Hello! Glad to see so many votes! The Heavens have decided that we shall follow the journey of Serenity Shan as she finds herself thrust into the jungle world of Sacred Growth! Voting will generally close within a day or two after the posting of a new threadmark! Here is the next chapter in the Prelude to Sectbreaker! NOTICE: VOTING SHALL BE DECIDED BY LINE AND NOT BLOCK!
Serenity Shan awoke with the taste of blood on her lips.
Through her hazy vision, she could make out vague shapes in the darkness of the crashed ship. What was she doing here? Everything was so slow to return to her. Her memories told her…
[ ] [ORIGIN]
SHACKLE-SEEKER
Serenity didn't exactly choose the life of a bounty hunter. She was a scrappy street rat when they first recruited her off the streets of the mid-spiral world Null Proxima. But armed with the enhanced senses that kept her alive during her time on the streets, and plenty of experience dealing with desperate debtors and bloodthirsty criminals, she's ready for anything that Stryfe is willing to throw at her. After spending months on the trail of a defector, the thearchic artist known as Yinzha, from the Orthodoxy—-an alliance of Stryfe's nine most powerful sects, Serenity's finally managed to track her trail down to the world of Sacred Growth. But finding her was the easy part. Taking in a thearchic artist remains an impossible feat for a mortal shackle-seeker, unless that mortal happens to get her hands on some Thearchic Arts of her own…
Grants [ORIGIN QUEST] - Mad Pursuit
Grants [BLOODLINE] - Bloodhound: Serenity can sniff out danger miles before it even rears its ugly head. She's always seemed to have the unnatural ability to notice the finer details others might miss… increased perception and chances of finding treasures.
Grants [SKILL] - Underworld Connections: Serenity knows how to handle herself around the worst society has to offer. She's immersed within the world of cutthroats, bandits, and general good-for-nothings. Everyone wants to be on a shackle-seeker's good side.
Grants [INVENTORY] - Shackles (3): Throwing these ought to ruin someone's day, or at the very least, trip them up.
Grants [INVENTORY] - Pin & Prick: A pair of long, slender daggers that have stuck with Serenity through thick and thin. They come together at the hilts to form a double-bladed throwing projectile in a pinch.
Grants [INVENTORY] - Traveler's Robes: Well-worn robes that have served their purpose well. Consists of a gray-colored skirt with many concealable pockets, breeches, tall boots made of a light material, a sleeveless tunic, and finally, a head scarf around her neck.
[ ] [ORIGIN]
OCCULTIC VAGRANT
When Serenity first awoke to her abilities to interact with the dead, it nearly drove her out of her clan in the mid-spiral world of Blessed Harvest. But the village wise elf, Lady Sirzu, took her in and taught her the ways of the shaman. She learned to tame and refine violent ghosts, soothe wild spirit beasts, and even tap into the realm of the dead for a time. But the peaceful days didn't last long. When the Orthodoxy took control of her village, her teacher was branded an agent of the shen and taken away by a squad of sect agents. With nothing but the robes on her back, her master's occultic gourd, and a pair of daggers, she set off to become a thearchic artist strong enough to contend against the Orthodoxy for her master's freedom.
Grants [ORIGIN QUEST] - A Shaman's Path
Grants [BLOODLINE] - Pale Spring Communion: Serenity has seen the realm below. She's been talking to the dead for as long as the living have been trying to talk to her. But the dead are better listeners and have hundreds of more uses... ability to commune with the dead and a friendlier relationship with all things dead and rotting.
Grants [SKILL] - Apothecary: Serenity was trained by the wise woman Sirzu, who imparted many lessons—manners, how to talk with the living, and the important distinction between medicine and desecration. But it was the field of apothecary that captured her attention. She can just as easily identify herbs to ease a headache… or ensure you'll never have to feel anything again.
Grants [INVENTORY] - Gourd (filled with weak vengeful ghost): Sirzu's gourd which can capture and refine ghosts of middling strength. Once refined, the ghost can act as Serenity's offensive tool or defensive shield.
Grants [INVENTORY] - Pin & Prick: A pair of long, slender daggers that have stuck with Serenity through thick and thin. They come together at the hilts to form a double-bladed throwing projectile in a pinch.
Grants [INVENTORY] - Traveler's Robes: Well-worn robes that have served their purpose well. Consists of a gray-colored skirt with many concealable pockets, breeches, tall boots made of a light material, a sleeveless tunic, and finally, a head scarf around her neck.
[ ] [ORIGIN]
SOLDIER OF FATE
Serenity didn't leave her village to embark on a pilgrimage to see all the sacred trees or regions worshipped by her people. She intended to follow the ways of her ancestors. Her grandparents were amongst the first and last to resist the Orthodoxy when it began its efforts to subjugate all the civilized worlds of Stryfe. Armed with her grandparent's sabre and her grandmother's bow, she took to the skies to wage war against the sects but only found skirmishes and petty land squabbles between regional warlords. Striking against the Orthodoxy may be impossible for a mortal on her lonesome, but it wasn't in her blood to just quit when faced with insurmountable odds. And if she were to get her hands on a thearchic technique.
Grants [ORIGIN QUEST] - Seizing Opportunity
Grants [BLOODLINE] - Wrath of the Ancestors: Scholars say that an elf's ancestors are more than just bones buried within the dirt. When pushed to the brink, Serenity can hear the advice of those who came before. If one person's wisdom isn't enough... try calling upon thousands of years of knowledge.
Grants [SKILL] - Combat Mastery: With the lifespan of an elf, Serenity's skills in blades, bows, rifles, and weaponry of all kinds have far exceeded mortal expectations. She could probably kill a man with a brush... try not to put it to the test.
Grants [INVENTORY] - Solunar Set: A pair of heirlooms left behind by her grandparents. Rumored to possess mystical abilities, though Serenity has yet to draw them forth.
Sunbeam: Her grandfather's sabre. Polished to perfection. Intricate, golden hilt with a slender, curving blade.
Moonbeam: Her grandmother's bow. The pale wood hums to her at night. Charms and small talismans are tied to its limbs.
Grants [INVENTORY] - Pin & Prick: A pair of long, slender daggers that have stuck with Serenity through thick and thin. They come together at the hilts to form a double-bladed throwing projectile in a pinch.
Grants [INVENTORY] - Traveler's Robes: Well-worn robes that have served their purpose well. Consists of a gray-colored skirt with many concealable pockets, breeches, tall boots made of a light material, a sleeveless tunic, and finally, a head scarf around her neck.
Serenity navigated the wreckage of the ship, ignoring the tortured calls for help. She couldn't help them now. The sounds of combat were distant beyond the walls of the downed transport. Sunlight poked through a breach in the hull just large enough to admit her. She made her way toward it, vision woozy and legs trembling. Just how hard had she hit her head during their crash landing?
Outside the wreckage, the fighting was in full swing. Corpse-eaters, the revived corpses of mortal cannibals, swarmed out from the thick foliage of the surrounding jungle. They were humanoid, vaguely resembling who they'd once been in life. Bone shards jutted out from their pale, bloated flesh. Their jaws were deformed with fangs that emerged from bleeding gums.
She wasn't sure just where they'd landed, but the situation was looking precarious. The jungle loomed in around them. When the ship fell, it burned away enough trees to form a clearing and had probably attracted the attention of every hungry spirit beast and foul entity within a hundred-mile radius.
Above, she could see the distant shen battling a humanoid figure. If the figure could fly up to the shen, it likely meant they were a thearchic artist. But with their attention preoccupied by a dragon god, Serenity wouldn't count on any help arriving from them anytime soon. And the nearest mortal settlement could be miles from their wreck.
Serenity cursed, crouching close to the ground. The corpse-eaters had yet to notice her, but it wouldn't be long until a stray sniffed out her scent. And if the fighting was prolonged any longer, there wasn't any telling what could crawl out of the jungle next. Her next step was...
[ ] [ACTION]
BOLSTER THE DEFENSES
Families were huddled close to the wreckage further down the length of the transport. The able men and women alike, most clearly untrained in the art of warfare, formed a loose yet purposeful perimeter around the vulnerable and young. They wielded spears, pitchforks, even loose planks from the transport ship. The defenses were coordinated by two heroes at the forefront of battle. A young human male with an iron sword slicing corpse-eaters into ribbons and a squat dwarf organizing the formation of the defenders.
[ ] [ACTION]
UTILIZE THE DISTRACTION TO FLEE
Serenity glanced at the other end of the wreckage. Cloaked guardsman from the ship were rallied around by a commander of sorts—a middle-aged man with a carefully groomed beard, the rest of his face concealed by his helmet. He barked orders as they inched away from the ship in a tight formation, shields up and spears out. Serenity could slip away with them. The screams of the families at the other end of the ship drew most of the corpse-eaters' attention anyway.
