solravehs_temple | Test Drive #13: Silent Night....Dark Night

Test Drive #13: Silent Night....Dark Night

While the Castle is covered in ice it seems fairly safe within the right zones, however...outside those zones the night has seemed to swallow all light, not even enough to reflect off the ice cold snow that clings to the ground and making piles that crawl up the sides of the castle walls, fusing with the ice that sheen off the stone.

Everything is so cold...but here you don't feel that warmth from the rest of the castle, instead everything is ice and dark. The shadows move and ripple like water and in places the snow seems to be stained black with a much that fights to drip through the ice.

Something isn't right....

Once you enter you can not leave, archways become blocked by a dark mass, shadows that coalesce to form a wall. Time to find a different way out...or rather back in. That is if you can survive the cold.

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[This was where Estelle found herself. A dark place, covered in ice (which was something she was truly not used to) and with doors that seemed to disappear due to some dark will.]

Hey...

[She had seen something like this before. Not exactly like it, of course, but the things she had seen through her admittedly short career as a Bracer had not been terribly unlike this cold darkness.

But she had usually had people with her. There had only been one time she had been truly alone, and that was...

She shuddered.]

...Schera..? ...Agate...? .......J-Joshua...?

[The people she considered her friends. Her fellow Bracers, who she trusted to stand by her side throughout anything. They... weren't here.

Estelle gripped her staff. If her friends weren't here, it meant they were probably either looking for her or in trouble themselves, and either way, there was no way she was just going to SIT there and mope while they were doing all the work.]

Hmph! Time to find out who is responsible for this and give them a piece of my MIND.

[The way she hefted that staff of hers, 'piece of her mind' was clearly a euphemism.]

[ She'd been in the dark before, and she knew how to handle it. She'd also been in the snow before, and while getting warm was a wee bit trickier out there without the safety of a cozy little cabin or an inn, she was capable of warming herself up as well. All it took was a simple flame spell, one she had used many times in her life and that she didn't even need her spell book to perform.

Sera closed her eyes, chanting an incantation under her breath and causing a small flame to appear in her palm. Okay, cool. This gave a little bit of light, at least. That took care of one problem. The next: Where was she?

She was used to traveling, and therefore ending up in places she had never been to before, but something about this place felt vastly different from where she had been before. Her eyes narrowed as she took her flame and looked around her immediate area.

There was a lot of snow ... some that looked normal, and some that looked ... odd. Stained. And there was something moving. Something that made her feel chills up her spine ... and not just from the cold.

Something was very, very abnormal here. She had to keep her guard up. She ran a hand over her spell book and the sheath of her dagger to make sure they were both where they needed to be, then started to move forward.

Wherever she was, she had to find a safe place. ]

H-hello!

[The elven woman to Sera's side waved a bit. She was... Mostly not dressed for the outdoors at all. OTher than the large cloak, her outfit looked more like a parade uniform.]

W-welcome to Sol Raveh. Such as it is. Rather, er, welcome to the outside of Sol Raveh. Looks like we need to find another way in. Do you need improved elemental endurance?

[ At the sound of another voice, she jumped in surprise. She turned toward the other woman, wide-eyed. ]

U-Uh ... n-no, I'm ...

[ She looks to the flame in her palm, pointing at it with her free hand. ]

I'm ... plenty elemental, thank you. I can use this to help myself. And ... others? There are others here?

[ She should have been relieved at the idea of other people being here too, but given the current conditions, she was a little less than enthused. ]

Many of them, inside.

But right now, the Shadows are massing. A pretty brutal form of attack, at that, sticking people into the cold. We need to keep moving, and get back inside - quickly. It's safe within at least some of the castle proper...

W-Wait. Shadows?

[ She shouldn't have been surprised. There were all sorts of magical creatures that she'd read about, and even some she'd seen herself. Masses of shadows shouldn't be difficult to believe.

And yet ... this confirmed the feeling she had about this place. Shadows. Spirits of some sort. Not so nice ones. That shiver up her spine was for real. ]

So ... what do these Shadows do?

[ Might as well know exactly what she was getting into. She had an idea just from the looks of this place, but she didn't know much more than that. ]

They have some tactical variation, but the basic ones just try to swarm you, and pull you through one of their portals. If they do that, or you die while in this realm, you become one of them.

Good news is, the spirit of light, Ozuma, can pull those who were pulled out from that fate... Eventually. Still, it's. Extremely unpleasant, to say the least...

.... So what, you die, and then you come back? Or do you just not die at all? I'm confused.

[ This is something you should probably focus on later, Sera. You need to find a way inside before you, you know. Freeze. And maybe experience that death thing for yourself. ]

Let's. Try not dying. You've got a form of arcane magic, correct?

Yeah. Elemental magic. I haven't gotten too much farther than that in my studies.

[ Okay, well, it wasn't that she couldn't. It was that she was afraid to. The last time she tried anything outside of elemental magic, she ended up with a demon taking over her body. So she just spent her last seven years of life perfecting the elemental spells she knew.

But hey, this girl didn't need to know that. ]

... The point being, yes, I am a magic user.

All right. Including at least some offensive magic. Good to know.

Let's get moving. Try to stay close to the castle walls, there should be plenty of gates around.

Pretty much purely offensive ...

[ But hey, that didn't matter much. She nodded in response. ]

Lead the way. I'll follow. I don't know what I'm doing around these parts as it is.

Right. I'm Essei, by the way.

[And Essei would slowly begin to move, precise steps as she looked around.]

It's odd to the see the castle from outside, sorry....

Sera.

[ She doesn't blame Essei for being cautious. ]

So ... those ... black spots. They look kinda slimy? What are they?

Let's. Try not finding that out, shall we?

Just kinda keep clear of them, and hope they don't burst into a swarm of shadows...

Oh, so you don't know any more than I do, then. Got it.

[ Blunt, but true. ]

Yeah, let's .... definitely hope that. We definitely don't need that.

[ She has elemental spells, but she's not sure how any of them would work on Shadows. ]

[There was a breath, and Morrison blew into his hands, a spark of flame washed over them, bringing the feeling back into them; he'd been going numb from wandering out here. Proficient with magic though he was, the Mana flow here was weak, compared to home, and he dared not risk expending what he had when a fight seemed just on the verge of breaking out. The tension was so sharp that he felt as though he was trodding on paper-thin ice.

Still, he couldn't wander blind, either. Taking another breath, he held up a hand and extended a finger from it, blowing again. This time the flame curled around his arm before settling just about that finger. It was small, but cast good light so he could see enough to actually make it somewhere. Raising his scepter, he kept it poised to brain anything that might come up.

Ahead, he finally spied another flame. Waving his scepter, he started jogging up.]

Hey! Hey! Hello there! You know where the hell we are!?

[ The voice was sudden, but sounded friendly at the least. She turned to see another flame, and she instantly relaxed. It was kind of nice to find another magic user in an unknown territory. More firepower, in the case that they needed it. Before she could stop herself, a relieved smile crossed her face. ]

Hey ... No, I don't. I don't really know much of anything, I'm just. Here.

I assume you're in the same position, huh?

[Morrison panted, the run had taken a bit out of him and he was guilty of having been playing with his magic before he arrived. At Sara's question, he nodded and then sighed before standing up straight.]

Well, nothing for it then, I guess we'll just have to burn anyone that gives us trouble.

[At least his company was cute! He tucked his scepter under his arm and removed his hat, briefly because it was cold, to reveal a short mess of red hair and dark skin that painted him as mixed.]

Morrison, what's your name?

Sounds like a plan to me!

[ Ahh, yes. Pyromaniacs unite. She holds her free hand out toward him for a handshake. ]

Sera. Nice to see another mage here.

[If she only knew. He was sometimes a bit too eager to throw fire, but it worked out in the end.

Mostly.

He took her hand with a grin that was entirely obscured by his hat and shook it firmly.]

Likewise! I have to say I didnlt expect any one else in this weather. But, I'll save the smalltalk until I we get in and don"t have to huddle for warmth.

[Letting her hand go with a small touch of reluctant, he took up his scepter again, giving it a lazy circle, and the flame balanced on his finger suddenly swelled larger, finally able to throw a tiny bit of heat, and more light. Whiich made things all the more unappealing to him as the black spots reminded him of oil slick.]

...Let's hurry. This stuff seems like it's spreading.

[ She nodded, and made a face as she turned to look at the newly illuminated black spots. ]

Ew ...

[ Spreading was bad. Spreading was very bad. ]

Any ideas on where to try first? Are there any hints as to where we should go that you can see?

Well, I'm not Nai'Sar, so my eyes aren't especially good. I'm seeing something up ahead that looks like a building, though. If we're lucky we won't even have to fight anything.

[He started along, his robes billowing in the small breeze that stirred.]

Are you warm enough? You can get closer if you need to.

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Test Drive #13: Silent Night....Dark Night

Estelle Bright || Trails in the Sky

Sera Gray | Original Character

Re: Sera Gray | Original Character

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