<link href='http://fonts.googleapis.com/css?family=Alegreya+SC' rel='stylesheet' type='text/css'><style type="text/css">.carnage_container{position:relative;z-index:1;width:460px;font:12px 'Times New Roman', serif;background:#040308 url('http://web.qx.net/zamora/stars-notdistorted.png');border-radius:300px 300px 0 0;border:1px solid #000;box-shadow:0 0 10px #000;}.carnage_container p{margin:0;}.carnage_container img{margin-bottom:-200px;border-radius:300px 300px 0 0;}.carnage_gradient{position:absolute;z-index:10;top:500px;left:15px;width:430px;height:100px;background:-moz-linear-gradient(top, rgba(118,118,118,0) 0%, rgba(76,76,76,0.8) 100%);background:-webkit-gradient(linear, left top, left bottom, color-stop(0%,rgba(118,118,118,0)), color-stop(100%,rgba(76,76,76,0.8)));background:-webkit-linear-gradient(top, rgba(118,118,118,0) 0%,rgba(76,76,76,0.8) 100%);background:-o-linear-gradient(top, rgba(118,118,118,0) 0%,rgba(76,76,76,0.8) 100%);background:-ms-linear-gradient(top, rgba(118,118,118,0) 0%,rgba(76,76,76,0.8) 100%);background:linear-gradient(to bottom, rgba(118,118,118,0) 0%,rgba(76,76,76,0.8) 100%);filter:progid
XImageTransform.Microsoft.gradient( startColorstr='#00767676', endColorstr='#cc4c4c4c',GradientType=0 );}.carnage_message{position:relative;z-index:10;width:400px;background:rgba(76,76,76,0.8);text-align:justify;padding:15px;color:#CCDDE6;}.carnage_quote{position:relative;z-index:15;text-align:center;top:-20px;font:18px 'Alegreya SC', serif;color:#B34747;text-shadow:1px 1px 4px #441211;}.carnage_name{position:relative;z-index:15;padding-top:10px;text-align:center;font:28px 'Alegreya SC', serif;color:#B34747;text-shadow:1px 1px 4px #441211;}</style><center><div class="carnage_container"><img src="http://i21.photobucket.com/albums/b278/ruinedecho/carnage_zpsf4jw8cbz.jpg"><div class="carnage_gradient"></div><div class="carnage_message"><p class="carnage_quote">and lord, I fashion dark gods too;</p>
He carves himself on them, in so many different ways - over hearts and eyes and flanks, reminders of their time here, of their sins. It’s a delightfully intimate act, and none escape it. Whatever happens, they are his.
He visits the hellhound last, yet, after the hound’s scarring, the dark god releases him somewhere else. Lets him run with the pack. There are better uses for such a delightful creature - or perhaps he grows soft, in his old age.
Regardless, he looses the hound, sets it baying with the others, and then he turns, to watch the show, watch them limp and weep their way across the wasteland.
<i>(I’ll show you fear in a handful of dust.)</i>
The monsters they manifest are a delight - some are his own creations, but most shift, when they find their prisoner. He especially delights in those who face old lovers, or parents, those idle, everyday fears that haunt in the very marrow. Some of them take injury in their plight, and arrive to the oasis dripping blood.Others arrived damaged in other ways, haunted eyes betraying a different kind of energy.
When they are all there, he manifests himself, rising from the oasis like a mirage. He smiles, as if he is kind, and he address them.
“Well done,” he says, “you have all survived, if nothing else.”
He observes them. Nine in all, with the hellhound gone. Eight sounds better. He picks one, the girl with a vinegar tongue, the snake in the grass. He utters something, and she disintegrates before their eyes, no longer in this realm. She is dust, for a moment - a handful of it - and then a breeze picks up, and she’s gone.
“Well,” he says, and laughs at the spot where she was, “most of you have.”
Best to keep them on their toes.
“Now,” he says, “you have a choice to make. The oasis is a portal. The world it takes you to is a wonderful one, full of all your wildest dreams, power beyond your imagination. Too good to be true? Perhaps, but I think some of you would sell your very souls for even the chance of it.”
He grins. His words are snake-oil, but it’s a tonic he suspects many are willing to drink. And if not? No big loss.
“You may enter the oasis,” he says, “but there’s a price to pay for doing so. You must offer up a part of yourself - a token, really. An eye, an ear, mane or tail, your voice, there’s plenty of options. I’m happy to choose for you if you can’t decide. With that toll paid, you can walk out of this hellscape and into paradise.
I won’t make you, though. It’s a choice. If you want to leave, I won’t stop you, as you’re no longer worth my time. You’re on your own to find a way home, though.”
He steps aside, giving them a full view of the oasis - the water is crystalline, stark against the wasteland. There seems to be no bottom to it, yet there are colors, when you look, flickering on the bottom under the shifting waters. A promise.
NOTES:
<b>Sinner</b> has withdrawn, and, though branded, remains otherwise unharmed. He’s welcome to play with Carnage’s hellhound pack for awhile. <b>Asp</b> quit, so Carnage turned her to dust in this realm (though you may say that’s what happened to her in “real” BQ as well. Everyone else is going on to the next round.
For this round, you have a choice.
A.) You go into the oasis. To do so requires a toll, some sort of defect where you lose something, whether it’s a body part or a sense. If you want to be more abstract, that’s fine, but maybe run it by me first. Carnage is happy to collect the toll himself (e.g. rip off an ear), or it can be more vague, like something from them disappearing as they go into the oasis. This defect is <b>permanent</b>.
Once in the oasis, you sink to the bottom, and end up in paradise. Whatever your character’s idea of a utopia is, this is it. Your character has unfettered magic for this round, and may alter their appearance and surroundings however they like. Build up your dream paradise, create a population for it, have wonderful adventures, whatever you like. Time spent here can be a few days to a few years, however much you want.
But, eventually, it crumbles. Carnage wants you back. Write about the disintegration of the utopia (it can be slow, or all at once). If you want to accrue more damage here, be my guest. End with your horse back in their cell.
Or
B.) You walk away. Whether it’s not trusting the oasis or not wanting to sacrifice something, whatever motivation, I don’t mind. This is your out, if you don’t want a serious defect. Horses who choose this route may wander the wasteland for awhile, but will eventually get back to Beqanna. They will be severely dehydrated and starving, but otherwise undamaged (except for the brand or any injuries you wanted them to have). If you choose to withdraw, you can write out the wasteland escape or just post OOC and have it take place in your mind.
Responses are due by <b>11:59 AM CST on Saturday, September 30th.</b> Giving you some extra time since I was late in posting this.
As always, PM me with any questions!
<p class="carnage_name">c a r n a g e</p></div></div></center>
XImageTransform.Microsoft.gradient( startColorstr='#00767676', endColorstr='#cc4c4c4c',GradientType=0 );}.carnage_message{position:relative;z-index:10;width:400px;background:rgba(76,76,76,0.8);text-align:justify;padding:15px;color:#CCDDE6;}.carnage_quote{position:relative;z-index:15;text-align:center;top:-20px;font:18px 'Alegreya SC', serif;color:#B34747;text-shadow:1px 1px 4px #441211;}.carnage_name{position:relative;z-index:15;padding-top:10px;text-align:center;font:28px 'Alegreya SC', serif;color:#B34747;text-shadow:1px 1px 4px #441211;}</style><center><div class="carnage_container"><img src="http://i21.photobucket.com/albums/b278/ruinedecho/carnage_zpsf4jw8cbz.jpg"><div class="carnage_gradient"></div><div class="carnage_message"><p class="carnage_quote">and lord, I fashion dark gods too;</p>He carves himself on them, in so many different ways - over hearts and eyes and flanks, reminders of their time here, of their sins. It’s a delightfully intimate act, and none escape it. Whatever happens, they are his.
He visits the hellhound last, yet, after the hound’s scarring, the dark god releases him somewhere else. Lets him run with the pack. There are better uses for such a delightful creature - or perhaps he grows soft, in his old age.
Regardless, he looses the hound, sets it baying with the others, and then he turns, to watch the show, watch them limp and weep their way across the wasteland.
<i>(I’ll show you fear in a handful of dust.)</i>
The monsters they manifest are a delight - some are his own creations, but most shift, when they find their prisoner. He especially delights in those who face old lovers, or parents, those idle, everyday fears that haunt in the very marrow. Some of them take injury in their plight, and arrive to the oasis dripping blood.Others arrived damaged in other ways, haunted eyes betraying a different kind of energy.
When they are all there, he manifests himself, rising from the oasis like a mirage. He smiles, as if he is kind, and he address them.
“Well done,” he says, “you have all survived, if nothing else.”
He observes them. Nine in all, with the hellhound gone. Eight sounds better. He picks one, the girl with a vinegar tongue, the snake in the grass. He utters something, and she disintegrates before their eyes, no longer in this realm. She is dust, for a moment - a handful of it - and then a breeze picks up, and she’s gone.
“Well,” he says, and laughs at the spot where she was, “most of you have.”
Best to keep them on their toes.
“Now,” he says, “you have a choice to make. The oasis is a portal. The world it takes you to is a wonderful one, full of all your wildest dreams, power beyond your imagination. Too good to be true? Perhaps, but I think some of you would sell your very souls for even the chance of it.”
He grins. His words are snake-oil, but it’s a tonic he suspects many are willing to drink. And if not? No big loss.
“You may enter the oasis,” he says, “but there’s a price to pay for doing so. You must offer up a part of yourself - a token, really. An eye, an ear, mane or tail, your voice, there’s plenty of options. I’m happy to choose for you if you can’t decide. With that toll paid, you can walk out of this hellscape and into paradise.
I won’t make you, though. It’s a choice. If you want to leave, I won’t stop you, as you’re no longer worth my time. You’re on your own to find a way home, though.”
He steps aside, giving them a full view of the oasis - the water is crystalline, stark against the wasteland. There seems to be no bottom to it, yet there are colors, when you look, flickering on the bottom under the shifting waters. A promise.
NOTES:
<b>Sinner</b> has withdrawn, and, though branded, remains otherwise unharmed. He’s welcome to play with Carnage’s hellhound pack for awhile. <b>Asp</b> quit, so Carnage turned her to dust in this realm (though you may say that’s what happened to her in “real” BQ as well. Everyone else is going on to the next round.
For this round, you have a choice.
A.) You go into the oasis. To do so requires a toll, some sort of defect where you lose something, whether it’s a body part or a sense. If you want to be more abstract, that’s fine, but maybe run it by me first. Carnage is happy to collect the toll himself (e.g. rip off an ear), or it can be more vague, like something from them disappearing as they go into the oasis. This defect is <b>permanent</b>.
Once in the oasis, you sink to the bottom, and end up in paradise. Whatever your character’s idea of a utopia is, this is it. Your character has unfettered magic for this round, and may alter their appearance and surroundings however they like. Build up your dream paradise, create a population for it, have wonderful adventures, whatever you like. Time spent here can be a few days to a few years, however much you want.
But, eventually, it crumbles. Carnage wants you back. Write about the disintegration of the utopia (it can be slow, or all at once). If you want to accrue more damage here, be my guest. End with your horse back in their cell.
Or
B.) You walk away. Whether it’s not trusting the oasis or not wanting to sacrifice something, whatever motivation, I don’t mind. This is your out, if you don’t want a serious defect. Horses who choose this route may wander the wasteland for awhile, but will eventually get back to Beqanna. They will be severely dehydrated and starving, but otherwise undamaged (except for the brand or any injuries you wanted them to have). If you choose to withdraw, you can write out the wasteland escape or just post OOC and have it take place in your mind.
Responses are due by <b>11:59 AM CST on Saturday, September 30th.</b> Giving you some extra time since I was late in posting this.
As always, PM me with any questions!
<p class="carnage_name">c a r n a g e</p></div></div></center>