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 Posted: Fri Aug 03, 2012 10:34 am
This Quest is for Aminah who wishes to be a Mage.
OOC
||. You may not control any NPCs or other characters; Aminah must face her trials alone.
||. Respond to the prompts given as you would any other RP.
||. Your responses may be as long or short as you feel necessary.
IC
The sun was just beginning to rise, casting a lovely, rosy tint across the entirety of Sauti. The color, filtered through the landscape, complimented the purple mountains beautifully. It was a stunning morning, brisk and filled with light.
A man was seated upon a boulder, staring into a pond to his right. The water was still, like glass, reflecting the sunrise back at itself. He was... different than people of the Western tribes and quite different from the Wind Tribe as well. His skin was dark, like the Shifters', but lighter and more blue. His hair was a much darker shade of that same, blue hue. His clothing, lined with fur, seemed too warm for the day, but he looked comfortable enough.
He was still, calm as the water, staring intently into its glassy depths.
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Posted: Sun Aug 05, 2012 12:43 pm
Aminah breathed in the cool fresh air of the morning. They had just made it to Sauti it seemed, and Aminah couldn’t help but take in the wonderful sights whenever she could. The others had yet to really stir, but Aminah was already full of pep, ready to see more of this wonderful place.
She wandered off from the camp the leaf tribe had made and crept past the sleeping shifters towards an area she hadn’t yet been. She lost sight of the others in the distance, and looking forward, she could see someone further out in front of her. She didn’t know who this person could be, but from her position, she could see that it wasn’t anyone she knew. It was a man, and he wasn’t paying any attention to Aminah’s traveling. She would have guessed a shifter, if it weren’t for the dark hair. Maybe a mixed-breed? Though she couldn’t possibly figure out what would mix to make such dark blue hair like that.
She continued onward, letting the breeze pull her closer to the man on the boulder. It felt like as good a day as any to make a new friend.
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Posted: Sun Aug 05, 2012 6:48 pm
”Good morning…” The strange man called out, before raising his head, golden eyes locking onto the mixed girl before him. A smile was playing across his lips, warm and inviting. Her skin was the color of the Wind Tribe, yet her hair and crystals were much lighter than any he’d ever seen. And her ears… slightly pointed, were what truly gave her away.
”I can’t say I’ve ever seen anyone quite like you.” He admitted, blatantly intrigued. ”But I must say, you’re quite stunning.”
The man finally stood, but did not leave his spot on the rock. ”Perhaps you’re busy, but if not, I was hoping you might be able to lend me a hand.” The man grinned, gesturing towards the pool of water. ”Can you swim?”
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Posted: Mon Aug 06, 2012 10:46 am
Aminah’s face flashed a light blush at the man’s words. She didn’t think of herself as anything but strange when it came to her appearance. She had never put much thought into whether she was normal enough, let alone pretty.
But mention of actually going into the water brought her back to reality. She lived in Tale after all, and they didn’t have any real source of water except for the growing bulbs that filled their bellies with their clear nectar when drank. Of course she didn’t know how to swim. She had been to Jauhar once, but the water she had been in was only waist deep at best. This pond looked deep.
Aminah responded to the man with an apologetic shrug. “I’m not busy… but I can’t swim.” Aminah crouched near the pond, dipping her fingers into the shallows making ripples in the still water. “I’ll try to help with whatever I can though.” She smiled warmly at the man. He seemed like he could be trusted.
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Posted: Tue Aug 07, 2012 12:18 pm
The man smiled, nodding gently at the girl. ”I appreciate it very much.” He glanced back at the pool of water, watching as she brought ripples to its surface. ”That’s alright, there’s another way. It will just take us a bit longer to get there.”
Standing, the uniquely colored man began to walk, slowly, towards a small cave, visible in the distance. ”I will explain to you along the way.”
The way through the cave was curved, a laborious trek, like a labyrinth. The paths were much longer and more detailed than the cave seemed capable of possessing, from the outside. Yet, the man seemed confident, clearly familiar with the route and he talked as they walked. ”You may have heard that treasures have been disappearing lately from Sauti. They’ve been saying that legendary beasts have awoken and are stealing them… perhaps as tribute? Nobody really knows why. But I have had something precious stolen from me, something that I need help to retrieve.”
Although his eyes were full of concern, his smile lingered. ”I would be so grateful if you could help me.”
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Posted: Wed Aug 08, 2012 7:14 am
Aminah followed the man to the mouth of the cave. She didn’t like the thought of being underground, but she would do what she could to help this man. She looked around and tried to take in the path they were following and the sights she was seeing. The air was damp and musty and it made her nose crinkle in mild disgust. She thought she could probably grow mold on her body if she stayed in the cave for too long.
The man continued to explain to her that something had been taken from him, something that was precious to him. She wondered what it could be and voiced her thoughts aloud to the man. “I’ll help you get back what was taken from you, but if you don’t mind me asking, what was it?” Aminah didn’t want to pry, but if she was to help with something, then maybe she should know more than ‘we’re going this way and we’re getting something’. Would there be monsters, are they looking for an object, or a person? Was the cave dangerous, and how far would they be traveling? All these things filled Aminah’s head, but she hoped that with the trek through the mountain the man would elaborate more.
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Posted: Thu Aug 09, 2012 8:40 am
The man smiled gently at Aminah. Inquisitive little thing, wasn’t she? Smart of her, not to pursue something without having any knowledge of it. Yet, she was still here, accompanying him; she had decided to assist him without question, and that was enough.
”I wish I could show you…” The man ran his foot gently across the cave floor. The dust here wasn’t thick enough to draw on. ”But hopefully we’ll find it and you’ll be able to see it first-hand soon enough.”
”It’s a lovely gem, beautiful, red as blood. Gold flakes can be seen, floating in the center of the jewel, and the entire gem sits in this intricate, gold molding.” He shook his head, inspired by the thought. ”It belongs to my grandmother. It was a gift from my grandfather. He brought it back to her after an adventure to a land far from here.” The man looked saddened by the thought, but continued walking. ”My grandfather has recently passed and my grandmother clung to this treasure with every fiber of her being. Now that it has vanished, she’s not doing so well.”
The man shrugged gently, as though doing his best to make light of the sad situation. ”My hope is to return the treasure to her before she too passes on, so that she can be comforted in the next life.”
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Posted: Fri Aug 10, 2012 6:24 am
As they continued walking along the uncomfortable cave path, the man shared the story of his reason for traveling with Aminah. The man’s story was definitely one that pulled at Aminah’s heart. All she could think about is the poor women who had lost the one thing that she valued the most: the present from her husband that passed. She felt a wave of sadness fall over her, but quickly pushed it aside. She would help this man find what it is that he is looking for, and make his grandmother happy once more.
She felt determined at that point to help. She smiled at the man and assured him that she would help in any way she could. “We’ll find it. You can count on me.” She raised a fist as if to reaffirm her statement. “I just hope that I’ll be of some use.”
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Posted: Mon Aug 13, 2012 6:51 am
The man returned Aminah’s smile. She was brave, so full of determination. He nodded, appreciative of her enthusiasm. ”Thank you.” Was all he said.
As they walked through the winding tunnels, markings on the walls became more and more obvious. ”I left these here, so that I could find my way back.” He explained to Aminah, indicating the arrows that had been etched into the stone. ”This place is a labyrinth. I’ve found skeletons in passages, dead-ends from which people weren’t able to find their way out.” He gave her a small smile. ”So don’t worry. We won’t get lost.”
It began to grow darker and darker. As soon as they hit blackness, a light appeared in the distance, and another could be seen further off from that. Torches. It was clear that this man had been here quite recently, or someone else had, to light their way. ”So tell me…” He inquired, given that they still had a fair amount of walking to do. ”What brings your people to Sauti? You are certainly not native to these lands.”
It was beginning to grow cooler under the earth. Small rivulets of water could be seen here and there, running along the rock faces. They seemed to be near whatever spring fed the pool where they had originally met.
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Posted: Tue Aug 14, 2012 6:19 pm
Aminah had noticed the markings long before the man had said anything about them and was a little more than relieved when he took ownership of them. She was starting to think that others could be waiting to trap them both inside. The thought had her shiver just slightly, though the cold of the cave didn’t help. When he mentioned the system of tunnels in the cave being a maze, it almost made her feel dizzy. She thought of all the other turn offs that they had been walking past and knew for sure that she would get lost in this place without the man there to guide her. She was reassured by the man’s confidence, but was still unsure in her own abilities if for some reason her were to leave her.
She turned her attention to the question the man had asked her, trying to keep her mind on the conversation. “Well, we have been traveling for a while now, working our way to places that we haven’t yet been. I don’t know for sure why we are here, but the land has told us to move, and move we did.” She thought about the days of journeying before this point. “This place is odd and there’s still so much here we haven’t seen or don’t know about.” She looked at the man’s pale blue skin and dark hair. “Has the gem you’re looking for been taken far from where you’re from? You’re appearance is a little… different than what we’ve seen here so far.”
The feeling of water in the distance brought a bit of ease to Aminah. She liked water, even though she didn’t know how to swim, and always liked to be near it.
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Posted: Wed Aug 15, 2012 7:21 pm
The man nodded, listening as Aminah spoke. ”There is certainly a lot to be explored. I’ve seen the edges of Tale, but never ventured into that area. Tendaji is a land full of variety.” He smiled at the mixed-girl. ”It is truly intriguing.”
As she questioned him in return, he shook his head. ”No, thankfully. I’m of the Ice Tribe. We live in Zena, a region just east of here. It’s cold there, full of snow.” He chuckled slightly as he described yet another place in the world that was probably quite different than anything she had seen. ”Perhaps you will be able to see it sometime soon. It’s not far.” He wondered briefly if he would ever see the land that she was from and how different it truly was from his own home.
The roar of rushing water began to grow as they walked. Torchlight led them into a large, open cavern, a dead-end, but filled with the exact thing they were looking for.
Small waterfalls ran from the ceiling into the floor, surrounding the circular room in streams of water. They disappeared to who knows where, undoubtedly supplying Sauti with its various pools. At the center of one of these motes was the very gem which the man had described. It was a brilliant red, shimmering in the flickering torchlight. Specks of gold could just be seen, suspended within the jewel.
The man bit his lip. It looked like it would be easy to reach, but there was a catch. ”This is the reason I need you… two people are needed to get the gem.” He walked forward, indicating various raised panels on the floor, meant to act as a puzzle, to confuse whoever entered the area. ”I’ve spent a lot of time studying this… and I’m pretty sure I have it worked out.”
The man walked over to one of the raised platforms, this one marked distinctly with an “x”, much like the arrows that had led them to this place. ”Someone needs to stand on this platform, otherwise when you remove the gem from its pedestal, a door shuts up the entrance we just came through.” He pulled out a stone, the exact size of the gem, from a bag around his waist. ”But if I replace the gem with this while you stand on this platform, we’ll be fine and the doors will remain open.”
He laughed, shaking his head. Various other jewels and trinkets were set on pedestals similar to the one they were aiming for. No doubt those pedestals were connected to different platforms, which also required a partner to take. ”I don’t know who the person was who stole these things, but clearly they intended to keep them.”
He raised an eyebrow, indicating the “x”-marked platform. ”Whaddya say? Do we give it a shot?”
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Posted: Fri Aug 17, 2012 8:49 am
Aminah couldn’t help but ponder what snow might be or look like. Being from Tale, it never gets below outrageously hot, but maybe snow was something that happened in the cold weather? Maybe she would get to see it someday. This man’s land must be truly strange from her own to have words she’s never even heard of before.
She continued to walk with the man, still thinking about all of the strange places in the world that’s she’s never been or just recently seen. Sauti was strange, but it was nice. It looked wonderful and like something that Aminah would love to venture out into, with friends of course. She was still no good at being on her own. They reached their destination, or so she assumed when the man stopped walking in a large cavern of the cave. The gem that they were after was indeed beautiful. And throughout the cavern were other wonderful treasures, all surrounded by a moat. It was weird, something was wrong here.
She listened to what the man had figured out about the moats and the pedestals, and everything that was included into the plan of action. She nodded slowly, taking it in and agreeing with the man at the same time. This would be interesting, and hopefully this man was right. “Alright.” She smiled. “Let’s try it. What’s the worst that could happen? We’re trapped here in a cave far from our friends and families?” Aminah shrugged her shoulders and gave a slight chuckle; it was a joke. Aminah hoped her sarcasm could be detected as she walked over to the raised platform on the floor marked with an ‘x’.
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Posted: Sun Aug 19, 2012 8:10 pm
The man laughed gently as Aminah joked, his shoulders falling in a slight shrug. He smiled, waiting until she had made her way to the pedestal before approaching the jewel for which they had come.
As the Mixed girl stepped onto the “x”, small, metal claws at the bottom of the pedestal, holding the gem in place, receded into the stand, releasing the treasure from their grip. The man nodded gently as the jewel shook gently, indicating the fact that it could now be removed. Carefully, with his replacement “jewel” in one hand, the man snatched up the beautiful treasure and slid the fake gem into place.
Immediately, the room began to shake. The man didn’t both to look at Aminah, he simply slid the jewel into his bag and fled the room. He slid across the ground, making it through the stone door just before it shuddered shut, locking the mixed woman inside, alone.
He had lied to her. The story about his grandmother had been a ruse, all meant to tug at her heartstrings and to get her to enter this chamber with him, to stand on the pedestal that would allow him to retrieve the treasure. Whether she would have been able to make it out of the room, had she known what would happen, was beside the point; he couldn’t risk her refusing, had she known the true danger of what would happen – there had been no way, after all, for him to guess the weight of the jewel by sight alone.
Aminah had been betrayed.
However, from high above, light filtered into the room, which had been flooded with darkness, the door having cut off the fire light from the torches that had led their way. Near the ceiling of the cave, sunshine could be seen. Cold, white flakes filtered into the room through the crack.
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Posted: Tue Aug 21, 2012 7:06 am
Aminah blinked rapidly into the sudden darkness. Her eyes hadn’t adjusted yet, but her brain had already processed what had happened. Aminah was alone. She trusted this man and wanted to help him, following him without question into this cave, and now she was alone. He had left. She couldn’t fathom why someone would do something like that. It was a horrible thing to do. She called out, already knowing that it was useless. "Hello! Can anybody hear me? Please help!"
Her eyes welled up slightly at the thought of never seeing anyone again; never making it out of this cave again. But her eyes were already adjusting to the lack of light and she could make out the faint light filtering in through the ceiling of the cave.
There had to be a way out.
The only problem was Aminah didn’t yet know how to get to it. She stepped off of the pedestal thinking that if the trap had already happened there was no point to keep standing in that one spot. She looked around to see if there was anything she could use to get out of this place. She wasn’t one for claustrophobia, but this situation was making her chest tighten.
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Posted: Wed Aug 29, 2012 5:46 pm
Silence filled the cave, only echoing Aminah's lonely voice back at her. The hole in the ceiling high above seemed large enough for a body to climb through, but how would one reach it?
A little drift of snow had begun to form on the floor of the cave. The sunlight caused the falling flakes to glitter in a beautiful way, completely antithetical to the poor mixed girl's situation.
After some time, a faint voice, muffled by distance, made its way into the cave. "Hello? ...Aminah?"
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