Tír na Tearmann
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Fate
And so, on that note, the journey continues.
Esta offers more about the ríthe, tales of heroism and derring do, of ruling people and bringing glory and fruitfulness to a land. Of being bold and skilled warriors, beautiful and perfect of form, able to fit through the golden hoop, bearing neither blemish nor tattoo. They are grand and noble and generous, are the ríthe.
Eventually Kelly's tears run dry. Soon after he's back on his feet, then back in the cart when he remembers just how sore he is. He's subdued the rest of the day, taking time every so often to bring out his pouch and sing the song to it—the song that doesn't sound quite right in this world. But he gets steadily less subdued at camp that night.
Throughout the days and nights, the path takes them through rolling hills, between rocky cliffsides only slightly taller than Aaren, past intricately carved standing stones which seem to oversee the landscape, and through dense forests. Each time there are new tiny animals to marvel at, from snails barely the size of a fingernail to a bear that isn't even the size of a house in Hometown to sheep that barely come to the waist. Moreover, the path never deviates from straightforward—one needs but continue walking. Any and all changes in environment are steady and gradual; and villages cross into and eventually pass out of the edge of sight, never changing which side they are on or simply disappearing around another bend.
It's unnerving.
As time goes on, the songs start to become more familiar and discernable to Aaren; the rhythm of the spirits begins to make itself a little clearer to Slavina; the floral instincts of this world begin to take root in Daina; Kelly's able to figure out which sights to react to and which to ignore; and muscles strengthen and balance adapts.
And then, on the fourth night of the journey, Esta it clear that, come morning, after breakfast is eaten and camp is broken, she plans on parting ways with them.
Aaren
Aaren catches two rabbits for Tris, (to bring home live) because they are just too cute. She also makes a valiant attempt to tame a pet raven.
When Esta reveals that she is leaving, Aaren thanks her profusely for her help thus far, and gives her an extreamly large hug.
Slavina
Slavina has in a sense been waiting for this to happen—Esta was bound to leave soon. She thanks her for the help, and the stories, and gives her a (not quite so large) hug and a colorful glass-bead neclace.
Daina
Daina heads out that night and hunts for at least one animal clean and to prep for travel to send with Esta. The rest of the basket she gives her is things gathered from around them that she's fairly sure are edible. Advising caution and wishing Esta good journey.
Thanking her for being part of their journey as long as she was and after clearing it with Frankie she tells Esta that if she needs help and Frankie is available not doing super important things She can at least try to call on him... and you know if she happens to write to them or have a message for them... upon GM approval
Fate
Works for me!
Daina
k :smiley:
Fate
It's a long evening of gifts and goodbyes. To each, Esta grants beautiful jewels crafted of shells or bone or amber and set with gems, or fine shawls and scarves made of silks and sheer, delicate materials, or fine ivory dice bearing ornate carvings, or a hand-crafted deck of cards with elaborate and brightly colored designs, depicting gods and heroes. She'd apparently gotten a monty haul of things in her short time out of her world—including a large backpack to carry it all in.
This, however, doesn't capture the depth or breadth of her gratitude, she assures. But, then again, if she stuck around long enough to even try, she'd die before she ever heard the ocean's song again.
Kelly stays somewhere in Esta's vicinity the whole evening, keeping contact with her in some way or other. He declines when she offers to give the noises she'd won from him back, and additionally gives her a hunter's doll, with a scrap of his clothing and a clipping of his hair, to burn when she gets settled back in at home.
Then morning comes, too soon. Breakfast is eaten, camp broken, and with final hugs and a final kiss shared, Esta leaves with a full pack on her shoulders, singing one of the many songs that Aaren taught her. It grows more and more distant, and then the words are indistinguishable, and then finally the sounds of the world overwhelm the fading strains of her song.
Aaren
Aaren cries a little, singing the good-bye song, but doesn't let that delay their start. (She's finally gotten her eyes fixed! And she is eager to look at more tiny animals!)
Daina
Daina says farewell with her best wishes. Calling out that she hopes they meet again and waving big. She'd look to the others and give a small smile tinged with sadness but enthuses. "I'm glad she'll see her home again, maybe one day we can pay a visit" trying to keep spirits up.
Slavina
Slavina sits at the front of the cart with her skirts tucked up around her feet. Not having been terribly attached to Esta, the goodbyes weren't a terribly emotional affair for her. Since there's really not much finding needed for this particular way, she spends much of her attention pointing out particularly tiny animals to Aaren (Hummingbirds the size of a thumb! A baby deer no bigger than a newborn goat!)
Daina
Daina wasn't too attached exactly but Esta was a nice girl and it had been good to have her in the group. She also is a bit worried that Esta might not make it home on her own... but she doesn't want to voice that and worry everyone else. She'd work on a new Day Fruit tree for Slavina. The plant is a tree this time but will only grow to fit it's pot so it's not too big!
Fate
Kelly sings too, the same song, with the same timing, over and over, until she finally draws out of earshot. Then he finishes the song and falls into a contemplative silence. Eventually, late in the evening, he sheds a few tears himself, quiet tears that come and go peacefully. But generally it's business as usual—only with an absence growing less and less conspicuous over time.
Soon enough, the forest scatters and pulls away, revealing open plains full of grassy meadows, flowers scattered here and there. It remains this way for a while. Camp is set up beneath a sky unmarred by the silhouettes of trees (although clouds hang, obscuring the stars). That too gives way largely to scrub and heather. The scents on the air change, slowly and surely, become drier and more flowery, then, as the hours pass by, wetter and thicker.
Well into the next day, Frankie pulls up short, swelling into a shape. One fiery eye forms, floating in the shadow for a bit before finding its place and settling there, then another.
Follow me, says Frankie. Do not stray. After a moment, he adds, You will fall in and drown if you do. And then, The cart will not fit. Do you wish me to swallow it?
All around appears to be more scrubby grassland. No water, at least not in sight.
Daina
Daina nods a bit to Frankie "Yes please, we may need it again." she murmurs as she hops down from trying to get a view into the distance. "If we start to fall in you'll pull us out won't you?" she questions with a furrowed brow. "Try not to of course but... I mean -if- we do" she murmurs as she grabs a pack out of the cart, kind of a bug out bag with supplies for a while since the cart is going away.
Fate
I cannot, he says. I am a shadow.
Even as he says this, he unhinges his jaw, spreads it impossibly wide, then swallows the cart.
Slavina
Slavina tucks her skirt up between her legs and through her belt, making a sort of improvised trousers. She nods in response to Frankie, and scans their surroundings warily. "I'd like to check what kind of spirits are ahead of us. May I have a moment?" She asks Aaren.
Daina
Daina pulls a face "Oh right..." to Frankie "well you're the best shadow and I'm glad we've got you buddy" she smiles and sits to wait for Slavina to do her thing.
Aaren
Aaren tucks her panchos and skirts up around her legs and tightens the laces on her boots. She's smiling a tight smile of stress and anticipation. The songs are getting more familiar, but its still nothing like being back home.
(Aaren is still over six feet, but she's managed to corral her hair and skin back to her ordinary tone of dark brown.)
She also pulls out the rope, so that they can string it out between them and have something to cling to if they mis-step and start to sink.
"Of course." Aaren sings, smiling at Slavina.
Slavina
Slavina crouches and marks a series of deep lines in the earth with her fingers, forming a semicircle in front of her. She uncorks a gourd full of water and empties it in the center so it can flow freely. She watches where the water pools, and what omens are reflected in it.
Wayfinding+mystery, and I'm at -3 right?
Fate
Aye.
Slavina
9
I'll PM you questions?
Fate
Sure!
Slavina
Slavina rises and returns to make her report. "It's very empty. Offerings are pointless, and whatever you do don't try to rescue anything in there, not even a corpse. Once the bog's claimed it we're not to take it back."
Aaren
Aaren pauses for a moment, humming a song with edges like teeth. "How far in does one of us have to be before we're not to take us back?" Her hands are still unwinding the rope.
Slavina
Slavina shrugs. "I think this applies only to those outside our caravan. I think it only applies to corpses, but I don't know if it's safe to assume we'll recognize them as corpses when we see them."
Aaren
"Ah, okay." Aaren nods, singing ascent (an akward attempt at the new song, which she realizes moments later contains peices of her heart beat.) There isn't much else she can say to that. "Thank you."
She lines everyone up on the rope, and then indicates to Frankie that they are ready to go.
Daina
Daina goes along with the plan and looks uncomfortably at Slavina with the tethering of the group together. She sucks it up and is ready to go. Keeping a watchful eye out and carefully following in Frankie's steps as instructed. "Do we need to go all the way through here or like all the way in?" she questions. Then perhaps has a better question. "How far are we from Nora now?'
Fate
It will take another 30.75 hours, Frankie states just after taking off.
Slavina
can I get an empathy ping on Daina, Mel?
Daina
(hmm lingering guilt and worry that it'll trigger Slavina into negative feelings towards her again]
Slavina
Ah gotcha, thanks!
Daina
np ^^
Slavina
Slavina wraps Aaren's rope around her wrist twice and grips it firmly, but leaves it unknotted. If it bothers her, she certianly isn't showing it: her attention is firmly ahead, on Frankie and the road. She takes care to only step where his paws would leave prints (if they left prints, that is).
Fate
Once everyone indicates they're ready, Frankie leads them onward.
It is a long walk, with nothing but vast tracts of open-looking land and the occasional puddle to look at. But aside from the scrub, it's a rather desolate, somewhat lonely place. Animal life is rare here. And occasionally the earth beneath the feet rocks and waves with each step, as if it were some strange walkable body of water. It's slow, uneasy going, and camp that night is eerily quiet, swathed in fog, and somehow a reminder that the world is large and the camp is very, very small, easily swallowed by the watery earth.
But Frankie's path proves true.
Finally, not long after dusk falls on the seventh day of the journey through Tír na Tearmann, a tiny hill pokes up from the rest of the land. As Frankie leads the group closer, it becomes more and more distinct as a low, squat, hilly, house, surrounded by broad swaths of shallow ditches cut into the land, and square slabs of black mud piled up not far outside the house.
It looks inactive, but soon sounds of commotion can be heard from within. The clattering of pots, the rustling of materials and the groaning of rope and twine. And then:
"No, Brian, I haven't forgotten the hemlock tinctures. I'm leaving them. Because I can bloody well make more of it! Yes, I know Gran made those jars. Well, there's a reason it's not been used up by now, isn't there?" Finally, there's a brief silence. "Ugh, fine! We don't have the time to argue. But if those bloody tinctures end up slowing me down and we get caught, I'm never listening to your packing advice ever again!" Then a scoff. "Yes, I know if we get caught I won't have a chance to listen to your packing advice again. Would it kill you to laugh at one of my jokes?"
It's a woman's voice. A young-sounding one at that. Her accent is much more different than Bronn's, easier to understand by far.
Aaren
May I roll Artistry:Singing and Notice to learn more about the people talking? Like, how they are doing and their bodies? Also, is my minus for that now -3 successes instead of -6 becasue of the time?
Fate
Yes, you may roll, at -4 successes.
Slavina
I'd like a quick confirmation.... does Slavina's mystery-intuition give the impression that this is the place/person we're looking for?
Daina
]I was wondering if we'd traveled more or less long enough for this to possibly be our 'target'.[
Fate
Yes? Slavina would get the impression that it's a bit more of a complicated situation, but it's still a yes.
And yes you have, Mel.
Aaren
13 to learn about the talking people please!
Slavina
Over the course of the journey, Slavina has grown steadier and straighter as she adapts to the oddness around them. So she stands a little ahead of the pack, at Frankie's shoulder, as they near the house.
"This is the right place." Slavina says, softly. She looks at Aaren for approval. "May I announce our presence?"
Daina
Daina looks around them and lifts her head to the sky, scenting around them for anything that seems aggressive or predatorial, based on her other world knowledge of various animals and plant pheromones. if that's ok
Fate
Totally fine. Do you want to take an average on a [Per + Notice] roll or did you want to straight-up roll?
Aaren
"Certainly." Aaren sings, in a happy, cheerful tone.
Daina
um an average? I'm sorry I'm not following that >< I feel like it's probably real simple but.. I'm not getting it
Fate
"An average" indicates however many successes you average on a given roll. It's like taking a 10 in D&D.
You determine your average number of successes by taking your dice pool and dividing it in half, rounded down.
Daina
oh yeah ok that works
Fate
So how much is that?
Daina
4 XD
Slavina
Slavina takes a few steps forward until she's a polite distance from the house: not in arm's reach of the door, but close enough to easily converse with someone standing on the stoop. She raises her voice enough to carry to the occupants, and introduces them in a rolling, melodic voice. "Hello the house! Good woman, we are travelers at your door and we seek your hospitality - or if that is too great a burden, we seek only a few moments of conversation."
Daina
Daina frowns some as she looks around them and huffs the almost stagnant air from her nose. Her hackles are up but she could just be over reacting to the creep factor of this whole place. Listening for the response to Slavina's greeting.
Fate
There's a pause.
A stricken pause.
And then... "Ah great drooping, hairy bull bollocks. Of course this happens now. I called it, didn't I?"
Footsteps move through the house, irregular, staggered. And then something hard and resonant crashes to the floor, followed by a "Fuck!" and a series of other crashes, and even a shatter. "A widow's curse on all of you!" she spits.
Finally, the door swings open, revealing the night-shadowed face of a young woman with her hair doing what it can to escape its binds. She peers out, not opening the door any farther, and says, "I can't make anything for you right now, or divine your path, or tell your fortune, or diagnose your ailments. Tell me which village you're from and maybe I can get back to you, but only take that as a guarantee if you're bothered by a fart in a gale."
Aaren
"Aaren, from el Paso de Morado." Aaren sings, to Hometown's song—the old one. "The Tsarbog left me a package, and I need to know where it is."
Her eyes flicker sideways, where Daian's song has gone (regonizable after these last few hard days) to alert-creep. Aaren frowns, and then smiles at the woman. "Do you need help packing?"
She stops herself from offering nuts and fruit, since the woman is clealry in a hurry.
Daina
Daina is simply staying on alert for any signs of danger... Listening to the conversation with one ear and for anything else around them with the other.
Slavina
Slavina stays in place as Aaren takes over the introductions. She does offer a polite curtsey when the woman appears though. "Bothered? Of course not, so long as the fart is of sufficient quality."
Fate
She's silent again. For a moment she stares, completely unfazed by Slavina's sense of humor.
"No. No. It's not over yet." Clearly she's un-self-conscious about muttering to herself in front of strangers. Then she turns, the door almost shutting as she does. "Well of course I'm going to, Brian! Consider the alternative!" A pause, then, "Yeah, exactly! All I know is Gran said it's more important than anything else that we do it, and right away. We don't know what'll happen, and I'd rather know which devils I ought to be running from, aye?" Then she pokes her head out and opens the door. "Come in, then, and do hurry. I gotta unpack to find this blasted package of yours. And you'd best be serious about helping me _re_pack because the Bog King's not known for being particularly discerning about his punishments. Or merciful."
"Who's the Bog King?" Kelly asks.
"The king of the bleedin' bog." The woman says, dry. "What do you think?" Then she turns and moves deeper into the house, leaving the door open for the others.
The inside of it looks like it's been hit by some kind of natural disaster. Scattered things, broken things, and just general disarray. Herbs and bones and various dried animal parts and emptied string loops hang from the ceiling.
Slavina
Slavina (very surreptitiously) glances around at chaos comperable to what one expects in a cart that's just rolled wheels-over-top down a bumpy hill. "Can you tell us what our package looks like?" She asks.
Daina
Daina sighs softly as she follows after the group, looking behind them and then into the chaos. She looks sadly at the dried herbs, wanting to bring them back to life but.. frankly it feels like a risk.
Fate
"A package!" she calls from a corner, behind a tall stack of... things. "I dunno. Red cloth. Gold embroidery. Weird, angular patterns. 'Bout the size of me forearm." An arm pokes out from behind the stack, briefly, to illustrate. "Got a certain weight to it." Then there's the sound of a door opening, closing, then opening again. "Out back's this way. 'Swhere my wagon is."
Daina
Daina looks around them and her lips purse faintly as she scratches her cheek and then turns towards the shadow that is Frankie. "Hey buddeh, can you swallow this place down and carry it for a bit.. put it down where we need it?
she asks as she looks around them again. "Or maybe just the stuff inside.. dunno if they want the house" she mumbles half to herself.
Slavina
Can I do a mystery+search roll to try and pinpoint the package?
Fate
Sure! At -2 successes.
Aaren
Aaren hurries after the woman (who is presuambly the Nora mentioned in her letter), already singing her best guess at the songs for awareness and speed, and listening for songs that match the song of the Tsarbog's sash in this strange world.
Fate
I can, Frankie says.
And then, moments later: "I don't bleedin' care who the feck this Frankie is, Brian! We got bigger concerns right now!"
Those who follow Nora find that, bouncing among the folds of her travel skirts with every step she takes is a small, withered, leathery head with its eyes and mouth sewn shut, attached to her belt by a rope.
Daina
Daina smiles a little "cool, you're so awesome Frankie" she's being totally sincere, he's such a useful buddy! She glances to where Nora went off to " Oi! Want this whole place moved somewhere... we can leave like.. in a couple of seconds and find the package when we get to safety..." she suggests.
Slavina
Slavina follows the bog-woman out to her wagon. Ahhhh. A loaded wagon is a very familiar sight, even if the lading on this one is rather amateurish by her standards and the items on it somewhat ecclectic. She inspects it carefully, pacing around the entire perimeter and looking at the way the boxes have been stacked and the hints of their contents peeking out from between wicker and wood.
Somewhere in there is a little bit of the Tsarbog. A little bit of Domochlovek. A little bit of a place very foreign to this bog.
Like attracts like, ink dropped in still water spreads in slowly darkening ripples. She looks for these ripples of foreignness - things out of place in the bog - tracing them back to the epicenter where they'll find their ink.
Aaren
When Aaren hears Daina's question, she laughs. She hadn't thought of that. "We'll have to move the cart back inside."
Fate
Slavina: Difficulty is 5.
Slavina
7, I spent some Legend to counteract the minus
Daina
Daina shrugs "or he gobbles that up too?" she questions as she pushes her fingers back into the ribbon bedecked curls. She sighs softly as she looks around them and walks out back. She notices the shrunken head and up nods "Top o th' mornin'"
Slavina
There it is. With a practiced eye, Slavina homes in on a basket in the middle of a pile on the front left quarter of the cart. She hops up and starts furiously rearranging parcels until it's uncovered, pulls off the lid and the pile of straw and the chicken, and hands Aaren the package Nora had described.
Aaren
"Thank you!" Aaren sings.
She hesitates, torn between opening it and helping.
Fate
"Out back" is actually a sizeable yard, including a hanging garden beneath broad eaves.
Nora doesn't waste any time, either on acknowledging anyone or even so much as sizing up her cart—but then Slavina overtakes her, beelining with a purpose, and begins moving around her things. "Hey—!" she protests.
But then the package is revealed in probably less time than she would've taken. She bites off the rest of her protest, gives a quick glance around, and begins packing things away again. Then she starts on the pile waiting beside the wagon.
Kelly soon joins her, lifting entire stacks of things and piling them on neatly.
Nora stares briefly as he passes (saving her several trips back and forth) and says, "Hoy, Bull-man, mind pulling me wagon while you're at it?"
He glances her, then looks at Aaren, a little puzzled and uncertain.
"No, if we weren't gettin' the hemlock before then we quite ain't gettin' it now!" Nora growls, seemingly to no one in particular.
Aaren
"Nora, my sister has a shadow-wolf friend who can swallow your wagon and your house, and spit them back up for you later. Would that work for you? It will be faster." Aaren sings, fingers clutched tight around her package.
Fate
Nora stares, uncomprehending, for a long moment. Then she asks, "Did she just say that thing? With the shadow-wolf?" A pause, and then, "Yes! Fucking yes!" Then, charged with some kind of restless energy, she rises and marches around in a tight circle, then turns to face Aaren and the rest of the group. "Where the bleedin' fuck were you four hours ago?"
Slavina
"About four hours south-south-east of here." Slavina says, deadpan.
Daina
Daina snorts softly and walks back out the front door. "OK Frankie, can we manage to get this place and the garden all down .. maybe go an inch into the mud" she suggests as she rubs the back of her neck. "Which way are we going anyway... like once we're packed?" She questions aloud figuring -someone- will hear her.
Aaren
Aaren pulls Nora (and with her Slavina and Kelly) out of Frankie's way while she waits for the show. "Which direction are we running in?" She forwards Daina's question, since Daina is walking all over.
Then Aaren carefully opens her package.
Fate
We cannot, Frankie replies to Daina's first question. But I can.
"Away from here!" Nora replies, to her second question, seemingly completely unfazed by the disembodied voice. Then she finds herself ushered away, and absolutely does not hesitate in allowing herself to be. At Aaren's more directed question, Nora makes a thoughtful hum and points in a direction.
Beneath the very dusty but fine red cloth (which is in fact embroidered with incredibly ornate and detailed clockwork designs) is a dagger in a leather sheath which has not been oiled in many, many years. Carved in a ring around the pommel is a word, partially worn smooth. And beneath it is a sealed letter.
Aaren
Aaren wraps the dagger back up in the cloth, sticks it into her huge inner pockets with the sash, and opens the letter, pausing only breifly to sing the direction they are going to Daina.
Daina
Daina is startled and then laughs faintly. "I mean yeah you're right" she says to the snarky shadow. "it's all you, Frankie, I'll grow you some primo tobacco to burn up next chance I get" she promises as she gives him room to .. work? and then is quite ready to move in the indicated direction asap.
Aaren
Aaren tucks the letter into her pocket (since Frankie is currently busy swallowing something else). She blinks away tears, her expresion turning to worry at the letter's style. But she gathers up her panchos and checks to make sure everyone is hydrated while they are waiting to run.
Slavina
Slavina's not. But she picks up on Aaren's attentiveness and remembers to drink some water and have a snack - as they start walking of course. She's not inclined to delay.
"Thank you for taking the time to help us, ah...." she trails off, hinting for an introduction.
Fate
Sure enough, darkness falls over the house and yard. And then, like that, it's gone. After witnessing this—her expression carefully impassive—she begins tromping away with haste, accepting the water offered to her with just a grunt.
"Nora the Younger," she rattles off. Then she pauses and amends, much less matter-of-factly, "Ah... Just Nora, I guess." Then she says, "Make sure you follow me. Don't try to make your own way. The land's treacherous, and once you're lost there'll be no gettin' you back, neither hide nor hair of you."
Aaren
Aaren makes sure everyone heard that (although she forgoes getting the rope back out for the moment), double checks that Daina is okay and following, and then falls in line behind Kelly.
Daina
]Can Diana shift to a swan to fly over head, no risk of falling into the muck and can keep an eye out]
Fate
Hm. Roll me a luck dice.
Slavina
"It's good to meet you Nora, even if I could wish for happier circumstances. I'm Zdeslava, but you can call me Slavina. This is Aaren, Daina, and Kelly." She indicates the various group members as their names come up.
Daina
7
Fate
Yes. Although she'll take -2 successes to physical rolls. Flying is exceedingly difficult in this world, apparently.
Daina
man ok, let's see how this goes
Diana is careful to step where the knowledgeable step, at least until she's not on the ground anymore. Pushing off with one foot and becoming a large swan that swoops upwards and looks down to make sure she's going in the right direction.
Fate
Alright. I'm rolling to see how quickly Nora can get y'all out. If you like you may assist with her roll.
Slavina
I definitely like. May I use mystery+wayfinding to assist?
Fate
Yes! Remember your penalties, folks. They still apply.
Aaren
May I use perception and art:singing to craft a song as we go that tells people where to step, so we can go faster without anyone falling in?
Slavina
I'm at a -2 success penalty right?
Fate
Correct, Loral. And yes you may, Elena.
Daina
can I use perc+survival to help?
Aaren
That would be a -0 for Aaren because none of it is magic or physical, right?
Fate
Sure! Although since Daina doesn't know bogs so well, I'm gonna say that's at -3 dice.
Slavina
Okay, in that case Slavina is contributing 4 to the effort
Fate
Correct, Elena.
Aaren
6
Daina
6
Fate
Alright Kelly... what are you doing... I think using hunter tactics and signaling to make movement more efficient.
Per + Relate: Command. With his team player Knack.
Aaren
Oh, and Aaren is right behind him, so she can watch him for her songs and that would make total sense!
Fate
Alrighty. He got a three.
So that's 2, 3, 3, and 1 extra dice respectively.
Slavina
Just checking, that's because it's 2 successes = one bonus die for Nora right?
Fate
Yes.
Alrighty! She got 26 successes!
Thanks to you guys! :D
Now let's see the other side of things...
_cough_33_cough_
Fate
It doesn't take long for the group to fall smoothly into step behind Nora. Her step is quick at first, sure, almost relentless. But it's hardly an issue.
As the night deepens, Nora keeps moving, digging into a pouch. Then, with a whisper and a toss, a floating, cool blue light jumps up and flits around them, dimly illuminating their path. It's barely visible from above—but that's quickly remedied by gliding down nearer to the group.
Then a cool wind breathes long the necks and down the backs of the travelers, easing through cloth and feather alike. Wisps of fog begin to float beside them. They carry with them a strange scent, a strange song, a strange feeling.
"Don't run don't run don't run," Nora practically chants, evidently to herself, keeping her pace steady and quick but at a walk.
Slavina
Slavina hides her unease at this turn of events - unease made all the deeper by being in such an unfamiliar, treacherous setting. "Nora," Slavina says, between panting breaths, "what should we expect from the Bog King if we were to meet him?" She keeps her voice so low it is almost lost beneath their footsteps.
Daina
Daina glides down to examine the light more closely, curious as to what it is and where she can get one. Her feathers ruffled by the cool zephyr she inwardly grimaces as she can't shake it off by fluffing up while she's in flight. She swoops down a bit lower and tries to listen despite the wind in her ears.
Aaren
Aaren keeps singing, adding to her guidence songs the urging to walk steadily.
She listens to the songs of the fog and herself. She's a little uneasy, but only a little. Mostly, she's worn from the long day of walking on strange ground in a strange world, and a bit heavy-and-flat with the sudden resergance of her grief.
Fate
To Daina's senses, it appears to be naught but a light, bearing neither scent nor sound. It's unclear how it operates, how it flies, how it illuminates.
"Well, you can expect him to be fuming," Nora says, something akin to humor (but entirely too nervous) stringing her voice tight. "Other than that, whatever you might think you can expect you can just go ahead and throw out the feckin' window. He's a sí, and he's got it in for me Gran—and apparently me—so..."
Then the fog draws in closer, carrying with it muffled shuffling sounds, like splashing moisture, like heavy feet dragging against a moist ground.
"DON'T RUN DON'T RUN DON'T RUN," she chants, louder, her breath growing quick and her heart pounding fast. Still, she moves yet faster.
Slavina
Can I get an empathy ping on how genuinely she thinks not running is important?
Aaren
"Actually, that's rather encouraging." Aaren sings, brightly so it is unclear if she is teasing or not. "I mean, I've been expecting him to be angry and unreasonable and violent, sooo..." She lets her words trail off, and turns her songs to a rythum just slower than Nora's feet—to keep everyone from running faster.
Can I roll Singing(Perview) and notice to learn things about what is happening with the fog and the noise and the following us? (at a -4
Fate
Sure!
Aaren
Sweet, nine!
Slavina
Slavina reaches out and puts a hand on Nora's shoulder. "Nora, please." She pants. "I can't go so fast." She catches her breath again and asks, "What is sí?" The question is so bland, normal, almost soothing.
Slavina
I'd like to roll charisma+influence to help Nora stay calm
Fate
Alrighty! Go for it!
Slavina
9. The goal isn't brain control, just aiding Nora in what Nora is already trying to do.
Fate
Nora glances back at Slavina, sets her jaw, and then slows a little. Her shoulders are a little more square, her pace less hurried and more driven.
At the next question she lets out a dark laugh. "What's sí, she asks!" Nora shakes her head. "If you don't know what the sí are then there's little I can tell you. The name holds a lifetime of meaning. Find yourself a bard, maybe. They're good at coming up with shite what fools you into thinking you understand what they're gabbing about."
Then, on either side of the group, the ground rolls and ripples, then hills form and grow and grow, until they burst, revealing a black hand here, lined with veins and their tips tinged with brown, a wrinkled black face there, eyes closed, mouth open in a soundless moan.
"Yes, I bloody well see them, Brian!" Nora snaps, her voice strung tight. "They're kinda hard to miss, now, aren't they!"
Aaren
"Big scary spirit." Aaren sings, as the huge song rolls around them.
Then the ground ripples. Aaren braces herself on Kelly—not because of the ripples, but because of the music—, and then tightens her hand around his as the bodies start to rise. "Woh," She sings, excitement and trepidation mixing. "What is in them to make them dry out like that?"
Daina
Daina swoops down lower to get a better look at the moaning but not moaning, face, dropping a smoll feather on it, preferably under the nose but her aim is likely questionable.
Fate
A hand erupts, grabbing for Daina.
Roll Wits + Athletics
Daina
-3?
Fate
Hm...
I'm gonna say yeah. It's a physical response.
Daina
9
Fate
Kelly looks around, wide-eyed, his fists clenched. He starts singing his spear song, but stops the moment he realizes it sounds wrong.
As Daina moves easily out of the hand's reach, it lobs, apparently hard enough to separate from the wrist.
Then, the fog sweeps over the group, covering them.
The light is snuffed out.
Aaren
Aaren goes silent in respect of the almost painfully big song that covers them, and clings to Kelly's hand.
Daina
Daina makes a trumpeting sort of sound and flies back upwards, hopefully out of reach. Flames wreathing the bird shape as she slices through the fog trying to aid with visibility for her companions at least.
Slavina
I'd like to make a roll to keep us from getting separated in the darkness, I'm thinking Presence+Illusion?
Fate
Okay, that works for me!
Slavina
Okay, gimme a sec to pose it
Fate
Mel, roll Fire + ... uh...
Man. That's hard. Any ideas?
Aaren
Control warmth?
Fate
See, I thought about that, but this is about burning off fog, not, like, controlling any particular warmth.
Aaren
She's controlling her warmth.
Daina
maybe she does it fancy and it's fire/dancing?
Aaren
That makes sense to me. This fog is like this spirits way of changing the world, and Dancing is Daina's way of changign the world. It's like a presence battle, only with fire and fog.
Fate
Okay! I like it!
Daina
yay
Aaren
Can Aaren hear what Daina is up to and assist her?
Fate
Hmm. Gimme a Per + Singing roll, at Diff 6
Aaren
7
Fate
Alrighty! Go for it, then!
Slavina
Darkness settles on Slavina's shoulders like a mantle, and she rises to meet it. It's a costume she can't avoid wearing, so she will wear it like a queen. Slavina closes her eyes and drifts her awareness into a semi-between state, reaches for her... family? Or the closest thing she has right now. She won't lose another one. She can't.
She brushes against many things. Some familiar. Most are.... not.
No matter.
When she finds them, she grabs the light her velvet mantle hides and stabs through the fabric of darkness as one would fasten a brooch (a hand through glassy water, a mountaintop through a dark sky). Even the darkest sky has stars, even the deepest pool can glimmer if one holds a lamp above it. She scrabbles for it, stretching the ripples out into threads, into webs, into lead-lines....
Stunt vote please?
Daina
nice imagery I give a thumbs up
Aaren
THumbs up!
Slavina
Okay! Megan, I'd like to channel harmony if that's okay? On account of the balance between light and darkness?
Fate
Hmm. I'm dubious. But I'll allow it this time.
Slavina
Would you rather I do Loyalty?
Fate
I think that would be more appropriate.
Diff 10
For Slavina
Slavina
11!
Daina
Daina cannot see her pack.. her bevy? She makes a strangely soft sound as she bursts into flame, the heat dancing over her feathery form and not singeing even one. The once white bird is now alight with red and orange and yellow that dances over her body. She tucks her wings in and does a spinning dive only to swoop upwards again and with various turns and loops the avian acrobat agiley angles her alit airborne form to cut through the fiendish foreboding fog.
A trumpeting sound to lend courage to her fellows, or so she hopes. She makes every attempt to clear the air as much as possible. stunt?
Slavina
I like the description of her moves! I'll vote yes, but next time I'd like to get some more description of her thoughts or feelings :)
A pricking, prickling sensation accompanies the soft glow that ripples out from Slavina. It quickly fades to nothingness, but where it washes over each of her companions it leaves a near-intangible mark, a connection. Not one that can be seen with the eyes (not on this side of the darkness, at least): like a pin that pierces behind the cloth and emerges elsewhere, what moves one end will inevitably be sensed at the other.
Aaren
Aaren hears her sister's call, through the fog. She's been listening, but not to Daina—to the overwhelming cacophany that is the fog-song of the bog-king. Being in the fog, it is like breathing him, and everything it touches changes to be his.
It is like being inside the song of a small god.
Aaren listens, and the sky lights up with Daina's flames. And Aaren realizes that Daina is trying to burn away the fog.
For a moment, Aaren is as still as the bodies that loom around them. Just a breath ago she'd shied away from even touching the fog to move it around them... and here was Daina, burning bright, trumpeting into the misty emptiness!
For a moment, Aaren is rendered breathless by her sister's audacity, courage, ignorance, whatever it is. And then she lifts her voices to join her, lifts her heart fo fly with her, glowing, burning, trumpeting. Her songs pour from her mouth, heating the air, joining with her sister's fire, pushing the fog to condense on bodies not theirs, on ground not near them, dancing it away note by note.
Singing Singing to assist Daina in getting the fog away from us.
Stunt call?
Slavina
Yes vote from me!
Daina
yes, nice pose!
Aaren
Oh, I should channel maybe. Megan, can I channel loyalty? Also, is this an opposed roll?
Err, I don't have that. Duty?
Fate
You may channel, this is not an opposed roll. This is a roll for Aaren to assist. So every 2 successes = 1 bonus dice for Mel.
Aaren
Yeah I meant for her. Am I allowed to know?
Thanks!
Fate
Oh. For Mel, the Diff is also 10.
Aaren
Thanks! I got a 12. So 6 dice for her.
Fate
Okay! Ready to roll, Mel?
Daina
woo nice ok so -3 from physicality still correct?
Fate
Yes.
So that's a 17?
Aaren
14 success, with the -3 penalty