Plotlogs
Seeds Of Fate Sr Elias 250111
In the mystical lands of Navorost, adventurers find themselves embarking on a perilous journey to retrieve the Essence of Life, believed to be at the heart of a jungle that is both alluring and menacing. Juniper and Victoria, alongside Elias and the winged Castiel, set forth into the jungle, against a backdrop of skewed reality and entrapping vegetation, to claim an artifact marked by legend.
The jungle itself proves to be a living enigma, its captivating beauty laced with danger. The flora and fauna, bathed in ever-shifting hues and emitting bizarre, haunting sounds, test the resolve and sanity of the group. The environment responds to their intrusion with beguiling visions and aggressive wildlife, culminating in an encounter with a massive, otherworldly plant creature, intent on their demise.
Juniper’s ecological expertise and Victoria’s archery, combined with Castiel's divine prowess and Elias’s leadership, enable them to face the flora's guardian. The intense battle is punctuated by moments of awe for the ecosystem's beauty and the grim resolution that its destruction is necessary. Elias's capture of the Essence of Life, an acorn symbolizing new beginnings, comes at the cost of the jungle's vitality, triggering its collapse and a wave of death that consumes its once vibrant essence.
This climax serves as a profound moment for the adventurers, particularly for Juniper, whose connection to the natural world makes the loss deeply unsettling. The realization that two more artifacts remain on their quest adds a somber undertone to their victory, suggesting further challenges and ethical dilemmas ahead. Elias’s comment about closing the door to a place hints at lost opportunities and the bittersweet nature of their success. Standing amidst the ruins of what was once a test of their strength and unity, the adventurers are left to contemplate the true cost of their quest and the fragile balance between achieving one’s objectives and the unintended consequences that follow.
(Seeds of Fate(SRElias):SRElias)
[Fri Jan 10 2025]
On Within the borders of Navorost
Slightly smaller than Westrend, Navorost has a temperate to tropical climate, and many fertile coastal regions, with rivers that travel deep inland. The Kingdom of Nar controls a great deal of the continent, and the People have settled here in many different nomadic tribes as well. There are rumors that the Illarin Empire plans to expand their borders into Navorost.
It is night, about 71F(21C) degrees, and the sky is partly covered by wispy white clouds. There is a waxing gibbous moon.
Juniper would show up in a sudden absence of light and then, -poof-, a blonde and a brunette woman stand in the forest of the Wilds together. Flicking at a torn piece of fabric on her shirt with mild annoyance, the blonde woman waits in the relative familiarity of these woods for any sign of others and of course, word from Elias. She nudges Victoria next to her with an elbow gently. "Tell him his tab is getting too high to afford us lately."
"Too high? He finally took us somewhere warm," Victoria grins to Juniper. "How many of these damn artifacts can there be?" She flicks a hand through her hair before looking to make sure Elias was in fact, not present to overhear.
"Too damn many," Juniper states fervently. "The tablet, the artifacts to find the artifacts to find the artifacts..." She rolls her hand in the air. "It's an addiction to magical items, I'm beginning to think. We're just feeding his insatiable appetite."
The sky is torn asunder. The sheer speed in the trajectory of it parts clouds in its wake within a straight, destructive line that approaches, wreathed in flame and smoke, and a faint trace of mist. Not too far from the border, however, that dot in the sky begins to grow and grow -- until it becomes clear that the streak of white skirting through the heaveans is approaching.
Where there would be collusion, there is only a swirl of dust in its impact. Soft as a feather, light as a whisper, paused right above the ground and howering slowly, silently, upon massive wings that are far larger than he is, is Castiel. They beat once more to cast dirt and dust astray, before folding wholly. Furled back beneath his clothes, obscured wholly with the draw of his coat upon his shoulders.
When the others arrive, Elias stands among the trees of the Navorost forests, looking upon what appears to be a wall of vegetation that resembles a jungle. From outside, the jungle emits strange sounds. The air is filled with a constant cacophony of bird calls, animal cries, and insect buzzing. These sounds, though reminiscent of any tropical forest, are subtly wrong. They echo unnaturally, overlapping and distorting in ways that make it hard to discern direction or distance. Those observing sometimes hear faint whispers or melodies, an unsettling undertone to the jungle's natural noises, as though it is calling them closer. Some claim to see brief glimpses of paradise within golden gardens, radiant light, or even familiar figures beckoning them forward. The jungles colors are equally mesmerizing and disconcerting. The plants seem to shimmer, their hues shifting subtly as one moves. Flowers bloom and close in hypnotic rhythms, releasing faint, sparkling mists into the air. These mists swirl and form patterns that seem almost deliberate, their movements enticing yet impossible to fully comprehend. The air carries a mix of scents sweet and floral, but also sharp and metallic triggering both fascination and unease. Despite its allure, the jungle exudes a menacing aura. Observers often feel as though theyre being watched, though there is no clear source. Shadows play tricks on the eyes, and the movement of leaves and branches sometimes seems too deliberate, as though the jungle is aware of its surroundings.
Elias staring off into the jungle with his gray-blue gaze, he looks back to the others that start gathering, "Well, it seems like this will be an interesting expedition. We will have to make it to the center of that and it will likely be very challenging. What we are searching for is the Essence of Life within. It is a seed that looks very much like an acorn if the legends are accurate, but as far as I know, any that have ever seen it have never made it out of there alive. Anyone that wants to turn back, probably should do it now. I have confidence we will be able to make it in and out of there. We have faced far worse."
"Essence of Life," Juniper repeats with a soft sigh. "Filled with all the lost ones that never came out, huh?" she asks, probably rhetorically. They've been here before. Quite a few times, as it stands. "Well. At least if we go out, we go out together," she theorizes next with a chipper sort of tone to that otherwise slightly bleak statement. "Do we just... walk right on in? Or is there a sneaky way?" For this, she's looking to someone, though she does pass an interested glance to Castiel as well, momentarily.
"Essence of Life," Juniper repeats with a soft sigh. "Filled with all the lost ones that never came out, huh?" she asks, probably rhetorically. They've been here before. Quite a few times, as it stands. "Well. At least if we go out, we go out together," she theorizes next with a chipper sort of tone to that otherwise slightly bleak statement. "Do we just... walk right on in? Or is there a sneaky way?" For this, she's looking to Elias, though she does pass an interested glance to Castiel as well, momentarily.
"Actually... all of us here can get an aerial perspective if needed, can't we?" Juniper recalls thoughtfully, assessing each of those gathered here this night.
Victoria coughs out a soft laugh at the blonde. "It'll all make sense eventually I'm sure." She narrows her eyes ahead, chewing the corner of her lower lip in thought.
"How pessimistic."
Castiel's words are given in a similar side-way glance given to Juniper. They don't hold heat to them, chastisement or even tease. It's as if he speaks it as a mere fact. He dismisses the notion with a subtle, slight shake of his head. "Whatever is here, as a threat, leave them to me. I will act the shield."
Though how he plans to do that, considering he wears no armor on his person, is dubious, especially because he only has a chipped and nearly worn to breaking point sword strapped at the back of his belt, hanging loosely.
"If you will lead, I will be your cover."
Elas runs his fingers through his hair as the others debate strategy on how to approach this strange 'jungle' in front of them. Between the suggestions of flight or the angel's suggestion of just plowing through the jungle, he takes a deep breath, "Well, which way will we do? Just start cutting our way through or are we going to scout from above?"
"If this place is warded, I would imagine it would be from all angles?" Juniper asks, wrinkling her brow, though she turns in exasperation to look at both Elias and Castiel. "Please tell me you know a little about the arcane so that I can stop trying to twist my more natural brain ecosystem around what's possible and what isn't?" she pleads in some frustration towards them both, thought he question seems to be lobbed at Castiel.
It seems Victoria is game for either of the suggestions, as she lifts a shoulder in a shrug, then turns along with Juniper with lifted brows awaiting their answers.
"I'm ready to just slink through the bushes and find out if it burns," Juniper admits, hiking her backpack straps up high on her shoulders. "Unless that sounds ridiculous to the resident mad scientist."
Victoria says "There is nothing wrong with slinking."
Castiel's eyes shift upon Juniper more fully, narrowing, burrowing, and they are just as unblinking as they ever could be. Staring with an uncanny depth to the smoldering ambers. "No. I do not dabble in magic." He is a warrior, a blade forged to be used - what use is information to that end? Warded or no, he seems the type to bulldoze through it if he only could. For now, though, he defers to their judgement. "I will scout from up above."
With that said, Juniper nods to Castiel then, not bothering to hide the wheels in her head immediately turning with the severely unbalanced knowledge base of the group. "Alright. Smash and grab flavour... our house specialty," she murmurs, upnodding to Castiel and then gently putting a hand to Victoria's arm. "Ready to get in close and at least... see what it sort of feels or smells like?"
"Well.... I am not sure if it exactly a ward." Elias starts to explain as he glances back towards the jungle behind him, "I think it is like.... If you tore a hole between the planes and another one leaked into ours... I mean... That is what it kind of feels like... But..." He just trails off on that thought before sighing.
When Castiel goes airborne and gains altitude over the jungle canopy, it is more dense than one might expect. Its surface like a solid mat of green woven tightly, perhaps a trick of the eye, but it seems like its surface occasionally moves. For the gaps that Castiel can perceive through with his keen eagle-eyed vision, there seems to be something akin to a golden fog within. It would be rather challenging to enter from above and perhaps even more dangerous than entering from the ground level, since once you were below the canopy, you could no longer depend on flight in any reliable sort of way due to the density of the growth.
"As ready as it gets," Victoria nods toward Juniper with a tumble of hair around her shoulders. "Let's go."
Juniper stalks to the wavery edge of jungle where reality starts to feel less familiar and, making sure to step out ahead of Victoria, she goes ahead and pushes past that threshold in a slow and careful motion, as if it might set off ripples if she were too unruly. Braced for possible electric shock, total obliteration, or just a magical tickle - she takes another step.
No dice, then. It takes on descent, and Castiel, who had gone airborne and out sight, lands back exactly where he had. Merely a step, a swirl of wind and not a crash with nothing disturbed in lieu of the grace he carries himself with. "It's futile, the trees are too many." It's his turn, to then affirm what Victoria acknowledged in Juniper, by agreeing with her. "We will have to go on-foot, the dome is too thick to see." That said, he's already reaching for his belt behind to draw his sword. His tattered, so very old iron - to be used as a tool for passage, in the delivery of each blade stroke that would surely tear their way through. At least, it will be - when Castiel starts to follow Victoria and Juniper to pave a path for them where necessary.
Victoria is too curious to be brushed aside, and is well on Juniper's heels, clicking her tongue on the roof of her mouth. "Wonderful," is her only sentiment.
Entering first with Juniper, Victoria, and Castiel with Elias in with them somewhere, they quickly see that the jungle is an experience that transcends mere exploration. it feels like stepping into a sentient, alien world that resists and tests every intruder. The air changes immediately upon crossing its threshold, becoming heavy with humidity and rich with an intoxicating mix of floral sweetness and earthy decay. Each breath carries the faint metallic tang of spores. The towering trees create a near-impenetrable canopy overhead, casting the interior in perpetual twilight. Rays of light that manage to pierce the dense foliage refract through the mist, creating surreal rainbows that dance among the leaves. The ground is a chaotic tangle of roots, moss, and strange plants, forcing careful navigation to avoid tripping or stepping into something dangerous. The jungle feels alive, not merely in the way of a thriving ecosystem but as a unified entity, watching, listening, and subtly reacting to the intruders.
There are flickers of movement in the corners of your vision, whispers that seem to come from nowhere. Over time, they grow more intense, blending seamlessly with the jungles sights and sounds. You might see ghostly figures walking beside you, hear the voices of lost loved ones, or glimpse visions of the Essence of Life itself, just out of reach. The jungle seems to know your deepest desires and fears, using them to manipulate and disorient you. Reality becomes slippery, and every step feels uncertain. Despite the overwhelming danger, the jungle is also breathtakingly beautiful. Flowers of impossible colors bloom around you, some emitting a soft, enchanting glow. Bioluminescent fungi light your path in eerie, shifting hues. Strange creatures move among the trees, some ethereal and graceful, others monstrous and grotesque.
Pausing before long, Elias turns to the adventurers, "I don't feel like we are making any progress. I do not feel right, this place has a strange hold on me it seems." He explains he reaches into his pocket, pulling out a handkerchief covering his nose and mouth, murmuring through the fabric, "I do think there is something strange about these spores."
Juniper couldn't care MORE about the spores. Her eyes as wide as a cat on catnip, she is looking around at the plants and this wholly different ecosystem that overloads her good senses and her regular ones too.
"June?" Victoria places a hand on Juniper's shoulder, tilting her head to the side as she stares about herself. There's a wrinkle of her nose, and a subtle narrow of her eyes. "I don't like it," she decides, agreeing with someone despite the look of awe she gives the surroundings.
"June?" Victoria places a hand on Juniper's shoulder, tilting her head to the side as she stares about herself. There's a wrinkle of her nose, and a subtle narrow of her eyes. "I don't like it," she decides, agreeing with Elias despite the look of awe she gives the surroundings.
"How fascinating..." Juniper murmurs, following the drift of a lazy fluffy seed like a lure until her name from Victoria's lips has her pulled back to a sense of responsibility. "Vic?" she asks in return, looking back to the other woman and then to someone who is beginning to cover her nose. Again, the wheels seem to be turning in the form of a furrowed brow this time and she drops to a knee to rummage through her pack. Hauling out a gas mask, she pulls it over her face and waits... to feel any different or not.
"How fascinating..." Juniper murmurs, following the drift of a lazy fluffy seed like a lure until her name from Victoria's lips has her pulled back to a sense of responsibility. "Vic?" she asks in return, looking back to the other woman and then to Elias who is beginning to cover her nose. Again, the wheels seem to be turning in the form of a furrowed brow this time and she drops to a knee to rummage through her pack. Hauling out a gas mask, she pulls it over her face and waits... to feel any different or not.
In the midst of their slow trek through the the uncertainty, Castiel's wings - only half their set, is unfurled. Accompanying their path is now the occasional gust of wind, beating where applicable, possible, driving away much of the foreign scents and critters by sheer force - and most of all, efforting to beat away the spores with each motion that moves as if he yearns to start a tempest. Beyond it, not much is seen, and in it, Castiel resorts to only watching the two - lead more thana leading, following in his momentary, almost stoic silence. It only belies his observation, keeping his senses sharp, focused - alert for any danger while the group is more focused on the more indirect and least immediately fatal thing in their journey.
Juniper stands up straight, taking slow, steady breaths from her mask and looks around her, holding up a hand in a sort of 'halt' motion, suggesting perhaps that something /does/ seem different now that the mask is on. She takes a good look around them, doing a slow 360.
"I've no idea where we are," Juniper admits to the others without sounding defeated about it. It just seems matter of fact. "And it all looks the same." She lifts her chin, scratching at the front of her neck with her blunt fingernails. "But I'm about ready to ask whatever is flitting around in the shadows what happens next. Either by word or sword. Anyone else see them?"
Each of you at least for a moment felt dizzy, confused, and have seen things that were not really there. It doesn't take long for you to realize that you are rather confused on which way you came in from, which way you are going. Your footprints have seem to disappeared into the moss covering the ground, overwhelming floral scents mask any scent trails, and even cuts into the undergrowth seem to have recovered rapidly. Elias himself doesn't say anything at the moment, looking in each direction, but it seems obvious that even for him, he has no concept of where he is.
Victoria's hand drops from Juniper's shoulder when her footsteps stop, and she twirls slowly in place. "I'm not sure I know what I see right now," she admits, settling a stare onto Elias without further comment.
Juniper heaves a great sigh of one who has reached another dead end within a labyrinth. "We keep walking?" She pulls out a compass from her pocket to peer at it and its behaviour to see if they can set a course they can trust.
"We could set it on fire," Victoria muses completely seriously for a brief moment.
"Well, we can't just stand here." Elias offers as he shifts his gray-blue gaze about, trying to find some kind of landmark but there are none. Just trees upon trees, covered in vines, flowers, and other plant-life. A literal maze of trees. But there is something of note, the jungle grows deathly quiet, The sudden silence is unnerving, but before anyone can voice their concern, a faint rustling grows louder, coming from the dense foliage ahead. The air seems to grow thicker as a massive, otherworldly plant unfurls from the jungle floor, rising with a slow, deliberate menace. The plant towers above the adventurers, its central stalk thick as a tree trunk and covered in a glossy, dark green sheen. Its enormous leaves spread out like jagged, organic shields, each edged with rows of sharp, thorn-like spines. At its core is a gaping maw resembling a monstrous flower, its "petals" a deep, blood-red hue and lined with teeth-like structures that glisten with venomous sap. Tendrils sprout from its base, writhing and curling like serpents, each tipped with sharp, claw-like appendages. With a sudden lurch, the plant strikes, one of its tendrils snapping forward like a whip. The adventurers scatter, narrowly avoiding the deadly strike as it slams into the ground with enough force to leave a crater. The plant's maw opens wider, emitting a low, guttural sound that reverberates through the air, a haunting blend of a growl and a wet hiss.
Castiel's eyes snap over Victoria, Elias and Juniper's shoulder into that patch of darkness shifting and swirling in the deathly quiet. The bend of that flower, of its petals sinking under their own weight, is enough to command Castiel's attention - force him to hold that sword tighter, fold his wings in closer. It's strike, trying to land where they were, is met by the disappearance of an Angel from the near, immediate vicinity. Not at all in a stroke of luck but by a single, masterful step drawing him away.
Then comes the riposte, in Castiel's lunge, in the draw of that sword. The air catches aflame surrounding it. Divine flame made manifest - and he moves with it, moves with the purpose of volatile violence in seeking to strike the hissing plant right on the spine.
There's definite awe in Juniper's features as she looks upon the great plant that rises up in front of them. Her gawking is broken by the forceful whip of course - quick reflexes and natural fighter's stance allowing them to tumble out of the way. But even as she stands again, braced and ready she is looking at it with intense curiosity and contemplation. Naturally, her response to the plant isn't shared by the others and Castiel wastes no time in going after it. "Fire /is/ likely the best way to deal with a diseased plant," Juniper remarks to Victoria, given her earlier quip. And fire seems to be what Castiel brings.
Juniper can do lots of things and stuff too.
Castiel flourishes his sword.
"Thank you for not wanting to keep it," Victoria tells Juniper, once moved from the immediate path. Her head turns then, a keen interest shown at the prospect of whatever that plant is meeting a fiery demise.
"I never said that," Juniper replies with a distracted smirk, making sure she is concentrating more on staying out of the way of tendrils with claw like appendages and such. "But I'm not sure I could talk it into rooming with me in the greenhouse."
"I will /move/," Victoria punctuates her sentence of reply to Juniper with the stomp of one foot as she steps further back.
Where the plant cracked one of its whip-like vine appendages at Castiel, almost faster than the naked eye could allow, the angel is no longer there, but slicing his blade bathed in divine flames into the plant's stalk. It is likely Castiel has struck trees with his blade in the past, but somehow this feels different. It is almost like bashing his blade against steel. This doesn't mean it does nothing, because it does far from that. His blade sinks into the carnivorous plant deeply, sending sparks and thick sappy fluid spurting out. However, its vines whirl about it, trying to pry that angel off of itself as the hiss of flame rolls against its plant-hide. It might have had interest in devouring Juniper, Victoria, and Elias but now, Castiel has its sole attention. Well, sort of. One of its whips whirls out, narrowly missing Victoria's head, but hitting Elias the chest, tearing into his shirt, and sending him flying into the air, slamming painfully against a tree. Luckily for him, when he lands onto the ground, it is nice soft moss to break his fall.
Victoria seems quite agitated at the near-miss that causes her to duck, and she aims an arrow at whatever's left of the plant in a clear act of retaliation. "You should have said that," she tells Juniper. "You're not /sure/?"
There is momentary shock and distress that passes over Juniper when Elias goes flying - a hesitant movement that makes it look like she might run for him. But the his soft moss bed cradles him and the blonde looks at the chaos still ensuing. Not looking for another repeat event of that strike against someone, Juniper decides that while the plant is distracted by Castiel, she will attempt to at least stab her hunting knife into anything and everything she can find purchase on.
There is momentary shock and distress that passes over Juniper when Elias goes flying - a hesitant movement that makes it look like she might run for him. But the his soft moss bed cradles him and the blonde looks at the chaos still ensuing. Not looking for another repeat event of that strike against Elias, Juniper decides that while the plant is distracted by Castiel, she will attempt to at least stab her hunting knife into anything and everything she can find purchase on.
"Do /you/ speak otherworldly carnivorous plant?" Juniper asks Victoria in a distracted voice full of faux levity.
Victoria stares incredulously at Juniper in a wordless reply that carries a faint amusement.
With arrows flying through the air, pelting the large plant in precision locations, Victoria stapling some of its vines to trees nearby with skill. Juniper moves forward, using her knowledge of plant-life to do something she can hardly bring herself to do, fatally wound a plant, but she does. Stabbing her knife into the creature, she finds some vital spot and it screeches as she does. The angel himself, continues to press his weight into his blade, sliding ever further into the plant with the hissing of burning tissues before his sword finally cuts clean through and the plant crumples to the ground, dead. A few of the vines react to stimuli still, but largely, the plant is dead. Elias pushes himself to his feet with a wince, grumbling something about a shirt, but he seems like he will recover just fine. A hint of light can be seen just ahead. The group push through the final stretch of the jungle's defenses, they stumble into a clearing that seems to glow with an unnatural light. At the center of this radiant space, resting atop a pedestal of tangled, luminescent roots, lies the Essence of Life, a seed resembling a perfect acorn, its surface shimmering with hues of gold and emerald. A faint, pulsing light emanates from within, as if the relic itself possesses a heartbeat.
Juniper has to pry herself away truly, from the plant, to continue their endeavour. Wiping her blade on her uniform pants she casts another regretful look behind her before they approach the new clearing with pedestal of roots. "Essence of Life," she repeats aloud to no one in particular. "How fitting. To be an acorn. How perfect a beginning an acorn is," she reminisces - clearly fully in her nerd form still given the surroundings.
Victoria is still blinking at the bits of dead plant surrounding her, but follows along as Juniper moves toward the artifact, hissing out a quiet "Ew," with a final look at the vines.
Looking upon the acorn, Elias glances back to Juniper and Victoria with a smile, still wearing his shredded shirt, "Look, we made it." And then he starts walking towards the pillar, his gray-blue eyes drifting around, looking for anything out of place, "Do either of you see any signs of traps? or anything out of place?"
Juniper shifts in closer to someone, taking her eyes off the acorn to assess his chest momentarily. "You're alright?" she murmurs quietly to the man, putting a hand gently against his upper arm. At his question though, she looks back, assessing the luminous roots and the acorn with an ecologists eyes but... she shrugs faintly in answer. "Nothing that I can tell. I don't feel strange or see anything strange. Just... peacefully beautiful."
Juniper shifts in closer to Elias, taking her eyes off the acorn to assess his chest momentarily. "You're alright?" she murmurs quietly to the man, putting a hand gently against his upper arm. At his question though, she looks back, assessing the luminous roots and the acorn with an ecologists eyes but... she shrugs faintly in answer. "Nothing that I can tell. I don't feel strange or see anything strange. Just... peacefully beautiful."
"Nothing here," Victoria shakes her head. "Get your acorn," she urges Elias with a grin.
With the support of Juniper and Victoria on claiming what he has been looking for, Elias reaches over and picks up the acorn off the pedestal. The moment the Essence of Life is plucked from its pedestal, an eerie stillness falls over the jungle. The vibrant glow surrounding the clearing flickers and fades, and the once-lush vegetation begins to wither almost instantly. The radiant plants lose their color, their leaves curling and crumbling into ash. The towering trees groan as their bark splits and their limbs droop, shedding decayed leaves onto the ground. A ripple of death spreads outward from the pedestal, consuming the jungle in waves. The air, once thick with the sweet, earthy scent of life, turns sour and acrid. The ground beneath their feet, once teeming with roots and greenery, cracks and dries, revealing patches of barren soil. The jungle's dying throes are not quiet. A cacophony of creaking wood and collapsing vines fills the air, punctuated by the guttural cries of unseen creatures retreating into the shadows. Even the spores, once a constant threat, lose their golden shimmer and fall lifelessly to the ground like dull grains of sand.
There's a near visceral reaction from Juniper as the ecosystem around them dies and the beauty is sucked from existence. She inhales sharply, a gasp of regret that joins in the sounds of the jungle's dying. Around them she turns her head, taking in the fall of the place with a pained expression, a deep furrow between her brows. No stabbing, or dismemberment or death has brought on this look in their previous adventures. But this time...
"It was the best thing to do," Victoria tells Juniper softly, leaning against her momentarily.
With the death of the jungle, the sun can be clearly seen rising along the horizon. It is a reminder when one life sets, another breaches for a new dawn. Not seeming to have the same reaction as Juniper did to it, Elias notes, "Just two more and I will have all that I need." He claims, looking back towards Juniper and Victoria and then he himself seems to be hit by something. Not the loss of the forest, but the empathy of seeing Juniper's reaction. He sighs, noting "Well my love, the door just closed to where all of that came from. That is a place we could visit if we wanted...." He trails off for a moment, seeming to realize what he just said.
Juniper looks to someone, a struggle to reconcile loss in the face of such immediate destruction with the bigger picture. She nods to him though, the words perhaps not entirely sinking in. Instead she focuses on the first statement with a sort of muttered, "Two more..."
Juniper looks to Elias, a struggle to reconcile loss in the face of such immediate destruction with the bigger picture. She nods to him though, the words perhaps not entirely sinking in. Instead she focuses on the first statement with a sort of muttered, "Two more..."
The jungle itself proves to be a living enigma, its captivating beauty laced with danger. The flora and fauna, bathed in ever-shifting hues and emitting bizarre, haunting sounds, test the resolve and sanity of the group. The environment responds to their intrusion with beguiling visions and aggressive wildlife, culminating in an encounter with a massive, otherworldly plant creature, intent on their demise.
Juniper’s ecological expertise and Victoria’s archery, combined with Castiel's divine prowess and Elias’s leadership, enable them to face the flora's guardian. The intense battle is punctuated by moments of awe for the ecosystem's beauty and the grim resolution that its destruction is necessary. Elias's capture of the Essence of Life, an acorn symbolizing new beginnings, comes at the cost of the jungle's vitality, triggering its collapse and a wave of death that consumes its once vibrant essence.
This climax serves as a profound moment for the adventurers, particularly for Juniper, whose connection to the natural world makes the loss deeply unsettling. The realization that two more artifacts remain on their quest adds a somber undertone to their victory, suggesting further challenges and ethical dilemmas ahead. Elias’s comment about closing the door to a place hints at lost opportunities and the bittersweet nature of their success. Standing amidst the ruins of what was once a test of their strength and unity, the adventurers are left to contemplate the true cost of their quest and the fragile balance between achieving one’s objectives and the unintended consequences that follow.
(Seeds of Fate(SRElias):SRElias)
[Fri Jan 10 2025]
On Within the borders of Navorost
Slightly smaller than Westrend, Navorost has a temperate to tropical climate, and many fertile coastal regions, with rivers that travel deep inland. The Kingdom of Nar controls a great deal of the continent, and the People have settled here in many different nomadic tribes as well. There are rumors that the Illarin Empire plans to expand their borders into Navorost.
It is night, about 71F(21C) degrees, and the sky is partly covered by wispy white clouds. There is a waxing gibbous moon.
Juniper would show up in a sudden absence of light and then, -poof-, a blonde and a brunette woman stand in the forest of the Wilds together. Flicking at a torn piece of fabric on her shirt with mild annoyance, the blonde woman waits in the relative familiarity of these woods for any sign of others and of course, word from Elias. She nudges Victoria next to her with an elbow gently. "Tell him his tab is getting too high to afford us lately."
"Too high? He finally took us somewhere warm," Victoria grins to Juniper. "How many of these damn artifacts can there be?" She flicks a hand through her hair before looking to make sure Elias was in fact, not present to overhear.
"Too damn many," Juniper states fervently. "The tablet, the artifacts to find the artifacts to find the artifacts..." She rolls her hand in the air. "It's an addiction to magical items, I'm beginning to think. We're just feeding his insatiable appetite."
The sky is torn asunder. The sheer speed in the trajectory of it parts clouds in its wake within a straight, destructive line that approaches, wreathed in flame and smoke, and a faint trace of mist. Not too far from the border, however, that dot in the sky begins to grow and grow -- until it becomes clear that the streak of white skirting through the heaveans is approaching.
Where there would be collusion, there is only a swirl of dust in its impact. Soft as a feather, light as a whisper, paused right above the ground and howering slowly, silently, upon massive wings that are far larger than he is, is Castiel. They beat once more to cast dirt and dust astray, before folding wholly. Furled back beneath his clothes, obscured wholly with the draw of his coat upon his shoulders.
When the others arrive, Elias stands among the trees of the Navorost forests, looking upon what appears to be a wall of vegetation that resembles a jungle. From outside, the jungle emits strange sounds. The air is filled with a constant cacophony of bird calls, animal cries, and insect buzzing. These sounds, though reminiscent of any tropical forest, are subtly wrong. They echo unnaturally, overlapping and distorting in ways that make it hard to discern direction or distance. Those observing sometimes hear faint whispers or melodies, an unsettling undertone to the jungle's natural noises, as though it is calling them closer. Some claim to see brief glimpses of paradise within golden gardens, radiant light, or even familiar figures beckoning them forward. The jungles colors are equally mesmerizing and disconcerting. The plants seem to shimmer, their hues shifting subtly as one moves. Flowers bloom and close in hypnotic rhythms, releasing faint, sparkling mists into the air. These mists swirl and form patterns that seem almost deliberate, their movements enticing yet impossible to fully comprehend. The air carries a mix of scents sweet and floral, but also sharp and metallic triggering both fascination and unease. Despite its allure, the jungle exudes a menacing aura. Observers often feel as though theyre being watched, though there is no clear source. Shadows play tricks on the eyes, and the movement of leaves and branches sometimes seems too deliberate, as though the jungle is aware of its surroundings.
Elias staring off into the jungle with his gray-blue gaze, he looks back to the others that start gathering, "Well, it seems like this will be an interesting expedition. We will have to make it to the center of that and it will likely be very challenging. What we are searching for is the Essence of Life within. It is a seed that looks very much like an acorn if the legends are accurate, but as far as I know, any that have ever seen it have never made it out of there alive. Anyone that wants to turn back, probably should do it now. I have confidence we will be able to make it in and out of there. We have faced far worse."
"Essence of Life," Juniper repeats with a soft sigh. "Filled with all the lost ones that never came out, huh?" she asks, probably rhetorically. They've been here before. Quite a few times, as it stands. "Well. At least if we go out, we go out together," she theorizes next with a chipper sort of tone to that otherwise slightly bleak statement. "Do we just... walk right on in? Or is there a sneaky way?" For this, she's looking to someone, though she does pass an interested glance to Castiel as well, momentarily.
"Essence of Life," Juniper repeats with a soft sigh. "Filled with all the lost ones that never came out, huh?" she asks, probably rhetorically. They've been here before. Quite a few times, as it stands. "Well. At least if we go out, we go out together," she theorizes next with a chipper sort of tone to that otherwise slightly bleak statement. "Do we just... walk right on in? Or is there a sneaky way?" For this, she's looking to Elias, though she does pass an interested glance to Castiel as well, momentarily.
"Actually... all of us here can get an aerial perspective if needed, can't we?" Juniper recalls thoughtfully, assessing each of those gathered here this night.
Victoria coughs out a soft laugh at the blonde. "It'll all make sense eventually I'm sure." She narrows her eyes ahead, chewing the corner of her lower lip in thought.
"How pessimistic."
Castiel's words are given in a similar side-way glance given to Juniper. They don't hold heat to them, chastisement or even tease. It's as if he speaks it as a mere fact. He dismisses the notion with a subtle, slight shake of his head. "Whatever is here, as a threat, leave them to me. I will act the shield."
Though how he plans to do that, considering he wears no armor on his person, is dubious, especially because he only has a chipped and nearly worn to breaking point sword strapped at the back of his belt, hanging loosely.
"If you will lead, I will be your cover."
Elas runs his fingers through his hair as the others debate strategy on how to approach this strange 'jungle' in front of them. Between the suggestions of flight or the angel's suggestion of just plowing through the jungle, he takes a deep breath, "Well, which way will we do? Just start cutting our way through or are we going to scout from above?"
"If this place is warded, I would imagine it would be from all angles?" Juniper asks, wrinkling her brow, though she turns in exasperation to look at both Elias and Castiel. "Please tell me you know a little about the arcane so that I can stop trying to twist my more natural brain ecosystem around what's possible and what isn't?" she pleads in some frustration towards them both, thought he question seems to be lobbed at Castiel.
It seems Victoria is game for either of the suggestions, as she lifts a shoulder in a shrug, then turns along with Juniper with lifted brows awaiting their answers.
"I'm ready to just slink through the bushes and find out if it burns," Juniper admits, hiking her backpack straps up high on her shoulders. "Unless that sounds ridiculous to the resident mad scientist."
Victoria says "There is nothing wrong with slinking."
Castiel's eyes shift upon Juniper more fully, narrowing, burrowing, and they are just as unblinking as they ever could be. Staring with an uncanny depth to the smoldering ambers. "No. I do not dabble in magic." He is a warrior, a blade forged to be used - what use is information to that end? Warded or no, he seems the type to bulldoze through it if he only could. For now, though, he defers to their judgement. "I will scout from up above."
With that said, Juniper nods to Castiel then, not bothering to hide the wheels in her head immediately turning with the severely unbalanced knowledge base of the group. "Alright. Smash and grab flavour... our house specialty," she murmurs, upnodding to Castiel and then gently putting a hand to Victoria's arm. "Ready to get in close and at least... see what it sort of feels or smells like?"
"Well.... I am not sure if it exactly a ward." Elias starts to explain as he glances back towards the jungle behind him, "I think it is like.... If you tore a hole between the planes and another one leaked into ours... I mean... That is what it kind of feels like... But..." He just trails off on that thought before sighing.
When Castiel goes airborne and gains altitude over the jungle canopy, it is more dense than one might expect. Its surface like a solid mat of green woven tightly, perhaps a trick of the eye, but it seems like its surface occasionally moves. For the gaps that Castiel can perceive through with his keen eagle-eyed vision, there seems to be something akin to a golden fog within. It would be rather challenging to enter from above and perhaps even more dangerous than entering from the ground level, since once you were below the canopy, you could no longer depend on flight in any reliable sort of way due to the density of the growth.
"As ready as it gets," Victoria nods toward Juniper with a tumble of hair around her shoulders. "Let's go."
Juniper stalks to the wavery edge of jungle where reality starts to feel less familiar and, making sure to step out ahead of Victoria, she goes ahead and pushes past that threshold in a slow and careful motion, as if it might set off ripples if she were too unruly. Braced for possible electric shock, total obliteration, or just a magical tickle - she takes another step.
No dice, then. It takes on descent, and Castiel, who had gone airborne and out sight, lands back exactly where he had. Merely a step, a swirl of wind and not a crash with nothing disturbed in lieu of the grace he carries himself with. "It's futile, the trees are too many." It's his turn, to then affirm what Victoria acknowledged in Juniper, by agreeing with her. "We will have to go on-foot, the dome is too thick to see." That said, he's already reaching for his belt behind to draw his sword. His tattered, so very old iron - to be used as a tool for passage, in the delivery of each blade stroke that would surely tear their way through. At least, it will be - when Castiel starts to follow Victoria and Juniper to pave a path for them where necessary.
Victoria is too curious to be brushed aside, and is well on Juniper's heels, clicking her tongue on the roof of her mouth. "Wonderful," is her only sentiment.
Entering first with Juniper, Victoria, and Castiel with Elias in with them somewhere, they quickly see that the jungle is an experience that transcends mere exploration. it feels like stepping into a sentient, alien world that resists and tests every intruder. The air changes immediately upon crossing its threshold, becoming heavy with humidity and rich with an intoxicating mix of floral sweetness and earthy decay. Each breath carries the faint metallic tang of spores. The towering trees create a near-impenetrable canopy overhead, casting the interior in perpetual twilight. Rays of light that manage to pierce the dense foliage refract through the mist, creating surreal rainbows that dance among the leaves. The ground is a chaotic tangle of roots, moss, and strange plants, forcing careful navigation to avoid tripping or stepping into something dangerous. The jungle feels alive, not merely in the way of a thriving ecosystem but as a unified entity, watching, listening, and subtly reacting to the intruders.
There are flickers of movement in the corners of your vision, whispers that seem to come from nowhere. Over time, they grow more intense, blending seamlessly with the jungles sights and sounds. You might see ghostly figures walking beside you, hear the voices of lost loved ones, or glimpse visions of the Essence of Life itself, just out of reach. The jungle seems to know your deepest desires and fears, using them to manipulate and disorient you. Reality becomes slippery, and every step feels uncertain. Despite the overwhelming danger, the jungle is also breathtakingly beautiful. Flowers of impossible colors bloom around you, some emitting a soft, enchanting glow. Bioluminescent fungi light your path in eerie, shifting hues. Strange creatures move among the trees, some ethereal and graceful, others monstrous and grotesque.
Pausing before long, Elias turns to the adventurers, "I don't feel like we are making any progress. I do not feel right, this place has a strange hold on me it seems." He explains he reaches into his pocket, pulling out a handkerchief covering his nose and mouth, murmuring through the fabric, "I do think there is something strange about these spores."
Juniper couldn't care MORE about the spores. Her eyes as wide as a cat on catnip, she is looking around at the plants and this wholly different ecosystem that overloads her good senses and her regular ones too.
"June?" Victoria places a hand on Juniper's shoulder, tilting her head to the side as she stares about herself. There's a wrinkle of her nose, and a subtle narrow of her eyes. "I don't like it," she decides, agreeing with someone despite the look of awe she gives the surroundings.
"June?" Victoria places a hand on Juniper's shoulder, tilting her head to the side as she stares about herself. There's a wrinkle of her nose, and a subtle narrow of her eyes. "I don't like it," she decides, agreeing with Elias despite the look of awe she gives the surroundings.
"How fascinating..." Juniper murmurs, following the drift of a lazy fluffy seed like a lure until her name from Victoria's lips has her pulled back to a sense of responsibility. "Vic?" she asks in return, looking back to the other woman and then to someone who is beginning to cover her nose. Again, the wheels seem to be turning in the form of a furrowed brow this time and she drops to a knee to rummage through her pack. Hauling out a gas mask, she pulls it over her face and waits... to feel any different or not.
"How fascinating..." Juniper murmurs, following the drift of a lazy fluffy seed like a lure until her name from Victoria's lips has her pulled back to a sense of responsibility. "Vic?" she asks in return, looking back to the other woman and then to Elias who is beginning to cover her nose. Again, the wheels seem to be turning in the form of a furrowed brow this time and she drops to a knee to rummage through her pack. Hauling out a gas mask, she pulls it over her face and waits... to feel any different or not.
In the midst of their slow trek through the the uncertainty, Castiel's wings - only half their set, is unfurled. Accompanying their path is now the occasional gust of wind, beating where applicable, possible, driving away much of the foreign scents and critters by sheer force - and most of all, efforting to beat away the spores with each motion that moves as if he yearns to start a tempest. Beyond it, not much is seen, and in it, Castiel resorts to only watching the two - lead more thana leading, following in his momentary, almost stoic silence. It only belies his observation, keeping his senses sharp, focused - alert for any danger while the group is more focused on the more indirect and least immediately fatal thing in their journey.
Juniper stands up straight, taking slow, steady breaths from her mask and looks around her, holding up a hand in a sort of 'halt' motion, suggesting perhaps that something /does/ seem different now that the mask is on. She takes a good look around them, doing a slow 360.
"I've no idea where we are," Juniper admits to the others without sounding defeated about it. It just seems matter of fact. "And it all looks the same." She lifts her chin, scratching at the front of her neck with her blunt fingernails. "But I'm about ready to ask whatever is flitting around in the shadows what happens next. Either by word or sword. Anyone else see them?"
Each of you at least for a moment felt dizzy, confused, and have seen things that were not really there. It doesn't take long for you to realize that you are rather confused on which way you came in from, which way you are going. Your footprints have seem to disappeared into the moss covering the ground, overwhelming floral scents mask any scent trails, and even cuts into the undergrowth seem to have recovered rapidly. Elias himself doesn't say anything at the moment, looking in each direction, but it seems obvious that even for him, he has no concept of where he is.
Victoria's hand drops from Juniper's shoulder when her footsteps stop, and she twirls slowly in place. "I'm not sure I know what I see right now," she admits, settling a stare onto Elias without further comment.
Juniper heaves a great sigh of one who has reached another dead end within a labyrinth. "We keep walking?" She pulls out a compass from her pocket to peer at it and its behaviour to see if they can set a course they can trust.
"We could set it on fire," Victoria muses completely seriously for a brief moment.
"Well, we can't just stand here." Elias offers as he shifts his gray-blue gaze about, trying to find some kind of landmark but there are none. Just trees upon trees, covered in vines, flowers, and other plant-life. A literal maze of trees. But there is something of note, the jungle grows deathly quiet, The sudden silence is unnerving, but before anyone can voice their concern, a faint rustling grows louder, coming from the dense foliage ahead. The air seems to grow thicker as a massive, otherworldly plant unfurls from the jungle floor, rising with a slow, deliberate menace. The plant towers above the adventurers, its central stalk thick as a tree trunk and covered in a glossy, dark green sheen. Its enormous leaves spread out like jagged, organic shields, each edged with rows of sharp, thorn-like spines. At its core is a gaping maw resembling a monstrous flower, its "petals" a deep, blood-red hue and lined with teeth-like structures that glisten with venomous sap. Tendrils sprout from its base, writhing and curling like serpents, each tipped with sharp, claw-like appendages. With a sudden lurch, the plant strikes, one of its tendrils snapping forward like a whip. The adventurers scatter, narrowly avoiding the deadly strike as it slams into the ground with enough force to leave a crater. The plant's maw opens wider, emitting a low, guttural sound that reverberates through the air, a haunting blend of a growl and a wet hiss.
Castiel's eyes snap over Victoria, Elias and Juniper's shoulder into that patch of darkness shifting and swirling in the deathly quiet. The bend of that flower, of its petals sinking under their own weight, is enough to command Castiel's attention - force him to hold that sword tighter, fold his wings in closer. It's strike, trying to land where they were, is met by the disappearance of an Angel from the near, immediate vicinity. Not at all in a stroke of luck but by a single, masterful step drawing him away.
Then comes the riposte, in Castiel's lunge, in the draw of that sword. The air catches aflame surrounding it. Divine flame made manifest - and he moves with it, moves with the purpose of volatile violence in seeking to strike the hissing plant right on the spine.
There's definite awe in Juniper's features as she looks upon the great plant that rises up in front of them. Her gawking is broken by the forceful whip of course - quick reflexes and natural fighter's stance allowing them to tumble out of the way. But even as she stands again, braced and ready she is looking at it with intense curiosity and contemplation. Naturally, her response to the plant isn't shared by the others and Castiel wastes no time in going after it. "Fire /is/ likely the best way to deal with a diseased plant," Juniper remarks to Victoria, given her earlier quip. And fire seems to be what Castiel brings.
Juniper can do lots of things and stuff too.
Castiel flourishes his sword.
"Thank you for not wanting to keep it," Victoria tells Juniper, once moved from the immediate path. Her head turns then, a keen interest shown at the prospect of whatever that plant is meeting a fiery demise.
"I never said that," Juniper replies with a distracted smirk, making sure she is concentrating more on staying out of the way of tendrils with claw like appendages and such. "But I'm not sure I could talk it into rooming with me in the greenhouse."
"I will /move/," Victoria punctuates her sentence of reply to Juniper with the stomp of one foot as she steps further back.
Where the plant cracked one of its whip-like vine appendages at Castiel, almost faster than the naked eye could allow, the angel is no longer there, but slicing his blade bathed in divine flames into the plant's stalk. It is likely Castiel has struck trees with his blade in the past, but somehow this feels different. It is almost like bashing his blade against steel. This doesn't mean it does nothing, because it does far from that. His blade sinks into the carnivorous plant deeply, sending sparks and thick sappy fluid spurting out. However, its vines whirl about it, trying to pry that angel off of itself as the hiss of flame rolls against its plant-hide. It might have had interest in devouring Juniper, Victoria, and Elias but now, Castiel has its sole attention. Well, sort of. One of its whips whirls out, narrowly missing Victoria's head, but hitting Elias the chest, tearing into his shirt, and sending him flying into the air, slamming painfully against a tree. Luckily for him, when he lands onto the ground, it is nice soft moss to break his fall.
Victoria seems quite agitated at the near-miss that causes her to duck, and she aims an arrow at whatever's left of the plant in a clear act of retaliation. "You should have said that," she tells Juniper. "You're not /sure/?"
There is momentary shock and distress that passes over Juniper when Elias goes flying - a hesitant movement that makes it look like she might run for him. But the his soft moss bed cradles him and the blonde looks at the chaos still ensuing. Not looking for another repeat event of that strike against someone, Juniper decides that while the plant is distracted by Castiel, she will attempt to at least stab her hunting knife into anything and everything she can find purchase on.
There is momentary shock and distress that passes over Juniper when Elias goes flying - a hesitant movement that makes it look like she might run for him. But the his soft moss bed cradles him and the blonde looks at the chaos still ensuing. Not looking for another repeat event of that strike against Elias, Juniper decides that while the plant is distracted by Castiel, she will attempt to at least stab her hunting knife into anything and everything she can find purchase on.
"Do /you/ speak otherworldly carnivorous plant?" Juniper asks Victoria in a distracted voice full of faux levity.
Victoria stares incredulously at Juniper in a wordless reply that carries a faint amusement.
With arrows flying through the air, pelting the large plant in precision locations, Victoria stapling some of its vines to trees nearby with skill. Juniper moves forward, using her knowledge of plant-life to do something she can hardly bring herself to do, fatally wound a plant, but she does. Stabbing her knife into the creature, she finds some vital spot and it screeches as she does. The angel himself, continues to press his weight into his blade, sliding ever further into the plant with the hissing of burning tissues before his sword finally cuts clean through and the plant crumples to the ground, dead. A few of the vines react to stimuli still, but largely, the plant is dead. Elias pushes himself to his feet with a wince, grumbling something about a shirt, but he seems like he will recover just fine. A hint of light can be seen just ahead. The group push through the final stretch of the jungle's defenses, they stumble into a clearing that seems to glow with an unnatural light. At the center of this radiant space, resting atop a pedestal of tangled, luminescent roots, lies the Essence of Life, a seed resembling a perfect acorn, its surface shimmering with hues of gold and emerald. A faint, pulsing light emanates from within, as if the relic itself possesses a heartbeat.
Juniper has to pry herself away truly, from the plant, to continue their endeavour. Wiping her blade on her uniform pants she casts another regretful look behind her before they approach the new clearing with pedestal of roots. "Essence of Life," she repeats aloud to no one in particular. "How fitting. To be an acorn. How perfect a beginning an acorn is," she reminisces - clearly fully in her nerd form still given the surroundings.
Victoria is still blinking at the bits of dead plant surrounding her, but follows along as Juniper moves toward the artifact, hissing out a quiet "Ew," with a final look at the vines.
Looking upon the acorn, Elias glances back to Juniper and Victoria with a smile, still wearing his shredded shirt, "Look, we made it." And then he starts walking towards the pillar, his gray-blue eyes drifting around, looking for anything out of place, "Do either of you see any signs of traps? or anything out of place?"
Juniper shifts in closer to someone, taking her eyes off the acorn to assess his chest momentarily. "You're alright?" she murmurs quietly to the man, putting a hand gently against his upper arm. At his question though, she looks back, assessing the luminous roots and the acorn with an ecologists eyes but... she shrugs faintly in answer. "Nothing that I can tell. I don't feel strange or see anything strange. Just... peacefully beautiful."
Juniper shifts in closer to Elias, taking her eyes off the acorn to assess his chest momentarily. "You're alright?" she murmurs quietly to the man, putting a hand gently against his upper arm. At his question though, she looks back, assessing the luminous roots and the acorn with an ecologists eyes but... she shrugs faintly in answer. "Nothing that I can tell. I don't feel strange or see anything strange. Just... peacefully beautiful."
"Nothing here," Victoria shakes her head. "Get your acorn," she urges Elias with a grin.
With the support of Juniper and Victoria on claiming what he has been looking for, Elias reaches over and picks up the acorn off the pedestal. The moment the Essence of Life is plucked from its pedestal, an eerie stillness falls over the jungle. The vibrant glow surrounding the clearing flickers and fades, and the once-lush vegetation begins to wither almost instantly. The radiant plants lose their color, their leaves curling and crumbling into ash. The towering trees groan as their bark splits and their limbs droop, shedding decayed leaves onto the ground. A ripple of death spreads outward from the pedestal, consuming the jungle in waves. The air, once thick with the sweet, earthy scent of life, turns sour and acrid. The ground beneath their feet, once teeming with roots and greenery, cracks and dries, revealing patches of barren soil. The jungle's dying throes are not quiet. A cacophony of creaking wood and collapsing vines fills the air, punctuated by the guttural cries of unseen creatures retreating into the shadows. Even the spores, once a constant threat, lose their golden shimmer and fall lifelessly to the ground like dull grains of sand.
There's a near visceral reaction from Juniper as the ecosystem around them dies and the beauty is sucked from existence. She inhales sharply, a gasp of regret that joins in the sounds of the jungle's dying. Around them she turns her head, taking in the fall of the place with a pained expression, a deep furrow between her brows. No stabbing, or dismemberment or death has brought on this look in their previous adventures. But this time...
"It was the best thing to do," Victoria tells Juniper softly, leaning against her momentarily.
With the death of the jungle, the sun can be clearly seen rising along the horizon. It is a reminder when one life sets, another breaches for a new dawn. Not seeming to have the same reaction as Juniper did to it, Elias notes, "Just two more and I will have all that I need." He claims, looking back towards Juniper and Victoria and then he himself seems to be hit by something. Not the loss of the forest, but the empathy of seeing Juniper's reaction. He sighs, noting "Well my love, the door just closed to where all of that came from. That is a place we could visit if we wanted...." He trails off for a moment, seeming to realize what he just said.
Juniper looks to someone, a struggle to reconcile loss in the face of such immediate destruction with the bigger picture. She nods to him though, the words perhaps not entirely sinking in. Instead she focuses on the first statement with a sort of muttered, "Two more..."
Juniper looks to Elias, a struggle to reconcile loss in the face of such immediate destruction with the bigger picture. She nods to him though, the words perhaps not entirely sinking in. Instead she focuses on the first statement with a sort of muttered, "Two more..."