[Adventure] The Burning Of Earth And Sky (Closed)

[Gossamer]

TS: First Cycle of Melora
Midnight

A light flashed in the sky. While they were rare, it sometimes did happen that flaming fingers of the suns fell earthward. In olden times, the people would say that the great serpents that lived in the stars would war with each other and breath intense tongues of flame that would sometimes fall to Telath, lighting up the night and carving great craters in the earth. Zinn'Sunn had been relatively lucky during the meteor showers of a few eras ago, having witnessed the lovely light show, but dodging the firestorm that indeed fell on other cities. Tonight was an entirely different story though.

A great streak in the night sky awoke some of the citizens, turning the day into night briefly and causing fingers to point heavenward and old women to brew tea to read the leaves and see what was forthcoming. People crowded out of their homes to see what was happening. If they didn't awake due to the light, the awoke due to the noise of their neighbors who had seen it. There was a flash to the east of the city, and people stared as the meteor slammed into the body of the world and shook the ground. Everywhere within the city, the earth shook. Glass rattled, animals cried out, and delicate trinkets tumbled from mantles. There was a general milling and confusion, until someone spotted the smoke billowing up and the word spread that there perhaps might be a fire. It was the best possible time of year to deal with one, for there was snow on the ground and all the grasses had dried and long since tucked away beneath the shelter of white powder awaiting the coming of spring. Still, such earthfalls were rare, and people everywhere were gearing up to go find the crater and see what sort of object hit the ground.

[Lyssoryl]

It was a good night for music out under the stars, and this is exactly what Lyssoryl had been doing. Well, actually, it was really a bit too cold to be optimal, but Kamvia was a frost deer and did not mind the temperature, and Lyssoryl had brought her out of the stable to give her a good-night brushing and sing her a song. She sang a new song she had been working on about a mountain that had fallen in love with a mayfly and how it carried its love forever within its eternal heart of lava even though the affair was necessarily brief.

Then the sky flashed with brilliant light, and the ground shook. "Crud on a cracker!" Lyssoryl exlaimed. She craned her neck in the direction of the impact, trying to see if anything was happening in that direction.

She spoke excitedly to Kamvia. "What do you say we rush foolishly into danger! Because if we don't how do we know anyone will? And wouldn't that be a waste of a perfectly good batch of danger?"

She had enough presence of mind to run and get her sword just in case, and then headed off towards the impact site with Kamvia in tow.

[Amelia Lynsdaughter]

This was quite nostalgic, the girl mused to herself as she watched the sky through a glass of brandy. Last time she had witnessed something fall from the sky, it had been a cold winter night in Nexus Prime. The city itself had been spared the carnage and destruction of the meteor shower, but the ominous event had brought a Vysstichi raid upon the city. It had been a turning point in Amelia's life, when she had made it to the docks to meet the old witch Juju who had foreshadowed their becoming enemies one day. And that had come true no more than six seasons later.

'Why not?'

Her equipment always at the ready, Amelia put on a heavy coat, a scarf and matching gloves. She gathered her things in a bag she flung over her shoulder, fetched her weapons and slipped out the door, locking it behind her. "Look after the house while I am gone, Don," she said softly to the statue perched on the roof, a young Shisa made from living rock. And off she was, chasing after a falling star. Rumor had it that some of the meteorites that had destroyed Imperia contained spirits in them, and it never hurt to check. Well, maybe it could hurt, but Amelia was not going to make a fuss over such technicalities.

[Su Farong]

From the seedy underbelly of the Kitsune District Su Farong saw the meteor. He was a returning from a late dice match a little drunk and not much richer. The Kemite man staggered through the streets making sure that he did not step in anything sharp or squishy.

"Damn this place! One brightening I'll be removed from this..." He bemoaned his fate as he kicked a broken liquor bottle.

"Sir, can you spare a crown for a tired, poor old man?" From a dark alleyway a homeless Kemite appeared. Dirty, smelly, toothless, probably some junky.

"Out of my face sirrah!" Su 'Wrong Way' Farong spat in the man's face and followed this up with a kick. The man fell down and tried to shield his face from Wrong Way's fists. "Teach you to....whoa..." The darkening lit up from the meteor. Su Farong got up and forgot about the old man he was beating up. The rumpled beggar quickly fled into the alleys.

Telath bucked up upon impact and Su Farong surfed on the pavement for a moment. Whatever fell down was probably big...and perhaps valuable.

Su Farong joined the race to the prize and began running towards where the meteor fell down. He started walking, then trotted, and finally ran through the snowy streets of Zinn'Sunn.

[Telavis]

Telavis had been sound asleep when the impact caused the ground to shake violently. It had thrown Telavis' sleeping form off the ground briefly, before landing again with a painful thud. As he surveyed his room with half-opened eyes, he could hear a crisp cracking sound from the offering bowl on his small shrine.

He scrambled over to the shrine and lighted a candle. He could see a small hairline fracture formed on the side of the bowl. As he took it for a sign of something, he offered a quick prayer to Torek. There was no need for him to dress as the last few months had been too cold to sleep without all of his cloths on. He simply tugged on his boots and ran out of the door. After quickly securing the door with thick ropes and his customary knot, he sprinted toward the column of smoke.

[Ronan Stoutfoot]

The curly blond hair of the Cether blew in the wind. He sat upon the roof of the building where he was lodged. With large fur covered feet swinging of the edge, he puffed on his pipe. It was a new pipe for the one he brought with him to Zinn'Sunn was offered up in sacrifice. Other than to hide away from the older SunnFathers, whom sourly insinuated that it was a habit unbecoming of a monk, Ronan came to pitched and tiled roof to keep his Shisa company.

It had been several cycles since he and the stone creature began to bond, and in every darkening found Ronan here with him. Or her, Ronan was not entirely sure. As he puffed on his new pipe, he thought of that, and the particular taste of the new pipe. Surely it must be the wood they used, it would take a bit of getting used to.

The small creature, the Shisa not the Cether, suddenly became agitated. Ronan was still new to the whole guardian routine and wondered what he should do. Then there came the noise, and the rumble. It felt as if the whole of Telath were shaking. His pale gray eyes soon found the source, and a moment later it was gone. It looked as if another of the suns had fallen from the sky, and a wave of fright passed over him. He brushed it to the side as he watched the small stone creature began to hope and point to the direction of the impact.

Ronan felt that someone would need his help, and his companion felt the same. So he darted down to his room, and retrieved his medical kit. Though he was just a novice, well not truly that either, he had the will to help others. That is what brought him to the Monastery, to become a hero and a healer...

Perhaps this was the darkening he would become both. Within a few moments he was darting through the gates of Sunn Monastery, and past the disturbed populace of Zinn'Sunn. He hoped not too many would need his assistance, for he was still learning. Perhaps he should have gathered the SunnFathers first, but it was too late for that.

***************

Back on the curved roof, the small stone creature hoped over to the Cether's belonging that he left. There was a small bundle of food, and a pipe still glowing with an ember. The little Shisa ripped open the bundled food with its strong razor jaws, and gobbled up the meal. Then hopped over to the pipe, and placed it in it's mouth much as Ronan did. The creature sat there solemnly, with the pipe clinched in it's beak.

[Tash Il'nishin]

OOc: if too many people tell me and I'll withdraw.

Tash was in her barracks when the meteorstruck. Windows broke and the shaking was so violent she was shaken out of her bed. Jumping up she ran to the window. Though she was only dressed in her underwear, she ran though the barracks, wrenching open the door. She was standing in the middle of the training grounds of the Vermillion guard like many others. She saw her friend Noriko and yelled, I'm going in to dress and see what's going on. She knew she would not be missed since she was just in training and the other Santinishi were scheduled for guard duty of patrol, and could not. Just before she ran back in the barracks to get dressed, she saw a large plume of smoke rising from the east from the area where the flash of light had gone.

Running at top speed, she ran back into her barracks and dressed in her red shirt, black pants, and boots. Traditional Vermillion Guard garb. She thew her black cloak over her, then decided perhaps she should take her shortbow and quiver.

People were in the streets either looking at the smoke, with a few of them actually running down the street to where the smoke was.

[Vanderlou]

The flash of blindingly white light came crashing down from the heavens and Vanderlou was probably only one among the thousands who must have seen it and while he was impressed by the natural fireworks that lit the heavens this darkening he wasn't really all too interested in investigate the crash site - which did appear at least a couple of candlemarks travel from the city proper on foot.

Though the question stood, did he really have to use his feet?

The half-vagaran looked at the sky and was about to soar through the air once more in that form he was getting used to but abruptly stopped when he caught a glimpse of his master who just stepped out of the lorka, heavily dressed and armed heading in the general direction from where the light vanished.

'Getting into trouble again...'

And without a moment's delay he trailed after the older adjurator taking extra care not to be noticed because he didn't want to be caught stalking her. No matter he mused, if she didn't catch him spying on her then who was to say that he was in the first place?

[Sevette]

There was commotion outside her door, loud voices, yelling, a lot of questions it seemed. Then the ground shook. Sevette jerked up in the bed, looking around the room she sometimes shared with her almost-betrothed, Kuro. The young woman scrambled off the bed, found her boots, and yanked them over her feet, glad for once she had simply fallen asleep in her clothes and didn't have to bother with changing.

Sevette dug through her things a moment before finding her sword, the first time in over an era she thought she might need it. Which also meant, she was a little out of practice.

She swung the door open, and entered the main room of the inn, pushing past the others who mingled in the large room. Curiosity piqued, she was out of the building in a moment and looking for whatever had caused the ground to shake.

[Remus De Vossen]

Remus exited the mausoleum and shut the heavy iron door behind him. It was growing later in the winter yet the frigid taste of its breath still remained strong; even more so in the cemetery. A blanket of snow covered the graves and capped the markers while spears of ice reached down from the tops of the mausoleums like the teeth of some winter beast. There was no light save for that provided by the moons and stars; no lanterns were lit and no torches burned. As he walked away from the mausoleum and back toward the mortuary, he stopped for a moment over one particular grave. It belonged to a man convicted of horrific crimes against the people of Zinn'Sunn. From the records kept in the mortuary, Remus learned that the man had been burned alive yet not to ash. The flames were put out just before the wounds were fatal and the man was encased in a stone vault beneath the ground to die in terrible agony.

Remus stood upon the site of the vault, his head lowered, his arms resting at his sides. The necrotic energy emanating from the vault was strong; the corruption, emotion and death echoing strongly even many eras after the man had succumbed to his wounds, thirst and hunger. Remus could literally taste the energy in the air; colder than the deepest winter and as sweet as fine wine, he raised his head back and allowed himself a moment of satisfaction.

His revelry was shattered in an instant as a fiery mass roared overhead. His gaze followed the spectacle as it barreled through frozen trees and slammed into the ground several hundred yards away. He was nearly thrown off his feet; forced back against a nearby headstone which he held for support as the ground rumbled. Ice shattered and fell from its perch while snow was shaken loose from all around; falling and creating a cloud of icy debris. Countless cracks appeared in the stone throughout the cemetery and the echo of the impact continued on for many moments, even in the ears of one who seldom reacted to such a thing.

Remus had seen falling fires from above in eras past yet they were distant and affected little around him; nothing more than a light show. This however was much different and his interest was immediately peaked although his frustration at the interruption nearly rivaled such curiosity. With a annoyed growl, he righted himself and made his way to the short yet wide, stone stairs which he ascended to the iron gate that offered entrance and exit from the cemetery grounds. He opened them; a whiny creak piercing the night, and stepped past, closing them on his way. In his distorted vision he caught glimpse of rising smoke in the midst of a fiery trail left by the event. Pushing through the increasingly melted snow, he set off in the direction of the impact.

[Gossamer]

When stars fall from the sky, they often seem fairly close and yet when people try to track them, they find them hundreds of miles away. Throughout time, hundreds of meteors had fallen from Zinn'Sunnese skies and this had proved true. However, this time, on the very outskirts of the city, those following the burning orb started seeing signs that it was indeed close. A grass fire was slowly working up into something fierce, set off no doubt by burning particles from the star... or perhaps by the fallout after the star hit. Regardless, the folks heading towards the scene had to deal with that issue. There were scattered farm houses along the way, where if someone wanted too, they could easily knock on doors, alert locals, get the fires worked on being put out.

Closer though, as the group wandered individually, they found other traces... land scars. At first they were just flattened earth, scorched... then trees were brought down, and a threshold scar encircled what looked to be an enormous impact crater. This was a big meteor, not something small that made a lengthy scar across the land. It came down almost straight, and the rounded edges of the crater would surely fill with rainwater and stream activity, perhaps even seeps, and form a lake after a time. encircling the ring, all around was concentric circles of damage, where the land had rippled up, the sporadic Lauryl forest remnants had split open, and sticks of the dead trees tumbled around like a childs toy logs.

Lyssoryl was the first to get there, riding the fleet frost deer, though the creature was nervous beneath her. There was, as far as she could see, only one way down into the crater itself, and scouting on her unusual mount, she easily saw this as truth. The crater itself was about a three hundred feet across... large, with almost nothing left within it but a smoldering stone in the center. However, something unusual struck Lyssoryl as she scouted... scattered among the burned tree trunks that more resembled logs now, were crystalline logs... no pillars of an unusual translucent nature. They were black, and at first appeared as charred logs. But no... closer inspection clued her in that they were stone. There weren't many of them, but enough to merit a raised eyebrow.

Remus was already out in the Outlands, fiddling around in his new cemetery. It seemed an odd choice for a man to want to own and operate one, but everyone seemed glad within the city (since rumors usually spread faster than the grassfire the travelers were witnessing) that someone had took a notion to reopen the outlander burial grounds. For months they'd been dumping non-kemites into common graves because they were not allowed in the Catacombs and no one really knew what to do with them anyhow.

Amelia and Vanderlou came next, the two adjurationists walking side by side. Van hadn't exactly asked Amelia if she wanted company, but he had a longer stride and since he was following anyhow, it was indeed a fact that he could catch up easily. They took far longer getting to the scene than Lyssoryl did. Along the way, both would also notice fragments of crystal among the rubble and fallout from the starfall.

The snow was deep in parts, though as Su Farong got closer, he noticed the ice had melted to mud due to the heat... though in fact it was already refreezing. Shards of odd stone crunched under his boots as he wandered closer. Stone mixed with black crystal and other colors intermingled in the wet mud. It was then that he was caught by Telavis and Tash who were also heading to the scene. They passed what looked like an enormous cracked decorative crystalline orb that was shattered as if by the impact they were moving to see. It looked out of place in the wilds, and was indeed almost the size of a carriage.

Meanwhile, back at the Sunn Monestary, the little Shisa happily smoked Ronan's pipe. She did so awkwardly, and all the while wondering how she was going to convince Ronan she wanted a name. She sat there smoking, and tapping the pipe with a clawed stone hand like she'd seen him do... not noticing burning material spilling out. It landed on the tile roof, rolled down, and hit the gutters.... falling into the water catcher, and rolling further down to snag on a birds nest higher up. The nest went up and the alarm was raised. When he returned, he'd probably be blamed for the fire. However, as he was now, skipping along, he soon caught up with Sevette in her hike towards the starfall too.

When they all arrived... regardless of what they did on the way, they'd see a narrow pathway leading down into the crater, not formed by human feet but most likely by the impact itself. At the bottom of the crater they'd see a smouldering boulder and indeed the sheen of crystal.

[Lyssoryl]

Lyssoryl was a curious girl, but realized that this could get her into trouble. Her coping strategy that allowed her to give her personality the sway it demanded and yet remain alive was o accept that she did not have to be the person who pushed the button or poked the quiesent pile of fur to see if it erupted into some sort of animal that had been sleeping. It was only necessary for her to be present, and observe other people's folly.

Trying to keep this idea in mind, she paused at the black stone column. Here was a curious thing, and no doubt about it. Before continuing, she let her mind drift into clara. While in clara, she could hear the essence of the universe singing to her, as she sensed it through sound. She knew the song that stone typically made, and was curious if these columns and the meteor were more or less normal. She rather supsected not, and preferred to gather a bit more information before she went past them.

She kept an eye out towards the beginning to the path down into the crater, being certain that she was not the only person from Zinn'Sunn would be out investigating. One always liked a bit of company when doing something foolish.

[Ronan Stoutfoot]

The Cether's thick soled feet padded along the streets of Zinn'Sunn. He passed some that were out searching for the source of the noise and disturbance, and others just peeking out of their shuttered rooms. The darkening air was crisp and his breath created a fog as he began to huff form his quick pace. Eventually he made it through the city and towards the area he saw the star fall to.

A breeze picked up and the Cether pulled his Sunn Monk robes closer to him. He had just began to warm up form the brick walk, but the wind was cutting through. He reached in his pack to grab his pipe, when he noticed it was gone. He skidded to a stop and turn to search the ground behind him, and the long roan back to his quarters. Chewing on his bottom lip, he wondered where it had dropped...

No matter he thought, though a smoke would warm his bones up. He decided to skip, the jumping motion would speed him along and warm him up further. Plus it was fun!

Soon he saw the tall thin from of a human before him. She was moving with purpose also, he continued to skip along till he was close enough.

'Serale!!' His voice breaking through the silence that followed the dark once outside of the city perimeter.

'Are you searching fro the fallen star? Me too... I am a healer see...' He patted his kit that he was so proud of.

'Ohh my! Look we must be getting close, there are fires over there... And there...' He pointed at where the brush had caught alight. He knew there were farmstead all through the area. He had to do his duty and warm them. Though they had must assuredly awoken from the sounds, perhaps they were not aware of the flames.

'S'cuse me, I have to run and warn those families there... They may not know!

Of the fire I mean. Would you like to come with me?' he said with a smile, having stopped and to face the human. Weather she would join him or not, the duty bound creature skipped along. He was unaware of a sight he would have been. A curly, golden haired Cether that wore the robes of the revered Sunn Monastery, hopping along a dusty road mid-Darkening. No for the young Cether, it was just the way he was and he liked it.

After warning the families along the way. Who would have know that the small Cether could be so heavy handed, and he demanded attention when he needed it. So the families along the road soon knew that there were flames threatening their fields, and that a surprising Cether came to wake them, then run off to help others.

If the human was still with him, he would realize he forgot to introduce himself. Scratching his thick golden locks, he bowed deeply and quickly, 'Sorry Ma'am, I am SunnRiser Stoutfoot, but you can just call me Ronan. Thats my name of course.'

When they neared the actually landing sight Ronan was awestruck. He had never been so close to a star before, and he was amazed at the powerful destruction that it left in it's wake. His thick halfling feet was able to walk through the roughly turned ground, even just scorched, without trouble. He moved around with his mouth a gasp, at all that was to be seen. He turned to watch the human, to see what she would do. It was in his nature to be curious, and if one asked the SunnFathers they would whole heartedly agree. It got him into more trouble than most any other initiate to the Monastery. So he stood looking around, and then up to the raven haired human with a look of 'what now?'

[Amelia Lynsdaughter]

Vanderlou's exercise of stealth lasted about ten seconds before Amelia turned her head sharply - sneaking behind someone with so much snow on the ground was no easy feat, after all. "Ah, Van, I had decided against dragging you into something that is only semi-related to work, but since you were so kind as to volunteer yourself... here." The girl promptly dumped the heaviest bag on her apprentice. Thankfully Don was guarding the house, a task at which the Shisa was probably at least as reliable as Vanderlou himself.

The pair slowly made their way through the city and then the wilderness. If Amelia had known about Vanderlou's special ability, the two of them might have made faster progress with his flight and her Line Drifting, but as it was, the two of them went on a healthy stroll in the frigid Zinn'Sunnese winter. At some point they came across crystal fragments on either side of the road - or what they thought was the road. Amelia, her gloves on, picked up these fragments with iron tongs and dutifully stored them in little glass jars and vials that had contained some tiny spirits until she had dumped them into fetishes and buried them in the yard as useless.

"This looks interesting," she said, examining the black crystal, "the clans might want to restrict access to the area come the morning. This means one thing." She lifted her head from the crystal and resumed the trek at a faster pace. "We need to seize anything that looks remotely unusual or valuable. Oh, and watch out for raiders too." She said that as if she did not consider herself a raider - despite having just stated as much. But Vanderlou was by now well accustomed to these inconsistencies in his master's character.

"What are you waiting for?" the girl called out without turning back, newfound energies driving her on. "Time is money!" Amelia was getting tired of her 1,100 sq.ft. Lorka - she wanted a castle. Ever a girl of extremes, finding a middle ground was a problem of sorts for the witch. And in this case, she was hoping even against hope that the rock from above would be the key to one of the things that really turned her on nowadays - cold, hard, easy cash.

[Telavis]

In the moment of haste, Telavis had rushed out of his house. He had not realized how far the crater might be from the city. As he exited the city gates, he started to fell distinctly undressed for the venture. He could feel the cold biting his skin. He brought up his exposed hands to his mouth and tried to keep them warm with his breath. As he stumbled toward forward in the night, he also silently berated himself from not bringing a light. Instead, he had to rely on other people's torches and candles to see his way.

For his fellow spectators, he only had quick nods. He did not feel like talking as he increasing regreted not being more prepared. As he walked, his eyes could not help but being drawn toward the strange crystals and the shattered crystalline orb. Walking away from the main column of people, Telavis headed toward the shattered orb for a closer inspection.