Welcome Guest [Log In] [Register]
Welcome to Imythess, the border between dreams and reality. We hope you enjoy your visit.

Imythess is a creative writing board where you narrate the story of a character in the medieval land of Imythess, on the planet Chaon. Each topic is an opportunity for your character to interact with the world and its peoples by cooperatively writing pieces of a story with other members, one post at a time. We call this role-playing, because you assume the identity of your character as if it were your own.

In order to play, you must register an account for each character you would like to write about, and begin their tale by filling out their basic profile information: Race (human, elf, demon, etc.), class (warrior, mage, etc.), physical appearance, and any other personal details you would like to describe. You are also encouraged to come up with some background history information for what your character's life has been like up to the point at which their story in Imythess begins.

There is no approval process or application required to join, so long as you follow the rules then you are free to write whatever character details you choose. Registration is simple, fast, and completely free.


Create a character now!


If you're already a member, you can log into your account below:


Username:   Password:
Reply
[P] Discovered; Ioann
Topic Started: Sun Sep 10, 2017 7:28 pm (563 Views)
♥Cordelia Brooks
Member Avatar


“Don’t you think I’ve tried that already?” Cordelia snapped. “I’ve followed every clue, every hint, spent hours analyzing what little I know. I have tried. I’m about ready to make a deal with the Ethereal Plane to get back what I lost.”

With a heavy sigh, she leaned her head down into her palm and half-cradled her face. She closed her eyes and pinched the bridge of her nose. He was right. The constabulary would search for her with renewed vigor after the poorly executed stunt.

“Let them come, I’m not afraid,” she said. “What can they do to me that hasn’t already been done?”

A number of unimaginable agonies, but that was beside the point.

“I don’t remember anything of my life if it happened more than two years ago. I’ve run into people—some old friends—who say I just… disappeared.” Cordelia scooted back against the wall so she could lean against the stone. “It’s not selective so much as there are things I’ve learned. It’s not memory. It’s second-hand knowledge from letters and rumors. I know I’m zakona because I am—was? am?—a murderer, but I don’t know who or why. Two years ago, when I knew nothing, they tried to arrest me. The Sheriffs didn’t believe for a second that I didn’t understand why.”

She snorted.

“I got my parents’ names from an old water damaged letter that a friend of mine had held onto. I thought if I could find them in the census, then I could see when they passed, if my sister was alive, maybe discover other relatives. Find out where they raised me, too, and I could go to the address and… see if anything happened. A spark. Some kind of recognition.”

It’s almost as if the Archives itself was placing roadblocks in front of you, he’d said.

“Maybe I already made a deal with the Ethereal and that’s how this happened to me.” Cordelia laughed, at first, amused by the irony of the idea, but quieted as her eyes widened with possibility. Suddenly she felt cold inside. But why would she have bargained away her entire life? What had she gained from that?

Unsettled by this, and wanting to put a great distance between herself and what she might have done, Cordelia looked at Ioann with renewed focus. “You said ‘we.’ Who came to Balefire with you?”
Edited by Cordelia Brooks, Wed Oct 25, 2017 12:51 am.
Offline Profile Quote To Top
 
Ioann
Member Avatar


No further harm could come from the telling. His past was no secret, even if not freely shared.

“My wife.”

His shoulders wavered, slightly, but he drew in a breath to still them.

“We were here on holiday, from Cascadia, two young lovers so wrapped up in the excitement and macabre romance of the City of Lanterns, we were blinded to the danger. She... disappeared. I searched and searched but only ended up finding Red. And you know how the constables are now. They were worse then. But you’re wrong,” he barked out a sharp chuckle, “we were just stupid. Not brave.”

Ioann let out a slow breath, slowing the accelerating heartbeat that accompanied the memories.

“It’s been a long time since then. But we all have wounds, no?”

He rose uneasily, unable to keep still with such discussion, and began to pace again.

“We may be able to move on from here soon. I don’t know much about bargaining with senka, other than you’d be a fool to think you’d end up on the fair side of that deal. I know a Speaker though, one who petitions the Lords of that plane for favors. Maybe you could meet with him, see if he could give you any insight? He has a somewhat... tenuous grasp of reality, but that’s often the case with Speakers.”
Offline Profile Quote To Top
 
♥Cordelia Brooks
Member Avatar


“Who knows what I thought.” Had she really tried to bargain with the Ethereal Plane, or, even worse, triumph its mysteries? What could she have wanted so badly that she would have made such a foolish choice? In this life it seemed so clear to her that the Ethereal was not to be tested, but perhaps a previous version of her thought differently—or knew some tidbit of information, lost forever now, that might have helped her to get what she wanted.

She’d failed, regardless.

“How is it you know this Speaker?” Reluctance born of suspicion seeped into her voice. She’d known Ioann for only a night. It wasn’t enough to trust him. In Balefire, even a year’s worth of friendship wasn’t enough. “Have you gone to him before? For what?”

Taking her cue to stand, Cordelia dusted herself off and approached the low-hanging chandelier. Cupping her hand around each flame, she blew them out with a quick huff of breath. Little trails of smoke floated upward as the chamber gradually grew darker. With each candle extinguished, darkness filled the chamber. The glow of a lantern from the Delver’s Path flickered beneath the diagonal entryway to the chamber, illuminating the way out.

Feet first, Cordelia crawled back down the passageway and emerged in the tunnel below.

“I’ve been married twice before,” she said. “I think of them less like wounds and more like flies.” And she was the wound—her life was the wound, and around that wound swirled flies who batted her incessantly. “Easy to swat away.” She flashed him a grim smile, a perhaps poor attempt at humor.
Offline Profile Quote To Top
 
Ioann
Member Avatar


“I’ve known Zaxibus – the Speaker – for years. We’ve worked together before, a few times, when Red was feeling particularly grandiose. Never ended well for him. You know how senka are – you’d be better off trying to steal water from a thirsty Istani than try to bargain with them. It’s not just their bodies that are shadowy – their minds... they’re just... different. And the Lords, well, let’s just say that ever since then Red has kept a Shade at his elbow, just to feel safe, despite the price of the contract.“

He followed her out the shaft into the Delver’s Path, then took the lead.

“As for Zaxibus, he’s mostly harmless. He likes me, as much as someone like him can like another being, I suspect, ever since I made him up a Certificate of Citizenship,” Ioann explained. “You know how the Constabulary is about proper paperwork since the Taming. And someone like Zaxibus isn’t accustomed to going to ground. Without a Certificate, his head would have rolled a long time ago.”

Ioann paused, reminiscing, “That was a hell of a job – had to personally sneak into the Courthouse to file it.”

Cordelia’s bitter relationship comments made him stiffen, but then he sighed, quietly, and let the words slip away into the darkness unacknowledged. There was no use arguing.

“Give me the word, and I’ll arrange a meeting for you. Just tell me where you want to meet him and he’ll be there. Oh,” he added hastily, “I would make it somewhere discreet, if you can. Zaxibus... he tends to attract the wrong sort of attention, and more than you’d probably want after what happened tonight.”
Edited by Ioann, Wed Nov 22, 2017 7:20 pm.
Offline Profile Quote To Top
 
♥Cordelia Brooks
Member Avatar


Cordelia followed Ioann through the tunnels of Delver’s Path in contemplative silence. With each additional piece of information he provided she felt herself approach a precipice—and if she stepped over that great ledge she would never return. She could not close the door after she opened it, she could not climb back up the mountain once she jumped, she could not go back to sleep once she experienced this final and total awakening—

Her mind raced.

At last the opportunity to know herself arose. That she hesitated at all drove her half-mad, but there were great perils here. If this were a setup, she had everything to lose—yet hadn’t she already lost everything, and clawed her way back to the light?

“Somewhere in Gloomwood, maybe,” she said. Her mind raced still, and by the wild look in her eyes it was clear the cogs of her mind turned rapidly. “Somewhere dark, away from this city—there are so many smaller villages, in the swamps—” She brought a hand up to her mouth, rubbed at her chin, considered.

They had reached a portion of tunnel where the dirt wall became a door. On the other side, the sounds of revelry. A small lantern hung beside the door, emitting a lavender light, and Cordelia smiled.

“We can go our separate ways through here,” she said. “It leads to The Purple Lantern. They pay off the sheriffs to let them do as they please. It’s as good an exit as any, unless you prefer to split now.” She looked at him with raised eyebrows. Whatever he chose, it was for him to decide.

She wet her lips with her tongue, thinking.

There is no going back once you say it.
Once you say it, that is it.
You cannot come back
.

“I’ll send you a letter by week’s end,” she said. “Detailing where I’ll meet your Zaxibus.”
Offline Profile Quote To Top
 
Ioann
Member Avatar


“I’m in no mood for the Lantern, not after tonight,” Ioann sighed. “But we may as well get this over with.”

He pulled open the door to a back cellar beneath The Purple Lantern. Giant casks of ale and barrels of wine were racked to the ceiling. The damp coolness of the Delver’s Path contrasted with the warded, crisp air of the tavern’s humidity- and temperature-controlled subterranean chamber. As they strode through, the door closed by itself, driven by protective magecraft to prevent spoilage of the alcohol.

“Well bite my throat and drain me dry, Ioann Gregori!”

A too-forceful pat on the back nearly brought the exhausted jarkman to his knees.

“Eames,” Ioann croaked. He gave a nod to the neatly dressed vampire decorated in the violet and black livery of the Lantern who now stood at his side. He was built like the casks of ale around them – solid, immutable, and nearly as wide as he was tall. A broad wicker chair lay on its side, discarded in the man’s excitement to greet him.

“Thought you were too old to be prancing through the Delver’s Path! And who’s this?”

Theobald Eames gave Cordelia a polite smile. His exaggerated canines were barely visible over red, thin lips.

“A... friend. But we’re tired, Eames, and she’s got places still to go tonight.”

“Of course, of course,” the vampire nodded, giving Ioann another chest-rattling pat. “But at least let me get you a drink, or two. Hell, you look like you need ‘em!”

Ioann sighed and gave Cordelia an apologetic look. As an afterthought, he pulled out a business card written in his own hand with the necessaries on it.

“Alright, Eames, just one drink.”

FIN
Edited by Ioann, Sun Nov 12, 2017 8:51 pm.
Offline Profile Quote To Top
 
1 user reading this topic (1 Guest and 0 Anonymous)
« Previous Topic · Balefire, the City of Lanterns · Next Topic »
Reply

Top RP SitesVote for Imythess at Top Site List Planet
Top Site Lists
Misty Woods created by Helena & Cory of ZNR