I'm back, and ready for the next part of the story, although I'm thoroughly exhausted from everything I put into the camp, so will be going fishing tomorrow for the next three-ish days. After that I'll be way more available.
@Mellow_MC: Good thing this plane isn’t phyrexian…
@CrimsonFox: Yeah, we had some talks about my girlfriend. Me and her are complete opposites. I like messing with her (she’s currently yelling at me to “get the hell off the roof, Niko!” and I’m currently on the roof throwing a ball up and down.)
https://mtgcardsmith.com/view/shielding-embrace Ulyiana had been falling for what she felt as an agonic eternity. In the midst of the rush she wondered if she would join her late mother in the afterlife. It was ironic they both would get killed by a mutated monster, but in the Skyforest such death was not uncommon at all. When Uliyana fell into the shining spot on the ground, she thought it was a gate Death had opened for her. But after the collision, she felt nothing change, except she was plunging into the void no more. Her whole body ached and was still paralised by shock, but oxygen filled her lungs and the gravel under her felt as mundane as any gravel she had step on in the past. She looked around, trying to process what had happened. A crowd of astonished people surronded her. It was probably a streetmarket she fell into. "These must be the Slums", she realised. Ulyiana had never descended more than couple levels, mostly to carry harvested goods to the Nobles or to sell her surplus in the towerfolk's markets. She had never been so far from the towertops. "How am I not dead?" She realised next to her lied the shining body of who must've saved her. He appeared to be a young man, also aching from the impact, but safe and sound. He started to get on his feet, smiling at her. "I'm Johanas. Are you hurt?" In less than five minutes, Uliyana had been chased by a mutated tree, pierced through over 300 meters in free fall, realised she would die, accepted her death and realised again she was still alive and had landed into a place she had only heard horrors of, where a litteraly shiny boy was smiling at her. It was too much in too little to be able to speak. She just shook her head. "Your day surely must've been entertaining. Come, let's go somewhere quiet." Uliyana grabbed the hand Johanas offered her and got up. For some reason, she trusted him. Still in shock, she followed him through the gray alleways of the Slums, too stunned to take notice of the whole crowd paralysed around them.
Here it isss. Sorry, it was hard to find art that somewhat decently fit the quest themes and also I started a new job last week so my timetable was all up in the air. Let's go with the rpg!
Suddenly the door to Blathers prison opened and in came a noble:
"You there, vile monstrosity. We have looked into your case, questioned a lot of people and found out, that it was in fact you who delivered the poisened food that lead to the tragic death of the person known as "Pearl". Now while that is already a horrible crime, you did something even worse. This tower is ruled by us nobles alone and killing someone without our permission is denying our divine right to rule.
Therefore your punishment is death. You shall be hacked into pieces and then be buried together with your victim, so you have to serve your victim forever in the afterlife.
GUARDS! Release this creature of its existence!"
Blather couldnt say anything. Hadnt he been a good boy all the time? Did he deserve this? He wanted to think, but as his head fell on the ground, as a halberd hit his neck, that was quite distractive. From his position on the ground he could see the guards hacking his body into pieces, then they stuffed his remains in a basket and finally dropped his head into the basket.
Blather wanted to say something, but in the last moment, he didnt. Maybe it was better if they thought he was dead. And if he revealed his more or less undead type of existence, that surely wouldnt help. So he played dead as they carried his parts in the basket away ...
New Quest for Lhunter:
Either:
Create a card about a creature being hacked apart
Create a card about a disassembled undead thinking about this problem.
Create a card about Blather planning revenge.
Oh, btw. did i mention that the Plane of Terror is not really friendly to its inhabitants? Bad things happen here quite often.
Kaelen smiled as the shards surrounded the Corpsebearer and his group of minions. He enjoyed the fear on their faces. Oh yes, they better did what he wanted or it would get a lot worse for them.
"Wait!" The Corpsebearer shoutet at his minions, "Whatever this is, i think it just wants to talk, or it would already have attacked us!"
Kaelen giggled silently. That Corpsebearer was smarter than he had thought. This could be really entertaining.
"So, you want to know about ... home?" The Corpsebearer asked. "Well i can only tell you what i know as i tend to stay of of others business. Less trouble that way. Back home its the same as usual. Slumdwellers dont really matter, so no one cares about them. Commoners live a boring life until they die. But inside the towers there is always something going on. Nobles and Merchants and Wizards plotting all the time against each other. And sometimes they kill each other. Like that creature i carried down here in that strange casket. You know it was a mage or so that got poisened. Strange thing is, that casket i put her in appeared in my home before the mage was dead, with a note on it saying "Pearl". A day or so before she died it was just standing there when i came home. Seems like someone really wanted her dead, but im staying out of this. I like living, you know? Now thats all news there is, and if you let us leave, we can bring you more news from time to time, whenever we are here. What do you think?"
New Quest for CrimsonFox:
Either:
The agreement about more news sounds good. Create a card about it.
You are disappointed as they dont know much. Create a card about releasing your fury onto them.
What they said about that mage sounds interesting. Create a card about investigating the casket with the mage.
As Pearl awoke again, she noticed that her wounds had healed, but her clothes were damaged where the spikes had impaled her body and killed her. She could feel the demonic presence of this sarcophagus now stronger than ever before. It was hungry, feasting on her suffering but it was not hungry enough to kill her again. It was still enjoying his last "meal" but in time it would try to kill her again to feast again on her pain and suffering. Pearl decided that she should study this situation from an academically point of view and maybe she would then find a solution for her current little problem she was in.
New Quest for Mellow_MC:
Either:
Create a card about Pearl analyzing her situation.
Create a card about Pearl trying to get out of the sarcophagus, using her magic.
Create a card about Pearl trying to communicate with the demon that posesses the sarcophagus.
Just as Uliyana and
Johanas wanted to leave, cracks emerged on the street from the spot she
fell on. Then, faster as anyone could run, the cracks moved in all
directions and the earth began to shake. The earth? No, it wasnt an
earthquake, it was the street itself. People startet to scream and run
away in panic. It must have been the impacts force, Uliyana realized.
The street was build on top of the old part of town that was now the
catacombs. Then the cracks widened and the street was torn apart and
turned into a slope that lead into the darkness of the catacombs.
Uliyana, Johanas and others where sliding down into the darkness on the
streets remains as if it was a slippery slide. Then they fell a bit but
not much, and luckily on a pile of dirt or something like that. You
couldnt really say because it was dark and dusty. But that pile of dirt
starting sliding too, together with them, down a stair maybe? Uliyana
couldnt really tell while she was whirling around, sliding and falling
until suddenly she crashed against a wall that stopped her slide in a
violent way.
"Ouch" a voice said. "Are you hurt?"
Uliyana recognized Johanas voice. She wanted to say something, but
coughing out the dirt and dust seemed to be more important right now.
Though aching all over, she wasnt seriously hurt. This was quite a lucky
day!
New Quest for Balloonnation:
Either:
Create a card named "Uliyana and Johanas"
Create a card about a slum street crashing/falling down into the catacombs.
Create a card about a creature being really lucky!
As Pearl struggled to get her bearings in the damp coffin, she thought back to her first burst of magic. It had been a portal to the other side of her village. She smirked, wondering if such an old trick would actually work. "Here goes," She said. She braced herself and slammed her magic-wreathed hands against the coffin lid.
I would like to point out that, as all the characters are currently in the catacombs, maybe the guards should toss the basket off the tower and it will land in the big pothole, uniting Blather with the others. I’ll get to work on the card soon, but I am terribly busy and it might take me a bit. I don’t even have the time to annoy my girlfriend, surprisingly!
Blather wasnt very happy about being chopped up. It stung. He couldn’t tell where the guards were taking his body parts, but he started regenerating a little inside the confines of the basket. Blather was about to burst out and murder the guards when something strange happened. He was falling. Fast. After half a minute or so, Blather’s basket hit the ground and his body splattered. That stung, too. After regenerating, he climbing out of the basket. He was… in the catacombs? He looked around, his almost 9 foot tall, skinny body, several limbs randomly hanging off him, creaking as he gazed upon the survivors of what seemed to be a street collapse. Most screamed and ran from the horrifying, bloodstained beast, but some stayed, looking at him in bewilderment, ready to run if he turned hostile. Blather covered his face and curled into a ball when a man (who seemed to glow) and a woman approached him cautiously. Blather is half-terrified from his experiences with humans, half-hopeful they’ll be friendly. ”nonono… please don’t hurt Blather… Blather is a good boy…”
"So this is all you have for me. A shallow price for your lives, however, I suspect you will have a great deal of use to me in future years. You, Corpsebearer, may leave, on three conditions. One, you will become my eyes and ears in the surface world, no longer will you stay out of others' business. Two, you will search for specific information on anything even vaguely related to a certain Jess Loranale, this business is mine alone, but I mean to know everything. Three, you will leave the casket and it's contents to me, with whatever information you have regarding its occupant and its make, and more importantly, how to open it. I sense a remnant of magic still yet in this mage. That is your contract, payment is your life. As for your cronies, they are to remain here in the catacombs, with no escape unless they're lucky enough to stumble upon the exit to the surface. Do not fear for them, however, for every time you bring me something new, in addition to your own life, I will pay you in the return of one of these wretched beings. I will ensure they live to see that day, to all extents except that they would take their own lives. As a token of my good will, you may now choose one of them to return with you to the surface. Go now..."
With that, Kaelen's whisper recedes, seeming as if to move rapidly into the deep of the catacombs. His shards shift too, creating a wall of glass and brokenness around all but the Corpsebearer and his closest advisor. The only light left is that of the Corpsebearer's lantern, which soon disappears around the corner leaving all in utter darkness once more.
Using his shards to create a maze of terrifying distortions and otherworldly flickers of vague light, Kaelen disperses the rest of the Corpsebearer's minions throughout the catacombs, separating them and leaving them lonely. With them all gone, Kaelen stalks into the room, left alone with the casket.
(Sorry, I have a habit of combining all the options given into one card, hopefully that's not too problematic)
Every inch of Uliyana's body ached, but she could move it without too much struggle. The struggle was actually in her stomach. Too much free fall for a day. She couldn't help but puke the little she had for breakfast. She then looked around. Johanas' glimmer and the light that entered from the surface let her glance at her dark surroundings. Around her the were a lot of confused voices. Apparently some others who fell hadn't been that lucky and had broken bones. There was even dead people. Uliyana forced herself not to empty her vowels again (there wasn't much left to let out either). Johanas seemed oddly unharmed. A bunch of people where running towards a pile of rubble that connected back to the surfice. Others screamed there were things lurking in the shadows around them. She grabbed Johanas by the arm and walked towards the pile of rubble. She wasn't staying in the Catacombs any second more than needed. Johanas said they ought to help the people that couldn't walk on their own. Ulyiana knew it was the right thing to do, but she was too confused to think about right and wrong. A deafening noise invaded the Catacombs and Ulyiana looked up. The breach they had fallen through seemed to be slowly closing down. https://mtgcardsmith.com/view/claimed-by-the-catacombs-1
Those incompetent guards had just thrown him off the tower instead of doing what their master had ordered them too! Blather would so tell their master that they were not good boys! But why did he think about his? He looked around and found wounded and dead people and even some body parts laying around. He quickly collected all the parts he could find, then realized it wasnt all his parts and that the surviving people were looking quite scared as he was attaching ownerless arms and legs to his body. But two of them approached him careful and slowly.
Blather curled into a ball and whispered ”nonono… please don’t hurt Blather… Blather is a good boy…”
They seemed somewhat surprised and stopped, but then Blather could hear them say "I think ... its friendly." Yes! Blather was superfriendly! A supergood boy! But just as he wanted to speak, the ground was shaking again and since he was still curled up to a ball Blather started rolling down the slanted ground into a dark cave, down a stair, into another dark cave and then he slammed into a thing made out of stone and covered in mysterious symbols.
New Quest for LHunter:
Create at least two of this cards:
- Blather has collected some more body parts. Create an improved version of Blather!
- Blather rolling down the catacombs like an undead snowball.
- Blather crashing into an ancient artifact
- Wounded Blather leaving a trail of entrails that could be used to track him.
Uliyana looked up in terror as she realized the breach to the catacombs was closing! The ground was shaking and then they were trapped here! Some more moments and the breach was gone. Whatever had sealed it, it had left only some tiny wholes were the light could shine through. But it was enough to see the surroundings in the catacombs. Some people were laying on the ground, not moving at all. Some were aching or whining, while others wandered around confused. And the strange ball like creature, it was gone, it had just rolled away. Johanas was trying to help the wounded, but there wasnt really much he could do. Uliyana tried to help too, but she wasnt a healer and could do even less. After a while she jst sat down and thought about her situation.
New Quest for balloonnation:
Create at least two of this cards:
- Uliyana staring at the closing breach, trapped in the catacombs.
- Uliyana trying to help the wounded, but without much effect.
- Uliyana investigating what happened to the ball like creature (hint: it left a trail of blood and entrails)
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Comments
Haha, certainly not what I was expecting to come back to
@CrimsonFox: Yeah, we had some talks about my girlfriend. Me and her are complete opposites. I like messing with her (she’s currently yelling at me to “get the hell off the roof, Niko!” and I’m currently on the roof throwing a ball up and down.)
Ulyiana had been falling for what she felt as an agonic eternity. In the midst of the rush she wondered if she would join her late mother in the afterlife. It was ironic they both would get killed by a mutated monster, but in the Skyforest such death was not uncommon at all.
When Uliyana fell into the shining spot on the ground, she thought it was a gate Death had opened for her. But after the collision, she felt nothing change, except she was plunging into the void no more. Her whole body ached and was still paralised by shock, but oxygen filled her lungs and the gravel under her felt as mundane as any gravel she had step on in the past. She looked around, trying to process what had happened. A crowd of astonished people surronded her. It was probably a streetmarket she fell into. "These must be the Slums", she realised. Ulyiana had never descended more than couple levels, mostly to carry harvested goods to the Nobles or to sell her surplus in the towerfolk's markets. She had never been so far from the towertops. "How am I not dead?" She realised next to her lied the shining body of who must've saved her. He appeared to be a young man, also aching from the impact, but safe and sound. He started to get on his feet, smiling at her. "I'm Johanas. Are you hurt?" In less than five minutes, Uliyana had been chased by a mutated tree, pierced through over 300 meters in free fall, realised she would die, accepted her death and realised again she was still alive and had landed into a place she had only heard horrors of, where a litteraly shiny boy was smiling at her. It was too much in too little to be able to speak. She just shook her head. "Your day surely must've been entertaining. Come, let's go somewhere quiet." Uliyana grabbed the hand Johanas offered her and got up. For some reason, she trusted him. Still in shock, she followed him through the gray alleways of the Slums, too stunned to take notice of the whole crowd paralysed around them.
Here it isss. Sorry, it was hard to find art that somewhat decently fit the quest themes and also I started a new job last week so my timetable was all up in the air. Let's go with the rpg!
I'm leaving the decision of what actually happens up to you!
Kaelen scoffs.
"So this is all you have for me. A shallow price for your lives, however, I suspect you will have a great deal of use to me in future years. You, Corpsebearer, may leave, on three conditions. One, you will become my eyes and ears in the surface world, no longer will you stay out of others' business. Two, you will search for specific information on anything even vaguely related to a certain Jess Loranale, this business is mine alone, but I mean to know everything. Three, you will leave the casket and it's contents to me, with whatever information you have regarding its occupant and its make, and more importantly, how to open it. I sense a remnant of magic still yet in this mage. That is your contract, payment is your life. As for your cronies, they are to remain here in the catacombs, with no escape unless they're lucky enough to stumble upon the exit to the surface. Do not fear for them, however, for every time you bring me something new, in addition to your own life, I will pay you in the return of one of these wretched beings. I will ensure they live to see that day, to all extents except that they would take their own lives. As a token of my good will, you may now choose one of them to return with you to the surface. Go now..."
With that, Kaelen's whisper recedes, seeming as if to move rapidly into the deep of the catacombs. His shards shift too, creating a wall of glass and brokenness around all but the Corpsebearer and his closest advisor. The only light left is that of the Corpsebearer's lantern, which soon disappears around the corner leaving all in utter darkness once more.
Using his shards to create a maze of terrifying distortions and otherworldly flickers of vague light, Kaelen disperses the rest of the Corpsebearer's minions throughout the catacombs, separating them and leaving them lonely. With them all gone, Kaelen stalks into the room, left alone with the casket.
(Sorry, I have a habit of combining all the options given into one card, hopefully that's not too problematic)
Edit: oh whoops I just checked. We need @balloonnation to submit theirs.