"El-sa," Valerie corrects, but nods in agreement. "Let me see what I can do." She walks off a few paces and starts conjuring up a pile of ice and snow.
Femtite studies the door which looks as heavy and unbreachable as before, notwithstanding the fact that Constance slipped out somehow. Two of the heavy locks are open, but the remaining two are sold and intricate. The door itself is massive and solid, with a tight seal on all sides.
She cannot determine that anything could open the door except the actual keys for the remaining locks.
"I can't keep it up! I lost myself just like the others," Quincy's voice becomes more strained, more desperate. "Either get me more power or turn it off! I don't care which, just make it stop!"
Connie can easily surmise that, if Quincy's telling the truth, that it would be just as possible for him to fall into the role as game master just as the others forgot their own previous lives. If given access to the power in Connie's sanctuary, he'd be elevated to near godhood but likely with significant loss of free will. The power should also be enough to sustain the fantasy world.
However, trying to be a game master in this world as it is would likely be excruciating.
What do you do??
He looks outside the window, wondering when and how this world will begin to shatter. While trusting Connie would be able to fix this, he wondered if she knew about how urgent it was.
Caio leaves the tavern and takes a look, noticing a trail towards the closest mountain. Between the rain and the lightning, he believes he saw the silhouette of Serenity's shrine. It was surprisingly nice to be able to do some magic again, specially when beefed up by Matariel's power.
"Umboriax, can you create a link with me like you did with the Princess? I'll fly towards that shrine, the Oracle's shrine, and try to combine Matariel's power with the connection between this world and ours. Trying to lit a beacon for Connie."
“Okay, Shin… I won’t give up just yet. But the only way I could see water or ice or snow reaching Caio is if Matriel is attracted to pure water. And even that’s only assuming he can be awakened while stuck in that bloody villain sword.”
Femtite removes her flesh-self from her water-self. It’s her only source of magic, so failing now means lacking any kind of power unless she can find more water. But if my power can’t do anything anyway, does it matter if I use it up?
She gives Shin’s idea a try—
As Femtite purifies her water, she lets her heartfelt thoughts flow into it.
:: Matriel, I don’t know if you know me. I am Rain’s teammate, Femtite, and am trapped in this world as he is. I seek to rescue those who are also trapped, as fantasy heroes, and yearn to return the their normal lives. I also fear there are others here thrust into ‘NPC’ roles—possibly someone I deeply care about. Also possibly a fallen angel known as Duke Zepar.
I don’t know this for a fact, but I do know I can’t just stand here waiting to be rescued when I should act. I’m expending the last of my magic to reach you, so I hope you receive my message and reply. ::
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Umboriax keeps his distance from the heroes and the common folk, "I'll keep in touch, I hope they stay corralled and do not wander too far. If we could bring the entire other group back here, I'm sure it'd buy even more time, but they may also get upset. Claim we're changing the deal, openly attack us anyway." He let's out a grumbling groan, "Connie must be swift."
He casts the same low-tier communication spell with Costa before he takes off.
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"Hard to know what to do when you don't try to explain this stuff to me and I'm going on guesswork," Shin says mostly to himself and the absence princess.
Maybe he was hoping for something foolish and impersonal and not at all relevant to getting themselves out of there. But he kept replaying Percy's hurt in the back of his mind and wondered - were the keys spent? Could they be returned to them even if the locks were used? Maybe Indarius needed that to help Connie.
Connie looks around, trying to figure out anything beyond the obvious of how exactly Quincy had jammed a 'siphon' into her pocket dimension.
F$@~. Guess I'm going with my gut or hoping he tells the truth... So going away from my gut.
Femtite reaches out with her connection to water to try and communicate with the angel inhabiting Caio's sword. She does feel a distant but strong presence, nearly awake and imposing. However, she gets no response from her heartfelt plea.
Shin studies the doors with the hope of locating the two keys used to open two of the four locks binding the portal. He cannot find any trace of them.
Nothing else looks vulnerable to him, except he could probably defeat each of the heroes in a one-on-one fight, especially when they are in their normal persona.
He spots Valerie, having finished her ice-mirror. She seems to be in an argument with someone on the other side. "No, I'm telling you-- I'm not playing anymore. You're not getting me, I quit! ... Yeah, well, f&@+ you. Come and get me." She clenches her fist and the ice shatters.
Umboriax scouts the region, seeing hazy spots in the distance that doesn't look good. The entire world does have a sense of unraveling that seems to be accelerating. In a day, maybe two, the world could be beyond saving.
Meanwhile, Caio taps into Matariel's power to control Lucidity's shrine and convert it from the magic of the game realm into something with the strength to push a message or more out.
"This... was not... the way," a thin and reedy voice comes from behind him. "You still have your key..." Lucidity is leaning against a stone bench, looking so frail he could almost see through her.
Just then, the ornate shrine shudders and a tall menhir grinds against another heavy stone slab and water begins pouring down from the top in a sheet down into a large basin, filling it rapidly!
Inside the pool, Caio catches a glimpse of Connie and a familiar dark, wolf-like shadow!
Before he can call out to her, a hand reaches out of the pouring water. A deep, rich voice calls out, "Hello?!? If you're trapped in that pocket dimension, take my hand!" Caio's heard that voice before. It belongs to William Westscott Mathers.
What do you do??
Conflux cannot figure out exactly how Quincy managed to nearly dip a metaphorical jumper cable into her power battery, but she remembers that her sanctuary is easily damaged or tampered with.
If she connects it to the power source, the wolf entity is not going to like it -- to the point that it may break free and go on an earth-shaking rampage. Then she'd have to decide which earth gets to bear the brunt of the rampage, Halcyon, or the fantasy realm hooked up to a new life support system.
What does she do??
“Heroes… I can feel the presence of an angel through my pure water! General Costa is actually my teammate, Rain… and his guardian angel is with him in this realm. Brian, do you think your holy light could strengthen my connection to the angel?”
She isn’t sure if he sees the value in doing this, but hopes that addressing him as ‘Brian’ instead of ‘Valorian’ makes it more clear this is not a game to her.
Whatever. Plugging **that** hole comes later. Kicking his ass probably comes after unless I'm feeling really sorry for him.
"Okay, Q? Here's what we've gotta do. There are people still stuck in there. A bunch of them are your friends who trust you. I... I know you've earned their trust. I... I get that you and your world treated them better than you treated me.
"I'm planning on unplugging you and getting you out of there, but first, you have to open some portals or smooth together some vergences, or however you're gonna do it. It's gonna be hard, but they should be gathering all the real people into one area, so you just need to hold on a little longer, and no matter how incredibly f%+*ing pissed I am at you, I'm not gonna leave you alone. We're both gonna get everyone out."
Mathers. He narrows his eyes. Could he really trust him? Completely? Probably not, but the Alliance apparently did for the time being and the same could be said about the Corps. Nevertheless, he wasn't going to leave the others behind. While Caio wasn't the captain of this sinking ship, he just could not leave the others. "Yes, we are trapped, but I can't leave and let the others behind... can you sustain this connection for a bit longer? I'll fetch some people so you can free them."
In his mind, he adds to Umboriax. "Mathers is reaching me through the shrine. He says he can get us out."
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Umboriax had been content to sit on the wayside, letting everyone fret about their own issues while he stewed in his own mind quietly awaiting being called upon. Some deep part of him worries about the impending doom of this world, while the vast majority of his current being overshadows it having already embraced that everything will end eventually.
There is almost a calm serenity in the silence and acceptance of accepting whatever might come. Which of course comes crashing down when he gets a mental communique from Caio that dredges up old potent venom.
"Mathers! He wants us to trust him!? NO! NEVER AGAIN! He's probably the reason we're all trapped in the first place!"
'Mathers! He wants us to trust him!? NO! NEVER AGAIN! He's probably the reason we're all trapped in the first place!'
The shadows roil up around him as he roars both mentally and vocally at the outrageous claim that William Westcott Mathers, or any of the Mathers brood would dare to offer 'help'. He begins to trounce towards the well, luckily from the side across the town from it.
"I bet this is all a plot to make him look the hero after what he did! He's not the good guy, he's vile, despicable."
"I bet this is all a plot to make him look the hero after what he did! He's not the good guy, he's vile, despicable."
The lack of any other stabilizing force in his mind pushes the draconic fury over the edge and Umboriax the fel-beast seems to reassert control in a frothing rage, that severs the mental communication to Caio with a heat that seems to transfer over the mental bridge.
"I'LL KILL HIM!"
"I'LL KILL HIM!"
Caio would get a sense of dread that the final words aren't just conjecture at this point.
"...I think that all we can do now is wait. Hopefully Costa will bring everyone here. I don't think there's anything else that we can do to affect this world from here," He says. "...I'm sorry again that we were caught up in this. And I'm sorry I've been a terrible date."
Brian doesn't seem to understand Femtite. "You have a teammate named Rain? I don't-- wait, are you sure? There are angelic beings, they're called Seraphs. I have a once-a-week summon ability to call one forth." He shrugs his shoulders. "I don't know what good it'll do though."
On the other side of the Hall, Valerie shakes her head while she stares at the shards of ice. "Not your fault. Unless I get trapped working for a snow witch for five-plus years here, then we're going to have a problem." She looks up, tossing her hair over her shoulder with a flip of her head. There's a note of worry in her eyes despite her forced smile.
Everyone in the Hall lapses into an uneasy quiet as they wait for Princess Constance.
Just as the time begins to stretch to uncomfortable lengths, a sudden blast of trumpets echoes through the chambers. At the grand central hub, rings of light wreathe an ornate basin of water, drawing the heroes near. A soft feminine voice resonates through the hall, full of sadness. "Welcome, heroes. Oblivion comes for this realm. I call upon you, champions, to save yourselves and the few that are like you that reside in this world before it collapses fully."
Ambrose gasps in utter shock. Brian and Kara clasp hands but say nothing.
The pool of water shimmers, showing a colorful map. The voice continues in its sorrowful tone. "The heroes of the first table are in Harrowguard, guiding the souls to safety. The task offered to you is to rescue the lives in Whitehelm and Brandymeade. Guide them into the traversal arches, and then follow yourselves. Through those portals you will find lives anew."
"Damn. Poor Kyana," Valerie mutters. "Whatever. Let's get the people and get the hell out of here."
"WAIT!" Ambrose shouts. "Is that it? We're just going to let the world perish? What about my village? The tinker fairies? Her mother?" she calls out to the voice.
Caio sees the hand withdraw. "I'll do what I can. Get everyone close as soon as possible."
Lucidity cries out softly as the entire shrine ripples like the entire scene had been painted on a cloth now blowing in the breeze. Caio catches a whiff of engine exhaust on concrete, dirty but achingly familiar.
"Go, then," this world's version of Lucidity says accusingly. She collapses and fades into a pale wispy shadow.
Screams reach Caio's ears. Umbor-- Indarius's fury at the mention of Mathers burns in his mind and has sent a panicking crowd toward the shrine! The heroes are with them, forming a rear guard against the raging dragon and protecting the civilians!
As the surge of panicked people race towards Caio and the shrine, he can see some of them fall to the ground and fade away like the oracle just did. A pink-haired figure dissipates to mist before his eyes, though several others remain fully tangible as they try to outpace the terrifying dragon!
Connie feels a nonverbal acquiescence from Quincy. Suddenly, the metaphorical push to connect to the source of magic inside her sanctuary abates significantly. The lingering connection, likely because of prior efforts, is still present but it's no longer insistently knocking on the door like someone in a desert trying to get to water.
Moments later, Connie feels a connection by Rain and Indarius. It's distant, but it comes with the clean scent of a rainshower indicating that Matariel is active and boosting the signal. She's just about to use that connection to link from her side to actually create a better way to communicate, but that opportunity is yanked away.
Noticing a hole appearing halfway across town, she easily recognizes the precise and potent glyphs that are opening a pathway to Quincy's game world. Rain and company may be getting a way out, but it's being orchestrated by Dear Old Dad.
What does she do??
Poor Ambrose doesn’t know what’s really going on either, and Femtite isn’t able to change that. The little fey looks up at Ambrose.
“It’s sweet of you to think of my people, even while worrying about your own village. I know, all too well, what it’s like to find out the hard way… we can’t save ’em all.”
She gestures toward the statue of Myra.
“How about we go to Brandymeade and save who we can? There are people in need of a hero, and who better than the hero with a top-of-the-line boom stick!”
Indarius' fury catches him off-guard, but with so much happening, Caio has no choice but to have faith in his friend that he'll not follow through with his threat. The aether shimmers some more. Will there be enough time?
Lucidity is fading and his heart stops for a moment as the pink-haired girl vanishes completely, forgetting that she wasn't actually Skyler. Caio takes his sword in both hands and spreads his wings wide, the tips wavering as wispy as the whole place. In a mighty thrust, he rams the sword into the stones, empowering the shrine and hoping to stabilize it. The peal of thunder is deafening. The rain intensifies, turning into a storm.
He then grabs Lucidity in his arms, nursing her as if she was a frail child. "It is not done yet... there is still a chance. There is still some hope." His words did not look like his own. Too distant.
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Caio might get the impression that he'll have to make a choice between stopping Umboriax from crashing through the portal to get at William or assist those trying to escape in getting through the gateway to safety. Since the umbral dragon would be upon the area very soon with all the rancor it can muster.
"Caio? Indy? This thing still on? If it is, tell me once everyone's through"
"Q? You're at Infinity's old place still, right?"
Connie pops out of her trash can and studies her map of Halcyon. Okay... That vergence should be close enough... Vet office, so likely overlapping with either that Druid Grove or the Imperial Menagerie... Okay. I can map that.
Then, carefully she dons a makeshift reality-diving suit, steps back into the trash can, and hurls herself back into the abyss.
Instead of getting fully drawn back into the world though, the specially warded suit holds her back, skimming and skittering her along the space between worlds until she pops back out into Halcyon.
Flopping along with a quick scan of the skyline she confirms that she's only a block and a half away.
Okay, almost there. Just can't let anyone be left behind.
***
Just **had** to have a fun magical place to squat in, huh?
Peeling off the suit that would keep her from being mirrored, Connie lines up a specially prepared hand mirror and prepares to flip.
You better have taken good notes, Perce
He points to Brian. "If you Seraph can fly and carry someone as well, that would be helpful. Speed's the thing here," He tells him, before looking to Kara. "Anyone you can ride out with will be good too."
Looking at Ambrose, and more than a little tired of this world, he calls out to them. "You've got limited choices now. Either we save who we can or save ourselves first. I don't think that any hero is the latter," He says.
He only pauses briefly when he turns to Valerie's side. "Are you ready? I'm not leaving without you."
Brian and Kara look at each other and nod. They each go through a series of hand motions. Once Kara is finished, her tiger Jade reappears, while a brilliant corona of light surrounds Brian. Stepping away from him is a being clad in head-to-toe armor that shines with its own light.
"Let's go. I'll take Brandymeade," Brian says. He makes a "come along" gesture to Femtite and Ambrose. The artificer, looking slightly reassured by the words of the fey and then bolstered by the blue warrior, nods and follows the paladin and his Seraph ally towards the exit.
Valerie falls into step along with Shin, giving him a smirk. "No worries there. I'm getting out of here with or without you."
* * *
The teams split off, with Shin, Valerie, Kara and Jade going to the wintry village of Whitehelm, and Femtite, Ambrose and Brian going to the hamlet bisected by a burbling brook called Brandymeade. Stepping out of the gates, both parties feel the ground shuddering under their feet and sense the air growing stale. The villagers, sensing something amiss, quickly rush to the heroes looking for salvation.
The blurry edges of Lucidity's shadow sharpens slightly as Caio tries to strengthen the fading seer. Her eyes still don't focus cleanly on him as she looks in his direction. "What are you doing? This world is ending, and with it, me. You may have hope, but there is none for this--"
Lucidity is cut off by the arrival of the shadow dragon, its fury barely contained. The fading, unreal people cry out in panic from the dragon overtaking them and they scatter in all different directions, most barely making a few paces before they fade into mist.
Bron, Ty'leth, and the wizards follow several steps behind, defending the few figures not dissipating into nothingness. "What's going on? The world's collapsing!" the dark elf shouts as he looks around frantically. "Where's Kyana?"
Unfortunately, the elven woman is nowhere to be seen as a frightened group of wild-eyed villagers are drawn toward the oracle's shrine. The giant menhirs of the shrine part further, making an obvious portal piercing through the barriers between worlds.
Despite the terrifying cry of the dark dragon, Mathers' rich voice calls forth, "Step this way! Quickly now!"
Lucidity's weak arm pushes Caio's body towards the voice. "I don't travel between worlds. I'm already there," she whispers in his ear.
Conflux shunts herself across town and flips into her mirror self to gain access to the house at 7171 Knighthall Ave.
She races into the hidden abode of Dr. Infinity that had been long co-opted by Quincy Mathers and before that, William Westscott Mathers. The house had seen better days, she notices, as she moves through the lower kitchen and living areas, then racing up the stairs to the upper levels.
She reaches a large room on the second floor with a wide table with a colorful map spread out upon it. A quick glance at the features show some recognizable names, such as Draugworrah, the ssecnirp's eltsac, the detnahcne tserof, and the redrob peek.
The room is otherwise empty, but Conflux does see a distinctive d20 sitting on the table where a game master would sit.
What do you do??
Of course, the clue she wants is the one that leads her to Chastity. But Femtite has no evidence she or a Robertson parent was even sucked into this world. She only knows the innocents in front of her need help.
As her water body reforms, she calls to the people, “We need to stay close to each other and get to safety. Is this everyone?” she asks a villager.
Caio looks at Indarius, fear in his eyes. "Mathers is beyond the portal, Indarius. Cross it and confront it if you must... but you might be getting us trapped her for good."
"I understand your anger. You were betrayed... but your vow is to save people, no?"
The villagers look around in near panic as the world closes in on them. Someone shouts and points, then a new wave of fear passes through the crowd as a distant ridge lined with trees fades into a dull gray.
A tow-headed youth looks in awe at the water spirit. He gulps and shakes his head at her question. "Roald is still at the meadhall," he says, gesturing at a long wooden building at the center of town.
"You go get him; I'll protect these people," Brian says, the golden light of his summoned angelic spirit bathing the area in soothing warmth.
Ambrose nods and beckons Femtite to join them. "Let's go!"
It's a short race to the meadhall, the longhouse remaining sturdy even though the rest of the buildings shudder and turn dull. Ambrose shows open the doors and calls out, "Roald! We're here to bring you to safety! Come with us, quickly!"
The man who must be Roald, a barrel-chested man with a thick beard, is standing amongst several large barrels stacked high at the far end of the hall. He has a large tankard and is filling it with a sweet-smelling beverage.
"Leave me," he slurs. "M'life's work, right here. Cheers." He raises the tankard.
The dragon's continued fury disrupts the evacuation. The few citizens not fading into nothingness quail at the black shape, while the remaining heroes brandish their weapons and ready spells in case they're needed.
Ty'leth continues to call for Kyana, but she is nowhere to be seen in the chaos of a town fading from existence.
The portal remains open for the moment, Mathers' voice still beckoning, but no one seems interested in getting between Indarius and the source of his ire.
She looks up at Roald. “This place is beautiful, Roald. I can understand the honor of a captain going down with his ship, but you understand as a water-fey, I have the ability to create a bubble to bring air to air-breathers. I can command the currents to raise the drowning man to the surface, and even redistribute the salt-to-water ratio so he floats.”
Realizing she maybe is taking the metaphor too far, she gets to the point: “I would save the drowning man, Roald.”
She places her tiny fey hand on the burly man’s thick finger. “But are you going down with the ship… or do you believe this place isn’t going to fade and collapse like the others?”
Femtite is curious as to why the meadhall is sturdy and still in technicolor. She certainly doesn’t want to risk her existence, but what if Ambrose’s initial defiance of the Quest Lady was more than the naivety of an immersed hero? What if there’s a way to keep this world alive, and Roald stumbled onto the way to—
I’m supposed be be thwarting Duke Zepar! I can’t believe I’m—
Femtite shakes of her personal concerns. They distracted her in Italy, and to a lesser extent on the islands. She isn’t going to lose focus here.
She tries to get a read.
Connie does a broad sweep to make sure there's nothing else in the room before sidling up on the d20 as though trying to stay in its peripheral vision.
"You trapped in there, Q?"
"You trapped and regretting always hiding this thing so I couldn't figure out how it worked?"
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"Flee then, go to your new safety as he would have preached to you, but know that the one who greets you is no true hero. A snake in a mask that suits it for now."
Clearing the path Umboriax faced the town once again, eyeing the hero group and nearly spitting at them in anger. "You have lost one of your own." The dragon looks back to Caio cradling the prophet. "If it is your will I would go and retrieve the errant elfling."
Femtite looks around the meadhall, trying to figure out why it's more sturdy than the surrounding village. She notices the heady smells of honey and grain filling the air, and the large casks stacked high full of potent drink. She realizes that Roald, surrounded by his life's work, created it with his own toil. That must be why it's more stable than the fake people living fake lives purely in the service for the players of the game. Roald is real, and what he created is more real because of it.
That being said, the meadhall likely won't withstand the unraveling of the entire world.
"Have a drink, will you?" Roald says as he fills up another pair of mugs.
Ambrose looks uneasily at Femtite, but closes the distance. "Sure. I'll have one, but then you need to come with us." They take one of the mugs and sips. "S' good."
Stepping through the arch, Shin feels an artic blast of cold greet him. They are clearly high in the mountains, with rugged snow-covered peaks in the distance though they are growing muted and gray as the world fades.
Valerie doesn't look disturbed by the intense cold, but Kara shudders and grips tight her tiger's fur for warmth. "This way!" she yells, urging Jade to start trudging through the snow and ice towards a rustic village nestled amongst the crags.
By the time they reach the village, several of the buildings have turned gray and indistinct, and the few villagers remaining rush to the heroes for salvation. Three people appear more real than the others, a stout hunter by the looks of the trophies he wears, and a tall blonde with ornate braids carrying a fur-wrapped infant swaddled close to her body.
"Heroes! What's happening? How can we help?" the man says, brandishing a great curved bow and a quiver full of arrows. The woman has a spear lashed to her back, and looks equally fierce despite the babe in her arms.
When Percy backs off from the portal, a few villagers try to get through, assisted by Bron. Most reveal themselves to be phantoms, and fade before crossing the threshold. Yet, a carpenter and a blacksmith manage to make it through and vanish through the barrier.
Mathers' voice calls out again, this time joined by Feya's. "It's working! Come on through!"
Connie doesn't get any response. The room appears empty despite the low thrum of power emanating from the game table. The colorful map, upon closer inspection, appears frayed at the edges and the paper is yellowed as if from age or being left out in the sun too long.
Before she can properly study the game setup or the d20, some old runes on the floor flare up and bathe Connie in a bright light! She feels a sudden tightness around her waist and torso and a weight upon her head and shoulders!
Again finding herself in a restrictive princess gown and makeup but without the corresponding adjustments to her frame, Connie realizes she stumbled into one of the old traps Quincy enjoyed laying for her whenever he sought to keep her out of his affairs!
“Roald, your place remains standing because you built something great. But this building will fade after the world around it fades… and once the void envelops you like a bubble, you can only wait to be erased.”
She looks up at the man.
“The other villagers will remember Roald’s when they enter the new world, and fondly at that… but only you can rebuild it. I can’t promise you that you will still have the desire. But you’ll remember what you created, which means you’ll know how to create it there.”
Oshka has the water-self gesture like a game show hostess to emphasize the graying, folding buildings. And if that isn’t enough to convince him, I’ll need to lead by example…
"Kyana mentioned she'd rather stay and die with this world. If you can't convince her to return... it is sad, but I feel we need to honor her feelings." He suspected the reason why Kyana wanted to stay, but he wasn't sure he was equipped to persuade her. Max would have been of great help if she was still around.
Well, let's see if it's just the die and the siphon or if he actually did his homework and built up a decent scaffolding this time...
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It was also nice to step away from the portal, despite the strong draw to go through it and end the issue that was Mathers once and for all. But an order was an order so the Elf Kyana came first.
"We need to get everyone through the arches to safety," Shin says as he directs them. He doesn't think there's a need to differentiate between those who are 'real' in this instance - he believes they'll fade when they step through most likely. "Is this everyone here?"
With the dragon leaving, more of the villagers pass through the portal to escape the fading world.
"Come on, Greg. You're going through," Bron says to the dwarven warrior. "You too, Nate." He urges them toward the shimmering tear in the pseudo-reality.
* * *
Percy returns to the tavern where the heroes first started gathering people together, which was the last place he recalls seeing Kyana. He sees no sign of her initially, but by expanding his search and climbingto the highest point in town, he spots a horse with a rider galloping hard away from the city and back toward the archway.
What do you do??
Shin quickly organizes the villagers of Whitehelm into a frightened procession back down the mountain path. The cold intensifies and snow begins to fall from a gray sky, obscuring everything at a distance. "I'm not doing this, I promise," Valerie mutters as she trudges along with the villagers.
The snow steadily increases until it is a near white-out. Voices call out to keep everyone together, but they become fewer and fewer as they approach the arch.
The arch finally appears in the swirling snow as Shin, Valerie, Kara and the two villagers with the baby along with a small number of others who are barely visible in the blizzard.
"Let's go, quick, before the Snow Witch pops out and makes this more complicated," Valerie urges, pushing the villagers toward the arch.
"Is that possible?!?" Kara says in alarm.
"Don't know. Not sticking around." She grabs Shin's hand and pulls him toward the arch just as the others either fade or step through themselves.
Roald frowns in thought for a moment, but Femtite's words offer the concrete reassurance he needed to override his obstinance. "Fine. Grab a couple of these, will ya?" He hands a pair of bottles to Ambrose who readily accepts them.
They leave the meadhall to see that the fading world has gotten worse. The glowing light of Brian's summoned spirit acts as a beacon, guiding them back toward the arch where they're leading the remaining villagers.
"This is crazy! The world is dying!" Ambrose reacts in despair, then starts running toward the angelic light. Roald follows, his breath quickly becoming labored but he maintains the pace well enough.
Brian pauses at the arch and waves frantically at Femtite, Ambrose, and Roald, urging them onward. The rest of the villagers have either faded or passed through the arch already.
The grayness intensifies just as they reach the arch and pass through.
Connie quickly looks around and spots a side room that has numerous old and empty crates and boxes, including some that clearly once contained mystical artifacts. They likely could be used to store the d20 safely without risking herself getting drawn back into the world.
The die would also be her best means of pulling Quincy back out of the game.
It's not like previous times where he's stepped through the arch. The ground gives way suddenly and he gets an immediate sensation of falling through space. Valerie's hand slips from his grip and he tumbles over and over as he falls.
The gray gives way to brilliant white, then it snuffs out entirely as darkness envelops him. The cold remains ever present, but he feels clothes again on his body as it's tossed about and buffeted by unseen forces. He hits something hard and flat, and whatever momentum he'd had abruptly ceases.
"Owwwwww..." Shin hears a familiar voice nearby as muted bluish light returns in his field of vision. The hard surface is bitingly cold and slick as he pushes himself upright.
Whippoorwill's training about recovering quickly after getting his senses overwhelmed comes into play as he orients himself. He is on a flat plane of ice, in a dimly lit interior -- large based on the echoes of Valerie's groans and the movements of other people nearby. His vision comes into focus and realizes he's in a hockey rink, in nighttime after hours.
Valerie is near him, one of her Princess Leia hair buns come loose and dangling in ringlets as she tries to make sense of her surroundings. Three other people are also stirring, with one woman holding a wrapped bundle close in her arms.
It's not like previous times where she's stepped through the arch. The ground gives way suddenly and she gets an immediate sensation of falling through space. Ambrose's hand slips from her grip and she tumbles over and over as she falls.
The gray gives way to brilliant white, then it snuffs out entirely as darkness envelops her. Femtite feels her internal furnace return as her body is tossed about and buffeted by unseen forces. She hits something hard and flat, and whatever momentum she'd had abruptly ceases as she feels liquid surrounding her on all sides.
Whatever it is, it's not water and she splashes at the disorientation of it being in every direction. Her instinctive recourse to shrink down to the molecules to gain some space works, and soon she finds the place where the liquid ends, clearly contained within some sort of metallic vessel -- stainless steel, by the looks of the atoms -- and then the freeing space of air once she's passed through that.
Returning to titan's size, she finds herself in a darkened place full of massive stainless steel tanks with pipes running from one to another. She sees a few humans slowly sitting up, shaking their heads and taking stock of their surroundings in confusion.
"Welcome back to the real world," He tells her. Shin finds himself glad to see her face properly that hadn't been made into a vampire concubine. He gives her a tight hug as he helps her up to her feet. "This seems to be Lee Arena. We're on the opposite side of the river from the theater we were in before..."
Realizing something, he gets out his comm, keying into his mentor's channels. "Sensei, I've just tumbled out of a pocket dimension that had my team and other civilians trapped. Have you heard from Conflux? She managed to escape before us and was trying to work her magic from the outside."
He goes to check on the other civilians while waiting on a response and make sure that they don't need any first aid. He also keys on the team comm to see if he can't reach Connie.
"Conflux, I'm out with Valerie and three, possibly four civilians. If you can hear me, respond and update. What's your situation?"
Bug-Eye, time and date, please? She asks that first because she wants to know whether she was gone for hours or days. She also needs to check on the Robertsons, but the needy humans before her can’t afford a distracted hero. GPS location, she asks next. And a quick text to Shin, please.
While Bug-Eye does her stuff, Femtite politely curtsies to the humans. ”For those who don’t know me, I’m Princess Femtite of the…” Skip that part! “…First Class team of Halcyon superheroes-in-training! Now I believe two among you are Brian and Summer, one among you was known as Roald. Let’s have introductions, and please let me know if you’re hurt and gather closely if you’re cold. I am a heat source.”
She smiles pleasantly as she floats, one leg crossed over the other. Her aura intensifies as she radiates heat for the humans’ benefit.
☀️: I believe I am in a place in which adult beverages are brewed.
☀️: I intend to keep the humans warm and work toward getting them home. But if you need me to do something else, you need only ask.
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Attempting to catch the rider before they ewcaped through the portal Umboriax half-shouted at them.
"Kyana, where are you going!"
F$!% me... No, finding all the mirrored characters to be intelligible is inefficient.
Connie reaches for her comm as it sounded with something that sounded like Shin. "Skulfnock, my tau thieu eerehlav dna eerth, eelbissohp rohf znaeelivis. Fih ooy nack reah eem, dnopser dna teydpah. Staieu roay nusheyuchiss?"
"Oh f%%~ me. Seriously? Comms too? sorry."
Okay, okay. 'Backwards talking am I now?' "Got it."
Carefully she speaks into the comms, then focuses back on the die, gingerly handling it through prophylactic wards to minimize the connection for now. "Q? O Brother where art thou? Oh, and Brother, if you know wherefore and whither thou art bleeding power, you might be able to have a sister help you out? Just if you decided to spontaneously develop communication skills worth half an ass"
"Tog tih.
"Ssorree. Tock slowlee pleez. Dgeust tock normuhl, but slowlee pleez. I need to no wen all peeple are out. Wut else happunning? I'm at Die of Power. Nicer than Fewchurama I guess. Two bad not Anteye-Backərds Crisstal." You then learn that backwards self-laughs are even less appealing than forwards self laughs.
I should text that too. She does so telepathically, but she can’t change the way the letters face. D… no wait! All lowercase, and start with B…
☀️: .blrow z’rehtord ruoy ebizni beqqart erew elqoeq
☀️: .ed yam llitz emoz taht eldizzoq z’ti
☀️: ?tuo meht teg ot bnihed gniyatz ycreq bna oiac era
☀️: .meht tcatnoc nac uoy eqoh eht ni ksa i
::It has been three days, eleven hours and sixteen minutes since we disappeared:: Bug-Eye informs her.
Femtite sees a lanky fellow with tattoos filling his arms and a few peeking up past the collar of his shirt, a woman with long orange and red hair, and a man with an unkempt gray beard. The first two appear to be still in their young-adult stage, while the bearded man is definitely late middle-age.
The one with the tats seems to recover more quickly, and responds to Femtite's request. He fishes into a pocket and checks his cell phone. "Damn. It's dead. You got a charger? Oh, wait." He digs around the pockets of his denim vest and unravels a cord. He then looks around for a place to plug it in.
The other two finally come to their senses. "Brian? Wait, Terry? The hell?" the woman presumably named Summer asks in bewilderment. "Oww, my knees! Can someone help me?" She rolls around on the floor of the brewery, unable to rise to her feet.
Terry groans, his own body not moving spryly as he tries to push himself to his feet. "What are we... What's going on? I thought I'd retired."
When he checks on the other civilians, Horizon recognizes the woman with freckles and frizzy hair as Kara from the house on Whitehall. The other two are far more disoriented. The man grasps for weapons that he no longer carries, and the woman continues to cradle her bundle protectively. An infant's cry starts up.
"Brigid?" the man exclaims, clawing his way across the ice to her. His head is shaved and he sports a far more modern-style beard but he otherwise looks much like his Whitehelm persona. The woman's hair is a dishwater blonde, a far cry from its brilliant golden yellow from before, but it also is in a thick braid.
"Gufl-- I mean, Jordan?" she gasps as recognition floods her face.
"Megan! We're... holy s%@%! We're back! That was, that was so badass!" He leans in to embrace her, which she returns briefly before they start trying to comfort the infant.
Shin's observance of the couple's strange reunion is interrupted by Whippoorwill's surprised and relieved voice. "Horizon!? I'm at the portal! People are coming out now. Where are you? I haven't heard from Conflux; Feya is working with Mathers to unravel the dimension."
Percy catches up quickly, overtaking her just before Kyana is about to go through the archway. "Away! Anywhere but back to Halcyon! There's got to be some place still intact! And if not... I don't care! I thought you were going to save this world, but you didn't! Look at it!" She gestures at the horizon, which is rapidly decaying, growing hazy and washed out where the pockets of unfinished terrain have claimed more and more of the countryside.
When he looks back at her, she has an arrow nocked on her bow. "I don't want to fight you. Just go. Let me live as Kyana for whatever time I have left."
What do you do?
After getting as clear of a message through the comms as she possibly could while being reversed, Connie focuses on the d20 in an effort to communicate with Quincy.
The die begins to spin wildly on the table. "Connie," she hears in response, "it's Dad. He's taking it all apart. At Harrowguard."
She notices Harrowguard marked on the map, along with other notable features like the castle, the fey forest, and the frozen north.
Summer’s inability to move grabs Femtite’s attention. “I can help you.” Your girlfriend is stronger than whatever urges that perverted hell’s angel is forcing on her. Summer needs you right now.
“You may be injured from the fall.” She assures Summer, “I can reconfigure a hand-dryer from the ladies’ room to act as a thermal healing device. I’ll need a minute or three.”
Unless Summer protests, Femtite rushes off, enters the ladies’ room—and, subatomically, she enters the hand-dryer!
As soon as she can, Femtite will use her device to heal Summer’s knees.
"Q, we're gonna reallocate alright?" If you can't give me a more specific answer than 'Dad' it's our best bet. "So. Let Brandyland go. I'll reinforce things around Harrowguard and try to buy you some time, but don't you go f@!~ing letting go of anywhere that still has people, got it?"
"Cawl aut playses az you cleer ehm. Need pryoritties. Branedeelanehd iz leaving" Then with a hard blink she shifts out of talking backwards and focuses on the map, sketching sigils with her special pen before gingerly sliding the die closer and drawing lines and circles encapsulating it in her drawings.
With Percy away from the shrine, more of the villagers venture into the portal following Mathers' voice. The dwarven warrior, Bron/Miguel, and the two wizards pause. They look desperately at Rain.
Drawing upon Matariel, he has the downpour intensify hoping that Conflux can hone in on the angelic power.
In trying to fortify Harrowguard, Conflux gets a taste of what it's like behind the DM's screen. Her consciousness spreads quickly across a large western-fantasy village and nearly collapses under the unexpected strain. Parts of her mind go towards acknowledging a heavy downpour and calculating what that would do to the surrounding vegetation, the soil underfoot, the sounds of droplets on slate roofs, and the smell of ozone and wetted animal dung. How people would react to the rain, the chill settling into their bones as their clothes are soaked. Imagination and experience grounds the effort into a lifelike facsimile, but even allowing it to run in the background of her mind takes effort.
She feels Quincy's desperate exhaustion from maintaining the reality and he cedes control like a fatigued driver handing the wheel over to someone else before they crash. However, not having designed the die, nor having the experience in being a game master for a pocket realm like this, Conflux isn't sure she'd be able to keep it together for long.
Brandymeade quickly is jettisoned, along with a few other barren regions like the vampire castle and its surrounding gloomy moors. She easily pinpoints the power drain, just on the reality side of Harrowguard. Most of the magical energy that would do the heavy lifting in maintaining the realm's reality is faded to the barest of frameworks forcing her to make up the difference with her own mental energy.
Conflux also picks out two areas of magic that doesn't belong. The rain in Harrowguard is coming, unsurprisingly, from an angelic source. It's not shoring up the reality in a sustaining way, however. The other source is at the heart of the fey forest, which is managing to hold off the unraveling quite well.
As soon as Conflux attempts to influence the world with her substitute GM authority, she finds a strangling limitation: she has to impose any change as a challenge-rating-appropriate quest to the players still within the world and have them solve the puzzle, spring the trap, or defeat the monster.
What does she do???
Heat. You may experience temporary pain relief by applying a heat pack or hot-water bottle to the painful area on your knee.
Compression. This helps prevent fluid buildup in damaged tissues and maintains knee alignment and stability. Look for a compression bandage that's lightweight, breathable and self-adhesive. It should be tight enough to support your knee without interfering with circulation.
Elevation. To help reduce swelling, try propping your injured leg on pillows or sitting in a recliner.
Femtite says to Summer, “I believe I mentioned I am a heat source. If you’ll permit me.” She holds up her palms, heat radiating from her hands (and the rest of her). She will not touch without permission, and if Summer needs assistance walking to someplace more comfortable and dignified than the floor, she will help her—either by asking Brian to assist her, or by bringing a chair from the office.
She will also ask Terry if he needs similar treatment. She’s curious how the older man knows the gamers, but wants to make sure everyone is comfortable physically before asking such things.
☀️: .efil laer ni yrewerd a zi ebaemybnard
☀️: ?qleh taht zeob
He looks back at Valerie, before continuing. "I don't know how long it can stay up. Conflux's brother Quincy was the one who made it, but she seems to think it's too much for one person to manage a whole world on their own and he's been at it for weeks. If Feya can hold off on the unraveling until I can get confirmation that Rain and Indarius are out - we need to try and save everyone if possible."
He doesn't bother responding to the text chat since things are moving quickly and he can't translate Femtite's backwards typing that fast. "Let's stick to audio. Rain, Indarius, if you can hear me, respond."
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"I believe they as well as he, said they would try to save this world. If you stay than you will be unwritten from all worlds to my knowledge. Seems very unheroic to go out in such a fashion when you could be helping people escape. But also I've been ordered to at least attempt to convince you to return to Halcyon."
He does not make any moves to get closer, only block her path towards the portal for now. "So how about we start with why you want to stay here even if it means your untimely demise. The realm of Halcyon can't be that bad." A small glimmer of worry passes through his shrouded eyes, "Unless of course it is, for you. In which case it is mine, his, and the others job to do what we can to make things less bad."
Okay, Bug-Eye—Connie’s spoken language is reversed at word level, as confirmed by her oh-cuff-eem-eelsuhearees. Any chance you can filter communications to any from her, so everyone can speak and perceive normally?
Regardless of Bug-Eye’s ability to do that, she sends a thought-to-speech voice message:
“I couldn’t help but notice Caio had some non-fantastical technology on him: a walkie-talkie. Can our comms tune into his signal?”
Is he getting sloppy? Or just trusting that neither Q or I will turn this whole thing into a poison pill while he's still slurping it down, and that no one else will come up with the idea... Mm. Well. A thought for later?
Okay, while Harrowguard feels remotely intact I've just gotta trust Percy and Caio... Means I need to figure out what exactly she's up to...
Caio doesn't look at Serenity for he fears that if she vanishes he might lose his hope. Such a wonderful world, dying. It was real enough, he realises. The wind buffets him, the thunder rumbles in the distance, the sky bright from the lightnings. Thoroughly soaked, Caio's tears were lost.
"Matariel, can you hear me? I believe most people have already escaped but Kyana and Serenity... I know they are resigned to die with this world, but it breaks my heart nevertheless." He sighs, his shoulders dropping. "I'll try to stabilize this place with your power, but I can't ask you to sacrifice more than you can, not for just two people when your mission is to save so many... but this world... if we can save it, we could help so many people, people who are desperate to reinvent themselves, or just escape from a bad situation..."
Kyana shakes her head firmly. "No, there's no fixing Halcyon, not for me. There's no way to make it better. Don't you get it? I can't be this in the real world!" She gestures to herself with her free hand. "And even if I somehow could stay as Kyana, what would I do in the real world as an Elven ranger with favored enemy: goblins?!?"
She looks at the dragon with her large dark eyes. "Please. Let me go. If you're a hero, let me make this choice."
Shin gets no response when he tries to raise Indarius or Rain on the comms. Then Femtite messages in and says that Rain had a walkie-talkie.
He realizes that his communicator has the feature to link in with other teams' frequencies for emergency purposes. Given Rain's affiliation with the Corps, that's probably where he got the walkie-talkie.
While he's working on patching in, Valerie taps him on the shoulder. She points to the exit and mimes making a phone call to indicate she'll call him later. She then starts gingerly sliding across the ice rink towards the way out.
Summer waves away the offered heat and pressure. "My knee was replaced six months ago," she explains, but readily accepts the chair.
Connie doesn't get a sense of danger from the Fey Woods. The biggest danger is the drain itself, which is undermining the power within the d20 and drawing it off causing an accelerating collapse. If it continues unabated, the only thing that will save this game world will be to tap into the magical source in her sanctuary.
She could use her own private well of power to stabilize an area, but that couldn't last without heroes to defend it -- the rules of the world again become evident. She could conceptualize the drain as an enemy and task the players to fight it. Their own lifeforce can manipulate elements of the game so long as they play by its rules, but in doing so they can amass great power.
Unfortunately, the heroes are leaving.
The power from Matariel intensifies, but it becomes a battle of wills between Caio and the spirit within the sword. He senses its purpose to guide and defend the mortal souls of Earth, and it resents being used to prop up a fading realm devoid of the souls its meant to protect.
Caio masters it for the moment (or the spirit is humoring him), but a feeling of hopelessness crawls over him because the sword will not lend its power for this use for long. At some point, he'll have to abandon this empty world or give the angel Matariel a very good reason why it's worth saving.
The rain continues to fall on Harrowguard.