Blackwater Islands verdict

a dark silhouette stood at the edge of a cliff overlooking the sea. a wolf with fur like the blackest depths of the sea. around her neck hung a tangled wreath of cypress branches. flowers in pale muted colors drooped from between the bent and twisted branches. the wolf's moon-silver eyes were lined with a thick green paste that smelled of damp earth and green herbs and a briny midnight breeze. the same paste was smeared at her cheeks, her brow, her chest.

she stood at the center of a circle of filthy and broken bones of all sizes. a small pile of pale berries lay at her paws.

at her back, the listener stood, watchful as the sun slowly disappeared into the sea. clutched in her jaws, the skyrock. she placed it gently on the ground.

@Eldritch. it is time.

i hope this powerplay is okay <3 let me know if it isn't

perfectly okay! <3

Eldritch stood in all her new glory, overlooking the sea as she prepared for this ritual.

Behind her, The Listener.

It's time.

The voidspun woman nods, and awaits instructions.
Eat the berries? Eat the berries and jump off the cliff? 

The elder witch didn't run this show. She only played a part.

eat the berries.

she moved closer, circling around the perimeter of the circle of bones. she touched her nose to each bone as she passed it, murmuring prayers to her god. her voice grew progressively louder, and when she completed the circle it rose to a haunting, wordless siren-song.

she sang endlessly as she circled. her eyes were trained on eldritch, watchful.

when the woman began to show signs that the berries had entered her blood, the ritual would begin.

the berries are hallucinogenic with side effects of lethargy, dehydration, migraines, & possible death at high doses. in this case, eldritch has been given a fatal dose in order to make her passing easier during the ritual <3 though this is just a guess on the listener's part and she did not necessarily intend it to be fatal

Mature Content Warning

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The participants have indicated the following reason(s) for this warning: Suicide

Eldritch ate the berries. She took the entire mouthful into her jaws and munched, making sure to swallow everything she possibly could and licking the juices from her lips to boot.

The side effects were slow-ish at first to come through. It started after about five to ten minutes.

She started seeing bright, vibrant colors and beings of the Other, all over. Prowling, swirling in the sky, and dripping inky substances for those more horrifying.

Eldritch stayed as calm as possible, feeling a pulsing headache hit her full force once twenty minutes passed. Slowly, the voidspun woman crumpled to the ground, sluggish and drained.

She felt the life being drained from her, leeched as if by parasites.

Whatever The Listener was doing or would do, was no longer her concern. The world broke into blinding brightness in Eldritch's dulling gaze, lifting her spirit high while her body stayed behind. 

Within a total of forty minutes, Eldritch was gone.

eldritch began to weaken beneath the powerful effect of the berries. the listener stepped forward deftly, catching the dark woman by the throat as she fell. she felt her pulse thrumming against her teeth.

the listener laid her upon the ground, her back against the dirt. life still flickered in her glazed silver eyes. the prophet bent, teeth finding the delicate skin at her chest.

as the life faded from eldritch, the listener whispered a prayer and tore the heart from her. blood spattered and smeared the earth, her paws, her face, warm and sticky-wet. steam rose from it in tiny billowing tendrils. all around her, the spirits came alive. whispering. singing. screaming. she worked feverishly, and consumed the heart only when it had been fully torn from eldritch's body. it burned down her throat, burned like fire.

she found the skyrock, and placed it in the cavity where the heart had once resided.

the music pulsed inside of her. she saw the pale woman. saw her running, fighting. she called out.

the listener threw her head back and howled.

find me. find the druids. your destiny is here.

around her, the spirits shrieked and thundered. the sea lashed at the cliffs. the listener felt the strength leave her body, the unnamed god demanding she pay the price for her work of magick. eldritch's life had sated the spirits, but not the god of many hungers.

the unnamed god demanded everything of her. everything, so that she might restore balance to the world. she fell against eldritch's corpse, exhausted, panting. she looked upon her lifeless form, and felt something like regret.

everything.