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Flap. Flap. Flap...
You hear slow, patient wingbeats murmuring all around, like the steady marching rhythm of armies. Sword strokes. Hoofbeats. Trampled. Dying.
More wingbeats now, stirring up the branches around you like an incoming windstorm. You hear the beating and ceasing of hearts in every downstroke, the pulsing of life's blood whoosing between, and the faint gasps of the dying in every movement of every glossy black feather.
The vultures land, too numerous to count easily. The cow-sized creatures all land on trees or sturdy scrub bushes; all disdain the ground. A preternatural stillness keeps the clearing silent as the grave.
All the carrion-carriers await a question. A reason for this calling.
He wasn't particularly one for omens, but this was ominous. Albert keeps his breathing calm and finishes his current task so that he can focus on the wonders at hand.
Hopefully Zephyr wouldn't squander this. Not that Albert thought he would, but still.
How do people question the love of a god who always answers? Maybe they don't see the answers the way I do ...
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"Hearth will be a place of feasting for the brothers and sisters of carrion. I smell death on the winds of the future."
"Little bird, there is safety in numbers. If your dirtwalkers wish to arrive on their own two feet rather than in the bellies of my kind, travel as the true flocks of the earth do - together."
"The greatest danger is the Mad God. If Moonlight begins to wax on the horizon, find cover and wait for it to pass."
The rough voice, slightly softer now, "Fly with a will, little bird, and do not fear death if it does come for you."
The grating screeches of the vultures, suddenly raucous and deafening, fills the air. A moment later, the entire procession is gone, as if they had never been.
A single glossy black feather, flecked with blood, falls at Zephyr's feet.
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Edmund does his best to keep his wits about him as they move. He takes up point near the front of the group. At the sight of all the carrion he shudders slightly but keeps his head down until Zephyr moves forward.
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One of these decades, Albert wanted to do some sort of study into the more esoteric (i.e., religious) methods of magic employed by Edmund and Zephyr. There was a logic and consistency that underlaid everything Albert had ever observed, even if it wasn't immediately apparent or seemed to contradict observations from another domain. He doubted that he could come up with a unified theory of magic--that was far from his goal--but a clearer understanding of power generation and manipulation of energies could prove useful in unlocking techniques in the more empirical methods he was used to.
For instance, there had been centuries of speculation and study on the methods of communication employed by different species of birds. What aspects of semantics or syntax were present in different sonic, pheromonal, and other observed sensory-inductive behavioral phenomena? What of it was innate, and what learned? Were there similarities across species that could be tied to common ancestors or independent evolution? A full cataloguing of the similarities and differences between avian and elen communicative functions was a long way off. And yet--if Albert understood what Zephyr had done--it was possible to entirely bypass the empirical understanding of avian communication and achieve communion. By extrapolating from what was known and layering on Sky-knows-what methods, he had heard something from the gathered carrion crowd.
"Well?" he says as the skies clear once more. "Do we think we're safe to proceed with the plan?"
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Zephyr's acolytes are all bowed on their knees, quivering in ecstasy and fear as the very harbingers of death have spoken to their master.
Albert's apprentices try to maintain the same clinical distance as the professor, but most fail to do so. The best Gamberino can muster is a few comments about odd weather patterns perhaps contributing to unusual migratory behaviors.
Only Gull seems uninterested in the proceedings. With his back turned, his gaze always drifts back to Light.
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Albert frowns. There had been enough strange, observable phenomena that they had experienced together in the last week alone. Complete skeptical detachment and a tendency to try explain away the magical seemed almost irresponsible. "Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic," he says, "Just because you can't provide an explanation for what you've seen doesn't mean it's unexplainable. And just because we haven't found a way to replicate an effect with celerity or elbow grease doesn't make it any less real." It's a light rebuke, but an important one for him. There were many findings in the literature that no el yet had an explanation for. It didn't invalidate the empirical processes that they followed.
The admonition is certainly not meant for Gull, nor does Albert even consider the child's reaction in his micro-lesson.
...He reaches into his pocket, and pulls out a small puppet, no bigger than his palm. A finely made creation, made of steel wires that connect pieces of sterling silver covered in chiseled whorls. You wonder how such a thing survived the chaos of the night.The head is disconnected, fine wire snapped... [/b]
**
Gull nods at Albert's words, and goes directly to Edmund. After the priest is done with his prayers, the boy approaches politely. He holds out the delicate puppet. "Mr. Edmund, Professor Albert thought you could help fix her. She died when Moon came."
The town of Ramé (so typical for a town of sylphs to live within the words of ifrits) is known for its copper mine that founded the town, and the gambling halls that sprung up after. Many a bachelor party from Light has been known to take a trip to Ramé to test their luck with the cards, the wheels, the dagger tables, and the caith races.
But no more.
The fading peaklight of the evening reveals empty parlours, silent taverns, and shuttered windows. A brooding wind whistles through alleyways. The detritus of desperate evacuation litters the streets: broken wheels, discarded furniture. You see no movement.
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"Zephyr Amir, I like this not," says Anan. His mellow voice has, as always, that formal accent to it, not sylphan at all. His upbringing in the southern undine riverlands shows in many little ways, like his formal way of speaking Common. "This place feels...terrible to me."
The professor overhears Anan's concern and nods. "You're almost certainly right, Anan. Our neighbors appear to have left rapidly. Whether Moon's influence extends this far out or the encountered a separate problem is uncertain until we investigate." Albert pauses, resolving himself. "We will likely need to bed down here or near before the light changes."
He cracks his neck as he looks around. "A few of us should sweep the town for dangers and to identify the location with the best cover. I'll lead the sweep."
Albert hopes that Zephyr and Edmund will agree to join him. If any others seem eager, he won't deny them unless they look too fatigued to contribute.
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...He reaches into his pocket, and pulls out a small puppet, no bigger than his palm. A finely made creation, made of steel wires that connect pieces of sterling silver covered in chiseled whorls. You wonder how such a thing survived the chaos of the night.The head is disconnected, fine wire snapped... [/b]
**
Gull nods at Albert's words, and goes directly to Edmund. After the priest is done with his prayers, the boy approaches politely. He holds out the delicate puppet. "Mr. Edmund, Professor Albert thought you could help fix her. She died when Moon came."
"Of course" Edmund says as he turns his attention to the boy"For the hero of the day nothing is too good." he continues.
He takes the doll and thinks a moment of how best to work on it, eventually settling on a simple prayer of mending "Bydded i'r darnau gwasgaredig hyn gael eu hadfer yn gyfan" he quickly murmurs as he holds the doll.
Small metal filaments reach out from the body towards the head reattaching it.
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Edmund, the boy Gull thanks you in a solemn voice, and gives you a small smile - the first you've seen from him. It lasts but briefly; the boy, serious again, asks, "Now that she's alive again, does she remember being dead?"
**
Gamberino grins and shouts, "I've got your right wing, professor! I wouldn't miss this even for front row seats at Brightfield." To his credit, the young el at least waits for Albert's lead, rather than starting to dash off on his own.
The professor nods at his student, shifting off to the side to make a clear indication of who will be going and who will be holding fast. Albert begins looking over Gamberino's gear and preparations. The old sylph hadn't experienced direct combat like that of the last few days very frequently, despite having done some combat training drills to prepare for his field medic service. But when you have seen the effects of combat, you start to notice what sorts of things helped soldiers stay alive. It wasn't terribly unlike equipment checks in Caith, though the stakes of injury were quite different.
"What do you have prepared today, Gam?"
Gamberino replies immediately, subconsciously auditioning for the role of your second-in-command. "Bombs, sir! Standard fire of course, and cold and acid. A mutagen for increasing strength. Ironskin formula, too." All in all, the equipment of a brute - no finesse. "Oh, and smokesticks, sir! I have a mixture that ifrits can see through better than others...nice advantage for me, since we're in mostly sylph areas."
He points to a pair of glasses he is now wearing (he certainly doesn't wear glasses normally) with a crack in one lens, and says, "Yeah, and these can see invisibility, but only about ten feet away." He grins again, ready to be put on the scouting team.
On the other side of your residents and alchemists, Iris makes no boasts, just waits to see what decisions you make. You recall that she tends to rely on bombs and formulae that entangle enemies and bolster allies.
Fredrik takes to Edmund's side like a squire to his knight. He holds a restorative wand that he has been practicing with extensively. The rest of your smithy apprentices look more than ready to stay behind.
Albert nods appreciatively, saying only, "A good collection." It is similar to his own. The difference, of course, was that Albert had taken care to enhance his natural capabilities while taking alternative measures to make up for his potential deficiencies. His build was certainly more prone to favor fast-twitch muscles and strength well over the endurance-focused slow-twitch muscles. And what he lacked in dexterity he made up for in battle with heavy armor and in surgery with extensive training.
He looks around at the others in his cohort and notices Iris. Quiet as usual. She wouldn't volunteer; she would rather be chosen. She showed tremendous academic initiative. Albert didn't expect her to volunteer for a risky mission. But she might appreciate the invitation. "Iris, would you be interested in accompanying me at my left? Or do you think your talents better used here to defend the primary group in case of trouble?"
Either were valid choices, of course.
"Hearth will be a place of feasting for the brothers and sisters of carrion. I smell death on the winds of the future."
"Little bird, there is safety in numbers. If your dirtwalkers wish to arrive on their own two feet rather than in the bellies of my kind, travel as the true flocks of the earth do - together."
"The greatest danger is the Mad God. If Moonlight begins to wax on the horizon, find cover and wait for it to pass."
The rough voice, slightly softer now, "Fly with a will, little bird, and do not fear death if it does come for you."
The grating screeches of the vultures, suddenly raucous and deafening, fills the air. A moment later, the entire procession is gone, as if they had never been.
A single glossy black feather, flecked with blood, falls at Zephyr's feet.
"A "dead" god sends his messangers to remind his children to remain a "flock"!? Not quite so dead I think ... Zephyr smiled upwards, even as he bent to retrieve the Father's pledge.
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The professor overhears Anan's concern and nods. "You're almost certainly right, Anan. Our neighbors appear to have left rapidly. Whether Moon's influence extends this far out or the encountered a separate problem is uncertain until we investigate." Albert pauses, resolving himself. "We will likely need to bed down here or near before the light changes."
He cracks his neck as he looks around. "A few of us should sweep the town for dangers and to identify the location with the best cover. I'll lead the sweep."
Albert hopes that Zephyr and Edmund will agree to join him. If any others seem eager, he won't deny them unless they look too fatigued to contribute.
"You know that I must go with the Masters to search & secure this place, but you are not wrng to be wary. I know that you heard the Father's messengers and message." Zephyr hands Anan the feather ...
"Take the pledge of the Father and carry it among your brothers & sisters. Remind them that they are watched over, by the Father, by your Masters, and by the love that we grow to share with each other. Pass the feather to a student who echos your determination so that we can hold each other up in our vigilence."Zephyr smiled again, twice, once at Anan, and once at the cloud that drifted by
Anan takes the feather with reverence, and smiles widely back at you. "I will! I will go now!" Enthused at this task that has been bestowed upon him, he immediately begins walking toward his brothers and sisters of Sky, taking care not to let the feather touch the ground, cradled in his hands.
He looks around at the others in his cohort and notices Iris. Quiet as usual. She wouldn't volunteer; she would rather be chosen. She showed tremendous academic initiative. Albert didn't expect her to volunteer for a risky mission. But she might appreciate the invitation. "Iris, would you be interested in accompanying me at my left? Or do you think your talents better used here to defend the primary group in case of trouble?"
Either were valid choices, of course.
Iris thinks quietly for a long minute while Zephyr Amir says his farewell to Anan, and Fredrik remains stubbornly by Edmund's side. She sees no other clear leaders with Gamberino already joining the group. Anan is excellent support, but someone else needs to stay behind.
"I'll stay, Professor." She smiles. "For the record, it's nice to be asked."
She starts looking for a defensible position a little outside of town, but still commanding a good view of the surrounding area.
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Albert smiles at Iris. "Of course, Signorina."
The professor draws Gamberino ahead with Zephyr, Anan, Edmund, and Fredrik, and begins preparing. The changes are by now familiar to these companions: the suit of armor hums and thrums with celerity, various plastic tubes under glass flowing with carefully-mixed concoctions to prepare Albert for a variety of prospective outcomes. Albert still wasn't used to having all of this all at once, rather than individual components, but it was becoming his standard operating procedure.
Remaining Extracts:
With everything ingested, injected, and turned on, Albert leads the way, sword out and eyes peeled.
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The air doesn't smell quite right - is that celerity? No other place in the land has that unique ozone tang to the air...
You hear a static, buzzing sound in the far alley to the right.
You see the flickering of a bright blue-white light, pulsing in time to the buzzing.
Taking 10 on Know Arcana lets you know this is a lightning elemental infestation, enough of them to scent the air with ozone.
Back and to the left, creeping along the sides of an empty stable, you notice an invisible sylph.
An el in tattered clothing, wild hair, wild-eyed, twitchy movements, but he moves quietly nonetheless; both your modified perceptions and your ability to pierce invisibility veils were needed here. You keep your motions unchanged - he does not seem to realize you have seen him.
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Everything observable, everything detectable, could be understood in a multitude of ways. Technically, there were infinite points of reference from which to register an experience. Yet these has to measured in some way: present or absent, yes or no, 1 or 0, from the binary to the interval, and back again. It was this back-and-forth pattern that living beings used to make sense of the world. Things bounced into each other at different speeds, in different patterns, at different intensities, and left impressions. Evidence. We call it light and break it into color. We call it sound and break it into pitches. We call it heat and measure it as a relationship between movement force, quantity, and space. But it's all energy vibrating back and forth, waves of material cascading into each other.
What elens recognized as vision was the total sum measurement of billions of receptors housed in the brain and dedicated to registering different visual phenomena. Points. Lines. Vertical. Horizontal. Angled. Degrees. Stationary. Moving. Left. Right. Up. Down. Closer. Further. Bigger. Smaller. Lighter. Darker. Vibrant. Dull. Saturation. Hue. Solid. Blinking. Slower. Faster. Patterns. They all work in concert together to orchestrate for the brain a figment of reality: a hallucination brought on by the bombardment of the eyes by waves of energy bouncing off of other things. The things are only too happy to tell you about themselves. They'll also tell you something about where that energy came from. And if you're very curious (and know how to ask), they'll tell you a bit about where it's going towards as well.
Yes, vision was complicated. But it was also easy to fool.
One had to deny the thing wishing to remain unobserved any reason to notice it. It didn't have to be perfect; you just had to fool a critical mass of the observers. Stay below the threshold. Evade enough of the neuronal sentry sweeps that you don't get caught. And with as many methods as elen have evolved to observe visual phenomena, there are also enough unique methods to "become invisible" that one can't account for everything.
The method that Albert had devised to augment his vision was very energy intensive and was probably relatively inelegant. But it was still in beta stages after all. Borrowing from undan song philosophy, he had modulated the visual frequencies up and down. While still preserving the natural image, Albert's visor superimposed a second, swirling image that pulsed around different frequency bands. These frequency band sweeps were repeated until something vibrating at undetected frequencies was found. The visor then tuned to those undetected frequencies and modulated them to the wearer's detectable frequencies. It was all translation. Turning the 0 to a 1 often enough that the el registered the sum.
Or, to be somewhat less esoteric, Albert had developed a program that expanded his visual detection capabilities by cranking up the frame rate multidimensionally. He had essentially induced synesthesia in himself.
---
Albert looks straight at the invisible sylph, flickering now in his overlay vision. His jaw clenches.
He reaches up to his chin and turns on one of his more compact batteries.
There is a burst of static in eight earpieces provided around camp, alerting Gamberino, Iris, Zephyr, Anan, Edmund, Fredrik, Drook, and Fayadh to pay attention to the message about to be delivered. Tapping in morse code, bursts of static convey to the others:
<"There is an invisible el at a nearby stable. Stay calm and approach carefully.">
Gamberino obeys, but you can hear the strain of excitement in his quiet reply. <"Shouldn't we pounce now, professor? Element of surprise?">
Albert purses his lips and taps back. "<No. We don't know if this could be friend or foe. Wait.">
** spoiler omitted **
<Let me move in closer, from above. If he is observing, I can observe too, if he is a threat, I can become more threatening as well>
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<"Be careful,"> Albert responds. He hopes, too, that Gam is able to remain patient.
But he was a bit of a...hothead.
Zephyr rises from the groud ... and disappears in his place is a misty vapor, floating, moving away towards the el Albert had pointed out
Please feel free to add mods based on gaseousness
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Zephyr, a sylph with a wild look in his eyes peers around the stables and on the ground. He seems to be confident in his invisibility. He doesn't look up, so he doesn't see any mysterious gasses that may or may not be floating above him.
"Gotta figure out what time it is..." he mutters to himself. He is not acting as though he is aware of anyone from your group.
Gamberino is just about to take a step forward and go directly against your orders, but he decides to stop. He whispers back, "<I'll give him one minute. I'll trust you, professor, because you got us out of Light. I'm just not used to relying on people who turn into birds and mist. We're gonna have an official vote on who calls the shots after this little scout mission is done.>" You can tell he is angry, but also scared because this is an unknown situation.
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No one was calling the shots here. This was a collaborative effort to ensure that they were all safe. It wasn't a sports team, a military outfit, or anything with a hierarchy. And Gam's prejudices were showing.
Power was a fickle thing. Albert hadn't asked for it. And he didn't want to wield it for anything. But he felt responsibility for people as someone with more experience.
But this wasn't the time to get into a debate. He'd dress the young man down later.
<"Thank you,"> he responds back, keeping his eye trained on the invisible sylph to watch what would unfold.
Fredrik keeps a watch to the group rear, as his master Edmund and the others look toward the invisible sylph; he's grown a little paranoid these last few weeks living in danger. No one seems to have noticed the group yet, thank the Bringer.
The strange sylph mumbles to the stable walls. "Trees know how many years pass. It's in their things. Rings. So do they know what time it is?" He begins peering closely at the planks of wood.
Gamberino is just about to take a step forward and go directly against your orders, but he decides to stop. He whispers back, "<I'll give him one minute. I'll trust you, professor, because you got us out of Light. I'm just not used to relying on people who turn into birds and mist. We're gonna have an official vote on who calls the shots after this little scout mission is done.>" You can tell he is angry, but also scared because this is an unknown situation.
** spoiler omitted **
<Let me move in closer, from above. If he is observing, I can observe too, if he is a threat, I can become more threatening as well>
<Albert ... I am concerned. Without any longterm observation, my impression is that this el is unhinged. If we were to describe, well, me, as a little eccentric and extremely zealous, this is not that. This is someone whose way seems to be lost, and yet, he has not lost touch with our arcane heritage or he would not be invisible. I am tempted to call Fury over to see how he would react to an elemental who is not enslaved>
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Gamberino is just about to take a step forward and go directly against your orders, but he decides to stop. He whispers back, "<I'll give him one minute. I'll trust you, professor, because you got us out of Light. I'm just not used to relying on people who turn into birds and mist. We're gonna have an official vote on who calls the shots after this little scout mission is done.>" You can tell he is angry, but also scared because this is an unknown situation.
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The professor responds back to the mystic, amused at Zephyr's awareness of the others' impressions of him. <"I trust your judgment. We are prepared to subdue the el if he becomes violent.">
Albert relays that development to the others.
The others can see that Fury changes as his master reaches across their empathic link to express the need for him to join Zephyr above the invisible sylph. Fury rises higher into the air as he flies to join him.
"Friend, I want you to descend in front of the el just below us, about 10' in front of him, I will do the same behind him. I do not think that he will be able to speak to you, but I will speak to him as soon as we see his reaction."
As Fury follows Zephyr's plan, the muttering sylph suddenly stops in his tracks, like a startled rabbit. "Who's there?"
He rubs his eyes, his hands leaking magic. He casts something like see invisibility, but with other components riding along. A bit of green-ray acid eats away at the stable wall, which the mage appears not to notice.
Squinting, he sees Fury. He takes a deep, shuddering breath, and then begins weeping noisily. "I'm sorry! How many times can I say it? Are you some last piece of Sky come to kill me? Empty my lungs in some painful bleeding vengeance? I thought the clouds were good! I thought they were you!" He falls to his knees, pounding the ground.
"I don't care anymore. I thought the cwmwl was good. I thought it was good."
Albert hesitates as a spell is cast, almost ready to rush in. But he holds back. Yes, this el seemed unstable. But what more would he say if someone like Fury or Zephyr could calmly guide him?
Edmund has a habit of becoming deeply contemplative in times of stress. For the many long-term problems of both blacksmith and priest, this trait has served him well. His meticulous eye for detail has led him to wondrous crafting, and a honing of his priestly magicks.
But now, it is so easy to let Albert and Zephyr make decisions. All he has to do is stay ready in case something happens. He puts his hand on Fredrik's shoulder and gives the boy an encouraging nod, for the sake of doing more than nothing. The priest has a spell on his lips, ready to cast if his companions give the signal.
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Zephyr decends several yards ahead of the anguished el, releasing his hold on his gaseous form; "Be at peace child of the Sky, no part of our Father would come to kill you, certainly not my very dear friend Fury. We simply want to understand your purpose here. Speaking to your anguish I can only say this; not everything that looks like a cloud is part of our Father, and you are not the first to be confused by this."
Fury is closer to the troubled sylph, "I would never harm you, my master and I hope that we can help you today."
Just keep waiting, Gam. You'll know if the time comes to advance. I won't even have to tell you.
Albert keeps his breathing calm as he waits, almost meditative.