The "metal" cube is warm and soothing to the touch. Beneath Armani's fingertips, it thrums faintly. Tha-thump. Tha-thump. Tha-thump. A heartbeat. Each pulse radiates an impossible to define energy, but it is not a linchpin.
It beats three more times and then goes still.
And that is when something rises up out of the water behind them. A human form cloaked in black, the face a grotesque white mask with a keyhole for a mouth. The masked thing glides up to the beach, nearly silent except for the whispering of its robes.
Aris doesn't notice the silent entity's arrival either. Not until Armani screams and throws the bag of salt, anyway. He jolts, nearly dropping his journal as he jerks his head up, sees the masked figure, and slams the book closed so he can reach for his temporary wand. Not actually knowing what he intends to if the thing ignores him, he makes a pointed gesture with his wand and calls, "Hey...! Stay back!"
What is this thing even doing here? What does it want? Somehow, he doubts it's going to tell them.
Edited (Sorry for the delay! :o Thought I'd tagged this.) 2020-06-06 06:54 (UTC)
The salt bounces harmlessly off the cloaked figure as it comes closer. This person — being? thing? — radiates sick pressure, growing denser as it glides forward. It's standing in front of speakers at a live concert, but the only sound is that strange whispering, too quiet to make out.
The cloaked figure raises its arms, and as it does the glass-like pebbles on the beach float up off the ground, too.
It is not here to negotiate. The Cultist attacks.
Imogen (ROLLED 4) is pelted with sharp grit that stings and scratches her.
Armani (ROLLED 1) is hit in the gut by a melon-sized piece of black stone, knocked off his feet.
Aristotle (ROLLED 8) manages to duck the stones headed his way.
As chaos begins to unfold, the memory snaps back into place and starts up again, oblivious to the students and the cultist struggling around it.
The memory owner takes the satchel of fine white powder — salt — and pours it into the center of the glyph in a circular motion, leaving a figure eight pattern on the ground.
Next the creature with the red crystal wreath on its head takes the vial of gray liquid and drips the contents over the salt. The glyph begins to bleed, light seeping through the lines like spilled ink.
Somehow, the light in the ground seems to repel the Cultist, but only just. It is pushed back toward the sea. As this happens, the memory owner takes the metal cube.
Bringing that silver cube up over their head, they shriek, a strange sound like an overloaded electrical transformer about to explode. One last glance at the creature wearing the red crystal wreath. Some tight and horrible feeling rises up all around you. Grief. But it's swallowed by something firmer.
The memory owner slams the gray cube into the glyph. Sparks fly, a white flame erupts within the circle, and when it burns away, it leaves a portal...to Peckenpaugh's auditorium.
The memory owner is gone. The other creatures, the ruined beach, the purple flowers, the one with the red crystal wreath all remain, frozen in time once more.
[MEMORY REPLY REQUIREMENT REACHED - At this time, you may continue to thread in this scene or flee back to Peckenpaugh. You can still find the linchpin and defeat the Cultist.]
Just barely evading the flurry of sharp rock that cuts up Imogen and knocks Armani off his feet, Aris doesn't need any further prompting to fight. He's pulling back his burner wand to cast when the memory around them returns to life and he stops, visibly startled. What's going on now? Fortunately, the creatures' ritual holds the Cultist at bay for him and by the time the unfathomable events have come to an end, he's prepared.
"Expecto Patronum!" He can't be sure that the spell will work against such an entity, but this Cultist seems pretty dark magic to him. And they could definitely use some protection.
(ROLLED 9) With a burst of silver-white light and a loud, exuberant croak, Aristotle's patronus bursts forth from the end of his wand. The ghostly toucan flaps its great wings, luminescent mist swirling in its wake, soaring up and then dive bombing the strange Cultist.
The impact knocks it back, stumbling and reeling, and the core of the thing seems to disperse rippling like the surface of a pond. But the Cultist pulls itself back together and moves forward. Purple light erupts from the palm of the thing's "hand" and Aristotle takes the brunt of it (ROLLED 1). It burns and knocks the breath from his lungs at once, blasting him off his feet and onto the beach, leaving him momentarily dazed.
(ROLLED 7) Another silver winged specter issues forth. This one from Imogen's wand. The Cultist is ready this time, but only just. The hawk is clever enough to move when the entity does, smashing itself into its shoulder. As the Cultist's left half explodes in black smoke, it releases another blast of purple light (ROLLED 3).
Imogen is fast with her Protego, but the silvery shield cracks like ice under the impact. The shield shatters, falling glitter fading before it hits the ground. Imogen is still standing, but the magical recoil staggers her for a few seconds.
Thankfully, Armani already has his wand raised. (ROLLED 10) The magical ropes do their work, lacing around the strange entity and wrapping tight. It slumps to the ground, captured, but for who knows how long. Its form seems to seep between gaps in the rope, dark gray steam.
The cultist sits motionless, but it's still making that sound. Whispering, chanting, groaning. "The garden looks very nice today. The garden looks very nice today. The garden looks very nice today." Over and over, without pause for breath.
Unprepared for the violent retaliation that had knocked him off his feet and left him aching and struggling to breathe, Aris can do nothing but lie there. His head is spinning and he's only distantly aware of what's happening around him. That strange droning chant, the garden looks very nice today, is the first thing his mind is able to put any meaning to and he groans.
That again?
He turns his head, looking dazedly for his wand as he tries to sit up.
Armani needs to see what's under that mask and he won't be satisfied until he at least tries. Maybe it's just part of the creature's body and isn't made to come off, but that doesn't stop him from trying anyway. He rushes forward to grab the mask and give it a rough and heartless yank.
Edited (sry i got distracted by puppy) 2020-06-07 02:10 (UTC)
Silence falls again, the Cultist's whispers quelled by Imogen's spell.
The mask resists at first, but a second yank peels it away with a slick ripping sound. Beneath, there are flowers. Clusters of purple blooms that glimmer slightly and begin to wilt. As the petals wither, turning black and fall away, beneath they reveal the face of a woman. A human woman, unfamiliar.
She's mouthing something, but she has no voice. Though no sound issues from her lips, the students gathered manage to catch one word: Free.
Light burst from the woman's mouth, her eyes, a flash of brilliant yellow sunlight, and she's gone.
[ENCOUNTER COMPLETE. Tokens will be awarded when you leave the area. You may leave the beach now or continue to search for the linchpin.]
Still dazed and still sitting on the stony beach, Aris just stares in quiet awe as Imogen silences the chanting cultist and Armani yanks off the mask. The moment of admiration for how tough and together his classmates are is brief, though, interrupted by the mask revealing a face smothered beneath purple flowers and the woman then disappearing in a burst of light.
It's all sort of surreal. But knows that it happened.
Finally (and slowly) pulling himself up, he says quietly, "She said... 'free', right? You guys set her free." That has to be a good thing and he smiles a little.
Armani can't look away. He begins to lift his hand to touch the face flowers, just to see what will happen, when the flowers begin to wilt and wither.
He gasps softly and watches. Watches her lips move to form what would have been her final words, if she could only speak them, and watches her dissolve into light.
Maybe they freed her. Maybe that's what she meant, what she wanted from them. He hopes it is. But either way, she's dead. And that's good.
Armani looks down at the mask, turning it in his hands to examine it, before dropping it on the ground. He turns, now, inhaling deeply and taking in the rest of their surroundings with a critical eye. They still haven't found the linchpin.
Armani moves with purpose toward the creature with the red crystal wreath, tiptoeing to steal its crown.
Under Armani's fingers, the red crystal wreath turns brilliant glowing gold. The warm light shines down on the dark face of the being, illuminating six gray orbs that must be eyes, the only visible features set into this strange, inhuman face.
Gathered at the corners of each one, faintly glittering, are tears, frozen in time.
Armani has found the linchpin.
[MEMORY COMPLETE! You have defeated the encounter and found the linchpin. There's nothing left to do but leave through the portal.]
Still dazed and certainly not thinking about the linchpin, Aris' dark eyes follow Armani as he moves quickly across the beach to grab the crown, which comes away glowing brightly in his hand before he drops it down on his own head. It looks a bit like a halo. He shakes his head and chimes in with open awe, "You're...really good at this!"
Then, almost as an afterthought, he moves to grab his journal from the ground; there's no reason to stay here now, so it's better to get moving.
Aristotle, Armani and Imogen completed the memory "A Distant Shore"!
Upon emerging from the memory out into the auditorium, the portal snapped shut behind them.
Completing this memory and defeating the encounter freed the spirits of a Coalseam Creeper Ritualist and an Infinity Cultist! Elsewhere in the auditorium, ramps, a magimagicicada was freed!
Aristotle, Armani and Imogen earned 5 Tokens for completing the memory!
They earned 5 Tokens for completing a difficult memory encounter, plus an additional 2 Tokens bonus each for fighting so well!
They earned 1 Token for finding the linchpin.
You can check your token totals in Pouch's shop here, and maybe see if there's anything worth grabbing while you're there!
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peckenpaugh2020-06-01 11:18 am
MEMORY: A Distant Shore
It beats three more times and then goes still.
And that is when something rises up out of the water behind them. A human form cloaked in black, the face a grotesque white mask with a keyhole for a mouth. The masked thing glides up to the beach, nearly silent except for the whispering of its robes.
MEMORY: A Distant Shore
MEMORY: A Distant Shore
MEMORY: A Distant Shore
What is this thing even doing here? What does it want? Somehow, he doubts it's going to tell them.
MEMORY: A Distant Shore
The cloaked figure raises its arms, and as it does the glass-like pebbles on the beach float up off the ground, too.
It is not here to negotiate. The Cultist attacks.
Imogen (ROLLED 4) is pelted with sharp grit that stings and scratches her.
Armani (ROLLED 1) is hit in the gut by a melon-sized piece of black stone, knocked off his feet.
Aristotle (ROLLED 8) manages to duck the stones headed his way.
MEMORY: A Distant Shore
The memory owner takes the satchel of fine white powder — salt — and pours it into the center of the glyph in a circular motion, leaving a figure eight pattern on the ground.
Next the creature with the red crystal wreath on its head takes the vial of gray liquid and drips the contents over the salt. The glyph begins to bleed, light seeping through the lines like spilled ink.
Somehow, the light in the ground seems to repel the Cultist, but only just. It is pushed back toward the sea. As this happens, the memory owner takes the metal cube.
Bringing that silver cube up over their head, they shriek, a strange sound like an overloaded electrical transformer about to explode. One last glance at the creature wearing the red crystal wreath. Some tight and horrible feeling rises up all around you. Grief. But it's swallowed by something firmer.
The memory owner slams the gray cube into the glyph. Sparks fly, a white flame erupts within the circle, and when it burns away, it leaves a portal...to Peckenpaugh's auditorium.
The memory owner is gone. The other creatures, the ruined beach, the purple flowers, the one with the red crystal wreath all remain, frozen in time once more.
[MEMORY REPLY REQUIREMENT REACHED - At this time, you may continue to thread in this scene or flee back to Peckenpaugh. You can still find the linchpin and defeat the Cultist.]
MEMORY: A Distant Shore
"Expecto Patronum!" He can't be sure that the spell will work against such an entity, but this Cultist seems pretty dark magic to him. And they could definitely use some protection.
MEMORY: A Distant Shore
The impact knocks it back, stumbling and reeling, and the core of the thing seems to disperse rippling like the surface of a pond. But the Cultist pulls itself back together and moves forward. Purple light erupts from the palm of the thing's "hand" and Aristotle takes the brunt of it (ROLLED 1). It burns and knocks the breath from his lungs at once, blasting him off his feet and onto the beach, leaving him momentarily dazed.
MEMORY: A Distant Shore
She lashes out instinctively, just like she would in DADA or Dueling Club, with broad, violent swings of the arm.
"Expecto patronum!"
And then, after the purple light: "Protego!"
MEMORY: A Distant Shore
MEMORY: A Distant Shore
Imogen is fast with her Protego, but the silvery shield cracks like ice under the impact. The shield shatters, falling glitter fading before it hits the ground. Imogen is still standing, but the magical recoil staggers her for a few seconds.
Thankfully, Armani already has his wand raised. (ROLLED 10) The magical ropes do their work, lacing around the strange entity and wrapping tight. It slumps to the ground, captured, but for who knows how long. Its form seems to seep between gaps in the rope, dark gray steam.
The cultist sits motionless, but it's still making that sound. Whispering, chanting, groaning. "The garden looks very nice today. The garden looks very nice today. The garden looks very nice today." Over and over, without pause for breath.
MEMORY: A Distant Shore
That again?
He turns his head, looking dazedly for his wand as he tries to sit up.
MEMORY: A Distant Shore
"Silencio."
MEMORY: A Distant Shore
MEMORY: A Distant Shore
The mask resists at first, but a second yank peels it away with a slick ripping sound. Beneath, there are flowers. Clusters of purple blooms that glimmer slightly and begin to wilt. As the petals wither, turning black and fall away, beneath they reveal the face of a woman. A human woman, unfamiliar.
She's mouthing something, but she has no voice. Though no sound issues from her lips, the students gathered manage to catch one word: Free.
Light burst from the woman's mouth, her eyes, a flash of brilliant yellow sunlight, and she's gone.
[ENCOUNTER COMPLETE. Tokens will be awarded when you leave the area. You may leave the beach now or continue to search for the linchpin.]
MEMORY: A Distant Shore
It's all sort of surreal. But knows that it happened.
Finally (and slowly) pulling himself up, he says quietly, "She said... 'free', right? You guys set her free." That has to be a good thing and he smiles a little.
Re: MEMORY: A Distant Shore
He gasps softly and watches. Watches her lips move to form what would have been her final words, if she could only speak them, and watches her dissolve into light.
Maybe they freed her. Maybe that's what she meant, what she wanted from them. He hopes it is. But either way, she's dead. And that's good.
Armani looks down at the mask, turning it in his hands to examine it, before dropping it on the ground. He turns, now, inhaling deeply and taking in the rest of their surroundings with a critical eye. They still haven't found the linchpin.
Armani moves with purpose toward the creature with the red crystal wreath, tiptoeing to steal its crown.
MEMORY: A Distant Shore
Gathered at the corners of each one, faintly glittering, are tears, frozen in time.
Armani has found the linchpin.
[MEMORY COMPLETE! You have defeated the encounter and found the linchpin. There's nothing left to do but leave through the portal.]
MEMORY: A Distant Shore
"He dies tonight," he tells it sweetly. A threat and a promise.
MEMORY: A Distant Shore
Then, almost as an afterthought, he moves to grab his journal from the ground; there's no reason to stay here now, so it's better to get moving.
MEMORY: A Distant Shore - TOKENS!
Upon emerging from the memory out into the auditorium, the portal snapped shut behind them.
Completing this memory and defeating the encounter freed the spirits of a Coalseam Creeper Ritualist and an Infinity Cultist! Elsewhere in the auditorium, ramps, a magimagicicada was freed!
You can check your token totals in Pouch's shop here, and maybe see if there's anything worth grabbing while you're there!