A Price Unpaid- Gavin, Zephyr, Thea Izra grunted in between clench teeth when Gavin sat her up. The open cut rubbed against itself as she was moved, making it even more awful to deal with than it was. Everything was disoriented, and it was getting harder to breath. Even with the wound closed, she still felt off. It was then a shadow loomed over her, and she felt something cool pass her lips. It shot through her system immediately, dispelling the poison and fixing the rest of the injury that Gavin couldn't fix (though it was mostly taken care of thanks to him). Izra sat straight up, gasping for air as the effects of the potion took hold. "Thank you," she breathed out to Gavin and Zephyr. She wasn't sure what happened, but she felt better than ever and wasn't going to question it for long in this time of crisis. One look around, she could see that Thea was doing her best to stand on her own against the small spiders. Izra furrowed her eyebrows and pulled out a smaller flute, playing a quick tune. Shadows rushed forward, helping the girl dispel the rest of the spiders around her by ripping their legs to shreds, or bashing them against the tree stumps or ground around her. Meanwhile, Selena was floating lifelessly in Gavin's windshield, not moving at all. Maliel scrambled up to her feet, avoiding the blue flames and spiders the best she could as she sprinted toward her sister. "Selena!" Xilyn growled when her magic boost was taken from her. The blue flames would prevent her from getting to her desired target, but the other one was just being guarded by a wind shield. Smirking to herself, Xilyn crossed her arms over her chest and suddenly acceded into the air past her spider children. As Maliel was about to get closer to her sister, she was suddenly struck from the side by a large spider leg and into the spiderweb wall close by. The air was knocked out of the poor girl, and now she was suddenly stuck. "Whoops. Clumsy me..." Xilyn chided as she descended to stand close by Selena. The windshield was proving to be a problem though. Looking to the source, Xilyn outstretched her hand towards Gavin, sending a wave of spiderlings towards Zephyr and Gavin that were spitting out small spats of poison and spiderwebs to ensnare them. Meanwhile Maliel struggled against the webbing, trying to break free. Even more spiders now made their way down to their target in the webs. Maliel started to be encased with the spiderwebs, crying out in frustration as her vision was becoming obscure with webbings.
The explanation didn't make her feel any better. She knew where Qamar was coming from, but her words only canceled each other out. Still, she wasn't going to be the one to voice it out loud to Qamar. The poor girl was already not getting along with anyone else, and the princess of heart didn't want Qamar to take it the wrong way. Besides, they couldn't sit here and discuss their feelings. Not right now anyways. Aria laughed nervously at the comment she was a bright torch in this place and dug her toe in the ground. "Y-yeah, I guess that would make it easy..." That made her nervous as well. "Wait, only Masters can see this light, yeah? No one else can?" Aria asked as she looked up at the ceiling nervously to where she assumed the rest of the baddies were. The last thing she wanted to do was attract attention to them and get them all in trouble. The girl watched with wide eyes as Master Thallasa's magic literally tore through a stone wall into another passageway. She stared blankly for a moment before shaking her head. "R-Right... Gotta keep moving..." After the bard went first, Aria ducked her head and followed after them, standing in the cooler and darker tunnels. "Which way now...?"
“We have friends here,” Aria explained to the bard. “Like I said earlier, we were on a rescue mission and then things got a little crazy. If they don’t make it out on their own, they may need help getting out of here. Or me... or Qamar here. We’re not gonna ask you to come back here.” She didn’t want to explain to the man that she faced death and dire situations a few times before and this wasn’t her first rodeo. It was then the footsteps echoed off the walls and reached Aria’s ears. The girl suddenly dropped down in a defense position and summoned her keyblade. “Stay behind us,” she said in a half-whisper to the bard. When Master Thallasa appeared, Aria sighed out in relief and stood up to a normal pose. “Phew... thank goodness it’s you.” She then glanced at Qamar when Master Thallasa mentioned the girl was supposed to go with Illiana and then back to the Master. “Oh, this is Mr. Fflam Fflewddur. Apparently he was wrongly imprisoned by the Horned King for trespassing. We were in the neighborhood, so I thought ‘Might as well rescue him too’.” Aria shrugged her shoulders and scratched at her cheek with one finger, and then remembered what she did earlier. “Hen Wen is safe, hopefully,” Aria explained to the Master. “I was outnumbered, and backed against a wall outside. I threw her in the moat to get her away from this place, and I couldn’t follow after her before the bandits closed in on me... Gurgi is out there though. Maybe Hen Wen will find him.”
There was no way Qamar could have seen what Aria has done earlier. Still, it was nice that someone believed in her somewhat. Or maybe they were just trying to flatter her. The only one so far who openly said she was capable was Master Thallasa, and Aria knew Master Thallasa seen her fight before making that statement. So it was more believable. Everyone else had just tried to protect her or hold her back... but she wasn’t there now. She was here, and she was handling herself with what was thrown at her. She smiled a bit and then freed the other hand before slipping her pocket knife back into her bag. “There you go...” She stepped back to give the bard some space. Now that they had someone else on their hands to get out of here, Aria wondered if it was really that wise to try to attempt another rescue mission with Fflewddur with them. After all, he said he was an artist earlier. She didn’t want to drag anyone else into this conflict. “I guess the others are going to have to wait,” Aria muttered to herself. “Let’s get you out of here.” She then looked to Qamar. “After that, we’ll figure out what to do next. Unless only one of us should help him out of here while the other goes back for Taran, Illiana, and Master Thallasa?”
Delivery of Cakes- Shawn, Yukyo, Lakoda The egg blast was broken apart by Shawn's magic, and then the spear was thrown towards him. Jy squawked and barely avoided it. He then looked to the ground, seeing that the girl controlling the wagon was about to go back on the road again. Lakoda was moving the cart back on solid road. This was very nerve wracking to say the least, especially with pretty much two against three since Lakoda was focused on driving safely as possible. It was then shadows grabbed on the back wheels of the cart, stopping it in its place. The horses tried to move forward, but they were being held in place with the magic. "Hand over the delivery, and we'll let you go!" The one with the shadow magic shouted from behind them. His hands were out, controlling the shadows to have an iron grip on the wheels. A Price Unpaid- Gavin, Zephyr, Thea Izra was the last to see the flame behind Thea's back as she stood behind everyone else. These mages weren't going to do things willingly, at least they were smart in that regard. Izra sighed and placed her flute down, kicking it to the nearest guard who picked it up right away. She then raised her hands and was about to make her way over to the mayor with Thea when she suddenly felt a searing pain in her right side. Izra gasped and froze in place, unable to speak as she stared ahead. Her ears were suddenly ringing, and her vision became cloudy. It was then Maliel was squirming in the hold, not caring about the knife to her neck. "IZRA! NO!" Izra eyes rolled back and she collapsed on the ground in a heap. She clutched her side, and blood was showing through her fingers. "That was unusually satisfying..." A woman with a creepy cowl over her head and blood red eyes was standing casually behind the group. She was eyeing a knife in her hand with blood on it and traced her fingers along the top of it. "Spiked with my own poison... I wonder how long it will take for her to actually die since I did not hit vital organs..." She smiled and casually licked the knife clean, handing it to one of the mayor's shaky guards standing to the side. "Welcome to my domain, hatchlings. I am Xilyn. When I heard of your arrival, I knew this would be interesting to say the least. And you brought me a banquet I see..." She pointed a finger towards Thea, chuckling darkly. "They're all yours," the mayor declared. He then took his knife from Muriel's throat and shoved her towards the group. "Do with them as you will." "Oh I plan to... They've interfered enough as it was and killed my precious pet..." As the guards and the mayor stepped back into the shadows, walls of spiderwebs popped up, making it impossible for the group to leave easily. Izra was on the ground, writhing in pain and turning pale. "I do prefer young blood," Xylin said as she gestured to Selena, "but my children can feast on your corpses as well." It was then Selena's unconscious body glowed brighter, and the girl lifted her head, crying out while unconscious as more of her life source was painfully taken from her. Xylin glowed as well, smiling evilly at the group before outstretching her hand to the side. "It's time to feast, my children!" There were the sound of high pitch screeching, and spiders the size of medium dogs began to rain down on the group. These spiders' bites could temporarily disorient any unfortunate target and make them even feel temporary sick. Four or five bites from these things, and one would start to feel the poison effects more strongly. They also had very sticky spiderwebs that could temporarily trap targets but people could get away if they used their magic and hacked away at it. It was up to the group to get rid of these pests, protect Maliel, and save Izra and Selena. Village in Peril- Conrad, Everette, Samuel With each blow that was given to the snake by Everette, the creature writhed and hissed outloud, slapping at the water with its tail and sending waves up on the shore. By that time, Samuel had to move out of the way in order not to be dosed by poisoned water. Just as the snake came out of blindness, it was impaled from behind by Conrad. It curled up shrieking in pain before trying to slam its own head against the rocks, but then one of its spikes started to be hammered away. On top of the creatures head where Conrad could see, a mark of sorts was there. Not any ordinary wild creature such as this would have it... The snake, having enough of Conrad's antics, smashed its own head against the rocks to try to get the pest off of its head, sending water everywhere as it writhed and rolled in the water to try to be free of the sword and person on its head.
Aria heard voices up ahead and suddenly ducked into the shadows. She pulled Qamar in with her and put a finger up to her lips while listening in on the conversation. It seemed very one-sided though and that someone was in need of help. Once the dog and the man went away, Aria nodded her head to Qamar that it was probably safe to go out and ventured carefully into the cell. "Hi there, I'm Aria. This is my friend Qamar. You look like you're in a pickle, so let's get you out of there." Aria pulled out a pocket knife from her bag and then went up to the bard, cutting away at the rope carefully. "We're kinda trespassing as well, but we're planning to bail as soon as we can regroup. We were on a rescue mission, but it kind of got crazy and now we're all split up. There we go." Aria freed one of the hands from the ropes and then started to work on the other one. "Looks like the Horned King is capturing all sorts of people today..."
"ACK!" Aria smacked right into Qamar, falling on her bottom. The girl groaned and rubbed her head before shaking it and looking up to see Qamar offering her a hand. "No, they didn't get Hen Wen. I tossed her into the moat. I didn't have time to go after her, but I didn't want to risk them capturing her again if I held onto her." Aria said as she stood up and dusted herself off. "I dunno, maybe Gurgi will be hanging around somewhere and take care of her." The fact that Aria had the target they wanted made sense to why it was thought of Aria would need assistance, but it still left a bad taste in her mouth. The thoughts of Master Choma hiding the fact she was a princess of heart to protect her, and the Council wanting to lock her away, she didn't feel like she could ever be trusted to handle something completely on her own. Then again, it was good to have a helping hand... Even though help wasn't much needed now. "There was a lot of them, but I handled them alright," she finally said. The girl looked back behind her to where she left the door locked by the board, seeing that the bandits were getting anxious and trying to break through now. "Uuuuh, we need to keep moving. I don't know where, but away from all this mess." She then looked to a flight of dimly lit stairs heading downwards and gestured to Qamar. "Let's go, come on." And with that, Aria was off to hurry down the stairs before anyone could spot her.
Funfact #131 More people have a phobia of frogs than rats.
As Aria reached a dead end, she realized she was on her own. Behind her was a balcony of sorts that overlooked a mote, and in front of her were several large men with deadly looking weapons. She held her keyblade tightly in one hand, her mind racing as she was trying to figure out some way out of this. As far as she knew, she was on her own in this situation. The last thing she wanted to do was fail Master Thallasa and lose Hen Wen back to the Horned King. An idea came into her mind. She knew that pigs couldn't fly, but maybe they could swim. Aria suddenly raised her keyblade above her head and shouted with all her might. "THUNDARA!" Lightening rained down from the skies, hitting the bandits closest to her and leaving the rest in confusion. Were they fighting a wizard? Aria then turned to Hen Wen and unsummoned her keyblade, taking off the collar around Hen Wen. "It's alright girl, that's it. You're going to have to swim. Ready?" Aria lifted up the pig to the edge, having to stand on her tiptoes a bit to reach over it. "Swim, Hen Wen!" Aria gave the pig a shove and sent the animal over the edge and heard a splash in the water below. Not being able to have enough time to scramble over the top and go after the creature, Aria hoped for the best for Hen Wen and then summoned her keyblade once more. The bandits had overcome their confusion and little scare and yelled as they raised their weapons to fight her. Aria growled under her breath and lifted up her keyblade, charging boldly at the bandits. She began swinging left and right, remembering her brief training sessions with Torrin a few nights ago. She blocked successfully, and counter-attacked like her life depended on it. She then transformed her keyblade into a spear, knocking back a few more before turning it into a bow and arrow and shooting at one that was scrambling up to get to her. Aria then shoved the doors to the balcony closed and locked it from the inside by pulling a board over it to stop them from opening it quickly. There wasn't time to take a breather though. With her heart racing, Aria took off down a hallway away from the ruckus, hoping that the others were successful in their missions.
Aria dropped down by Qamar with a super hero landing, summoning her keyblade to her hand. “Just pick one!” Aria exclaimed as she stood back up and knocked back some bandits heading her way. The andrenalin was pumping through her heart right about now, and she knew Master Choma would be having a panic attack right about now seeing her put herself in harm’s way like this. She then spied Hen Wen freaking out from all the chaos and trying to get away from the bandit. “Okay, I’ll pick first. I’m getting Hen Wen!” With that, Aria dodgerolled on the floor to avoid more baddies heading her way, going straight toward the one holding the pig hostage. Before he could raise a weapon, Aria yelled furiously and bombarded herself against the man with the keyblade in her hand to throw him off balance. She then picked up Hen Wen in her arm, realizing that this wasn’t a light kitty she could easily carry. “Oof, don’t worry, I got ya,” she assured the poor creature as she adjusted her in one arm and kept the keyblade in the other. She then wrapped the leash around her hand, keeping it in mind to get it off Hen Wen later. Hearing their enemies cry out in frustration and become incredibly louder, Aria cringed and held the pig close as she looked around for a way out. Seeing an opening, she gripped Hen Wen tightly under one arm. “And cue my exit....” With that, she bolted, swinging her keyblade at anyone who got too close and ran out of the throne room as fast as she could.
"And then what?" Aria whispered to Qamar as she kept her voice low. "I mean that group of heartless earlier nearly wiped us all out. And I don't know about you guys, but I don't feel up to my full strength. There's more enemies here than back there..." She then made a face at herself. "Yeesh, now I'm sounding like a pessimistic..." Shaking her head slightly, she snapped out of it. "We wait, but what do we do after we wait? Hope they bring out Hen Wen? And then try to take them on if something happens...?" She didn't like their prospects, but if they had to fight, Aria was willing to put her all into it.
Aria gave Glyde a thumbs up before heading after Master Thallasa. She looked back to Illiana and Qamar, wondering how they were holding up. She knew they had it rough starting out, and she figured something happened while she was talking to Master Thallasa. Like a small disagreement or misunderstanding. She didn’t feel like bringing it up then unless they did. It was then she was met with the awful smell and covered her mouth with the collar of her shirt. “Ewww! It smells super grooooss... Uck, what is that?” She then looked around the place and cringed. “N-never mind, I probably don’t want to know.” The place was giving her the creeps, and she felt highly on guard. Speaking of which, she looked to Master Thallasa and dropped her voice so Taran didn’t hear but the Master could. “Something’s bothering me... how did Dallben get here before us? I didn’t see any other dragons fly ahead or any groups of monsters or whatever heading to the castle... unless we missed them somehow while we were fighting the heartless in the woods...”
View attachment 49193 This was starting to remind Aria of when Quietus was around... There was a lack of two blood red moons in the sky though, and only an ominous feeling was in the air. She couldn't be afraid now. She already faced deadly things before, and this was going to be an occupational hazard from here on out. There was no cushy, somewhat quiet life on the farm anymore. She would constantly have to be on the go until all of the worlds and realms were peaceful and sound. She was just as weary as Master Thallasa. After meeting the Light Chaser, she knew that nothing was as it seems. So after seeing Dallben suddenly there, she was flabbergasted. And on high alert. How did he get there before them? Why was their no one jumping at them right now? Wouldn't this place be crawling with heartless or baddies? She glanced cautiously at Master Thallasa and then to... Hopefully it was real Dallben. "We're ready," she said with acting confidence. Still, this was really weird circumstances.
A Price Unpaid- Gavin, Zephyr, Thea Izra nodded her head and decided to proceed with everyone else. She remembered the way to Xislyn from this area, having ventured here one or two times with Kyo. "Stay close," she warned. "And try not to touch the spiderwebs... It could be hers or her little... spiderlings." She shivered at the thought and held her flute tightly in her hand as they went deeper into the swamp. There was a thin path through the thickets and spiderwebs that forced the group to walk single file. There were many spider sacs of different sizes appearing around them; some looking like helpless insects that ventured in too close, forest creatures that made the mistake of coming this way, or unsuspecting birds being ensnared. But the group couldn't be too sure what they were since they were wrapped thick in spider webs, just the sizes appeared to be those things. The group came closer to a large clearing overshadowed by trees where the spiderwebs became bigger and draped everywhere around them. Only thin streams of moonlight shone through the trees to light the area around them. There were spider cocoons in the size and shape of small and medium humans everywhere one would look. Right in front of them was a ginormous tree lined with red and black candles ablaze in lanterns, and a familiar figure wrapped in black silk webs that glowed with a sort of blue aurora that disappeared around the huge tree. Her head was down, her arms outstretched on either side of her body being held back with thick string-like substance while her feet hung straight down. Izra stopped only for a second, gazing at the figure for a moment. Seeing the familiar blonde hair, her face lit up and her eyes widened. "Selena..." She was about to rush forward when someone stepped from around the tree. "Not a step closer, or the girl dies," Mayor Nudgav declared. He had Muriel with him, but it appeared she didn't come willingly. One of Maliel's arm pinned painfully behind her back by Mayor Nudgav to keep her still, and a knife pressed dangerously close to her throat. The guards that were in the village earlier also appeared from around the tree, pointing their spears at the group. Maliel looked to the group with wild eyes and then she closed them for a moment. "J-Just get Selena! Don't worry about me-!" She cried out when her arm was pulled more behind her and the knife dug into her skin barely. "Silence, traitor," the mayor hissed. He then looked to the group, his eyes landing on Izra. He raised an eyebrow, and then saw the flute and the cloak on her. Soon, the man broke out into a smile and chuckled darkly. "So this is Necos... I assumed all of this time you were male. And you fell right in my trap..." Izra clenched her fist. "Let them go! And we'll walk away peacefully." "Bah!" Mayor Nudgav blurted out. "After all the trouble you put us through? You've taken most of our precious children away from us. Why surrender now? You've meddled too much in our affairs... Now. You have something I want." He looked over to Thea. "If you really value Maliel and Selena's lives, you will hand over 'Necos' and that fire mage to me... If not, I will slit her throat right here. And Selena will become a dry husk in a matter of seconds instead of a few weeks..." "That's not a fair trade!" Izra argued. The knife barely grazed across Maliel's skin, making her gasp as a trickle of blood went down her neck. "I'm getting impatient..." The group must decide what to do. Somehow ambush the mayor and get past the guards, go through with the trade, or fight. The choice is yours. Village in Peril- Conrad, Everette, Samuel Samuel nodded his head at the two and then rubbed his hands together. "Alright, here we go..." He went on the embankment of the river, and found a sort of rocky ledge to stand on. He then put his fingers in his mouth and let out a shrill whistle. "Hey you overgrown reptile! Over here!" The giant snake lifted its head and turned to Samuel. It nearly towered over him, and suddenly the mage felt tiny compared to it. It hissed and then opened its mouth to show pearly fangs glinting in the moonlight while bobbing its head back and forth looking for a chance to strike. Samuel acted as fast as possible and held out both of his hands towards the snake. "Eat this!" Samuel yelled. A radiant ball of light glowed in-between both hands, cascading light in every direction. The snake threw its head back in the air, blinded by the radiant glow coming from Samuel. Now was the time to move.
It's here! The new trailer came out today! Seems like Toothless is gonna get a girlfriend~ Ooo la laaaa. I am super hyped about this. We just had a marathon with the HTTYD movies this last week back and back. There's so many questions and concerns though! Like this is the last of the trilogy?! What's gonna happen??? HICCUP HAS A BEARD! And what does Hiccup mean by "There WERE dragons when I was a boy"? It seems like March is an eternity away, but this looks so adorable and exciting. I can't wait for this!!! What about you guys?
So I've liked this artist since around 2010. I came across them on accident and I've been loving them ever since. And then when I tried to share my love for this artist with the RPA chat, I realized I was kind of lonely in liking this band. :'D I mean, they disbanded about three years ago, but I still enjoy listening to them. Does anyone else listen to them? Some of my favorite songs are:
"Master Thallasa knows what she's talking about," Aria assured. Even though she didn't know the master that well. They really didn't have much of a choice though. Their masters were kept behind for some weird reason, and she was sent in their place. Hopefully the plans would work and they could get the pig back soon.
Aria rubbed the back of her head when Master Thallasa warned her not to dive head first into danger for now on. "I know, I'm learning to stay back when I can." But if her friends were in danger, and there was no choice, she would jump in a heartbeat. She would just have to be careful and pick when it would be best to intervene and when to let someone else handle it. "I don't need someone to keep an eye on me every moment though," Aria said with a small smile. The Princess of Heart knew it was not true though. Had she been any other warrior in the group, it wouldn't be the case. But since she was a pure of heart... that changed things. She thought to the communicator, and how she was missing someone's company right about now. If she wasn't so busy with a mission, she probably would have called him already. But he was probably busy as well. Aria caught bits and pieces of the conversations going on ahead and glanced at the castle once more. It sounded like they were going to head into the place with lots of darkness... Aria bit her lower lip. After facing death at least two times, she knew she couldn't stay lucky for long. But she was going to fight to the end, that was a given. She remembered how excited she was to go off into the worlds and team up with other keyblade wielders. Now the enthusiasm was lost. All she wanted was peace and to somehow help bring order once more in these troubled times.
How I found white noise was an accident. When I was around 9, I turned on a fan one summer when it was super hot, and I've been hooked since. Before that, I used to have really bad nightmares, and I constantly hear ringing in my ears when it was super quiet which made noises in the sleep realm 10x louder than what they should have been. When it was too quiet at night, that's when the bad dreams started and I couldn't sleep very well. Cue the fan, and the white noise canceled out the silence and the dreams almost completely. I can't sleep without white noise/my fan anymore. I just don't get good enough sleep otherwise.
Aria looked at Master Thallasa with wide eyes and then held up her own arm with the bracelet on the wrist. She dropped her voice lowly too so she wouldn't interrupt the conversation ahead of them. "Y-yeah... I actually feel really out of it and I felt most of the hits. I mean, I felt hits before, but this time I could really feel it. It still won't come off though." She tugged at it to try to pull it off and then it tightened, refusing to budge from her wrist. "I think... It was because Torrin and I were hit with that blast from Quietus. Maybe the protective magic burned out..." She knew it was working before that blast. This was the first time it seemed to have lost its protective touch and now she was just as vulnerable as everyone else.
