Fourstones RP Thread

Elden watched Garai as he turned from his flame, pondering what had caused him to do so. Nevertheless he nodded.
"I suppose we can." he answered, though irritation surged through him. If that old man had premade them all personal bags, the least he could do was put some food in them, just in case they did not die of starvation before their journey even began.
Elden's ears were suddenly dreadfully cold. He emptied his bag of the spellbook, and whether the alcohol had done this or not, put the bag over his head as a makeshift hat. Sure, he looked dumb, but gee, that bag sure was cozy. He had already begun to miss the orphanage beds, and the snow he was sittingnin was damp and disgusting. This had been a dreadful evening.
"I suppose we should make sure we know each other, since we'll probably be with each other for a long time. My name is Elden, and I am a Snow Elf from somewhere in the northern mountains." said the elf, after a long pause.

When a stopping point was finally designated and the group disseminated, Eira let out a shaky sigh of relief. The girl took a few moments to catch her breath. The Gray wasn't used to much physical labor, and grew tired long before the group stopped. But she had pushed on and rarely showed any sign of fatigue, aside from falling to the back of the group and stumbling a few times.

While everyone sat down, a fire started and mild conversation began, she stood back with a foot propped up against a tree trunk and and her hands behind her back in a polite, simple manner. After most of her group mates had settled down, she took an empty spot by the fire, between Elden and Silya. Eira crossed her sore legs and closed her eyes, sighing in content for a moment before straightening up and pulling her pack from over her shoulder. The map was the first thing she pulled out, and in the flickering light of fire, she laid out the paper in front of most of the group.

"Hello everyone, I'm Eira. Gray, Winterwood." She said in a soft, casual tone as her attention was on the map before her. "Alright. Tomorrow we'll reach Iceport. Then Igmund said to go to Broma. Apparently we'll find our answers there...?" She recalled his instructions and repeated them to the group. For one, to let then know they had a purpose and a plan, and weren't meandering around in dark forests at night without reason. Two, because she hoped the thought of reaching a city soon and not spending another moment in the forest would encourage them. And three, to keep herself busy, and therefor safe from thinking about all the lives that had been lost.

She looked up at Akila, thinking for a moment about traveling to the Redlands. She had never been, but Akila and Garai seemed to be from there. Her thoughts of indescribable deserts and unbearable heat were interrupted but the growl of her stomach. Relax, Eira. It's only one night. She reminded herself. She nodded inwardly, but the thought of food danced like sugarplums or whatever in her head.

OOC: arghhhh!! I had to read a whole page! I got grounded yesterday *SORRY*

IC: Serana was the last of the group to reach the "campfire". Tonight felt so... unreal. Serana couldn't think why this was happening tonight, and why their luck was so bad. She sat by the fire, feeling a mixture of warmth and coldness. What was this "witch" that was so... evil?

"Hi," she mumbled after Eira introduced herself.

When Eira reached the part about Iceport, Serana gasped. Her parents had lived there since she was born, until she turned ten and they moved away. Serana had been avoiding Iceport for a reason, it was a reminder of her parents. She slowly, and trying to be calm, she moved her hand up slowly to her pendant. She held it for a while, until her arm got sore. "Help me get over this, mother. Please." She begged silently.

I have to be brave! I have to be! I'm young, yet I'm supposed to do this. It is my quest. She willed herself to do it. Oh, why couldn't Igmund come with us? I know he might be dead, I just pray mother, why does this have to be so hard? But the decision was made, they must leave to Iceport tomorrow. No matter how much I don't want to.

"Do we set up a makeshift camp here? Do we move? Is it safe? What do we do?" As always, Serana had questions available. "Food." She announced. "We need food." She hadn't cooked in years, since she left Iceport, but her mother's tests had been a remainder in her mind, ever since she died. Cooking to Serana, was easy, compared to what the others where doing. Serana climbed up a tree to look at their surroundings. "I can't see anything!" She called. "It's too dark!"

OOC- Really? Thanks for waiting guys. By the way, I just read Kip's post and the one before her/is post. Not reading a whole page of people not willing to wait. Sorry if I sound rude, I'm just partially sick and cranky.

IC- Enro had been left behind, but hadn't even noticed. He seemed off in a little world, wondering about Necromancy and his gifts in the bag. He fell face forward onto a rock, frozen over which doubled the pain. Wincing at the abrupt shock of pain. he turned his head to look at a fairly sized rock, which he most likely tripped on.
"Dangit, rocks.." he murmured under his breath. Then his attention turned towards a small, red-orange glow, with a hint of yellow a few yards away.
A fire? then, only then, did he notice he'd been left behind by the group. He stood, wiping a little blood that smeared along the right side of his face, ignoring the slight blood trickling down his face. He raced towards the fire, even so avoiding rocks as to not trip again. He soon broke a sweat, as he could run or walk a fair distance, but he was growing fatigued now. But, just as, he tripped over a small root protruding and face planted onto the ground, landing in front of Yvara. He lifted his face, his once pale skin now dark, yet contrasting with brightness from the fire, and filthy with mud, twigs, and blood. He simply let out a groan and pulled his pack off his back. Sifting through the contents, he nodded when he found nothing had been harmed.

(there aren't really any fruit trees out here in the snowy cold, Kippy; we're kind of just going to let them be hungry until they make it to the village. x3)

Yvara sat a little further away from the fire, cloak wrapped around her like a blanket. She shivered, and the night only made it worse. Traveling was miserable, but at least they were moving; the numbing cold's effects was a little better as they walked. She didn't know if she would wake up and be able to move this morning. Her bag was close to her, and inspecting it, she decided that it could be used as a pillow. If she ever fell asleep. . . in the winter, the orphanage was cold. Freezing, even. But she had a bed and a wool blanket, as well as a pillow. She could get comfortable. Her it was a different story. She hadn't an idea how the Tree Elves lived. . . . but that was probably because their climate in Mistrial was more temperate.

That Snow Elf suggested they got to know one another. Elden was his name. In any given part of Fourstone, there was always a slight air of racism. The Grays disliked elves of all kind, but especially Snow Elves with their fancy magic and secretiveness. The Fair distrusted the Wavefolk as thieves and the Tribals as witches and barbarians. The Tribals hated the aggressive Grays and the pompous Fair. The Redlanders loathed all kinds of elves for no particular reason. The Sea Elves only really loved themselves, but have a particular hatred for the Wavefolk. The only race that held virtually no prejudice was the Tree Elves; they treated everyone the same, really.

Ignoring that blurb about racism in society, Svana and her husband were typical Gray. They did not like the few Snow Elf children they got. They thought they would all grow up to live in a tower they built with evil magic. The war with the Witch-Queen did not help; many Snow Elves sided with her, seeing her as the logical choice for the side of magic. She was more powerful, if legends are to be believed, than any Snow Elven mage. Yvara, a bit of an empath, picked up on that distrust. She didn't see what was wrong, but she kind of felt wary around Elden. Like he would kill her with magic. He lit fires, for goodness sake; what was stopping him from igniting her? Or the woods, for that matter? He was like a pale, elven dragon waiting for his Witch Queen to command him to strike. The irony of it was that Yvara's own race was the second most magically inclined, and the first to defect to Voada's side. And besides. Igmund seemed to believe she was a witch.

When Elden said this, it was like a torchlight was shone on Yvara, and she had just spouted out "I'm a witch, I'm so sorry! ;_;" She tensed up. This wasn't a normal thing for her to do, either. She felt foreign, and this anxiety was instilled by Igmund's assumptions. She felt herself hating the old man.

She calmed a little as Eira spoke; her words were soothing, her voice calming. "I'm Yvara, a Tribal. Though you all probably know that. . . " Yvara blushed at her stupid statement. Races were easily distinguishable, and although her race and the Fair were closely related, it was obvious who she was; pointed-nose, petite frame, light brown hair and small, bright eyes. She was a Tribal. A plainswoman. . . no, she was a Tribal, but she wasn't a Tribal. She was raised a citizen of Frost, and that was who she believed she was. "Broma," She said, nodding. She remembered the place Igmund talked about now that Eira mentioned it. "Where exactly . . . ?"

Her words were cut off by the thud of Enro, the lanky fourteen year old boy that she had barely noticed. In fact, he was still hard to recognize. He was of her race, it appeared; strange. She thought she would have noticed him. He was apparently the youngest in the group. Why had he chosen to say Goodbye? He would have gotten free meals, shelter, a family of sorts in the Orphanage.

Oh, right. Destiny and some kind of Seeress and all that. His fate was probably beyond his control; maybe the gods willed him to graduate from Croft?

She made a small gasp as he tripped, and was surprised that he checked his bag before he checked his face. What was in it? she wondered. Something important? Something fragile? Some food, maybe!? Nonetheless, she rushed to his side, putting her hand on his arm. "By Tristan, you're bleeding," she said, concerned.

Akila stiffed as she heard the cries of the dragon. She didn't dare to look up, it would only frighten her more. Her knuckles on the hand of her dagger turned white from her grip tightening as the dragon went by. After she relaxed a bit she went after the others who continued on into the forest.

When she heard Yvara say something about camping out for the night her face had shown a bit of relief. She was used to this kind of walking because she had to run away from people all the time after she took food, but she was kinda out of shape this time so she was a bit tired. She looked around the clearing, and gave a sigh. There was no way she was going to sleep on the cold hard ground. She turned her attention to on of the trees. She backed up a bit before running up the tree and grabbing the nearest branch. She hung there for a moment before pulling herself up onto the branch, and settling down. She wrapped her cloak around her to try and keep warm.

She looked down at the others, and pondered for a moment. ”Maybe it would be smart to have some keep watch.. I will take first watch..” Akila commented. ”Oh yeah, I am Akila a Redlander. I am completely out of my element here.” She said before turning her gaze to look at the horizon watching for any creature or human coming for them.

"Huh? Oh, yea..." Enro murmured, putting a hand on his head. "I kinda tripped and hit my face on a rock..." he murmured. He knew that Yvara, a helper to the cook, was a Tribal like me, but he didn't know Yvara. In fact, he didn't know anyone around him. He shifted a little, brushing a few twigs out of his now shaggy and messy hair. He shook his head weakly, scattering remaining twigs and leaves out of it. He ran his hand over it one more time to get mud out of it, if there was any, then looked around at everyone staring at him, some with quizzical expressions, others with a look like Enro was daft, like he shouldn't even be here.
Sometimes we are misunderstood.
The words from the note flashed behind his eyes, and he shifted, without consciously realizing closer to Yvara. Then he snapped his head to watch Akila in awe as he climbed up the tree with grace and skill, and shifted a little more, again unconsciously realizing closer to Yvara.
"Oh, we're introducing ourselves?" Enro asked, his face blank but worn from fatigue.

Elden nodded as people introduced herself, the witch seeming to be emitting hostility towards him. There was always a rumor that he had heard when he was young from the Grays, that Snow Elves could sense fear and anger towards them, for it was their wicked magic that made this possible. Was this what he was sensing? Did this girl have something against him? Elden frowned. Distrust was not a good thing for the group to have. If Yvara didn't like him due to any racial prejudice, than he needed to show her that what she heard was wrong, and be nice.
Of course, that was hard when half intoxicated. Elden was already feeling a little weary, what with all he drank and the magic he had used. His eyes drooped a little, but he felt like he needed to be awake at the moment.
"Do wild horses live in snow covered forests?" he asked with a joking smile, not meant to be a serious question but more to lighten the mood. He did long for a horse, though. A horse an his scarf; both of which were probably up in flames in town. He had many horses that he took care of in the stable, and because he did this, the owner of the orphanage Svana didn't seem all too wary of him. Well, at least not as wary. It was funny how two peoples from similar land had so much tension.
He suddenly let out a yawn. "Augh, sorry. Long day." he murmured.

Eira had no bias towards any group, even being a Gray. Though she didn't associate with many of the other orphans, she knew a few kind Elves, just from observation. She grew up in a home without racism towards the other groups, and seemed to care for everyone equally.
Eira had already begun rolling up the scroll whenever Serana began her bombard of questions. Keeping her attention on her hands as she smoothly rolled the paper together, Eira did her best to answer. "I believe we'll rest here for tonight. Since we'll only be staying for a night, I assume it's safe enough. And we'll have to go without food, unless anyone has extras. There isn't much to find in Frost forests." She answered softly, but at the last word she almost seemed to be lost in thought. Not much to find, aside from Trolls, Werewolves, and other predators. She didn't speak these thoughts, but they bit at her composed facade, and she looked around with nervous eyes. She was native to Frost, and her old home had been in woods much like these. In some ways it was an advantage; she seemed unfazed by the bristling cold, and knew the terrain a bit better. But as her memory brought up the image of a looming Troll and her mother's sad, loving eyes, she couldn't help shiver and fidget a bit in the flame's dim light.

Soon a welcome distraction came as Enro came trampling through the woods. Eira stood quickly, throwing a hand to her chest in an old fashioned Gray gesture. "My gods, are you alright?" She questioned, immediately running over to him. She began to examine his face, instincts kicking in. "Perhaps you should work on your balance." She joked lightly, folding her legs under her. There was blood trickling from one side of his face, and there would definitely be bruising, but aside from the odd angle in which his nose bent, he seemed alright. Unsure of what to do, Eira finally remembered her bag. Inside it there was two books. One on mythology, and one on...
"Hold on." Quickly, she reached into her back and pulled out the old leather book. Excitement gleamed in her bright blue eyes as she flipped to the first page.

Page 1-- Healing Wounds

To heal any wound, one must be free of any negativity in thoughts and aura. Many cannot master a simple healing spell do to negativity and evil.
To heal simple wounds, place your hand near the injured area. Most magic travels best through the hand, and it's easy to begin with. Your thoughts most be on only pleasant things, or the spell cannot work properly. Focus all of your energy on healing the injury and on pleasant things while you hold out your hand.

She didn't know why, but she figured healing would be harder than that. Nonetheless, she held out a delicate hand in front of Enro's face before closing her eyes. She focused all her attention on to peaceful, enjoyable memories; her working in the market alongside her mother, her dad showing her an array of colors with magic, playing with the other orphans in a rare moment of peace. She also focused on how much she wanted to help everyone, and how she needed to heal Enro's wound for him. Soon her hand began to glow, and when she opened her eyes it was seen that they too were glowing. Both her hand and her once blue eyes shined light purple in the light, and it cast upon the boy's face. There shrinking wounds and a now straight nose could be seen, and she could somehow feel his pain decreasing.
Eira finally dropped her hand to the ground, her shoulders sagging. The girl tried to blink drowsiness away, but it gnawed at her. Tentatively she looked around.

Koa watched Eira heal Enro in awe. "Wow!" he called from the trunk, sitting up a bit. "How'd you do that?" Koa asked excitedly, his mind temporarily taken off of the cold snow that had melted and infiltrated his robes. He carefully put the hilt back in his pack, attention focused on the Healer girl.

Koa didn't really have any prejudice against any of the orphans. He hardly knew any of them to begin with, besides Elden. That wasn't to say that he didn't have a distrust for certain races, though. Growing up in Whiteport, the conceited and self-centered Sea Elves never got any friendly looks from Koa or his family, and the Elves never tried to be friendly to them either.

How sad was it? The young tree elf had just discovered that by tightly twisting some parts of her cloak and of her hair, water was able to be squeezed out. She shivered as a sudden cold wind blew their way and tried to shrug deeper into her clothing for warmth, though it didn't seem to help any. Silya let out a little whimper. After everything that just happened and they were stuck out here in the snow; just like everyone else she was hungry and tired. "This sucks..." She muttered, though felt bad about her complaining a few moments later. Thank the Gods, and that weird old man that they were at least alive. What if they had stayed behind? She shuttered again at the thought, then tried to push them away; but with the situation they were in, it was overwhelming, and near impossible to forget. And so the same dark train of thought kept rolling hither and yond through the girls mind.

It did help, though, when Elden had given them the courtesy of lighting a fire. "Alma bless you~!" She lit up happily for a few moments, shuffling up and taking a seat by Eira, putting her hands out - she was happy for the bit of warmth. She, just like the one next to her, had no prejudice against anyone else in the group simply because of her race - though she had heard some nasty things that did make her feel a bit eerie at times, there was nothing that she took too seriously - 'twas how her father raised her. Plus, spending many years of her life with children from all over Fourstones, it wasn't really all that big of a deal any longer.

Silya waited her turn to introduce herself, looking around the clearing and watching each one of them as they stated their names, determined to remember. She was admittedly terrible with remember peoples, names, and places. The elf shifted around when she had her chance to speak, "I'm Silya." She piped up. No need to point out her race. She assumed it was pretty obvious, "And - well... I guess I'm from Darkwood. Sorta. I don't remember it much, ... but I guess Silvershrine isn't really home either anymore..." With a weak smile, she wondered aloud, taking her hands down and resting them in her lap gently.

After a few moments, she spoke again. "Sleep sounds good. I'm exhausted." Silya was warmer now and figured she could at least try to get some shut eye. She stood back up and found a tree with a nice sturdy branch, close to the ground. It took a decent jump for momentum, but she grabbed the limb with her arms and easily pulled herself up, getting comfortable - or trying too at least. She took mild interest in the healing show that Eira had put on, mostly because it was cool and 'glowy'.

Enro blinked in surprise, almost falling back again. He bowed his head slightly.
"Thank you,..." his voice trailed off and he felt embarrassed, having missed her introduction.
"S-Sorry, but I missed your introduction.." he said, mind scrambling as he tried to think of some other way to apologize than that. He glanced at his bag, wanting to talk with the skeletons.
"Well, I think I'm going to divulge into the contents of my bag further." he announced, standing, though bent forward a little. He turned and walked about five and a half feet away, where he hoped no one could hear him. Opening his pack, he gingerly pulled out the skeletons of Krea and Jet and lay them on the ground. He pulled out his book on The College of Necromancy, and flipped to the first page of simple spells.
Page One, Spells One-Two The top of the first page read. Eagerly, he read the first page.
The art of Necromancy can seem daunting and crude at first, but many are born with talents for the dark art, but some develop them out of sheer desire to be a Necromancer. The first two spells you will learn are raising skeletons and draining others' health. To raise a skeleton, concentrate only on the animal or animals that the skeletons are of, and thoughts of that animal as a live thing living it's life. To sap someone's health, concentrate on how much health to drain. A little, half, or all. All would be used as a last resort and would kill the victim. Concentrate hard on the victim and the amount of health you wish to sap. Hold out your hand then close it tight, as if grabbing something tightly. The health will be sapped.
Closing the book, Enro set it down.
"Ok, so..Think about the animal alive and living it's life after concentrating on the animals the skeletons are of.." Enro murmured, mindlessly thinking aloud. Closing his eyes tight, he concentrated on the small brown birds that were sparrows he'd occasional seen, and the small brown mice that darted to and fro from hole to hole in the wall in the Croft Orphanage. He pictured the creatures living a life as they would in the wild; the sparrow flying and nestling down in it's nest and night, picking around roots for food throughout intervals in the day, the mouse scampering and alert, nibbling on seeds and cowering. His face contorted with the concentration, and he was started by the sudden rattle of bones. Opening his eyes, two skeletons were staring at him, waiting for him to react.

Elden watched the healing, though was used to his own magic and wasn't as awestricken by it. He was more interested in Silya climbing that tree.
All elfs were good at climbing, right? It was just like mounting a horse! A big, scary, giant horse...

Elden watched the girl as she lifted herself up, not wanting to screw up his imitation and fall on his face. "How did you do that?" he asked, taking his lovely bag hat off his head. He was not going to sleep in the snow, and get some disease before even making it to the lovely hot desert. Ooooh, the desert. He couldn't wait for the transition into warmth, though he probably would feel the opposite way when he got there.

Serana climbed out of the tree slowly. She sat down by the fire once more to get warm. She grabbed her cloak off her back and spread it on her legs to get warm. "If we're introducing ourselves, I'm Serana of The Fair. I came to be at the orphanage after my mother and father died when I was 13."She announced. "I also got my pendant before they died." She muttered, reaching her hand to her pendant once more.

She heard Eira's words. Food. She felt the taste in her mouth. She reached into the pocket of her jacket to warm her hands, and surprisingly, felt two small apples in her pocket. I forgot I took them from the kitchen! My bad. She pulled out the apples and held them up. "I forgot I had these." She murmured. She set them down on the log she was sitting on, put on her cloak, and climbed the tree again. No matter how safe she felt on the ground, she felt safer in the trees. After her parents died and she heard out, she in fact, hadn't been sent to the orphanage, she had been running and hiding, then found by her relatives and sent to the orphanage after 3 months of hiding. She found a sturdy branch, and sat there, with her cloak on her legs. "What are we going to do?" She called from the upper branch of the tree.

For a few moments, she looked at Elden almost uncertainly, then looked around as if there were anyone else close by. Oh, was she talking to him? She turned her entire body to face him, swinging her legs. Unsure of how to answer immediately, the girl put a quirky smile on her face as she looked down at him. "Skill." Silya answered simply before her thoughts caught up and she was able to come up with a some-what reasonable explanation. "Strength too~." Showing off just a bit, she brought her arm up and did a little flexing pose.

A more natural smile was on her face now as she drew back and went back to hiding under her cloak. "Jump up and use your body weight to help pull yourself up. Swing your legs up too if you need to, or push up against the trunk. It's not that hard." Then again, considering her heritage, of course it'd be easy for her - since her little body was built for climbing. She didn't consider that it might be worlds different for the snow elf. Come on, Elden~ It's just a tree, you can do it.