Sorana

"I can follow the link between our minds he created in the cognitive realm. That's how I found him here."

Althea turned away from Rick, left the man to his thoughts. She looked at Max, studied his face. She knew she should do something, but for a moment, she only stood there, stared at him and smiled. He had a beautiful face, and now, without the pain, without the voices driving him crazy... She had only seen him once without his helmet, and that had ended with him on the floor, clutching at his head, his face distorted like a mask. "We should follow Solace?" She asked, forcefully concentrated on the task at hand. "I know how to find him."

Lena sat there and observed Georgia conduct her experiments. She wasn't sure if she should stop her, or let her go on, but she knew she had no intention to be the next one with her brains scattered on the floor. She kept her thoughts on the story, finally found a good way to go on. Maybe she would need it one day. It was only when Georgia brought a heavily injured guard over and cut him open as well, that she got up. "Stop it." She told the woman with a cold voice and got to her feet. "Do you really want to die? He needs the shade to calm down, not have it enraged again and again." Lena tried to look away from the blood, but there was so much, it was everywhere. Her stomach felt uneasy, and she so she focused on Georgia's eyes. Blood, so much blood. And it stank. "Get the corpse out of the way and be done with it."

Lena saw Alask swallow and jumped backwards, stared at him wide-eyed, heart pounding in her chest. His features were completely swallowed by the shade, black tendrils forming around his body, his eyes glowing red. The shade seemed to prepare to lunge, and didn't move. Relief flooded through her and she sighed. Interesting, she needed to keep this in mind. And brew something that would work with skin contact and didn't need to be swallowed. She tried to guess his bodyweight, compared it with the amout of poison he had swallowed and nodded impressed. Maybe that shade was strengthening him, otherwise it was a wonder he was still standing. Following that line of thought she suddenly felt cold again. She had no idea, if his body's ability to neutralize poison was also higher than she was used to. If yes, then she had no idea how long he would stay like this. Lena pinched the bridge of her nose and tried to calculate based on the facts how long it could probably last. No idea. And she had no idea, how the poison would affect him once he was back to human, how much of it was left. And yet, she had just poisoned a shade - more or less. A satisfied grin spread on her face and she turned and walked away from the shade. Two steps, then she hesitated, turned back to the shade, studied it again. Georgia was probably still punching people, and she had no real intention to throw up in front of everybody. But if she stayed here, she could observe how the poison affected him, maybe give him an antidote once the shade was gone. Shade or blood. Her grandmother had been right.. it was a creature that looked like it escaped a nightmare. And yet, she remembered Alask sobbing quietly after he had killed all these strangers today. That made him a better person than she had ever been. "Do you know what happens when you are like this?" She asked him and then sat down in front of him. "So I guess it would be better if you calmed down soon, since I have no idea when one of the others will stray back here and find you like this." With a sigh she crossed her legs. "My grandmother always told me a story when I was upset." Placing her chin in her hands she thought about a good story. After a while she went with the first one that had come to her mind. "Far away, in the north, there was an island called Onnurth. Onnurth was a cold, hard place to live, the winters so long and cold, that nobody managed to inhabit it the wohle year. Only some whale hunters stayed there, and only during the few warmer months. Jaara saw this, and she had mercy with those brave enough to face the dangerous and icy ocean to return year after year to the small huts they had built. And so she smiled on them and the island grew warmer, the winters less harsh and cold. They were still long, and dark and everything was covered with ice and snow, but it was possible to survive. After a while, a dragon arrived at the island, wanted to hunt there as well, as the settlements had grown. but Jaara stopped him, convinced him to stay and to protect her people. And since then, both Jaara and Aurium looked after those living on Onnurth. The people live a simple, but a happy life, live from the sea and by trading with those in the south. But there can’t be light without a shadow, and Onnurth’s shadow is called Raggok. Raggok and her minion, the so called “white witch” because she controlled the winter, the ice started to fight against Jaara and Aurium. They managed to build a cage, to imprison Aurium and without his strength they were able to attack Jaara too. They splintered her most holy artifact, into seven parts and since then winter and death ruled over Onnurth. Brave souls fought against the undead raising at night, but it didn’t take long and most of the island was occupied. The white witch used the magic of the island to corrupt it, to poison the earth and render it infertile.” Her voice trailed of as she tried to remember how the story had continued.

"Hope you have strong stomachs." Lena turned to Georgia and saw the blood spilling on the ground. Hastily she looked away and pressed a hand to her mouth, retching. She stepped backwards, away from Georgia, away from the blood and tried hard to not vomit on the floor right here and now, when she noticed Alask. He was breathing hard, backed away further down the plane, father away from the rest of them. His eyes met hers, and she saw the same expression, she had seen in the Alleyzon building. Fear grabbed her insides and the blood was forgotten. They would die, they all would die. The shade, it wouldn't stop until they were all dead. She saw his arms twitching strangely, and froze over, her mind running in paniced cirles. She would die, she would die the same death those poor security guys had. Wither away until her flesh was black, her eyes sightless... Her flesh was black... the thought triggered something in her mind, flesh. That was it. His body. Alask's body was the key. She ran over, saw the translucent blackness creep over his body and pulled out a small bottle. She removed the cork and without allowing herself to think about what she was about to do, she stepped up to him, reached for his nose with her left hand to close it and pressed the bottle against his lips, tried to pour the contents in. "Swallow Alask. You won't die." she told him just as his eyes flickered red.

That's maybe just imagination on my part, but somehow I thought you can only be rep in your main guild?

I think so, too. But yes, you need to be careful and think about who you choose. Definitly makes the spying part more interesting.

That depends on whether we decide to continue spying. Because if we do continue with it, what you describe is the goal of every spy.

"Thanks." Althea called at Rick and then transported all of them out of the building, so that they were standing next to the remains of the building. Then she turned to Steve and froze. It was Max. "It's you." She smiled at him and for a moment everything was unrelevant, but the fact that he was alive, that she had him back. That he had fought for her, hadn't given her up. That she was so important for him, that he had helped her to look past Sephtis manipulation. Then she turned back to Rick. "You work for Solace, don't you?" She asked Rick. "Why are you here? And what is your role in all this?" @Dr. Dapper

Cool! Congratulations!!!

Cheese and ham. I already have an order for a batch with cheese and ham in them. And one with tomato and meat.

Sure! Visit 6 different households between the 24th and the 26th, be completely stressed out and thankfully back to work on the 27th to finally relax... and food. Lots of food And you?

Could you still do it? @Ark1002 Do you have an estimate when you will find the time for your summaries?

Cursing Lena followed. She barely missed the hatch, clang to it and then toppled inside, falling to the ground.

Althea listened to him. She closed her eyes listened to his words. This was her story. Max and her story. And his emotions, the intensity in eyes, how he looked at her. Max. Only when he fell silent did she open her eyes again, answering his glance. He can't fake that love. She wasn't sure if Sephtis could fake that emotion, or if he couldn't. And yet, she chose to believe him. Reaching out for him she finally found the strength to touch him. Armor, hard plates of armor. Althea sagged in relief, ignored that her eyes still told her that he was someone else. She would take that risk. "Max." She whispered his name and reached out for him again. "Max." And then after a moment. "I messed a part of our plan up. We need a new one, because I'd really like for him to undo whatever he did. I would love to see your face again." Reaching out for him again, she showed him what Sephtis unvoluntarily had shown her, and what she had tried.

Damaya smiled at Klasten when he moved closer to her, unsure why he did this, but at the same time happy that she wasn't alone here. The caverns were beautiful, glowing softly in an eerie flow almost reminding her of stormlight. "You said earlier that you felt like you didn't know enough. Is now a good time for me to teach you?" Smiling again she looked at Nogard and then nodded. "I guess it's as good as it will get." For a moment she was silent and then added. "This is the first time I am away from the place I grew up at, apart from a small Waystop. And I feel utterly useless, like everybody assumes I know what to do, but I don't. I can sew and cook, but I know nothing about a wood, or travelling or making a fire or what ever else they do in the books when exploring an unknown place." Turning her head she looked over at him. "Whatever you want to teach me is fine." @Ookla the Paragon @Ookla the Phoenix

Sure. Like I said basic laws. Not no laws. Easy enough to understand and fow new people to get into the system easily. What @Darth Woodrackhas isn't too far off. But I need to think about that when I'm not tired. Apart from that good night

Basic laws. Nothing too complicated. I'd prefer to keep it to those, a typical good character would keep normally.

I second this. And I feel like we will need some more time to discuss our reforms, and it's christmas in 10 days, with new year afterwards, and I'm not sure if we got sorted everything by then.

Sorry, I miss a lot of pages while asleep, which I will be soon... I simply feel like this is getting so complicated, that while we are trying to reduce how complicated the guilds are, we are creating the same here again. I'm not opposed against the idea in general, don't get me wrong. I just wonder how to really pull this off in rp, without everybody loosing interest pretty soon.

Damaya nodded. Then on an impulse she kneeled down, pressed a hand on the ground. "Hello island. I'm sorry I walked around on you, without saying hi first. I didn't really realize, that you are alive." Embaressed she got back to her feet. "Then let's follow the tunnel and see where it leads us."

Just a proposal: maybe try and focus the gov on something we can actually grasp and use in rp? Put tax up for later, maybe some basic laws, if you feel like we need them, but apart from that, just try it out. If we put too many rules in place right now, in the end I can see it end with the chrysts. Nobody really keeps track of it, because its too complicated. We can always add things, if it works well. As to non-fighters. None of my characters can fight, and I've had lots of fun so far, by trying out alternative solutions and with some creativity. I don't need them to be part of a gov or use economics as leverage.

This might be a stupid question, but what is the gov allowed to do? What is its purpose? If I missed this, I'm sorry...