Hope Never Dies - Part 1 : On the threshold of dawn
Lichtenhart
First Post
"You're very kind to this old man. I could do it on my own, but it would take me quite a lot of time, and it probably wouldn't be a fine work as my love would have liked. You don't have to wait for directions, though. You've arrived here by ship, I suppose? Then about fifteen miles south along you'll found the town of Tyrulan. There's a road too, that connects the farms this way up north, but I haven't used it for a while so I am afraid the pinewood must have almost swallowed it. If you take a look around, though, I'm sure you'll find it. Would you like anything else? Mine is not the kitchen of the Magi, but everything's at your disposal. Otherwise I'll show you the work. I've already gathered paints and brushes."
He stands up, and immediately Pisti flies down from the chimney and lands on his shoulder. He walks towards the house and shows you several buckets of paint colors. Then he presses his hand on the wall, and an image of how the house used to look when it was colored appears. It's strange but beautiful, though painted with few, simple colors and broad strokes, every wall looked like a landscape: the northern one like a sunrise over high mountains, the western one like rolling barley fields ruffled by the wind, the southern one like a starry sky over a rocky desert, and the western one like a stormy sea. When Fides moves away from the wall, the images fade and only the outlines remain on the walls, so you can follow them while painting.
"My love was a bit of an artist. If you could help me keep her house as she liked it, I'd be very grateful. There's a wall for each of you. Which one do you like the most?"
He stands up, and immediately Pisti flies down from the chimney and lands on his shoulder. He walks towards the house and shows you several buckets of paint colors. Then he presses his hand on the wall, and an image of how the house used to look when it was colored appears. It's strange but beautiful, though painted with few, simple colors and broad strokes, every wall looked like a landscape: the northern one like a sunrise over high mountains, the western one like rolling barley fields ruffled by the wind, the southern one like a starry sky over a rocky desert, and the western one like a stormy sea. When Fides moves away from the wall, the images fade and only the outlines remain on the walls, so you can follow them while painting.
"My love was a bit of an artist. If you could help me keep her house as she liked it, I'd be very grateful. There's a wall for each of you. Which one do you like the most?"
Kalanyr
Explorer
George walks up to the walls admiring the details of the outline, and seems torn between the desert sky and the ocean storm, after a minutes thought George nods to himself and gathers the paint and paintbrushes necessary and heads to the southern wall.
"I have always loved the stars. I will take this one if you do not object, Saxon?
"I have always loved the stars. I will take this one if you do not object, Saxon?
Festy_Dog
First Post
Kalanyr said:
Saxon chuckles and waves casually.
"No objections at all. Now, to capture something as volatile as the sea within a still image. Never was much of an artist, but I'll do what I can," he says, looking intently at the eastern wall, and remembering glimpses of the sea while on Hopeless Island, "Something awe inspiring about a stormy ocean. Dark, violent waters... Nature's unrest."
Lichtenhart
First Post
The walls are already smooth and ready for the paint, so you only have to get the colors for your picture and brush away, since the house is so little none of you needs a ladder. You discard the gnome-sized brushes, but fortunately there are also some large enough for you to use comfortably. Pisti circles around the house, while Fides sits on his chair, sometimes commanding a bucket of paint to float around where it's most needed.
Slowly, the picture begins to appear, and you all think you're doing a good job. It's turning up really well, better than you thought. The images seem almost real...
Suddenly the wind distinctly carries the smell of the sea, and the crack of a thunder. You turn around to check, but instead of the farmyard you see the open sea and a huge wave rolling toward you. You are caught in while it turns over and sent several feet underwater. You struggle for air, and when you resurface, the farm is nowhere to be seen and you are in the middle of the ocean, while what looks like a giant storm is massing above you. What's strange though is that no question, no doubt crosses your mind about how you came to be here. Somehow you think it's perfectly normal. You don't have time to dwell on that thought because another wave, even higher is coming your way. The four winds are dancing recklessly on the ocean, and you are but a pebble under their feet. The wave lifts you about twenty feet above the waters then it hurls you down again, coughing in the foam, while huge lightning cracks the sky turning everything yellow and purple for a moment. If your life weren't in jeopardy, you'd say you have never seen anything so beautiful and terrible at the same time.
The last ray of the rising sun you just painted comes to life and dazzles you for a moment. When you open your eyes again, you realize that you are standing on top of a mountain looking down to the breath-taking landscape below. You don't know for sure where you are, but you recognize Tilnfall, Lysette, and the lands of the Blackfang tribe. But you also recognize the smell of smoke and blood in the wind. There's something wrong there. Your tribe is in danger! At once, you start running down, but the ancient stone splits and breaks under your weight. Suddenly the outer edge of the path you were walking on collapses under your feet and you begin plummeting down to the sharp rocks that are waiting for you several hundreds feet lower. As you fall, you hear a voice. It only says: "Call them. Call upon your mates."
There is a moment of silence, and a cloud passes in front of the sun, leaving you and your wall in shadow. But then the shadow darkens far more than what would be normal during the day. Grey begins to growl at something behind the western wall, but when he turns around the corner you hear him yelp and then nothing else. You immediately go to check, and when you turn around the corner you find that you're not at the farm anymore, but in the desert of your picture under the same starry sky. And then you recognize the place. You've seen it in your dreams when you were locked away at your arrival on Hopeless Island, and then many more times during your stay there. You couldn't recognize it from the picture, but now you're convinced it the same place. Grey is not here, though. There is someone else. Someone exactly like you.
"We finally meet again" says the George in front of you "Why have you left me alone so long? You know I can't survive without you. You hate the mine, I know, but you can't continue to believe you managed to escape and live in a world that doesn't exist, it's draining me. I need you. Without you I am too weak. They will kill us both, do you understand? A weak miner is a dead miner! Please come back with me. Stop living in a dream. You know it's not real. There's no way to leave Hopeless Island.". The other George makes a step towards you, and this time you distinctly see the crescent firebrand on his forehead.
A gust of wind ruffles your hair, the trees around the farm and... the barley you just painted. You blink thinking you must be mistaken, but then you find yourself in the field, while the farm and your companions fade from you thoughts, leaving your mind empty. Not far from where you are there's a poor village of peasants, houses made of mud and thatched roofs. Then, from the other side you hear the sound of many shod horses galloping in your direction. They finally appear over the hill, and they seem to be thousand, each horse carrying a knight in black armor, each knight carrying a torch. They look like a swarm of mice or cockroaches all over the field, and they are coming for the village. Some of the peasants saw them as well, and you can hear cries of terror and despair, but no one tries to escape. When the knights are no more than a mile from the village you hear a frightened little girl screaming because she couldn't find her mom in the confusion. It takes you a moment to realize she's screaming in elven.
Slowly, the picture begins to appear, and you all think you're doing a good job. It's turning up really well, better than you thought. The images seem almost real...
Suddenly the wind distinctly carries the smell of the sea, and the crack of a thunder. You turn around to check, but instead of the farmyard you see the open sea and a huge wave rolling toward you. You are caught in while it turns over and sent several feet underwater. You struggle for air, and when you resurface, the farm is nowhere to be seen and you are in the middle of the ocean, while what looks like a giant storm is massing above you. What's strange though is that no question, no doubt crosses your mind about how you came to be here. Somehow you think it's perfectly normal. You don't have time to dwell on that thought because another wave, even higher is coming your way. The four winds are dancing recklessly on the ocean, and you are but a pebble under their feet. The wave lifts you about twenty feet above the waters then it hurls you down again, coughing in the foam, while huge lightning cracks the sky turning everything yellow and purple for a moment. If your life weren't in jeopardy, you'd say you have never seen anything so beautiful and terrible at the same time.
The last ray of the rising sun you just painted comes to life and dazzles you for a moment. When you open your eyes again, you realize that you are standing on top of a mountain looking down to the breath-taking landscape below. You don't know for sure where you are, but you recognize Tilnfall, Lysette, and the lands of the Blackfang tribe. But you also recognize the smell of smoke and blood in the wind. There's something wrong there. Your tribe is in danger! At once, you start running down, but the ancient stone splits and breaks under your weight. Suddenly the outer edge of the path you were walking on collapses under your feet and you begin plummeting down to the sharp rocks that are waiting for you several hundreds feet lower. As you fall, you hear a voice. It only says: "Call them. Call upon your mates."
There is a moment of silence, and a cloud passes in front of the sun, leaving you and your wall in shadow. But then the shadow darkens far more than what would be normal during the day. Grey begins to growl at something behind the western wall, but when he turns around the corner you hear him yelp and then nothing else. You immediately go to check, and when you turn around the corner you find that you're not at the farm anymore, but in the desert of your picture under the same starry sky. And then you recognize the place. You've seen it in your dreams when you were locked away at your arrival on Hopeless Island, and then many more times during your stay there. You couldn't recognize it from the picture, but now you're convinced it the same place. Grey is not here, though. There is someone else. Someone exactly like you.
"We finally meet again" says the George in front of you "Why have you left me alone so long? You know I can't survive without you. You hate the mine, I know, but you can't continue to believe you managed to escape and live in a world that doesn't exist, it's draining me. I need you. Without you I am too weak. They will kill us both, do you understand? A weak miner is a dead miner! Please come back with me. Stop living in a dream. You know it's not real. There's no way to leave Hopeless Island.". The other George makes a step towards you, and this time you distinctly see the crescent firebrand on his forehead.
A gust of wind ruffles your hair, the trees around the farm and... the barley you just painted. You blink thinking you must be mistaken, but then you find yourself in the field, while the farm and your companions fade from you thoughts, leaving your mind empty. Not far from where you are there's a poor village of peasants, houses made of mud and thatched roofs. Then, from the other side you hear the sound of many shod horses galloping in your direction. They finally appear over the hill, and they seem to be thousand, each horse carrying a knight in black armor, each knight carrying a torch. They look like a swarm of mice or cockroaches all over the field, and they are coming for the village. Some of the peasants saw them as well, and you can hear cries of terror and despair, but no one tries to escape. When the knights are no more than a mile from the village you hear a frightened little girl screaming because she couldn't find her mom in the confusion. It takes you a moment to realize she's screaming in elven.
hafrogman
Adventurer
Stunned by the sudden change of location, Peregrine stands still for what seems to him a very long moment, taking everything around him in. Finally, the screaming girl penetrates his confusion and he realizes that he cannot stand still. As fast as he can, he races towards the village, not sure what he will do when he gets there, but very certain that he cannot stand still and watch what he expects to follow.
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