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 Posted: Fri Aug 21, 2015 7:09 pm
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They have dreamed of the Obelisk, on and off, for many seasons: a foreboding image that haunts their sleeping hours and leaves them puzzled when they wake, trying to decipher meaning out of what few glimpses of emotion, touch, or taste they can cling to upon opening their eyes. This is Matope, after all, where dreams rule the lives of kin within its bounds, where the Motherfather uses them as a way to send messages to most beloved children. It is rare, but not unheard of, to have a shared dream like this. A repeating one bears even more weight.
Why a stone? Why this rumbling sense of unease that comes with it?
Longstride thinks, possibly, they can find some answers.
He has had a dream of his own -- a dream that pulls at him as the Ache does, or did. His legs are restless to draw him, slowly, in one particular direction, like a leash dragging him through the swamp. He has seen the Obelisk, not just as a mystical concept, but as something real, marked by the familiar.
It is in the swamp, and he wants to explore it, but it seems, for once, he is wise enough not to simply run off, headstrong and sure, to find it on his own. Instead, he has sent a message out to the swamp, asking for all brave and curious kin to join him on an expedition through the muck and the mangroves, to find what truth they can gleam from these strange, portentous dreams.
They leave all together, and it takes them less than a day's journey before they spot it, rising out of the swamp, and perhaps some of them will wonder how they didn't find it sooner: it is neither hidden nor small, is like an angry bruise in the swamp, standing out stark and clean.
The Obelisk -- tall and smooth-sided with strange symbols glowing with moonlight along its sides -- somewhat overgrown, certainly long-abandoned, them standing before it in the flesh. Around it lies five smooth stones with strange etchings carved into their surfaces.
 (Obelisk as viewed from above; close up)
They stand staring at it and Longstride turns, with a fervid light in his eye, to take in the kin around him, hoping that the curiosity that drove them after him will now help to figure out what they're meant to do with it.
"We should look around. Explore, but be wary. We don't know what it does, or where it came from." He pauses. No need to warn them, after the journey they've had. Instead he nods, and turns to stare up the smooth face of the strange object before them.
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Posted: Fri Aug 21, 2015 7:09 pm
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OOC INFO:
This is WP13, in the form of an ORP centered around a strange Obelisk, as portrayed exclusively in dreams up until this point! We invite you to please drop one -- and only one -- of your kin into this thread to participate. This kin has decided to follow Longstride on his expedition, and is one of the first to spot it. Now, your task, is to put some effort into figuring out what it is, and what it does: solving the puzzle to advance the meta plot.
Please feel free to take any actions you'd like around the Obelisk. Anything you do that you think -- or hope -- will have some effect, please put in bold green font. Please don't use green font for anything else in this thread, thank you!
Staff will be keeping an eye on this thread to give answers to your efforts, should they enact some change [and maybe, sometimes, if they don't] but please, be patient. We can only respond so quickly, after all....
Participation in this thread will reward all participants with +1 RP point, should you hit 500 words.
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Posted: Fri Aug 21, 2015 7:39 pm
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Soothe was just a healer, and when she'd said that, she hadn't expected it to mean much. Her expertise was in animals, not kin. But she was certainly very curious about this, and she'd never traveled far from the swamp, before. With someone like Longstride in attendance, it was a rare opportunity. And she could help with something, maybe, even if it was only providing comfort to those around her. So she'd joined Longstride's expedition and walked proudly next to kin that seemed far more experienced and more athletic than she.
The obelisk that they'd approached was even more intimidating in reality than it had been in dreams. It was real, after all, and impossible, to boot. What could have made it? What great power could have carvings so smoothly into the stones around it? Soothe trotted around it to take it in, and then walked to the southeast stone and rubbed her nose against it. It resembled a crane, and she was a kimeti: that should be the first point of reference, shouldn't it?
"How long has this been here?" she marveled. The sharpest beaks would have taken ages to carve these markings...right? The motherfather is truly incredible.
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Posted: Fri Aug 21, 2015 7:45 pm
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Last Night had followed the call--she had always respected the power of dreams and had heeded their power ever more after the MotherFather had spoken to her, touched her, and she had awoken born anew. So she came and she journeyed, a voice of calm among what almost seemed like fever at times. Her other form was not of speed, so she was never the spider crone, the quiet voice threading whispers into others minds, but her many eyes saw far and her touch was both feared and cherished.
Even now she stood slightly apart from those gathered around the Obelisk, the desire to see, and see easily by the gift the MotherFather had given, a temptation that she was still learning to curb. That was who she was after all.
So she stood there, still and quiet, turning her glowing spider eyes to the Obelisk that had once stood beyond the grasp of her dreaming memories and now confronted her waking mind. She tried to take it all in, stared at it, stared at it's symbol strewn sides glowing with moonlight, familiar yet mysterious. She felt a small thrill of excitement as the others began to explore their surroundings, but she looked on with some foreboding; she remembered the last time the Obelisk had appeared in her dreams--even she was not immune from fear and darkness, the MotherFather had taught her that. She observed and her thoughts ran, but her countenance was serene.
If she had any ideas, she did not share them yet.
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Posted: Fri Aug 21, 2015 7:46 pm
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He was a strange kin, Longstride. Roses in Bloom had thought- hoped, in a way- that she had met her fair share of strangeness in her journeys, and would be satisfied in returning home. She would have storied to tell her children, legends to inspire their travels. And yet... here was this strange, magnificent kin, so wildly different from what she'd seen before. Beyond a normal kin, greater, stronger. It was inspiring, in a way. An odd duck that made her long to take off on this peculiar adventure.
Stranger still was this mysterious thing before her. Blinking up at giant stone pillar, Rose regarded it with a fair mix of curiosity and fear.
"Do... do we know what this is?" She asked aloud, hoping perhaps one of the strangers amongst their ranks knew. With a heavy sense of trepidation, Rose raised her front leg and brushed a golden hoof along the obelisk's surface.
What a curious thing indeed.
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Posted: Fri Aug 21, 2015 7:47 pm
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It had been Lull in Sunlight's idea that Travels in Circles should come. The news had reached them together, a rare event in and of itself. And he had seen no reason to argue against following the stag. Despite the fact he had almost become lost more than half a dozen times (by his count -- any other kin who had counted would have likely grown exasperated and given up trying to give the buck's wanderings a number at all), he had managed to keep up to at least one kin at the end of it all. And promptly been struck by the memory of a dream.
It's real. A tower of black from his dream stands before him -- and the other kin who have also followed Longstride -- in a tangle of greenery. He ambles towards it, grins fondly, then proclaims quite loudly, "You did want company then!" He feels quite proud to have solved the obelisk's intent. Until Longstride's instructions cut into his moment.
He blinks, befuddled that this apparently is not the end. He turns, looks around, before zeroing in on the northern stone. It sort of looks like a -- four-legged creature running? At least until he actually looks at it. He places his hoof on top of it, feels the grooves of the etching and frowns. |
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Posted: Fri Aug 21, 2015 7:53 pm
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"Ah -- be careful, please!" the Kiokote called to the curious Kimeti, her swan form dissipating in favor of her earthen bound one. She, like the others, had no memory of the dreams until now - but she knew even before the dreams came back that something was calling, pulling. Something that made Ascent feel...wary.
She cast a look to the seemingly quiet MotherFather-touched kin as herself, lightly stamping her hoof against the swampy ground. She didn't have any children of her own, but with those gathered already rubbing all over the mysterious thing, she felt like she was taking care of someone else's unruly tots. "Be mindful of what it is -- why it might be here." Did they have the dreams or were their curiosities greater than an owlcat's? "It's -- it's not had a good record of touch in the past..."
At least, not by her dreams. Was she the only one...? Were they different for everyone else...?
Even if they hadn't shared her dreams, shouldn't they be a bit more wary of an ancient and gigantic obelisk and runset in the middle of the swamp that surely had not been here before? Goodness, she really did feel like this was an enormous preparation for any potential kids she might have of her own. Was there no sense to be had? |
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Posted: Fri Aug 21, 2015 7:54 pm
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Moonstone Dazzle "Do... do we know what this is?" She asked aloud, hoping perhaps one of the strangers amongst their ranks knew. With a heavy sense of trepidation, Rose raised her front leg and brushed a golden hoof along the obelisk's surface.
What a curious thing indeed.
The obelisk stands quiet and unmoving under her hoof.
anemosagkelos He places his hoof on top of it, feels the grooves of the etching and frowns.
The symbol etched in its surface is almost as big as he is, so his hoof has some space to scrape -- and as it does, the moonlit runes along the side of the obelisk closest to him light up brighter, for just a moment, and then go dim again. |
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Posted: Fri Aug 21, 2015 7:57 pm
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Posted: Fri Aug 21, 2015 7:58 pm
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It intrigued him, those dreams. Dreams of darkness and shapes that curved in directions he hadn't seen before. A darkness that was palpable, breathable yet touchable. A darkness that reflected light while also sucking it in, as if the shape existed both as a mass and a hole. It drew him in like a beacon, like a whirlpool, like a sinkhole, tugging and pulling and calling and begging for his presence and yet, somehow, he didn't fear it. It made his heart burn, beating close to his ribs as it sent blood to his cheeks and to his legs and he knew, Carnage knew he wanted it, its strange power.
But still, he didn't dare hope. The Motherfather was rare to allow the sort of darkness and ill intent he so desperately craved into their domain; certainly, if they ever had, he had never known of it. Tragedies happened, lives were lost, but he wanted more than that. He wanted terror, death, burning, and trampled, ravaged, destroyed bodies. He wanted the power that could only come from the deepest, most abyssal depths of evil. But it would never be his. It was not allowed.
Yet that was what he felt in his dreams, his dreams which he was sure he was interpreting much more fancifully than anyone else. They gleaned meaning, a message, a tinge of fear, and he took only what he wanted to take, and see, and feel. He knew he was living in a daydream.
But still.
Still.
So when the group walked, he walked too. He spoke to none on his journey, for none he knew and none he liked and none he truly cared at all to speak to. No, it wasn't until they arrived that he spoke. He spoke when voices mixed with voices and words bumped into words, when clever minds were trying desperately to understand this Thing and how it came to be. They were good questions, all of them, truly. What is it? Why is it here? How was it made? What does it mean? How can it possibly be so smooth, so tall, when it is surely rock? But Carnage had only one question, and he called it over the din, his gruff voice louder than it ought to have been.
"Hey, don't you think that thing looks kinda phallic?"
Yes, perfect. Pleased with himself, he moved through the herd to approach the dark mass. It wasn't the pit he'd seen in his dream, but it was still strange and alluring. Somewhat. Mostly, it was disappointing. He'd sworn he wouldn't hope, but somehow, at some point, he had. He'd hoped against hope, against his better judgement, that this thing would hold the power he craved. But it didn't. It was just a stupid rock.
Carnage butted his worn horns against its surface. He wanted to scrape it, to punish it for leaving him feeling so let down. He wanted to make it hurt like he didn't want to admit he hurt. Just a rock. A stupid ******** rock.
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Posted: Fri Aug 21, 2015 7:59 pm
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The dark monument against the swamp's colours drew her in with obvious interest, as with the kimeti buck who had an interesting aura surrounding him. She hadn't remembered anything before but suddenly all the thoughts rushed into her, the obelisk, the dream, the strange happenings, something big was happening and she would answer the call.
And others gathered before it as her, eyes curious and hooves touching the etchings. Grey eyes widened when one of them brightened like a star against the stone -- it was wonderful, but she was also cautious, watching, waiting, memorizing the shapes and drawing the shapes with her hoof in deep thought, not really hearing the others words as of now. |
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Posted: Fri Aug 21, 2015 8:02 pm
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Oh, MotherFather. Were all their original kin so stubbornly derived from sticky-fingered mongoose? Ascent figured it wasn't her job to protect those around them from the obelisk...as much as perhaps to protect them from themselves. Which - if the ornery headbutting one was any indication - would be impossible.
She understood the curiosity of the thing, but it still unnerved her. The dreams that had just come back unsettled her to her core, knowing that whenever these made themselves known...bad things had happened. They weren't things she hadn't recovered from, but the idea of falling into nothingness for real or rotting from her chest outward did not seem appealing. She wondered, idly, if any of the kin stomping on the symbols or slamming into the obelisk itself had had the dreams. She could only surmise otherwise, given their exuberance to activate the thing.
Exhaling softly, she rounded the great obelisk and its surrounding stones, watching what did and didn't react to the others - and admittedly curiously making her way towards what she assumed would be the cheetah marking. Maybe there'd be more sense to make in discovering an origin or pattern than...well, headbutting the thing.
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Posted: Fri Aug 21, 2015 8:05 pm
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At the response from the other doe, Rose pulled her hoof from the Obelisk, and turned to respond to her words. Unfortunately, her attention was drawn elsewhere- in the distance, there was a dark doe, horns woven with spiderwebs and eyes aglow. It... it couldn't be. And yet...
"Last Night? Is that you?" She called, stepping fully away from the stone and turning to her friend. It had been some time, but they had shared in adventures and dreams together- adventures within dreams as well. It had been so long (and another family...) since she had seen the other doe, yet now she was here, as if the MotherFather had drawn them together by fate. Unsteady on her hooves, she scampered off towards her former friend.
"How long has it been? I cannot believe I didn't see you here before!"
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Posted: Fri Aug 21, 2015 8:06 pm
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thyPOPE Wait. Had the obelisk glowed? Soothe walked forward, a bit scared to touch it. She leaned down to see whether any of the obelisk's etchings were decipherable.
Leaning closer yields no new insights. The symbols etched into the obelisk do not reveal their meaning to her--they remain glowing gibberish.
Abbacus Carnage butted his worn horns against its surface. He wanted to scrape it, to punish it for leaving him feeling so let down. He wanted to make it hurt like he didn't want to admit he hurt. Just a rock. A stupid ******** rock.
He is rewarded with nothing more than the sound of his horns hitting stone and a dull ache--he hurt no one but himself. |
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