Samen holds his brother tightly, relieved that worked. "Come on Wamblee, I know you're weak, but we need information! What is Obdurate doing, and why? Stof and Abby are both dead in quick succession, and I refuse to accept Obdurate's presence as a coincidence. What is going on?"
Wamblee sputters, coughing a thin mist of blood. "Obdurate was...watching...for the right moment to come through." You recall that clearing this forsaken planar rift was going to allow the oread armies to join the war march upon Light.
"I thought I heard Abby's laughter just as we went through...I think Obdurate's sight was damaged his sibling's deaths..."
Gripping your hand tightly, forcing out a few more words, Wamblee says, "Do not let Kallik go down..."
Kallik doesn't let her shock at Wamblee's sudden appearance show on her face. She doesn't waste time with questions, even though she's curious. Still in her enlarged state, Kallik walks toward the stairs so that she is between the emerging monster and Wamblee. She takes a wide, defensive stance, and waits.
Kallik, as you walk closer to the stairs, you are propelled in your ghostly form past the tentacles to confront the weeping green mass directly. You feel like a wooden toy being gripped by a wrathful child.
A keening sound, some awful blend of crying and screaming, tears the very air. The bog below you begins to boil, hot gas steaming, each bubble like a burst blister.
"Don't lose heart! What we're facing is the last gasp of the evil that has held our lands for so long! It senses its grip fading, and so tries to hold tighter than ever, but that is a sign of its weakness!"
Benedetto's attempt at a rousing speech is interrupted by Kallik suddenly being yanked down to the bog below. "Get rid of these tentacles!" he shouts, then starts charging down the stairs whether they're gone or not.
Samen dismisses the tentacles to make way for Benedetto, but doesn't leave Wamblee's side.
"Get Kallik out of there!"
The bog-creature's angry shout shakes the very walls and ceiling, causing more half-made oathbreakers to spill out of their rootbeds. (map updated, they are slowly standing up)
Benedetto runs towards the tentacles, but they are dismissed at the last moment. One psychic tendril brushes your face before it disappears, and you vividly remember a humiliating experience from your first day of grammar school. You shake your head, the memory vanishes, and you run down the stairs.
Kallik is looking transfixed by the bog monster. Incredibly, tears are running down her ghostly cheeks.
Despite being a phantom, it is hard for you to breathe as the creature grips you with hard wooden fingers beneath its muck.
The booming voice throws accusations at you, like a hurt child might.
Link to the last time you spoke to Krz, before the Unwritten Library was altered
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
"I...I.. sorry. I was.. was tr.." Blood like ichor pours our of her mouth and choaks whatever apology she is trying to make to the void.
Trying to stagger a few more almost drunken steps closer to the swirling void. Her axe hanging, traditionally one of the few items she truly cherishes, now hanging limply behind her. Sharp white blade scrapping uneven groves in the bloody ichor trail she is leaving around the wood she does not seem to notice. "Let me.. please.. tr..lp..mak..ood."
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
Abandoning the magic, they were going to use, that likely wouldn't have worked in this place that doesn't like Qizz. Kallik has worked so hard to keep Qizz safe so now Qizz has to return the favor.
Silly Kallik is listening to Echo. To Bad. Not Real. Kallik not know. think it someone and give in. Second death. Not move on. Silly Kallik."
Stretching out a limb to grab a little rock from the bag, just in case, then tightening their grip on their mount. Redirecting the griffon to swing down to dig its claws into the wood holding onto Kallik.
Looking back and forth between Kalik and Wamblee, Gabe decides that Benedeto and Aisling are in a better position to deal with The bog monster for now, Samen is distracted with Wamblee and could use support. He begins his assault at one end of their line.
Samen doesn't want to leave Wamblee, but these new oathbreakers are going to be a problem.
He quickly darts off to the opposite end from Gabriel and unleashes his last sunbeam for the day upon the line of undead.
Bennedetto doesn't know just what the relationship or the past here between Kallik and... whatever this thing was, but letting it joke Kallik seemed unwise. He lunges forward with his flaming rapier, aiming for the 'wrist' holding Kallik.
At the same time, still suspecting this conflict is as spiritual as physical, he shouts, "Killing the penitent only makes past wrongs permanent! You don't have to forgive, but at least spend a moment listening!"
Aisling flies down toward the creature, but near the ceiling, avoiding potential overflow and also not risking accidentally hitting Benedetto.
He throws one of his alkali flasks, hoping this thing is just a big ooze and not some eldritch(er) horror. While coming closer, he also takes note of the various gasses coming from below trying to determine if it was explosive mixture that would go well with his fire flasks.
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
As you all throw your little attacks and they land, shatter, and strike (whichever verb pleases you),
the whole thing is just taking too long. I want Kallik to confront her twin brother and see that, in this reality, he's been alone in an axe for a thousand years. Oh, Unwritten Library! Your ironies never cease.
***
A heavenly orchestra plays, seemingly from nowhere, and a long-faced oread with a fey grin is suddenly descending the upper stairs.
"This is precisely as boring as a game of eite. Let's sweep the pieces, and as he says this, he flicks his wrist, and the monks and oathbreakers tumble into the bog down below, "and try something else."
Samen, if ever you were a Tallmind, the moment is now. This being is building immeasurable psychic pressure. We must flee! Join with this one, and let us protect our companions and ourselves!
Abnaki, god of Dream. And what is a Sky, anyway? Just a place where clouds and dreams run free.
I gesture to Aisling. "Announce my name, ye faithful servant. Declare me to the world, my herald, and we shall go to home and hearth with alacrity." I smile benignly, a my kind brow weighed with kingly wisdom.
A ghost boy is sitting on the wooden floor next to you, crying his eyes out. This is no trick. You would know your brother anywhere, anytime. You see the blind, mad anguish in his eyes.
Your twin is broken.
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
Samen immediately links minds with Theta with no hesitation. No convincing is necessary. This godling is ascendant and more of a threat than anything else they've dealt with today.
At the speed of thought, Samen fills in Theta on Abnaki's one weakness. One story that ended the wrong way.
"Name's have power, thrice slain! I announce another!"
Samen pumps all the memory, despair, regret, and soul damning destructive psychic force he and Theta can conjure into a single word of power. A name. A narrative. A letter from an old friend to destroy what remains.
(I'll do a separate post for Kallik)
Qizzlvutz, Kallik is sitting next to the weeping boy. They are both ghosts.
In this strange land of semi-metaphor, Learningto is suddenly next to you. She looks at the twins with compassion; she wishes she could help, but what they need is a new beginning.
"Will you (go) with these two back to Heap, while they (forget) the pain of these memories? Or will you (stay) above and (see) what stories Abnaki has left to (tell)?" She swivels her soft, smiling face toward you, encouraging an honest answer."
| 2 people marked this as a favorite. |
Aisling faltered in his silent, hidden flight above. The voice within hit him "The signs had already come to pass!" he thinks. For a heartbeat he only hovered near the ceiling, chest tight, mind racing between Prince of Raven and his vassals, The Sky and this new malleable reality where words matter as much as actions.
Slowly, oh so slowly, not used to revealing himself mid-fight, he shifted his combat garb into priestly regalia and flew lower for everyone to see white and blue garbed sylph, spreading his arms and booming as loud as he could in this vast cavern.
"Behold! This ground weeps with poison and shadow! But Sky is not marred by the Dark! And Prince Raven, The Lord of changes, of near-misses and borders, in this place where reality borders dream, where our internal conflicts, virtues and sins collide, the signs are fulfilled. The silent have sung! The lost have returned! Black and Red burn side by side! Which means I can finally speak!
The Dream Crow awakens filling the void again, from nightmares created by Night Carrion, from fighting for everyones dream against the corruption and under the patronage of Prince Raven, The Dream becomes again, The Carrion fails! Hear me stone! Hear me winds! Hear me waters of the worlds! Hear me fires from and of The Volcano! The Dream Crow is given form again and flies with The Flocks under The Sky, beneath Raven Prince's wings! Come Dream Crow, fly forward into the world!"
--but!
The illusory orchestra is cut off, and the Storyteller of the Fey pops out of existence just as quickly as he appeared. The spurning of his name, the choosing of the Dream Crow, and the naming of his lost love banish the demigod before he can so much as sneeze.
...
But still, a horrible psychic backwash is coming, even that single syllable enough to strip the bark from the walls and ceiling.
In a flat monotone, Krz says, "I have to go. I don't want to remember being this anymore. Qizz's home can help, that Heap place? Right?"
Surprisingly, Gabe aches to help his erstwhile companion. It's so nice to see, out at least hear Abnaki again. But this isn't the Abnaki he remembers. His mind has degraded into this demigod rather than the el struggling with divinity. Ever trusting in Samens judgement, he joins Samen and Tallmind Theta.
With sadness, Gabe speaks, "Goodbye Abnaki. I guess you really are gone this time."
"Don't leave the monks behind!" Benedetto shouts, racing to grab one of them as he gets caught up in the teleport.
Pressing her lips to Krz's forehead, "They helped me so they can help you. I am sorry you had to stay so long."
Moving to rest her head on top of his in what feels so familiar and alien simultaneously. Red ichor from her eyes mixing in his hair, "I love you and I am so sorry."
Smiling widely, despite the situation. Blue gas streaming out of a too wide smile that quickly falls. Deflating like a squeezed puffball. Limbs hang limp and their too wide mouth falls on their chest as reality sets in. "Goodbye again?" A pale blue gas pours out of them.
Blinking each eye slowly then sucking in the blue around them and straightening up. Pointing at the twins, "Deserve peace. Get peace?"
Whipping their head around to listen to Aisling and smiling, "Bird."
[dice=Will save]1d20+6
[dice=Will save disadvantage]1d20+6
The psychic among you teleport with hardly a complaint at all; perhaps a falling sensation in the stomach, but it passes after a moment. Back in Hearth, to continue the fight against Moon...
Benedetto's words make Wamblee sit up from his prone position. He reaches into a pouch, pulls out a small geode, quickly crushes it into powder, and utters a prayer. A small green flash from the waters below is the only hint you receive of his actions, then you two are also pulled back to the capital city of Hearth...
Kallik and Qizz wrap their love around Krz, who weeps as they disappear from this plane. They slip down through the ground as naturally as breathing; the ethereal trio follow Learningto down to Heap. Down, down, down...
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
Aisling takes a different path. A path through dreams. A wandering path, a trail that takes weeks to pass through.
But Aisling emerges at the same time as the others. There is a gleam in his eye: the bright-eyed belief of a prophet gone slightly mad.
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
Between the strain of channelling Birdsong, defying ascending pretender to Dream and receiving full backlash of Abnaki's last word, Aisling's personality burst into many.
The original, retrieval agent of the church, quiet, but full of faith, action oriented, quiet, withdrawn even turns even more inward. His dark combat clothes suit him perfectly, but he gets the hood now, very similar to how Gabriel appears when he has to be in public eye. Everything but the mission fades into the background. Action comes first, things to do, tasks...not people. This new withdrawn Aisling runs in the weeks hiding in the dream through various personalities, defetist Ashling, cowardly, slinking Aishroud, depressed Aislow as the mocking names of his former self. Aislum (Asylum) it thought of itself at some point with narrowly avoided horror of the Moon, reliving the inquisitors and the death of his group, supressing gasps in the darkness, before it's eyes opened wide, the heart quieted and it knew - it is Aislune, he found the name Luna in the ancient lore referring to the original Moon, not this split remnant. Aislune - the fear drained away, emotions blunted and cold rationality ruled. Aislune retreated from the horror scene, knowing he is already prepared for eventual restoration of his group or at least his love. Grisly, but he took steps to keep their parts separate and preserved.
As they drew closer to the living world, the other part of his person, the one he had to assume to appear in front of people started reasserting itself as Aislune dreaded the return to the city, among its throngs. But the one that was inspired by The Dream, the idea of Sky returning, the one that drew the crowds to first dawn after milennia...it grew. And in Dream, it showed as bursts of inspiration, literal light or song that occasionally burst from his hidden companion. And each time it happened, this new one was better defined and longer was Aislune supressed. Not that he didn't know what happened while hiding, just that he hadn't really like the attention the other attracted and kept his mind separate.
And once the crowd in dreams grew enough and dream city appeared, it was time to awaken.
Two personalities regarded one another in the Dream moments before outing, noting their differences, even hating some of them, but Birdsong, gentle soothing sound between them kept peace. There will be moments where one or the other was needed.
They shook hands among the people of this dream place.
And Aisbright stepped forward, new Dawncaller of the Sky emerged in a burst of light and birdsong from The Dream and into the reality.
Benedetto's hand closes on empty air as he's whisked away before he can reach any of the monks. He stares for a moment at the familiar landscape around Hearth, then sighs. He can only hope that whatever Wamblee was doing helped...
After making sure all his companions at least made it--Aisling gives him a bit of a scare until he appears--he makes a quick trip to the oread district in Hearth to report what happened... and he hopes, to find that the monks were able to escape. After that he goes to rejoin his squire and the paladins for the march on Light.
Appearing back in Hearth, "These transportation spells are getting nicer and nicer. It's a pretty low bar to beat the Sunlord's methods though."
Thinking about the experience they just had, "Well... that was something. Even Abnaki, or at least what's left of him, made an appearance. Didn't expect to see him out there." Gabe looks off into the distance as though looking to where they just were just in case there was another joke from the new proto-dream god. He also glances up just to see if the sky is still sticking around or if everything is dark again. Not sure which I like better... dark or light.
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
Samen returns to Hearth annoyed at how this day turned out. Too many loose ends tied up too quickly, Abnaki included. There would, of course, be more threats. There always were. Perhaps Aisling is developing into a dangerous godling himself. More observation would be necessary.
Despite his misgivings, Tallmind Theta had proven a resourceful and dependable ally in the fight. The tensions of their first impression may have been unwarranted. Besides, Samen has much to learn from an original source of the ancient times. Squabbles about individuality may be of lower importance than the intelligence that could be gained.
Concerns for past and future aside, Samen attends to Wamblee in the present. More details would be needed to adjust the plans against Moon. For now, though, his brother is safe, and Samen intends to keep it that way.
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
Qizz's mouth splits into a too wide smile as they slip into the ground. Learningto is back and that makes everything good again, right again. Learningto will fix all of this. Qizz wasn't ready for their own phantom, wasn't ready to leave the Heap, wasn't ready to lose.. everyone..
They are back at the Heap Kallik is curled around Krz, so close to where she died. They are half sunk into the ground, red ichor pooling around the pair. Flinching when Learningto puts a semi solid hand on their shoulder. Qizz has seen others help the dead along. It is all they wanted to do but their heart aches. Rec ichor drips out of their chest like a deadly wound. Pressing their thin fingers to the leak and curiosity makes them push in.
Pliable mycos flesh gives way to curious spindly fingers. Nothing is leaking, nothing is broken. But it feels like it is. Pressing themselves back together before slowly rolling over to the twins.
With a sad smile Qizz offers each a cookie and cocks their head to the side a the strangled noise Kallik makes before being pulled into a hug. "Rest. Peace. Reward. Honor" As the twins start to calm down Qizlvutz stretches out, getting thinner. Crawling over them like a burial sheet. In time nothing but memory will remain.
...
A surprised Abnaki Once-Dreamt lands naked on a gray, pocked landscape. The fallen dream king chokes upon chalky dust. Above the fallen him, the bone-white visage of Moon stares. And stares.
Soon, Abnaki is ground into nothing. All minds under Moon become the same happy, tepid porridge eventually.
Moon enjoys this small feast; this little storyteller's imagination just may be the key to the Stars...
...
The Black and Red burn, side by side...
Despite having lost its patron god --for now all three aspects of Volcano are disgraced, and the physical manifestation of Volcano weakens daily--Hearth is a city full of hope. Oreads tend to the newest Elder, which continues to thrive in the heart of the city. Ifrits now preach openly of the acceptance of the phoenix, while sylphs debate on street corners about the meaning of the visions the Dream Crow has been sending them. Gone is the dominance of Volcano; now reigns the age of Elens. (and Humans?)
The only sour note is the lack of news from the south. No one has seen River travelers in months. It has been reported by many different sources that Moon has some strange power over water in particular, and many fear that Moon has overtaken the undine fortress known as the IceFall.
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
...
When the Lost return...
Humans continue to pop up in unexpected places - the Confessional Arches buckle and melt as the ancient Temple metals they were constructed from lose their potency. The Arches go dark, in time with Volcano's own diminution. Hundreds of preserved human bodies pour forth from the remains of the Arches.
They slowly wake up, but without more Tallminds, they remain empty and aloof, like gloves with no hands to fill them.
___
When the Silent Sing...
The Temple Courtyards are now a sprawling place of sunlight, birdsong, and fountains. The hole in the Dark has widened, and Sunlight floods a large swath of the central city for several hours, most days. All of the old brutal architecture surrounding the Great Temple has been torn down, replaced with gentler paths, generous magical fountains, and trees for the birds to perch upon.
The birds. They never cease to amaze visitors, even those that come every day. After a lifetime and cawing monochrome crows and screeching dirty gulls, the songbirds that populate the gardens are nothing short of miracles. They are more like delicate singing flowers that happen to be bord-shaped; they share nothing in common with filthy gutter-pigeons and vicious carrion vultures. Who would have ever thought birds could be beautiful? Elens weep in the gardens, listening to the perfect singsong nonsense that these flittering gems of red, blue, and orange, chirrup back and forth.
Once a place that denied the rights common to all elens in the name of brutal control and holy loyalty, now Hearth is blooming into something new. Nothing quite says hope, nothing quite inspires dreams of next spring's beauty...
nothing heals the soul like Birdsong.
Samen, Wamblee heals from his injuries after a few days' rest. You see the lingering shadows behind his eyes, however, and you know the death of Obdurate will weigh heavily upon him for a time. The grief of over a friend's death, and the sudden loss of his reassuring powers of clairvoyance, has left Wamblee with troubled lines upon his brow that were not there just a few weeks ago.
He speaks optimistically to you of troop movements and logistics, now that the planar paths are open for the northern oread tribes to march with the paladins of Hearth. The unspoken words in his silences contain all his worries for his wife, and his unborn child.
Pliable mycos flesh gives way to curious spindly fingers. Nothing is leaking, nothing is broken. But it feels like it is. Pressing themselves back together before slowly rolling over to the twins.
With a sad smile Qizz offers each a cookie and cocks their head to the side a the strangled noise Kallik makes before being pulled into a hug. "Rest. Peace. Reward. Honor" As the twins start to calm down Qizlvutz stretches out, getting thinner. Crawling over them like a burial sheet. In time nothing but memory will remain.
Learningto (smiles). To (see) a young one (grow) in power and wisdom...wonderful Qizzlvutz. Learningto's heart (smiles).
The Tallmind walks daily through an absolute wasteland of higher-order cogitation. Instead of companions whose ideas could be compared to shining skyscrapers of glass, these mud-rooting peasants remind them more of the thoughts of pigs than of humans. Mastication, flatulence, fornication. Tallmind never imagined that mental landscapes could smell so atrociously.
How could a civilization exist where no one had a Mind? It was like slug trails randomly making a city of slime, and their wobbling noises mistaken for worship. If the Tallmind had not possessed absolute control of their own bodily functions, they would have been sorely tempted to vomit, both for sheer reaction and for deliberate, visceral rudeness.
Yet they do none of these things.
Behind bland exterior, Tallmind grieves. It is similar to ancient whalesong, long and arrhythmic. Tallmind remembers a time when River was Ocean, and those huge aquatic beings roamed wide, those whose alien brainwaves tickled fanciful dreams in the forelobe.
But no longer. Companionship extinct, true sustenance now taboo, and sublime entertainments vanished. All vanished and in vain.
So they listen. They help the oinking elens where they possibly can. In reality, they pay little attention. They hide approximately 90% of their thoughts entirely. Samen the Scrubbed-Clean Mind is like saltwater as the Tallmind dies of thirst.
When one is surrounded by something akin to the walking dead, one can at least hope some of them can dig.
Captain Dove sits alone in his high office, a chessboard before him. The hour is late. Neither color is in front of him: the crows are to the left, and pigeons to the right. For many years he has amused himself by practicing the strange art of playing two different games, each 'unaware' of the other. He strives to bend his mind in new ways, and see what pathways follow.
Now he is always playing two different games. Always.
Meditations, medications, and other such ministrations; he has tried them all. But he has never been so physical, so literal, in his use of the word mind-altering. With numbing agents, an excellent set of mirrors, and a state-of-the-art alchemical laser, Dove Garden has severed his mind in two, straight down the middle. Two minds to battle a Tallmind. Maybe they'll name the neural region Dove's Canyon, in honor of him.
Dove will not see the world of elens end. Humans and their hideous mind magic will not be the end of free will. He will find the tools to fight back. He swears it only to himself, for he is the only person he believes in.