"Well, I guess I'm going to take a cue from our sweet prince and take a nap aswell. Se ya later!" Liisa yawns and heads home to her tree. Staying up all night to watch the show had been fun but now she had a headache dawning in sync with the sun. Welp. Maybe I'm growing old. But she dismissed the thought quickly - it was more interesting to think about what she just witnessed. And try to make sense of it! Hey Selvaria, you know how come we get sped up when we first return and try to fix our 'houses'? And if there are any way we can spare some trees for whatever-they-are-building?
Sort of, you can tell there's lots of things moving around, but much like inside the wall, you can't tell much difference about what it is. The more things are moving around, the less detail you get. You could tell the raptors in the tunnels, but not what they looked like, only that they had two legs. You could tell that there's squirrels and wolves and bears in the forest, but not what animal it is or where one specifically is.
It is not about the wood, it is about imbuing it with power. I can imbue wood with power, but it would not be useful for building anything, especially as it would scream in pain when it was planed and nailed together. A builder is required to imbue the wood with power for the shrine.
Lina will go back to training at her compound and wait for the others to come get her when Daichi awakens, since she doesn't really want to hang around the place any more today.
Huh. So you - we - can imbue feelings in wood? Or perhaps more accurately, let them convey them? Liisa blinked. Suddenly she wasn't all that tired anymore. She walked back out from her "bedroom" into her yard. Can you show me how?
You are not yet strong enough to handle the power required...
Since most everyone seemed to be retiring to their compounds for the night Luna would do the same.
Two days later, Daichi wakes up, his body aching. He finds himself sleeping on...
Daichi wakes up in what appears to be a small, wooden room though the ceiling is oddly curved outwards. The bed is soft with a down pillow and a light blanket covering his body. Each of the sides has a window-- yet another oddity-- with brightly colored cloth curtains hiding 3/4 closed wooden window blinds. The blinds are angled downwards, allowing enough light to dimly illuminate the interior of the room.
Next to the bed is a small table with an upside down empty glass, a pitcher of water, and a cloth napkin with a few of Liisa's berries as well as some nuts sitting upon it. On the other side of the table sits Daichi's armor on a simple wooden chair. Both it and whatever clothes he was wearing under the armor seem remarkably clean and, in the case of the armor, well polished given that he had passed out after many hours of rough labor.
At the foot of the bed is a wooden chest containing both spare linens and a couple of changes of clothes. Beyond the chest is a door. The air is warm and still with the sound of nature nearby and Daichi detects the faintest hint of cinnamon.,
Diachi wakes slowly... eyes fluttering open. All he realizes at first is that he's in a bed... and everything hurts. He groans and closes his eyes again. It WAS a dream... I'm in hospital.. at least I'm alive. Oh god, everything hurts like hell... He tries moving a little to make sure he's not paralyzed.. starting with arms and hands, just a little movement, just enough to know he can... then his legs and feet...
After a few minutes, he opens his eyes again and looks around. This doesn't look like any hospital. Where the hell am I now? He tries sitting up, slowly.. and looks around more thoroughly. When he spots the armor, he sighs loudly... Oh gods, I'm still here... You can't dream in a dream can you?
He sniffs the air and shrugs... It doesn't smell like a hospital either... Now why do I suddenly want Cinnabon? Now sitting up, he turns to slide his feet out of bed and spots the water and glass and realizes he's extremely thirsty... and hungry. He drinks... and drinks... and drinks... then eats the berries, and drinks some more, until the pitcher is almost empty...
He slides off the edge of the bed and tries standing up... gathers up his clothes and gets dressed, collects his things, checks his cell phone, sad to find there's no remaining charge. He puts everything in his pockets. Leaving the armor on the stand, he takes a few shuffling steps toward the door... careful in case he passes out again.
What's the last thing I remember? The fortress, the people, and the lack of wood... then everything slowed down and then .. nothing? He shrugs and since he didn't pass out again, he opens the door, squinting if it's light out... He looks around outside and scowls deeply as he tries to put this place into perspective...
Johnny's caravan, I think. He walks down the steps to the ground and looks around for Johnny or any of his people.
"Hello? Anybody here?
"While we're stuck here, waiting on unicorn-boy, is there anything you would like for me to do, or that you would like to do, Id?". Neri asks after the first day passes with his focus on gathering intelligence.
While Daichi is passed out in Johnny's caravan Luna keeps a close eye on the area, never going inside but making sure that when he comes out she'll be the first to know and when he does exactly that she moves off to inform the others. "New guys up and about, Figured its best for me to avoid being alone with him in case his gem tries something."
Outside Johnny is busy making various things.
Johnny looks up as Daichi speaks. "Finally. I thought you were going to sleep all week. You feeling up for a walk? I believe the plan was to meet up at Lina's temple when you woke up. I think I saw Luna here a bit earlier, so the others are probably on their way there now. Or will be soon anyway."
Daichi smiles at and approaches Johnny, happy to see a familiar friendly face. When he draws close he stops and bows. "It is good to see you again... I think I owe you thanks... the last thing I recall was mud on the ground and everything going black. I appreciate waking in a comfortable bed. I suppose the expected question is 'how long DID I sleep?'." He tilts his head to one side while he awaits an answer... When he learns he was out for a couple of days he looks a bit surprised.
"That's odd, I don't even recall dreaming. I'm sorry if you were all waiting on me. And yes, I think I'm up to a walk... I'm guessing there are no cars or bikes here, eh?" he says, looking around at the wagons.
Johnny waves a hand dismissively in response to Daichi's thanks. "Oh, you should really be thanking Liisa for all that. She just thought my place would be more comfortable than hers." He frowns. "Although I don't think either of us slept for two days after cleaning our compound up. Maybe it was because we had magic to help or maybe it's because ours weren't incomplete like yours seems to be."
Placing his work to one side, Johnny stands up and begins leading Daichi towards Lina's compound, where she is undoubtedly continuing to be a masochist and getting beaten up by her monks. "Yeah, not so much with the technology here. We could probably invent a bunch of stuff, but we currently have more pressing concerns, namely getting stronger so we don't get killed. Lina especially seems obsessed with getting more power. I think she considers it her duty to look after us. It seems like some pretty bad stuff went down before me and Liisa arrived."
After a relatively short time, they arrive at Lina's monastery.
"Speaking of incompleteness... it seems one of the last things I recall is that I need lumber... I don't suppose you have any to trade in your caravan? And if not, maybe enough silk or canvas to erect some pavilions until lumber can be found... unless that would be considered wrong."
"I did tell your manservant guy that he should feel free to check out my caravans for supplies. Unfortunately, what exactly I have available tends to be a little random. The guy currently there sells candy. The place most likely to sell canvas kind of got temporarily killed by Lina doing a strip tease." Though the last is said in a semi-joking manner, there's a hint of sadness to Johnny's voice. "Haven't really seen any likely choices for lumber though. I think we were thinking Liisa might be able to help with that given that she's the big nature-y person with a huge tree in the middle of her compound."
where she is undoubtedly continuing to be a masochist and getting beaten up by her monks.
"Right." Lina's happy to have a conversation over lunch, or tea, or whatever her monks are making her eat these days. "I assume they've all filled you in? I've been busy learning how to fight with weird kung-fu weapons."
"But the basic layout is this. Welcome to the Resistance. They can't touch us while we're at home, though yeah, all the animals and rocks here will try to kill you. But there's a shimmering barrier in the distance—and beyond that, a whole Evil Empire run by a trinity of death gods. Celestine, a**hole ice queen goddess of stabbing people. Barathiel, a**hole sun god of strangling people. Korbran, boring god of healing, he doesn't hate us but he seems like a wuss. Don't pray to the trinity. Don't mention their names, if you can avoid it. We're not nearly strong enough to fight them, and it seems the only way we get stronger is by killing their priests and eating their souls. Yeah, not as evil as it sounds. Remember, 'demons' are the good guys here."
"But you'll need to learn a thing or two about guerrilla warfare if you want to survive. The Builder gem's broken because his avatar kicked it, and losses like that without our resources and shiny rainbow shield weakening even further. So, don't die. Don't charge recklessly. Be as paranoid as possible, because our lives depend on it."
"So: lumber. We haven't seen that problem with the other compounds. I've got a bit of experience tearing down trees with my bare hands, and some of the villagers we've recruited to our rebellion know a thing or two about construction, but that only works if your people are okay with mundane lumber, which they might not be."
"Other long term goals—we're recruiting what rebels we can, to bring them into our safehouse village here. Smallfolk seem to hate the trinity. They hate us more, because we're demons, but some of 'em are learning that that's just propaganda. And we've got other safehouses out there, shrines, hidden somewhere in the world, that we might need to find. I hear you've got a pretty cognizant unicorn, maybe he knows something."
"What else? If you need training in how to actually fight, and your samurai are too sissy to do it without any lumber, my monks would be happy to punch some combat skill into you."
"Thank you for the synopsis, it helps, Lina. I will endeavor not to die. Acquiring wood may not be a problem... but milling it into usable lumber is another thing. I don't know exactly what my people can do or what they can work with." He shrugs...
"Smallfolk? as in children? And I don't think the unicorn likes me very much... He feels I'm not... I don't know.. focused? enough. And some training might be good if I'm going to be fighting for my life here. I've had some weapons training but it was not that intensive... and never tested in a mortal combat."
"Smallfolk. Peasants. Proles. The oppressed. You'll see them everywhere you go."
"If you need to learn discipline? That's what my monks are all about. Judgment, balance, punishment. I think. Nobody here, especially my gem, talks to me much. But apparently our gems are sisters, which means you're probably quite welcome training here. Maybe you can learn some self-control while you're learning to fight."
"Hell, when I came here, the only weapon I knew how to use was my SIG. Still got a few rounds of ammo for the thing, but with these magic muscles I've grown, it doesn't hit nearly as hard as my longbow."
"Oh... I get it. The masses... I'm not sure what the unicorn wants from me exactly... he said 'quell the chaos within you', so whatever that means. But sounds fair enough. I'm willing to give it a go. I've done some martial arts training, fencing, a little of each, I'm no expert.
"Hey Lune. I... don't think he's going to do anything to hurt us. He's not Lina." Neri says, rolling his eyes, as he slips to the edge of the red-stone volcano. "I've been messing with a lot of things in here. Learning what I can... any luck with yours?" he asks as they - presumably - move off to find Liisa, hopeful that she'd made progress with her fears, those he didn't ever bring up.
Well rested and satisfied with a few days of simply milling about Liisa eagerly joins Luna and Neri on their way to Lina's council. Once there she fills in what she knows on the lumber front. "There should be plenty of trees in the forest to gather from, provided it is done properly and with foresight. But turning those into proper lumber isn't something that really belongs in Selvaria's domain so ... how do you fancy a timber cottage instead?"
"I don't think that's exactly what my people had in mind, but as an interim solution, I'd be fine with it. I'm not sure they would be so amenable though. Hell, I'd be happy enough with a nice pavilion if it came down to it... at least temporarily. I suppose the only way to know would be to talk to them about it."
...There has been no reason to talk. Things progress. It is better to listen and learn...
...She never talked much, she prefers to listen... not a bad trait, but it makes it hard to know what she is thinking...
Whoa! there you are... hello.. 'she'? as in Lina? or her counterpart? has she got a name? I don't suppose you'd share your name? Anyway, as you said, listening isn't a bad thing, you can learn a lot that way.
...hard to remember some things... others... names have power... using them can be... dangerous. And I referred to her... they are... both her... and both different...
Johnny rolls his eyes slightly. Of course Lina would think the one "god" who actually seemed nice/decent was a "wimp". It said a lot about her character, really.
"So what is it we want to do next? Continue with our original plan to hit Demonwatch? Chop down trees? Something else?"
"Not sure chopping down trees will help with no way to mill lumber from them. Tell me about this demonwatch place and what you mean to do there, please?"
"We don't know much about Demonwatch. It's a religious penal colony of some sort—peasants enslaved for all eternity because their great-grandparents worshipped us, or something like that. For all we know, they might actually have a lumber mill we can scavenge for parts, or just a carpenter who knows how to build one. But they'll also be guarded by a priest, with deadly magic, or possibly some church assassins, with deadlier magic."
"We found... a shortcut, teleporter sort of, to this city recently. At least one of Celestine's monsters on our tail. It's entirely possible that if we came to Demonwatch from the other side, we'd be unexpected. Though we plan to use animals to scout extensively first, and we'll need a real good speech if we want to convince any of the prisoners to come with us."
"Sounds like these people are pretty well brainwashed or indoctrinated in this trinity faith. Not sure how much we can do if they've already drunk the kool-aid, but maybe freeing them from being under the thumb of this church might help influence them. Are these peasants likely to fight against us as well as the priest and/or assassins?"
He pauses to think... then shrugs. "Of course perhaps I could do some of this training before we venture into a pitched battle."
Lina shrugs. "They fought us last time. After Neri said 'hey, we're demons, here for your souls please don't worry it won't hurt much.' I've got an amulet that helps me specifically punch people unconscious, in your case just try not to kill anyone who's clearly weak and confused."
"Well, I'm ready to start this training... You said I should begin by meditation... is there anything specific I should be contemplating? Or just a bit of everything about my life... I'm assuming navels are right out.. " he smiles and shrugs at the mild jest... "Should I do this here in your place... or back at mine, unfinished as it is?"
...
He sits down, lotus fashion because that just seems right from all he knows, and closes his eyes, begins thinking about his life and life choices... And while a few of them strike him as right and appropriate, he starts facing the fact that he made a lot of poor life choices, mostly to piss off his father and slip out from under his control as much as possible, not for any mindful reason. Eventually, it occurs to him that he could have made better choices if he weren't so determined to simply not do what his father wanted.
While this revelation doesn't come quickly or easily, it does come in time, and he starts reevaluating his life...
Neri arrives just in time to hear Daichi ask Lina 'Your place or mine?' He looks slowly to Johnny, quirking an eyebrow, wondering if the man had used some of his more... charming magic in this particular situation.
A bit later...
"So... I'm apparently able to Scry on Lees's new shrine... though it's still all fuzzy aboveground. The bright side is that you have a root growing an insane distance downwards. Maybe there are some gaps amongst the roots..?"
A bit later...
"Hmm. Did you see where the roots went? I'm almost guessing the root system of that shrine and my home tree is connected; might as well be by roots. And if you can see those roots we could find out if I have other shrines laying about ..."
"Just... down. Really down. And I can see everything within a few miles of that space... which suggests that if we scour enough of the forests we'll find more of your shrines. Since the forests used to belong to Selvaria, right?"
"That just means we need to figure out what to find for the others... and recognize it when we see it. Our compounds are very likely a hint at that. So I need to look for a space that once had volcanoes... or make a new one. Find monasteries for Lina, Spy Dens for Luna, palaces for Daishi, trading posts for Johnny... and I don't know... boneyards and graveyards for Kong?"
"I wish one of our compounds came with maps. That would be ridiculously useful for this."
It's annoying... and common with the Silklanders...
..heh... you're very good at that.. oversimplifying... and I had the reputation for lack of thought in the old days...
As Daichi prepares to meditate for a butt load of time, Johnny's eye twitches. He turns to his companions. "Well, what do you want to do while we wait on My Little Pony? Should I get started on crafting replacement stuff for what got blown up? At the very least, I feel like we should tell our raptor buddies on this side that we're not dead."
"We could. I figure he'll just get really angry with us for pretending we were going to kill ourselves, and then coming back and pretending we could. Or just think we're even more crazy than they thought. Maybe if we got some exotic fungus or lizards from the other side..? Maybe have Daichi ask if the stuff can just be made out of stone, since several of us are pretty good with stonework... Plus, I could get some really nice gems and stone and such as long as it wasn't leaving the compound, I think..?"
"Maybe if we bring Seth along they'll believe us? Unless there are lots of other raptor villages this side of the wall that we don't know about that he could be from."
Watching Lina and Daichi Kong asks, "So are we going to be here for a while then? I can craft some items if we have the raw materials though I would like to do some training as well"
"That's the spirit!" Lina tells Daichi. "I've got plenty of meditation rooms at my monastery."
And when he dutifully sits down and starts meditating, she leaves him alone, then pokes him with a stick after about an hour. "You'll probably need to take it easy," she points out. "You've been sitting for an hour, and your legs are probably numb, or else they hurt like hell. If you want to sit and think about things, that's fine, but I'd recommend ramping it up—do it for twenty minutes at a time, then take breaks to eat, stretch, splash water on your face, something. Tomorrow, up it to 25 minutes, and intervals of an hour by the end of the week. Or do it by feel—when you just can't sit still anymore, get up, clear your mind, sit back down."
"But if you want to learn discipline, just sitting might not be the best way to do it. I'd recommend burying your keys, phone, money somewhere that they won't remind you of your past life. And you'll want to train as well, which my monks can help with—patience in the face of pain is a useful lesson, and if you've got a temper, they can beat it out of you."