The #Broken_Dagger Forum

[23:02] <Catch> There is a brief warning of discontent that touches the stable plates under their feet, as if protesting the boasts of Aleksei, disproving the way the man has stolen what is rightfully hers. But that rumble soon lifted to a roar, and the Tavern shook with the earthquake. It was sturdily built, and did nothing more but quiver as the frozen earth shattered, thin cracks splitting into
[23:02] <Catch> the crust, oozing forth hot tears of water and hissing steam, while - in the distance - the Lake boiled. The bottles and glass impliments were not so fortunate, and they tumbled from their places in the wall, shattering on the floor. For a long, terrible minute, the earth shook, and then it grew still.
[23:04] <Leane> It would take a few minutes for them to make the drink and so Leane just sat herself at the bar to wait. Both of the patrons were new to her and while the scholarly looking fellow might make a decent mark the other one set off warning bells in her head. It wasn't as if she really needed the money, it was more just for fun and to keep in practice anyway, so it would likely be best to
[23:04] <Leane> just leave well enough alone, she could always go into town if she was desperate after all. She was currently desperate to try and contain the snort of laughter at the idea of frilly underwear on this coarse woman. Of course, then the world seemed to get angry and knocked her stool out from under her and laughter was no longer hard to contain. The moment she felt her perch give way she
[23:04] <Leane> leapt nimbly to her feet, avoiding being knocked over with it. "The hell was that?!"
[23:09] <Aleksei_River> He blinks a few times at the mental image of Agnie wandering around serving tea in frilly underwear, before the earthquake sets off everything in the tavern. Out of instinct his hand shoots out to grasp his walking stick, holding it about a foot and a half below the top, where he normall does, and he comes to his feet, eyes narrowed. "No idea. But its nothing good, I can feel
[23:09] <Aleksei_River> that." He moves to a window to peer outside, suddenly very concerned.
[23:26] * Agnieszka spits out her drink, missing her new forest-green sweater, and stays right in her seat, her hands grabbing the sides of the chair, the cider in the mug tipping over and falling straight in her lap. When the earthquake stops, her eyes are wide and -- what the hell? Scared. "Gawdallfuckinmighty, oh my gawd --"
[23:28] <Leane> Leane too was a little wide eyed at the sudden movement and noise and crashing and banging and hissing and, well, it was a catastrophe the likes of which she'd never seen or experienced before and she wasn't entirely certain the earth wasn't about to open up and swallow them all. She only allowed herself to relax just a smidge when the earth stopped moving beneath her. The staff in
[23:28] <Leane> the kitchen seemed to be affected much the same as the three in the common room. "Does it, umm...do that often here?" Everyone had told her that Myrken would try to kill her but she hadn't thought they'd meant the land itself!
[23:32] <Aleksei_River> The scholar is still studying the window, peering out into the darkness, looking more than a touch worried. With all that had been going on, he was fairly certain this wasn't natural. "They are called earthquakes. I've read about them. Usually, they happen in areas prone to this sort of thing. But in reading, I had not seen them mentioned locally. I figure this is not natural.
[23:32] <Aleksei_River> " He's still holding the cane, and he turns to look at Agnie, head tilted. "I think.. I might go have a look around."
[23:37] <Agnieszka> "No," she says to Leane. "I've lived here my entire life." And then she -- well. She draws her sword, drags on her gloves, and looks for her jacket. "I'll come with you. This is demon's work."
[23:39] <Leane> "I think you're insane. You said this isn't natural then you want to go out prancing in it?!" The first thing she wanted to do was find some place solid and drink herself into a stupor. Sure she liked excitement but this, this was something entirely out of her league. She had no doubt that people (read Dar) were starting to get worried, though she had left a note so hopefully there
[23:39] <Leane> wouldn't be too much drama. Sadly her desires for a drink looked like they might be left by the wayside with the majority of bottles smashed to pieces on the floor and the staff hunkering down until they were sure it was safe to move about again.
[23:43] <Aleksei_River> He glances at Agnie and considers.. he could probably lose her in the wood, but he would have to deal with her sooner or later. But.. if things were bad, he wasn't sure he could do anything for her. Which just made the whole ordeal worse. He just chews on his lip for a moment, then shrugs and heads to the bar. He buys a bottle of something strongly alcoholic, and gets a couple of
[23:43] <Aleksei_River> rags, stuffing them in his pocket. "From what I remember of my reading, these sorts of things can release poison gas in the air, and there can be big cracks in the ground. Watch your step. Otherwise, you will have to tell everyone a bookworm saved your life." He tries to lighten things a bit with a little teasing, then heads outside.
[23:44] <Renea> She had stolen a horse. Probably not the best way to start out a new official job that included liasing with the local constabulary but in the current situation she doubted that it would even be missed and if there was a fuss she'd happily compensate the owner of the beast as soon as things settled down. If they settled down. She didn't know what happened, one moment she was resting,
[23:44] <Renea> aware of Catch pacing the cell but she'd had her eyes closed, and the next there was stone and dust and noise all around her and people were screaming and Catch wasn't there anymore. Neither was the cell. Her first instinct was to get to the tavern, the place he seemed to feel most at home and so she'd quickly yelled at the panicked constables to take care of the townsfolk and anyone
[23:44] <Renea> that was injured and she'd grabbed the first horse that seemed to have some sense still left in its head for the fastest trip to the Dagger she'd ever taken. On the way she'd observed as much of the damage as she could at speed and knew that this was going to take a lot of time and effort to calm people down.

[23:46] <Agnieszka> Yes. He'd have to deal with her sooner or later. Sooner or later, everyone in this damned wood has to deal with Agnieszka Kaczmarek, the queen of chaos. That's a good way of putting it. At that, she manages a grin. "I won't say a word about it. That's a fuckin' promise, man." But you know that's a scared, trepidatious look that crosses her face. She follows him outside.
[23:52] <Aleksei_River> He glances around, looking toward the town. Fires, for certain. Fires always followed earthqu--. His eyes widen when he glances toward the lake. And then he does something no one has heard him do since he got to Myrken, not even in the privacy of his own home. "-Fuck-. Back inside, now." He reaches out to grab Agnie if she doesn't come along, and he if he gets a grip on her,
[23:52] <Aleksei_River> he drags her toward the tavern. "The lake is boiling. That big cloud you see in the moonlight is probably poisonous." He lifts his voice so it will carry over the entire tavern yard. "If you are outside, and you don't want to die, get inside. Close all the windows." Regardless, he isn't hanging around.
[23:52] <Renea> The horse came to a sudden halt inches away from a gaping crack in the courtyard and nearly threw her from it's back as it reared in fright, a geiser of steam hissing upwards and nearly scalding them both. She dismounts and quickly unbridles the poor horse in case it needs to flee suddenly, the saddle would be a pain but at least it would be able to run without tripping and eat if it
[23:52] <Renea> needed to. She was pleased to see Agnie and while she didn't yet know Aleksei all that well it would be good to have another official. "Catch is gone, the cell exploded with us both in it." She wore her sword but didn't yet draw it. It was too bad she wasn't wearing a uniform tonight, it would certainly help to keep people calm.
[23:59] <Agnieszka> "The town's on *fire,*" she says, her eyes only on the burning town in the distance as she wriggles out of Aleksei's grasp. "Holy shit. Holy --" and then she looks at the lake, and her eyes widen. Aleksei's grasp on her arm, now, she attempts to shake it with a quick twist -- and then. Good. Renea. And then -- "Marshal. Don't let that horse go. We have to get back to town."
[00:10] <Aleksei_River> He looks between the two of them, not really caring what their -offical- positions are. They can throw him in the gaol later. -Ladies-. That cloud slowly raising from the lake? Is lake water in steam form. If you inhale that it will kill you.. He waits to see if his words are going to sink in. "I know you want to help the people in the town, but there are people in this
[00:10] <Aleksei_River> tavern that need help too. -Everyone- needs to be in doors, as fast as possible if that cloud drifts over, and we need to seal up everything as tightly as possible. He sighs.. someone has to go back to the town. He looks between the two of them, trying to decide.. "One of you needs to warn the town, though."
[00:12] <Renea> Yes, yes they did need to get back to town, and fast. The horse, thankfully, was well trained enough that it hadn't bolted, just shied from the crack it had nearly stumbled into. Renea nearly leapt back to the horse and put the bridle back on. If the cloud was poisonous the last thing she needed to do was stay inside, she needed to make other people stay inside. Once rebridled the
[00:12] <Renea> horse was led towards the chairwoman. "The constables are already helping the town but they won't know about the cloud. Aleksei you can stay here at the Tavern, the staff will help you."
[00:12] <Drache> The fire in the tavern exploded and Drache literally flew out as though she'd been in the air when teleporting. She executed a rather amazing turn in the tight confines of the tavern and managed to land on top of a table without breaking anyone or anything, least of all herself. She peered about with one wide eye, the other still bandaged by a silk eyepatch around her head. For those who hadn't seen her recently, one of her horns had been snapped off and her spade-shaped tailtip was missing. Her stumped tail lashed and she looked about. "What happened? Half of my Lair just caved in and I almossst lossst my library in the lava floes." Oh she would have been pissed then!
[00:16] <Agnieszka> "You're an official, bookworm, you do it," she decides, agreeing with Renea -- "There are hundreds of people in the town. We'll both need to go. Anything else we need to know? You have five seconds." She drags herself up onto the horse with or without the militiawoman's help.
[00:18] <Aleksei_River> He sighs and tosses them the alcohol and rags, "If you see the cloud, soak those rags and cover your nose and mouth. Hopefully, it will keep the worst of the fumes out. And if you smell something like rotten eggs, you need to run away even faster. No laterns or torches! You could start and explosion. He turns and looks at Drache, "Nine hells, if anyone values their life at
[00:18] <Aleksei_River> all in this blasted town, get the fuck back inside before that cloud gets here." He darts for the door himself.
[00:24] <Renea> Her eyes dart momentarily towards Drache as she bursts from the tavern but quickly turn back to help Agnieszka mount the horse before she climbs up behind the woman. "Earthquake." That was all the dragon woman was going to get from her, the last thing she needed to hear wast the Catch escaped and likely caused this whole mess, Renea wasn't in the mood to split her concern between
[00:24] <Renea> the townspeople and a vengeful dragon. She'd take the alcohol and rags from Aleksei and then kick the horse into a gallop, her arms wrapped around Agnie to handle the reins. She didn't know how well the woman rode a horse so unless there was a fuss she was going to take charge.
[00:29] <Drache> If there was one person who came in handy when the world was on fire it was the person who could go skinny-dipping in a volcano and have a good old time, sulfur fumes or no. The fire-drake arched her brow at Aleksei, whom she'd never met, and promptly ignored him so that she might turn to Renea and Agnie instead. "Looksss like it'sss time to make myssself ussseful. I didn't cause that, but I can help." What, no demands for payment when she was done? It wouldn't have mattered if Renea had told her it was Catch, but something in her expression suggested she doubted it had been a normal earthquake. As the horse turned for the town she spread her wings and took to the sky again, heading in the direction of the burning town to help put out fires and get people out of burning buildings.
[00:29] <Agnieszka> That's fine. She's all right with riding a horse, but Renea rode the frightened animal from the middle of town, and they need to get away. Now. "Stay alive," is the last thing she says to the bookworm, and drags her heel up to spur the horse on. "Go! Go!"
[00:36] <Catch> All three women left. Women well-known. Women familiar. The fog that twisted it's fingers to the sky, illuminated by baleful moonlight, shifted and rose, bouyed by the icy wind. Perhaps that was a blessing, bearing it away from the places where people dwelled. For a moment, it seemed to take shape, illuminated by another source, a Moon-like Light, made of no colors and shifting,
[00:36] <Catch> pulsating, corpse-like maggot-like color in something that might be considered grotesque, were it not so beautiful. For a moment, He is seen, shifting, undulating, a blue eye and a black eye amidst a vague, equine shape, watching Aleksei, because He knew him, too. Tendrils reach for the man, hesitant, questing, wanting. He wanted the familiarity of the Broken Dagger. But the next moment
[00:36] <Catch> that massive form is turning, far too graceful for it's hulk, and not a sound passes it dissipates, smoke on the wind.

The dragoness had attended to her own first, making sure her child, hoard, and library were safe (in that order), before making for the tavern for answers. Now she winged through the icy winter air towards the hot glow of Myrken Town, her one functioning eye trained on the flames. It was quiet up there, and she could only imagine the sounds below as the dark shapes of people and animals scurried about, illuminated randomly by the fires. As she had told the Councilwoman, she hadn't done this, and she knew that if people looked up and saw her underside gleaming she would automatically be suspect. Hells, she was likely suspect already. So was it that she wanted to preemptively clear her name, or was she genuinely a good enough creature that she couldn't sit at home knowing that the people of Myrken were burning in their homes? She thumped her injured wing as fast as it would carry her, arriving back to the town much quicker than Agnie and Renea's overburdened and panicked horse.

From this high up she assessed the state of things with a quick glance, and then headed for the largest fires in the residential areas. She landed rarely, hovering in mid-air and putting out the leaping blazes with a combination of magic and supernatural ability. She left whole streets flame-free so that the Constables and whoever else could get in and rescue people and then moved on. Absorbing the heat like this made her head spin and only gave her endurance. More than once she lifted some stranded body off a roof, but all in all she attempted to be a one-critter fire department. To anyone who protested her presence, she shamelessly claimed that Councilwoman Kaczmarek sent her.

The town was in chaos. There were fires, fallen buildings and people screaming in the streets. The constables had mobilized and were doing what they could to help out but they weren't prepared for a disaster of this magnitude and most of the militia was out in the country and unable to get to town to help.

Renea and Agnie were galloping as fast as the horse could carry them to get to town, to warn them of the coming dangers, as if the current ones weren't bad enough. How they were going to manage to get everyone inside and sealed away when half the town was already burning was beyond her, and she desperately wished the Arena had already been built as it would have done quite well at holding a large portion of the townspeople comfortably. Sadly between wishes and horses they had but the one and while it was doing it's damndest to get them to the town it couldn't turn itself into a bunker so they'd have to find something else to make do. There were a few larger homes that, if they could coordinate, they might be able to manage with and it was this suggestion she put to the chairwoman riding in front of her.

"Agnie, do you think we should split up and try to corral as many folks as we can into the larger cellars? The burning will have to be handled later or by anyone willing to risk staying outside in this." By which she of course meant herself and it at least looked like Drache was doing a good job controlling the flames so it was far less of a worry than it would have been without the crazy dragons help. Renea's Marshall badge was prominant and shiny so while her face was still unknown to many they would at least recognize the badge and the authority it held. She didn't even wait for Agnie to respond to her suggestion before dismounting and reaching out to grab a constable that had been running by to pull him next to the two women, they were going to need someone to run out to the farms nearby to let them know to stay inside and to rouse as much of the militia as possible to network across Myrken and let everyone know what to expect.

A dragon attack.

Less than three years ago now. Fire, flame, disaster. No poison gas, admittedly. But the rest. Glenn Burnie had arrived to a Myrken that had one unforgivable quality: it never, ever learned from its mistakes. It was overtaken by the same sort of treats time and time again.

Calomel had begun to change that, but it was Burnie, returned from Underdark and finding himself the main font of power in Myrken Wood, who truly drove the thought home. There were protections against drow magic, against undead fiends, against dreamwakers, and against dread werewolves. Oh, magic was ever a withered spring for the defenders of the province, but they supplied themselves in every other way possible.

Fire. Much time and money was put into creating Rhaena Olwak's "Foundation," the organization nominally founded to rebuild Myrken after the last set of fires, to feed the poor, to shelter orphans, and to enrich the daily lives of those who needed it in Myrken. And it was through the various volunteers (pious folk, often, for charity of one's time if not money, was certainly a virtue), that informal organization had been created, a third line of defense past the militia and the constabulary, to handle just such a situation. So it was that stalwart Myrkenites rushed to each other's aid, businessmen and goodwives and tradespeople all, tending to their neighbors and themselves. Well water was pulled as quickly as possible. People worked in shifts so as not to be overcome by the fumes. It was chaos, yes, but an underlying order had risen up to fight it.

And scion of that order was the Governor, in his office. It was one of the most vulnerable buildings in town, both due to who sat there and due to the massive amounts of paper within. Therefore, steps had been taken. Stocks of water had been released from hidden caches in the basement of the building. They would be delivered outwards from the center to fight back the flame, another front to the spreading warfare.

Runners came to Burnie. Even as Renea and Agnie were getting people to safety, hopeless urchins were running to and from the government building. If they survived the night, they knew that they would be well rewarded for their service, and really, Glenn was quite willing to sacrifice them for the greater good, and not for nothing either. This might be the one chance these poor fools had to make a better life for themselves before dying in a gutter from consumption two or three or four winters down the line. And in his eyes, they did it for Myrken. So that web of order continued to grow and grow, right until the moment that one came stumbling in with news of the channeler, with news of Kerrak and his acts of heroism. "Damn it." The governor finally rose.

The Governor rose and burst through the doors of the Inquisitory building and out into the disastrous night. His sword was most certainly at his side.

Further away from the town, outside the Dagger, Aleksei traveled alone. It was foolish, he knew, but he could not shake this feeling.. something terrible was happening at the lake. A pair of leather gloves were tugged on his hands, even as he moved. Heavy spirits soaked into a cloth, and tied around his face, covering his nose and mouth protectively.

And he ran toward the lake. He had warned Agnie and Renea about the perils of moving in this area, but he seemed to be ignoring his own warnings. Somehow, some sense seemed to guide him, and he dodged and avoided pitfalls and newly fallen trees, moonlight glinting off the wireframe glasses.

His grip on the walking cane has most of it out behind him, gripped just below the head of the cane, and he reaches across, and gives a little tug. The head seems to hesitate for a moment, as if in protest, before it starts to slide away. A long single edged sword, slightly curved like his strange cane, is drawn. The blade looks almost like a dusky green glass, and seems to pulse with a faint inner light. He tucks the rest into his belt, forming a make shift sheath, and continues, plunging headlong into the fog.

Even as he moves the blade lashes out and across, splitting a tree branch out of his way, and leaps across a new fissure, tucking and rolling as he lands, springing back to his feet. He knows he is on a time limit, so he moves with a purpose toward the edge of the lake.

The Lake had boiled, and the poisonous atmosphere of what was released from Underground mingled with the lingering poison from Suede to form that Cloud, the fog that so frightened the learned man, even while the Town itself burned. It was a cloying, sweet scent, and it's effects already lurked, even as the frozen wind whipped it away. There was a rabbit, stretched out as if sleeping, and the stiff little corpses of birds in panicked mid-flight. In the trees and burrows, hibernating squirrels, chipmunks, badgers, untold mice, and many, many others would never waken again.

The Lake had boiled, and it's surface should be littered with the pale bellies of what fish had managed to survive during the Poisoning. But the Lake itself was eerie, haunting. Beautifully pristine. It's waters were not the murky waters of a typical mountain lake, but took on the appearance of it's Namesake, of distant shores where one could look down into the beautiful blue water and see everything. The massive lake was clear, cool, with only the gentle lapping of shore to disturb the poisoned peace. It's waters, so desolate, slimy and poisoned, now brimmed with life. Fish could be seen, clear as day, winding at all levels through the water and rippling greenery. Every stone cast a shadow, and it gave the lake the appearance of being one single, great beast, floating among the trees. It lived again.

Down, down into the depths one could look, and could see what had once been Unseen. There was the marble, half-obscured face of a woman, and laying next to it, settled across her lips, lay the long, twining tines of a Great Horn.

Aeryn:

The shudder of the earth had made the madman pause in his frenzied rutting, bloodied lips being licked as he enjoyed the tumultuous rattle to the ground and the building around him. As the shaking subsided, he snatched up his axe, and then swiftly beheaded the terrified woman, and tossed her head to join the pile that belonged to her late husband and sister. With a stilted giggle, he then kicked over a lantern and then threw more straw and papers upon it to force a conflagration. In the back of his mind, the part of him that was Aeryn knew that such things would start up anyway. But the section of soul that was Kharnagar wanted more. More Chaos. More Death. More Souls for the Skull Throne.

The Hunter and the Butcher both cackled madly, whilst the Girl only shrieked in mindless rage. Aeryn cackled, using his axe to chew his way through the side-wall of the shack in the industrial quarter, and urging the flames to dance through it and out into the street. The Meetinghouse wasn't far from here. Nor was the Remedium. They were perfect targets for the fire. For anything, really. And Aeryn had a feeling that his forays into the town itself were going to be curtailed. It was only a matter of time.

Still. Best to make as much trouble as he could. Take as many skulls as he needed (which was a number that was ever rising). Drink his fill of blood. And so, into the smoke and the flame he moved, hacking down anyone who tried to escape from their crumbling dwellings. The Five were searching for their Sixth, and giggling almost the entire way.

The man in glasses could only stare. The lake.. the horn. It was standing right there. Just.. out of his reach. He spends some time moving about the lake. Too much time. But.. there are markers to place. There is no promise the lake will remain this clear, and he needs to have a way to find the horn again. A land mark across the lake is picked and he sets up three points on his side of the lake to triangulate the position of the horn later. There was no way he could reach it. This would have to do.

Steadily, he had been coughing, harder, and longer. And this one was painful, looking down to his glove, he saw the specks of blood there.
"This.. is getting bad." He had gambled. The fog would lift before it would start to do damage, but that did not see to be the case. Another cough and more blood. He wanted to investigate, but, he couldn't. There was no time.

He collapsed to his knees.. coughing harder. His vision started to tunnel, narrowing. Then the voice in his head came. The one that had broken through again that night with Catch and Zilliah, when they went to meet Treadwell.

"NO. Not like this. I won't let you kill me."

He trembled, trying to contain it. He couldn't--Coughing again, he bent his Will against the bonds, and gripped the hilt of his sword tightly. He had been warned. He could not go his whole life living like he was a normal. He had tried. Damn, had he tried. Ten years without using his power, and now.. here he was. In the middle of a toxic cloud, poisons flooding his lungs and blood. It angered him he had been reduced to this, resorting to something other than the intellect that had been granted to him to solve a problem.

"Fine. You want it this way, Myrken. I'll give it to you."

A hand reaches up across his face, ripping down the make shift mask, and he grips the sword harder. "Resonate." The very air around him vibrates, as the crystal his sword is fashioned from vibrates, forcing the fog to recede, just enough. He takes a breath, pulling in as much clean air as he can, and holds the breath, focusing down on the seals in his body. Rings on his thights, biceps and a large circle on his back glow with a pale silver light. Eerie in the fogged moonlight, they are pale, and ghostly, and almost seem to dance.

Finally, the breath is let out, "Unseal, second binding." The light flares even brighter, and the light of the circles on his arms and legs fade, leaving only the brightness from his back, and it grows, flickering and reshaping. Forming something new. The lights seem to merge and flex, slowly, painfully slowly for Aleksei, taking shape. The lights form into a frame work, and start to fill, and as more lights appear, the shape is more obvious. Wings. Two great white feathered wings are growing from his back. Each feather shines with its own pale light, silverwhite like the moon. Soon they are complete, and he stands, legs shake like leaves. Though, an amused smirk crosses his face.

"Too bad you aren't here Glenn. You could solve a mystery."

His wings flex again, then flap, pushing the fog away from them, his legs bunch, and he springs up, wings carrying up, over the tree tops, and into the night. Away from the town. It wouldn't do to be seen like this, oh no.

Anyone looking toward the lake would witness the rising of a bright white light into the sky, then away toward the mountains. And it is into those mountains he falls, like a star flying, wings fading from view as he collapses to the ground, finally spent and exhausted beyond his endurance.