M'ushu waited for what seemed like an eternity, not daring to breathe.
Not that I need to in this new form. No! Concentrate on the spell! Don't let it go, if you want to keep living, John.
He slithered around the entrance to the elfen maze for anybody who might've gotten lost in the maze and come back through.
This is stupid. What would I even do if someone spotted me and figured out I was more than a weird cloud of something in the grass? I better get moving. he thinks wryly to himself after a few minutes. Just keep swimming...just keep swimming...[/i]
Just as soon as he turns to quietly leave and search for Tamien, the centaurs came thundering over, encircling the elfs in an turbulent whirlpool of bodies, hooves and weapons. M'ushu stays still and lays low to glean any more information about this world and the dynamics between its occupants.
Watch as the proud elves are surrounded amidst a cacophony of... M'ushu's ADD kicks in as the voice of David Attenborough. No, no, no. Focus. What was that about a usurper of power? Are they talking about Tam's new pimp? They're protecting this world from it??? M'ushu's brows would've furrowed into the Grand Canyon, if it could. I knew that deal was too sweet to take at face value! S~$+, I really need to find Tam and let him know.
After watching the elfs be captured and guided away, M'ushu waits a bit before moving on, just in case. His patience was rewarded as he sees Nick stepping lightly away from the direction the centaurs left in.
He waits for another few minutes, just in case there were any lagging centaurs, but was surprised to find Tamien running up to Nick.
Guess I don't have to waste any energy looking for him, at least.
M'ushu ends the magic, feeling a weird sort of cloak of energy "slip off" him as he does so. He relishes in that feeling, trying to commit it to any muscle memory, for next time.
"I heard something pretty interesting, but I'll bet Nick has more info than what I just overheard." M'ushu says after letting Tamien complete his barrage of questions. "Got anything on Tam's new pi-patron?"
The Margrave's enamored smile turns fierce at Con's recognition. He reaches up to where Con's hand is resting on his shoulder and gently places his own hand over it.
"Privyet, tovarish."
He pauses, hoping his parlance confirms Con's suspicions before continuing.
"Glad it's you, brother. I was nearly certain it was, but didn't quite align to it right away. Figured your size was too on-the-nose. Think our buddy M'ushu has put it together?"
He lets the fierceness out of his smile and lands somewhere near warm fondness once more. He taps Con's hand twice before nodding towards Keri.
"And then there's her~"
He doesn't hide the affection in his voice.
"Seems like you know her from the other side. Him I suppose, not that it matters a whit. He's wonderful."
Vultan looks around and then back to Con.
"Anyway, looks like it's just the three of us who made it. I don't want to think about what happened to the others... Sucks that we're down the stuff, but I'm glad you grabbed coin. What scroll did you gra-wait.
Waitwaitwait.
I have their character sheets. We can keep tabs on them!"
He brings the chest out from behind him and taps the top of it. Now wasn't the time, but they'd be able to check up on their friends soon enough.
"Now that is a brilliant idea. I'm not sure about what John knows, but I know he likely doesn't trust anyone right now, no matter what or who they say they are."
Con feels for the incantation he grabbed to make sure it's still there before responding.
"Terror, of course."
If he could smirk, he would have. Instead he stared at his friend unblinkingly.
"Also I refuse to call you Vultan anymore."
So for classic Undines, you'd collapse into a puddle of water where anyone near you might fall prone from it. But you! You have a soul. And your soul rises up out of your body. Due to the magic of the world, your would starts floating away from the scene; like it's being drawn somewhere - it's being pulled towards a new place. Do you accept this pull, or fight against it?
Nick: Go with it…
You let yourself be pulled along, and you find yourself falling through the ground towards a huge underwater lake of black water. Strange glowing, pulsating spheres of light are falling alongside you. Together, you make your way towards the lake.
A skeletal figure draped in hooded black robes seems to materialize out of nothingness. He carries a blue-metal scythe and rides a pale horse. "YOU!" the voice seems to come from nowhere and everywhere all at once. "WHAT ARE YOU?" Your pull towards the black lake comes to a stop, and you feel yourself being pulled towards this skeletal being.
Do you accept the pull, or resist it?
Nick: Accept again.
"WHY ARE YOU HERE, LITTLE SOUL? WHAT BUSINESS DO YOU HAVE IN THIS REALM? YOU ARE NOT LIKE THE OTHER SOULS. SPEAK!" You suddenly feel like you're able to communicate, even though you do not have a body.
Nick: "I have absolutely no idea. This has all been a rather significant inconvenience really." If ever a situation called for snark, this is undoubtedly it. Besides, I'm already dead, what else is he going to do?
"A SIGNIFICANT.... INCONVENIENCE...." the massive skeleton's eyes burn with blue lightning as he starts laughing. The hearty laughter continues for several moments before the skeleton says, "SIGNIFICANT... YES, I SUPPOSE DEATH IS AN INCONVENIENCE, ISNT IT? BUT YOU ARE NOT REALLY DEAD, ARE YOU? NO.. YOU ARE STILL HERE, DESCENDING INTO THE UNDERWORLD."
"BUT YOU ARE NOT OF THIS WORLD. YOU SHOULD NOT BE HERE. HOW DID YOU GET HERE?"
Nick: "Damned if I know." Again, nothing to lose by honesty. "As far as I can tell something pulled me out of my world and dropped me, and quite a bunch of other people, into a world that only exists as a role-playing game. So either someone well over your head was horribly bored or the people at Marvel only got half of it right and the multiverse is a lot worse than Dr Strange ever knew. Unless you want to explain things for me?" Fat chance of that, but there's no harm in asking.
The giant skeleton looks at you with confusion for a moment, and then says, "VERY WELL. I SHALL EXPLAIN. COME WITH ME." The skeleton rider turns his horse and starts to gallop away; it's easy for you to follow. As he travels, he scythe swings repeatedly, chopping down what look like ghosts trying to escape back to the surface.
"I HATE THIS. THIS EXISTANCE. I AM STUCK HERE, TRYING TO PREVENT THESE MANES FROM ESCAPING THE UNDERWORLD. MORTALS DON'T WANT TO BE HERE; BUT IF THEY ESCAPE, THEY WILL WRECK HAVOC. THEY MUST STAY HERE UNTIL THEIR SOULS ARE READY TO BE REBORN. UNTIL THEIR MEMORIES ARE STRIPPED AND THEY CAN BE PUT INTO A NEW INFANT."
It sighs.
"BUT THIS IS NOT WHAT I WANTED. THIS IS NOT WHAT I VOLUNTEERED TO DO. I AM TRAPPED. AND I HATE IT."
Another swing, and another ghost chopped in half, the spirit falling back to the dark lake below. The skeleton pauses and looks down at you. "THIS IS RIDICULOUS. WHY AM I TALKING TO A SOUL? HERE." As he says "here," you feel something start to form around you. And that's when you realize that you're in a body again. Not just any body, your body. Your human body.
"A human, huh? Interesting. But not the same kind of human as there is on this world. You have come from somewhere else." His voice is much less booming; practically a normal volume. And he is no longer gigantic; in fact, he's about the size of a normal person, as well, riding a normally sized horse. "My name is Thanatos, and I am the God of Endings. Mortals these days call me Father Death. I am the keeper of the underworld. And I'm really really tired of it."
"But let us go back. Back to the beginning. In the beginning, there was only one, the First. We do not know what this First was called, or where it came from. But we know that one day, the First became bored. It became lonely. It created a second and called it the Demiurge. While it was content with its creation, the Demiurge wanted more. It desired to create. It fashioned countless creatures from itself; they are known as genies. The genies were also imbued with the desire to create, though whether that desire was intentional or accidental, we do not know. The genies, in their multitude of millions, stole from the flesh of the First, for it was from this material that the many universes were created. Thousands upon thousands upon thousands of universes were created, each with their own galaxies, stars, and planets.
“The plundering of the First made it diminish, until there was nothing left. When the First was fully plundered, they stole from the Demiurge, fracturing it into countless pieces. Today, we call those pieces Demons. They are hateful little things that seek to destroy everything that exists.
“The genies are what created this world, and I suspect also your world. They are what created me and my kin, although I am sure if you ever speak to another of the Old Gods, as we are called, they will deny this. Us old folk have a different tale of our existence, but I do not believe it is true. This, I believe, is the true story.
“The genies created life. They first created the elementals: the undine of the water, the sylph of the air, and the gnomes of the earth - and these were created to help build worlds. And they created the salamanders of fire to help protect the other three.
“As they pulled material from the Demiurge to create planets, some of those materials became sentient. These became the trolls and the fae. These beings, trolls and fae, did not like each other. But they hated the genies and their creations even more. They sought to destroy the genies. It was a perilous alliance, but we were winning.
“And that's when the genies created mortals - your people. They discovered the power to create Souls, and they bound those souls into flesh - humans, dwarves, halflings, centaurs, and all the other mortals. They drew so much power that it awoke the First - none of us knew the First still existed - but the creation of Souls is what brought it back. It awoke angry and confused and desirous to bring all that existed back into itself. To become whole again. It screamed a primal yawp, which would have destroyed the universe if it weren't for the genie's sacrifice. They sacrificed themselves to create a barrier around the universe, to keep the First at bay. The First then spread its message to all the demons, it recruited them and became their Lord. The Demon Lord.
“The Demon Lord now goes from universe to universe, devouring them to bring all of existence back to its self, to return itself to whole.
“But we are protected. Our universe is safe. The genies sacrificed themselves to protect us all. My brethren will deny this, they will say it is all the genies' fault. They will say that we protected the world by entrapping the genies behind nine gates. We worked with the trolls to create these gates, and we locked a genie within. We syphoned the genie's power. The trolls used that power to control the giants, to twist the giants into other beings, and that is where the jotun and the dwarves both came from. Few know this, but this is where the Dark Gods came from - they are trolls who stole so much power that they became gods. The All-Father, Grimnir. Baldr the Beautiful. Bragi the Poet. Eir the Healer. Foresti the Wise. Freyja of Love. Frigg the Matron. Hel of the Underworld. Tyr the One-Handed. Loki the trickster. These are the Dark Gods, trolls who have grown in so much power that they become gods unto themselves. They are still worshipped today by the Jotun and the Dwarves, though neither know the history of those they worship.
“Us fae did the same thing. We used the power to become gods. Today, we are known as the Old Gods. I am Father Death. My brethren are the Horned King, The Maiden of the Moon, Old Man Winter, Revel, The Queen of Summer, The Seer, and the World Mother. We were faeries, grown in so much power that we became gods. This is our origin.
“My brothers and sisters will say that when we trapped the genie, we protected the world. But that is not true.
“What is true is that the genies sacrificed themselves to protect the universe against the Demon Lord. They created the Barrier, which holds back the void.
“With the void held back and the demons kept at bay, we were left alone to fight amongst ourselves. The trolls and the fae never got along. As soon as the genies were gone, we started warring against each other. We created powerful magic to fight each other. The Dark Gods reformed the giants to create trolls and dwarves to fight against us. We created thousands of variations of faery to fight them. But during the Hateful Wars, as you mortals call it these days, we won. Our Queen, Titania, created the most powerful curse we had ever seen, which caused the entirety of the troll race to become allergic to sunlight. They turn to stone when exposed to the sun. We won. We nearly eradicated the trolls with one spell.
“What we didn't expect was the mortals. You mortals had a power beyond that which we had ever seen - while us fae and trolls were effectively immortal - time would not kill us, we could still die in combat. Once slain, we were gone forever. But you mortals are different. What the genies had created was something unique - a soul that was separate from the body. When you die, your soul goes into a new body, to be born again. But you kept your memories. With each life, you became stronger and stronger. We could see the writing on the wall and knew that with enough lifetimes, mortals would become so powerful that you would conquer us all.
So we created the Underworld. And I offered to run it. I became the God of Endings, and with it, I would become powerful and beautiful and wonderful forever. I would control all endings, and as such I would stop my own ending.
“But I was wrong. The underworld does work as intended: it sucks mortal souls down after they have died, and it erases their memories. When they are clean, they are returned to start a new life. This prevented the massive power grab the mortals would be capable of.
“But someone got the bright idea to reveal our existence to the mortals and to become directly worshipped by them. Their worship had power beyond our control, and we became what they believed. They believed that I am Father Death, and I became what you see today. They believed that I was the guardian of the Hall of Souls, forever preventing souls from escaping too early back to the mortal world. And now I am trapped here. I have been trapped here for thousands upon thousands of years. I cannot leave. I have not seen my beloved in nearly 10 millennia."
He stopped and gave a deep sigh.
"But now you are here. You can change things. The First Gate is open. The trapped genie is starting to return. The barrier is also weakening. Demons are starting to enter the world. They will destroy this world; they will wreck havoc on everything they see, and the more havoc that is wrecked, the more the barrier will weaken, the more demons will enter. When enough of them enter, they will signal the Demon Lord to come and devour this universe, and we will all be destroyed.
“We need the barrier to be rebuilt. We need those Nine Gates to open and release the genie.
“But doing so will sap the power from us Gods, and we will become weaker. That is ok. All things must come to an end, and it is time for us to end.
“I believe that genie is what summoned you here. It summoned you here to open the gates and release it from its prison. Once you do, the barrier can be rebuilt and the world will be safe again. Not just this world, but all worlds protected by the barrier. Even yours.
I would like to propose an alliance between us. I do not know where you came from, but I can see your death. You were an Undine. That is what made you stand out so much when you came here. Undines do not have souls. They are soul-less. They were the genies' first mortals, before the genies knew how to make souls.
“I cannot send you back to that body, but I can create a new body for you; one which cannot die. In exchange, you will open the Nine Gates and free the genie.
“What do you say?"
Nick: Nick listens carefully, trying desperately to categorise and absorb the amount of information he's being given. There's a lot. Thankfully the broad strokes fall where he'd expect, and all things considered its a good story - which always helps with remembering it. "So by opening the nine gates the genie will be free, drawing power from the Old Gods in the process. This would deprive you of your divinity and re-empower the genie. Then you hope that the genie will rebuild the barrier between the Demon Lord and the worlds, because it doesn't want to get consumed too? And my side of the deal is a 'body which cannot die'." He doesn't do the air quotes, despite a nearly overwhelming desire. "Could you explain that last part? Being trapped in small pieces of torn flesh doesn't sound like a terribly good idea, all things considered." Buying a little more time to consider the whole thing is a convenient side effect of asking questions.
"That is a fair point.” Thantos says. ”Have you ever heard of a Revanent? Those who walk the path between life and death?
“You will not age. You will not tire.
“If you die, your soul will return to me. I can return you within a few hours.
“I have made Revenants before. All previous ones had their own destinies to follow, their own injustices to settle. This will be the first that I have made which is following my own guidance.
“Past Revenants have told me that while they are on Urth, it is harder for their bodies to heal, and that, given enough time, their bodies start to decay and the flesh eventually falls off. As you have no body to return to, we will have to create a new one. This decay will not effect your body, unless you die. After the first time you die, and your body awakens from the grave the first time, then the decay process will start. It can take centuries, but it will be faster each time you die.
“Past Revenants have also told me that healing magic seems to affect them less.
“If you choose to accept this offer, I can form one mortal body of your choice. After that, that is the body in which you will remain until your mission is complete.
“If you do not choose to take this offer, then I wish you the best. You will have two choices: to descend into the Lake, where your memories will be erased and your soul will find a newborn to enter. I can help prevent the memory erasure, but you will still be in the body of a newborn.
“Or you can ascend upwards back to the mortal world, where your free soul will become a ghost.”
Nick: "I accept." Nick says, considering his options. A functional version of immortality and (at least for a while) a body that never decays will be... useful to say the least.
"Excellent,” the god says.
”Once the genie is free, it will be able to recreate the barrier. But doing so will require it to take its power back from the Dark Gods and the Old Gods. These gods will not like that, and they will send their faithful after you. Beware the giants, the jotun, the dwarves, and the orcs - these are the faithful of Grimnir and they will try to stop you.. Beware the misguided mortals, the worshippers of the Old Faith - these are the faithful of the us Old Gods, and they will try to stop you. Beware the faithful of the New God, the worshippers of Astrid and the Crusaders of the New Faith. These were tricked into believing a new god existed, but it is actually my own brother wanting to gain more power for himself. He is the ruler of Hell, who agreed to take the corrupted souls of mortals and cleanse them of corruption before they come here to have their memories erased. While the New Faith and the Old Faith war with each other, the New Faith is winning, and he is growing in power. If left unattended, he would eventually become more powerful than Titania herself.
“But all of these are false gods. Even myself. We are simply extremely powerful beings, beings who stole power from the genies. Once the genie is free, it will take its power back from us, and we will become vulnerable. Only then can we be killed. And once we are killed, mortals will be free again, they will no longer lose their memories when they are reborn.
“I am the God of Endings, and it is time for the Old Gods to end. The Faerie Winter is coming, and with winter comes death. The dawn of mortals approaches. With the dawn comes a new era of man.
“Bring back the genie. End the reign of the gods. Strengthen the barrier. Allow the Dawn of Man to finally rise as it was meant to.
“And take this symbol of me. If you encounter my faithful, you can show it to them. They will take you in and provide a measure of safety.
"Next, you need to choose which form you will take."
Vultan's eyes widen with touch of excitement as he hears his comrade grabbed the nuke.
"Badass! And yeah, I honestly am not familiar with Prince Vultan, but it was ascribed to me and I don't mind it at all. I feel like Keri knows, I'll ask next time we're not all shrouded with a nebulous cloud of impending doom..."
Vultan raises an eyebrow.
"So, what'll it be? Margrave? Nox?"
Con ponders just a moment before responding.
"I've always preferred Nox, plus it's shorter. Though it's your choice, of course. I mean, I will call you Vultan if that's what you really want. Just be prepared for it to be full of sarcasm every time."
He shrugs and stands up straight, taking in their surroundings again. Looking past the soldiers and turning his attention to Keri's conversation.
As Nick recalled his version of events, memories of lore filled in. Somewhere on a forum he had read some pieces of these events. It had helped him immensely in taking in the whole story. He now had the whole story of events. At least, according to Nick's recollection of Father Death.
"Some things never change regarding representations of death, I suppose." he mused as much to himself as out loud part way through Nick's story.
He listened to the end of events and he then started pacing back and forth. "So let me get this straight, a barely sentient genie waited a few millennia to gather up enough strength to take a huge gamble and transport a handful of unlucky souls, us, in other words, to this world in an attempt to get itself released.
Now we're in a race against time because if too many demons enter this world that's it. Everything ends if the Demon Lord devours this world. Not only that, we also have a bunch of other powerful beings, worshipped as gods, who will become increasingly desperate to stop us from opening these other gates and having more of their energy taken from them. Except in the case of Father Death." Tam's eyes widened as the pieces fell into place.
"Oh. Oh, I think I'm getting it now. If this version of events is true... then everything starts falling into place. The lore, the disasters, why everything kept feeling like it was just constantly getting worse and worse! This whole setting makes so much more sense now!"
M'ushu would squint his eyes if he could. He could not share Tamien's easy acceptance of the ancient history of Urth, as provided by glorious Death itself.
Maybe I'm overthinking things, but isn't that just way too convenient? Everything just happens to be joined in such a neat package and, once we defeat the "Demon Lord", the Age of Man, our Age, will begin?
M'ushu mulls it over and nitpicks every detail of this story to figure out the truth, as he did hundreds of times back on Earth while reading epics and myths. There was something significant that he was missing from this story; he wasn't sure what it could be, but his gut told him this was too good to be true.
Maybe it's just that I don't have the Genies' perspectives. Maybe it's that I can't and don't expect them to simply sacrifice themselves all over again. Or maybe our Beloved Father isn't telling us the truth and the Fae sealed the Genies to use them as a battery... Or maybe the First charmed the Genies and is now expanding his influence by charming others...
He barely glances at Tamien. He brings his hand up under his chin as his brain kicks into overdrive poking and prodding at the puzzle he felt was in front of him, if only he would see it.
Parts of the story must be true since even Tam powered up after accepting a part of his... Genie, I guess?... Genie patron's power. Well, it's not like I have the power to do anything right now, anyway, so there's likely no point in thinking too much about this. Besides, unlike the others, I wanted to stay behind, anyway. Might as well help these guys clean up the trash, for a cleaner, brighter future.
"Well, I'm glad it's making sense for you and motivating you. It seems to be a bit over my head, for now, but I think I got the elements of this lore down. Mix Hinduism with Celtic and Norse pantheons as Devas and Asuras, adding the Greco-Roman concept of flawed gods to them both. Interesting. I just can't help the feeling that this is too simple and that we're missing something big. But, that's fine. We need to focus on getting out of here alive. At least I thought to keep some of the coins Con was carrying in the chest." M'ushu says while thumping the chest.
"Speaking of, I wonder how many coins are left in here. Oh, and which Incantations are here to use. Do you want any, Nick, Tam? Too bad I don't have access to our sheet to be able to easily find out. Sss sss sss." M'ushu says while opening the chest for examination.
M'ushu's thoughts were sobering to Tamien. "You may have a point. We could be missing something or possibly that something's changed since Father Death's gained his information. In almost every story immortal beings are wise and powerful but hardly omnipotent.
I played a lot of D&D when I was younger, I just assumed elves were the best at combat and magic naturally. But a friend of mine pointed out that they just have a lot longer to perfect their craft when compared to humans because of how long their lifespans are and how much experience they accumulate over time. Speaking of elves..."
He glanced towards the forest where the others had disappeared.
"I'm not going to that other world or wherever you all almost disappeared to. I hope Keri, Con, and Vultan made it through and aren't just immediately taken prisoner. My original plan had been to follow you all from the ocean and see if I could help you escape somehow. But I just don't see it happening now."
Once M'ushu had moved on to their supplies he refocused on their situation.
"You're right, we do need to get out of here alive. There was a lot of centaurs and they probably won't let us come through freely. So we'll need to be quiet and careful. I'm still going to head south and get to that island.
Damn, we don't have the sheets, that's unfortunate. Guess we'll just have to count the coins you have. Think I'll pass on the scrolls. I'd be grasping at straws trying to cast those invocations. My character stats just aren't suited for it at all."
The Fae Realm:
In the twilight of the hidden realm, the strange noises continue. The commander calls for his men to keep a careful watch and to move ahead slowly. He keeps his voice to a whisper.
Hours pass as you walk through the thick woods; the thick air sticking to your body and clothes, keeping your hair damp - at least those of you who have hair.
"Oy! Wha-ave we 'ere, boyos?" a voice calls out. The voice is diminutive, and you can't quite place exactly where it's coming from. But then you see him. He's tiny; perhaps a foot tall. He's an old man with a crusted black beard. A cap adorns his head, moistened and red.
Pardon me, sir. You mentioned earlier something about using my friends as ‘payment?’ Could you, maybe, elaborate on that?” she says in the Elvish language.
He responds in elvish: "There are powerful fea here. They often have a price to allow us to pass. Mortals are good bargaining chips. Helps protect our own. It's a shame that child didn't make it through; I'm sure it would have been sufficient for all of us. Now we must hope these two will be enough."
Keri narrows her eyes. "I beg your pardon, but these mortals are my friends. We will not be offering them up as bargaining chips. There must be another option."
***
Keri swears under her breath when the wizened man appears. "S#+*! A redcap! They are murderous fae who dip their hats in the blood of their victims to dye them red!" She stays close to Vultan, eyeing the redcap nervously.
Vultan walks along comfortably surrounded by his personal escort of elven militia. Not to say he didn't feel the ominous pressure of this place as others felt it, but he got tired of clenching like every bush was going to up and stab them on sight. He could keep his eyes and ears open without the duck-walking, thank you very much.
Certainly, it had nothing to do with acting brave for the girl on his arm. Certainly.
"Oh, I actually know this one. Huh. The last depiction of them I've read indicated they might be of more imposing stature. Doesn't mean I'm not absolutely clenched, though."
He decides to let his entourage field the situation in the hopes that their numbers were enough to dissuade any attacks from the smaller fey or his allies.
Con white knuckles his torch-spear as they move through the forest. When the small man reveals himself, Con gets ready for the worst.
A lone small being seems awfully suspicious though, so he makes a point to look about and see if there were more of them about.
Redcaps! one of the elves should out in alarm.
Immediately, you start to see other caps pop out of the foliage. Nine, to be precise.
Redcaps are frightening little buggers; make some will challenge rolls or become frightened for 1d3 rounds plus your insanity score. From there, declare fast or slow!
Adrenaline begins to pump through Keri's body as the redcaps pop up all around, terror gripping her. "We need to hide! Go!" she squeaks.
The elf tugs Vultan's hand to get him to follow her into the foliage. She pants and gasps as she tries to find somewhere to hide!
Okay, sure, I still don't want to die, but why not. Everything else has tried to murder us. Ugh.
Vultan's chagrin far outweighs his fear of the situation, so while he starts back up the curve of adrenaline and trembling, he's able to keep his wits about him in the face of the little buggers.
Vultan watches as the redcap coalition forms battle lines and combat is joined, and the highly injured bird man doesn't want none. He let's Keri's hand go and orients himself between her and the enemy forces as best he can. He reaches back for his spear...
...And finds Keri's hand again! She starts off towards a good hiding position and Vultan doesn't argue in the least, but he does tap Con on the wrist on the way by so he can be cognizant of their direction.
----- Tamien -----
"Well anyway, we need to get moving. Nick, you're not living anymore which means you don't get tired like we do. If we stick to the water and have you swim, between you being bigger than either me and M'ushu, we can make decent time. We can continue to head south and probably avoid the centaurs. The others know we're heading to Icewatch Island, for the moment, at least. I don't know how things are going to go for them, but they're smart and should be able to take care of themselves."
----- M'ushu -----
"Alright, I do think they would be figure that, so we should probably go towards that direction. It's way better than just waiting here to be caught by something, anyway. Let me grab... this Incantation... and some more rocks, just in case." M'ushu says while digging through the chest to grab the Evoke Gale Incantation. He also stuffs some coins into his bag and gets his sling and a rock ready.
I hope we can get a boat, or a horse, or something, soon... this doesn't seem very safe...
He grabs some more rocks and then looks at Nick and Tamien.
"Alright...I guess I'm ready when you all are. By the way, I do have some rope, in case that becomes important later."
----- Tamien -----
"You got that right. Seems like any place we stay for more than a few hours just invites a new form of danger." Tamien said, also grabbing some coins and putting them in his bag. Best to have some wealth on hand, he'd learned that lesson the hard way more than a few times in his normal life. "It would be a big help if you could. Being empowered by death magic or however you came back." Tamien couldn't quite get the grin to touch his eyes, it was still odd that this was all happening. But he had found purpose, even if it was probably flawed, and that helped him set aside his worries.
One step at a time. he'd cross that bridge when he came to it.
----- M'ushu -----
M'ushu also looks for a light piece of floatsam that could be used as emergency flotation device, in case things go south.
Well, anymore south than we're already going. Hahaha...
Confident in their numbers, Con readies himself to attack any little bastard that might approach him or his friends.
Player Fast:
Con readies himself for a fight.
The elves form into a defensive position around the commander.
Enemy Fast:
The redcap who spoke earlier starts to laugh, and the laughs of the others quickly follow. Then, suddenly, one of them practically flies forward; it's movement so fast it's difficult to track. Blood starts to seep from the sudden wound appearing on one of the elves.
Another redcap jolts forward, but instead of slicing into an elf, it finds itself impaled on a spear.
Soon, the battle is full on as the elves and the redcaps are trying to kill each other.
Player Slow:
Keri and Vultan slip into the foliage to try and hide.
(Con, you can use your readied action to make an attack against someone).
Keri clings tightly to Vultan as she stays low in the foliage, hoping to remain unnoticed. She shakes from fear as the fight rages around her.
Con tries to catch a redcap as it sails by but they are much too fast! He moves to stand near the commander, inside the circle of elves.
Redcaps remaining: 8
Redcaps Focus:
The redcaps concentrate their efforts on a single elf. They fly through the air, slicing with sharp knives, cutting and cutting and cutting into the poor elf. He screams in pain as he falls to the ground.
"Back up!" the commander calls out. The other elves follow suit, and watch as their compatriot is cut down by the redcaps - sacrificed so that the rest of you may live.
"Stay with them! Come on!" Keri urges. She moves quickly to keep pace with the elves, keeping them between herself and the redcaps. She keeps her spear up to ward off any attacks that might come her way!
Vultan keeps one arm and one wing wrapped around Keri as she trembles. He keeps an eye out for any of the redcaps coming their way, and blessedly, none do. He manages to get his spear out with the hand that isn't being used to comfort the frightened elf.
Pressure is a high priority nerve signal and can be used to override other signals like pai--
Not now, left brain!
He continues to keep his eyes up and watch the battle. It was still anyone's victory, Vultan thought. Keri had perked up by the time the commander called out the maneuver, and she was the first to cue in on what was happening.
"Stay with them! Come on!"
`
Vultan raises to a wary stance and tracks along beside her as they move with the elves. He finds an opportunity to lash out without exposing himself and strikes at one of the redcaps!
When the commander calls out to move, Con takes the opportunity to regroup with his companions.
"I'm really not opposed to running, but I don't know where we'd go!"
He also takes a defensive stance, watching for any incoming gnomes.
"Wait for it.... Waiiit for iiit.. Now! Run!" with that, the Commander and the elves all boot away from the redcaps, sacrificing the elven soldier to the redcaps. He called the order to move as the redcaps went in for another attack.
Keri starts to run away—
—only to trip and fall face first into the muddy ground!
Vultan wasn't excited about trying to run from something that appeared to be so fast.
Better... Or worse than centaurs?
He tracked with the group, running backwards to keep an eye out for any followers. One of the redcaps was gaining on them! Vultan flares his wings to draw it's attention...
"One on my tail! Help me finish him!"
Vultan raises his spear and prepares for the incoming enemy...
"Alright, you little s*&+, let's go!"
Vultan continues to backpedal and nearly trips over the rough terrain.
Uneven ground, I should have gone bare--
He stops long enough to reach down, clasp her forearm, and help her to her feet, but the delay allows another redcap to join the chase! He leans back and uses his whole bodyweight to swing Keri, imparting all the momentum he can muster to get her back up to speed, then follows right after.
"Two redcaps on our six!!"
He continues to call out intel for the platoon to cue on, hoping their sense of self-preservation is enough for them to align on eliminating their pursuers together.
I wonder if they know what a 'six' is... and I wonder if they need extra motivation.
"There's only two, we can eliminate them together! Form up on me!"
He continues to backpedal, not ready to be optimistic about the elven soldiers, but he prepares to fall in line if they do form up.
Keri lets out a yelp as something grabs her! Luckily, it’s Vultan and not a redcap! Sputtering and wiping mud from her face, she stumbles and continues to run, trying to stay ahead of her pursuers!
Vultan pulls to a stop and calls for th elves to form on him. Unfortunately, elves would never listen to a mere mortal and completely ignore the call. They keep running, allowing the winged human to serve as yet another distraction for them to make their escape.
There is one redcap on each of you. What do you do? You've got the initiative.
"They're too fast! We have to fight!" Keri shouts. She takes up her spear in trembling hands and prepares to attack defensively, aiming for the wounded fae!
Vultan forms up, shoulder to shoulder with Keri and Con.
It's not a 'toon of elves, but... We'll manage.
He lines up his spear with the first incoming redcap, it practically impales itself on Keri's spear.
"YES!! Nice one, dear!"
He lines his spear up with the next one on its way in at unnatural speed.
Vultan's adrenaline kicks in and he adroitly keeps the spear-point perfectly aimed at the redcap's chest. He thrusts it forward at the last second, using the redcap's momentum against it, impaling it to the ground.
It's gotta be dead, right?
He pulls back the spear to attack again, but with how fast these things were, he knew it might attack him before he could follow up.
If it's not dead. Please be dead!
Con begins to run but doesn't get far before seeing Keri fall and three of the redcaps coming at them. He strikes at the one Vultan hit.
"Psycho gnomes!"
The three of you manage to kill two of the redcaps, but one remains!
Keri quickly stabs at the last redcap but comes up short!
Vultan also stabs at the redcap...
...But it's too quick!
Con tries to stick the blood thirsty gnome but he can't get a good hit on it!
Seeing his fellow redcaps fallen, the one still alive takes his cap and dips it in their blood. "Alive for another day! Hahahahahaha!"
With that, he runs off.
The forest remains quiet. Almost unnaturally so; as if it's hard to hear beyond a few yards. You look around and realize you're alone. You do not see the other elves.
Keri sighs with relief as the redcap scurried away. ”F~*#ers,” she curses as she finally manages to swallow her fear. She wipes more of the wet mud off of her, a disgusted look on her face.
”Con, you okay? You took another nasty hit there,” she asks the dragonkin. Assuming he responds to the affirmative, she looks back to Vultan. ”Come on, back to the elves. We need to stick with them.”
Vultan keeps his spear oriented on the enemy as it takes off through the brush. His hypervigilance is halted by Keri's exclaimed expletive, he lowers his spear and gives her an approving nod.
He looks to Con in turn as Keri asks after the damage he took from the cowardly redcap. He watches Con closely to see if he balks at all before confirming that he's ok. He knew Con was resilient, but that was back on earth.
With Con still standing, he limbers his spear and rests his hands on his knees, taking a few deep breaths to alleviate the ride down from the adrenaline high.
He looks to Keri as she speaks, nods to acknowledge her direction, and rises back to full height after a few more breaths.
"We gotta stop getting attacked at some point, yeah?"
He reaches out for her hand and orients on the direction they had been running alongside the elves. He looks back at Con before starting. Then he reaches out his other hand towards him.
"You wanna hold hands, too, big guy?"
He asks with a great deal of mirth filling his voice, lets it sink in as a joke to lighten the mood, and then clarifies.
"Honestly, though. These woods are a bit off and I don't want to glance over and have you just gone you know? At least keep a hand on my shoulder."
He looks back to Keri and nods to indicate he's ready to move.
Hopefully she can identify any elven enchantments that might lead us astray. I know how to keep a heading in the woods, but I'd wager she's got that covered too. Eagle scout~
He finds himself letting go of the panic and replacing it with being enamored.
Yeah, that's a much comfier headspace. Glad we made it-
"Hey... Let's offer thanksgiving to the Summer Queen for our lives, yeah?"
He says a silent prayer and glances skyward to see if the sun is visible at all. Then he smirks.
Oh... Oh, that's perfect. Yep, gonna hold onto that one for later.
Keri nods and closes her eyes briefly. "Thank you, Summer Queen. We will sing for you in the morning, should we survive the night." It is a grim prayer, perhaps, but a heartfelt one nonetheless. She opens her eyes and hustles after the elves, Vultan and Con in tow.
"The sssummer queeen?" a voice slithers out from the dark foliage. The voice sounds ragged and old, and it draws out letters in an unnatural way.
"The sssummer queeen cannnot heear you hereee. Whhhat, pray tellll, is a ssservant of the sssumer queeeen and a pair of delllissscious mortalsss doing hhhhere?"
Vultan takes a breath like he's about to say something and is very rudely interrupted by a susurrating stranger.
Is that foliage literally wilting at the sound of this things voice?
He pauses and doesn't speak, hearing that whatever it is clearly believes Keri to be of greater standing. He pays careful attention to the area of wilt and will tug his companions away should it draw too close.
Keri is too startled by the voice to notice anything else. Rather than step back, though, she boldly takes a step forward.
"Our business is none of your concern," she says. "Trouble us and you will learn just how much power the Summer Queen has given me. Take these dead redcaps as an offering, if you desire. But we will be on our way."
"Annnnd whhhere doo you thhhinnk you willlll gooo, sssummmmer chilllldd?" the creature responds, though it does not show itself.
"We travel with the company of elves. We will go where they lead us," Keri replies definently. She begins to back away, keeping her eyes on the brush.
"Elllvsss? Oooohhhh, gooooddd. I hhhavvve nnot dinnnned on elllvvss fooorrr a whhillle."
The sensation of dread you were feeling suddenly expires. For those who noticed, the leaves around you stopped wilting. Whatever creature was there seems to be there no longer.
Keri looks at Vultan and Con. "Oops."
She hurries to catch up to the other elves.