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Post by Lethalia on Jan 27, 2021 12:48:41 GMT -6
Okay, so what was that? Pushing herself to sit up and crossing her legs, Lethalia ran an idle hand over the carpet of neon blue mushrooms, spanning the entire clearing and butting up against where the not-glowing forest began. Shrouded by the density of the trees and gods knew what else the mansion put in there, the near artificial quality of the mushroom's glow made all else recede into darkness, unable to match their shine. Looking back to where they'd came, Leth's brow knitted together; that couldn't be right. Where they'd come looked to be only a handful of meters away; the gate was visible through a tunnel of trees, all aglow with the mushroom studded walkway that widened into the clearing they landed in, Ardith prints in the snow and everything. There was no way - they hadn't been in there all night with the dawn sky above them, had they?! Ardith lv|11 ly|11 January|35
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Post by Lethalia on Jan 27, 2021 12:48:52 GMT -6
Ahead, the bloom of so many of the tiny morels in one place was almost blinding. Deeper into the clearing, the mushrooms grew larger and deeper in color, purple curved shapes aglow against the trees. Hovering several feet above the bright tide so that they might be spotted against such brilliance, were quite a number of multicolored motes. They danced about the cold, still air as if mere flakes of dust on the wind, mindless and yet spaced in perfect intervals around the clearing. Shivering in spite of herself, Leth shrugged her jacket closer and subconciously reached for Ardith. That was all... totally not a bad sign, right? If it were any kind of fae circle - you know, the kind you were never supposed to step into? - they were already doomed. Refusing to believe most notions like that just like she did the idea of gods, Lethalia shouldered off the concern. January|36
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Post by Lethalia on Jan 27, 2021 12:49:08 GMT -6
But if they were already cursed having breached a fairy circle, she might as well see if there was anything within it. No believing in fairytales, but there was still a prickle up her spine as she turned towards the otherworldly meadow's center point. Shimmering and seeming to warp reality around a tiny area like an arcane bonfire, the center definitely had something in it that Leth couldn't quite make out, eyes refusing to focus on the matter that rested there. Leaving Ardith where she lay, the satyr took a cautious step closer, seeing if she could get lucky enough to see through the mystical fog. The substance merely continued to 'burn' without giving off heat, bending the white-blue light around it's curling tendrils, clearly refusing to gie up any hints as to what it might actually be. Lethalia thought she could feel the thrum of power, but magic wasn't her 'thing' enough to sleuth out where it came from. January|37
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Post by Lethalia on Jan 27, 2021 12:49:22 GMT -6
Especially at this place. Coming here with such frequency did seem to help; those magic-induced headaches had become less severe with continued exposure, to the point where she didn't even get one upon getting close to the arcane grounds. Being especially close to wells of power, those still stung. Crystals that encapsulated magic still had to be handled with gloves, and very rarely if they weren't in the little metal box she'd gotten for the purpose. It was quite seldom she opened it. Emboldened with the realization this magic wasn't so foreign after all, Lethalia allowed herself to cross the remaining distance to the middle of the clearing. Closer she got the more it felt certainly like a crystal, those ones who looked hollow and void on the inside. No distance would change it's appearance, and still wafted and moved around unlike any more or less inert crystal did. January|38
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Post by Lethalia on Jan 27, 2021 12:49:44 GMT -6
It was a wonder; did one of those mystical crystals get busted open around here Leth dismissed the idea even as the knelt next to the power flux, feeling strangely at ease with something so out of her realm of interest since she'd collected so many of the slivers of magic. It wasn't dangerous, and it definitely wasn't a damaged crystal. Even the satyr knew better than to muck with them, said to be quite explosive with the potential energy stored within them. If that hadn't been the case, the oddity of those void crystals would look stunning studding a saddle or collar... maybe someday. For now, Leth leaned off to one side and the other, holding a palm up to the supposed energy. It was rather cold to the touch and made her assume the motes would be much the same. The crystal didn't seem dangerous despite it's bizarre cloak. January|39
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Post by Lethalia on Jan 27, 2021 12:49:57 GMT -6
Swiping a hand just above the shimmering illusion, nothing reacted to the wind it caused nor did the sparkling waver in response. Her hand even felt fine. Good enough for her, even when it came to weird magic. Satisfied there wasn't anything that would come back and bite her, Lethalia reached with outstretched fingers to dip one into the curling smoke. Instead of passing right through some ethereal vapor, her digits came into contact with something decidedly solid, furred, and frigid. Ardith's head popped up with the volume of the squeal that followed. Making a curious noise the hen gave up her resting spot to roll to her feet, tip of her tail twitching in anticipation. There was no particular hurry to get to the satyr's side, not like Ardith had been out to defend the lady or anything like that. It just sounded like she was finally doing something interesting. Ardith lv|12 ly|12 January|40
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Post by Lethalia on Jan 27, 2021 12:50:15 GMT -6
As Leth jarringly discovered, there was no smoke or arcane vapor or anything of the sort. What was there, proved to be a tiny mostly-translucent bear, who looked more than a little peeved at his disturbance. Glowing eyes looked bleary as the bear squinted up at it's newest problem, but it didn't seem to feel any urgency to get away from something bigger than itself. Now that her eyes could focus on the ursine shape it was more understandable that she just couldn't make sense of what she was seeing. The little guy was only barely there, the barest wisps of swirling patterns on his glowing blue 'fur', spackled with bright white stars. He matched the surrounding mush-meadow perfectly, and still only when he shifted could Leth really even see his form. The satyr kept Ardith corralled behind a leg, not wanting such a cute little creature to be taken as edible. January|41
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Post by Lethalia on Jan 27, 2021 12:50:30 GMT -6
Ardith grumbled as her owner's hoof blocked her again and again, unable to get her nose out around her banishment to get a look at whatever was so fascinating. Already over the ordeal of that time warp, it seemed to be time to entertain the hen once more. Catching even the merest sight of something small, moving, and therefore hunt-able confirmed that whaever kind of plaything this was she wanted it. Leth didn't have any reason for being attached to this little pocket sized pet, but all the same she didn't care to see him turned into a sarane toy. Yawning widely and without hurry, the miniscule bear assumed the demeanor of it's significantly larger cousins in spite of it's diminutive size. He couldn't have given less of a care about the two towering creatures looming over him, stretching languidly as if to show how little he minded them. January|42
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Post by Lethalia on Jan 27, 2021 12:50:52 GMT -6
Nothing else awoke with the bear, the motes still lifelessly floating in their same spots, only barely wafting in the breeze. "Sorry, we wakin' ya?" Lethalia couldn't help but question once the little dude shook himself and rose to his feet. "Innint there a better place to be hibernatin' than out here?" He took moderately more interest in the voice floating over his head, but not by much. Without fanfare, he ambled off into the mushroom field, surprising Lethalia with the footprints he left behind on the miniscule spores, all that was visible as he all but disappeared into the same colored mushrooms. "Oh. Well okay, seeya lil' fella," she bid with a wave, other hand flat on top of Ardith's head to prevent her from pursuing the little thing. A tiny, starry, translucent bear was far and away not the strangest thing Lethalia had encountered in this city. January|43
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Post by Lethalia on Jan 27, 2021 12:51:56 GMT -6
Still, as she watched the footprints retreat towards the edge of the meadow, Lethalia hoped she might find the little guy before they left for home. Emerging from the light field to be a beacon against the dark trees, he was hard to spot but the satyr could have sworn the ursine stopped and gave them a good long look before disappearing into the darkness. Once her attention lapsed, the hen took her opportunity to weave around her owner's blockading legs. The end of the chain found her in short order, and she didn't seem to have the mind about her to test it's hold yet. "We migh' see'im again, Ardith," Lethalia reassured, though the hen's motivations for wanting to track down the critter were far different from her own. She could likely see him fading into the thickets far longer than humanoid eyes could spot the glow, but Ardith calmed eventually as the little thing wove through the trees and dissolved even from her keen night sight. January|44
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Post by Lethalia on Jan 27, 2021 12:52:11 GMT -6
Utterly distracted from it till now, Lethalia turned back to the divot the little guy had been napping in. Certain a miniature bear wouldn't give off such strong waves of magic, she knew there had to be more to this strange cache. She knelt down to it, Ardith immediately behind her to 'helpfully' stick her muzzle in the treasures for her. Funny enough, the pocket pet had been asleep on a tidy chart of stars, inexplicably dry as she lifted it from the surrounding snow. Were the mushrooms growing on top of the snow here? How bizarre. As the map ascended, multicolored beads rattled free from it, studding the snowy cache with glittering of orange and blue. Not quite what she'd been looking for. Poking aside similarly colored bundles of cloth - and patting Ardith's wide-growing muzzle to keep her out of the way - the peal of magic through the air grew more sharp, a briefly painful reverb in her skull as the crystal was exposed. Ardith lv|13 ly|13 January|45
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Post by Silver on Jan 28, 2021 20:42:29 GMT -6
What is with all of these weird star things, anyway? Lethalia found enough of them to make a whole constellation!
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Post by Lethalia on Jan 31, 2021 14:17:51 GMT -6
Cringing away to get her bearings, it was quickly apparent why the crystal's hum was so brutal. They'd unearthed two of them, as if a single one didn't usually bother her enough. When in any amount of a group, the crystals' energy would play off of one another, deepening their song. She needed to separate the ones at home, almost a dozen of them linked together in the same basket was... a small problem, but not one for this moment. Digging an empty leather pouch from her pocket - because who didn't bring empty bags on these trips? - she turned it inside out and grabbed both crystals (and a couple of glow-shrooms) before flipping the bag over them. It was with a sigh of relief she could fasten the drawstrings on top, interesting how little cover could dampen their reverb. It should help for however long as she'd have to carry them on her person. January|46
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Post by Lethalia on Jan 31, 2021 14:18:01 GMT -6
No knowing how long she would have to handle them when she had equally no idea how to get out of the mansion; the very gate shrugged back into darkness, last time she looked. In her haste to cover the crystals, Leth cocked her head at a completely different treasure dangling from the bag. With the crystals she'd snatched the chain of a necklace, hanging off the side of the quickly tied bag. It was a brilliant blue feather, as though she hadn't already seen enough of that dayglow sky blue already today. It looked like the entire delicate carving might've been stone, the eye marking on the end of the feather a large cabochon of some aglow yellow. Carefully loosening the pouch, she poked the pendant and it's chain in there as well. It was a curious enough trinket to bring home... and she was a sucker for jewelry. After all this, how was her sarane doing? January|47
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Post by Lethalia on Jan 31, 2021 14:18:34 GMT -6
Surprisingly patient for this lineage, if nothing else. Much as the critters were meant to sniff out that sort of oddity first, Ardith was utterly unaffected by the crystals' proximity. Lounging nearby after her interest waned, the hen watched as boring thing after boring thing was inspected and fussed over, making no indication the magic bothered her. So much for this one being any sort of arcane tracking dog for her, but she hadn't exactly been expecting Vidarr's kids to be the most sensitive sort. Ardith had been exceptionally patient for how she was; Lethalia would have to make sure to not press her luck with how long the hen could sit still. Best go find her something to do! Soon as the satyr began to raise to her feet and dust off her hands, Ardith sprung up pretty quick for a creature who might as well have been boredly dead asleep moments ago. January|48
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