Waystop

[I Am Witless]

Setting           

High in the Horneater Peaks, hotsprings bubble and hiss, emitting sulfurous fumes. Some spit bright mud in waves, while others steam over delicate natural formations. A few have been tampered by humankind, shaped in such a way that they are cool enough for humans to not burn themselves. One of them doesn’t bubble, or steam, or smell. It is a perpendicularity between realms, and it is closely guarded.

A trail leads from the most accessible part of the pool toward a twisted tree, which barely survived the extreme heats. If one went left at the tree, then one would follow the short path down to a Horneater village, one that benefits from further heated pools. It isn’t large, but it isn’t small, and the townspeople are kind. They speak of Numuhukumakiaki'aialunamor, their rightful king, and they speak of the Radients returning, but they whisper of what you will find if you turn right at the tree instead of left.

Up the winding path, crisscrossing over small wooden bridges and around mud pots, there are small signs. One boldly tells you that “No Hemalurgy” is allowed, another “Investiture Training”, and yet a third proclaims “Best Apple Crisp in the Cosmere!” The first, when one turns right at the tree, is large, and is carved in more than twenty different languages.

“Welcome to Roshar! Waystop is 1/8 of a mile ahead – Food – Stormlight – Allomantic Metals – Clothing – Rooms for Rent or Use – Investiture Training (not Hemalurgy) – All Guilds Welcome – Clean Privies”. A tiny sign below it tacks on “must NOT be afraid of spiders” as an addendum.

            Up the path, over steaming sulfur pots and geologic marvels, sits Waystop. It’s a rambling stone one-story house surrounded by plants from every part of the Cosmere, some moving more freely than the wind warrants.The smells of baked goods and the days supper drift on the breeze, tantalizing anyone who happens to pass by. Spiders merrily spin webs in the corners and on anything that holds still for too long, and steam bubbles from the roof of a bathhouse.

Welcome, Worldhopper, to Waystop.

            (Rooms and etc will be added as needed)

Proprietors

            Yzabet Montegue (Yih-zah-bet Mawn-teh-gew) – HOSTESS and INSTRUCTOR

                        Yzabet is the proprietress of Waystop and has run it for the past fifteen years. She is the cook, cleaning lady, gardener, investiture instructor, and general caretaker of the place. She keeps it all under control and uses the trained spiders that she breeds to make sure that everything is in order.

            Pallas Montegue (Palace Mawn-the-gew) – WORKING HAND

                        Pallas helps his mother whenever she needs it, but can often be found reading in the library or creating the Cosmere’s first ever rock music. 

Long-Term Employees –

                        Atticus – Security and Defense Contractor

                        Mr. Amber – Chocolate Guru and Business Partner

 

Current Visitors

- Too many people for me to remember

[PLEASE FORGIVE THE MESSY MAP. I stole it from the plans of an old folks home. Red is stuff that you can ignore (unless it is writing) green is trees, and blue are the hotsprings. Also marked in red are the outlines of the bathhouse and training grounds. Room prices are not yet listed, and neither is the price for Investiture training. Enjoy Waystop!]  

 

Edited August 28, 2018 by Witlessspren

[Kidpen]

Quote

That map.....

It's fantastic.

Why not canon? I think this could totally be canon. Unless you wanted to move Yzabet (Who I just figured out how to pronounce) around but also have her always be here. Although I bet the Craftsmen could help you out with that....

 

[Grey Knight]

Quote

You know, for some reason, bars in the Alleyverse have a bad habit of blowing up after a few pages. How will you prevent that, Mrs. Montague? 

 

[Kidpen]

Quote

Oh, and is it a library or a Liebrary? And how adverse are you to mysterious digging noises around it for about a month, and perhaps it being closed off for an hour or so? I'd be happy to reimburse you for it, not that that this scenario is anything other then hypothetical.

 

[I Am Witless]

44 minutes ago, Kidpen said:

 

Quote

I was instructed by @Voidus to tag it as non-canon. It's really just a side story.

 

40 minutes ago, Grey Knight said:

 

Quote

Each person staying is only allowed a certain amount of alcohol each night. To prevent blowing up buildings we have Yzabet, who is also our bouncer.  She's the multi-purpose tool of the Waystop. But she'll also mainly be hosting people with are 1st ideal radients and twinborn. Neither can cause THAT much trouble.

 

39 minutes ago, Kidpen said:

 

Quote

If the Liebrarians want to come look at her library than they can. No digging (you'd hit a geothermal vent anyway), but you're free to come read the books! You have to get permission from the acting librarian (Yzabet) to take a book out of the library. She is looking to hire another employee, though, and if you know a librarian who isn't afraid of spiders and doesn't mind gardening or cooking...………….. 

 

[I think I am here.]

57 minutes ago, I am Witless said:

Neither can cause THAT much trouble.

Quote

Not unless your steelpushes can rip buildings from their foundations 

 

[Cyanic]

on the topic of stopping this from exploding, you could also have multiple items for storing Investiture at the entrance, like some spheres, some unawakened cloth, etc. not sure how you'd get rid of ingested metals though. Larkin isn't a good idea because you can't give the Investiture back

[Voidus]

2 hours ago, I am Witless said:

I was instructed by @Voidus to tag it as non-canon. It's really just a side story.

Quote

See I think I remember saying that but I have no idea why I said that
I'll remove the non canon tag for now and list it as an era 2 side plot.

EDIT:
 

Quote

I was also hoping my new character could be a long term resident here, doing lots of research and if Yzabet has much knowledge on Selish Investiture then maybe training in Forgery with her.
She'd also be free to repair any accidental explosions that may occur

 

[Lord Meeker]

Aurell surveyed the Waystop through the scope of her rifle. She was invisible to the naked eye, or rather she blended in to the natural surroundings with her lightweaving. Asher, her spren, acted as her decoy. A drenched, version of herself stood not far off, also surveying the house through a set of binoculars. Asher walked the remaining pathway to the door of the Waystop. Aurell followed a short distance away, to animate sounds with her stormlight that Asher could not do himself. In one hand she held a letter addressed to Pallas from the Ghostbloods, in the second was a tranq dart for Yzabet. Her mission was to persuade the boy to visit the Alleyway to learn the truth about his father, Rhazien Montegue's, legacy. Aurell had specific instructions to leave the boy unharmed but currious enough to travel with her to the Alleycity. Aurell could do whatever with Yzabet. She planned to have Yzabet dumped in a far corner of the Cosmere with out a Perpendicularity and no way home. That was at least until the boy, Pallus, made a decision. 

She emulated the sound of the door being knocked upon.

[I Am Witless]

No one opened the door. The two were cooking very loudly in the kitchen and attempting to invent new sports that could take the place of war. The current favorite was a sport where people crashed vehicles against each other until they stopped working.

Quote

Yzabet has given Pallas a relatively unbiased view of the Alleyverse, and he wouldn't be interested in the Ghostbloods anyway. He's a teenage boy with lots of good friends, no Investiture, and the closest thing that the Cosmere has to a basketball - alive and happy.

Don't screw up my babes or I'll godmod an assassin to kill every single one of your characters that to create. I don't have the best write-ups or social skills, but I've been RPing for more than three years.

Watch out.

Quote

Waystop is open to residents, visitors, and trainees! Come as you are, unless you intend to hurt someone.

A tiny spider watched with careful eyes that could see both ultraviolet and normal frequencies. One of the frequencies wasn't telling the truth. The spider carefully tapped on its web, a beating pattern not unlike the songs of Roshar. The vibrations traveled though interconnected webs throughout the walls of Waystop, and were eventually received by Precious, a jumping spider the size of a Labrador. With a complex series of tapping code, Precious alerted Yzabet that a person was trying to use magic on her doorstep. It wasn't anywhere near specific, but it was enough.

[Arlin]

3 hours ago, Voidus said:

I was also hoping my new character could be a long term resident here, doing lots of research and if Yzabet has much knowledge on Selish Investiture then maybe training in Forgery with her.

Quote

Did you just say Forgery? I might know a guy who can help with that. 

 

[Voidus]

Quote

@I am Witless is this starting off after the 16 year timeskip? Or during?

 

[+Sorana]

Damaya walked up the path to the Waystop, her thoughts circling around one central point. She was here to learn about her spren. And she didn't really want to do that. Coru followed her somewhere, and although she didn't admit it, she liked to have him around. He would listen to her, he would talk to her when she was bored. He would tell her when someone walked up to room late at night, so that she could blow out the candle and pretend to sleep. But in the end he wanted her to advance, to start using her powers, and she didn't want to. Without these stupid powers there would have been no war, her parents wouldn't have died and she wouldn't have bonded that spren. He reminded her of what she had lost, of these terrible nights hiding while monsters killed everybody she knew, she cared about. Even her little cat hadn't survived.

And now she was here, because the woman that had kept her fed, that had looked after her and gave her the oppurtunity to be more than a scrawny street orphan, had asked her to do it. Learn about your spren, about what he offers. Make an informed decision before you decline something like that. There was no way she could have told her no, no way not to go.

Nearly bumping into a man, who stood outside the door she looked up.
"I'm sorry."
she apologized and walked around him to grasp the handle.
"Isn't the door open? It's a waystop after all. I never saw one with a locked door during the day."

Pushing down the handle she opened the door and looked inside the room.
"Hello? Is anybody there?"

[Cyanic]

8 hours ago, I am Witless said:

He's a teenage boy with lots of good friends, no Investiture, and the closest thing that the Cosmere has to a basketball - alive and happy.

That sounds like a death trope waiting to happen D: noooooooooooo

[Kidpen]

A middle aged women walks through the door of the Waystop and steps up to the counter. "Hello, I come from the inspections department of the Liebrary. We're here to make sure that your library is top notch. We'd also be happy to assign someone to come work as a full time Liebrarian here if you'd like, assuming the inspection goes well. Could you direct me in that direction?

[I Am Witless]

Quote

@Voidus, this is right after the time skip.

Yzabet glanced over at Precious. The spider tapped out another code. More Visitors. Yzabet sighed, then handed her frying pan over to Pallas - "Don't burn that" - and wandered down the hall. A librarian stood by the small desk by the main doors, and Damaya peaked in behind her. That poor child had gone through so much.

"Hello, I come from the inspections department of the Liebrary. We're here to make sure that your library is top notch. We'd also be happy to assign someone to come work as a full time Liebrarian here if you'd like, assuming the inspection goes well. Could you direct me in that direction?" Yzabet nodded, and smiled.

"I pride myself on my library. All fiction is arranged according to the Reverse Lighthouse, but nonfiction is sorted by the Dewey Decimal System. Turn left at the big intersection, second door on your left. Don't mind the spiders - they keep the books in good condition." Yzabet nodded again to the Liebrarian. then turned to Damaya ignoring the person standing behind her. "Hi, Damaya! How are you today?"

[+Sorana]

9 hours ago, I am Witless said:

"I pride myself on my library. All fiction is arranged according to the Reverse Lighthouse, but nonfiction is sorted by the Dewey Decimal System. Turn left at the big intersection, second door on your left. Don't mind the spiders - they keep the books in good condition." Yzabet nodded again to the Liebrarian. then turned to Damaya ignoring the person standing behind her. "Hi, Damaya! How are you today?"

Damaya smiled at the warm greeting and and walked over to Yzabeth.
"I'm fine, thank you. She didn't throw me out, so that's something. But she threatened to do, if I didn't come to you again, so here I am."
she replied, trying to appear relaxed, although she felt her voice tremble a bit. She feared the day when the woman finally decided to throw her back to the maws of the poor and homeless. She survived that once, but even the thought of going back there, closed her throat of, let her look for a place to hide. Carefully she moved her memories back, hid them somewhere deep in her mind. Thinking about her reply she hastened to add:
"I didn't want to say, that I don't like here. It's really good to be away for a while and I looked forward to the journey and everything."
With a rueful glance at Coru she asked.
"So, if you have a few hours? I'm here to train, just like the previous times. It doesn't need to be today, I know you have work that needs to be done. And I can help with that, of course, I don't need to sit around doing nothing."
She offered, hoping to stretch the time she spent away from the woman a bit.

Quote

Yzabeth knows Damaya right? At least I interpreted your post that way. If I got that wrong, please tell me, then I'll edit.

 

[I Am Witless]

Quote

I'm assuming so. I guess that Dayama has stopped by a few times before.

Yzabet reached out to hug Dayama.

"Not right now. I'm making hotcakes, the ten different types, but if you help me with that then I can give you thirty minutes or so of training. We can negotiate payment for more training time later. Staff or spren?"

[Nohadon]

Astiel wandered into the way stop and pulled out a stool from the bar

”Drinks. Please” She said in a tired voice

Quote

This character is mainly used for character development.

She began to subtly tap connection to Roshar until she could hear the rhythms, she attuned fatigue.

[Voidus]

Laurelai waited within the library, finishing up her latest research on smithing techniques for the day. She wrote down the last few notes in her carefully arranged notebook before closing it and slowly tying a piece of cloth around it.

Leaning back, she stretched both arms above her before starting to massage her tired wrists. It had been another all-nighter of research, burning through all the candles she had with her for the time being, she'd need to refresh them later. But for now...

She took the plain, iron dagger that she kept at her waist, not much protection especially against the kinds of things that existed in the Alleyverse, but it was only meant as a last resort. She preferred avoiding trouble in the first place so she didn't need anything fancier. Tapping the blade with her hand, she exited the library, using a back entrance to head outside. An unfortunate necessity when she was practicing her Forgery, but if she accidentally blew the Waystop up she didn't think that Yzabet would be so accommodating the next time she dropped by.

She moved away from the main building, over to one of the nearby hotsprings. Water was good to have on hand in case she caught fire again.

Holding the dagger aloft, she stared intently at it. Matching what she'd learned to what she already knew of the blades history. Velav had forged it for her, back in Kholinar. But now she could make a guess as to how precisely he had done so. Which techniques he had used. Though she wasn't able to replicate them herself, knowing was enough for now.

A slight impression appeared on the base of the blade, formed by her thoughts, precisely carved for what she needed to change. As it sank in, the structure of the metal on the blade shifted slightly, nothing too obvious, but a new flaw in the metal was created. A flaw that Velav had noticed, but instead of throwing away he'd sold it cheaply to a young Selish girl who wasn't fussy about quality.

She also felt a sudden surge of energy from the Dor, it flooded through her unpredictably, her skin glowing silver for a second before fading back to its normal tone. Then continuing to fade, becoming transparent, and finally, invisible.

Well, at least it wasn't anything too bad that time. Laurelai thought to herself, waving her invisible hands in front of her face but unable to see anything. And it looks like the forgery took this time, figuring out how the fault formed seems to have been the trick.

With a sharpened fingernail, she removed the seal from the blade, restoring it to its former state. If she was going to carry only a single dagger, she needed to make sure it was useful.

 

Quote

If anyone was nearby (Within 30 feet) to Laurelai they'll also turn invisible for a minute.

 

[+Sorana]

Damaya huged Yzabet back.
"Spren."
She answered and shot a quick look at Coru.
"I know my way to the kitchen, you can look after your new customer."

Damaya left the general room and walked through the hallway towards the kitchen. She could already smell the hot cakes and heard Pallas working. Without knocking she pushed the door open.
"Hey Pallas."
she greeting him and leaned her staff agains a wall, setting her bag down on the floor.
"I'm here to save you from the big, evil hot cakes."
grinning she rolled up her sleeves and stepped up to him.
"How can I help?"

It was then that she noticed, that she couldn't see her hands anymore.

Quote

There aren't any measurements on the map and I wasn't sure where the general room is located, but I liked the idea

 

[Cyanic]

Araha walked up the path to the Waystop. Ran, in the form of a clip on her hair, there were some people who could see Ran, and though she wasn't really the type to be discreet, she liked the idea of not showing people what sorts of advantage she had. If one looked closely though, they would see that the clip wasn't actually attached to her hair.

And besides, the hair clip looked cute on her, no matter how brightly green it was.

"Ran, I think y'can come down now, master's said we can trust the lady that runs the 'Stop." Araha told Ran, her voice light and with a very slight lilt.

"Understandable, she'd probably see me eventually, either way." Ran replied, in comparison, her voice was calmer, more mature. Araha always saw Ran as something of an older sister. The honorspren landed beside Araha as she continued walking and grew to her size, a few fingers taller.

As Araha arrived and opened the door, she saw that the place already had a small amount of people. She froze, and so did Ran. The spren recovered first and quickly turned back into a hair clip, attaching onto Araha's bangs before she could even realize. The girl turned and didn't see Ran, slight panic hit her before she saw a small, luminescent clip on her hair and she quickly sighed in relief.

She entered the building, and said "G'evening," to no one in particular.

Edited August 20, 2018 by Cyanic

[Life&Death]

Quote

Now I wasn't exactly sure where to post this because it originally would have been 2 posts, but most of it involves the waystop so I'll post all of it here.

Alleycity

 

Mr. Amber led a dazed Ski through the half rebuilt Alleycity, muttering to himself.

"Now I've looked around and tried to find a place where a chocolate shop would be the most wanted, but I only get mention of this "Waystop" instead. It seems like I waited to long to come back and whoever owns this has taken my business opportunity."

Ski nodded absentmindedly, looking around at all the strange people. Some were glowing and floating along, others ran at incredible speeds.  A giant frog hopped along talking to a man with half a metal head. The one thing everything had in common was a dangerous look about them. Most people were armed to the teeth, (Sometimes literally since Ski saw someone with razor-sharp metal teeth.) and even if they weren't visibly armed, they still looked like they could rip you in half if they chose. Even the giant frog --- Which Uncle Amber said was something called a 'Kandra' --- had knives strapped to each toe. 

"Excuse me sir." Ski tuned back in as Uncle Amber stopped a hulking blue figure carrying a huge sword. "Where could I find the Waystop? I can't seem to find it."

"The waystop isn't in the Alleycity." The giant monstrosity replied. It's voice was deep and grating and made Ski think of boulders crashing down a cliff. She pulled out her Crystal Sword hilt and prepared to activate it. These people should know that she was armed and knew how to fight. Just because Uncle Amber was crazy enough to walk unarmed and obviously vulnerable with that twisted leg,--- while carrying a golden cane no less!--- did not mean Ski had to be just as crazy. "The Waystop is located in the Horneater Peaks." 

"Thank you sir. Where perchance is the nearest perpendicularity to those peaks? The blue figure, which on closer inspection had many cuts where it looked like the skin was simply stretched so tight it tore, pointed outside the city. 

"That way. It is pool made of spheres. When the else calling rock belonging to the being known as Voidus was killed, it opened a gash into the cognitive realm. I assume you know how to worldhop correct?"

"Yes I do. Thank you for your help good sir." Mr. Amber whistled and the black car drove up next to them and Ski got in followed by her uncle. "Now let's be off."

"Uncle, what was that blue thing? It did not look human."

"You are right, it was not human. It is called a Koloss. You will eventually know about all the different species and races that can be found here."

When the car reached the pool of glass spheres, it drove in and then exploded out of a pool on an extremely high mountain.

"Ah, the Horneater peaks." Mr. Amber got out of the car and pressed a button on his gold watch. The car shrank down to a tiny version of itself which Uncle Amber picked up. The watch was what Uncle Amber referred to as Epic derived technology, whatever that meant.

Walking up the trail, Ski saw many signs advertising the Waystop and banning use of hemelurgy. "What is hemelurgy?"She asked.

"It is a useful art that many people find repulsive since it usually involves killing people. I'll explain more later, we are almost there.

When the arrived at the Waystop, they found a couple other people there, including a woman who had another woman appear next to her seeming to form from something on her head. "You know it's a weird day when that doesn't even reach the top ten weirdest things I've seen today." Ski muttered quietly. Uncle Amber walked inside the Waystop and called out.

"Could I speak to the owner of this? I have a business proposition for you." 

[I Am Witless]

Pallas looked up as Damaya entered, but he couldn't see her. He looked confused. 

"Who's there?"

He glared at the space where Damaya was for a solid minute, then made his way over to Astiel.

"What sorta drink do you want?"

***

Yzabet halted Araha with a wave of her hand.

"Can I get you to check in, ma'am? We've got different types of rooms to cater to your needs."

With the other she made a 'please wait' motion to Amber.

[I Am Witless]

Quote

Can everybody see and make sense of the map?