The Fall of the Walls IC - Open Signups

MadylineJames

Ginger of the Desert
Original poster
FOLKLORE MEMBER
Invitation Status
Posting Speed
  1. 1-3 posts per day
Online Availability
Sporatic; I am a working mom so my time online can be spotty but I can promise at least a couple responses a day.
Writing Levels
  1. Intermediate
  2. Adept
  3. Advanced
Preferred Character Gender
  1. Male
  2. Female
Genres
Horror, scifi, fantasy, romance, modern
OOC & Signup Thread.

Long ago, the entire word was covered in nothing but chaos and death. All kinds of creatures, great and small, roamed freely but there was conflict everywhere they went. Bloodshed and destruction.
This went on for time unknown, until Elowyn, a great priestess, grew tired of the death and destruction. She worked a powerful magic, tapping into sources that would destroy her, in order to split the world into three realms.



The first, the realm of the humans. They lived in safety, building up their world with science rather than magic. Elowyn was revered there, for a short time, but soon she faded from the human's short memory and her shrines were forgotten and abandoned.



The second, the realm of the Fae. Creatures of magic lived here, creatures of wing, tooth, and claw. Elowyn is a powerful figure, living on in their long memories for all eternity for the good she did.



The third. The Chaos realm. Twisted creatures of darkness that destroy everything in their path. Creatures of greed and avarice. They care for nothing. They care for no-one. They simply want. and take. They are the monsters under the beds. The reasons we harbor an instinctual fear of the dark.



Elowyn destroyed herself completely, in order to separate the realms and bring peace and safety to all, but now, something is changing. In a single night a great, soundless explosion was


felt


across all the realms. As one every human, elf, faerie, dragon, and chaos creature shot up from where they slept.
No one knows how. No one knows why. But the barriers between the realms are broken. Chaos is descending once more as the realms meld together into one.

Before the Fall

Alaina curled up, the cool water around her comforting as she settled down on the lake bottom and nestled into her bed of soft plantlife. She glanced over at her little sister, curled up closeby, with a small smile. "Good night, Nalina." She called, brushing at the eight year old's hair. "Night, 'ina." The girl replied with a yawn. Alaina laid back, letting her eyes drift closed to the gentle sound of the water swaying around them.

She wasn't sure how long she'd been asleep. A few minutes? A few hours? But she shot up, something pressing down on her eardrums, as if going deep underwater. She pressed her hands to her ears with a grimace as the pressure continued to grow, then there was a large, soundless pop and suddenly the pressure was gone. The water shook and tumbled around them as if an earthquake had struck. She struggled to stay upright, automatically reaching out for Nalina, but her fingers just found strange, rough stone the likes of which she'd never seen before.

Before she could continue searching something plunged into the water above her. The huge metal thing growled and banged as it plummeted towards her, and Alaina scrambled to get out of the way. As it settled on the bottom, raising a cloud of dust, she could see that there was a person inside struggling to get out. She shot her way over, dragging the person out of the metal beast as dragging them to surface.

When her head broke the surface of the water she shoved the person up out of the water. She started to climb out herself, but she froze. The trees and plantlife were gone. Her lake-well, part of her lake-was in the middle of some strange stone pathway filled with the growling metal beasts. Around her buildings, taller than trees, sailed over her head and into the skies. As she studied them she could see tree branches forcing their way through windows and walls, as if the woods were fighting to reclaim the area.

The people around her were shouting, holding up strange little boxes with lights on them and pointing the lights at the lake, at the tree branches, at Alaina. One of them shouted and pointed overhead. Aliana could see the bright shapes of phoenixs wheeling overhead and she was glad to see at least something that was familiar. Apparently the people around her weren't so relieved though. Screaming echoed off of the buildings around them and they started to run. Aliana, swept up with the crowd, could only watch as what was left of her lake shrank away.

Today

Alaina glanced around her, tightening her grip on the bag hanging off of her shoulder. It had been three weeks since the realms merged. Chaos creatures roamed freely, and Aliana walked this strange new earth in search of Nalina and her mother. The people from before, she'd eventually realized they were humans, had scattered and she'd left them to go her own way.

She had finally realized what had happened when she spotted a creature of chaos walking amongst them. It was a thing of nightmares; a giant, lumbering creature that screamed of wrong with every move. It was constantly shifting; two legs, to four, to three, back to two. Wings growing from it's back just to shrink and vanish again. It's skin shifted and twisted like water with each move. She made sure to give it a wide berth.

She shook herself out of her memories and forced her mind back to the present. She'd been walking in this woods for days, but she was approaching a tiny little town. The buildings were small rather than the gigantic ones from before, and there was still green around, so she felt good about this place. She slipped her way down to the road and followed it inward.

It was deathly silent as she walked. No people, no animals, no sound even. She glanced around her warily as she turned another corner, but all thought of caution left her when she spotted a long building, glass doors wide open. The mouthwatering smell of food was coming from inside. Her stomach twisted painfully and she hurried towards the glass doors. Just outside the doors she paused, carefully peeking her way around them. She didn't see anyone, but that smell of food was coming from somewhere. She glanced behind her, considering moving on, but the smell was just too tempting and she slipped her way into the building.
 
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Nikolai woke up in a cold sweat. Having had yet another nightmare in a long series of sleepless nights. Wiping the sweat off of his brow, the young man looked around the small barren office he set up camp in. His bag of supplies rested in the corner closest to the doorway while his handgun rested on the singular table near the room's open and windowless windows. Some might think that he was crazy for taking shelter in such an exposed area. Fortunately, when he first arrived at the empty skyscraper, he made the smart choice of moving up to the fifteenth floor, far out of reach of any abominations. He would've went up further, but with the elevator obviously not working and the mountain of debris that blocked off the rest of the staircase. He would have to make due with what he had.

Getting out of his sleeping bag, Nikolai put on his gear (gas-mask included) and slipped his gun into its holster. He looked to the campfire he made last night to see it was naught but a smoldering pile of ash. Due to the fact that he had made a flame right on a carpeted floor, the fire had burnt a hole right through the carpet and exposed the hard floor underneath. Walking over to the ex-fire, Nikolai picked up the pot of stew suspended above the pile via some sticks and looked at the contents within. It may have been cold, but food was food, maybe he would eat it for today's dinner. His diet consisted mainly of canned goods and bottled drinks. Over time such a dietary practice would grow old on some; however the large diversity of canned food available kept his taste buds in check.

Nikolai set the pot down and stretched, popping out all of the kinks in his neck and back before looking out the window. Hoping to spot some sort of life or creature that wasn't those monsters. It has been so long since he has seen another person. Well, someone alive at least. After the fall, the young man tried everything to protect those around them. Joining bands of survivors and small remnants of what was left of the military, in an attempt to create a safe haven for other people. A place that people could flock to for protection, food, and shelter. Alas, all their attempts ended with the slaughter of countless people. It was as if the monsters could detect them no matter where they hid. That thought alone kept him up for nights, having countless nightmares that made him wish that he could of done something to protect them. But he knew he was better off solo, anyone and everyone that ever teams up with him, always manages to become food for the corrupt monstrosities that plague the world.
 
Alaina almost turned back so many times, weighing the risk of running into a chaos creature or some less than friendly humans. Humans had been pretty hostile towards the non-humans that tried to make their way in this new, merged world. Each time she thought about turning back the smell of the food kept her moving. She hadn't eaten in days, and she had to at least try. Finally she stepped out of the stairway into a long, dimly lit hall. She tightened her grip on her long staff, biting at her lip as she considered again whether the promise of food was worth the danger of walking into this place.

She glanced up and down the hall, doors standing open. One door had long branches reaching out of it like grasping fingers. She slowly walked in silence, peeking into room after room. With each step the smell grew stronger, and her stomach rumbled hungrily. She peeking into another door and was relieved to see a regular person. He stood at the window, his back to her. She saw bags around on the ground, and the ashy remains of the camp fire. The pot of food the smell was originating from was there as well, and her mouth watered.

She opened her mouth to say something, but she spotted his face in the window's reflection and snapped her mouth closed again. His face was strange and distorted, and she tightened her grip on the staff in her hands. Was he one of those strange creatures after all? She'd never seen anything like him. She'd thought he was a human, or maybe an elf or nymph like her, but apparently not.

She took a step back; she quickly decided that the food wasn't work running into another monster. She took another step back -right into the branches extending out of one room. The caught on her clothing like long fingers, the rattling branches was as bad as shouting she was here. She cursed quietly to herself and threw herself through the branches, into the cramped room. The tree made moving difficult, but it also provided cover. Maybe he'd just leave her alone.
 
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Before the Fall

Lilith watched over her grove, the small collection of redwood trees made a great home for the salamander nymph hybrid. She sat on a branch watching as the creatures of her grove scattered back to their holes for the night. Her body glowed bright orange in the night sky, strands of purple and yellow stopped at the bottom of her gown. Even little embers fluttered off of her some times, sparkling like little stars in the dark forest.

Once all the creatures where in their homes she laid in her branch getting ready for bed. She was the only nymph in this grove, the others left after the first Forest fire. Lilith closed her eyes, drifting off to sleep rather quickly as her orange skin dimmed to blue and then to a normal light brown color. When she slept was the only time she looked like a normal nymph.

Lilith was sleeping comfortably on her branch when she felt the drop of pressure, she woke up with a start looking around her little forest. All of a sudden the ground shook, like an earthquake. She jumped up quickly scattering down the tree, trying to calm down the animals running rampant. “Calm down, calm down. Everything is okay!” She told the animals, trying to get them to stay; however the ground shook again and then the pressure released and suddenly she felt like she was falling.

The feeling left her soon after and as she opened her eyes, glancing around she found herself in an unfamiliar place. Her trees were mostly gone; some were nearby fallen over and laying among other trees and metal. All of a sudden she heard a rumbling and then quick as lightning a metal machine flew by only to get slammed into one of her beloved redwoods. The machine started to tilt, then other parts of the machine slammed into the front and started to fly. Their were screams and crying, before weird creatures crawled out of the wreckage.

Some of the humans got up, looking for others, while some laid limp in the field next to the tracks. Lilith stood there scared for a moment before people stopped and started to point at her, scared she flee. Running into the nearby forest, she hid for a bit watching as others came and went.

After the Fall

Three weeks later, Lilith had burnt half the forest down, thankfully the animals were able to help her, and get her closer to safety. At least she had hoped. The animals had told her of a town a few miles at the end of the forest. She knew it was risky, having ran into a few monsters here and there but thankfully was able to escape them with minor problems.

After what felt like the forever, she reached the town. She moved out of the woods, checking for anyone or thing, she moved out into the street. She looked at the remains of the town, it was sad that the worlds had merged with devastating results. She sniffed the air, smelling the smoldering coals of a dead fire. She could use it to stock up on food, but didn’t know if the risk of a monster was worth it.

Moving to the door way, she started to follow the smell, and now heat, of the smoldering fire. She knew she couldn’t hide if it was something worse than a human or another fae. Her glow would give her away before she even made it to the door. Though she was thankful for the glow giving her the ability to see in the dimly light stairwell.
 
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"Hmmm..." Noth cupped his chin, or the bone that was left of it, as he stumbled upon a building in the middle of the woods. This sort of edifice wasn't something he was used to encountering. Three weeks ago he'd have thought he was hallucinating. In that time though, he'd sort of gotten somewhat used to the various new things around. Those things that were strange even to a lich, the sudden appearance of a whole influx of humans with foreign tools of their own, and things like this building.

"Perhaps we can learn something here. What do you say, Dreiloa?" he asked his companion, the skeletal remains of a dragon brought to unlife by his necromancy. Despite being about 126 years old at this point, the last three weeks had held all sorts of surprises for the two. Humans, strange devices, and structures like the one he was thinking of entering.

Humans, he found, seldom dared to approach the duo, their appearances along being quite frightening, but those creatures were another story altogether. Noth could barely understand their forms, much less their nature or how to handle them. Even his century of unliving wasn't enough experience to begin to grasp those things. However, they'd appeared at the same time as those humans and these kinds of buildings. If he was to ever understand them, it'd be through investigating the humans and the strange things they'd brought over with them.

Dreiloa let out a low growl of approval, forcing her frame through the entrance after a brief struggle and some breakage of the doorway. "Tsk tsk, haven't I told you?" Noth waggled his index finger around. "Wait for me to shrink you a bit first. Unless you want to building the fall down on us, that is. Haha, that'd be a real bother!"

His staff glowed purple as he walked through the entrance as well, Dreiloa's frame began to steadily shrink down to about that of a large tiger's. A dragon's size, even as nothing but bone and dark magic, wasn't a good fit for the inside of the building. The two wandered around on the ground floor and after but less than a minute, Noth suddenly felt as though he'd heard something, albeit faintly. Movement? Was something living in here?

He beckoned the skeletal dragon over and began to ascend the stairs, pausing briefly at each floor to check for the activity he'd heard. There wasn't much to see until he began to hit the higher floors. The faint smell of smoke began to reach him after about 13 flights of stairs, and an unmistakable smile spread across his face despite his head being but a skull. Something, someone was here. And he looked forward to finding out just what it was.

Making no attempt at concealing his presence, Noth simply walked up the last few flights of stairs with Dreiloa, both the dragon and his staff glowing purple. Once he saw that a large pile of rubble blocked the way further up, he stepped onto the main area of the floor itself. What would he find there, or what would find him?
 
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A rattling from just outside the office broke Nikolai out of his thoughts as he quickly turned around, pistol drawn. But when he looked, the noise had ceased as a few branches from a tree which had at some point fallen into the building continued to shake softly. Someone or something was definitely watching him. Swallowing hard, the masked man put his finger on the trigger and approached the foilage with extreme caution. Was it a monster? An animal that had wandered into the building? Or has the long period of isolation and lonelyness finally taken a toll on his sanity, making him hear things that weren't really there?

Nikolai moved some of the branches out of the way, giving himself a clear view inside the small room. "W-Who's there?" He asked, his heart pounding with fear and adrenaline. Despite having fought countless evil creatures, he was still scared of encountering one. They were so erratic and unpredictable that one must always be on guard if they wish to survive.

"If anyone is in there, make their present known now or I will kill you," Nikolai said, taking on an authorative and commanding tone. Before he can take another step into the room to investigate a sound from the stairway caught his attention. Whipping around in surprise, Nikolai stopped for a brief moment before he began approaching the fire exit that led into the stairway. Leaving himself open to anyone behind him.
 
She crouched lower in the branches as he made his way to the door, holding her breath. She frowned a bit when he spoke; he didn't sound like one of those monsters. She pulled herself cautiously into view, careful to keep far enough back that she'd be able to react if he did something. "Who are you?!" She demanded, fear making her voice sharp. "What are you?"

She was surprised to find he was turning away from her, and she hesitated. Was this some kind of trap? She slowly crept her way closer as she tried to see what had caught his attention. "Is there something out there? Look...I just want to leave. That's all."
 
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As Nikolai approached the door, a voice from behind startled him; therefore causing the armed survivor to quickly turn with his gun raised, finger on the trigger. He expected some kind of hideous monster or a vicious corrupted animal, but instead what he saw truly made him question his own sanity. It was a human, or at least, something that resembled a human. For all he knew it could be a shapeshifter. But from what he knew, the chaos creatures showed no emotion, even when they manage to take on a human disguise. Their eyes were hallow and soulless, but this woman, her eyes were anything but that. They were filled with a wide variety of emotions, the most prominent and recognizable one being fear. But there were other ones as well such as confusion and sadness... Sadness... That was was the emotion that truly told him that the girl was anything but a monster. Sadness and despair is all anyone felt nowadays. When he looked into the eyes of anyone he met after the fall happened. The only expression he could see was hopelessness and depression. A lack of will to go on. But this girl, despite her fearful composure he could tell that she hasn't lost hope. That despite the hell of a world she now lived in, she still had the will to survive..

Slowly lowering his gun, Nikolai put up his hands in a placating manner, trying to show the girl that he meant no harm. He crouched down and placed his gun on the ground as a show of surrender."It's ok, I'm not one of them," He explained carefully. But upon seeing the lack of change in her expression as well as the fact that she was eyeing his face led him to a realization. Without hesitation he took off his mask and hood, revealing the face underneath. He looked average for a young man in his mid twenties, having a healthy complexion and messy black hair, along with blue eyes that contrasted nicely with his dark hair."See, I'm normal."
 
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She tensed as he raised that weapon; she's seen that kind of weapon before and knew the damage it could do. For a heart stopping moment the weapon was pointed directly at her, but then he shifted. He crouched, setting down the weapon and speaking again. Telling her he wasn't one of them. She eyed him mistrustfully. He still didn't look like anything she'd ever seen before.

As if he'd recognized that his looks were frightening her he lifting what she now realized was some kind of strange mask to reveal blue eyes and a kind face. His eyes were what stood out to her the most; she could see so many emotions there. Relief that she wasn't a monster, the sharp glint of loss that had become so familiar in the last three weeks.

She edged her way closer, keeping her staff between them as she warily poked at the mask. When she'd determined it must be harmless she glanced up at him again. She leaned back on her heels and dropped her staff carefully. If he would put down his weapon, so would she. She picked up the mask carefully and held it out to him. An offering of peace. "I am Alaina."
 
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Finally making it all the way up the stairs, Noth made it in time to see two beings question each other. He paused for a moment, watching the two. One was a nymph, the other he wasn't so sure about. At least, until he took off his mask. Then Noth got to see something new to him. The lich hadn't seen much in the way of cooperation between humans and other species for all the three weeks he'd been wandering around. How fresh.

He leaned against the wall and began to clap, the glowing staff in the crook of his arm making his position pretty obvious. His armor and ragged clothing covered most of his body, but in the light of his staff one could see his skeletal hands clapping and his skull. Reading his expression was rather difficult thanks to those features of his, but his posture was relaxed. Head slightly tilted, legs crossed as he leaned, and of course the light clapping that he finally put an end to.

His jaw unhinged and he began to speak. "Encountering each other and not just resorting to tearing each other apart! What a touching sight these days. But where are my manners, I'm Noth, and-" The lich was interrupted by a low growl, reminiscent of a crocodile's. A purple glow came from the stairway he'd just come up, glowing brighter and brighter as the growl grew louder. Dreiloa's bony head poked out of the stairway, glowing with the same purple color as Noth's staff. "-This is Dreiloa."

Dreiloa's growls ceased as Noth pat the top of her head. There was no other movement by the lich, though. Appearing hostile or aggressive would probably just make one or both of them run away or try to fight him, and that would benefit nobody. Even if he wasn't the type to worry about being found out or make his presence known for no good reason, he still had no reason to intentionally provoke anything. "What say we get along too, hm?" he asked while still petting Dreiloa, keeping her quiet for now.
 
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Nikolai turned around and nearly had a panic attack at the sight of the monstrous figure before him. For starters the being looked like an evil dark lord that belonged in a fantasy novel. Secondly it wielded a glowing staff that reeked of some type of energy. And lastly its bony hands only proved that it was nowhere near human, or alive for that matter. But when the figure spoke, their voice wasn't as intimidating as he thought it would be.

"W-What are yo-" Before he could finish his question, a low growl emanated from the emergency exit. Only moments later what appeared to be the skeleton of a crocodile crawled out from stairwell, glowing with the same purple energy as Noth's staff. By this point Nikolai was about ready to jump out the window, but his fight or flight response was in a conflict. He could go for his gun, but judging by the fact that the newcomer and his pet were already dead. That wouldn't be a good idea.
 
Alaina spun, tensing, then relaxing as she recognized the person as a lich and not a monster. She could see that the human wasn't so calm though, so she hesitated for just a moment before stepped forward. "He's a lich." She said quietly, glanced over at Nikolai. She'd never really known a lich, but she'd heard of them.

She nodded towards the newcomer and his creature, though watching them warily. Her staff was still on the floor but her waterskin was still at her side, so she had a way to defend herself if she needed to. "I am Alaina." She greeted him. "Are you here seeking shelter?" She glanced over at the human, realizing t hat she still didn't know his name. "He was here first, but I'd be interested in hearing your stories. Have you been here since the walls fell?"
 
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"See, this is why I wanted you to stay in the staircase. Now they're scared," Noth remarked, shaking his head. "But actually, everyone's scared of a lich so what am I saying?" A short laugh escaped him. Taking his hand off of his partner's head, he crossed his arms. "Like Alaina here said, I'm just a friendly lich dropping by."

Though, Alaina hadn't exactly said anything about him being friendly. It was pretty obvious she wasn't actually of that mind either. But at least neither of them were actively attacking him or running from him. That was a good start, even if maybe him standing in the stairway and this being the fifteenth floor had something to do with it.

"I wouldn't say I'm here for shelter. Rather, I'd like to learn about what's been going on in the past three weeks. I'm over a century years dead now, you see, so I haven't been at such a loss for knowledge in quite some time. So here I am to ask you living beings of your experiences!" After a moment of pause, he scratched what would have been his right cheek with one of his bony fingers. "...So like she said, your story. It may be of interest."
 
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Nikolai stared at Noth warily before looking over to Alaina. After seeing her have very little reaction from the lich's appearance, he deduced that she had most likely met such a creature before. Taking in a deep breath, the man picked up his gun and holstered it before leaning against one of the doors that led into another room.

"Well... Where to begin?" He rhetorically asked as he idly scratched his five o" clock shadow."My name is Nikolai Ivanov. Before the walls fell I was your average every day guy. I went to work, bought some groceries, and went home to my small apartment," He explained while looking over to the two of them."But after the walls fell, I didn't know what to do. I locked myself within my home and hid from the creatures. I had a stockpile of food so I was able to hold out for quite some time. But once my food ran out and the water systems stopped working. I had to go out and face the horrors," His eyes grew hard and he grimaced as he talked."I've seen so much fucked up shit, people being slaughtered like livestock. Mothers desperately crying out for their children to be safe. Only to watch as they met a fate no parent should have to witness," He rubbed the bridge of his nose and closed his eyes."Those experiences made me stronger, made me smarter, taught me how to avoid those despicable creatures."
 
Alaina glanced up at the human again, then over at the lich in the hall. She definitely understood what Nikolai meant; she'd seen plenty of nightmare fuel herself, though she'd been on her own the whole time. The few times she'd tried to approach humans hadn't ended well, but she'd still seen people fall against the chaos creatures around them.

"I am Alaina. I've been alone, since the walls fell." She cleared her throat, glancing warily up at Nikolai. Did he realize she wasn't human? She thought about lying, but the lich would recognize her as a nymph so that would just cause problems later. She took a deep breath before continuing. "I lived in the Koaku Lake, with my family, before the walls fell. I don't...know where my younger sister and my mother wound up, and I've been looking for them since." She twisted the long strap of her bag in her hands; reminiscing was dragging back the sharp feeling of anxiety she'd been feeling the whole time. She wasn't used to being alone.

"I've been alone since the walls fell. The humans aren't so accepting of the fae since the walls fell, so it's been safer on my own." She grimaced a bit; safer was a relative term. Safe didn't really exist anymore, not in this day and age. She opened her mouth to say something else, but a loud rumble from her stomach interrupted her. Her face flushed a bit. "I only came in here because I could smell food." She admitted sheepishly.
 
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Nikolai was about to question her on the word "fae" but once hearing her explanation of food, his eyes lit up in realization."Oh, um, you must of been smelling my left over stew. You can have it if you like, I have plenty more food in my bag," He told Alaina, gesturing to the room where his equipment was stored. He couldn't help but feel empathy towards the girl's unfortunate circumstances. She didn't seem to have much experience when it came to survival. Heck, he wouldn't of made it this far if it wasn't for his experience prior to the apocalypse. When he was kid he would go and stay with his grandparents every summer. He would always go camping with his grandpa where the the old man would teach Nikolai all of his survival skills. They wouldn never get back until a week later and grandma would fret over their long absences. He missed them, and he was glad they passed away long before this nightmare began.
 
Alaina's eyes lit up, a bright grin spreading across her face. "Really?! Thank you!" Her stomach still twisting she followed her nose back to the room that had the stew in it, digging in with gusto. She hadn't eaten in days, so the cold stew was like heaven. She let her bag slip off of her shoulder and she took a seat in the doorway, where she could still see and hear the other two.

She eyed the lich again, looking him and his creature over. She'd never heard particularly good things about liches, but he seemed alright.
"What about you? Noth, right? What's your story?" She asked him between bites. Everyone had a story at this point. This strange new world didn't leave much else.
 
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"Hmm..." Noth didn't really get a whole lot of information about either humans at large, the strange creatures out there, or exactly what had happened and why. Though, that was really his own fault for expecting such things when he was merely talking to two random people. But at the very least, it seemed like nobody had taken to this catastrophe too well. An expected result, but confirmation of the obvious never hurt anyone.

He turned towards Alaina as she called out to him, roused from his thoughts. "I've just been wandering around with Dreiloa here," he jerked his head towards the skeletal dragon. "See, my home was utterly destroyed when all this nonsense started. Countless tomes, gone. Among the other things I'd spent the better part of a century collecting. Then while I tried to find a new place to stay, some humans wouldn't leave me alone. I met only the noisy types, it seems. Dreiloa here at her full size did a fine job of scaring them off without a fight though!"

With a laugh, he finally stood up straight from the wall, walking closer towards the other two. "But it seems I've finally found the type willing to talk it out first. How refreshing," he said with what looked like a grin on his skeletal visage. "So I've made it my interest to find out two things." He raised two fingers. "First, what the hell those creatures are. Even I can't figure out anything about them. And second, why this happened. I doubt it'll be a quick process, but who's keeping time when I'm already dead!"

Noth couldn't help but laugh again.
 
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Nikolai rubbed his chin in thought. “Well, those creatures that now plague our world don’t have an official name. But all you need to know is that they are feral shape shifting abominations with limitless persistence. Whenever you encounter another living thing you should always make sure it isn’t a monster in disguise,” He explained to the necromancer while twirling Bowie knife. “But they aren’t particularly hard to put down. They’re mostly hard to kill because of their evasiveness and use of surprise tactics,” He finished before coughing into his fist. The man wondered where a being such as the stranger in front of him came from. It’s not possible for a skeleton to walk, right?