL
    1
    PRE

    This is the easy part.

    Falling asleep is something Puck can do frequently and easily. It's part of being lazy. It barely takes a breathe until he's flowing inward. It was actually pretty relaxing? Maybe Campanella should have been the Guru. Puck could get used to this part. Then he felt it, the thing in the dark around his leg? Now it's nap time to roller-coaster ride in a blink of an eye. It would have been a pretty neat thrill if it weren't for the sudden pain of mana being almost-scoured from his pattern. It's to late now though. His consciousness is long past his sleeping body as it continues it's violent descent. His soul is locked into powerlessness as even simple breathing becomes a task worthy of his direct attention.

    And then it passes.

    He's landing on his feet on cold stone, taking the moment to reorient himself. Not only is the pain still fresh but the sensation of cold is foreign. Last Puck checked? He was on a mattress wrapped in a blanket like a breakfast burrito, but he feels the cold tiles before him. This is the little stuff that you notice on your first voyage into the invisible realms.

    "Hm." He's perplexed, and still not quite up to the task of a full conversation. Instead his eyes wander the ruins before him, slowly stepping away from his landing point. The strange color of the stone is noted, though it may just be jade? Sacramento below, the orbiting platforms, and how many doors? So many questions about this place...

    "Something." Puck confirms, edges of a smile creeping into existence as the pain fades. His attention is on one of the piles of rust flying above. "You know where you want to start? Because I do."

    Mix of reality and imagination huh? Puck could imagine a lot. Whether any of it was useful would soon be found out. Probably the hard way.

  9. Likes Aeolus, Yumyumcrow liked this post
  10. #16
    Yumyumcrow's Avatar
    Campanella
    Campanella

    Campanella
    Ingrid

    2
    PRE

    and BUMP for Phoenyx Xadun

  11. #17
    Phoenyx's Avatar
    Presence (Focused)
    Trained Observer
    Dexterity (Lithe)
    Phoenyx
    Spells and Gear

    Monthly rits (cloaked):
    Supernal Vision (Pot 6)
    2E Life Shield (Pot 5)

    Gear: Smartphone, Pistol (Beretta M92, +2 lethal), pair of daggers, tonfa, Reinforced Leather trenchcoat (1/0), motorcycle (street bike)
    Phoenyx

    Nimbus: a pair of fiery scarlet wings unfurl her with an eagle's screech.
    Plot Stats

    Def - 6 (4 Dex+Life/2)
    Armour - 3/2 (Life/2, Trenchcoat)
    Health: Matriarch - 1B/7
    Willpower 3/3
    Mana: 9/9
    Vulgars Cast: 0
    Personal Spells 2/3
    [6] Supernal Vision (Monthly Ritual)
    [5$] 2E Life Shield (Monthly Ritual)
    Active spells: 3/7
    [3$] Complex Transmission

    Gear: Smartphone, Pistol (Beretta M92, +2 lethal), 2 spare clips, pair of daggers (one is magical focus), Reinforced Leather trenchcoat (1/0), Purse ($57, gun permit, driving license)

    2
    PRE

    Phoenyx was no stranger to meditation. This seemed like any other, until the grasping tendril...

    Then she was being hauled spiritually by one ankle. Grimacing at the pain of mana being ripped from her, the rising panic at the complete loss of control...

    The Arrow gasped as her feet hit solid matter, honed reflexes dropping her into a defensive fighting stance. She concentrated on slowing her breathing, checking her ritual spells held in place, and getting to grips with her surroundings. The weave of staircases made no points seem tactically safe. The portals could lead anywhere. Any direction seemed as good as any other.

    Still, something about tense situations, on mission? She lived for them. They brought out the more relaxed side of her - this, after all was where people showed their true selves, and was what she had trained for.

    She looks to Crystal. "It was certainly different." Looking out to the distance, she added, "Nice view. A shame about the decor."

    Dark eyes move to Puck. "Each way seems as much the same as any other. What were you thinking?"

    Active Spells: Life Shield (pot 4), Supernal vision (pot 6)
    Mana: 5/6
    Willpower: 3/3
    Obrimos Adamantine Arrow, Cloaked Monthly Rits (in minisheet)

  12. Likes Aeolus, Yumyumcrow liked this post
  13. #18
    Yumyumcrow's Avatar
    Campanella
    Campanella

    Campanella
    Ingrid

    2
    PRE

    Awesome descriptions people

    Just a quick note Xander Xadun please remember to use the tracking icons for mana expenditure

    I'll take a back seat for now and let your characters roam...

  14. Likes Xander, Aeolus, Xadun liked this post
  15. #19
    Crystal's Avatar
    Striking Looks
    (Captivating)
    Manipulation
    (Disarming)
    Resources
    Barfly
    Eidetic Memory
    Crystal

    Nimbus

    Walls and the Floor become slightly tilted, there's a sickly sweet and sharp smell in the air. Faintly, the sound chains (and even fainter: the sound of leather) can be heard. More powerful spells make the sounds more pronounced and colors seem to pulsate.
    Active Stats

    Astral Dive II
    Health:
    Mana:
    WP:
    Armor 0
    Defense 2

    Vulgar +/-0
    Active Spells: 1/4
    Personal Spells: 1

    [2] Third Eye
    [4R] Misperception

    +1
    SL
    3
    PRE

    For all the discomfort this trip has already brought him - it at least seemed to make his companions a bit more sociable. Silver linings, you take them where you get them.

    2 successes


    Puck's comment made Crystal take a better look at the different doors and archways, but he ultimately agreed with Phoenyx. "I mean I'm all for sticking together and maybe not choosing the most.. 'out there' way. Other than that I'm fine with following your hunch there." Campanella told them about some fantastic ways of traveling here, but this Mastigos would like to stick to walking right now, thank you very much.

    He took a few careful steps towards the nearest set of stairs, just to see if something weird would happen. "So, anyone have any experience with the Astral Realms or are we flying blind together?" Sometimes it was best to play with open cards, and traveling an impossible sea of gathered consciousness definitely seemed to fit the category.

    Active Spells: -/-
    Equipment: -/-
    Willpower 3/6
    Mana 5/10
    Health: Willpower: Mana:


  16. #20
    Puck's Avatar
    Presence
    Striking Looks
    (Snarky)
    Puck

    Nimbus

    Winds blow around the mage, varying in intensity depending on the spell and parting abruptly after.
    Puck Scenes
     

    (Forgotten Astral cost)Mana 1 Spent
    +1
    SL
    1
    PRE

    Truth be told? Puck would have been happy to smash the decor even further. If the Seers valued this place enough to hold onto an artifact for quick access it meant this place had value to them. He was tempted to vandalize the place out of that one simple conclusion.

    "I was thinking something must be pretty valuable to stick it on a floating rust bucket with no clear way of access."


    A finger points up at the platforms floating in the sky. When Crystal says he doesn't want an 'out there' way, the Libertine scoffs. It's the first trip to the invisible realms for Puck, and he wasn't walking it like some common grocery store. It's a realm of imagination, and Puck wasn't waiting for the others to get imaginative.

    "I'm going to take a look. Follow or don't, no worries."


    And with that he closes his eyes and takes a deep breathe. He rolls his shoulders to loosen up and envisions himself flying up to the platform in a pillar of light for a closer look.

    Spellz- 2E Fate Sight and Armor, Winds of Chance
    Yumyumcrow

    Can we fold space like in the previous threads?

  17. Likes Aeolus liked this post
Page 2 of 6 First 1 2 3 4 5 6 Last
Closed Thread
     

Similar Threads

    • 57
    • POSTS
    • May 18th, 2020
    • 36
    • POSTS
    • Apr 15th, 2020
  1. Open The Dive Bar
    Alessandra
    Vampire (1E)
    • 33
    • POSTS
    • Sep 2nd, 2019
  2. Open Dive Bar
    Saber Sloth
    City Shards
    • 64
    • POSTS
    • Jun 27th, 2018