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Vaulting at Wyrdwood (Private)

Started by Whim, March 04, 2018, 10:42:58 PM

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emeraldknight

Taig found Old Tom to be very unsettling. The way he skulked around, black as the night, tail flicking and twitching. He just didn't like cats at all, actually. Still, Old Tom made him distinctly uncomfortable with that voice and his weird gift of speech. When asked for the poem, Taig quickly crouched down and nearly dropped it to the ground, wishing to get as far away from the cat as he could. It wasn't that he was scared, but more that he was distrustful."Will this be good enough?", he asked. "Hey Susie, that was all it said to bring, right?"

Eckhart_Von_Musel

"Ummm..."

Susie fumbled through her robe pockets, looking for the slip of paper that had gotten them here. After a few seconds, she began to hyperventilate. "Oh no! I couldn't have forgotten it! It's the most important thing we- oh."

Susie's cheeks flushed as she realised she was literally holding the paper in her hand. "Oh gosh, did they notice? What if they all laugh at me?" 

Clearing her throat in a poor attempt to sound professional, the girl looked over the list. "It says we need the answer to a riddle..." She looked around worriedly. "Wait, were we supposed to have a riddle already? Did you guys bring one so we could answer it? Please say yes, we would've snuck out for nothing..."

Whim

Yellow eyes flickered toward Taig's poem with disdain. "A poem is the price, but a reading with theatrical flair would be appreciated. You don't want me sending you down the garbage chute, do you? I don't think the maw of Uuvuuduum bothers to sort living meat from dead meat. It would be useful to know if he did eat lost students, however."

Liam grinned widely, trying his best to hide a laugh at Susie's remarks. He didn't want to be mean. It was just that this was typical Susie. "I think we're supposed to-" Their right arm punched him in the chest. "-ow! I think we're meant to answer one he asks, Susie." Kana gave her a reassuring smile.

"Yes. Its just the answer you need, not the riddle. Though I suppose if you brought a riddle and an answer that would suffice? You really should have considered that." Old Tom purred with delight. "Now then,

"There are four cottages down the lane. They are made from glass, stone, straw and wood.

The Connlaothian's cottage is somewhere to the left of the wooden one, and the third one along is stone.

The Adelan owns a straw cottage, and the Duhjari does not live at either end, but lives somewhere to the right of the glass cottage.

The Essryni lives in the fourth cottage, whilst the first cottage is not made from straw.

Who lives where, and what is their cottage made from?"

As the cat spoke Kanaliam traced their fingers in the air, conjuring forth spectral parchment to record the puzzle. Liam stared at it in consternation. Before the boy could open his mouth Kana grinned. "The Adelan lives in the straw cottage cuz they're too dumb to know their dragons will burn it. The Connlaothian lives in a glass house so Ansar-or-whoever can watch 'em do it without magic. The Essryni lives in a stone house because, uh, deserts. And the Duhjari lives in the wood house because we've got big-" with a muffled cry Kana's and Liam's mouths simply vanished.

"Ah, not quite."

Liam, mouthless, stamped his foot in anger, glowering at the cat.

"One answer per student. And I do believe Kaliam has already had his turn. Perhaps the rest of you would like to consider it more carefully?"
Awesome avatar by Eckhart_von_Musel

Guilds:
Wyrdwood Academy of Arcane Science

Events:
The Midnight Harvest
Into the Mouth of Qokagax

Characters:
Ewan ap Rhys - once a great sorcerer, now a small boy
Anwen ferch Rhys - scholar of blood magic
Duke Blackthorn - Duke of Dawn and Dusk, Warden of Weal and Woe, and all-around evil faerie
"Kaliam" - magically conjoined apprentice wizards
Maergath - Magister of Soulshaping, necromancer, angry and hateful wizard
Narlis Thordane - Hero for hire, proud and unrepentant scumlord
Niamh Wayrest - trader in forbidden lore, purveyor of curiosities
OLIVER THE BARBARIAN - a very reluctant hero and monster-slayer
Sage Whitechalk - heir to the Whitechalk Family
Saoirse Nettlefield - Headmistress of Wyrdwood, conniving academic

emeraldknight

After an awkward pause, it was Taig who stepped forward. "I really hope I don't get my mouth sealed up!" Watching Old Tom carefully, he spoke with as much confidence as he could. "I'll give you your dramatic reading, but I'll need that paper to do it. I can't remember it off the top of my head". He knelt down and gently moved his hand towards the page, stopping short to wait for the cat's permission. He turned his head back to the students and mouthed, "Anyone got a quill?"

Eckhart_Von_Musel

Susie squeaked in terror as her friends mouths disappeared. She rocked back and forth, running the riddle through her head. "The answer... the guy from Adela has gotta be in the straw house, right? Which means the Duhjari is in the stone house... the the Connlaothian lives in a glass house because duh, obviously... and that leaves the wood house for the Essyrni guy... That's gotta be it, right?"

Susie opened her mouth to say this, but no words came out. "But what if I'm wrong? What if I lose my mouth forever and I starve? What if I never get to tell Kana that-

Taig's voice inturuppted her thoughts. "Um, uh..." Susie mumbled, digging around her robes for a quill. "N-no, I don't have one..."

Celegwen

Ellie, not aware that her friends' mouths had literally vanished, sneered at Susie for her lack of effort. If Taig and Susie weren't going to take care of it, the girl knew that she would have to step up. I'm pretty sure I already said I hate riddles, she thought to herself, the left corner of her lips tugging downward.

"The Connlaothian is first and lives in a glass cottage. The Adelan is second in a straw cottage. The Duhjari is third in a stone cottage, and the Essyrni is last in a wood cottage."

The girl huffed, crossing her arms and pouting slightly. Just because she hated riddles didn't mean she couldn't figure them out. Unfortunately, she couldn't just summon a quill for Taig out of thin air.

Whim

"Correct, miss Klein!" The cat almost sounded cheerful, impressed. "Though you were cutting it fine, I think. If you're to be a magician you must be more daring little Susie. You'll need to be slinging spells left and right, up and down, and at a moment's notice," yellow eyes narrowed at the stammering girl. "You should not hesitate."

There came a sudden gasp for air as Kaliam's mouths returned. "I solved it you know!" Liam, red-faced, had to tell everyone.

"Nah! We got it wrong!" Kana corrected. Liam couldn't help but hide a little smirk. It was nice, being a we, at times. "You can show off later. I wanna see Taig perform." The Duhjari boy grinned wolfishly at their friend, extending Liam's astral quill with a mock flouorish. It would be funny to see him doing girly-stuff like singing and poetry, Kana decided. He could swear his surly friend sometimes sang to himself...

"Ah yes, go on then." Old Tom gingerly nudged the poem scrap toward Taig, as if trying to conceal his lack of opposable thumbs.

"You think familiars can read?" Liam mumbled in the faintest of whispers that only Kana could hear. They'd gotten good at that. It was due as much to hearing as it was simply feeling his other head. Kana hushed him with a smirk.
Awesome avatar by Eckhart_von_Musel

Guilds:
Wyrdwood Academy of Arcane Science

Events:
The Midnight Harvest
Into the Mouth of Qokagax

Characters:
Ewan ap Rhys - once a great sorcerer, now a small boy
Anwen ferch Rhys - scholar of blood magic
Duke Blackthorn - Duke of Dawn and Dusk, Warden of Weal and Woe, and all-around evil faerie
"Kaliam" - magically conjoined apprentice wizards
Maergath - Magister of Soulshaping, necromancer, angry and hateful wizard
Narlis Thordane - Hero for hire, proud and unrepentant scumlord
Niamh Wayrest - trader in forbidden lore, purveyor of curiosities
OLIVER THE BARBARIAN - a very reluctant hero and monster-slayer
Sage Whitechalk - heir to the Whitechalk Family
Saoirse Nettlefield - Headmistress of Wyrdwood, conniving academic

emeraldknight

"Oh, crap, why?" Taig was not happy about this. Poetry recitals were just so... Un-manly! Thinking of all the cool magic that could await him below, he took a slow step forward and grabbed the poem. "Uh..." He could practically feel Kaliam's smile. Pressing his face to his forehead and deciding to just get things done with, he began to read. At first he shocked even himself with how boldly he read, and quickly hushed down to a nigh-incomprehensible mumble. Eventually, at the urging of his own mind (And the fear of having to do it again if he wasn't good enough), Taig began to enunciate more clearly, delivering each line with as much purpose and involvement as he could muster.

As he finished, he wiped his brow. It wasn't really so bad, though the feeling of being judged was certainly uncomfortable. In hindsight, he supposed it wasn't the worst thing in the world. Imagine if he'd had to dance, or maybe even to read it in front of the school! Just the notion made him go a bit red.

"So... That was good enough, right?"

Eckhart_Von_Musel

Susie watched with wide eyes as Taig read, awestruck by the boy's prose. As he finished, the girl began to clap softly. "Wow Taig!" she said, grinning. "That was really good! Did you write it yourself?"

emeraldknight

Taig didn't know whether to be flattered or embarrassed by Susie's comment. "No, I borrowed it". He refused to say any more on the matter. "So, what happens next?"

Whim

"We break, we sculpt, we tear, we mold, we pound," Liam enunciated, nuging Taig playfully. "You sure you didn't write it?"

"It was amazing!" Kana cheered. He didn't really know much about poetry. But it was cool how the words like a song and didn't really make perfect sense but made you feel stuff. And Taig said it and Taig was his friend.

Old Tom stared up at Taig appraisingly. "A curious verse and one I've not heard. "Refreshing it doesn't all end on a rhyme. Pleasing. Its so tedious when it does. And the conceit is a touch gloomy don't you think? But there is some truth to it. For all you can do with magic are you ever really turning the tide against entropy and the End? Hm." The cat nodded for the quartet, or quintet, to follow. They wound through the maze of rusty old pots and barrels of spice until they came upon a door.

Old Tom sat beside it expectantly, waiting until Liam pushed it open. He refused to acknowledge the rather paltry limitation of no thumbs. That opened into a washroom which lead into a room full of musty old aprons, coated in various stains. And in the very corner of that old laundry room a rickety old staircase spiraled down into darkness. The wood was old and bare and some of the slats were missing. "Its not so far as it looks. We used to bring meals through here to some battle mages quartered below. This was when Hogor the Horned was stomping about the Terrin. Its mostly fallen out of use, aside from my amusements. You can use it to get up then down well enough. But do you know where you're going? I don't fancy dead pupils. But our little deal is complete."

"Is there anything we need to-?"

Before Liam could finish Kana rushed them to the edge and peered at the well of darkness. "Aw man! That goes down forever!" he pulled a coin from their pocket it and flicked into the air. "How deep is it?!"

"Its just dark, really. You did bring candles, didn't you?"
Awesome avatar by Eckhart_von_Musel

Guilds:
Wyrdwood Academy of Arcane Science

Events:
The Midnight Harvest
Into the Mouth of Qokagax

Characters:
Ewan ap Rhys - once a great sorcerer, now a small boy
Anwen ferch Rhys - scholar of blood magic
Duke Blackthorn - Duke of Dawn and Dusk, Warden of Weal and Woe, and all-around evil faerie
"Kaliam" - magically conjoined apprentice wizards
Maergath - Magister of Soulshaping, necromancer, angry and hateful wizard
Narlis Thordane - Hero for hire, proud and unrepentant scumlord
Niamh Wayrest - trader in forbidden lore, purveyor of curiosities
OLIVER THE BARBARIAN - a very reluctant hero and monster-slayer
Sage Whitechalk - heir to the Whitechalk Family
Saoirse Nettlefield - Headmistress of Wyrdwood, conniving academic

emeraldknight

Taig paused. "Candles?" The poem hadn't mentioned candles! "So, anyone have an alternative?"

Eckhart_Von_Musel

They- they didn't bring candles? But it's so dark... Susie peered down the staircase, shivering.  "G-guys?" she stammered. "I c-changed my mind, I d-don't wanna do this..." The girl backed away, eyes watering. "I'm sorry! I-I promise I wont rat you out!"

With that, the girl would hurry out of the kitchen and back to her dorm, tears flowing down her face. "Kia, I'm such a wuss! They'll never let me live this down!"

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