eswareinmal | (no subject)

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Characters: Any and all!
Open? Very
Where: The (formerly) White Forest
When: GHB6
What: The burning of the White Forest has left little of the forest, but has reveled something else entirely....
Warnings:

Ash drifted slowly down on the light breeze that twisted past bare limbs to carry the fading sent of burning, bringing the feeling of late fall to the warm early summer-like day. Dried and charred under growth crunched underfoot, the sound seeming oddly loud in the otherwise still ruins.

Yet here and there, a patch of white peeked up through the blackened remains of the forest. Smooth white stone carefully laid, stained from moss and now flame, leading a winding path to the gleaming white tower in the distance that stood out unnaturally, pure and untouched by the flame.

For those who follow the path, or make their way to the tower will find the path growing stronger, gleaming white and unstained as it approaches the tower's base, the path growing wider until it spreads out to join others to form a ring around the tower's base, the individual paths radiating out like spokes vanishing back into the blacked ruins.

When the tower is reached, it becomes clear why the fire did not touch. A harsh aura of arrogant purity seemed to radiate out, rebuffing all that would be unworthy from even approaching its walls. It stood tall, easily 4 stories, surface a pure, almost painful, arrogant white marble, windows small and uninviting, every inch seeming to claim that no one was worthy to enter it's sacred halls.

But there were signs of battle. Nature's assault had not been wholly held back, vines clinging to the side to break in and rip apart the aberration held inside what was once it's stronghold. But much more damage of a less patient sort had also been done. Shattered windows, spatters of scorch marks, holes blasted in the walls and the stone around the base. Trees not fall off lay in a tangled heap in the ground as if something had been flung into them and an eruption of blackened vines lay in a heap not far from the unbroken and still barred doorway, paving stones scattered about where they had been flung by the abrupt growth.

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The forest fire was something that would have attracted Ryo's attention, even if the blasted townspeople hadn't been all but throwing him on his horse and leading the horse out there themselves. He'd been glad to ride away to that area if only to escape them, and, really, he was just glad something interesting had happened. Nothing had seemed all that unusual about the area when he'd last investigated it.

And now, there was a rather interesting-looking tower just waiting to be investigated. Or at least, he might have gone in there and investigated were it not for whatever sort of aura it was radiating. Given what he was, he didn't think he'd be "pure" enough for it. He was standing as close to it as he could bear, staring up at it and wondering just what it was there for...and why he'd completely failed to notice it before.

The forest itself had hid the tower rather well, as if trying to swallow up the stain of order in it's midst and the disappointing aura would have been enough to push anyone away who hadn't been seeking it out.

Even now it seemed to be trying to push Ryo away, to protect its secrets.

But there were gaps in the tower's defense. Spots where the walls looked as if the forest fire had flung itself at the walls with the force of a canon, charring and dislodging the brickwork.

Ryo considered the setup for a bit. The tower was pushing and pushing hard, but he was nothing if not stubborn. Too stubborn to walk away. Even, on occasion, too stubborn to die.

He saw those gaps and in them, saw an opening. It would be easier just to leave, to let the tower go on being all disapproving and uninviting, but he'd never been one to take the easy way out. He made sure his horse was securely tied nearby, and then he approached one of those gaps. He would try climbing inside if things seemed secure enough...

Smokey light filtered in through the holes and shattered windows, barely illuminating what seemed to be a long since abandoned entry hall that made up the entire base of the tower. Dust dared not land on the pristine white marble floors, yet vines and thin birch trees grew up through spots where the marble had been broken and the dust clung heavily to the large throne like chair in the back of the room that was the only visible furniture. Stairs curled around the wall, almost invisible as they lead up to the upper floors.

Ryo had almost expected something to happen once he'd breached the uninviting tower, but he wasn't complaining. He warily scanned his new surroundings. It was a little livelier than a tomb, but not by a whole lot. He had to wonder if he'd been the first person in there in years. The layer of dust all over that throne seemed to indicate it hadn't been touched in quite some time.

He decided to approach the throne first before moving on to explore the rest of the tower. Maybe it would show him something useful.

Under the dust lay more white, ornately carved marble that held an inner soft glow, radiating even more of the sense of unworthiness of those around it. Proud, arrogant, powerful, self important and disappointing as it looked down at the non existent audience that no longer waited.

There didn't seem to be anything particularly different about the throne, just more of the same of what Ryo had been feeling where the tower was concerned. He was glad to get a bit farther away from it as he walked over to those stairs. Perhaps the next floor up would give him more of a clue as to what this place was, though he couldn't shake the thought that it was some sort of place of judgement.

The floor above was thankfully mostly free of the oppressive, judgmental aura. The stars continued their winding way around the wall, climbing steadily upward, curving around a small study that was laid out in a half circle, two doors set in the wall that bisected the floor, both firmly closed.

There were some cracks in the ceiling, with what looked like roots snaking through them and quills were scattered on the floor next to one of the desks.

Ryo breathed a sigh of relief when he realized the floor he was entering wasn't quite as oppressive. That was good, he wouldn't have to cut the exploration short like he'd feared.

He noted the cracks in the ceiling, as well as the roots. If he tried going up another floor, this would be important. For the moment, he decided to investigate the desks. Maybe whoever had used this tower had left an important bit of written information behind in the desks...

...or maybe all he'd find would be some medieval equivalent of an old shopping list.

Most of the papers were blank, others covered with incomprehensible writing and diagrams. One, however, had an ink drawing of a stylized, though childish tree with small wisps of something insubstantial floating around it. The drawing wasn't finished however, and looked crumpled, as if someone had thrown it away, but then changed their mind.

That drawing of the tree looked...different. Ryo studied it for a moment before taking it and some of the papers with writings and diagrams, carefully folding them up, and stuffing them into a small leather pouch hanging off of his belt. He didn't know what to make of them, but perhaps he could find someone that would have a better idea of what they were.

He took a brief moment to make one final check of the desks before moving on.

As he resumed the climb up the stairs, the air grew lighter, a soft breeze carrying the smell of ash from outside reaching his nose as if from an open window. The reason became very clear as he emerged to the top floors. A grand library took up the upper hub of the tower, two floors of bookshelves with windows above letting the still smokey daylight stream in to the dusty floor below.

This floor was in shambles. Books scattered about the floor, chairs and tables overturned, and most curiously of all... trees growing up out of the floor.

There were three of them, different girths and heights, one reaching up through the ceiling and peering out through a hole to the forest remains outside.

The dust was thinner, the wind from the broken windows and breached ceiling keeping it from settling, but still present. Whatever had caused the devastation had happened some time ago....

"Huh." A library up here, now, that was something Ryo had been prepared to deal with. The desks and scraps of paper he had picked up seemed like they would fit in just fine with a library.

But trees? That was different. He had to wonder how they'd even gotten there. He decided to investigate them before turning his attention to the books lining the shelves. Ryo approached the tree in the middle, running his hand along its trunk as he tried to figure out what might have caused this.

They were the same sort of tree that had made up the forest before it had burned down, with no sign to how they had come to be growing there, or indeed, how they were growing there. The floor seemed sturdy enough under their weight, even as the roots dug into the marble, and the tree seemed healthy, leaves green as they swayed in the faint breeze.

The books that lined the walls varied in age and thickness, but most were large with aged leather spines decorated with faded gold lettering in an incomprehensible script.

If he attempts to touch them, however, his fingers will be repelled by a strong shock like white fire.

It wasn't like Ryo knew much about trees other than that they usually weren't found in places like this. They seemed healthy and sturdy enough, and after a bit of examination, he gave up on trying to figure anything out where they were concerned. They were unusual, and maybe someone back in town would know something. He would have to make a mental note to ask when he started asking about those papers he'd found.

The books were next on his list of things to check. He was expecting more of the same gibberish he couldn't understand within their pages. He was not, however, expecting the books to actively repel his attempts to pick them up, at least not to that degree.

He took a few steps back from the books and scrutinized them a little more closely, trying to see if there were any way for him to handle one safely without getting shocked like that. Perhaps he'd have to bring someone else back out here...

Every attempt to touch the books would be met with a bigger and bigger zap, starting to be accompanied by that sense of judgmental foreboding that the first floor had been flooded with.

It was at this point that Ryo thought it might be a good idea to get out of there. He had a little bit of information in those papers he had pocketed, and perhaps he would be able to find someone who knew what they meant. The books clearly didn't want any part of him, and nor did the tower itself...it was time to leave, possibly to return with someone who knew what they were doing when it came to things like this.

Ryo started to head down the stairs, feeling almost as though he were being driven out by those books.

Liara's meeting with Ryo, and the papers he had brought down from the tower, had Liara's mind trapped. A library full of books, and he hadn't even searched the whole of the tower before being run out. Even with vague directions, he'd been right; the tower was hard to miss in the remains of the forest. She didn't waste time in the ashes, but set out for the tower directly.

As she neared, she slowed, blue surrounding her. she scanned the area, and then held up her left arm. Orange supplanted the blue over it, as she used her omni-tool to search for traces of (and Goddess forbid she ever admit it to anyone she knew at home) magic. As she drew nearer, she moved her focus from the area around the tower to the building itself. A little shiver ran down her back. Though not the same, for a moment, she felt almost as she did in the heart of Armali, back on Thessia, surrounded by thousands of years of self-assured superiority.

She started for the door, though leery of the vines. Since Ryo had been chased off, she thought it prudent to begin with the most obvious entrance, and go from there. The longer it took to seem like an unwanted intruder, the more time she would have to look around.

The entire tower was all but drenched in magic, one the grew stronger as she drew closer, as did the oppressive fog of judgement, looking down upon her unworthy self as she dared to enter the Tower's Sacred Hall.

The door itself was tightly sealed shut, magic crackling defensively against any intrusion, despite the large hole just a little way around the curved wall, big enough for a person to step through.

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GHB9

...so I totally though I'd replied to this already. SORRY ><