Advertise/Affiliate Other Forum Main Page The World Before You Play

Ghost of the Ruins

Started by Ethereal-Star, August 05, 2015, 09:52:02 PM

Previous topic - Next topic

0 Members and 1 Guest are viewing this topic.

Ethereal-Star

((This is an 'open by request' thread, its plotting page can be found here. Post there first if you wish to join and with what character you wish to use.))

Having finally arrived at his intended destination, Admar stopped for a second to stretch his back out and sighed with satisfaction at the evident pop! that his back made. Setting down his bag the color invoker took a look around at the ruins he was now in. Having passed through an archway covered in trailing vines and dilapidated broken bits of pottery and stone blocks that were scattered nearby, he inspected everything with a careful keen eye, observing what he could.

A slight wind blew lifting up a strand of his mostly black hair that then swept across one eye. Admar hastily brushed back the strand of  unruly hair and continued his observations of the place. Picking up his bag again, he walked around and bent down to look at the interesting remains of an old sculpture that had appeared to once be a rather large statue of a beautiful woman, carved in both porcelain and white stone. Much of the fallen structures around him seem to be made up of these same materials and as the mage picked up a sample of a shard from the ground his speculations seemed to point that detail out to be more and more truthful.

Quietly Admar continued to inspect the piece in his hand that seemed to come from the remnants of a old broken pillar, its once intricate and ornate designs had diminished with time, age and the elements. The ruins were vast, hinting at the fact that this site used to hold a once great nation long long ago. What had happened to this civilization Admar knew not, for he was certain it had once been a marvelous sight to behold many a moon ago. He carefully put the piece of stone in a tiny container from within his large knapsack and then put the container away within the folds of the brown cotton material, intent to examine the shard in more detail later. Hopefully he could compare it to some notes he had on hand back at his personal library in the order Admar belonged to.

Moving on, Admar traipsed over to what was once a tower, its pointy turret still managing to look strong and fierce after all this time of neglect and abandonment. Something on the ground nearby caught his eye, and the mage bent down to take a look. A couple old pieces of parchment rolled up on the ground tied with red twine was what he saw.

Excitedly, Admar picked it up hoping to find some written records of this place. Papers meant notes and history, which further meant discoveries written by hand by some scholar or librarian perhaps. Unraveling the parchment after undoing the twine which quickly fell apart after doing so, frayed beyond repair and falling useless to the ground as he excitedly read the parchment he now held in his hands. Or tried to anyway. It was to be expected anyhow that the words on the pages were not entirely legible to his eyes. Time made sure of that. Of what he could read sparked his interest greatly and the color invoker perused the rest hoping to make out whatever he was able to. There was a notation on the bottom he could not decipher, as it seemed to be written in an old ancient tongue. It was not Old Serenian or it didn't appear to be. Perhaps a rare dialect of such? Whatever the language was, Admar wasn't familiar with it. The words he could make out elsewhere on the parchment were 'powerful', 'ages' and 'curse.' Admar furrowed his brows at this and pondered on its possible meanings.

Suddenly a cold icy wind picked up, the temperature got considerably chilly to the point that Admar was uncomfortable with. Casting an orange spell of warmth with his glass prism in hand, his body became more warm and as a result he was able to continue on at a decent comfort level. However his spell only affected him and did nothing to change the sheer chill in the air about him. He was the only one here, he didn't see the point of expending more magic to bring the temperature back up. Besides what brought about the sudden change concerned him and he looked around for the cause of it.

His efforts were soon rewarded as his senses picked up on a feeling of great sadness and despair. Not only that, Admar glimpsed not far from where he was standing by the tower an apparition that faded in and out. His eyebrows furrowed again and he thought, A ghost? He strained his eyes to see it as whatever it was had a smoky but translucent appearance and appeared to be wearing a flowing white robe. Then the figure turned its head and Admar then saw haunted, restless eyes rimmed with red that were filled with sorrow and torment on its pale countenance. "Paaaiiiin...." the creature then wailed pitifully in an eerie voice, before disappearing entirely.

The sense of cold seemed to abide some, but still coated the area with a chill like that of winter time and snow. Yes, it was most definitely some sort of spirit Admar decided. He stood staring at where he last saw it, unsure of what to do at this point in time. After a while, the mage got his bearings back and continued looking around, yet keeping both eyes and ears open for any more mysterious sightings.

Deathless

Vaeleron had been to the ruins only once or twice in his lifetime, despite growing up relatively nearby. There was always something strange about the decrepit, fading tower as it loomed over the horizon. However, due to a recent lead he had found in the library he decided early one morning to check the ruins once again. What would he find there, he wondered?

He scaled over a broken down wall, his long angelic wings folded closely against his back. With his constantly pursuit of knowledge, Vael was well-traveled, but he always found himself very nervous while exploring ancient ruins. He glanced to his right as a series of small pebbles dribbled gently down a broken wall, though nobody was to be seen nearby.

"I wonder if..." He spoke aloud suddenly, as a wintery chill began to fill the air around him. How had the temperature dropped so suddenly? Vael knew he was closer to the mountains but the weather had been fair enough as he approached the ruins earlier. Stopping for a moment, he pulled a small notebook from his robes, scribbling some notes within it's worn leather-bound pages.

Without warning, a strange wail emitted from ahead, on the other side of the massive tower in front of him. Vaeleron gripped his knuckles tightly, moving ahead at a brisk pace to find the source of the strange noise.

Ethereal-Star

Getting out his own notebook, Admar jotted down in it some things of interest before proceeding onward again. Marveling at all the broken statues, even more of them over in this area he set about to examine a piece of shattered pottery on the ground nearby his feet. There were only two small pieces of the jar left intact, the rest of it smashed into useless and extremely tiny pieces, their miniscule remains not worth looking at. What was left though caught the mage's interest.

On one piece was an etching of a strange symbol that looked very much like a lightning bolt. The other had some text on it in bold, calligraphic letters. Again, Admar was unable to read the word shown on it but it looked like the same language as on the couple pieces of parchment he still had with him. Comparing the notes to the ceramic shard revealed nothing more. The color invoker thought the two representations were somehow connected, but he couldn't figure out how or what. Scribbling another note or two plus a rough doodle of the lightning bolt symbol down as well, he continued on.

That was when the ghost decided to make another appearance. This time it was much closer, its white face looking ever ghastly in that moment. Tears of blood ran down its face as it moaned another unintelligible word his way. "Toooooorrrrrrrrrmeeeeent." It wailed before disappearing as its existence faded again from the mortal plane.

Admar decided it time to delve into his magics then, to find out more about this haunted wisp of a person. Yellow light flared around his being as the color invoker enacted a spell of clarity and focus. After that, he concentrated on a spell that would allow him to catch a brief glimpse into another dimension of time--more specifically, the realm of the dead. The spell was called Third Eye and so he began his casting, a purple glow surrounding him as he peered through the mists of reality.

What Admar saw then was an endless gray void where many spirits wandered as they waited to cross the great divide to the afterlife. Honing his Inner Sight more, he found what he was looking for. One spirit in particular that was not completely present in that realm. Nor was it completely in this realm either. For it was caught between the two, stuck in the middle by something Admar couldn't see. It could be anything from an evil force trapping it to something more mundane like a improper burial of its body. Whatever it was, the ghost had no choice but to wander between the two planes, lost and alone.

At any rate, the color invoker was able to get a better look at it as it seemed a bit more solid there than it did here. No surprise really. The figure was a man, once human with light brown hair and dark blue eyes filled with hopelessness, a hint of madness present there as well. He was wearing a white robe of the dead and wore no shoes. He did not seem to be aware of Admar's gaze on him either.

Searching around the realm for any more clues, he found nothing else. The spell began to flicker in power as the effects were nearly at an end. Soon, Admar was fully back in the fallen ruins of old. "Interesting." he commented to himself, scratching his head slightly as he thought about all this.

He did not have much time to ponder though, as the sound of footsteps met his ears then. Looking up, the mage saw another man, this one wearing a purple robe with a gold emblem on the chest. A pair of huge angel wings adorned his back, folded against him unmoving. The newcomer looked to be a cross between a human and that of an elf. Admar thought the wings somehow looked out of place on him but couldn't put a finger as to why just yet. An aura of power also surrounded the winged man, clearly evident of arcane magics swirling within and around him. Ah, another mage, Admar thought. In any case, it was time to say hello.

"Hello there!" Admar called out jovially, waving. "This mage sees he is not the only one hereabouts these fascinating ruins. For indeed they are fascinating, are they not?"

Deathless

Vaeleron followed the strange noise around a pair of broken statues, rubbing his hands together ever so slightly as if to warm them up amidst the chilly air. As he strained his eyes forward he felt another strange sensation, tickling ever so slightly on the edge of his senses. This sense was no ghost, but that of another human being. Well, that, or a being that was using magic. Though he was a mage himself he was not well trained in the art of magic, still very much a novice of sorts. He hoped he wouldn't be forced to match his powers against another magic user just yet.

But as he moved forward a voice spoke out in a clear and friendly manner. Before him stood a young man, likely no older than he but in the darkness it was impossible to tell. He wore a strange robe that seemed to shimmer ever so slightly as he moved. He was holding a small object as well, and judging by the magic that Vaeleron could sense, he predicted that the stranger used it to somehow channel his magical energies.

Vaeleron stood for a moment before acknowledging this newcomer. Had the stranger just spoken in third person, he wondered to himself? Smiling, Vaeleron extended a hand in friendly gesture. "Indeed they are, friend. My name is Vaeleron, I'm a scholar and I suppose an explorer as well. What brings you to these strange ruins, if I might ask?" He spoke in a clear and engaging tone. Hopefully the man wasn't just some kind of treasure hunter, but judging by his appearance and abilities he was likely a scholar as well.

Ethereal-Star

When the winged half-elf introduced himself, Admar smiled and waved in a friendly gesture. "Ah, a fellow scholar, just like Admar here himself." More or less introducing himself with that statement. Walking forward, he shook the man's hand.

"Well Vaeleron, this mage here is also exploring these ruins, hoping to find out any information about the civilization that once existed here. Not much is known about why they disappeared, but many rumors point to some great catastrophe that had befallen it. What that catastrophe may be, nobody really knows. So Admar has taken it upon himself to find out what he can, and then report his findings to his order."

Admar looked around for the specter from before, but there was no sign of it now. The air was starting to warm up again due to the temperature reasserting itself to its natural state. "Of course the apparition around these parts makes Admar's search much more interesting. It isn't here now, but it seems to come and go as it will. This mage has little doubt it will show up again."

Aura

Aura had been having the same dream for the past week now. First there is a blinding flash of colors, each color of the rainbow flashing individually, then a beam of mixed colors swirling through the sky. When the colors fade, a pair of angelic wings is the only visible thing before a single feather falls out of the sky towards the ground. When it lands, a large broken pillar erupts from the ground and reaches toward the sky with vast ruins spread out before it. Then everything goes dark and the flash of a tormented face and the sound of a ghastly wail are all there is. Immediately after that, she wakes up in a cold sweat.

She didn't know what the dream meant or what prophecy was being told. She did not yet know what the significance of the colors were or why there were angel wings. Who was the person she saw with a face full of such agony?

All she knew from her dream is where the ruins are, which she figured out after completing a sketch of the pillar and ruins from having the dream so many times. She brought this sketch to a local trading town and asked around at different taverns if anyone recognized them. Luckily for her, she came across an archaeologist who had been there before, and after gathering supplies for her journey in a white knapsack she was on her way.

She had been walking for days so far with no sign of the ruins and was about to stop for another break when the broken pillar finally appeared on the horizon. After pausing for a second to pant out "Bless the Light!" Aura continued towards the ruins. As she began to walk through them, she noticed that they were significantly larger than what she could tell in her dream. Broken piles of rubble and debris lay scattered everywhere but as far as she could tell the ruins looked completely normal.

As she continued to investigate the ruins, Aura noticed what looked like a person standing at the top of the broken pillar, but the image soon shimmered and disappeared. Keeping that odd little detail in the back of her mind, she continued towards the pillar to see if she could find out anything about her dream.

Deathless

Admar seemed like a normal enough person, Vaeleron thought to himself as he forced a smile. It was never entirely safe to make friends with a random stranger, especially in these types of places, but his fellow scholar seemed harmless enough. "I must admit I am on a similar quest as you... though I did not know anything about this civilization that lived here. It seems as if..." he trailed off for a moment, looking forward as if his sight could pierce the darkness before them.

"It's as if a great burden lies on these ruins. There is a story that isn't finished here." the elf spoke as he moved around a large boulder, stopping to examine the ground for a moment. "I don't know about you Admar, but I felt another presence here with us. And I'm not sure it's a living presence." Valaeron had dealt with the undead before, but he didn't have much experience with those that existed between the living and the dead.

Suddenly, he heard another noise. "Someone approaches..." he whispered to his cohort.

Ethereal-Star

"Indeed, a story that deserves to be finished. Completed to its very grand end." Admar looked around again before continuing.

"And yes, Admar also caught a glimpse of this poor soul that haunts this place. He is tortured indeed." The color invoker would reveal more if prompted to, but for now he felt this to be sufficient enough information for the time being.

He didn't hear the footsteps approach until after the person stepped into view several feet away, as they moved around a battered pillar. It was a female elf with long blonde hair of the finest gold, and Admar could sense an aura of purity and light around her. She was no doubt some kind of healer or light mage. Possibly both. She wore a fine elven gown of exquisite make that only further served to accentuate her beauty.

"Greetings dear lady. What brings you to these parts? The name is Admar and he is pleased to make your acquaintance." Waving at the elven woman who carried a silvery staff, a ball of white light hovering over the top of it.

Aura

Aura's eyes flashed a cool blue as she activated her Oracle ability, confirming that these two in front of her were the only two presences currently within the ruins around her. She looked at the mage who addressed her and smiled politely. "My name is Aura. I am an Oracle of the Light and as such have come here to investigate a certain vision I have been having."

At that moment, she looked over at Vaeleron and noticed his wings. "You are the one with wings of an angel, then?" The elf asked as she took a closer look at him, trying to figure out more about him. From what she could tell he appeared scholarly and peaceful.

She looked back at the other man and held out her hand as a gesture towards him. "You are the one of colors then, yes?"

Ethereal-Star

Admar's eyes twinkled in mirth. "This mage is indeed one of colors. All colors in fact." He chuckled, but continued, waving a hand at his robe to further indicate the truth of his words. "This robe he wears is the garb of all those in his Order of Color Mastery, for he is a mage who invokes the art of color energy. Admar here is also a scholar, seeking to find out more about these ruins he is exploring."

Shifting his glass prism to the other hand, Admar went on. "A vision? You should tell this mage here more about this vision you have had, Aura. Perhaps he can be of service."

Three mages here in these ruins, this should be a most fortuitous meeting for certain. Three minds of intellectual keenness would no doubt be a fruitful thing. Admar greatly looked forward to whatever would come next as the other two seemed to be decent people, and were of no danger to him.

Deathless

Vaeleron took in the newcomer who had approached them. She was a fair elf, and a warm glow seemed to surround her, even in the darkness of the ruins. He smiled and waved in a friendly manner. "An angel... yes, I-" he cut off for a moment, an aura of sadness washing across his face before being replaced with a faint smile.

He looked over at Admar for a moment, as if to gain some measure of resolution before he spoke to Aura again. "It seems fortutious that all of us have here in these strange ruins... in the exact same place. Admar and I were tracking a strange figure, but what about your vision, Ms. Aura?" He asked, extremely curious as to the extent of the elf's foresight. He was not any type of seer himself, but if she had visions that contained both he and Admar then maybe her skills would be even more valuable in this dark and dangerous arena.

Aura

"Unfortunately I have already fulfilled most of this vision." Aura said with a sigh. "It starts with a flash of colors and then a pair of angel wings."

With that, Aura gestured towards Admar. "The colors referring to you, naturally." She then gestured towards Vaeleron. "And the wings referring to you, I should assume."

She then turned so that she was facing the pillar directly. "Then this pillar erupts from the ground and the ruins become visible, which is how I found this place to begin with. The final piece is that everything goes black and I see a tormented face and hear a scream, though I'm still unsure of what that part means."

She sighed again and turned back to face the other mages. "I'm hoping that being here will grant me new visions and that I can find some answers."

Ethereal-Star

After that explanation, Admar scratched his chin in thought before speaking. "There is a ghost for certain about these ruins, although Admar himself is afraid he knows little about him. From what this mage has seen through the spirit realm, there is something which binds the poor soul here, but Admar cannot tell what that may be. But there is something indeed trapping the man's spirit here."

"Admar suggests continuing to search and look around, maybe something will reveal itself. There is one thing though." Getting out the papers from before, the color invoker carefully unrolled the brittle pieces of parchment, being delicate enough with them not to cause the documents any further damage.

"He has found these two documents, records no doubt of this place, but there isn't much to tell from it. There are only three words that he can make out on the faded manuscripts. The rest is either rendered illegible or is in some unknown language he cannot decipher." Admar showed them both the papers.

Deathless

Vaeleron gazed around them in wonder as he listened to both of his fellow mages speak. What could it be that would keep a spirit lingering in this strange ruins? Loss? A fateful demise? Something was keeping the anguished spirit trapped between their world and the nether, and he fully intended to find out what. He looked back at Admar a moment. "What was it you found on the scrolls you discovered here in the ruins?" he asked, curious as to the nature of the documents.

There were numerous regions around the world with ruins like these, and many were haunted by dark, mysterious magics that even the most knowledgeable scholars knew very little about.

"Let's keep moving towards the main tower." he suggested, pausing a moment before moving towards the giant broken rock that lay just a few hundred feet away from where they had all met. Vaeleron paused for a moment, expecting a scream or a cry to sound but all he could hear was the brief rustle of the wind against the ancient rock before them.

Ethereal-Star

Examining the documents once more, Admar ran a finger over the words he could make out. "Ah, now that is the fascinating part this mage says. The words he can read are those of 'powerful', 'curse', and 'ages'. The rest appears to be in some other language, but he does not believe it to be Old Serenian. But perhaps he is wrong." Rolling up the parchment, he put it back in his bag inside a long metal tube to help protect it before he capped the lid back on.

"By all means." Admar also moved to the broken piece of rock, before abruptly stopping when he saw something out of his peripheral vision. Turning his head, he noticed what appeared to be a piece of tattered cloth waving about in the air some fifty feet away in the opposite direction of the large rock. From his standing point, he couldn't tell what it was or what it was attached to. Perhaps a closer look would reveal more.

((Feel free to expand upon this, either one of you!))

Aura

Aura heard a pained scream and turned just in time to see the cloth that Admar had seen. Almost immediately after she saw the floating phenomenon her eyes flared with blue energy. She was having another vision which must have been triggered by the paranormal energy. During this time, she would be unable to see anything that was happening in the physical world.

Her vision took her back to when these ruins were a large civilization. She was drawn to one house in particular. Inside there was a poor family cooking stew for dinner. Perhaps she was seeing memories from the ghost's past? She would have to keep investigating to find out more.

Deathless

Vaeleron had turned for a brief moment, trying to gaze through the darkness towards the location Admar was looking at. He too, could just barely make out a small tattered piece of cloth. Was it attached to a flag pole? Or something else?

Before he could investigate any further, Aura seemed to go back into one of her visions. Vaeleron wasn't sure if he was supposed to help her in any way, and he shrugged as he looked back to Admar. "We should move towards that cloth over in the distance." He spoke aloud, pointing ahead of the trio. "I'm not sure if we'll find any answers there, but I'm guessing Aura will find something in her vision."

He moved off, looking back a moment to make sure she was okay before he headed towards the floating cloth. Once he was closer, he noticed it was in fact attached to a nearly-broken flagpole. Below that flag pole was the ruins of a large house. The roof had caved in many years before, and whether it was from a natural cause like time or another reason Vaeleron wasn't sure. 

Ethereal-Star

Admar also looked at Aura as she was clearly involved in one of her visions. "It is best not to disturb her during a vision." he said sagely, not worried at all. He knew that the elf woman likely had had several of these visions in her life, and the color invoker knew from his own experience not to bother someone when they were peering through the mists of reality. His color invocation practice gave him some seer-like abilities as well so it was something he fully understood.

He also made to head over to the waving cloth in the near distance, but instead of actually walking there, he muttered a few arcane words with a hand gesture, and disappeared in a faint red flash of light, only to reappear right where the broken flag was, its battered cloth still moving in the air like some desperate last stand. While there was a bit of wind blowing in from the nearby mountains, the main breeze was actually from the remnants of the apparition that had chosen to make its presence known again. But it was gone now, and the breeze also soon died down, with only an occasional bout of wind coming off from the mountain range.

The mage decided it was time to activate Spirit Journey, one of his purple spells. More words of the arcane followed along with a few complex hand gestures and rune markings into the air and he was soon involved in his mini-meditation, enveloped briefly in a purple glow. Although it was only a mere glimpse and not a fully-fledged meditation. But what he saw could prove useful.

"Interesting." he stroked his chin again in thought before looking at Valaeron and then back towards Aura. A look towards the cloth in front of him and he further nodded in acknowledgement from whatever his spell had shown him.

Aura

The vision went on for a little while longer. She could tell that there was something wrong about what was going on in the house. The residents seemed scared, as if they were hiding from something... or someone. However, it began to get blurry from there. There were pieces she couldn't quite put together and things she couldn't quite see clearly. Suddenly her vision was gone and she was back at the ruins. She supposed since the vision was triggered by the ghost's presence it most likely began to fade when the paranormal energy around her faded.

She moved on and caught up to the two others. When she reached them she looked around before speaking. "There must be something tethering this spirit to the physical world." She said when she finished glancing around for any signs of something that might be the cause. "If we find a place where there is a stronger connection to the spirit perhaps my visions will be more clear."

Ethereal-Star

The golden-haired elf woman had caught up with them now, Admar saw. At her words, he pondered. "There is...something." he said slowly. "Something this mage saw through one of his spells. A mere flash of an image mind you, but Admar shall tell what he saw."

Once he was sure he had both of their attentions, he continued. "There was a small outdoor area in this mage's visionary spell, with a fountain, a bench and a flowering bush all grouped together. It was here that the man, the ghost rather, had been to when he was alive. However there was something or someone else with him. A presence Admar cannot get a good read on, but it was most certainly a vile one." Admar paused here and looked back at the flapping cloth from the broken flag-pole.

"This piece of cloth here", he indicated the faded remnants of a stylized 'G' in what used to be bold, calligraphic black lettering on a pristine white background, now blemished and aged with time and the elements to nothing more than a grey backdrop with only the hint of the letter it once represented. "This cloth here seems to have once been a house crest or symbol. Likely the first letter of the ghost's surname when he had been alive and had once lived here in this very house." Indicating with his hand to the collapsed dwelling. "What the letter stands for, Admar does not know."

Letting his hand fall back to his side, Admar's grey eyes met those of the others. "Admar suggests to search for this fountain area as he described. Perhaps more can be revealed there."