Author: Liam, Posted: Mon Jul 11, 2016 4:12 PM, Post Subject: Sun Machine [OPEN]

The stairs seemed steady enough, which was a good thing.  The last thing that Liam wanted to deal with was the stairs breaking in the middle of their exploring.  Especially given the disheveled state of the room they had just found. Glancing at Mendean, he figured that his companion didn't have too much of an idea of what was happening here either.  And he found that worrisome.  Liam just watched for a few moments, waiting for him to speak, seeing if there was any sense of recognition of what this chamber was for.  But too little of it made sense.

At least they were thinking along the same lines, and he nodded.  They looked somehow fragile, perhaps that was a part of what had brought the ship down?  "Maybe the combination of whatever warped the ship, and whatever in those helped bring the ship down.  Too many things at once," he reasoned out.  One thing would have been trouble, but enough to work through.  But a combination of factions seemed more likely in bringing down an airship of this size.  The ship was complicated as far as he could tell, and Liam doubted that a single factor would have brought it down.

But all those trains of thought halted at the screeching noise, and he didn't even bother to argue.  Sprinting for the stairs, Liam took them two and three at a time.  But even in their frantic flight, he still noticed something that seemed out of place.  He managed to snatch the scarf off its hook without breaking his stride, and a soft whoom noise behind them only hastened his steps.  He made for the opening they had climbed through, and Liam hurled himself through it without a second thought.  Tucking his limbs into his torso, he landed in soft sand and rolled a bit.  Mendean soon followed, along with a long gout of flame through the opening.  It was quite hot, and Liam had a feeling they would have both been roasted alive at they been any slower.

"Damn… lantern got cracked," he grumbled, looking at the glass.  Liam examined it for a moment, then set it on the sand.  He would worry about getting the glass panels fixed later.  then he pulled out the scarf from under his shirt where he had tucked it for safety.  "This look like anything your friend might have worn?  Saw it on the way out, seemed out of place to the rest of the ship," Liam said, sprawling out on the sand to catch his breath. 

Author: Century, Posted: Sat Jun 25, 2016 7:16 PM, Post Subject: Sun Machine [OPEN]

“There are no rabbits in the Siva Zemlyst, nor in Parvpora.” Said Mendean almost absent-mindedly. He waited while Liam lit the lantern, admiring the craftsmanship that had produced such a thing. That glass must have been expensive. This Liam was clearly not without means. Mendean wondered what the estate he came from must be like, then dismissed the thought and followed the man.

The stairs were a mixture of brass grille and some kind of sturdy flexible wood. The grain was reddish and well-varnished. The patterning of the wood reminded him of walnut, but that would have been an impractical material to carve into long stair rods. It must come from a tree that existed only in the other world. He was certain by now that was where the airship must have originated. He touched the wall. No sensation of deja vu that he had experienced whenever in contact with something from another time. With divine senses he could tell everything about this vehicle was alien. It vibrated in a manner that instinctively felt wrong to him. Like the worlds he had encountered in the tunnel he was building via the Nexus.

Upon entering the chamber wherein he had expected to find dead crystals and flat sigils carved into now-lifeless stone, the god stopped on the last step and stared. A fortune in metal piping, glass tubes and mechanical objects that would have defied the understanding of many of the greatest minds of Revaliir. This was nothing like the central core of a Revaliir airship. No sign of a Pranic modulation valve, Chi regulator or even a chimaeric resonator. Nothing in this place matched his understanding of alchemical engineering even slightly. He rolled back on his heels, then stepped onto the floor of the chamber.

Pipes lay broken. There were fragments of glass everywhere. Some kind of oil had formed an impromptu slick across the floor. Squatting, Mendean gingerly touched the oil with a forefinger, holding it up to the pale lantern light for closer examination. It was certainly oil, but even after sniffing he could not recognise the plant it had come from. He wiped his finger against a thigh and stood, glass crunching beneath his boots. “I do not understand this place, and I do not like the look of those bladders,” Mendean said, indicating the leather sacks. Several seemed to have deflated. Containers of gas perhaps? But what kind?

“I am concerned about the smell too,” he addressed Liam with an edge to his voice. “I think perhaps we should…” A terrible screeching rent the air as a metal strut fell from the ceiling, no doubt dislodged from the ceiling by the subtle vibrations made by the two men's footsteps. Sparks as the strut slid down a metallic wall. If the gas was flammable…

“Run! Now!”

Author: Liam, Posted: Tue Jun 21, 2016 9:01 PM, Post Subject: Sun Machine [OPEN]

He understand enough of the pieces that he knew that could be in very real trouble.  Even if they were careful, it was likely he and Mendean could find some very ugly answers.  But Mendean did make a good suggestion, though his mind went another direction.  "Probably still has nasty big pointy teeth.  Think it's something that looks harmless, like a little bunny rabbit?" he asked, a slight grin on his face.  Surely it would have to be some kind of innocuous looking creature to have gotten aboard the ship in the first place.  Or it was something that had come aboard after. 

But why?  There were too many questions, and even Mendean didn't seem to know what the answers were.  But he wasn't willing to leave just yet, there was still someone to find.  "Might as well.  And I'm used to small places… used to go cave crawling when I was little.  Less mud this time I think though," he said with a chuckle.  The only thing he worried about was the torch, and how much light it would shed the further down they got.  A thought occurred to him, and Liam stopped for a moment.  Gingerly, he lit the lantern he had just bought days ago.  It was a delicate construct of iron and glass, but it would be better in smaller spaces than the large torch.  The trade off was less light, but he wasn't too worried.

Down they went, and Liam tried to watch for anything strange.  But there was just so much dust and debris, he found himself watching his step more than anything.  But after a few stories of climbing, the stairway opened into a large room of some kind.  But Liam couldn't make heads or tails of anything in it.  There were large metal pipes and glass tubes all around.  But strangest of all were the large leather bags, and a very gentle hissing noise that seemed to permeate the entire room.  "Is it just me, or the does the air seem… weird in here?  I can't put a finger on it," he asked, sounding puzzled.  This whole room made no sense to Liam.

Author: Century, Posted: Sat Jun 11, 2016 7:40 AM, Post Subject: Sun Machine [OPEN]

Staring at the oenerium ring, Mendean said nothing for some time as he contemplated the implications. Being here in a dead zone inhibited his thought processes, as well as his senses. But he knew and understood enough to feel unsettled in his gut.

After an age had passed, Mendean squatted, tracing a line in the dust with a pale fingertip. The line curved and curled into an idle spiral. He watched it as though it might suddenly spring to life, but it was just a mark in the dust. “Whatever did this presumably used magic to take their lives. It is likely arriving in a dead zone probably made all that power useless. It certainly would not have been capable of feeding out here. If it is close-by, it cannot harm us by taking our life essences.” He looked up at Liam. “Perhaps it will starve to death before it can escape the zone?”

The god shrugged to himself and made a lopsided half-smile. It was clear from his expression that he doubted very much the creature had starved. Fate was rarely so kind in circumstances like these.

But what did that mean for the one whom he had been trailing? Was he a surviving crew member? Was he the monster that had eaten all the rest? Or was he connected in some other way they had yet to discern? For every answer, more questions were always waiting just beneath the latest overturned stone. It frustrated and intrigued him, both at the same time.

Looking again at the wand, Mendean shrugged again. “Whatever its purpose, it won't work out here.” He sighed and stood up with a grunt. “I think we have seen all we're going to see here. Maybe there was a cargo hold, luggage room or something? That might tell us more.” He glanced around, pointing to a recess. “There. I think it's a stairwell. That'll take us deeper in.” A devilish look from the god. “Not claustrophobic are you?”

Author: Liam, Posted: Sun Jun 5, 2016 5:44 PM, Post Subject: Sun Machine [OPEN]

Crouching low in the dusty interior, Liam was trying to put the pieces together.  The metal had an oddly familiar name, something he had heard his mother speak of, but only once and from somewhere now far away.  Shaking his head for a moment, his amber eyes drifted over the rest of the ship.  "So… we have metal that should not even be in this realm.  I would imagine something like that is very tightly controlled.  And something like this, with the stone in it, maybe a key of some kind?" he suggested.  Liam had but a rudimentary understanding of just how magical objects worked, but he knew enough to make an educated guess.

And he had heard of magics and creatures that could drain the life from other beings.  A sudden thought came to mind.  "Do.. do y'think whatever did this is still here?  I wonder if that's what twisted the ship around too…" he mused, looking around quickly.  The young man was still listening for the sound of anything besides the two of them.  He could only hear their breathing, and Liam was feeling deeply unsettled.  This seemed like a prime place to be haunted, and they still hadn't seen anything of the man that Mendean was looking for.

Examining the wand for a moment, he looked around for what it might belong to.  "I wonder what this did.  I guess we won't ever know, I don't see any way of moving this whole ship out of the deadzone though," Liam added, sounding disappointed. 

Author: Century, Posted: Wed May 25, 2016 4:06 PM, Post Subject: Sun Machine [OPEN]

Mendean coughed as he rose fully to his feet. He was well-aware that the dust was mostly what was left of the dessicated corpses in the crashed vessel, but there was little he could do about it. The innards of the vessel were silent; eerily so. Every rustle of cloth, every footfall seemed too close. The atmosphere was claustrophobic here in this place where the corridors were more like narrow tunnels through a mountain of crushed metal.

Peering over at what his companion had found, the god pursed his lips. A wand. Perhaps a control rod for some magical engine reduced to worthless junk by the effects of the dead zone here. Perhaps an ornamental item, or symbol of office. Or perhaps a magic wand that again was useless in the Siva Zemlyst.

Then there was the ring. What were these obviously valuable objects doing here? He would have expected items of value to be clutched in bony hands. A last act of attachment to material possessions as the mind lost rationality in the face of imminent death.

And how had these people died? He had an uneasy feeling about that. The age of the corpses did not match the apparent age of the broken vessel. Not at all. There should have been evidence of severe corrosion in the metals. The environment was not anaerobic enough to preserve metal for hundreds of years. And even if the vessel had arrived from somewhere that was, it did not explain the condition of the men and women who had crewed it.

Leaning in, the god could see that Liam was right. The ring was flat at the top, with a symbol in a language he did not recognise, embossed in some kind of translucent dark green stone. But the metal…it was not a metal he had seen anywhere else on the airship thus far. But it was a metal he was familiar with. Reaching out to touch the ring, Mendean's fingers hesitated, then withdrew. He did not need to feel the silvery metal to know exactly what it was. Silvery, flawless, perfect. Too perfect.

“Oenerium,” Mendean breathed, almost in a whisper. “Dream metal. A metal that cannot be mined in the real world. Only in that of…” The god fell silent, a churning sensation in his stomach. Suddenly he had an inkling of what fate had befallen the alien crew and he turned around to study the seated figure.

When he spoke next, his voice was stronger, more certain. “These corpses are not ancient. If I were to hazard a guess, I would say something had drained them of their life force.”

Author: Liam, Posted: Wed May 18, 2016 1:05 PM, Post Subject: Sun Machine [OPEN]

He nodded at the explanation of the time crisis, Liam had been learning quietly about what had happened.  "I came through one of those holes.  This place was different in a lot of ways, but still kind of the same.  Enough for me to be comfortable, anyway.  If you can give me an idea, I can help you find clues.  Anything strange, I'd guess?" he asked.  There were already quite a few strange things about this crashed ship already, but Liam knew that other things tended to stand out.  When Mendean wandered off, Liam chose a slightly different direction, though close enough that he could still hear his companion's footfalls.  When he paused, Liam's eyes turned back, and he carefully found his way to where the figure sat contained in the chair.

The clothing was strange, nothing he had ever seen before.  "Is it armor?  It looks too… pristine for that though, no dents in it," he said, puzzled.  Could it be some kind of garb specific to the people who had been on the ship?  When Mendean asserted the body was older than the ship, Liam's brow furrowed, trying to figure out just what might be going on here.  "Y'know, I've heard stories where some cultures keep a body because they think it's a holy artifact of some kind.  Maybe it's that?" he suggested.  Perhaps the strange clothes were some kind of holy garb.  But he could also be entirely wrong. 

Moving away from Mendean, Liam caught sight of something else glimmering in the dark.  It was not a metallic color, but iridescent.  He picked up a wand of some kind of crystal from the thick dust, and it was chased in what looked to be the same metal as the strange fabric.  But there was something else under the wand.  "I think this belonged to the people here.  But this ring… it looks like it's from somewhere else," he said, showing them both to his companion.  Perhaps one was a sign of whomever Mendean was seeking.

Author: Century, Posted: Thu May 12, 2016 4:55 PM, Post Subject: Sun Machine [OPEN]

Mendean waited a while for Liam to use the tinderbox. He was eager to move on into the darkness of the strange twisted wreck. His own highly-honed senses told him something was not right about this place. It tasted older than it should. After all, it had come through one of the many rifts created during the Timedeath crisis. And yet…there was something very wrong here. Something had happened that had been worse than the crash, but what that might be was not yet apparent.

He had to agree with Liam's observation. There was little to smell beyond the dust. It had been little over a month since the Timedeath crisis. Even if everyone had died on board, right at the start of events, the smell of decaying corpses would have certainly been evident, even in this arid climate. But as he ran a finger over a brass wall fitting, his finger came back with a thick layer of greyish-yellow dust.

“I don't know. I have been following trails, wisps and suggestions, hints and intimations. The warp and weft of the world have been severely damaged by the recent crisis of time. Many parts of Revaliir are unstable. Fragments of other worlds, other times poking through. I have followed the paths. The winding spirals of madness that make up the collective reality we call home. They led me here, to this region. But then the trail goes cold. If I am to pick up the scent again, I must carefully examine what I…what we find here. If my friend is not here, then I hope to find clues that may lead me to where he truly is.”

Casting a sidelong glance at the other man, Mendean realised that perhaps he had given away too much of his nature. He said nothing more, preferring instead to wander off ahead, not bothered by the darkness that seemed to swallow him. It was cramped in here, yet cool. A gentle breeze stirred the dust, causing something to catch the young god's eye. A shape, more irregular than the other mechanical forms surrounding them. As Liam's light caught the object, it glittered. Tiny metallic scales reflecting the light.

The shape seemed to be protruding from the darkness. A tiny appendage belonging to something larger. Something man-sized. As Mendean drew nearer, he saw that he was entering a small alcove in the corridor. Within it, a figure slumped in a metallic chair. The glittering came off a gauntlet of some kind. Squatting down, he brushed the strange fabric, feeling skeletal fingers within. As the light came closer, the whole figure was revealed to be encased in the odd material. A fabric coated in wafer-thin metal foil platelets. Each one a perfectly polished square. In the hood of the figure there grinned a skull. Wisps of white hair seemingly glued across the left eye. “What manner of clothing is this?” whispered Mendean.

One thing was clear. The figure had been dead for a long time. A very long time. Someone had strapped it into the seat, which was probably why it had not shattered in the crash. But that made no sense. This skeleton was devoid of any flesh. Not even traces. For that to have happened, it would have had to have been dead for many years.

“The skeleton is human. And it's been dead for a very long time. Longer even than this ship has been in existence. At least, that is how it appears.” He looked up at Liam, eyes glittering intensely in the dark. “More mysteries.”

Author: Liam, Posted: Thu Apr 28, 2016 4:25 PM, Post Subject: Sun Machine [OPEN]

Letting the young man lead the way, Liam kept an eye out for anything else that might try and attack the pair.  There had to be a way up to that hole in the ship, and he was curious enough to stay and see what was inside of it.  He took a quick gulp of water, grimacing slightly at the warm taste.  But there were worse things, and Mendean seemed to have found his way up to the balcony.  He quickly tucked the canteen away, and carefully followed his companion up, taking the hand-up when he needed it.  Before entering the darkness of the interior, Liam took one more glance around the exterior.  It seemed that the natives had scattered, it would be very annoying if they were attacked again.

Taking a moment to light a torch, Liam chuckled to himself.  "Almost didn't get the tinderbox… but then I remembered where I was planning on heading.  It's weird for me to not be able to even cast a spark of fire," he said, shaking his head.  It wasn't until he lifted the torch into the interior of the darkened ship did he realize just how extensive the damage was.  And it made him wonder just where all the people had gone.  A ship like this couldn't fly itself, could it?  And there were no bodies, or blood, around anywhere.  At least not here.  "I don't smell anything in here except dust…  I wonder how long the ship has been here.  Either the people flying the ship are long gone… or it's been here for a long time, and the desert dried them out.  Sure your friend is in here somewhere?" he asked.  Maybe Mendean would find something that he was missing.

Author: Century, Posted: Sun Mar 27, 2016 7:45 PM, Post Subject: Sun Machine [OPEN]

As his eyes passed over the broken structure of the foreign vessel, it was clear to Mendean that Liam was correct. Terrible forces had bent and squeezed the superstructure. If being in a dead zone had not killed this machine, then it was whatever had twisted it out of shape that had. But there were many possible causes. An enormous pair of hands, the stresses of passing from one world to the next. There were many terrible things and terrible forces that existed between the worlds and between the times. Mendean had had first-hand experiences of such things. Things most mortals would probably be better off knowing as little as possible about.


Offering no comment other than a grim nod, the god approached the door. All that glass. Whomever this vessel had belonged to, must have been extremely wealthy, in their world, as well as this one. Panes of glass larger than a few inches across were hard to come by. He shrugged to himself before approaching the point of entry. Hopefully he would find those who had sailed in this peculiar ship. If not alive, at least their corpses would render clues and information to him.


“I think you are right.” Mendean nodded and reached up, testing the overhang. Fingers finding purchase, he tugged once. There was movement above. Dust and fragments of glass and metal rattled, falling around the god in a glittering cloud. He stepped back blinking, then brushed the worst of it out of his hair, from his shoulders and sleeves. Dust was expected. It came with the territory. One did not pass through the Siva Zemlyst without emerging, caked in dust. It brought back fond childhood memories.


Reaching up, he tested again. Less fragments fell this time. It felt stable. It would certainly carry their weight, for a little while, as long as they did not linger. Grasping hold, Mendean pulled himself up with both arms, legs flailing for several seconds before finding purchase on the lip of the rim. Grimly, he pulled himself up the rest of the way, thanking his years of training in the monastery for his prowess in such things.


A moment later, Mendean was squatting on the overhang, it sloped downward, but he locked one elbow around a sturdy railing, leaning forward. As he extended his free hand for Liam to take, he noticed a shallow cut along the side of his forefinger. It did not hurt much, but the sight of his own blood concerned him. The blood of a god was a precious commodity. He looked at Liam warily for a second before chiding himself. Liam had no idea what he was. He was safe.


“Come on, I'll give you hand-up.”

Author: Liam, Posted: Wed Mar 2, 2016 4:04 PM, Post Subject: Sun Machine [OPEN]

He took a step back from the glance cast in his direction, but Liam figured it was better to stay in place.  If nothing else, at least in his mind, they would be easier to take out if he tried to run.  And Liam didn't really have any intention of dying out here in the wastelands.  Shaking his head as the native spoke, he could understand the few words.  But when Mendean spoke, he understood not a word.  His mother had a talent for languages, and Liam was still learning.  But the one man's facial expression told him all that was needed, and the natives quickly backed down.

Keeping his eyes on the natives until they were out of sight, he scrambled after Mendean.  It seemed a better idea to take a chance with the man he could at least communicate with.  Not to mention, there was a mystery to be solved, and that was something he couldn't resist.  Especially since there was a missing person involved.  "This ship… it looks different.  Like it was twisted somehow.  I noticed it when I was at a distance.  It's not twisted the right way for it to have happened when it crashed though," he said to Mendean once he got close again.  It was like something massive had grabbed part of the ship, twisted it, and thrown it to the ground.  He wondered if Mendean had noticed the contorted metal. 

About twenty feet forward, he noticed an overhang only a few feet off the ground.  And behind that overhang, which looked a bit like a balcony now that he thought about it, was a smashed glass-like door.  "I think that's our way in… though it's smashed like someone wanted in.  Rather than trying to escape.  Weird," he muttered the last few words.  This whole fallen ship was weird, and Liam found himself wanting to know more about it.

Author: Century, Posted: Wed Feb 24, 2016 6:28 PM, Post Subject: Sun Machine [OPEN]

Mendean cast an irritated glance. He had hoped this Liam might run off or something, but that was clearly not going to happen. That meant Mendean was now responsible for him as well. He hated having to be responsible for others. Being responsible for his family was enough trouble, and he barely even interacted with any of them.

Still, it meant he was not alone, which was oddly comforting. Returning his attention to the Elvembek males who were emerging from behind wreckage, he could see the mixture of anger and the tiniest hint of shame in their eyes. Not all of them, but enough to destabilise the situation, even if it were only a little.

“You invaders. How many?” One of the men spoke in broken Wyllmochvaran. Well, at least he could use his native tongue and be understood by at least one of them, the god mused. He stared at the one who had spoken and moved closer, hands still raised. There was a clattering of weapons being raised.

The god halted and answered mildly in the Elvembek tongue. “Call me an invader again and I will tell your mother that you stole your brother's dinner on the day he fell from the cliff and died.” Mendean had seen it in the man's dreams, a recurring guilt that plagued him, even now after more than a decade had passed-by. The man's face blanched and for a brief moment, Mendean revealed himself to him. Not enough for the man to remember who the god was, but enough to know that the foreigner was not someone to be trifled with.

They locked eyes and Mendean saw understanding in those metallic coloured eyes. The Elvembek was remembering more than he was supposed to. Probably an effect of being in a dead zone. It reduced the god's influence more than merely being in Parvpora did. But in this case, it was an advantage. The man conferred with his comrades for a moment, and then one-by-one they backed away in the traditional ritual of respect to an honoured guest, until they were out of sight once more.

Mendean lowered his arms and shook his hands, flexing the fingers with a wince. “They will let us go aboard now. Come on.” And without waiting for a response from Liam, he began searching for a way into the wreck.

Author: Liam, Posted: Sat Feb 20, 2016 8:05 PM, Post Subject: Sun Machine [OPEN]

His eyes dropped to the ground, and Liam felt doubt for a few long moments.  There was a memory in the back of his head, of someone similar to this, chopping vegetables in a kitchen.  Perhaps he was mistaken?  But perhaps not.  It was hard to tell sometimes.  The young man only shrugged and nodded, accepting the answer that he was offered.  A smile did cross his face when Mendean told his opinion of the mages.  It was pretty close to what he thought. 

At Mendean's claiming of the ruined ship, he nodded.  That was fair enough, Liam had been here second.  "Honestly, I've no problems with that.  Not sure what they want with it anyway, other than to pick it over and hoard whatever knowledge they figure out.  But… a guy's got to eat, and jobs are not the easiest thing to find," he said.  Wondering for an idle moment what his mother would have done, Liam decided that she would have done whatever she needed to in order to survive.

It wasn't until the arrow shattered against the ground that Liam realized they weren't alone.  The young man cursed himself for being so inattentive, that was something that he had yet to learn.  He squinted against the sands, trying to see just how many there are.  He knew only a few rudimentary words of the Elvembek tongue, but he did until the tone of the insult.  All the men were armed with ranged weapons, and Liam only had his blade.  He couldn't even use his magic here, so Liam felt more than a bit useless.  His hands raised along with Mendean's.

"Any ideas as to what they want?  You can at least speak with them…  I'm truly the outsider here," he said, muttering the last mostly to himself.  If nothing else, this was yet another reminder he was so very far away from home.

Author: Century, Posted: Tue Feb 9, 2016 5:19 PM, Post Subject: Sun Machine [OPEN]

Mendean glanced over his shoulder at the young man. If there was some glimmer of recognition, it did not surface. He looked down at his dusty boots. “I do not know you. If you knew me, then perhaps it was another me. I am not him. I am sorry. He is gone.”

There was a moment of reflection. The mood became sombre, as though a moment of silence had been invoked in memory of that which had been lost. A wind pulled small zephyrs of pale brown dust into the air, that twisted their way across the arid ground, between the two men and the wreck. A desert bird squawked somewhere in the distance. The spell was broken. The god looked up at the half-buried dragon face.

“The mages of Wylmochvar can take a running jump over a short cliff. They want to gather precious specimens, they can get off their fat arses and come here themselves.” He indicated the crashed vessel with a wave, defiance in his eyes. “See this? This is mine now. I found it. I'm claiming first dibs. Scavenger's rights. You want to take something? You ask me first, or kill me for it. Scavenger's rules. You getting the picture? The man is mine too. If I see him, he is mine. Understood?”

Without waiting for a reaction, Mendean approached the artificial mound that had once graced unfamiliar skies, keen eyes picking out details. An ambusher would most-likely be waiting there, or over there, or…

Something moved in an arc across the sky, the sun made it impossible to look up without being dazzled. Mendean heard something hard clatter against a rock. Pieces of it exploded across his legs. Splinters. Nothing damaging; just the remains of an arrow. He stopped, immediately picking out the pale curve of a horn bow. A warning.

Speaking in the tongue of the Elvembek, Mendean raised his hands and called out. “You seek to shoot an unarmed man? What kind of cowards are you? Come out and speak to me as men, instead of ambushing me like a craven letgus!”

One, two, three…four walnut-coloured faces emerged from behind debris. Two with bows, the other two armed with spear throwers and a handful of lightweight bamboo javelins. Of course, thought Mendean. They probably think the airship is cursed. No way they'd actually go aboard the thing. Arms still raised, he muttered in the hope that Liam would be close enough to hear him. “There'll be another one. Someone has to watch the zemjahts or devaka, or whatever they came here on.”

Author: Liam, Posted: Thu Jan 28, 2016 2:54 PM, Post Subject: Sun Machine [OPEN]

Now that he was close enough, Liam noticed a few odd details about this young man.  But he had also learned that he couldn't take things at their appearance, so he would have to learn as he went.  The young man nodded when Mendean mentioned searching for someone, though he paused for a moment.  He knew that name.  It was one that his mother had spoken well of, and the name of someone he had met very briefly on another world.  This person even looked similar, very similar.  "I think… I think I've met you before.  Or someone very like you.  It was in another place though, one I don't think exists anymore," he said, shaking his head.  Liam didn't really want to talk about that part of his past, especially since he'd found no traces of his mother here.

He just shrugged at the question before answering it.  "Well, I can't use magic out here, so it seemed prudent to bring a few things.  I'm not the best scavenger yet, but I'm learning.  Some of the mages of Wyllmochvar are looking for people to bring back anything from places like this," he said, looking across the landscape.  Liam had been warned about the dangers out here, but he had come anyway.  He might as well try and do something useful until he figured out just what he was going to do with himself on this world.  "Who's this person you're looking for?  Maybe I can help," Liam added.  It was something to do for awhile anyway.

Author: Century, Posted: Sun Jan 24, 2016 7:54 PM, Post Subject: Sun Machine [OPEN]

Mendean was aware of the other man approaching, but he did not turn in acknowledgement until he heard the other man speak. The accent did not match the language, but he understood well-enough what the young man was saying. When he turned, the other young man bowed. A curious gesture, which Mendean did not reciprocate. Instead, he narrowed his eyes suspiciously at the new arrival, studying him carefully.

Something familiar about this one. But only slightly so. A native of Tarishitar, he was not. No epicanthal folds over the eyes, hair all wrong. Even his clothes indicated he was a traveller from elsewhere. Although where that may have been was not immediately obvious to the god.

He realised he must appear even stranger to the young man. After all, Mendean travelled with minimal supplies. He was perfectly capable of living off the land, especially this land, given the time he had spent as a child, travelling with the indigenous Elvembek nomadic peoples. But he carried no weapons either. It was rare in these lands to find any traveller unarmed.

Turning without speaking, the deity returned his attention to the crashed airship. He had a good idea as to the reason for its presence here, even if he was unaware where it had come from. Slight distortions in the aether all around the area indicated that a substantial rift in the world had occurred here during the Timedeath. It might well turn out this vessel had fallen here from another time, or perhaps even another world.

He had tracked his quarry to this region. Such a man would not have been able to resist exploring something like this, so it was likely he was here. And yet…

“You can call me Mendean,” answered the young god. “I am here to find a man. I came across this.”

He inclined his head toward the newcomer. “Why are you all the way out here? It is dangerous for an encumbered traveller. More likely to attract the attention of a Tloyebog that way.”

Author: Liam, Posted: Fri Jan 22, 2016 3:46 PM, Post Subject: Sun Machine [OPEN]

It wasn't very hard to make his own way in the world, and Liam found himself actually enjoying the hard search.  Here, he could not use magic.  But that was fine.  It was a chance to use his other skills.  The mages from Wyllmochvar paid handsomely for recovered artifacts and airship pieces, and there were plenty of rumors in the Siva Zemlyst area about all manner of interesting things that might be found.

The only truly hard part was having to carry all his own supplies.  But Liam looked at this as a challenge, and faced it with a grin.  He knew his mother would have been proud.  Checking the map and compass once more, he peered into the distance.  Searching for a lost structure of some kind in the middle of a desert was just up his alley, though he would have to figure out what to do once he found the place.  The first sign he found was a disruption in the desert of the mostly smooth soil, and Liam noted the strange pieces of metallic substance formed a trail.  And it led to a large mound on the horizon.  That seemed as good of a place as any to start. 

Picking up a small piece of the material, Liam tried to figure out just what it was.  His best guess was some kind of alloy of metals, but it was much lighter than he expected.  Which did make sense for an airship.  Once he got closer to the airship, his head tilted to one side.  He wasn't quite sure of what he was seeing, the design was strange to his eyes.  And there was someone else already there.  Interesting.  Liam wondered if it was a fellow scavenger.  He approached, taking care to make enough noise so that he would be noticed and not sneak up the man.  The young man, Liam realized.  They looked fairly close in age.

Raising his hand in greeting, he spoke in the tongue of Tarishitar.  It was the closest one to what he had learned at home, and Liam was pretty sure this guy would not understand Draconic.  "Hello, I didn't expect to see anyone else out here.  Name's Liam," he said, offering a bow of greeting.  He had learned that acting polite tended to start off encounters on a much better footing.

Author: Century, Posted: Sun Jan 17, 2016 3:01 PM, Post Subject: Sun Machine [OPEN]

An immense towering collection of ceramic tubes, metallic pipes, crystalline panels and all manner of construction materials, many of would defy the expectations of any engineer worth their salt. The front of the structure resembled a grinning demon, or a highly stylised lion. Mendean could not decide.

His first thought was that it was some kind of ancient airship, brought down to earth by the arcane sapping effect of the dead zones. It was not large enough to rival a city like Tarishitar, but it was certainly larger than most war airships he had seen. It was foreign, possibly not of human origin at all?

It lay there, grinning, part-embedded in the mud and dust of the land. The darkness of the soil and broken trees lying as though discarded by some gigantic child, indicated that whatever it was, it had crashed in recent months. He continued around the flying machine, searching for signs of life. There must have been a crew. Perhaps some survived inside? Almost stumbling over the horned skeleton of a devaka, a kind of camel-like animal indigenous to this region, his sharp eyes spotted nicks all over the bones of the long-departed creature. Scraps of dried flesh and hide clung to the bones. Mendean narrowed his eyes. It was not just scavengers who had consumed this poor creature.

Wind and dust would have covered over any tracks left by predators. But there would be other signs. Diminished as his power was in this land, there were still many resources at the god's disposal. One of them being the land itself, for he knew it well. He knew the Elvembek people, the Tloyebog and the phlogiston collectors. And yet the Siva Zemlyst still held many secrets.

He was weaker because he was a god and the power of gods was diminished in Parvpora. Added to that were the dead zone effects of the Siva Zemlyst, which prevented the use of magic. But that was why he liked to come here. Here, he could at least pretend he was human.

But that was not why he had come here. He had come in search of someone. Someone who had gone missing. As he gazed up at the roughly pyramidal crashed airship of unknown design, his suspicions that this was where his lost quarry would have ended up. He would have been unable to to resist.