This again?

by **Victoria Valentine** » Tue Aug 28, 2012 5:29 pm

Victoria walked along the point, frowning to herself as she mulled things over.

This doesn't feel right.
Well, it is a place of power...
Yes, but places of power feel a different kind of 'not right.'
...That doesn't sound right and I even know that.
Oh, I know what I mean. How do you express these things verbally, anyway?
Okay, point taken.
So what is it?
Have to find out....

She walked along the point, her pupils glowing faintly red as she examined everything carefully, both physically and spiritually.

by **Narrator** » Tue Aug 28, 2012 5:32 pm

The ley lines of the area felt like a road to nowhere. It wasn't that they were gathering at a node, they just seemed like they kept going, though quite where was impossible to tell. This wasn't the destination. This was barely a stop along the way.

by **Victoria Valentine** » Tue Aug 28, 2012 5:40 pm

She frowned, following one line the convergence, then stopped, studying all of them in place for a minute. Then she turned, pacing around it clockwise, while a glowing red copy of her split off and paced around the convergence in the other direction, studying it as well.

This makes even less sense.
This is the convergence.
But they don't converge.
Not in any usual way.
Bent?
No... different lines.
So... where are they going?

The avatar vanished as Victoria closed her eyes, focusing on the spell she was casting. Perhaps with a seeing spell she could follow one of the lines even though she couldn't physically see its path.

by **Narrator** » Tue Aug 28, 2012 5:44 pm

Following a single ley line her vision blurred briefly before it rode the ley line out onto the water.

Or that was what it seemed to be, until she saw a pod of... no, not whales swimming in the inlet. These seemed a bit more serpentine.

by **Victoria Valentine** » Tue Aug 28, 2012 5:51 pm

What the hell?

Victoria followed further, trying to study the beasts to try to get some idea of where she was looking.

I should have projected.
Ah well. Perhaps if this doesn't work.

by **Narrator** » Tue Aug 28, 2012 5:56 pm

It was the inlet. Mostly. The creatures ducked under the surface as a beam of light traveled out over the waters, projected from a tower on the point that seemed to be grown from a single tree, a flawless emerald bigger than a man clutched in its uppermost branches.

by **Victoria Valentine** » Tue Aug 28, 2012 7:06 pm

And this would seem to be the important part.
Well, the most obvious important part, at least.
Yes, true. Nothing is as it seems.
Which is aways the way of things.

Victoria moved back along the line closer to the tree, studying it, trying to get its scope and its features, looking for anything that she could use to look further into this.

by **Narrator** » Tue Aug 28, 2012 7:09 pm

It was about the height of a lighthouse. Indeed, steps carved into the trunk seemed to indicate it could be climbed, so that the emerald could be tended to. It had the function, just not the same form. Close to the emerald, an ornately etched silver bell was dangled from the branches, large enough that its pealing could probably be heard throughout the inlet.

by **Victoria Valentine** » Tue Aug 28, 2012 7:19 pm

Victoria frowned, considering the situation.

And things change at this point.
The convergence shifts, in time? Space? Reality?
Too difficult to tell from here.
Yes, far too difficult.
This will likely hurt.
But what doesn't kill us will make us stronger, after all.

Victoria stood up her arms outstretched, her eyes closed. Her avatar split off from her, and as one half of her mind held the scrying, she projected the other half of her mind through the avatar as she touched the ley line to send the avatar after the spell.

by **Narrator** » Tue Aug 28, 2012 7:44 pm

As her avatar crossed over, she could see the landscape around. The shore was much more thickly grown than she'd known it, and in the direction of the Estate and Maldon, the trees were much taller, older than the England she was familiar with. Wispy ghostlights darted between the trunks, and she saw several dwellings up in the canopies.

by **Victoria Valentine** » Tue Aug 28, 2012 11:06 pm

Well, that seems to be the logical place to start, she thought, gliding up toward the canopy, trying to be mindful of her surroundings so that she wouldn't unknowingly barge into anything.

by **Narrator** » Wed Aug 29, 2012 12:24 pm

It was... a town, of sorts, built in those uppermost branches of the trees that had nearly grown together at the top. Very little sunlight filtered down to the forest floor. The dwellings were primitive... or perhaps it only seemed that way. They were built from natural materials, but there was an elegance to the carving that spoke of artisanship.

by **Victoria Valentine** » Wed Aug 29, 2012 4:03 pm

Victoria suspected that she wasn't going to see humans living in these dwellings, and moved in closer to see if she suspected correctly.

by **Narrator** » Wed Aug 29, 2012 4:18 pm

As Victoria looked closer, she saw that they were humanoid, at least. Going about their daily business. They were tall and lean and the most curious shade of sky blue.

One of their children seemed to spot Victoria's avatar, and gave a broad smile as it giggled. Its mother looked where all the fuss was, and frowned, hurrying her child inside. The others started to follow suit.

by **Victoria Valentine** » Wed Aug 29, 2012 5:02 pm

Well, it would have been too easy if one of them would have talked to me, I suppose. Victoria looked around one last time, then the avatar faded away into nothing to send her mind fully back to her body. What is this place? she thought as she looked back around in the real world.

by **Narrator** » Wed Aug 29, 2012 5:04 pm

Back where she'd started, everything seemed normal again. Yes, there was the odd placement of the ley lines, but it was just the foundations of the lighthouse. Nothing else stood on the spot. Not here, at least. Not like it had there.

by **Samantha McManus** » Thu Aug 30, 2012 2:55 pm

Samantha touched down a few yards away, resolving back into her human form. She looked up ahead.

"...someone already there?"

by **Nailah Weaver** » Thu Aug 30, 2012 3:03 pm

"You're the telepath, you tell me." Nailah says, landing next to Sam and looking around.

by **Samantha McManus** » Thu Aug 30, 2012 3:06 pm

"If your arse gets any smarter, your tail will be engaging me in discussion."

by **Victoria Valentine** » Thu Aug 30, 2012 3:07 pm

"So many comments I could make right now, so many ways for me to be expelled if I do," Victoria called back as she opened her eyes.

by **Nailah Weaver** » Thu Aug 30, 2012 3:14 pm

"It comes with the territory. Hello Victoria."

by **Samantha McManus** » Thu Aug 30, 2012 3:17 pm

Samantha approached Victoria. As she did so, the same odd wind or breathing that Nailah had sensed picked up. A cloak of black feathers flared out from Samantha's shoulders as she walked, only to retreat back inside her flesh once the "breath" had passed.

"...curious," she mumbled.

by **Nailah Weaver** » Thu Aug 30, 2012 3:46 pm

"Well then..." Nailah raises an eyebrow.

"I take it it's no coincidence to find you here." she turns to Vickie.

by **Victoria Valentine** » Thu Aug 30, 2012 4:00 pm

"Sweet goddess no. The ley lines in this place are like a bloody Escher painting, nothing goes where it should."

by **Samantha McManus** » Thu Aug 30, 2012 4:14 pm

"Something's... definitely not quite right," she said, confusion on her face.

by **Nailah Weaver** » Thu Aug 30, 2012 4:26 pm

"If it didn't sound so ridiculous I'd say that's because this is where life is being born into the world. But I'm open to less ludicrous theories."

by **Victoria Valentine** » Thu Aug 30, 2012 5:58 pm

"I have no idea what's going on yet. I followed... that ley line," Victoria said, pointing at an indistinct area in the air in front of her, "And it vanishes here, but continues on in... another place almost exactly like this. My wild guess is that this is a nexus."

by **Samantha McManus** » Thu Aug 30, 2012 6:11 pm

"Almost exactly like here."

"After all we've been through, why doesn't that comfort me?"

by **Victoria Valentine** » Thu Aug 30, 2012 6:15 pm

"As I don't see this place turning into a land of trees and blue people who live in the tops of them, I don't think I'd be too concerned for this place if I were you."

by **Nailah Weaver** » Thu Aug 30, 2012 6:23 pm

"I don't know about blue people, but with how saturated everything feels I'm inclined to say that by tapping into this you could turn this place into a giant forest. Or any number of things, really."

by **Victoria Valentine** » Thu Aug 30, 2012 6:25 pm

Victoria considered that. "Possibly. You'd need access to it to do it, though, and access for long enough. I think, at least."

by **Samantha McManus** » Thu Aug 30, 2012 6:26 pm

"I'm just uneasy about the thought of yet another world on our doorstep."

by **Nailah Weaver** » Thu Aug 30, 2012 6:32 pm

"We certainly can't ignore it though I don't feel it's necessarily bad news. It doesn't feel wrong to me..."

by **Samantha McManus** » Fri Aug 31, 2012 12:57 pm

"I'd debate whether a world can feel wrong, but I suppose premonitions are what they are..."

by **Victoria Valentine** » Fri Aug 31, 2012 6:18 pm

"I suppose that it's going to sound insincere if I say 'these things happen'?" Victoria said with a smirk.

by **Nailah Weaver** » Sun Sep 02, 2012 4:16 pm

"At the very least we need to keep an eye on this. The grounds have always been a little off at times, but this is new."

by **Samantha McManus** » Sun Sep 02, 2012 4:54 pm

"Just tired of bloody surprises..."

by **Victoria Valentine** » Sun Sep 02, 2012 4:55 pm

"I think this is the wrong line of work for that attitude," Victoria said, sounding extremely amused.

by **Nailah Weaver** » Sun Sep 02, 2012 5:06 pm

"It does get tiring sometimes."

by **Samantha McManus** » Thu Sep 06, 2012 12:36 pm

"We manage, but I don't think it's wrong to want things to go smoothly for once."

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