"my profession? What am I supposed to be that I wasn't before? What are you supposed to be?" He looks Kong over in his corset... "dominatrix?"... he lofts a brow, then smiles, shakes his head, realizing the jest wasn't that funny.
He walks over and picks up a berry, looks it over before taking a bite, then popping the rest in his mouth if it doesn't taste bad. Then he tries the water.
"well, I guess if this isn't the land of the dead, and it seems I'm stuck here, let's go on and see more of the place..."
twisted animals, elder gods, magic gems, force fields... I must be dreaming
"Honestly, I don't know. I think it was 'holy knight'? Kong is 'Death', and not as in 'drop dead gorgeous, fashion choices aside. Luna is 'Thief', Liisa is 'Nature', Johnny is 'Sorcerer', Lina is 'Ascetic', and I'm 'War'. It's odd how they swap between concepts and occupations, now that I think about it... Maybe just 'ideals' or 'Paragons'?"
"holy knight? Like some kind of religious fanatic? I don't know that I can live up to something like that. I am shinto, we don't really have religious knights. Samurai yes, but religion rarely played a big role in their fealty to lords. Besides, if we are the vessels for elder gods in this... dr.. place... how does that work exactly?"
"Well, we're not really vassals, in most cases, but partners. I mean, they can play merry havoc with our bodies if they feel like it... Burning, in my case, blood in Lina's old case. Kong probably had the worst experience, there. He... Made a lot of ultimatums and threats. I'd avoid that. Other than that, mostly just thoughts and emotions are shared."
"so if I'm to be a holy knight... holy to who...or what?"
The Holy Knight card now is colorized, and it shows a man in black and gold armor with silver trim riding a unicorn. However, the unicorn is still faded and hard to focus on...
You do notice that Nature's lizard is no longer faded, it's vividly blue.
The Thief's card is fully colorized now, and every time you look at it, there is a pair of masked eyes hiding somewhere on it, which weren't there before.
"Couldn't tell you. Knight wasn't at all what I'd expect of the title. Maybe yourself, maybe the gem, maybe an ideal... Shinto?" he shrugs. "The title isn't really descriptive of our jobs on this side of the wall, though the ghosts know the 'demons' by their titles. In here, the job is more... Obvious, once we have a compound running. I can scry underground, and draw out raw metal. Liisa has trees, fruits, and lizards. Luna has tricksters and liars. Johnny has traveling stores, Lina has vegetables and monks that enjoy toughening us. Kong has spooky zombie people."
"One major thing, though. If you fell like running off on your own, please talk about it. An argument lead to Harry and Sterling dying, cracking their gems, exploding the forge and mansion, and weakening Gareleth and Alventhin. A few weeks later, Paul just disappeared, and then a bit after that, the tower exploded and Mikrasa was injured. Just try to remember the people in our heads are someone's friend."
"I can't claim to know who these people are gareleth, alventhin, mikrasa, but I will heed your advice. Talk before running off. I am used to trying to talk things out, just not to being listened to." He flashes a wry half smile.
Daichi's thoughts turn inward for a bit as he considers his father's way of not listening, and hearing only what he wanted to hear. He hoped the being in him would prove more open.
so if you're there, talk to me. Who are you and what do you expect of me?
Seeing no zombies following the new guy out of the cave, Johnny dismisses his swords. He never really liked the things. And it had only gotten worse once he grabbed that ice gem and suddenly had two of the blasted things. Kiks, you really need to hurry up and finish eating the ice queen. I want to let it go.
"Well, judging by your clothes, we may have another Silken Coast type person." He waves. "I'm Johnny, by the way. Sometimes referred to as "The Sorcerer" apparently. I seem to own travel and the roads. Don't know what my gem is called; I just call him 'Kiki' or 'Kiks'. These guys," He generally gestures around but mostly points at Neri "Want to save the world. I just want to make sure the crazy church can't kill us. Unfortunately, this means that I need to get better at making things, which often requires leaving our little safe haven for dangerous training, unfortunately."
He seems to be wearing typical, non-interesting traveler's gear, but he does have two rods stuck out of his belt. One of the swords that had suddenly disappeared out of his hands had been a rather cumbersome looking thing that he seemed to easily wield single-handed as though it weighed much less than it looked like. The second sword had been a bit more practical looking. He's clean shaven without any sign of stubble. His dark hair is pulled back and comes down to around mid-back.
"Yepp Holy Knight all right." Liisa nods and flips up a card from her tarot deck.
The Holy Knight card now is colorized, and it shows a man in black and gold armor with silver trim riding a unicorn. However, the unicorn is still faded and hard to focus on...
"But yeah - 'what' - holy thing is a bit unclear. Hmm. Do you *uh* feel any compulsions to sanctify something?"
"not so far and no voice in my head either. Is that a good sign?"
...It's you, young one. Any faster, and I'd burn out something in your brain... can you live without some neural pathways? If so, I could absorb it faster...
"nice to meet you, johnny." He bows. He looks slightly embarrassed at still holding swords and sheaths them, looks down at the armor, which is not as constricting as it appears. Then looks at johnny, tilting his head to one side. "How did you make those disappear? Can I do that too? What about the armor?"
"I have much to learn, I think." He sighs softly.
"so if these ... beings... have names, how do I find out mine's?"
"Nah, not really a sign either way." Liisa replies. "They seem to be a bit groggy - takes them a little while to wake up. And then, imagine the chock, they find themselves in some wholly new and strange place!"
"And you can remove your stuff the same way you got it - just concentrate. Don't worry, it'll be easier with some practice."
Things seem pretty cool and no threats, so Daichi half closes his eyes and concentrates on the armor being gone.
"Sort of. It means your gem just doesn't care for talking, at the moment. They might still be trying to connect with you, or they might simply need for you to restore their 'shrine' in here. Finding out the names is tricky. If you find someone who knows the lore of your gem, that's the quickest way. Visiting some of the ghosts, and hoping they'll share is also helpful. We learned most of ours through Mahb... but she's not as good with 'foreign' demons."
"ghosts?"
Johnny laughs out loud at Kik's comment. "Hey guys, Kiki says if I don't mind losing a few neural pathways he can eat the gem faster. What'dya think?"
A part of him was sorely tempted to take Kiki up on that offer. The weird headband Lina had given him itched. Not in a physical sense but more deep inside his head. He didn't really like all this access to knowledge he should have long forgotten. It made him feel...well, colder really. People looked more like things to be manipulated for his gain. If they couldn't see the right way to do things, they were to be crushed.
He shuddered, quickly putting that line of thought away. Healing magics. Healing. Good thoughts. Yeah, he really couldn't wait to hand it over to Neri and get something a bit less potent. The guy has enough warm fuzzies to push off all of this coldness.
"We have...ghosts in our compounds. The souls of dead people somehow tied to our gems. Mine come in the shape of caravans that can sell us things. It's best not to remind them that they're dead though. Otherwise they disappear." He felt like he should be sadder remembering Lina's misadventure with his first caravan. But the logical part of him said that they would be back when they were feeling stronger, so there was no need to worry.
"Um. Some of the compounds have spirits. Usually people who seem like they'd be devoutly tied to your gem. Like... Lina's monks, Luna's charmers, Johnny's wagons, Kong's Zombies. Liisa seems to have lizards instead, and I didn't have anyone in mine until... we saved a bunch of people's lives, and they died anyway, because they didn't want to follow the Demons." he huffs. "It's not that I want to save the world, it's that I don't want people to need saving." he finishes before looking a bit more contemplative.
so I have to find this compound, castle, whatever it is and find out who or what is there, yes?" He starts to feel a bit more comfortable and anticipatory about the idea at the same time.
"Well maybe not 'find' really, all of ours seem to be in around the same area more like unlock?"
"unlock then, I am actually anxious to see what I have to work with and what happens next."
if a dream, I guess I'll follow it to its conclusion, or until I'm out of this coma. .. if this is all real, I might as well embrace my fate... Hello in there... whoever you are, will you talk to me? We're going to have to work together, let's start on good terms, eh?
Neri snaps back to reality, "Yeah, we can head there anytime you like. But remember what we warned you about with the animals. Ready to head out?"
"I am ready. Let's do this"
The trip back to the compounds starts the next morning, as Daichi takes a few steps and nearly falls over from exhaustion.
The next morning, the group heads out, avoiding squirrels and rabbits, while bears and lynx's run from them at first sight.
Two days later, near the end of the day, the group finally returns to the lake dominated central compound area.
"you were right about it being a long way away, and about the animals... have you tried taming or befriending any of them?"
Diachi looks around the area, staring at the different areas, trying to recall what he was told about each person's area and who goes with what... and fathom the ruined areas as well....
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"Do you remember what your picture looked like? If I remember correctly, there weren't any skeletons or bodies hanging off, right? If so, I'm guessing that's your castle." Johnny points to the castle with the drawbridge up.
"Liisa's place has the big tree . Mine's the caravan . Neri has the volcano . Oh, there's Lina's place . We should probably say hi to her before you go to your place. Cleaning it up can be quite tiring. I think Kong lives in the bone house ."
Johnny heads over to Lina's monastery to introduce the two. "Honeeeyyyyyyy. I'm hommmeeee. I brought the new guy to come say hi." Johnny takes a quick moment to cast Longstrider on himself and prepare to run if Lina takes his comments poorly. When/If Lina appears, he introduces the two. "This is Daichi. He's our new pretty, pretty princess, here to find his unicorn. Daichi, this is Lina."
When Johnny points out Liisa's place, Daichi smiles... wonders half aloud if it ever says "I am Groot"... Follows Johnny to Lina's monastery and bows to her when she shows up, lofting a curious brow at Johnny's description of him... princess?
"Hello, Miss Lina... a pleasure to meet you."
Diachi moves on toward the compound Johnny thinks is his... He walks up to the place hesitantly at first... hoping there is a sign if this is the right place or not... it looks like a castle, alright, but an English castle, not a Japanese one... so he's a bit confused, ambivalent even...
Daichi walks up to the moat, which is marshy and muddy, with reeds and weeds. The drawbridge is dry rotted and could likely be smashed open with a hard enough blow...
As Daichi an Johnny walk through Lina's monastery, ghostly monks dance around them, cleaning floors and practicing elegant martial arts. Johnny leads the newcomer to the building's owner, however, by following sounds of crashing and splintering, to a small garden where Lina is practicing splitting sections of logs and piled stones with her fists. There is blood splattered on the ground around her, but not much; her hands bear a few new cuts, likely from flying splinters.
When she turns and stands, she towers over him, nearly six feet tall, in plain burlap robe with frayed edges; after the months of training and fighting since she's gotten to this plane, she's built like a more muscular Brienne of Tarth. A number of scars criscross her face; the two most prominent take the shape of red teardrops under each eye.
"I'm Lina," she introduces herself. "'Länsgeneral Passgård' if we ever actually get an army, which I'm starting to doubt. My job is to keep us earthlings alive out here in the wonderful world of whatever hobbit b$%&*$~@ this is, but some of the others don't make it easy. From your armor, and Johnny's inane whining, I'd guess you're the Holy Knight. It'll probably good to have another voice for law and order around here, or at least common sense."
"...Although, you know what they say about unicorns..." And then she goes back to punching things, though she'll listen at least a little if the others keep talking.
"Lansgeneral, eh? Law and order? Me?" He smirks, never having been much for law and order.. not against it, not for it either, and not a rules-follower either in general. It was why he quit the military after his enlistment was up. Common sense, maybe, but it never stopped him from stepping out of his expected role... Of course, that's what landed me here in the first place... Wherever 'here' is
"What DO they say about unicorns? Other than only a virgin can ride one. or so I've heard."
"Well, yes, that's what I meant. And, according to the locals, Holy Knight's the "good cop" of these demons. I picked the bad cop, by comparison."
"I guess I have a lot to learn here, neh?" SHould have maybe picked that blue gem first...all this talk about law is making me nervous. "Well, nice to have met you, Miss Lina... I guess we will be having much in common as time passes. I will leave you to your breakage practice."
Moving on with Johnny...
Daichi scowls at the condition of the moat... No self-respecting lord would let his place fall into such a state. But then, half these compounds are in varying states of disrepair...
He steps to the edge of the moat, careful not to step directly into the mud and muck if he can avoid it and begins to pull a few handfuls of weeds, tossing them to the side out of the moat, taking out his knife to cut any that resist pulling...
He pauses his efforts occasionally to view his handiwork... While not a total stranger to hard physical work, it's not his favorite past-time. He begins the work with a slow and steady approach, ramping up his effort if and when it seems to have some visible effect.
If he finishes, he'll move on to the drawbridge area next...
I hope Johnny is right and that I'm not sweating over the wrong place..
Daichi begins to work, hard, yanking out the weeds and reeds. His initial plan to avoid the mud doesn't last long as he slips and falls face first into the muck. Shaking it off, he attacks the reeds, finding a calming peace in returning order to the chaos that is the moat.
When he's finally done with the moat, it looks better, although it's still only partially full and muddy, but at least it's somewhat more ordered. The mud clings to him as he forces his way up the other side of the moat to the stone walls.
The old drawbridge is all but shot, and it takes only a few hammers on it with his fist to make it fall apart enough for him to force his way inside the walls.
While the walls are in semi-decent shape, the interior buildings have collapsed with age, the wooden frames falling from dry rot.
With a sigh, he begins to haul the interior bits one by one to a corner of the compound and pile them up, stopping only to start a fire with his flint and steel.
Trip after trip is made, making him sweat in his armor, but even as the sun sets, he doesn't stop, the utter chaos of the collapsed rubble nearly driving him nuts. Fortunately, as the sun comes out, retainers light glowing rice paper lanterns to illuminate the area as they continue helping, dragging rotting wood and cloth to the bonfire.
As the night continues, the piles of rubble are fed into the bonfire, which soon illuminates the entire interior of the fortress. With the wood gone, it's just a giant rectangle of stone.
Fortunately, the foundation stones are in tact, as are some of the metal fittings.
One of the house servants reports to Daichi, his brow covered with sweat and dirt. "Lady Yo. yo.. Lady Daichi, the lumber is taking longer than we would like, the Builder is.. well, he's unwell."
The sun comes up over the top of the wall, illuminating a clear empty walled pavilion where buildings should be. Daichi's retainers and guards stand around, sweating and dirty from the massive amount of work.
In the corner of the compound a massive unicorn stands snorting, it's horn visible from beyond the wall. It paws the ground with hooves the size of car tires.
Set on a massive wooden framework nearyby is a set of black and gold barding that obviously would fit the unicorn, as well as an exotic military saddle.
"Lady Yo? Yo... ? " he prompts, hoping to learn more... whether the servant is forthcoming or not, he then gently corrects him... "LORD Daichi... and the Builder? May I meet this Builder?" Is he one of us? Like I am 'the Holy Knight' and Luna is 'the Thief'? or is he one of the 'ghosts'?
He takes a deep breath, gaining a level of calm he's not totally feeling right now. "If we need lumber, perhaps Johnny's caravan can supply some?
He walks over to the pavilion and nods to the retainers and guards. "You have all done well this night... I am grateful and impressed by your hard work. Rest now, and work can continue when we acquire lumber for construction." IF they are truly ghosts, do they even need rest? It seems appropriate to offer it even if they don't.
Daichi walks to the corner and looks up at the unicorn. This is like being in England again, everything is so BIG... Lina was six feet if she's an inch and this creature is the size of a lorry. He gives a quick check to see if the unicorn is male or female before addressing the beast...
"Hello, most magnificent unicorn. I am Lord Daichi, and I am pleased to make your acquaintance." He bows before the massive creature.. He reaches out a hand and touches the unicorn on the neck if he'll allow it... stroking gently but firmly down toward the creature's shoulder. "It seems our fates are intertwined... "
The massive animal lowers it's head until the eye, the size of an apple, is inches from Daichi's nose. The massive stallion snorts, hot breath flowing over Daichi's armor, dislodging some dried mud. The massive beasts voice makes Daichi's bones vibrate and leaves him with a buzzing in his head. The beasts head raises up, and he shakes, the wickedly long sharp horn flashing in the morning light. One hoof slams into the ground, sending up a cloud of dust and making the ground vibrate.
Daichi rubs his temples trying to quell the buzzing in his head. "Okay then... I'm glad we understand each other... And I wouldn't call it all waste." He looks disconcerted as he considers his life for a moment, and realizes the unicorn might be right, but he doesn't want to admit it aloud. "I guess I've got a lot to work on... You'll let me know when you consider me worthy then?" I'm glad the 'ghosts' aren't so particular...
He bows to the unicorn and turns his attention back to the need for lumber for the moment.
As Daichi begins to walk out of the compound to talk to the others about Lumber, his vision goes gray, and he stumbles...
...heed him... A woman's voice echoes in Daichi's thoughts...
...and then pitches face first into the dirt and grass. Unconscious.
Liisa - having little on her schedule and an inkling what would happen once Daichi stepped inside his compound - had quickly rushed home to her tree to collect a blanket and some food then returned to watch the spectacle. She would invite any of the others to join her little picnic. She also brought along a small slice of bark which she marked with tiny rows each time their new guest face-planted the mud. While she hadn't really missed reality tv this was an opportunity that might not come again for quite some time. There was *some* useful aspects to it too - from what she gathered time seemed to slow down as they rebuilt their domains; what if they could replicate that feat elsewhere? Doing weeks worth of effort in mere hours could be useful if it came to battle ...
And once it all was over she etched one final line in her bark-sheet and chuckled. Then headed over to the fallen Holy Knight to get him somewhere where he wasn't face-down in the mud.