Exploration: Stony Silence
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Kelvin has partially disconnected.
Perhaps the Fifth God was bored or they wanted to to test the met of some of the people of Atharia. It is hardly easy to understand the whims of Gods, especially the Twin Gods who interact the least with Mortals. Jesse and Kelvin had their sleep disturbed by images that revolve around one of the forests in Santua, Shadowfall, and swords and shields along with an unknown creature. At times they would feel the familiar sensation of Hilal among those images. At the end "Restore honor of the fallen. Find the stone turning creature and pacify it." With those words the visions stop, allowing for the pair of them to awaken in the morning with a task presented to them.
This day, Jesse would travel further than their typical patrols that only covered the Seat of the Gods, on the hunch of these twisted visions that brought significant concern and worry to the person that had a career based on protecting people from bad things, yes, including monstrous creatures. Any venture outside the safety of the walls would weigh on the Divinus bodyguard as unusual, of course, but this one had a rather harrowing and imposing message that brought significant urgency to the matter. Jesse would make hasty preparations and set out first thing in the morning, telling only their closest family where they would be.
Deeper into the forest, Jesse kept a hand upon the sheathed haft of their longsword, otherwise adorned by typical garb of a low-ranking military grunt. It would not have been too wise to dispatch too many from the Seat of the Gods to investigate a dream, anyway. Eventually, this would put them in the path of Kelvin, which caused the Guard to give a startled double-take and offer a timid little wave followed by a few bounding steps to catch up and keep in stride with the taller one.
"Good day, ah, this isn't the most pleasant of mornings, is it?" they would say in a high-pitched voice with trepidation tainting the words. Even if there was nothing wrong with it, it was clear that Jesse seemed to think so based on their mannerisms.
Kelvin has partially disconnected.
Kelvin bolts awake as soon as his senses allow, focusing on the visions he received. The touch of the gods was familiar, all too familiar, and he wondered at meaning of it as he dressed. As he throws a cloak around his shoulders, he crosses to his dresser and draws parchment, writing out everything from the vision that he remembers. He studies it quickly to make sure that he has not forgotten anything, then lays it back down on his the wooden surface as he makes his way to his store room.
"The stone turning creature?" He thinks on that a while while he checks on his items, neatly arrayed among the storeroom. He looks them all over, each set of items laid out to exacting specifications. Finding nothing out of place he turns and focuses on his innate abilities and a portal appears. He looks on the forest of Shadowfall as he draws his cloak around him and steps through, letting the portal close behind him along with the tingling prick of needles that accompanied it.
Stalking into the wood, he moves from shadow to shadow, looking for a place to start, trying to draw on something from the vision for direction. Instead, he finds Jesse and he is a bit puzzled, not expecting someone so normal. He watches them as they give a cheery, friendly greeting and he draws his brows down, confused. Looking out from the shadow of his hood, the purple skinned man says back, "I suppose so." He hesitates then follows with, "What brings you to the woods of Santua?" asks the Santuan to the non-Santuan.
Kelvin has partially disconnected.
At some point Jesse and KElvin in their patrols would find themselves joined by the common appearance that Hilal takes on when they appear mortal. A tall androgynous blonde with striking blue eyes. They wear the purest of white armor with a black sigil on the front, as well as on the shield they carry, that clearly indicates Hilal. The God, it seems, has decided to joint he journey as a 'mortal'. How much they actually will help is unclear. The Gods, typically, seem more inclined to do a little show for helping (mainly assuring there is no deaths). As the three of them travel deeper intot he forest they start noticing peculiar sights. Wild animals turned to stone. Or are they statue? There is an uncomfortable amount of them either way/ (Feel free to make rolls of your choice to look into statue-animals. Investigation, herbology, animal care, sculpting, pottery. All possible choices or whatever you think would work)
<FS3> Kelvin rolls Perception: Great Success. (1 7 5 7 4 6 6 7 8 5 1 8 3)
<FS3> Jesse rolls Survival: Good Success. (1 1 3 5 6 8 8)
Despite Jesse's bounding forward, there's certainly a weight of concern upon their features, one that they try to hide but only makes a strange set of mixed emotions. The words of the stranger do get Jesse to relay to the shrouded Santuan, "I know you may not believe this, but I was shown some sort of creature that needs to be.. um.. 'pacified'." At the very least, the rather lacking description includes the specific word from that shared dream. The guard bites their lip as a hand goes to their chest in introspection, and they admit, "I am sorry for intruding upon your land, but I wanted to be sure, so no one else could be hurt by what might lie deeper. My heart would not bear anyone being caught by it."
For a moment, green eyes shine with an almost genuine pleading and Jesse would shyly extend that hand away from the chest to try and vaguely gesture somewhere closer to Kelvin's direction. "I am Jesse, of the Divinus Guard, sir. May I help you and your people in this?" The question is asked with such a solemn, yet intense focus, as if desperate to hear the answer that would come.
After a wide-eyed pause, the Guard turns their head around very slowly, only to still give a startled yelp at the sudden presence of Hilal's aspect, but only after offering a stammering, "H-hello.." and recapping the plight they patrol for, Jesse would soon try for deeper passage into the woods, seeming too worried about the vision to make significant talk otherwise.
Their face grows pallid to see a squirrel cast in stone clinging to the bark of a tree, and the Guard quickly skitters over to the statuesque figure, and fretting over it with fearful eyes, starting to form water in them in clear sadness. "O-oh no! This is awful.. what would be the reason for such a horrid fate? We must find the track, before it is too late and more.. ohh.." Blinking away held back emotions but unable to hide them very easily, Jesse's hand brushes over the top of the stone before they try to find Kelvin's eyes under that hood. "You know this place far better than I, though.. I would trust in you."
Kelvin looks Jesse over as he replies and he nods his assent. "I got the same message. It seems you have been recruited. I'm not one to stop the will of Hilal. And it isn't my land. I just thought maybe you were the creature I was supposed to pacify..." He adjusts his hood back over his head, peeking out from his braids. "But obviously you are friend, not foe, but Hilal's will. Good to meet you. I'm Kelvin."
Kelvin keeps pleasantries brief and continues on making conversation only about what their mission is when he eyes the form of Hilal, noticing the white armor first. The visions he received make this particular meeting not as surprising as it otherwise would be and he retains his composure much better than he had in his first meeting of a God. He stares at Hilal a while, but when no information is forthcoming, Kelvin figures that whatever information he might get from the God, he already received. He gives the god a compliant nod, visually acknowledging the task set before him and continues on.
When he comes upon the stone creatures he looks them over, recognizing the animals for what they were. "These were real. No sculptor could cut so fine." He considers the words he was given, "The stone turning creature... one of these? All of these? Should we be looking for a way to turn them back?" He glances back to Hilal, though not expecting an answer.
"Hello." responds the mortal form of Hilal. Their features are unreadable but not cold. They just aren't an open person. They shift their eyes to all the stone creatures and a small wince is given by the stoic God. "Ossian is not pleased." One would think that it would be Ossian with them but for some reason it is Hilal. Deeper they bid Jesse and Kelvin and as they go deeper they stumble upon a village of people turned to stone. No man, woman, child, animal, or anything in between has been spared. A mother carrying a baby can be seen. Children in the midst of playing. They are too 'perfect', like the animals, to be man mad. Their previous knowledges makes it clear that these4 statues were once real. They must have been caught unaware, unlike the animals, because there is no fear present in anything about the people playing. In some of the buildings ghostly pale figures that are of varying genders can be seen in some of the buildings and the cry of a baby can be heard. One would assume, initially, that the beings in the houses are people from Luminat until the hair of snakes comes into view as the creatures move about. Luminats may be ghostly but they do not have snake hair. For the moment, the group is unnoticed. "Proceed with caution." says Hilal.
For a moment, Jesse could only stop and tremble as deeper exploration revealed a stony village, their breath accelerated in sheer worry. It took quite a bit of effort for Jesse to pull away from submitting to grief though, and searching through the cleared area for anything. But then there's a cry of a baby and the serpentine visage that starts to appear. In a rather swift motion, practiced to a point, Jesse's right hand pulls free their longsword with a sibilant ringing sound that echoes through the environs, and takes on a high guard as they start to close their stance.
Briefly looking over their shoulder, the Guard gives a nod that seems uncharacteristically stoic despite the misty nature of their green eyes now, aiming their acknowledgement at both Hilal and Kelvin. Breathing becomes more controlled as there's a sense of strange calm that finds Jesse while they very slowly advance towards the creatures now. "Maybe that is the source? This could be dangerous to the others if we were to join battle here.."
"This is not good." He walks through the villages and looks all around, studying each one, hoping to find something that might make it not what it seems to be. "Medusas." He hadn't thought they were a possibility until he saw the people turned to stone. It really was that bad. He pauses to glance back to Hilal. "Passify a medusa?" he asks incredulously then looks to Jesse. "Do you have any idea how to avoid being turned to stone by one of these things?"
When the cry of a baby is heard, Kelvin immediately slips down behind one of the stone people, hiding instinctively. He looks up at Hilal's form, not believing the God would duck and hide. "Any chance the term 'pacify' can be interpreted very broadly to include killing?" He whispers to Hilal, but is sure that the God already knows what he is wondering. He doesn't pray often, but when he does it is to Hilal. If any God knew him best, Hilal did. Kelvin didn't enjoy killing, an had in fact begun to move away from it being his main profession. But he found it effective and worth avoiding risk. Whether Hilal did or not was an entirely different story.
Hilal knew him. He would never truly know Hilal. Kelvin slips off, darting between shadows as he silently works his way invisibly towards the figures with snakes for hair.
"Possibly. You need to restore the honor of the fallen." Somewhere the baby still cries and this draws the attention of the medusas. The start leaving the houses, either having planned to settle the village or they were in search of something. Only once the creatures are 'pacified' will they be able to look into the houses and figure out what is going on. "Find the leader and the rest will fall and honor will be restored." Hilal could be using 'honor' to mean life. IT does bring the question to whether the 'non-leaders' will restore themselves or not. Towards the cries the creatures move but they are distracted when they notice Hilal, who hasn't moved from their spot. They also see Jesse but Kelvin disappeared quick enough he is not noticed. Fromm the beings a screech escapes them and their eyes start to glow. It seems 'living' does not centralize on animals or people because their gaze hits a tree and turns it stone. Hilal, it seems, had in a Godly way shifted the tree to block Jesse from being turned to stone.
Likely not helping the efforts, Jesse lets out a light whimper at the screech, and all this talk of medusas had the Guard do their best to.. avert their eyes. Maybe not the exact thing needed here. This would of course be accompanied by the incidental scraping of their weapon on the stone tree that was brought in front to protect the Guard, who now rests against it, breathing heavily. A quick, careful glance is brought around to confirm that they cannot see Kelvin anymore, and Jesse plays this to their advantage. "I hope he has a plan while they bear down on me.."
Jesse starts to flatten against the tree, holding the blade pointed upward with both hands against their chest, collapsing their figure to make themselves less of a target as they wait for the creatures to either advance or move on. Too distracted to appreciate the life-saving gift they were given in that very moment, they focus on sheer survival now, and start to tense a bit in a bid to respond to whenever the medusas make themselves open for a safer approach.
Jesse gives a short glance to their trembling right hand, staring at their wrist a moment. With a renewed determination, Jesse intentionally crashes their blade into the stone tree, making a racket to further antagonize the medusas in an attempt to give the others time for any leader to be sought. And to wait for their stony doom, or an opportunity to peek out from behind the tree and fight for their outclassed life.
<FS3> Kelvin rolls Percpetion: Failure. (4 1 6)
<FS3> Kelvin rolls Perception: Good Success. (1 3 8 5 2 4 8 3 3 8 5 4 5)
"Find the leader..." Kelvin repeats the suggestion and tries to figure out how to do that without killing everyone and sorting it out later. The only thing he can think is to try to figure it out. Like wolves, there might be an alpha. But they fought as a pack and sometimes it wasn't immediately obvious who was who. But there were signs. Kelvin moves away now, trying to create space while keeping an eye on the medusae as they head towards Jesse. He hopes that the man can take care of himself while he tries to follow the flow of the battle. He had seen enough of them to know. It was just a matter of time. Time that Jesse might not have.
Dipping low and slding behind a stone statue of a larger man, he slides up its length, mirroring the statue's stance to remain hidden while he watches the battle. He spots a medusa more beautiful than the rest at the center of them. It takes only a running thought to identify her as a leader, a brief moment of thought which Kelvin uses to draw his bow.
He identified her, but had no idea how to inform Jesse of that fact without blowing the element of surprise and his chance to get at the leader. So instead, he readies an arrow and waits, patiently, balancing the need for taking action and sparing Jesse. He didn't know the man nearly at all, but in this they'd have to trust each other. Not an easy task.
<FS3> Kelvin rolls Magic: Failure. (4 4 6 4)
Being a God Hilal shifts trees and pushes around 'magically' to allow JEsse to see Kelvin and the medusa pack to not be able to. Nothing beats being a God and all. Both JEsse and Kelvin feel some sort of godly power sweep over them and they find themselves able to communicate with each other across distances. In both of their heads they hear Hilal say,"Now you can communicate without any thing being the wiser. Temporarily. By dawn it will wear off." Another flick of the wrist is given by the God and everything returns to as it was. Except the stone tree. It stays before Jesse. The medusas are all starting to move towards Jesse, completely ignoring Hilal. Even when the God is in mortal form, they know Hilal is a good and is untouchable. Jesse and Kelvin, however, are not. They just aren't yet aware of Kelvin. So, right now, Jesse is their target.
Jesse's lips quiver as they shake against the tree, even as the surroundings are manipulated by Halal's will to connect the pair. The Guard starts to mouth the words, but it's almost as if instinctively it's translated into that portion and Jesse adjusts and soon does not have to move their lips at all. Despite appearances, Jesse's response is cool and calm, perhaps a benefit of not actually having to put a real voice to the words. "Once they get close enough, I can open them up for you. I trust you have found your enemy? I will give you the moment you need, if you let me know when you are ready to strike."
Jesse's left hand starts to lightly touch the surface of the weapon, closing their eyes during the preparation of magic. There's a warmth that fills the hand, and soon the weapon, starting to shine and light flickers of smoke coming from the steel, strangely enough.
Kelvin looses his arrow. It flies over the head of the medusas and cracks against the stone tree, missing them, but clear enough that it gives up his position and draws their notice. He stays standing so that they can see him, but only for the briefest of seconds before he ducks down again, hiding form their sight. Normally hiding from sight was a convenient advantage, but in this moment it was a life saving skill. Ducked down behind the portal, he concentrates on opening a portal, an escape path to put him right where he needs to be. He draws on the power... and it fails him, the lack of control a vulnerability in battle and one of the main reasons he never relied on it in these situations.
But there were mystical creatures and a divine observer so this situation was anything but normal. Focusing, Kelvin bets it all on his ability to come up with the power when it counts. He had a little bit of time to make it happen before being swarmed by the medusas, but not much. He could run, but that would lose them his advantage. So he stays put and continues to concentrate. It wasn't a long way to go, but whether he went two feet or across the continent, the magic was just as unforgiving.
<FS3> Kelvin rolls Magic: Success. (6 8 6 3)
<FS3> Hilal rolls 4+12+3: Good Success. (2 4 6 5 7 1 7)
<FS3> Hilal rolls 4+12: Good Success. (2 3 5 4 6 2 5 5 5 8 3 5 1 1 7 3)
While not all of them are distracted the medusa beings are divided enough they split. Kelvin gets some of them towards his hiding spot and some of them towards where his arrow landed. The sudden flaming of the sword of Jesse catches the interest of the leader, which presumably, Kelvin has pointed out to Jesse. Towards Jesse she moves. Ah, those unsettling snakes, were they not there this creature could captivate even the coldest of heart's with her go-libeaty. Hr d two of the medusa continue towards JEsse. Kelvin is easily able to use his portaling to escape the medusas that saw his arrow being shot.
<FS3> Jesse rolls Survival: Failure. (5 4 1 5 5 5 1)
<FS3> Jesse rolls Swords: Good Success. (7 4 2 5 2 4 7 3 2 4 7 5 2 3 3)
Jesse takes a deep breath and communicates their plan, "I don't know what happened.. but I think.. I think they're too close. I have to step out. I know you will strike true, my new friend, Kelvin." The Guard tries to get clever by pulling their blade out a little to see if they can find the medusas in its reflection, rather dangerous, but the warning would certainly help. Unfortunately, the Guard fails to angle the blade correctly, and it may go noticed by the advancing creatures. So exposed, Jesse is forced to step out attempting to spring on the creatures. It's a daring move, as Jesse turns the now burning sword in a wide, horizontal arc that is intended to form a flashy defensive slash outward against the leader and her companions, and then soon holding the blade's brilliant edge in a wrath guard, so that the face can be turned towards the wreaths of snakes at their height and be ready to get in the way of any untoward glaring that might be aimed the Guard's way. There's no real indication this would work, but anything to buy the hidden one some time would be needed.
When Jesse does manage to catch a glimpse, there's too much worry to be entranced by beauty, though the Guard is clearly unnerved by the imposing forms, clutching the blade dearly after the wide swing..
<FS3> Hilal rolls 2+3: Failure. (1 3 4 2 1)
<FS3> Kelvin rolls Stealth: Good Success. (6 4 1 8 2 1 8 5 6 5 4 7 5 3 6)
Kelvin can almost feel the medusas along the ground as he tries to grapple with the magic to stabilize. It fights and resists the warping of reality, but he manages to pull it tight and it locks in with a pressure all over his body like he was bearing weight from all directions at once. He thanks Hilal silently and draws another arrow, fitting it to his bow. Still, he waits. It wouldn't make much difference if he didn't give them a chance to catch up to him here. All he had to do to keep the portal open was bear the pressure. He suddenly finds it to be fortunate that he did not have much time until the medusas are on him.
The Santuan archer calls out to Jesse, now that his position had been compromised, "Leader's in the center!" Hopefully had a few seconds. If not, that would work too. Now that the portal was open, he could find a way to make it work. He waits, patiently. Five seconds seemed like five minutes, but he stays true and trusts his skills. At three seconds, he sneaks forward, slipping through the portal, trying to do so unseen. If he could get through without them seeing him, they would be completely confused as to where he could have gone, which would help their cause.
Kelvin let's go of the portal the instant he steps through. There was a very slight tingling sensation as he crossed distances in ways that defied the natural world, but it was a pleasing sensation to him, a sign of success and relief when accompanied by the release of the portal. It didn't distract him from his task and as soon as the portal is closed, he raises his bow and fires, laser focused. This arrow is different than the last, intent and deadly focused.
<FS3> Kelvin rolls Archery: Amazing Success. (7 7 6 6 8 7 8 6 8 8 1 5 7 5 3)
The flaming sword of Jesse and Kelvin's deadly arrow both hit their mark. The leader Medusa is sliced deep and set ablaze just as Kelvin's arrow pierces her head. Down the body of the creature falls. Ear splitting screeches are heard from all the remaining meduasas. Several fall to the ground dead while the last handful flee. At first it doesn't seem like they got the leader for nothing starts to destone. IT is the sound of animals becoming far louder that is the first announcement of the stone wearing off. The animals of the forest have destoned first. Slowly the villagers start to destone as well. Alas, some don't. A baby, a couple of the animals in the forest, an elderly lady, a young woman. Not many. Clearly the ones that stayed stone belonged to the medusas who fled and must not have being proper members of this particular leader's pack. "Burn their bodies." Hilal says about the fallen creatures. "No good will come if you don't." When the villagers destone they look rather confused. When they see some of their people still stone they give a sorrowful cry.
Hilal also adds, "Shatter the ones still stone and bury them on sacred grounds. They will never regain their honor if that doesn't happen." This likely means that if they are not shattered they will likely become MEdusas too.
At the last moments of that attack, a tinge of pride takes Jesse's green eyes, delighted at that skilled arrow from the hooded one that took down the leader. Although the fire is immediately quenched after the strike, Jesse's sword hand begins to smolder and they double over, nursing it with a painful wince just after. Only after some time would the Guard recover, to be greeted by the mostly relieving imagery of nature returning to its normal course and the people being liberated from their stony prisons. Those that do not - and the news that they must be properly buried - send a new tinge of pain through Jesse, a hand upon their heart as their eyes cloud once more. "If only we were here sooner.." they sadly realize in an almost weak tone, but eventually work up the will to carry out the task. Jesse's form trembles and shakes as they employ their rather subtle-appearing strength to collapse the remaining ones, each strike giving them added salt to their own suffering for these people, before helping to move the remains upon better instructions from the remaining villagers. "I'm sorry.." they say, but using that linked communication that Hilal set up, they do chime out, "Thank you both, for saving me as well.. I will.. take care of this."
Kelvin watches the fleeing medusas with a sense of duty and accomplishment. He turns back to survey the aftermath and gives Jesse's comment a shrug. "We arrived when we were meant to arrive." He glances briefly to Hilal and then back to Jesse. "We did not have to be here at all, but we did what needed to be done." He gives Jesse a small smile and says, "Let's just be thankful we had a chance to do what we did. I get the feeling that if we had shown up earlier, we would not have been able to catch them off guard." He moves forward to begin the work of consecrating the dead. "We started this together, we'll finish it together." He takes off his bow and quiver and tosses it aside. It disappears into a portal as Kelvin gets to work.
It doesn't take long for Jesse and Kelvin to properly deal with the dead. Both the medusas and the mortals that stayed stone. Medusas are burned, the mortals shattered and buried on sacred grounds. Everything gets the send off they were suppose too. Hilal might have been there and doing very little but they helped when they felt necessary. To Kelvin, "In time, you will know who you are." With a flick of the wrist the God sends both Kelvin and Jesse back to their homes in a flash of swords and shields.