the Rift


[PRIVATE] Into the Land Of Fae

Kvothe Posts: 62
Outcast
Stallion :: Unicorn :: 15.3 hh :: 6 || Frostfall
Elodin :: Dik-Dik :: None Tribs
#1
Image Credit


Kvothe & Elodin


I think of myself... as a troubadour, a village storyteller, the guy in the shadows of the campfire.
- Louis L'Amour




This was a new place, and I had lingered here for quite some time. Maybe I would bring Aisling and Finn here, make this our troupe base until we are ready to begin our route. The thought, the possibility, is intriguing and tempting. This place felt so peaceful, and with the fireflies in the eve, magical. I had a strong feeling Aisling would without a doubt love it here, probably Finn as well. If I was not a roamer, no doubt I would have made my bed here for the rest of my life.

I step out of the glen, bells chiming merrily as I look around, content to leave Elodin sleeping in his bed of moss. This place seems serene, enough so that I was comfortable(ish) with leaving him to his own devices. So I walk away from the glade, down towards the lake below to drink and ponder. Birdsong fills the air, and it creates a melody with my bells that I adore; there is nothing better than feeling like you are as vital of a part of nature like the birds and trees and earth.

I bend a leg, dropping down to drink the sweet water, before I stand and gaze down at my reflection. It was surprising, truly, to realize that soon I would be traveling Helovia with the two equines that have swiftly become dear friends, sharing stories and songs and trading objects.

I wanted to dance with delight, so I did so, legs prancing and I bucked around like a colt, my laughter and bells filling the air of the glen.

"Speech speech speech"


NPC Posts: 298
User-based Random Event
Stallion :: Equine :: ::
#2

N P C




The world seemed to stop, everything around the grove became silent and still as a deep, blue night-like darkness covered the area. The sun was blotted out, and in the distance crickets made their sweet, staccato song. On the water, standing with the empty space of several yards between the apparition and Kvothe, appeared a flickering light. The light started dim, flickering back and forth like nothing but a candle in the wind. Then it got brighter, expanded, before it was wisps of silver-blue light in the shape of a deer. Stepping forth from the silver-blue silhouette stood, on the water, a massive stag. His chest was deep, covered in thick red-brown fur. His back was short and sleek, mingling in with a sandy tan hide. Strange silver-blue markings littered his coat, but what was most intriguing were the bells that hung from each of the twelve prongs on his impressive, majestic rack. Moss hung from the tines on his antlers as well, and he stared down at the blue stallion with bright, burning golden eyes.

The stag turned his head, then, walking across the water's surface towards the forest. The night seemed to follow him, darkness enveloping his very being. The darkness was not frightful, not eerie, it was peaceful and serene and calm, but there was apparent power behind this stag and the night he brought. At the edge of the forest, he turned his burning eyes back to Kvothe. "Come."

With that, the stag bound into the forest, shifting between his full form and the silver-blue wisps he had started as.




Kvothe Posts: 62
Outcast
Stallion :: Unicorn :: 15.3 hh :: 6 || Frostfall
Elodin :: Dik-Dik :: None Tribs
#3
Image Credit


Kvothe & Elodin


I think of myself... as a troubadour, a village storyteller, the guy in the shadows of the campfire.
- Louis L'Amour




Darkness. It is the first thing that I notice, and immediately I halt my frolic to look around, the hair along my back prickling. This wasn't natural, and whilst the darkness was not the kind of children's terrors... It had been sunny a moment ago. Light, faint and flickering, catches my eye, and I turn in time to see the stag upon the lake, glowing with an ethereal light. Yep. Not natural. I could feel the power, the ancient energy that pulsed from the being, and almost instinctively I dip my head to the stag. He crosses the lake, and at the forest's edge he beckons me to follow with a single word before he lunges into the wood.

I shoot after him, jerking Elodin awake with a mental cry. Shortly he is at my side, bounding almost faster than I was running as we take off after the stag, who was now mere wisps of light. I knew not what game this was, or what it would lead to, but when a magic deer tells you to follow it... well only a fool wouldn't. Or maybe a fool would. Either way, this was turning out quite the adventure.

We race after the light, bounding over fallen trees and swerving around holes. Elodin seems to sense something I cannot, for whenever I loose sight of the lights he calls to me, drawing me back to his side and after the glow. In turn when there are trees in our path I quickly help him over, so that our reckless pace is not broken.

In a way, I am rather enjoying this. The curiosity is about killing me by this point.

Or maybe it was the exertion.

"Speech speech speech"


NPC Posts: 298
User-based Random Event
Stallion :: Equine :: ::
#4

N P C




The stallion followed the stag obediently. The unicorn was drawn to the ancient power that emanated from the stag, as the stag knew he would be. The massive, majestic prince moved through the forest without a noise, shifting between the ethereal light he once was to his tangible, yet immortal form. He did not intend to lose the boy in these woods, but to bring him somewhere important. The darkness followed the stag, and as he moved away from the grove, it became sunny once more. Kvothe, for as long as he followed the stag however, would be coated in and subject to the darkness.

Finally, the stag stopped at a smaller pool. His body solidified, showing his handsome sand and rust colored hair and his markings once more. He did not look at where the stallion would emerge from the forest, but moved to stand on the surface of the water, in the middle of the smaller pond. He stood stark still, burning golden eyes finally searching for the unicorn as his massive, horned head lifted. The wind rustled around him, playing with his russet fur and dancing across his frame, causing light tendrils of moss to sway in its own rhythm. The water below the stallion was not disturbed in the slightest by his weight, but the pool began to glow a pulsing silver-blue.

"Come." He simply says again, his invitation simple. He looks down at the water, lowering his nose to it for a moment before lifting head once more, expecting to lock eyes with the blue unicorn and his small, feeble companion.




Kvothe Posts: 62
Outcast
Stallion :: Unicorn :: 15.3 hh :: 6 || Frostfall
Elodin :: Dik-Dik :: None Tribs
#5
Image Credit


Kvothe & Elodin


I think of myself... as a troubadour, a village storyteller, the guy in the shadows of the campfire.
- Louis L'Amour




Relief fills me when the stag returns to a solid form, and I no longer need Elodin's sight to guide me should I stray. Up ahead looms a sunny clearing, but yet the gentle darkness still trails around me. The stag has stopped in the middle of another body of water, and I take a short reprieve, catching my breath as I look around us.

The glen around the stag is sunny, yet around myself it is the gentle dark of late twilight. Curious. Once more the stag bids me to follow, to approach him to the center of the pond... but this time I am wary. I was a bard, a storyteller, and I knew oh-so many stories about foolish travelers following wisps of light to their dooms, or of creatures that lured the brave or idiotic to their deaths in the water.

Elodin's small body presses tight against my leg; I can feel his worry, but yet oddly it is calm...and directed more towards my panting state. I watch the stag warily, torn between doing as the ancient bid me and leaving this place. But so far, there was no sign of danger, and Elodin seemed rather calm.

Then again, he was scarce but a child.

My weight rolls from side to side as I ponder, hesitating for a few minutes more. This could be a trap, I could very well die this day. But when do opportunities as magical as this ever occur? When would I ever have a chance for something like this again?

My mind decided, I stepped into the pond, and to my surprise I do not sink. Elodin begins to follow, but with a stern mental nudge, he remains on the bank, pacing. I put my worry for him aside, and walk further across the pond, until I stand before the great stag, silent. Our bell chimes fill the air, and I am equally filled with questions... but I felt like if I dared to speak, all of this would vanish.

"Speech speech speech"


NPC Posts: 298
User-based Random Event
Stallion :: Equine :: ::
#6

N P C




The ancient stag watched with his eyes somber, though the piercing gold color was still intense and told stories of wonder and amazement. This immortal stag had seen everything happen in Helovia. He was a messenger of the gods, bearer of gifts and wonders galore. He tipped his head some, the bells that hung from his rack singing elegantly, chiming their song into the incoming darkness. Kvothe, hesitantly, stepped out onto the water, after much deliberation. The stag knew this child of the earth was wise, and the contemplation it took for him to decide his own fate was a true testament to that. The stag took this in stride, watching as Kvothe approached him and the darkness closed in on this place once more, fully enveloping them in its dark blue grasp.

"Tell me a story." The stag stated, staring at Kvothe straight on. The water seemed to solidify beneath the stallion's hooves, and the silver-blue glowing of the water spiralled up the stallion's legs, holding him still in place. If he tried to move, the stag would disappear, and all would be lost.

The sunlight closed around them, the darkness consuming everything once more with the reuniting of Kvothe and the ancient stag. The stag's eyes still bore down on Kvothe, their molten, fiery color unnerving but not holding any malicious intent. The silver-blue glow that held Kvothe in placed pulsated all the way up the stallion's body, circling his eyes and finally taking the full shape of his horn.




Kvothe Posts: 62
Outcast
Stallion :: Unicorn :: 15.3 hh :: 6 || Frostfall
Elodin :: Dik-Dik :: None Tribs
#7
Image Credit


Kvothe & Elodin


I think of myself... as a troubadour, a village storyteller, the guy in the shadows of the campfire.
- Louis L'Amour




A story? The stag before me desires a tale? I open my mouth to reply, but something below draws my attention. The pulsating glow of the pond has trapped my limbs, and I can feel a flutter of fear race through me. A bleat pulls my attention back towards shore, where Elodin is ready to charge onto the pond and raise all the hell in his tiny little body. But with a mental cry, I convince him to remain, and he is clearly none too happy about it, his head bobbing and his little hooves pawing at the turf.

Slowly I look back to the stag, my mismatched gaze meeting his burning one, and I fight to keep my hide from trembling when I feel the magic water curl further around my body, covering me. "A tale? As you wish..." I took a deep breath, fighting the panic deep within that threatened to consume me when the blue light slid over my face and horn, completely ensnaring me. I was a bard, damnit. I could maintain composure even in the face of bloodshed and tragedy, I could easily spin a tale in this situation.

"Far across many seas, in a land shrouded in mist and shadow, there lay a single egg, guarded by a serpent of olde, a dragon as clever as the night is dark when the moon hides her face. None knew what lay within the egg's golden shell, but all regarded it with lust and desire. Many went to the dragon in hopes of returning victorious with the egg, but none returned.

For decades, none would venture to the dragon, for since none had survived it was deemed hopeless, and soon the wyrm and it's egg faded into memory, then legend. However a young scholar chanced upon the legend, and discovered within the old book that contained the legends, a secret map. This map showed the way to the serpent's lair, a way long forgotten in the minds of mortals.

Excited, the scholar snuck out of his temple in the middle of the night and swiftly fled towards the dragon's lair. The way was not easy, for the path had long since vanished and bandits roamed the countryside. The scholar, whom had never harmed a soul in his life, forced himself to learn to fight, and woe to all who crossed him, for he cared little for friend or foe; for any that stood in his way were cut down. So grand was his greed, that he cared not even when his horn found the heart of his lover, and like trash he tossed her body to the side.

By a path of blood the man found himself before the serpent, and was woefully unprepared.

In his long slumber, the wyrm had merely grown, and now rested like a mountainous wall of silver, a barrier between the once-scholar and his prize. Foolishly, the man ran at the wyrm, and thrice he pierced that hide with his horn, and thrice his blow was reflected, until upon the third try, his horn snapped off at the base.

His cry of pain and outrage was great enough to stir the serpent, and rouse it from it's slumber, and giant gold eyes the size of lakes regarded the pesky stallion with distaste. "What brings a child of dust hither?" She cried, uncoiling like a massive snake until her entire bulk faced the broken-horned scholar, the earth itself trembling from the mere movement.

Fearless, for greed overrides all rationality, the man trumpeted back to the dragon. "I have come for that which shalt be mine, you have held this treasure long enough!" The dragon regarded him, and suddenly she began laughing, the booming sound rolling across the land like thunder, and all trembled within it's wake.

"As you so desire, so it shall be, Son of Dust. My treasure unto you." Cackling, the serpent took flight, a hurricane of air before she was gone into the sky, nary a glimmer remaining of her presence. Gleefully the man rushed forward and spirited away the egg from that place, carrying it deep into the woods.

For years he obsessed over it, trying all that he could to crack or shatter it's golden shell. It became all that he knew, all that he desired, and he guarded it with such ferocity that he tore even the grass and plants from the very earth itself and slaughtered any animal that strayed too close. All the while, the egg gleamed in all it's ethereal perfection, and no matter what the man did, it remained unblemished, unsoiled.

Until one day, it did not.

With a resounding 'crack!' the egg shattered into pieces! Shards of gleaming gold tore through the area like blades, and the man alone remained untouched by the deadly weapons, for he was the egg's guardian. From the golden shell emerged a being made of pure starlight, a creature of unfathomable beauty. She reached out for the man, and he gladly came, eager to see what he would earn for his years spent guarding it.

All the man would receive was the soul-devouring embrace of the creature, for his heart had been shriveled and blackened by greed. Once she left the man an emotionless husk, she swiftly began traveling throughout the land, stealing the souls of those that possessed naught but greed in their hearts, who would destroy all that remained in their path. Those who were not consumed by greed were passed over.

Which is why when your dam tells you to not be greedy, t'is probably a good idea to listen."


My lips curl up in a wry smile. That ones one of the tales my dam had told to me. Probably not the best of stories for colts, but it's lesson I carried with me always, and whilst like all other mortals I possessed greed, I did not allow it to consume me. Not out of fear of some boogeyman, but rather out of fear of what it would do to me, what I would become.


NPC Posts: 298
User-based Random Event
Stallion :: Equine :: ::
#8

N P C




The stag listened without faltering, his eyes staying planted on the stallion with confident and warmth. As his tale faded, the silver-blue glow of the water faded and the water ran down the stallion's body, painting his skin with the dark lines of wetness that water left on all it merely touched. A smile broke out across the ancient stag's face, and lines of his age were visible, finally, and the russet brown and sandy tan faded into charcoal and silver. His massive, muscle body was still great, but he was jaunty, and pointy with edges of his bones sticking out beneath his perfect, yet elderly, hide. His eyes, once a burning and glowing gold, were now a fierce yet compassionate and painted in a soft shade of amber. The moss on his horns and the bells stayed as they always had been, and the stallion reached out towards Kvothe.

Although the glowing of the water had stopped and the water was no longer holding the stallion still, he stayed on the surface, just as the stag. The stag, slowly, walked around the stallion with purpose in his eyes. "Your story rings with truth. The most greedy of hearts will do nothing but destroy firsthand and bring destruction behind them. You have shown true wisdom, for this story is told from the bottom of your heart, and you did not let your young companion come onto the water. I could not have supported him, and he would have drowned. You are wise, and you will do great things, my child."

As the stag circled Kvothe once more, with his words, finished, he breathed across the stallion's topline. Silver-blue was his breath, and once it touched the stallion it sunk into his spine, leaving a tingling feeling that could only be the presence of magic. "I bestow upon you the power of my ancestors, you are one of us now."

Stepping back to look Kvothe once more in the eyes, the ancient stag disappeared, only a slight, flickering light lingered for mere seconds before the daylight returned and all evidence of the stag retreated.





Forum Jump:


RPGfix Equi-venture