| 3 people marked this as a favorite. |
Briar accepts the blade from the Rat, only slightly wondering why Halfblood would not give it up himself until he sees the spit on the man's lips.
Ah.
Briar grips Serithtial again (still feeling the holy unease) this time to do a more serious accounting of the blade now that Fondo's actions had been accounted for.
Briar takes the sword and backs away from the party...about 20+ feet away. "Stand back if you do not wish to be affected by the sword. It might have a...overly revealing effect on you. "
Briar activate Zone of Truth on himself and any others who wished it as well.
I can lie to myself. And I can lie to others. But I cannot lie to magic.
Briar smiles as the sword's magic washes over him. He does not resist.
He does feel the ever-present holiness to the sword...the holiness that is a false decision, like that of unholy, of those who think there is good or bad, for those who do not understand there is only magic and mundane.
The Truth forces him to admit that the holy effect is a powerful magic, but only against those who are askew against the world as it is. True power and true magic does not embrace either side.
Nethys shows us this. He is magical creation, she is arcane destruction, and vice versa.
The truth is that this is not the blade for Briar...it is tainted in ways heretical to his beliefs.
This blade is the blade of weakness, of easy outs and false choices.
Briar shakes his head, gritting his teeth.
I will find another sword or bow worthy of Nethys.
Briar returns and hands the sword to Barael, happy to rid of its taint.
"It is a lesser blade than I hoped it was. I think it will serve to do the job it was intended...but not wielded by me. There are others who might be less discerning."
"BRIAR!" Dandi moves to take the sword from the elf, indignant on Seri's behalf. "Truly, this is not an acceptable match." Dandi takes the blade, reverently settling down with it in her lap. Her fingers stroke over the length of it as she communes with Serithiel once more.
And now, even I must fail you. I cannot promise to be faithful to you, to only you. " Her glance falls upon Barrie near by, and even in the depths of conversation, his presence brings a smile, proving the point. Saddened again by the realization, she continues, "... even if I could let loose what is not mine, I could not give up Wraith. She is as much a part of me as my heart, and will always come first. It is not right or fair, and yet, it is the truth. I am so sorry, Seri. I am so so sorry."
Rising to her feet in one fluid motion, her hair uncannily still even as her eyes well with tears once more. she floats, flies slowly to Fondo, Seri held out in her hands. "She deserves better than any of us. You will have to be better, Brala. There is a man in you up to the task, should you so choose. So....choose."
Barael sees Dandi's glance, and his heart leaps a small leap, and his thoughts no longer dance with blades. He pictures a different dance, a post-war dance, a dance for the ages.
She has made her decision, and I am happy.
As she makes her pronouncement, Barael turns to Fondo, and the words sure to come in answer. Speak well, Fondo, and let us take comfort in your words.
| 2 people marked this as a favorite. |
Fondo does not take Serethiel into his hands, but rather takes Dandi’s hand. Tears well up in his eyes. ”You’re right. A cad I was when we first met.”
”Abandoned by my kin, who’d judged me true: A waste who put myself before all else. You’ve made me better, every one of you.” Even Brother Rose. Especially him, though friends I fear we’ll never truly be.
He lets Dandi’s shoulder go as some tears dribble from his eyes. ”And yet I doubted. Not myself, oh no. I should have done. At that moment, I doubted love.”
He grasps Serethiel. ”Brother Rose would think I glory sought. But you, Serethiel, know something different, no? I sought to prove what’s always true: Love is my right, and is my gift to share.” He laughs ironically. ”How strange I say this to the one true forged to kill a queen. If you and I can find a way to fight for love and not for blood, then mayhap we shall be the pair that Dandi hopes we’ll be. I’ll do my best.” Rather than the flourishing dance he used before, Fondo sheathes Serethiel quietly and gives each member of the party a wet-eyed, appreciative look.
Fondo turns to Briar. ”Let’s get you a wonderful bow. Kaer Maga? Methinks before we see Korvosa’s walls again, twould be a wisdom to stock up, and mayhap call our allies to our side. Shoanti and what friends Vencarlo’s made in Janderhoff.”
"Brother Rose would think I glory sought. But you, Serethiel, know something different, no? I sought to prove what’s always true: Love is my right, and is my gift to share.” He laughs ironically. ”How strange I say this to the one true forged to kill a queen. If you and I can find a way to fight for love and not for blood, then mayhap we shall be the pair that Dandi hopes we’ll be. I’ll do my best."
Barael rolls his eyes. Ugh. Love, sharin' your gift all over the place, you will. All this talk of love is makin' me nauseous. Barael steps up to Dandi's side, and takes her hand. He gives her a smile, and pats her hand warmly. "He takes your words for inspiration, and rightly so. You have that effect." Barael starts to speak to Fondo, but his eyes linger a little too long on Dandi, before he fully sets eyes on Serethiel's new bearer.
"If Dandi rests her hopes in you, then so shall I. Because I do not doubt her choice, and you'll answer to Seri should you falter."
"Is she going to do that flame thing all the time? It's rather ostentatious isn't it?"
The very building itself seems to sigh somehow as the fate of the sword is decided... or perhaps it's something outside that it is reacting to.
As the party leaves the Star Tower and enters the church, they encounter, and have to make their way past, Laori at the high altar. The room still smells of combat, and a few lingering spells drift through the air like smoke over a battlefield.
Laori, has changed. She seems taller now and more ‘filled out’ somehow. Her eyes are white on white - no pupil.
Her foe, none other than Shadowcount Sial, lies prostate on the altar and Laori is removing organs from his chest and abdomen as life leaves his body. With each cut, his body shudders and writhes, but eventually the damage is just too great and he grows still.
Laori finishes her bloody ritual quickly and turns to the party - ”You have returned. Did you find the sword?” she looks carefully, ”Good. Now go and kill the Queen with it. God speed!”
She casts Wind Walk and touches the members of the party - lingering slightly over Briar. ”Make haste!”
She turns and begins to walk into the Star Tower. Her gait is off somehow, as if she’s still learning how to manipulate her body. It’s not nearly so graceful as she had been in the past.
Fondo pauses a moment as they enter the temple. Serethiel, wherefore your glow? What is your wish? Your hilt's desire? Is't me? Our coming flight to Kaer Maga?
At the sight of demon-Laori and entrails-Sial, he puts his hand to Serethiel's hilt. Perhaps you'd like to finish clearing Scarwall's shades? Alas, we've made a pledge to allies strange. And older pledge, unsaid, to Brother Rose: That I might help him learn of love. I've failed as yet, but she may one day cause his heart to turn from coal unto a ruby bright.
He smiles and rather firmly grips the hilt as Laori says her wind prayer, seemingly forcing Serethiel to stay in place. His knuckles become quite white. "Sister Bramble, may you dwell for centuries and more at peace within this tower's walls."
Dandi's hair twitches, her stomach churning at the sight. Why does this bother you so? Tis no more a death than many you've inflicted by your own hand.... Yet it does. She flinches when the Laori-thing touches her, her hair snapping back as if to strike for a second before thinking better of it.
Barael watches the awkward Laori walking away.
"...Thank you. For facilitating everything here... We couldn't have done this without you. I see that now." Barael purses his lips, and lets the figure return to the Star Tower.
Barael steps more lively, hoping to gain the outside of Scarwall, to leave it forever behind him.
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
Briar looks at Laori and smiles, remembering the good times of getting some. He can't deny that she had her moments, and they had moments they they shared. However, Briar's look betrays some jealousy...and some pity.
She has been changed by the servants of her god. Look at her...she has power.
Briar tilts his head and remembers.
And the price of her power is that she is locked here for eternity?
Briar looks around and shivers, hoping that Laori savors her victory over Sial because it might be her last for a while. Briar fears for the next beings who enter this space.
Briar takes a mental picture of the space, wondering if he will contact Laori in the future...or even if he can. Briar accepts her gift of flight, knowing that it isn't her greatest gift to him. The sacrifice she made here was. The one she made to her god. The one that binds her here.
* * *
When outside, Briar soars for Kaer Maga, already thinking on what to do to prepare for returning to Korvosa.
"Yes, Fondo. Mayhaps a new bow." Or a new girlfriend.
The party, each in their own time, turns into low flying clouds and rejoins in the sky as they fly high and fast over the Hold of Belkzen and the orc hoards below. As you depart, you see another company of orcs headed, ever so tentatively, toward Scarwall. Who knows what they shall find there?
Kaer Maga is about a half a day away by this method. That will put you into Kaer Maga sometime after dark - mayb 8pm-ish?
The journey through the clouds is uneventful, though the feeling of flying that fast is one that is enjoyed by many, and Majenko is sure to have missed it... You do have some trouble near the end, as the party has a hard time maintaining sight on each other and, without Majenko to maintain telepathic communication, you're forced to shout back and forth as you descend toward the city.
Fondo shouts airily, "Mayhap we can the Sklar camp find whil flying o'er the Cinderlands."
Fondo - won't quite be that easy. You do pass through the Cinderlands on your journey, but you have no guide. If you stick to the mountains and south, you come to the river which runs through Kaer Maga which you can then easily follow into the city.
The Sklar Quah, is to the west of that route and takes you over the unmarked Cinderland territory where you could easily get lost - and maybe very lost considering the speeds at which you are traveling. If you hit a late summer fire storm, you'll need to go around or over it adding further complication.
If you want to go that way, I need survival checks from whomever is taking the role of guide. Failure means you're lost (a bit) or had to go around a storm - though you can recheck every hour easily enough. Of course darkness is falling too so at some point you may need to stop.
That and now that I have a proper map with a scale that shows the whole trip to Scarwall, it should really take longer in any event (so you'll land in Kaer Maga - with a direct route - closer to 10pm than the original 8pm I suggested). (is that scale right? Hrm. Might take longer, but I'm going to hand wave it.)
So feel free to head to the Sklar camp, but I suspect it'll be a destination and not a quick flyover.
Seeing the vastness of the lands below him, Fondo shakes his head at his own suggestion. The roads are simple. Crossroads, forks, but also maps and signposts. Not so the skies. "Kako, could you on the morrow sendings make, our friends to notify?"
Exhausted by the day's activities and stress, Dandi wishes only to reach Kaer Maga, a place to rest, and a simple mundane meal. Nice as the feast was, a simple soup would do us good.
Briar flies on, his mind focused on the tasks at hand with the tools at hand. He ponders the items of magic that they have retrieved as well as what might be needed.
Mostly, he wants to rest his eyes and ElfSleep, pondering upon matters in his mind.
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
As the Harrowed takes to the winds, Barael starts to feel it more strongly. Their return. We’re actually headed home. Well, what’s left of it. Headed back to face Ileosa. Well, what’s become of her. Barael quickly startles, as he squints for the forms of the others in flight.
He begins to envision Korvosa. Korvosa in flames. Korvosa in ruins. Korvosa, dying. He remembers those they left behind. Laura, Cressida, Eries… Rolth, Ramoska, Glorio… He grows more uncomfortable, his mind picturing macabre dances between those remembered.
And Ma… hope she’s safe… or smart enough to stay away.
The past begins to rise up from the fog of memory.
The tortures of Glorio’s dungeon.
The terror of the Cindermaw.
Scarwall.
Dragon, Devil, Lich… The denizens of that damned castle. And the Hag, for gods’ sake, the Hag. The only unfinished business that… Barael shudders. He tries to stop thinking about it, tries and fails, and reinforces the failure further as they continue their travel to Kaer Maga.
Fondo marvels further in the feel of being wind, with no discernable path or road on which to travel. [i]I'm the son of roads. I'd thought myself free, but still their edges've hedged me in. Is this the freedom that Korvosa needs — no walls or roads or queens to box them in? Just air and endlessly possibility?[i]
As Kaer Maga's fires and lamps appear before him in the night, Fondo directs himself to Deyanira's apartments. He attempts to seep in through the doorway, smiling airily as he coalesces into his true form.
"That place opened up those trapped feelings from the Vault days. Imprisoned by the forces of evil bent on my destruction. I'm glad to count you all as my friends. This time I didn't feel helpless and much of that is due to you. Thank you.
Now let's get the fook out of here and bring that evil queen to her knees!"
“For the rest, have no fear.” Her fists anchored her courage to her new sword. “We are free in the night, with our way plain before us. We will live or die as we may, and no blame to you.”
| 3 people marked this as a favorite. |
The evening smells so… rich. There is so much life here, where there was none in Scarwall. This is good. So good, it’s needed. Perhaps this is all that is needed. And her company. Of course I need that, too. Barael lets the smells take him where they will. He finds the warm bistro, exactly where she said it would be. The patrons laugh heartily, and the stew suffuses the air with onions and garlic, rosemary and thyme. He finds a central table, brushes off both chairs, and parks himself down. He allows his Scent to linger on passersby, while picturing her walking through the front door, him waving eagerly to her.
These folks. They are the lucky ones. Ignorant of the evil with which they share this world. Devils fall in Scarwall, and what do they care? Rakshasas roam the streets of Old Korvosa, and what do they care? Why should they? Barael finishes his first drink, and calls for a second. Don’t be rude, Barry. It’d be rude to eat without her. Have another drink. You’ve waited this long, you can wait a little longer.
As the evening proceeds, the flagons crowd the table like fallen soldiers. Drink up, Barael. What are you, a f-cking lightweight? Barael clenches his teeth, as he hears his Da’s words rattle through his mind. The wine tastes sweet, and it warms his chest, reminding him of a time when he felt nothing in the void of his death. He drinks more, to maintain it, but the warmth bleeds away so quickly. He struggles to keep his vision from going double. Closing his eyes seems to help.
We walk the streets of Kaer Maga, one of us’s got the salvation of Korvosa, and what do they care? Why… why is it our… duty, anymore? The sword is freed from its prison. That was godsdamn hard work, and that work is done now. Zellara said nothing… nothing, about it needing to be us that finishes this. We can just… deliver Seri… to someone worthy… and walk away… We can start our lives NOW… What do they bloody care?! Thoughts pass behind Barael’s eyes, of things seen, actions taken, decisions made, risks taken. His ears take in the mundane conversations, the ignorant jokes, the vapid laughter. And it makes Barael angry.
Barael stands up, staggers a little, and looks around the bistro. He speaks to no one directly, but his voice booms. Eyes are slow to take him in, and soon return to their private conversations. It makes Barael angrier. He looks around, and lays eyes upon a mass of a man obstructing his view of the front door. A hazy frustration arises as Barael looks in his direction. The bull-necked giant strikes Barael as someone to be reckoned with, someone dangerous if crossed. Around the giant’s neck, a leather rope sporting a silver dagger-like medallion. Barael takes another deep pull on the flagon, and smashes it on the floor.
Barael launches himself up and onto the table in front of the hulking man, snatching the medallion off his neck. ”This will serve nicely…” Barael leaps down from the table and waves it about, then palms it, making it disappear from sight. Barael shows his hands empty. He spins around, and points at a seated woman nearby. Barael buries his head in the woman’s ample cleavage, as if searching, in spite of her boisterous protests. He tumbles past as the angry giant reaches out for him.
Barael falls into the lap of another woman. He starts to lift her skirts, swatting away her struggle, and begins to rend her clothes. His face twists with beads of sweat, as he continues to leap about, almost toppling over once or twice. He looks over at the giant, and bellows to the room.
He tumbles a third and last time, and reaches into the waitress’s apron. His hand gropes between her legs, before he yells victoriously. He produces the dagger medallion with his Distracting Hand. He raises it above his head triumphantly. As the giant reaches out, Barael snaps his teeth onto the man’s forearm, tearing the skin and producing thick rivulets of blood.
Barael starts to growl, a mixture of blood and saliva trickling from the corner of his mouth.
| 2 people marked this as a favorite. |
“Just a few minutes, I promise!” Tired and haggard from the trip, she just wants a few minutes to freshen up. To fix her hair. To look nice, for a change. A bath! Oh web and weave she wants a bath! “I’ll meet you there, at the bistro.”
The water is heavenly, like silk over her wind-chafed skin. She could luxuriate in it for hours. Maybe even sleep. She jumps with a start! Too easy to drift off in dreams, but not here. Not now. Not alone. With a sigh she grabs a towel and blessedly clean clothing. Her hair twists itself out, then releases, a cloak of melted gold down her back. Over and over again, until it’s mostly dry. She twirls it into curls up on her head, a shiny cascade left to fall down one side. It is too girly for her, but she makes the attempt. She wants to take her time, do more, look better, but she’s hungry, and Barrie is waiting.
The laughter calls to her, but not as much as the delicious scent of whatever they’ve got on the fire tonight, and both pale compare to… She shakes her head with a laugh and speeds her step.
It's busy. Full of life. Too noisy, perhaps, a good place to get used to the living again. Dandi tries to make her way through the door, through the laughing crowds. and I thought coming in the back way would be easier.
On the far side of the room, there's a growl, and some loudmouthed storyteller slurs drunkenly at the crowds.
"...were! In the belly of the earth, searching for a rare blade indeed!” Dandi shakes her head with a laugh. It's Barrie. She would never think him capable of such boldness. But its good, isnt? She jumps, floats up to try to see, but the crowds are thick on the ground, and the smoke thick above them.
She slips through the crowds, skills from her youth coming in good stead as she slides one way, and nudges someone else to the other side.
Never a good reader of the people, it takes a moment to realize the tide is turning ugly. A woman screams and then another. "Hey Now!" grumbles a voice and a huge pile of a man lurches to his feet.
An icy wave of shock washes through her veins. Barrie-Barael... pawing at the waitress, his hand between her legs pulling some silver shining thing and waving it for all to see.
She freezes. Only for a moment, but hasn't she learned by now that a moment is too long?
"...eat, crap, and sleep, and for what?! So that your blood will satiate the gods of pain and torture! So that your souls will nourish nightmare hags!! You sheep, who wouldn’t recognize a wolf even if it walked right up and..”
His teeth, those same teeth that terrified her so long ago (was it only a week or three? truly?) snap! into the flesh of a huge man that tried to interfere.
She panics. Inside, she is a thousand places at once and none of them useful, none of them helpful. It is Kleestad all over again, and there is no Fondo to blame for it now.
She does not say it twice, and they don't wait for a second time. Not sheep, but cockroaches, the patrons flee, giving her room. What does it take to be a monster in Kaer Maga?!?!?! Whatever it is, they feel it in the room and flee.
Her hair whips about, the delicate twisted curls straightening of their own accord. Her feet leave the floor and her eyes glow as she whispers.
"Zastavit ... ve jménu lásky ... před zlomit mé srdce!"
The spell leaves her lips in a rush, full of desperation and insistence and fear. Her hands tremble. Her feet never touch the floor as she rushes to his side.
Someone, the proprietor? moves to intercept, but whatever he sees in her eyes makes him reconsider...
"Barrie...it's time to go." Her hair wraps round him, gathers him closer than close, as she tries to fly....
Before they arrive, Fondo says, "You go along and get your rest. I've Deyanira's abjurations to seek out, before I let myself be seen." And seek some counsel from a friend unused to blood, whose face does not remind me of my role as bargeman to Pharasma's twilit lands.
As he coalesces within her magically warded chambers, Fondo greets Deyanira with an almost too-long embrace, taking in the smell of someone not inured to death and darkness. "Tis done, poor'enedra. Serithtiel is ours. I thank you for your in't."
He steps back and carefully draws out the holy relic disguised as a rapier of the finest quality. "It seems I'll be the Hand of she who holds Ileosa's liberation. Through death or sund'ring of her ties to Kazavon, we'll see an end to cruelty within Korvosa's walls. Come daylight we begin to muster those who stand against Ileosa Green, that we might see sweet Ruan free." He pauses and looks fondly at the woman he fancies might be his sister-in-law some day.
"Pray, tell me of Serithtiel. But mind, her magic's bright. Stare not too long upon her radiance."
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
Nikolay is surprised to see Barael head off by himself as they reach Kaer Maga, but follows his lead and decides that they are all in need of a night off before reaching Korvosa.
He heads for the nicest "establishment" he can find. He enters wearing his full armor, unwilling to leave it too far away. He pulls out a pouch of several hundred gold and hands it to the hostess. "A private room and a bath. Then your best food and drink, and your finest woman in her finest clothes. We shall dine first."
Nikolay finally takes his armor off in the room and sinks into the tub. He allows himself to close his eyes and even doze a bit, sure that Shadows' Death will warn him of anything entering the room.
He digs some decent clothes out of his haversack and welcomes in the first lady for the night. It's a quiet meal as he is in no mood for false conversation about their lives. This is not his city, his people. He has no responsibilities here. He escapes from the world for a night.
That bloody elf better not come knocking on my door.
Briar's first task when arriving in Kaer Maga is finding a measure of solitude...it has been a tasking few weeks of forced time with Varisians non-elves. While they had accomplished much, he needed Briar-time to refresh his elven soul. And see to Majenko.
The magicks that held the dragonnette in statis still held, but whether his magical dragon friend wishes to return.
He walks to his small temple to Nethys in Kaer Maga and sets the dragon on the altar. Taking a pillow, he sits in the lotus-elf position and meditates, planning his time in Kaer Maga.
Gasping, Dandi flies them both above the heads of the crowd, hiding in the smoke and back out the back. Time! There is no time! she searches the street, then looks up and begins to ascend, as fast as she is able, looking for the highest roof, the loneliest roof in all of Kaer Maga, that can be reached in a minute. Before the last of her magicks fail and Barael is free to continue where he left of.. with only Dandi close enough to touch.
"Barrie, please. I'm sorry, about the spell. but I had to, for your own good. Please understand. Please please understand!" Her voice shakes and her flight wobbles; it takes concentration when it is only her. WIth another, it takes so much more.
The sky feels like syrup as she struggles higher, but she doesn't stop, not until she can feel him beginning to stir in her hair. Her concentration broken, she stumbles and tumbles the last few feet to the roof, sending them both sprawling across ancient stone roof. She an hear him breathing in the dark, see his shoulders hunching... but at least we're alone. That's what you wanted, right? Right now, she's not entirely certain.
Briar wakes up in the morning, intent on getting a jump on the day. He listens and speaks with the voices from the void before going to the find Saul and sell all the loot.
Deyanira embraces Fondo deeply when she sees him. "I'm glad you made it out of there alive!" She's clearly delighted.
She invites him in and Fondo sees how she's been living these last few days. A reasonably nice hotel room, with a decently sized antechamber which Deyanira has turned into a study room. While it may be inappropriate for both of them to stay here, there is enough space.
- - -
Briar visits Saul the next morning and finds him well and prosperous in Kaer Maga. "I should have come here sooner!" He takes his time going over the goods, using his monocle as usual to help him identify the rarer pieces and magic.
Taking everything on the list without a name next to it nets the party 57,000 roughly. 5,000gp off for raising Majenko leaves 52,000gp. I'll divide that up evenly on the treasure sheet to 8,667gp each.
EDIT: Er, plus the cash. Yeah, the cash, gems and art valuing 93,800gp. That divides out to another 15,633gp each for a total each of 24,300gp. Each. ;)
Fondo smiles. "Of course we're alive. Fair Desna blesses us, and Pharasma keeps turning us away. Not to mention I have you and Ruan to drive me on." He regards her with appreciation, then yawns grandiosely. "We've much to do in the morning, and I'm tired as a dog. Mayhap a simple supper, and then sleep? I would another room procure, but fear your wards may be needed."
After raiding what food stores Deyanira has on hand, Fondo goes to lay his bedding out in her makeshift study and lays himself down.
In the morning, a warm thrum wakes him at dawn. Serithtiel. He rouses himself and stumbles over to Deyanira's little stove. Kahve.
With kettle on the stove, he fumbles through his scarves and retrieves Zellara's cards. It seems I'm blessed with spirits intent on the same basic goal. Free Korvosa from its royal bonds. He lays out the cards.
Calamity cannot our quest deter.
Those queenly snares we did escape remain.
But exile's made us ready for the fight
And Deyanira's veil shall bring us close
enough to strike and end the viper's reign.
He wakes Deyanira. "Let's find the others and break fast as one. They'll be glad to see you."
The party knows from Eries daily communications with Charlie a number of things (some of these are repeats from prior posts, but they may be useful to your deliberations on time).
- Eries has sent most of her cadre, save the toughest fighters, north west to Riddleport for safety. The remaining group has largely been smuggling people and goods in and out of Old Korvosa through the Vaults.
- Ishani Dahtri, the priest you first met when the plague began, had been rather vocally speaking against the Queen, having left the church in disgust. He had numerous run ins with the Gray Maidens as he tried to get the common citizens to rise up. He has not been heard in the markets in a few days and people assume the worst.
- Nearly all the transient Varisian population has fled to the open road.
- Old Korvosa is now more or less completely cut off from the rest of the city and officially "quarantined". Eries has visited many times and things there are bad due to being cut off - but there isn't a lot of plague there really. She's not sure why it's been cut off, but it could be political as the Arkonas are very vocally against the queen, they have been trying to get the other aristocrats to rise up, and Old Korvosa is their power base.
- Ileosa has commissioned the creation of four immense statues of herself in Korvosa. The moving of huge blocks of stone into position is a task she’s put many of the city’s laborers to, under the watchful eye of the Gray Maidens. Eries believes, but cannot prove, that they are magical in some way. They are using stone shape to help set the pieces so it might just be that, but they feel unnatural to her.
- Archbishop Ornher Reebs (Asmodeus) has been tasked by Queen Ileosa with collecting a single vial of blood from as many of Korvosa’s citizens as he can. His priests are still collecting blood from the citizens of the Heights, meticulously cataloging each “donor” and storing the vials in an unknown location. Eries has managed to keep her cadre away from the knife.
- The Great Tower, the tallest structure in Korvosa, and once home to the Sable Marines is being dismantled. Numerous laborers and engineers are picking apart this tower from the top down, harvesting the stone that composes this famous Korvosan landmark for the four statues Ileosa has requisitioned. Many have perished at this task already, and the steadily diminishing tower is a depressing symbol of the city's drastic decline to all who watch.
- Yesterday, Cressida Kroft was declared an “enemy of the people” and removed from her position leading the Guard and what’s left of the Sable Marines. She escaped while being transferred to the castle’s dungeons and no one knows where she is. The Guard is being dismantled as a military force and will become a glorified policing force under the control of the Gray Maidens.
- In the last week or two a new masked crusader has surfaced calling himself Trifaccia. He’s been taking steps to protect and aid the oppressed common folk, helping them out where needed against a small group of rebels. He seems to support the Queen and lawful order. Eries has steered well clear of him.
- There are rumors of a dragon flying the skies over Korvosa at night. Eries doesn’t give much credence to the rumors, but she’s usually working underground and so none of her people has had a direct sighting.
- There are also rumors of the dead rising up in the south. Eries doesn't go that far in the Vaults so she can't say for sure.
Some general impressions…
The city is quieter, its streets calm and silent. Yet this is not a healthy calm - it is the calm of utter oppression. Where once throngs of traffic clogged busy streets, only a few wagons clatter and furtive locals walk. Gone are the sounds of merchants hawking their wares, the smells of fresh-baked food, the clang of ships’ bells at the docks, or the cry of a Sable Company hippogriff winging through the sky.
Ileosa and her Gray Maidens have been at work on Korvosa, night and day, and the result is a city of broken spirited citizens desperate for deliverance but too cowed by the atrocities and cruelties witnessed in the streets to rise up. The people of Korvosa need heroes.
Eries is of the opinion that things won’t come to a head until those statues are finished. That’s a good few weeks away at their present speed. The city is cowed, the opposition is disorganized, and the Queen has a steady grip. It’s going to take… something… to break the city out of it’s deadlock. Until then, things are bad, but stable.
"Zastavit ... ve jménu lásky ... před zlomit mé srdce!"
His mouth drops open. The taste of blood, sweat salts, and bits of arm hair fill Barael's mouth. He expects to hear bellows of outrage, but he realizes that the giant's eyes are elsewhere. Suddenly, Barael is afraid to turn around, and look.
"Barrrrieee... It's time..." The pounding of blood in Barael's ears prevents him from hearing anything else. The Hag!!! She's come for me!!! Barael suddenly freezes in place, against his will. The will that seeks to bring forth the Shift... Time slows, and he feels himself being ripped from the bistro, as the Hag envelops him from behind.
A light frothing begins to form around his mouth, the wind whipping it free as the two begin to rise into the darkness of the city heights. His body starts its transformation.
The sounds of bones cracking, rearranging, are transmitted through their joined skin. In intimate proximity, Dandi can hear muffled mewls that rise as a result of his lungs compressing, and air passing across his vocal cords. As the hair starts to fill in, his muzzle extends, bringing the teeth. His eyes distend, the whites changing to full black. He sees nothing, hears nothing. A vulgar bulge presses into Dandi's pelvis, forcing her to adjust for the elongation of his tail. The changes slow, but his heart beats mercilessly, while his breathing becomes quick and shallow.
We fly...! There is no grey curtain through which we pass... There are no waters into which we plunge... Be ready. The first moment she releases you, you must be ready to strike.
As they clear the rooftop, he feels the Binding begin to unravel, feels them separate as they begin to fall towards the stone rooftop. The Binding ends, but gives him no time to tuck and roll. The stone rushes up to meet him, his jaw breaking his fall. He bites his tongue, renewing the taste of blood in his mouth. He skids and turns, ready to face his nightmare. His bleary eyes see the kelp-like hair, sees the fading glow from the eyes, the face still draped in shadows.
Barael stumbles, reaches for Black Tooth, and misses. "Me and mine... we'll... we will finish you and yours..."
The disorientation proves too much for the wererat. Barael drops to his knees, and heaves deeply, regurgitating bile and wine.
"Please...I told you I was coming."
Her heart pounds in her ears, competing with his drunken slurs.
"You'll... not take me... without a fight, you'll See Witch!!" He stumbles, frothing in his anger. Her eyes sting, and she tells herself he doesn't mean it, that he's drunk, but like his drunken bite on the man in the bistro, his words sink deeply, no matter what's behind them.
He drops to his knees; maybe she could have stopped him, caught him, but she lets him fall. His back hunched and squawking as he heaves, he seems very much the rat she dreamed so long ago.
Dandi shakes her head to clear the image, to find the laughing dancing man with the music box and gentle hands, but the roof is dark and his tail is twisting in the moonlight. Fear coils in her stomach, exudes through her pores; there is no dancing man here.
"P-please...I only wanted to protect you." Protect them... "Protect us all."
Breakfast comes, and two strangers enter the inn. Briar and Barael spot them out immediately as Fondo and Deyanira in disguise when the older man gives Briar a knowing wink.
"Tis good indeed to see you in the light of day, my friends. What news have we from long-suffering Korvosa?" As he listens to the news and shares that provided by Deyanira, he frowns. "Events seem urgent now, and yet we've mustering to do. Mayhap with Deyanira's aid, we could into the Vault's appear and leave. Begin to build a force and aid our friends . Aid Cressida. Kako, could you send brave Cressida a thought or two, and gauge her need for help?"
"For my part, visiting the Sklar and getting word to Janderhoff lie high among my wishes."
He pauses and reaches for a scone,. Munching, he gazes upon the group, particularly Dandi and Barael. He sighs. "What's transpired to make your eyes so red this day?"
Briar waits for Dandi and Barael to join in before discussing the events in Korvosa or any plans.
Briar nibbles on some morning fruit, thinking very deep elf thoughts.
"Please...I only wanted to protect you. Protect us all."
His vision starts to clear with each blink. Each moment a realization that he is still kneeling, still breathing. A voice, yes, but not that of a hag. Of...
"Dandi."
Barael closes his eyes, and stands. His tail does most of the lifting, as his frame assents in resignation. His head lifts slowly. Only then, does he open his eyes, and looks. And sees her as she is this evening.
She is here... and she is beautiful.
"There... was stew. I remember that... at least. Smelled really good. No way I could deserve enjoy it now..." Barael goes to her, but keeps his distance, seeking to avoid offense with his vomit breath.
"I'm sorry. I think it would... have been a... lovely evening. It was... I should have... so many thoughts..." Barael places his paws over his face, helping concentration, and subconsciously shielding himself from Dandi's gaze.
"It's become real now. The sword. It's real now. We have it." Barael slows his talk, choosing his words very carefully. "Inn't it enough, what we done? So much already. Can't we let the *hic* burden pass to someone else?" Barael brings his hands down, and looks into Dandi's eyes, seeking kindred thought.
"I just... don't know if I can... keep you safe. You know, protect us all. Best way to avoid the danger is to stay away, right?" Barael shakes his head. "That's not right, is it? Not right at all. I'm sorry, it's just..." Barael falls into silence, the only noise the slow scrape of tail on stone, as he continues to sway.
"There... was stew. I remember that... at least. Smelled really good. No way I could deserve enjoy it now..."
"Uhh yeah, I don't think that's going to be an issue." We're sooo not going back there. Ever.
She steps forward. Cautiously, though. Ever so cautiously. His words come quick but muffled.
"Its... ok." No, its not. That man. That...poor... man. I will need to find him, tomorrow. See if I cant find a way to bless the bistro owner. She plots ways to make things right, to clean up the mess, all in the back of her head while she tries to solve the greater problem at the same time.
She steps, then another. Her hair pulled back, a simple ponytail, completely normal. Nothing scary here, even if she is a witch. Two hands, simple things, perfectly normal. Let him see how normal she is. let him forget. And maybe he does, a little, for he moves his hands, can look at her after all.
"Aye, it's real now. He doesn't treasure her enough, but Fondo has her." Her voice, already soft, softens more and she risks a touch. The stench is nothing, though she wishes she could fix it, make things ok for him again. "It's ok, Barrie. You don't have to. I'll exp..." she breaks off as he continues. Talks of safety and protection, as if there's a chance that they'll live through this. Someone has to think so. Why can't it be him?
"Oh honey, is that the problem? We'll be fi-ine. We'll keep each other safe. I hate to remind you, but I've more than a few tricks up my sleeve, don't I? And Briar,and Niko and Fondo? And doesn't Charlie keep us up and kicking? We'll be fine. And you'll be fine." Her voice brightens, a little crisper than he's probably used to, more confident. It's her cover voice, one from her days as a Lamb. No matter how tired, how scared, how... broken... she may be, this voice never shows it. An illusion. A disguise. But one she'll gladly wear if it eases his terror and makes him comfortable. At least for now.
Slowly, giving him room to refuse, she puts her arms around him, snuggles him in, and rests her chin upon his head. "and you, with Black Tooth and your vanishings and quickness. Death can't keep up with you. I am so safe with you. and you with me." at least right here, and right now. That's all we can really ask.
Barael snuffles once or twice, shortly after Dandi embraces him. "I should have bathed with you... avoided this... whole mess of trouble..."
Mere moments later, Barael lurches back to look at Dandi, almost clicking her teeth together in the abruptness. "I mean...! Bathed when you bathed! Separately! But at the same time, so that we went out... together, so I didn't just... drink myself stupid..." His teeth showing under the strain of trying to straighten out the words that keep getting so bent.
Barael's stomach growls loudly. "We should eat, gain our strength back." Barael nods quickly at first, slowing the nod as it dizzies him a bit. "I'm alright now. I'll understand if you want to dine separately, you know, after all this..."
Barael moves to the roof's edge, takes in all sides, looking for a different destination for a late supper. Spotting his best guess, he beckons to Dandi, and jumps, letting the ring take him downwards. Only while he falls, does the realization dawn that what falls is Rat.
What jumps is ratty, what lands is red from embarrassment. Barael looks upwards, and watches Dandi descend. This time, he sees no hag, but a guardian angel. I hope my angel is hungry.
"Aye, you should have..." suppressed laughter tumbles through her, shaking her against the warmth of him. Suddenly he jerks back and the she can almost see the flush flooding his face as he tries to clarify, friendify, his comment. She forces herself to sober, to step back and give him room.
"We should. Back at the i...Oh!" His jump catches her off guard, but only just. She considers the skirt she'd worn for the evening for the first time, and blushes in the dark. Her hair weaves about her modestly, allowing her to settle slowly to the ground. Tucking it back into the ponytail by hand, she turns to face Barrie matter-of-factly.
"Let us go get some dinner before we forget how to eat."
She turns to go, then stops, reaching out to fix his hair, straighten his clothes. "There. Now people won't wonder what we've been up to."
What's transpired to make your eyes so red this day?"
Barael pats the air towards Fondo, wordlessly encouraging him to lower his voice.
What a night, Fondo. You should have seen her. We wandered together, taking in the sights and sounds of The Night Kaer Maga waking. We only found ourselves truly lost twice. By the time we realized that we seriously needed to eat, the kitchens were closing, every one of them.
There we were, just stepping up to this barbecue, as the last patron shook hands with the owner. I tried to convince her to let one more couple in, but she wasn't having it. I think she smelled my breath, to be honest. Then, Dandi shooed me away, and held private conversation with her, and that was that. We had the place to ourselves, fresh vegetables and raw marinated meats to cook ourselves. We even helped clean up afterwards.
The laughter. I remember the laughter the best. I don't remember much more. Well, not anything I'd readily share with you. No offense.
"Lumpy pillows. Now, where were we? How good to see you, Deyanira." Barael winks at Dandi, and smiles goofily.
| 2 people marked this as a favorite. |
A soft knock on the door awakens Nikolay.
"Sir? Would you like some breakfast, sir? Or, anything else?"
"Yes, please. Enter."
The woman enters wearing a red dress better fit for a formal dance than serving. It hugs her hips and accentuates her cleavage, but Nikolay finds he is more interested in the tray she bears with a bowl of ripe berries, steaming coffee, fresh eggs, and crispy bacon.
I could get use to this. He thinks, but does not fully believe. This is not his real life, not even the life he wants. Although he's not really sure what that is at this point.
Dandi and Barael will settle down into a normal life. Fondo will frolick to his friends and family and live a normal life for him. Briar will... be Briar. What will you and I do sword once the queen is dead, once the evil is sliced out of Korvosa? Will it be enough to live there or will you and I forever seek greater evils until one of them does us in?
Nikolay takes the food and smiles at the woman. "Join me for breakfast?"
Nikolay finds the party later that morning.
Charlie will cast Heroes' Feast for all of us in the back room.
On the way to breakfast, Briar sells the brooch & the longsword, buys two scrolls.