RP:How a Mountain is Born

From HollowWiki
  • Kirien, Vampiric Foxkin, Terramancer.
  • Satoshi, Kit-vampire, Frost Singer.



Earthen Sentinel


Upon breaking away from the path, you find yourself in a wide-open expanse of land where even the snow has been forbidden from falling. Only the deep brown of the permafrost beneath Frostmaw is to be found upon this ground, for this is the home of the Earthen Sentinel that stands eternally on guard within the center of the field. An enormous arcane circle riddled with sigils and patterns is carved into the frozen ground and glows with a fierce amber light as it serves as the guardpost of the Sentinel. Encased within that arcane light is the behemoth itself, a mountain of rock, mineral, and gemstone molded into a single gargantuan form. Its massive weight rests upon a pair of thick hindlegs that end in wickedly curved talons of fortified crystal, the limbs clearly powerful enough to carry the tons of earth in an earth-shaking run with ease. A long spine, almost perfectly horizontal and ending in a lengthy dragon-esque tail, is covered in jagged spikes of fluorite and stone alternatively that runs from tip to cranium in a razory edge. Short, stocky forelimbs rest curled against a broad chest of boulders that support a rough head consisting almost entirely of its terrifying jaws. Clearly the creators of this golem did not have the typical humanoid shape in mind during construction, but instead have been heavily inspired by the powerful build of one of the tyrant lizards that roam wild outside of Venturil, thus creating a formidable looking beast as sibling to the walking blizzard of the Frozen Sentinel. For now it rests at peace, but should the land of its birth be threatened, the Sentinels will rise to answer their creator's call.




A final arc is engraved into the frozen earth and a groan is voiced before Satoshi drops back into a crouch, balancing on the balls of her feet as she gives her work a once over. Compared to the elegant circle across the path from here, this one carries a blockier pattern. While the Ice Sentinel's binding pale blue arcane sigils are filled with sweeping circles, twisting runes, and complex patterns of frosty motifshewn into the ice, this current creation carved straight into the permafrost consists of thick lines, angular shapes, and precise squares: the solid, unrelenting personification of Earth versus the flowing grace of Ice. The kit wipes her brow as she admires her work, content with the knowledge that the giant circle is a flawless replication of the one drawn on her notes. The second and final Sentinel's birthplace is prepared with both the arcane outline set in stone--literately--and the physical make-up of the colossal-to-be gathered around the area in heaping piles of rock, fluorite, mineral, and other precious elements of the earth. Now all she needs is the key, the terramancer that will construct the entity's body so that Satoshi can grant it life from her blood and soul.


Kirien had come to realise over the past couple of days that, even when he was breathing as normal, nothing misted out of his mouth to hang in the frigid Frostmaw air. What he inhaled was never warmed enough by his undead body to cause such a reaction of hot and cold mixing; and to be honest, he kind of missed that sight a little (even if he couldn’t see it these days). Still, despite all this, he was meandering quite happily along the road, hands shoved in the pockets of Christian’s coat, his stride a surprisingly carefree one. He’d missed this feeling - it was elation, it had to be; excitement bubbled in his chest and he was far too eager to put his skills to the test today. For today, he’d create something enormous and magnificent and would watch it have life breathed into it by his talented sister. Eventually his path crossed with the aforementioned sibling, the empath sliding absently along the icier parts of the road as though practicing skating; his head canted in the direction of her and her work on the permafrost, blind gaze falling to curiously scrutinise the markings carved into the ground. “Aha. What’s that?” Kirien could not help but ask, not knowledgeable about arcane circles and their uses, and far too curious for his own good.


Rising to her feet and dusting dirt from her clothing, Satoshi flashes Kirien a smile that rings in her voice, "It's an arcane circle~. Se-... well, -feel- all those lines I cut into the ground? When we feed our magic into them, they'll channel it through each of the sigils and augment our strength so that we have enough fuel to animate something as big as we're aiming for." The circle is a massive design, wide enough to swallow most of Frostmaw's fort, and is filled with rings within rings, countless precise lines, and a complex arrangment of symbols all bound into one construct. One by one she uses the end of her staff to tap each of the sigils spaced evenly throughout the circle, explaining their meanings in turn, "Earth, for what we're using of course. Life, since that's our intention. Strength, to solifidy and empower the stones. Obedience, else we'd have a rampant monster. Magic, for the essence of its core." Nodding, she moves on to the astrological and natural symbols arranged between the sigils and bound by criss-crossing lines. "The Sun is a permanent entity, while the Moon is the essence of flexibility. Combined, they'll give the golem the ability to live on and not crumble beneath the weight of opposition. The Volcano is the Mother of moving earth, and the Sands are many smaller that unite into one, together them emcompass the range of abilities the land is capable of."


Stretched out on the ground in front of him and extending for a good distance was an intricate map, its directions and locations mostly indistinguishable to Kirien who did not understand arcane circles and their workings. He could feel every detail and design meticulously carved out but without Satoshi to read it, he’d have been entirely lost, and they’d never reach their destination. Thus, ears were perked up in a clear sign that the empath was listening when the magus began to explain each of the markings’ meanings within those criss-crossing lines and smooth rings; and though not knowing whether or not it was a good idea, but deft enough not to step on anything, Kirien jumped over the outer line to explore further into the circle. Each sigil was skimmed and leapt across, the terramancer’s movements remaining lithe and easy despite the ice and his heavy coat. It was probably a combination of extremely good balance and the grips on the soles of his boots. “I see,” he murmured after a short time, pivoting on one heel before skipping back out of the circle. “Rocks go there an’ such too, aye?” Briefly, he squinted some at the surrounding materials, fingers already itching to go to work. “Good rock here…” One boulder in particular was kicked at with a boot. “Mhmm. We’re gonna make you into somethin’ brilliant, rock~.”


Steps are taken to bring the magus to the southern most point of the circle after she remembers that this is the starting direction best suited for the element they'll be working with. North was ice, but rock is a warmer element than her own, after all. She nods at Kirien's question and grins. "Once I've gotten the core constructed, you'll be making its body. What appearance it takes is your choosing, but the bigger the better, and preferrably as solid as possible." The design of the frozen golem is one of long, slender limbs, a creature built for swift movement, and she'd certainly wish that its companion was the opposite--solid and steady--to avoid them both being destroyed by the same method of attack, should such a thing happen. The butt of her staff is thrust into the ground before the circle then to stand freely and grant Satoshi freedom of her only useable limb. "Are you ready to make your masterpiece, Bright Eye~?"


Kirien scrutinised his boulder quietly for a couple more moments before he turned. Following Satoshi toward that southernmost arc of the circle, though with little knowledge behind him to allow him to understand why they’d come to stand here exactly, the terramancer halted at his sister’s side and cocked his head to her some. A blind, sidelong glance was slid her way before he found himself mimicking her grin, lips curling up at the corners like the dog-eared pages of his favourite books. “Aight. I’ll leave that part up to you,” he said as both hands lifted out of the deep pockets of that white-furred trench coat, revealing eager, twitching fingers. “I’m pretty ready, aye.” He’d no staff to toy with or aid him but Kirien’s playground was all around the pair; every scrap of earth and stone in the area trembled lightly, the man’s fingers clenching slowly into fists before splaying open again, arms raised to allow open palms to face the circle drawn out in the ice. One wrist twisted slightly, turning his hand sideways - a large rock nearby, big enough that even a Frost Giant might have trouble moving it alone, lifted, ominously quiet, from the snow packed round it. “Ready when you are, that is,” Kirien added to Satoshi with a rather broader grin.


Satoshi answers with a sharp nod before her eyes close and her lips begin to move as a melody spills forth. The air around the magus shivers as her magic takes on a tangible appearance, ribbons of azure light flowing from her to dance toward the waiting circle. Where they descend upon the lines a bright amber light flares up and begins to flow like water through the carved channels to fill the entire design in arcane light. Once the circle is flooded and aglow, Satoshi's chant takes on a new tempo, a steady up and down rhythm not unlike the heartbeat she once possessed, and in answer to it a tiny flame flutters into existence at the center of the complex pattern. Like the magic, the fire is the color of amber found both in the flecks of Satoshi's eyes from tiefling blood, and Kirien's own, but unlike them it is shot through with threads of molten gold as Satoshi draws on the Earth sigil to fuel it with the light of its own element. With each lyric the flame burns brighter and begins to grow as it pulses in time to Satoshi's heartbeat song until it's reached the desired girth. At that point the kit nods to her kin in silent signal to begin his construction while she maintains the core's integrity.


As though moving to Satoshi’s music, Kirien began to sway and seemed to fade partially out of reality, attentions turning inwards; to focus on his own magic; to focus on the roll of the earth around him and all of its solid calm; and to listen to the song filling up his veins. He was utterly still for a few moments, eye closed, the only real sound made by the terramancer being that rhythmic tap of boot against icy ground. It seemed he was waiting for that change in tempo before really getting started - arms that had been raised and held out in front, as though grasping at the air beginning to flicker within the circle, suddenly snapped outwards and the earth emitted a cacophonous roar underfoot. Frostmaw city trembled. The ground around the circle cracked and splintered, a shimmer of gold sparking from Kirien’s lips as he spoke a single word, infused with crackling mana; and the land shuddered to his life, and the stones and minerals packed and gathered around them rose all at once. They began to swirl, circling together above the arcane carvings in the ice and round that core flame, pulsing and growing in tune with the melody Satoshi weaved through the air. Spinning faster and faster, the rock would be seen shifting, twisting out of shape, rent open and shattered as Kirien silently willed it, the concentration required for all this evident in his expression. What to shape it into? There were so many possibilities but he managed to decide on one soon enough - there’d been time beforehand to think on this. Abruptly, in synch with that nod from the ice magus, the movements of the rocks slowed and they began to lower, at least until the terramancer stepped forward and barked another word laced with raw magic. This was how he worked, self-learned as he was. That order prompted the rocks to meld together, forming a rough shape that slowly became more clear as each stone shifted properly into shape. A thick, heavy torso of grey-blue granite sprouted short, but viciously clawed arms and long, powerful legs, each of its talons being crafted of a mixture of solid rock and precious stone - rubies, diamonds, emeralds and sapphires, while huge spines of alternating fluorite and stone sprouted all down the length of the golem’s back, ending in a tail laden with wickedly sharp crystals.A great maw was sketched out then opened almost as though it were about to emit a deafening roar; but not yet, as Kirien could only gift shape to the beast, not life. That would only occur when that core, now locked deep within the creature’s chest, was fused fully with its body. Only then would those fluorite eyes blaze into life and its body be granted proper movement - a dinosaur of a sort, wrought in earth and stone and crystal, to defend Frostmaw’s borders along with its icy golem companion.


Satoshi's song wavers slightly during Kirien's arcane construction, her powers draining rapidly with the excessive mana needed to fuel an entity of earth. Unlike during the creation of the ice golem, the kit is out of her element here and forcing herself onward by sheer willpower. Once the granite body has been built and the core safely housed, the magus whispers another lyric into her singing to add the required failsafe feature deep within the creature's body--like its sibling, Satoshi is taking no chances in losing control over them. Stepping forward then, the foxkin brings her wrist to her mouth, sinking fangs in and tearing away the flesh in a brutal bite. Blood instantly begins to pour from the gash, raining red upon the circle while the magic drinks heavily of the powerful fluid. The amber glow is darkened to a mud brown by the flood of vampiric blood, and Satoshi's pole-straight stance is beginning to sag, but this must be done. The ice golem had required little of her blood, being forged of her heart's element, but the earth is a foreign field and needs to drink deeply of her essence if she's to bend it flawlessly to her will. Letting her lifeblood continue to pour into the spell along with her magic, Satoshi issues the command of animation to the construct in arcane words almost forgotten by this world, weaving the directive carefully to ensure her superior control, and in response the lifeless saurian form stirs. Pebbles and dust roll down its rocky sides as the lengthy tail swings experimentally, boulders groan and settle as it stretches upward upon taloned hindlegs, and finally the earth announces its birth to the world and the heavens with a opening of its behemoth jaws to emit a deafening roar that sets the ground to shaking. As the earthquake rumbles to a standstill, Satoshi slumps forward to her knees, taking hold of her Xalious staff to prevent falling facefirst into the bloodied snow. "T-that baby of ours might mess up a few faces, Bright Eye..."


“Fuck yeah baby!” Uncouth as that yell might be, it’s what Kirien found tore itself free from his throat when movement was given to his greatest creation; an elated cry that was swiftly drowned out by the newborn behemoth’s ear-splitting first roar, though it didn’t stop the terramancer from continuing to celebrate loudly. What did cause him to cease was his knees giving out suddenly, and the heavy rush of ecstatic joy becoming abruptly fuzzy as wooziness flooded in and threatened to sweep it all away. The bitter stench of blood filled his lungs when he took a shaky breath inwards in unconscious reaction as knees met ice and Kirien collapsed on the ground, his world wavering around him. “Woah.” Satoshi had said something but the empath did not quite hear it properly, warped and almost muffled as it was - trembling hands that felt far more leaden than they should raised at a tantalisingly slow pace to one of the pockets of his coat, delving down to search around the various items stuffed inside. “A few -faces-?” he asked his sibling quietly when eventually the meaning behind her words became clearer, “I think it’ll do worse than mess up faces.” A small vial was drawn out, filled with a clear fluid that would mysteriously shimmer and glint when it caught the light; its cap popped open, the tiny bottle was raised to Kirien’s lips and he downed all of that liquid restorative in one go, gasping. It wouldn’t be enough to fully reinvigorate him but it’d stop him from passing out without warning, at least. Only once he’d tossed the empty vial off to one side did the man lift his head, reaching to idly scruffle up windblown hair as he squinted over the rim of his glasses at the golem. “I like him. What do we call him?”


"How about..." Satoshi begins as she tips sideways, her staff doing little to aid her when she finally collapses in a heap, "Ow." Instantly the colossal rockasaurus's snout fills her vision with a wall of rough fluorite teeth, the lack of breath reminding her that the beast is not truly alive at all even as it hovers in a seemingly worried fashion over its injured creator. "I'm fine. No ill here." Weakly she shoves at the rocky face and leaves a trail of blood in her hand's wave before she lets it drop again uselessly. "Guard," the command is croaked at, and instantly obeyed by the stony rex. Two ground-shaking steps backwards and it settles down upon its haunches, the amber glow of its eyes focused dead ahead in an unwavering gaze. Smiling faintly, the kit slumps back and laughs to herself. "He's big 'un, Bright Eye. A very big 'un. Good thing he won't grow."


“Edgar!” Finished Kirien abruptly and with a weak laugh when Satoshi trailed off, his brows raising dramatically despite his current hazy state. “Doesn’t he look like an Edgar?” It probably didn’t, but the empath did not appear to care all that much, as it was highly likely he simply wanted to name the poor beast something incredibly strange and unfitting. A curious glance or two was given to the creation in question when it approached to watch Satoshi in an almost concerned manner; and actually, it was only then that Kirien even noticed that his sibling had fully collapsed onto the ground, his mind and focus still a little awry. “You okay?” He’d be shifting over to the magus and attempted once or twice to help her up, but with his current strength he only managed a couple of nudges, mostly useless. Instead, he settled to running fingers idly through her pristine hair, making sure to brush it out and away of those bloodstained grooves and curves in the ground. “Damn right he’s big. I wasn’t gonna half-ass this,” the terramancer snorted, casting another look to the golem.


A smile finds its way onto her face then and with an effort she pushes herself up on her shaky, bleeding arm as her head tips back to gaze at the unmoving hulk of rock. "Edgar it is, then." Oddly enough, it seems to fit well with the name she's privately dubbed the frozen sibling. Jack and Edgar, monstrous constructs with perfectly normal names. At least they could be talked about in conversation without weird looks being earned. Kirien's other question is given a grimace, and the expression deepens further when a worried jingle comes from her hood where Trebel's been dozing until her fall. "I'll be fine. Just... drained. Edgar took a lot out of me." So this is what her victims feel like when she's fed heavily off them... How unpleasant.


Scrunching up his nose some, the empath prodded once or twice at those carvings in the ice, still absently stroking Satoshi’s hair. A shoulder nudged against her own when she managed to push herself into a sitting position, partly to make sure she stayed there and partly because Kirien had been feeling like he was about to fall over at any second as well, and needed some sort of support. They could probably lean into each other and remain upright without too much trouble. “Is he as big as the other guy you made?” he asked after a moment or two, unable to help the affectionate smile that Trebel’s appearance summoned; the hand in the ice magus’ hair slipped down to run through that shock of black fur atop the angha’s head. “Hm. I wonder if I have another restorative. You can have it if you want? Or we can…sit here for a while,” murmured Kirien as he petted the hatchling.


Satoshi murmurs an incoherent reply, already nodding off once she's braced herself against the fox. Apparently she has no intention of going anywhere but to sleep just now--although how long she'll be permitted to sleep depends on the hatchling angha's patience. He's already proven in a day that he has a voracious appetite that's only outdone by the massive amount of time he spends sleeping. For now, however, the little creature seems content with being pet.


Kirien, though exhausted himself, felt like -someone- had to stay awake other than Edgar and so did his very best to remain coherent as Satoshi dropped off; her head would probably drop to his shoulder eventually and he’d automatically lean his cheek against her hair, either toying idly with those long white locks or petting Trebel - mostly the latter. He’d manage to keep it up for a short while, but eventually his current comfortable position, coupled with his weariness after such an enormous effort in creating the golem, and the emotional warmth drawn from someone the empath occasionally felt was wrongly named an Ice Queen, would send Kirien to sleep. At least he went to sleep happy, and feeling like a true terramancer.