Nefis/Logs/20181217 Maelshyvean Vessel

The walls echo with an woman's voice, "Seek the easternmost portion of my Inner Sanctum, and there you will find an appropriate place to return what is mine."

You chuckle.

You nod.

[Maelshyve's Fortress, Inner Sanctum]
A wave of mysterious silver liquid flows sluggishly like streaming teardrops from a crack in the ceiling, painting the eastern wall in its luminescence. The liquid disappears into another crack in the ground, presumably to an unknown reservoir. Strange shapes manifest in the mirrored liquid every so often, only to smooth out moments later.
Also here: Ershta Zehira screened by inky black droplets washed in iridescence, Executioner Talinel who is covered with whitened ridges and Researcher Nsar.
Obvious exits: southwest, northwest.
You're fairly certain this area is lawless and unsafe.
You believe that Zehira shares your attitude toward necromancers.
You believe that Talinel shares your attitude toward necromancers.
You believe that Nsar has a friendly attitude toward necromancers.

Nsar nods.

Talinel slips out of a Maelshyvean iconoclast's robe of purple-speckled deep blue velvet.

You remove an enruned black shell talisman from around your neck.

You kneel down upon the ground.

You focus your magical senses on an enruned black shell talisman.
The shell talisman has no discernible magical pattern.
Roundtime: 6 sec.

You have a feeling that being seen in possession of such an item may bring unwanted heat upon you.
You hang an enruned black shell talisman around your neck.

Zehira just touched a tyrium-dusted fetish amulet consisting of a tiny wizened skull on a jute cord.

Talinel kneels down.

You get some black charcoal from inside your multi-strapped carryall.

You drop a pyramid candle.

You get a small red salamander meticulously crafted from red gold from inside your leather belt.

You quickly flick the switch on the back of the salamander, pointing it at a pyramid candle as flames shoot out the creature's mouth, making the candle quickly catch fire.

You put your salamander in your leather belt.

With a shrill shrieking sound, the outline of a small feral beast suddenly lurches out of the flowing silver liquid, suddenly freezing in mid-air. Its vile expression becomes contorted and stony as the liquid conforms around it, solidifying to what seems like metal.

Tendrils of the silver liquid languidly slither out into the air, wrapping around the petrified beast, and drag it purposefully back into their depths.

A finger of flame leaps up from a pyramid candle on the floor.

The tingling sensation and sense of import disperse.

Nsar gets an ichor drenched prayer tapestry embroidered with the image of a slender woman from inside his multi-strapped carryall.

Nsar reverently lays his prayer tapestry on the ground, smoothing out its corners.

(Nefis draws a rough circle on the floor with the charcoal. In the center, he makes a crude image of a triple-tined claw.)

Nsar sits down on the prayer tapestry.

Zehira kneels down.

You drop some black charcoal.

You get a viciously-barbed midnight-blue ritual knife from inside your leather belt.

You draw a slight cut across your palm in ritualized fashion, drawing forth a small but useful amount of blood without any real injury. Roundtime: 3 sec.

You hold a viciously-barbed midnight-blue ritual knife high into the air for all to see.

Talinel gets a silk robe stained with shifting hues of red-streaked green from inside his leather satchel.

Talinel slips into a silk robe stained with shifting hues of red-streaked green.

(Nefis drips some ritually drawn blood onto the charcoal claw.)

You put your knife in your leather belt.

You get a small red salamander meticulously crafted from red gold from inside your leather belt.

You quickly flick the switch on the back of the salamander, pointing it at some black charcoal as flames shoot out the creature's mouth, making the charcoal quickly catch fire.

You put your salamander in your leather belt.

Nsar observes a pyramid candle with fascination.

You chant in a bass voice:

"Maelshyve! Demon-Goddess of the Zaulfung

Accept our sacrifice.  We return what is rightfully Yours

And we ask nothing in return!"

(Time to Next Chanting: 9 seconds.)

You gaze at some burning black charcoal.

A languid ripple washes through the silver liquid.

A pyramid candle on the floor burns with a comforting glow.

You get a cloudy quartz bottle with a silversteel-rimmed cork from inside your silk robe.

You hold a cloudy quartz bottle with a silversteel-rimmed cork high into the air for all to see.

The black charcoal goes out and crumbles away.

You open a cloudy quartz bottle with a silversteel-rimmed cork and it begins to shake in your hands.
Light and smoke emanate from the quartz bottle. Before your eyes, the smoke coalesces into a Maelshyvean vessel!

You quickly close the bottle to keep the vessel from being sucked in again.
[You have been locked to PvP OPEN for your reckless behavior.]
Roundtime: 6 sec.

Dusky blue fumes emanate from a Maelshyvean vessel, penetrating more than your clothing. You feel besmirched, violated, and profoundly afraid.

The Maelshyvean vessel begins to advance on Nsar.

Nsar leaps to his feet!

The walls vibrate with anger, and the silvery wall shimmers a moment, and you see the vague impression of triple-tined claws flexing open and closed. Your mind fills with an echoing woman's voice, "You, Nefis, who has offered your pyres of blood and smoke to the Defiler, now offer me the return of that which was mine? Delightful." The walls seem to quake with mirth, and the last word stretches lasciviously.

Nsar retreats from combat.

Zehira rubs her head.

Zehira says, "Oh dear."

You gaze down at the floor.

Nsar carefully gathers up the delicate folds of an ichor drenched prayer tapestry embroidered with the image of a slender woman.

Nsar puts his tapestry in his multi-strapped carryall.

You put your bottle in your silk robe.

Suddenly, the sound of laughter ceases, and a pair of great green eyes appear in the silvery wall, examining the area. You sense the sweep of their gaze, and feel them narrowing as they scrutinize you. "They stole from me. They took what was mine, and interrupted my endeavor. My poor Ciriasa, my beautiful Ciriasa. They will pay. And you. You appear to be of value. You appear to have returned someone that was mine."

Talinel says, "I have your robe Maelshyve."

The vessel steps forward and places her hand on the strange silvery wall. In a blink, the liquid oozes up her arm and coats her entirely. The wall ripples slightly, and the vessel is gone.

A golden flame wavers across the tip of a pyramid candle on the floor.

Talinel drops a Maelshyvean iconoclast's robe of purple-speckled deep blue velvet.

Everything takes on a strange thickness, the light muted as if you are deep underwater, with only a pair of endless green eyes visible far above. The eyes seem to bore into you, and you feel their immense weight crushing down overhead. A thin tendril of blue-tinged blackness stands out against the murk, and slowly writhes around your feet and up your legs! Spreading capillary-like protrusions across your body, you find yourself almost engulfed, though find the experience strangely pleasing. Suddenly, everything returns to normal.

You shudder.

Zehira shivers.

Nsar slowly empties his lungs.

Echoing laughter rings throughout the halls, and a woman's voice merrily says, "You scream into the void with your smoke and blood, draw the watchful eyes of Others, and they see, they notice. You gaze into the eyes of those that have seen, those that have noticed. He and his eyes. And yours and their eyes will be mine."

The demonic whispers quieten.

A pyramid candle on the floor crackles as a spark rises from it.

The swirling confines of malevolent darkness wane from about Nsar.

The swirling confines of malevolent darkness wane from about Talinel.

The swirling confines of malevolent darkness wane from about Zehira.

You feel the cursed pall wane away, renewing the vigor to your body.

You hear an almost imperceptibly soft grating of metal on metal, claws scraping against one another, savagely ringing. As the noise builds in intensity, your right eye begins to itch, then burn, and with a crescendo of discord, your face erupts in cacophonous agony, and you realize your eye has been ripped from it's socket! Bending over and clutching yourself in pain, you feel warm blood dripping between your fingers onto the fortress floor, and you hear a cruel laugh echoing around you. You are left with the impression that she is pleased, that she remembers, and that she has claimed more than just your eye.

Nsar works carefully at tending his wounded right eye.

You think to yourself, "we only ask that You take from those who've attacked You first. Our enemies are the same"

Talinel subtly reels as a pained expression crosses his face.

Her laughter rings through the halls, and you are able to make out the words "... seen through the desperate...", "... pets and puppets and ploys..." and "... another step another step another step...", before the voices fade into silence. Everything appears unchanged, the strange silvery wall incessantly flowing. With your one eye, you notice the floors are free of blood.

Talinel works carefully at tending his wounded right eye.

Zehira works carefully at tending her wounded right eye.

!K>heal

Your body feels at full strength.
Your spirit feels full of life.
You have a pulpy cavity for a right eye.

Bleeding

           Area       Rate              

---

      right eye       heavy

!K>tend my right eye
You work carefully at tending your wound.
Doing your best, you are able to stop the bleeding.

You quietly say, "There must always be sacrifice for power."

You gaze down at the floor.

Zehira says, "Always."

Talinel nods.

Zehira rubs her head.

K>l nefis
You are Arcanist Nefis Mordael, a Human.
You have a symbol of warding scarred into the forehead and sullenly glowing eyes, one an empty socket and one crimson. Your black hair is shoulder length and fine with the left side shaved, and is worn pulled back in a multitude of beaded braids. You have dark skin.
You are in your prime.
You have some light stubble on your face.
Your left palm has a tattoo of a crimson eye surrounded by a black sphere that almost obscures a circular scar.
You can feel the sensitive eye-cysts clustered in and around your left eye, feeding your perceptual sphere with added stimuli.
Your body glows brightly with lines of reddish-black power in the shape of your mutative nervous system.

You have a pulpy cavity for a right eye.

You are wearing a slim robe of layered bone-white silk stitched with a crimson-eyed black swan, a pair of polished black boots trimmed in white leather, a pure black swan feather, an aged red leather baldric webbed in spidersilk, a faded gold ring and a reinforced leather raekhlo with an abyssal quartz-inlaid athame and a bejeweled silver knife hanging from it.

Nsar says, "I would've thought maybe she would take opposing pairs of eyes at least."

Zehira says, "She takes what she wishes."

You stand back up.

Nsar nods.

You dust yourself off.

Zehira stands up.

Talinel says, "Least our heads didn't go as well."

Talinel leaps to his feet!

Zehira says, "Indeed."

You say, "Perhaps that will be the price next time."

Zehira says, "I do like my pretty head."

Talinel says, "Maybe we can bring extra heads, to offer instead of our own in that case."

Zehira says, "Oh that's a very good idea."

Talinel picks up a Maelshyvean iconoclast's robe of purple-speckled deep blue velvet.

Talinel puts his robe in his multi-strapped carryall.

A pyramid candle on the floor burns with a comforting glow.

You hear a woman's mocking laughter echoing around you, and feel great green eyes casting their gaze near and far.

Zehira says, "If only we could get His attention so easily. It's been so long, since he's wanted to see us."

Nsar gazes off to the east.

You say, "Her Power grows again."

A golden flame wavers across the tip of a pyramid candle on the floor.

You say, "Direct manifestations."

Talinel nods.

Talinel says, "She is awake and watching..."

Talinel stares blankly into the distance.

Zehira says, "Maybe next time they won't be able to stop her."

You say, "If another vessel is created...we must protect it until it comes to power."

Talinel nods to you.

Zehira nods to you.

Zehira says, "I bet I look pretty good with one eye."

(Nefis gazes at the circular scar on his palm.)

You think to yourself, "this body becomes scarred in this war"

Talinel cackles!

A pyramid candle on the floor crackles as a spark rises from it.

Zehira works carefully at tending her wounded right eye.

Talinel says, "I beleive we've made a break through here... for what knowledge has been taught to us... Here we are, making our own contact."

You nod to Talinel.

Zehira nods.

You say, "Perhaps we should discuss this at length...somewhere else."