[Artifact] The Circlet of Thoth

[Smerdle]

Even through the lap sprawling and back slapping, or maybe because of it, Brenley's mood showed the barest hint of lightening as he rested his hands on the bench seat to either side of him.

"This will be nothing like that forest if I have anything to say about it," he replied, chuckling once as he sent FEAR into the sleigh, making it light enough to float. The three of them continued to keep it grounded, but his mount could take care of that much weight, at least tonight. Borrowed power, borrowed spells. Potentially dangerous, but they seemed to be working fine so far.

"Hold on to something. Once we get going, you can take a nap if you really want to." His vague smirk at Hel was interrupted as he took the reins and a slow breath. A second or two later he coaxed Lemesk into the sky, the wyvern's takeoff bumpy and loud. They leveled off soon enough, turning south and clearing the city lights almost immediately.

A chilly fifteen minutes later, the creature spotted something on the ground that sent him into a sudden dive. Bren pulled back on the reins, holding in an undignified shriek as his stomach dropped. The sleigh bounced to a halt soon after, the wyvern straining for the treat that had been left for it the last time it had been here. Brenley grabbed his bag and slid to the safety of the ground as soon as Lemesk was occupied, motioning for the others to follow if they hadn't preceded him.

"Okay." He swallowed. "I have done this part before as practice, but I've never gone inside once the portal opened because I presumed it wouldn't lead where it should at the time. It always looked very dark. I'm hoping there's something more promising on the other side this time."

The clearing they had landed in was open to the sky, and the moon was the brightest source of light until Bren looked at his phone again.

"Five minutes. So. Um... any questions?"

Seiana_ZI

i keep splitting these things up because i feel like it's too long without a reaction

eventually they'll get somewhere

Lucyal

also i think i'll delete this running commentary when this is all over, so hi for now /touches faces <3

they can still take one of his coats if they want :B

 

[Lucyal]

Hel held onto Brenley---not so much that she felt she needed the security of course. No. She just held onto him to be obnoxious.

She ended up letting go of him though to throw her hands into the air as the sleigh ended up taking a dive, letting out a very delighted and enthusiastic shriek at the sudden rush of adrenaline. She wasn't worried in the slightest, and that was justified as the sleigh ended up safely, and in one piece, on the ground. The reaper leapt out of the sled, and followed after the other reaper, idly pushing some of her wind swept bangs out of her eyes.

Hel looked around at the area with some interest, her hands now resting of her hips. "Bah, waiting!" She whipped around to face Brenley though, and her lips pulled into a grin. "Ya, I got a question---" Her grin widened. "I suppose you have not been laid since graduating still, ya? You are still too uptight and a worry wart! I can find you a bonny ghoul, Brenley---" A pause, and she looked at Ig before looking back at Brenley. "Or boil."

Never not a troll.

Smerdle

<333

Seiana_ZI

 

[Seiana_ZI]

Brenley told them to hang on, so Ignatius naturally took his chance to hang on for all of five seconds before throwing his hands up and declaring, "Look Ma, no hands!"

This probably wasn't his best idea, but he seemed to be having fun with it, anyway.

Ignatius hopped out of the sleigh as soon as it was on the ground, seemingly unaffected by the rather sudden stop that they had taken. He shook his arms out, stretched his shoulders and then bent down to the ground, counting under his breath. Not that he really needed to stretch before he went running or anything, but it felt good after being banged around in that chilly sleigh.

When Hel suddenly asked if Brenley had been laid, Ignatius, still bent over, couldn't help the snickers and snorts that bubbled up. He supposed that meant that Brenley and Piper weren't together yet, then, though that didn't terribly surprise him all things considered -- Ignatius had figured Brenley had graduated or at least was close to it considering how distant he had been for the last few months, but the confirmation was interesting considering Brenley hadn't actually told him he had graduated. In fact, he had still be going to classes last he knew--

When Hel glanced at him as he came back to a standing position and suggested a boil for Brenley, Ignatius laughed harder.

"Now, look, Brenley's certainly nice on the eyes," he walked over and smacked Brenley on the back, "but I'm not in the sleeping with my bros game."

Maybe Brenley should get moving before the trolling got worse.

Smerdle

Pfft, going places

Lucyal

Better to get trolled

 

[chiickadee]

Lock squinted at the message for a while. The words said it was an urgent plea for help but the organization of it made it look like an eloquent invitation to a wedding.

Then again, knowing Brenley it could have easily been either.

But #bros didn't leave #bros behind so Lock readied himself a small bag of things that would be useful (extra boxes and pots and food because Jack knew Brenley had probably forgotten to pack food) and all other assortments of things that Shun had taught him were important for adventures.

Upon arriving at the school gate he was immediately tense; Brenley had specifically told him to meet here and yet he was nowhere to be found. He scanned the area for any signs of a struggle, some kind of kidnapping, something and what he found was a note telling him to touch a rock and say the word Alaion.

Brenley what the j-

Lock was highly suspicious at this point because Brenley was the pranking sort. This was most likely just another one of his elaborate pranks, but Lock didn't want to leave the other reaper boil in peril if that really was the case.

He touched the rock and said the word, "Alaion," and found himself whisked away.

Crashing right onto Brenley's form.

smerdle

sorry im late

seiana_ZI

but im here now

lucyal

hello

 

[Smerdle]

Six months ago, Brenley might have gone all splotchy and stuttery over Hel's probing question, but with a mentor as trolly as Delilah making similarly embarrassing inquiries on a near-weekly basis, he was almost accustomed to it. He went still instead, shooting her a look that held a surprising amount of ghoul, pls considering its source. With no mention of actual people she might set him up with and no naked bodies in his personal space, he remained rather cool headed for such a flaming nerd.

"Thank you for the offer, really, but I can find my own ghoul or boil if the need arises." Oh, look. Innuendo. He started to smile again, both because of his (bad) joke and Ignatius's compliment, but he barely had a chance to before he felt a crackle of energy emanating from his bag. A crackle of the pants-shitting variety. A crackle that meant something very, very horrible was about to happen if he didn't move quickly. Bren sucked in a sharp breath and scrambled for the opening of his pack, pulling out one of the stones from earlier just as it started to spark with purplish energy. Why he had put them in there when they'd been perfectly fine in the sleigh he'd never kn—

He tried to brace himself as Lock appeared in his arms, but with his coats and phone and abundance of recently expended sass, he only managed to stay upright for about six seconds before he toppled with a yelp. Still, he was glad to see the boil, though that did nothing to lessen his shock.

"Hello. Sorry about that. The stones were supposed to stay in..." He glanced at the empty sleigh and Lemesk, who was still occupied with his snack. "Good to see you." If it hadn't been for his thoroughly stunned expression and questioning tone, he might have been welcoming the boil to a dinner party.

chiickadee

Seiana_ZI

Lucyal

 

[Lucyal]

Hel just laughed, hard as well, at the look Brenley gave her and as Ig joined in. "Oh, can you now, Brenners?" The reaper asked, and a brow quirked and her amusement immediately faded as the other reaper seemed to be concerned with something.

"What is amiss---"

Then another appeared, in Brenley's arms, before both boils ended up toppling over.

Since it wasn't any danger, Hel erupted back into laughter again, nearly doubling over. "Oh!" She choked between breaths. "Oh, it is---" That other boil did look familiar...she just couldn't place his name. "Look?" No, that didn't sound right. "Loch? Rock?" Hrm.

Smerdle

SORRY ;; Bravely Second for the 3DS came out and consumed my soul /cries

Seiana_ZI

chiickadee

 

[Seiana_ZI]

Heh, heh heh.

Arises.

Ignatius was snickering like a twelve-year-old that had never really heard innuendo before, but that was mostly because it came out of Brenley's mouth. Admittedly, considering how much of an awkward nerd he tended to be, the innuendo joking was new...

Why did Brenley suddenly seem -- where did Lock come from -- oh.

Ignatius burst out laughing unhelpfully, though he did offer a shaking hand to at least yank one of them back to their feet. "Nice job Bren," teased Ignatius, smirking. "Clearly those don't belong in your pockets."

Smerdle

omg this post is fail I'm sorry

Lucyal

chiickadee

oh hai

 

[chiickadee]

It took a few moments for Lock to register where he was and as soon as he came to he shoved off of Bren with a shallow grunt.

"Lock," he told Hel with an empty stare before turning back to Brenley, arms crossed. "Where are we? And what are we doing ... here." Wherever this "here" was.

smerdle

im lazy so im just gonna quote u because its ur turn

 

[Smerdle]

through the portal
the 1st of fourth october
1:37am

He rose to his feet with Ignatius's help and was just about to explain what was going on in a bit more detail when a tinny alarm sounded from his phone and Brenley's panic went from 'better hurry up before one of my friends manifests in a bag' to 'OMFG PORTAL'.

It was time.

He held up a finger in the universal signal for hold on a second, keeping that finger raised as he moved across the clearing and stopped near a pair of crooked trees. They grew almost too close together, the space between them a perfect door. Bren traced a symbol in that space, one that was intimately familiar to him, but that only one of the others gathered here might have ever seen. It lingered in the air as he drew it, sparking to life once it was complete.

An aqua light bloomed from the rune, filling the gap between the trunks, then settling into a familiar shimmer. A portal shimmer.

Although he had clearly intended to prepare or brief his companions after activating the rune, Bren couldn't stop staring now, all of that preparation paling in importance to what was in front of him. He turned his head, tilting his ear ever so slightly toward the portal, nodded once, and stepped through without a word.

Quote:

BREN IS GAWN

Please continue through the portal (or turn around and go home) in as many posts as you would like and stop once you've stepped through. I will be away and not posting in this thread until at least Tuesday and I'm in no rush after that either, so do what you feel. <3

Seiana_ZI

chiickadee

Lucyal

the rune he drew is also tattooed over his manry hart if she looked at his buf chezt that one time

 

[Lucyal]

"Ahh, Sock." Hel nodded her head. That made sense. With that hair he kind of reminded her of a sock. She was still grinning, left over amusement from the whole exchange with Brenners and Ig earlier, but perked her attention towards the reaper and events as soon as they picked up. She was rather curious and interested to see how this portal would take shape, since they were finicky and had vareity by nature---but watching Brenley---

The reaper's brows furrowed as he traced a symbol into the air, and her brows knitted deeper as it seemed familiar. She couldn't pin point where exactly on Breney she had seen it. Just that it seemed to be like the runes Brenley had on his buf nerd bod body, and wondered what that had to mean.

She didn't have much time to ponder, or even voice that question, because the reaper in question had already disappeared through the portal. Hel made a surprised and impatient sound, and didn't waste any time, running into and through the portal after him.

Smerdle

Seiana_ZI

chiickadee

 

[Seiana_ZI]

What was Brenley drawing in the air for?

More importantly, why did it seem to be actually doing something? Reaper magic stuff was weird. All his friends were reapers (literally all of them, how did that happen, he remembered the stories his great grandparents told him about the evils of reapers and what they thought of elementals but he really hadn't seen any of that) and he still really wasn't used to how they did magic.

And then there was suddenly a portal.

Oh.

"Through the portal!" declared Ignatius loudly, because being discreet was definitely for losers, before dashing through the portal like it was some kind of race.

(It wasn't. Maybe.)

Smerdle

i fail

Lucyal

I'm too slow

chiickadee

gomen

 

[Smerdle]

 

[Smerdle]

Huni Pi

Ruth wakes up.

The ground is cold.

Somehow you're sure it's the dead of night.

Whatever you might have been doing, you're not doing it anymore. Now you're lying in a cave and a soft blue light is illuminating the darkness to your left.

Someone strides past, their footfalls crunchy and purposeful in the sand.

It's Brenley.

You haven't seen him in more than a year, but he hasn't aged a day. It's weird.

When you look down at your hands in the dim aqua light, you're pretty sure you can kind of see through them. That's weird too.  

[Huni Pi]

A hand reached up to her face, whatever knee-jerk concern she might have had dissolved when she felt the dark glasses. She took stock of her surroundings, realizing that before she would have started pretending to be upset and terrified and act accordingly to the prescribed persona her superiors had assigned her. She would have remained right where she was, helpless and useless and lacking any sense of proactive thought.

But that was a long, long time ago. She had taken measures to assert her independence. And the sound of someone approaching, then walking past, had her on high alert. Even after recognizing Brenley.

Especially after realizing her rather non-corporeal state. As always she maintained her silence and did her best to follow after him, if only to observe and gather information to determine what her next course of action should be.

Smerdle

 

[Smerdle]

Brenley disappears straight through what seems to be a solid rock wall, though if you touch it, the stone feels more like yielding flesh. Despite your noncorporeal state, you can't make it past the wall yourself, at least not yet.

Ignatius and Hel have turned up far behind you, near where you awoke, and there is a cracked, faintly glowing plinth directly to your right. Three jewels sit atop it, one blue, one grey, and one amber. Each is about the size of your palm.

Huni Pi

There are others here. They can't see you. There are no exits. ouo

- - - - -

You emerge in a chilly cavern, low, jagged ceilings, rocky walls, and endless sand briefly visible in the blue light of the portal before it fades and all is dark. Even though he was right in front of you, Brenley is nowhere to be seen.

As your eyes adjust, you notice a faint glow coming from the far end of the cave. A small, crumbling platform is the source of the light. On it sit three stones, blue, grey, and amber.

Quote:

WELCOM BOK sorry about the wait ilu <3

You're now inside a sandy cave with one very faint light source at its end. If anyone can see in the dark, this is obviously less of a problem. :B

You can't see Ruth or any evidence of her presence in the environment (footprints, etc) unless she interacts with the gems. They will appear to hover if she picks them up, shift by themselves if she touches them, and all sorts of other ghosty stuff.

You can do one post a piece, or interact with each other for longer, but the weird Choose Your Own Adventure portion will be over when everyone is holding a purty rock of their own.

TAKE AS LONG AS YOU LIKE NO RUSH HUGS

Seiana_ZI

Lucyal