@Auraicide Zaira wakes up presumably in her lamp. The lamp itself currently sits in the sand, partially buried. It had up until recently been in the possession of a man who had found it discarded in the desert, unfortunately his small town in the middle-east which went by the name Maladh had been passed through by some kind of war machine, a mobile tower that simply soaked up any damage sent at it and crushed everything in its path. The town had been almost entirely destroyed and this morning like almost every other during the past few days was filled with the noise of shovels as mass graves were dug for the dead. Maladh was a town deply in need of some help. What luck that The Lamp had been discarded so nearby, that Zaira could see the diggers from where she stood. The town only contained three intact buildings after the tower passed through, tents had been set up for those who no longer had a home. The Mayor of the town and his sister watched the diggers from the city hall. The other two buildings were a small shack, guarded by two women in skimpy clothing and carrying halberds. The last intact building was the town storage building. Supplies were dwindling, however, there would hopefully be supplies delivered soon from another nearby town that had been spared from the tower's path. There seemed to be some bureaucratic bungling going on regarding that from what Zaira had overheard the mayor telling his sister. @Mazoku Saphielle had found and possessed Dawn a short time ago and had been on the way back to her lair, when she felt the presence of powerful Death Magic. Following it had led her down towards Africa approaching The Nile river and she watched as a number of undead covered in bandages rowed a strange woman dressed in royal dress down the river to a large stone palace. The city seemed to be made entirely out of repurposed ruins, Pyramids dotted the skyline and, aside from possibly the woman, there seemed to be no life in the city, only undead. As for the woman she exuded Death Magic at an extremely powerful level, it seemed she was controlling and had likely raised all of the undead in this city. She must be quite a powerful necromancer. @moonblack Silfiel wakes up the sound of wind traveling through trees reaches her and she can immediately see she's in a forest. The edge of the forest is close and she can see what looks like fields and long plains stretching off into the distance. Alternatively, the forest continues deeper as well, growing denser and darker. Her gemstone shows her that north would be towards the farmland. @Tjf Sandor wakes up, staying in a hotel in the Middle Eastern City of Maysadan. One of the largest cities in the Middle East and currently serving as The Capital of The Carbine in The Middle East, cut off as they are from their fellows in Japan. The hotel room is quite opulent, with sheets made out of extremely fine material and complimentary mini-bar beside the bed. There is a television, and though no channels exist, there is a list of old dvds the hotel lets you rent as well as an old dvd player. There comes a soft knocking on the door to your room and a young female voice "Mr. Palladus? Are you awake?" the voice asks. @GenericEditor168 [rapid series of hisses] wakes up suddenly lying on the ground near the hidden village of Varcena. Years of Empire rule and the Empire's constant kidnapping of people for use in experiments has led to most of the people living in South America to live in small, isolated and tight knit towns. Varcena is one of the few towns to have started opening up after the fall of The Empire. The sound of footsteps approaching from the village signal that someone is approaching. If he remains where he is they will undoubtedly spot him, but perhaps that is a good thing. After all he doesn't quite know how he got here or where he is, maybe they'd be able to help. (Sorry about the name there Generic. After you put it I couldn't help, but have the narration refer to him as such at least once)
Silfiel needed a few moments to fully wake up. Once she did she got up and had a quick look around, then checked what she had available. Let's see... I'm alone in a forest. My backpack is gone, and with it - my supplies and money. Some of my weapons are gone too, but not all, thankfully. And my clothes and armor are here, too. She paused and took another look around in the vain hope that some of her stuff had ended up nearby, but as far as she could see that was not the case. Well, could be worse. I could be in the middle of a frozen tundra, with a snow storm approaching, like that one time... or I could be completely naked, like that one other time... She sighed and turned her gaze toward the fields. Farmland usually means farmers – people I could speak with and get some information about this world as a whole and this area in particular. I can come back and explore the forest later. With her mind made up Sil nodded to herself and headed north, toward the farmland she had seen.
Just put that back were you found it. No good can come from it. Probably the wisest advice that the dijinn had ever heard from people, it was too bad at how easy it was just for the same people who thought of it to completely ignore it. The end result, left her at pause. The man probably had years of experience and memories that shaped him into the person leading up to that point. His own reasons, whether they be better or for worse were what brought him to claiming possession. But maybe it would have saved him had he tried using it sooner. Instead he ended up just into red paste while still trying to think it through of what to wish for and how. Not the worst idea, but the timing wasn't good to him. It worked out just for her, leaving her free to do as she pleased for the time being. To a degree. She was still stuck in the desolate waste, but it reminded her of home in a lot of ways. At least in loose terms. Her own home, had enough gold and jewels to strain the eyes. A pool that she barely ever used. Wine that flowed like the rivers. Calling this dank depth of a cave a home didn't seem totally accurate. Sitting back on the limestone throne of her palace, she popped a grape into her mouth as she thought of the situation of the outer world. Even though this was better, she still wouldn't be able to get up to much if she was stuck at this site forever. Deciding she had to take it open herself, her body began to dissolve with a cloud of smoke, rising like the heat over the planes, up and away, going farther and farther, until smoke started to waft in the outer world. A cloud pouring from the spout of the lamp, and with it, she emerged, stretching the limbs for a moment. The first thing that caught her off guard was the coldness of the air. She always forgot how different the air was in the outer world or how much she missed it until she emerged again. Luckily, nobody seemed to have noticed her yet, so she began to make some distance to get a proper layout, as far as she could go, which wasn't much. Only really managing to make it just somewhat outside before she could feel the physical stain and tether almost trying to pull her back like bound by an invisible rope. The distance was a little farther than she thought that she could get away with it, but not by much. Still it was good to see the sun again, at any rate. Yet, she'd enjoy a lot more if she wasn't bound to that stupid lamp. There was nothing to do where she ended up other than watch people work, and she certainly had no intention of grabbing a shovel herself. With her magic restrained as it currently was, not being bound to granting wishes left her with a double edged sword. While restrained from the full extent of her abilities, her hair was no longer wreathed with flame and settled for being as red and orange as the setting sun. While unique looking for the area, it didn't scream magic. The workers spotted a woman, who looked too healthy and clean to be a typical nomad, and the kind of pouting look she had maybe suggested some type of foreign noble. Who she was or where came from were questions, but she wasn't disrupting any of the work. The best she could come up with was nudging one of the workers to "discover" the lamp. Focusing what power she did have access too, she concentrated her heat on the lamp she shared a connection with, letting it light up from the heat rising in the metal to illuminate and highlight it's spot in the cave for someone to find, and as her human appearing self, she could look to just so happen to be there on their way to "run into" them just finding thing.
Sandor stands and fixes his robe. "Just a moment!" The monk clothes himself, going to the bathroom to wet his face, before he goes to the door and opens it.
Maybe they would be able to help, but Tlazohuitl didn't get here (wherever "here" was) by waiting around to be found by unknown people in the hope that they were friendly... of course, "here" was a village he couldn't name, somewhere in a jungle he couldn't name, probably in a world he couldn't name, but the point remained: it would be a bad idea to wait around for the death squad to turn up, and even if they were genuinely helpful, he could work that out from hiding. He stands up and heads quickly into the nearest concealment.
"What an ugly sight. At least this necromancer had the wherewithal to cover up her rotting creations. Don't you agree, Dawn? I know you're awake in there." Despite her words, Saphielle was worried at having such a dangerous and unknown force at her doorstep. She had already been under humanity's shackles, and from what she remembered it was hardly a pleasant experience. One she'd rather forget completely. A necromancer could do far worse things to her as she was now, but only if Saphielle allowed it by laying down and taking it. "...Nothing you haven't done, cave hag. Frankly don't see the difference between you two." Ah, there it was. Saphielle quirked the desert elf's lip into a smile as she took a last look from this vantage point to figure out the best way inside the palace. Now there was something impressive and worth admiring, besides the necromancer herself. She might find some inspiration for her next creation if she was bold enough to get a second glance and ensure she had her lines and facial features down. "Nonsense." Dismissing Dawn out of hand, not willing to indulge in their frequent verbal sparring that usually brought Saphielle so much pleasure. "A warning, my lovely plaything: No games this time. I'll be far too busy concentrating on shrouding this body in a veil of Death so we can mingle amongst the zombies undetected. Unless you'd rather be..." Trailing off with an ominous flair, knowing her darling understood the fate that awaited her. "..." Calling upon the element, Saphielle drew it forth from within herself to form the core of her spell, weakening herself slightly, drawing the rest through her connection through the reaper's sepulcher where he kept the souls of the deceased. Those that hadn't manage to escape. A sphere of dark energy gathered in the palms of her hands, using her fingers to shape it into what she needed. Gently guiding it toward her chest once she finished, feeling cold despite the heat radiating from the desert sun, as the ball shimmered and started to spread itself across her body. As it stretched, the shell became translucent and the elf looked like she was cast in a deep, purple-tinged shadow. "Let's be neighborly and introduce ourselves." Walking casually through the nearest entrance to the town, but becoming more careful, staying to side passages, as she neared the palace.
@moonblack Silfiel exits the forest and enters the farmlands, with the trees no longer blocking much of her view she can get a better idea of her surroundings. There's a simple looking farmhouse not far from the entrance to the forest, a few more are visible in the distance. It seems this area has quite a few farms. Fields of crops stretch almost as far as the eye can see and there are a few penned in fields with cows, horses or other animals. Aside from the farmhouses, the forest lies directly to the south, but the vast majority of the forest is more eastern and you can see that further south past the forest lies the edge of what seems to be a rather large city. To the north past the farms you can see further signs of human settlements. Despite all this you don't see much in the way of actual people until the door of the farmhouse nearby opens and a woman steps out, she doesn't seem to notice you as she heads towards the field and you can't get a good look at her from this distance. @Auraicide Her trick works and a few of the diggers notice the light, they don't seem willing to stop their work, but one of them signals to the mayor to come over and The Mayor sends his sister. The woman approaches somewhat cautiously, she has red hair in a ponytail that falls down to about her mid-back. Striking green eyes watch the lamp carefully as she approaches. Her body is the lithe and athletic form of a dancer barely hidden beneath a purple knee length skirt that clings tightly to her legs and a light blue shirt that cuts off just below her modest breasts leaving her stomach exposed. She stops feet from the lamp and examines it before kneeling to pick it up, her lips, painted a vibrant green twist into an amused smile as she realizes that the object is as far as she can tell a simple lamp. @Tjf The woman waits patiently for Sandor to open the door and when he does he finds a petite young woman wearing a french maid outfit standing there. He would likely recognize her as an employee of the hotel, who's job is to service the various rooms. She has chin length black hair, brown eyes and most notably a bountiful chest that strains against the confines of her tight outfit. She's curvaceous with wide hips and a generous bust, the kind of body that lends itself more to being called cute than sexy, but definitely with an appeal of it's own. She stares at Sandor for a moment as if uncertain about something then flashes him a smile and moves her hands just in front of her chest, forming a heart with her fingers, "Thank you for staying at our lovely Hotel! We hope you enjoyed the experience and we also hope to see you again soon! I understand you are checking out today, but don't worry. You have until 12 PM to be out so don't hurry. It is only 8 AM at the moment after all and of course if you wish to stay another night you can talk to the concierge at the reception desk to pay for another night!" her statement is delivered in a cutesy voice and it seems to be a rehearsed script. @GenericEditor168 There was plenty of easy places to conceal oneself in the forested area surrounding the village and it wasn't long before Tlazohuitl was hidden in the dense trees watching the approaching person. The person quickly enters view. A stern looking woman with a small almost flat chest and a figure that could easily be mistaken for that of a young boy, wearing purple tights and a black corset with a green cowled cloak clasped around her throat. The cowl up and hiding most of her hair. Her eyes are brown and seem to scan the area, passing over Tlazohuitl's hiding spot momentarily seemingly without spotting him, luckily. Especially luckily since in her hands she's holding a shotgun at the ready. She continues on her path and it's pretty apparent quickly that she's performing some sort of patrol. Tlazohuitl can hear her muttering under her breath, "With any luck I'll be able to deal with him today, Bastard has been pretty slippery so far, but I have a good feeling," @Mazoku As Saphielle slips into the city she feels an oppressive atmosphere, something has noticed her and she feels an uncharacteristic moment of fear before the sensation passes quickly. Even if they notice her, none of the mummified undead pay her any attention, intent simply on continuing whatever tasks they are performing. As she nears the palace she can see there are two guards out front. Mummies holding spears and draped in tattered white capes, standing at the top of the stairs that lead up to the palace entrance. There doesn't seem to be an easy way past them, though if you searched there might be another entrance. Though this close to the palace you feel something else as well, past the palace and away from the rest of the city, there's an entrance to an underground tomb, just barely emerging from the sand. A visible miasma seeps out from the tomb entrance and just looking at it causes that oppressive sensation to appear again.
He thinks for a long moment, weighing things up. On one hand, he needs to talk to someone about what's going on here, and she's the first person he's met. On the other hand, she's clearly angry and she's got a shotgun. He's still for a moment, barely breathing, then he coughs audibly, before ducking behind the thickest tree he can see in case she makes a snap shot.
Approaching the woman, Zaria gave a high born pout as she waited for the woman to come back. “Peasant. How much for that lamp? It’s of no use to you.” Zaria knew that nobody would be willing to throw away the potential to use it even with all the risks, but calling attention to it’s value would be helpful. She wasn’t expecting the girl to give it up. In fact, she was trying to push her into using it. “You probably don’t even know what that is. You’re better off just letting me buy it from you.”
Given his own frustrations, the sight of the woman causes a quite visible stirring beneath Sandor's robes. He struggles to maintain eye contact and not let his line of sight dip to her well proportioned body. "Ah, thank you." Breathing in, the monk restores his serenity, and flashes her a kindly smile, though his erection remains. "I certainly did enjoy the experience. I'll be out by 12. I hope you have a lovely day, ma'am."
Saphielle considers her options. All come with their own dangers, both to herself and to her host. It may be easier to leave Dawn behind, unburdening herself of the woman's mortal limitations and hide her away inside one of the abandoned houses. Her spell should last long enough for a quick peek, and to give hope to Dawn that she could escape her clutches by racing to the city-limits. Even should she not take it, the decision not to will gnaw at the desert elf and cause such splendid woe. It sounded more attractive each time she turned the idea over in her head. "Dawn. I'll be leaving you for a moment." Saphielle felt the surprise of the body's true occupant as a skin tingling wave of conflicting emotions. Precisely what she had hoped for. To curb the elf's enthusiasm the banshee explained her plan, much preferring Dawn alive than taken by the zombies but leaving the door of escape and freedom open. Open, and tantalizingly close. The process of leaving a body was always disorientating, her mind struggling to process both the limited sensation of her phantasmal form as well as that of the physical host. The ornate dress billowed as Saphielle emerged, waving as if she was floating in in water, same as her purple hair. The blue in Dawn's eyes faded to its natural color, while the banshee's glowed like a pair of glistening icicles behind the veil she wore. Turning around, caressing the elf's cheek with a mechanical claw, sinking the tip through the living woman's cold flesh, pleased with the shudder it elicited. "Even if the spell fades, there may be enough of my energy to disguise you for a while longer so long as the zombies aren't paying any attention to you already. So be good now, stay safe, and pray to Mahsri that I return soon." Though unable to prove the truth of her words, but hopefully they were reassuring to the elf. "Like I care. Hope the necromancer binds you to haunt the sewers underneath this place, know you'll love it there, Saphy." Floating away, she moved toward the tomb complex, going through the jaws of the beast. A beast that apparently had at least one eye open.
Silfiel examined the area and quickly concluded that talking to the locals was the best course of action.The city in the south has more people, but that also means more danger. Better to stay here for now.She decided. Using her limited skills in stealth Silfiel began slowly and quietly approaching the woman. She wanted to take a better look at the still-unknown person without scaring her before attempting to speak with her.
@GenericEditor168 The cough attracts her attention and she turns, swinging the shotgun to bear as she drops down to one knee, seeing nothing she remains like that for a second or two before speaking, "Whoever's there... If you're not, Carson, you better reveal yourself. If you are Carson you better start running!" she calls towards Tlazohuitl's current hiding place, "I promise I don't shoot without reason," she adds trying to reassure him. @Auraicide The woman stops at seeing the women and she instinctively clutches the lamp against her breasts protectively, "I'm not a peasant!" she responds angrily and then continues, "And who are you? Why do you want this? It's just an old lamp!" she responds, but it's obvious the desire shown has shaken her and the way she's holding the lamp now implies she has bought the idea that it is more valuable then she thought. @Tjf She doesn't immediately notice his erection and smiles at his response, before she does catch notice of it and he can see a blush spread on her cheeks, "Ah... My apologies, I must have woken you!" she says seemingly assuming that the erection was simply an example of morning wood, "F... Feel free to sleep a little more. I'm very sorry!" she says giving him a curtsy that unintentionally drops her head lower and closer to his erection before she straightens back up, "I'll be going now!" she says quickly and turns starting to hurry away towards the elevator seemingly quite embarrassed. @Mazoku Saphielle heads to the tomb leaving Dawn behind. As she approaches the tomb the oppressive sensation becomes worse and without the shield of a living body she can feel it burrowing into her essence, as well the Death Magic covering the town seems to grasp at her form, trying to influence her mind like it does the rest of the town, but as she gets closer to the tomb, the death magic ceases reaching for her, repelled by the power emanating from the tomb. The door to the tomb is a powerful stone seal, ancient glyphs power it and words are written on the stone slab, "Within rests eternally, Apophis, Master of Death. Do not tarry here for long. If the seal should break, the age of the living shall end," there does not seem to be any way to open the tomb. @moonblack Silfiel approaches the woman as stealthily as she can and closer she can see that she's a fairly muscular woman with a rounded frame. Her form hidden beneath a loose sundress and a straw hat. A pair of rubber boots cover her feet and she seems to be checking the crops. As she watches the crops in the field she removes her hat and runs a hand through curly, dirty blonde hair that cascades down to her shoulders and Silfiel can hear her sigh as she places the hat back on, "Seems like I've lost a few more crops... Something seems to be killing them..."
"I'm not Carson. In fact, I have no idea who Carson is." He says, though he doesn't come out from behind the tree in case "Carson" also happens to have blue scales or some similar feature. Instead, he slowly draws his knife, in case she decides to come over and try to shoot him.
After observing the woman Silfiel decided to try and speak with her. “Excuse me, madam,” she called as she stood in place out in the open, doing her best to look friendly and non-threatening “could you tell me where I am, please?”
"Don't play dumb. If you really thought it was useless, you'd just hand it over. If you don't know what to do with it, obviously, it's better off with me." Zaria was sure to bait the girl with the simple fact that when you tell someone not to do something, they'll definitely do the thing you told them not to do. Antagonizing the girl, would get her thinking that it must actually be important, which was necessary. If she was just left sitting in a trophy room for the next fifteen generations or so, it would be absolutely maddening. There was a slight issue, since treasure hunters and nobles seeking out the lamp would obviously not share what it did if someone did. She had left it with the implication that it was more important than just a random antique. That's what mattered. Probably from there, the girl would at least try to figure out it's importance, but it also left Zaria thinking that she could probably just ever so slightly guide this naive little thing into making the kind of wishes the dijinn wanted to hear. Making an exaggerated gesture of disgust to the desolate conditions to the scenery, she played the part of an overly bitchy noble almost a little too well. "Have you seen this mess? You should just take my money and move away from this. You'd have to be an idiot to try salvaging this filth." Working carefully to both simultaneously offend the girl and put ideas in her head, Zaria gave another angry glare. "Fifty thousand. That should at least buy you an education."
"Oh my, how... dreadful." She said with poorly affected horror after reading the ancient curse. The threat of losing her toys an inconvenience to her research and ultimate goal, not to mention making the world a more boring place, but hardly world ending. Placing a hand on the ground and calling upon the ambient magic of the earth, Saphielle began to shape a miniature copy of the gate. Underneath her palm, invisible craftsmen carved out an indentation, cutting the stone further to separate it from the ground before using telekinesis to raise the piece into the air, holding it before her like an empty canvas. Grains of sand fell like a mist as she worked her magic, and caught up in the breeze they formed into small whirlwinds before scattering. A copy would be useful if someone knew the meaning of the glyphs and their particular arrangement. It was no accident the necromancer had made her base here, certain that she was looking at the reason. As the slab had said, this was no place to linger, the journey through the town to here had been oppressive, Death clawing at her mind. Better to return prepared, maybe with a few foolish would-be heroes in tow. Or not at all. If nothing interrupted her, Saphielle would return to Dawn, carrying the miniature slab with her through telekinesis.
"Damn it." Sandor sighs, heading back into the room and trying to ignore the mental image of himself pulling the maid inside to have his way with her. Cleansing his thoughts with meditation, he then exercises until noon, when he heads to the checkout desk.
@GenericEditor168 She relaxes, standing back up as he speaks, "Well you don't sound like him," she states and swings her shotgun to rest against her shoulder, "If you don't know who he is that tells me you're not from around here. You another explorer from the north, we get a few of those around these days," she says and then tilts her head, "My name is Patricia Vila Machado. You can come out. I swear I won't shoot you, unless you intend to hurt me," she offers. @moonblack The woman stiffens at Silfiel's sudden words and turns to see her, "Ah... Hello, you startled me!" she says seeming quite surprised to see her, "You're in Europe, um more specifically this is my farm," she says, she seems a little nervous and she pauses, "Well it's my husbands farm actually, but he's... Been gone for quite a while now..." she says and then shakes her head, "My apologies! My name is Sophie Leonard. You seem lost, I'm always glad to be helpful, come inside with me and I'll make you some food," she offers moving towards her farmhouse before stopping to see, Silfiel's response. @Auraicide The woman's eyes narrow at Zaira's comments about the desolate town and it seems Zaria has indeed managed to deeply offend the woman who takes a few threatening steps towards her, "How dare you!" she responds angrily, her eyes narrowed, "I don't know where you came from, but you better return there, cause if I see you near this town again I'm going to put you in one of those graves," she threatens and then looks down at the lamp, "and you're definitely not getting this now! I don't even care if it's valuable or not! The fact you want it is enough reason for me to keep it!" she states and turns running back towards the town clutching the lamp to her breasts as she brings it over to her brother still overseeing the work. @Mazoku As she begins to work at creating the copy, the oppressive feeling returns worse than before, it feels almost like a physical hand has grabbed her and is squeezing and she hears a voice for a moment, "What I offer, no other can match, what glory lies within our union," the voice says and fades, along with the oppressive feeling. After that the feeling disappears entirely at least for the moment and she returns to Dawn with no further trouble, when she arrives at where she left Dawn, however she finds two mummies a male and a female seemingly, standing now just outside the house that she left Dawn in. They appear to be intentionally blocking the door. @Tjf Sandor remains unbothered for the rest of the day until noon and is able to calm himself. At noon he heads down to the checkout desk. The receptionist is a middle aged man in a formal suit. Half moon spectacles sit on his face and his skin has the leathery texture of a man who has spent a lot of his life working in the sun. He smiles as Sandor reaches the desk, "Ah Mr. Palladus! I hope you enjoyed your stay. We hope to see you again soon. Please enjoy the rest of your day and tell everyone you meet about your wonderful stay. Word of mouth is after all how a business thrives these days!" he says in a cheery way, before putting out his hand, "I will just need the room key of course," he says peering at Sandor with friendly blue eyes. The keys to the hotel rooms are simple turnkeys with an attached plastic plate denoting the room number they belong to. With the key handed over, Sandor is officially checked out. The doors to enter and exit the hotel are behind him and will take him outside into the city proper. Maysadan is a quite large city designed to be split into five basic districts. The northern edge of the city holds the Piety District, where one can find A church of Luenna, A Church of Amana and smaller temples to Oro, Veras, Vaken, Aeol Aius, Goaron and somewhat strangely Nyx. The western district is called the Commerce District and contains most of the cities shops and trade centers. The eastern district is the Travel District and contains the Shining Crescent Hotel which Sandor had been staying at until just now as well as various specialized shops that cater specifically to the kind of thing that a traveler to or through the town might be interested in. Souvernirs, restaurants that serve local dishes specifically and other things of that nature. The southern end of the Travel District also serves as the city's red-light district, containing a brothel called The Orchard as well as a bar and a "gentleman's clubhouse" that attracts all manner of clientele. The southwestern district is the low cost residential district, referred to as the Comfort District where various houses sit mostly packed tightly together. The southeastern district is the Home district and contains the high cost residences, various mansions and high class houses reside here as does the city hall.
Tlazohuitl puts the knife back away and slowly steps out from behind the tree. "...Let's go with 'explorer from the north'." He says. "Could you tell me who Carlos is?"
