forum "Loud Thieves, Clumsy Princesses, Kleptomaniac Witches and Pyromaniacal Knights"

Started April 25, 2023 by @lord-of-the-carnival group

tune

A. . . thing. . . pops into existance in a forest and makes its way towards a clearing.

The click their fingers, where several others then appear in the clearing, some with bits of food, others clearly having been pulled from baths, and still others that had been asleep.

"Hello!" the thing says in its strange voice which would sound different to everyone. Maybe one would hear an elf, maybe another would hear a ratfolk, and yet another might hear a dragon. The thing's appearance might match the voice these people heard, it might not. Nobody would be able to agree who or even what this thing was, and they'd even have their own names and memories of this stranger.

This thing's real name? Nobody will know. . .

"Where are we?" the thing asks cheerfully.

Aibhe frowned. "I have absolutely no idea. It looks like a forest to me." She said, setting her book down.

Andreas had fell onto the ground, and was feeling the pain of landing on ones back, into a pointy rock. He had fallen from the sky once before, but that time he was above somewhere. This time, her fell from the ground, to another place, falling sideways? He was a little confused, the throbbing pain in his back not helping all too much. He stands up and sees….. something? It seems to be a person, but his mind is perceiving it as a dragon, then a human, then some kind of star spirit(Andreas is pretty imaginative and stuff, so I;m going with the interpretation that until they get a better feel for the person, the perceived appearance is going to vary wildly for a few minutes)- Andres closes his eyes. "No idea…. who are you?"

Thảo made a face and the now-blackened and burnt banh xeo fell from his fingers. "Well, that's a waste, thanks so much," he complained to nobody in particular. He pushed himself to his feet and dusted his pants off before turning to meet the thing's eyes. Strange. If he squinted, they seemed to change colour. "Where are we?" he asks, the corners of his lips lifting in a half-smirk. "Well, dear creature, I would think that the thing that brought us here would know that. Then again, what fun is a journey if we know where we're going?"
His fingers twitched and tapped out a mysterious rhythm on the ground as he sat, smiling amiably at everyone and squinting at the thing. It looked like it has wings, maybe, and ooh those are pretty horns. But… the colour-changing eyes, and now the wings looked different and a second ago, he could have sworn the thing didn't even have wings. Can it shape-shift? Are these elaborate woven illusions? What form would Thảo be able to adapt if he touched the creature?
Thảo grinned, humming to himself under his breath. Finally, a new challenge.

Naveil groaned softly as he awoke. Where… was he..? And why was there so much green?
He spat on a particularly gaudy-looking flower and rubbed his eyes. It was pretty obvious that he wasn't in the Everchill anymore… but where was here, exactly? He was sitting in a bed of… grass? Yes, that's the word: grass.
He could feel presences somewhere… and then he heard them. Soft, confused voices not too far in front of him. He pat the ground where his spear should've been. Should.
Right… Not in the Everchill anymore. He quickly pat his sides and sighed in relief. He could feel the sharp outline of his dagger through his cloak. He took a deep breath now, a little more confident in his ability to defend himself. He leaned in a tad closer to the conversation happening before him, deciding to stay in hiding.
For now.

Caladium appeared in the clearing. They had their knife raised, as if they had just been about to attack someone. Their clothes were in… rough condition and had blood splatters on them. “…where the hell am I?” They asked in an aggressive voice. They glared at everybody in the clearing, not putting their knife down. “Who are you people?”

(did i just write a nearly 500 word response? yes, yes i did)

Ximena stood in the darkness, her eyes closed, as she held a glowing jewel in her hands. A soft hum reverberated around the room, and she could hear whispers of the past, warning her not to do it. That it wasn't worth it. But it was. She was going to correct this wrong, no matter what. No matter how dangerous it got. But as she started the chant that would change the world, whether that was for the better or for the worst was up for debate, she felt something change. The voices stopped, almost like they were being silenced, and she could no longer feel, or hear the power that poured out of the stone. She opened her eyes, and with a panic, she noticed that the bright blue color of the gem was fading, until it had become all grey.

"NO!" she screamed as she threw the gem across the room, shattering it into pieces. She had been so close, so close. She was so sure it was going to work…she had been so close to bringing them back. Ximena dropped to her knees in despair, and closed her eyes, letting herself cry for the first time in months. She curled into a ball, leaning her head against a chair, and murmured incoherently.

She was unaware of the bright flash of light that surrounded her or the fact that she was no longer surrounded by the darkness that was her home. No, it wasn't until Ximena had decided that she would get nowhere if she continued crying like a fool did she notice where she truly was. There was so much green. Everywhere she looked, there was green. Green grass. Green leaves. It was a place filled with so much color, and honestly, it was a bit overwhelming for her. She had gotten used to everything being so dark, that all these bright colors hurt her eyes. She closed them for a short time, before opening them once again. The colors around her were slightly faded, but at least they would no longer hurt her eyes.

As she looked around once again, she noticed that she wasn't the only one there. Various other people were standing around, what Ximena supposed was a clearing. But it was one person that made her turn pale. There, standing nonchalantly in the middle of the clearing, was Mayil. But no, surely it couldn't be them? She saw Mayil die in front of her very eyes. She could remember those stormy gray eyes staring at her, filled with such hurt as they took their last breath. She shook her head, and once again closed her eyes. She must be hallucinating. That had to be the only reason why she was seeing Mayil standing there, looking alive as ever. She never heard the words that the Mayil look-alike said, nor the words of any of the others in the clearing.