Chapter 1 - Age of Faithless

[dr green]

The necromancer rolled his shoulders after Alder had given him a generous pat on the back and tried to loosen up, dreading what came next. He gave Veronica a silent command and she instantly began looking for a dark room or broom closet, wherever they could have some privacy. Life padded over to him, dark fur shaking with every step and a malevolently intelligent gleam in his eye. Magus truly did not relish this aspect of their joined abilities, but he had to face it as just another tool. Veronica beckoned the two of them over to a parlor that had cleared out after the quake had stilled and they followed her. Veronica stayed outside in the main room, guarding the door from anyone who would try to enter it. Once inside Life instantly reverted to his true form, that of a small demon, winged, horned and full of malice.

"Why do I have to stay as McFurry so much anyways?" The demon asked in a deep voice that belied his diminutive nature.

"Because I said so," The necromancer replied exerting his terrible and powerful will. "You know what to do."

"Yes, yes," The demon's edges began to blur and quiver as Life closed his eyes focusing on environs much more hellish than their own. "This is getting harder to find one every time, they're starting to recognize me," The demon said quietly, with just a breath of fear tinging his tone. "I've got one, his name is Ordeth, he's a ... Gluttony demon."

"Disgusting," Magus Necris said grimacing at the sight that Life was currently enduring. "Let's get this over with. Ask him what mood Her Unholiness has been today," Every demon on that plane would know how Ner was feeling. Her mood was reflected in the pain that suffused the place. If still angry about Her avatar, everyone there would know it.

[RonarsCorruption]

Life dissapears. Then, only a minute later reappears, an unpleasant look on his face. Rather than flapping about as he normally did, he slouched to the ground, sitting. "God, you think it's bad here. I think I've figured it out, though, and you're not going to like it." Magus had never seen the demon so disconcerned, "That earthquake we saw? Yeah, it was a plane-quake. Shadow is a mess, everything's torn apart. Would explain why the damage was about equal halfway around the world." The imp shakes his head. "I dunno, i got there and back fine, but in between was totally weird, too."

[dr green]

"Well did Ordeth have any more useful information? Was She behind all this?" Magus Necris asked the capricious little demon. "I wouldn't put it past Ner to sacrifice Her own home if it resulted in more power or influence for Herself."

[RonarsCorruption]

Life shakes his head. "You think I stayed there long enough to talk to someone? How long was I gone? I barely had time to reorient and get back here. I felt like I was going to pass out, at least here I only have a mild headache. Seriously, it's chaos there - and for a place that deal in chaos as a commodity, that's saying something big."

[dr green]

"As much as I'd like to see Ner in any pain, I'm guessing that this means something bigger than her is at work right now, which doesn't bode well for any of us," The necromancer said with a grimace. "Get back in your fur, let's go inform the others," Magus Necris beckoned to the door and looked back as the last vestiges of a small demon were clothed in dark shaggy fur. He cracked open the door and allowed Veronica to move out of the way before entering the room properly, followed by Life. He entered a room devoid of many of his companions and was staring at only John, Natani, Veronica and Elizabeth. Just what they needed in the middle of impending disaster, disrupted communication between the group. The large shaggy wolf behind him head-butted him forward sensing his unease and Magus wiped a hand over his hair and face and walked towards the small group, them turning to discover whatever knowledge he had gained.

"Well, ladies and gentleman, it turns out that Ner is probably not behind this one. Shadow, Her plane, is in absolute disarray. Everything's torn apart and Life had a hard enough time getting his head back on straight before bolting back to us. As much as I'd like to pin it on Her, it seems that someone or something else is behind this," Magus Necris watched on as Natani sprang forth to relay this news to Garagras before he had gotten too far on his rampage and the necromancer looked at John with a 'what now' expression on his face. Natural disasters were a thing of nature, of life. Even though they destroyed they were simply another act of creation, and as such the True Dread Necromancer knew he was simply out of his depth. The thoughts of difference between life and death just reminded Magus of one more peril they would have to keep in mind. He groaned slightly, "I just hope Alder has the sense to check Death's Door. I shudder to think of the disaster that would ensue if those walls were to crumble."

[DraconigenaArma]

Seeing nothing to indicate an earthquake any greater than what they felt Alder grabs Mouse's arm and draws her into that world of dark and cold, appearing where Fejj is on the map. If there's nothing worth seeing he moves on to where Steir is now. Then he goes to the coast and heads south west, making a zig zag across the continent. Once at the coast south of Tim'achaan he again goes east until he hits the coast again.

He pointedly aims for villages, or better yet cities, within his range or on the way. He continues until he's blinked across the entirety of the continent, which should take about a half hour if there's nothing to see at each spot.

OOC Well if you're uninterested in responding Dirk, no point in letting the momentum go.

[Admin Sedracus]

John, recovered from his earlier collapse, gathered his materials as he set about to prepare the divination. "I shall attempt to divine what is going on." Concisely, he proceeds to chant to the higher powers out there, attempting to gain more knowledge about what was going on here.

Mechanics Casting Divination. 25GP component cost.

[dirkoth]

Mouse remains silent through the trip with Alder. There was nothing to say, as they popped into existence in a field, on a hillside, or in forests. She scanned the area for interest, and found nothing worthy of pointing to her ally.

A wise old owl sat in an oak
the more he saw, the less he spoke
the less he spoke, the more he heard
why can't we be like this wise, old bird?

The poem came to her unbidden from her memory. Where did I learn that? she wonders. Mertag? the thoughts fade quickly as another vista unfolds, and she scans it for clues, to no avail. She shrugs her shoulders when Alder looks to her. Nothing is the only word exchanged between the two. What more needs said?

The dimension hopping is familiar to her, albeit the distances further than her skills allow. She sighs quietly once in mid hop. I wonder where the sounds go in non space?

[RonarsCorruption]

Eventually, Alder and Mouse return to the breezeway, with nothing more to report. The shaking appears to have traversed the continent, but equally. The few people they met all said the same thing - 'something feels funny, but I don't know what'. But there was nowhere that would have had the damage to be the epicenter of the quake.

They return to a group with even more troubling news. For the past twenty minutes, John has been staring into a bowl of water, attempting to request information from one god after another. He has gone through every god in the pantheon, including Ner, twice and not a single one has responded to the call.

[Aosaw]

"Maybe they're scared of us, now we've killed one of them."

Haiga hadn't said anything all week. He had barely reacted to the earthquake, except to take a minimum of precaution to protect his head. He had watched the group scatter to the four winds, watched Magus Necris consult with his minions, observed John's desperate search for answers, and offered no help of his own.

"We broke a contract, fellows. Maybe we should sit this crisis out."

[DraconigenaArma]

Alder collapses in John's cushy chair. The exertions of teleporting all across the continent was tiring.

"What contract, the gods kill us all the time. It's their fault they got sloppy. Don't blame the frothy mouthed dog when you stick your hand on its snout."

[Aosaw]

"That's not the way it works, Alder, and you damn well know it. The dog bites your hand, you don't give it your house. You put it down."

He emptied his glass, and set it down on the table.

Beside him, Sawtooth snarled. "The monkey-man is right, you know. When the Earth Dragon lived, we didn't care who we slaughtered, so long as it served our purposes. Killing the Earth Dragon made our master's murderers a priority. ...Come to think of it, you were our master's murderers." The dragon clicked its tongue. "Quite a menagerie of enemies you're building."

[RonarsCorruption]

Darlith hadn't said anything for some time, he was musing, and his pipe had appeared in his mouth, a sure sign that an interruption would lead to a slapped hand, or worse. He had been quiet since John's first divination failed, which was the same time Brakol daparted to gather his things. If you needed him, he would be easy enough to catch up with his reutine, they would be travelling by foot, after all.

"Enemies. Hmm, you raise a good point." He finally speaks up. "What if we consider these things in broader strokes? Do any of you see where I am going with this line of reasoning."

[GeoAvanti]

"It's... we don't know what is is, so maybe we should wait to see what happens," Natani says simply, watching everyone scurry about furiously, trying to find a source or cause of the disturbance.

"Everyone is right in saying that something doesn't feel right. But maybe we are all searching too hard. If we wait, we may see and understand what has happened. We may spend so much time staring at the ground that we fail to notice a boulder falling on us. Maybe we would be better served by simply waiting to see what occurs next. As far as we can tell, there was no drastic, radical catastrophe anywhere-- there is no dragon for us to slay, no Avatar to hunt down. There was an earthquake, and no sign of anything besides a disappointed feeling."

These were the heroes who slayed the Earth Dragon and hunted down Ner's Avatar-- she may have been one of their number, but she knew she wasn't truly one of them. Still, she hoped that her words meant something. "This world is a big place, and it is still suffering the effects of our last two wars. Maybe it has not settled itself yet. Perhaps we are too quick to jump at smoke and shadow."

She turns to look at the scythe. "And I think I will hide this for the time being. Out of sight, out of mind, right? Well, Garagras may already be out of his mind, but it won't be healthy if he loses it every time he sees this thing." No sooner has she spoken than she has picked up the scythe in order to go hide it someplace-- preferably a closet or something similar-- before Garagras returns.

Noticing that no one seems to have any ideas as to what has happened, she further adds, "Maybe the gods cannot respond... though I do not know what would cause that."

[Admin Sedracus]

"What is strange, though, is that I cannot seem to contact any of the gods. Not even Estel." John says, a frown plain on his face.