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Fate
The mantle of darkness closes over the group, drawing the living together. And then fire springs to life, first in silence, but soon joined by song which seems to weave with the fire, drawing out its brightness, its life, its defiance in the mist. Each wingbeat is like the stroke of a brush, revealing another part of the canvas; each twirl like a breath uncovering the bones hidden beneath the dirt.
Revealed behind the pushed-back curtain of fog is legions of withered, black bodies with the hair still on their heads, shuffling forward like leathery sacks of mush supported by bones, eyes closed and expressions at ease as if they are each slumbering. Firelight gleams off the water running off them, adding reddish-orange lines curving along their forms.
And then there's a stifled noise which is somewhere between a screech and a yelp, followed by a "Don't you touch me! Don't any of you bleedin' touch me!"
Nora's gonna roll [Death + Relate: Command Dead]
5... let's take a look at the opposed roll...
14.
Aaren
Can Aaren hear them coming toward her? Can I act to stop them from touching her?
Fate
Aye, and yes.
This is apparently to no avail. More hands grasp at Nora. Soon she's driven to her knees.
Kelly steps in, drawing his knife from his belt, and sets to work cutting Nora free.
Aaren
"Excuse me." Aaren sings, her voice rising from the fog (as her heart drops, as she realizes they've burned it off too late and they are already in the Bog-King's music and it is too late to stop him). "Please do not touch my people without my permission."
She sings songs of attention, and then turns her voices to the bodies that are clutching at Nora.
Can I roll Singing Singing, with my biological bodies knack, to sing their bodies to loosen their grip so she can wiggle out?
Fate
Sure!
Slavina
Are the bog-corpses grabbing at anyone else, or just Nora?
Fate
They're reaching for you guys. I'm gonna have you roll in a bit to see if y'all get grabbed. But don't worry, you have the opportunity to act... for now!!!
Slavina
Can I roll Mystery+Search to find whoever is pulling their strings?
Aaren
10 from Aaren.
Fate
You may!
Daina
Daina swoops low in front of the encroaching deadites. Not alighting anyone but drawing a line in the bog so to speak? Doubling back and redrawing said line with a streak of red and orange flaming bird.
Once that's done she'd swoop around the group and call aloud in swan and doing a far pass but generally towards the bog mummies holding onto Nora.
Slavina
10
Fate
Well... the good news, Elena, is that the opposed roll didn't do so well. The bad news is that it's still a 12.
Fate
Kelly's able to cut Nora free from a couple hands, but for each he cuts, another takes its place. Soon he too is grabbed, first by the wrist, then by the hair, eliciting a grunt of pain, and clothes.
Their fingers remain as strong and insistent as ever, despite Aaren's polite request; and the pace that the bodies set doesn't falter despite Daina's warning. In fact, some grab at her as she swoops by (but miss by a mile).
Slavina
When the curtain lifts on such a nightmarish sightn, Slavina doesn't flinch away. Her eyes (all her senses, really) dart in every direction - looking first for escape, and when it's apparent that is impossible, looking for the one orchestrating this symphony.
Slavina
There. She whirls, to face the center of the bog (although how she can tell it's the center is unknown even to her). Her cloak and hair and flecks of mud whirl around her as she spins, catching the firelight. She end her spin in a deep bow, so deep her hair almost brushes the mossy surface of the bog.
"Wait!," She calls (pleads?). "I beg you. We are but poor wretched travelers who would do you no harm. Please show us the hospitality for which you are known."
I wanna do a charisma influence roll to convince him to take us as guests instead of prisoners
Fate
Alrighty! Go for it!
Slavina
Can I use my Liudzi Life Skills knack for this?
Fate
Yes.
Slavina
Is this an opposed roll?
Fate
Yes.
Slavina
Shit.
Aaren
Want me to pose a buffing post for you?
Slavina
Nah I'm not sure it makes sense. I'll just give it my best
13
Fate
20
Okay. I'm gonna have folks start rolling now... [Dex + Athletics] or whatever else you feel is appropriate. Daina is exempt, as she is flying. I think we should have a turn order.
Aaren
Can I roll wits + athletics, because this is more magic and thinking then moving?
Fate
Sure!
Can I get Wits rolls from everyone to determine turn order?
Daina
3
Slavina
5
Aaren
3
1 for Aaren's wits, sorry, got confused. 3 to dodge.
Fate
Okay!
Gonna roll luck for Kelly and Nora to see if they even get to roll for initiative or if they're just doomed...
Aaand they both do!
Daina
yay
Fate
A 1 from Kelly for initiative, a 7 for Nora
Okay! Y'all can roll your dodge rolls right now—except Daina—then I'll give you an opportunity to act according to turn order.
We got a 3 from Aaren so far.
Daina
3 from me
Slavina
What's our current penalty on physical rolls?
Daina
oh yeah ><
Fate
Right. -2 dice.
Instead of successes.
Slavina
and we're literally surrounded?
Aaren
Oh, damn. Uh, should I roll again, or just have 2 succ instead of 3? I forgot the penalty. Sorry!!
Fate
I'll go with the latter. 2 instead of 3
Fate
Yes, you're all literally surrounded, Loral.
Slavina
Okay. If I want to have Slavina not even try to dodge, but get captured with the MAX of dignity and poise, could I roll Charisma+self-discipline instead?
Fate
Sure!
Slavina
7
Fate
Noted!
Aaand Kelly got a 2 to break free... Nora got a 1
Slavina is probably the most dignified and poised person to be captured by bog bodies ever.
Slavina
that's... uh.... prolly not much competition
Aaren
XD XD
Fate
Well now it is one, since Slavina set an impressive precedent.
Alright! Turn order!
Nora goes first!
Thus grabbed, and pulled down to the ground, her fingers dug into the soft dirt, Nora's voice cracks through the world. "What! Aren't you gonna show your face!? Don't you have the courage to deal with the one who's defied your rule for so long!? You gonna leave it to your minions!? HUH!?" Her voice splits at the end, torn three ways by vigor, venom, and terror.
Charisma + Relate: Influence, and channeling Courage
Aaand that's an 11, with 3 successes on 2 dice.
... Opposed roll is a 7. Results will be seen on the next round.
Slavina's turn!
Slavina
Is this a separate action from the previous remaining dignified?
Fate
Aye.
Slavina
Okay. Can I build on it? I basically wanna impress this dude so much with how cool and awesome Slavina is that he just decides we're amazing and he doesn't want to be mean to us
Fate
Sure! How are you planning on going about that?
Slavina
I was thinking make it into an extended roll kinda dealeo... maybe do Presence+influence this time? And add the successes up until he appears?
I'd pose it and stuff.
Aaren
Like, to build on Nora's?
Slavina
No, Slavina's previous one. Nora was already successful?
Fate
Okay. Go for it.
Slavina
As the corpses draw near, Slavina rises from her bow. She doesn't run, doesn't back away. Instead, she flicks her head to settle her hair back over her shoulders and straightens. How did they die? Did they drown? (No, she won't dwell on that. Won't drown herself in her own thoughts).
Slavina rolls her shoulders back and spreads her arms. Leathery hands close around her wrists - she twines her fingers around theirs. If she doesn't look, she can almost imagine they're the sinewy hands of her grandfather (and true, they were probably somebody's grandfather). She holds the thought up as a lantern in her heart, and allows herself to see by its light: a grandfather here, a young woman there. In front of her, reaching to grip her around the waist, a child. She allows herself to sink smoothly to her knees under their weight (well practiced: she has kneeled this way to accept favors from the gods). She meets the gaze of the child-thing before her, and then dips her head to give it a kiss of welcome on its forehead.
Stunt vote please?
Aaren
I vote yes.
Daina
aye]
Slavina
Okay. So I'm gonna roll Presence/influence, can I channel Harmony for this, what with the whole thinking of the other aspect of the bog-people thing?
Fate
Hm... Suuuure.
Slavina
16! This is to add onto Slavina's Aura Of Amazingness (tm). And can I get 2L back from that stunt pls?
Fate
Aye.
That's a total of 26, then, right?
Slavina
I think it's 23. She got a 7 last time?
yeah, 23.
Fate
Thanks.
Alright! Daina's turn!
Daina
Daina makes a weird sound that's a growling sort of coo and flies up over head a little further. "Frankie, start consuming bog mummies.. you can stop when the King decides to bless us with his actual presence and releases our friends." As she says that she extends her flames outward in the shape of a giant firebird. "Release them or I will burn this place, boil the waters till even the sludge becomes ashes!"
I think that's a 15
Fate
Alrighty!
That's a 14.
Okay! Aaren and Kelly!
Aaren
Kelly first please? I have no idea what Aaren's gonna do.
Fate
Okay.
Welp, Kelly's gonna roll to resist PTSD.
Aaren
OH I CAN HELP WITH THAT!
Fate
Gosh. What would that even be.
Aaren
Stam endure?
Fate
Suuuure... Also channeling Endurance
Aaren
Okay, I wanna buff him though?
Fate
His Diff is 5. And sure. Lemme pose first.
Fate
His wrist is yanked back, his shoulder wrenched. Pain flashes through him. His neck is forcibly exposed by whoever's grip is on his hair, sending fire down his nerves.
And then Kelly's driven to a knee. And he can't move. He can't stop it.
He can't stop it.
His thoughts are still reeling with alcohol, his limbs unresponsive. They seem to be on all sides. Aren't there only a few? No, they shift and change, and there's a whole squadron of them—but there's only a few again.
They shout some things at him. He tries to explain but the words tumble from him like lumpy, ill-spun yarn. Then his arms are lifted from behind him, pushed farther, farther, pain building, bones grinding in ways they shouldn't...
There's two pops and agony sizzles like lightning down his back, down his chest, so white-hot it blinds him.
Daina's glittering fire, like colors sprayed in the air through Iguadayo.
One talks to another as he goes to a nearby table and picks up a hammer.
He has a free hand. He's still upright.
He digs a heel in the ground as hard as he can and grips his pouch and begins to sing. It's entirely wrong, but he sings anyway, letting his song carry away his frantic thoughts, his beating heart, his fear which fogs around him thicker than the mist, nearly blinding him.
Okay, you can buff
Aaren
Aaren hears her song being overridden by the fog of the Great Being all around them. She hears Kelly and Nora and Slavina go to their knees, and the fire of Daina's threats—
And then she hears Kelly's panic, crawling out of his memories and across his body. His song spills out o fhis lips, the wrong song for this strange place, but his song nonetheless.
Aaren unclenches her fists, lays her hands across her chest, raises her chin, and lifts her voices. All she can do now is wait for the master to respond to the challenges and threats. But her brother is in pain.
Aaren sings here-and-now for Kelly, sings the strength and position of his body, and sings his calm song. Fitting each note to the new world, his new body, the new way that the breath sings in both their lungs.
Can I roll singing-singing plus body knack to give kelly calm song and also hear and now song bonuses to restist PTSD flashbacks?
Fate
Sure! Every 2 successes will grant him another dice. Don't forget the -4 sucs penalty, though.
Aaren
Oh, another DIE, sorry. Can I re-roll with that in mind? I thought it was a success. SOrry, having troulbe tonight apparently.
Fate
Pardon?
Aaren
i thought I was rolling to get him bonus success like with some of the ones last session. Since it's bonus dice, I was wondering if I could spend some legend?
Fate
Sure!
Aaren
Thanks!
Alright, I rolled an 8 and I spent 6 legend, so Kelly gets 7 extra dice for his roll.
Fate
Alrighty!
And that's an 11!
And then seven voices join his, weaving with his muscles, his bones, like bands of light. Each breath in draws the song inward, and when he lets it out as notes they come less ill-fitted, more in tune with the world around them. Vitality floods his limbs, chasing away the shadows of intoxication. He digs in his other heel and squares himself.
He's not immovable—not quite—but right now he will not be moved.
Round two!
Fate
A feeling like a breath sweeps through the world. Fog swirls in its wake, in two horizontal halves, before spilling into each other and returning to a whole.
The bog bodies stop right where they are, unyielding but unmoving, like macabre sculptures of too-wet clay.
Then there are footsteps, crunching the scrub underfoot with an even, measured, unhurried pace.
Another, gentler, slower breath sweeps through, and the fog splits as if by an arrow this time, swirling anew, and then finally clearing.
A fellow is revealed, a beardless youth with a wise, confident aged man's bearing and poise. His hair is the gold of sunlight, his skin pale as ocean foam but smooth as the stone which has been centuries worn by waves. He is angular yet soft, muscled yet un-bitten by fibers made raw by overwork and underfeed. His lips are full and gentle but his brow is pressed heavy with sternness.
Jewelry adorns him, torques on each arm and ringing round his neck, and a cape is draped over a shoulder. His rich blue tunic shimmers with each flutter, and his boots shine with polish unmarred by bog-mud.
Behind him, a strange, twisted building which looks like a series of odd cylindrical stone skyscrapers all connected to each other by massive, almost Bakersfieldian walls of the same sort of stone. It's only a glimpse, though, before the fog rolls back in behind him.
"I've shown my face, Nora ó Bogach Uafásach," he says. Just like in his form, there is strength in his soft-spoken voice but no hard edges, feeling like silk on the hearing, like a lone voice singing an achingly beautiful dirge. "Is there enough gall yet left in your blighted liver to demand more of me?"
Nora stares for a moment, then slowly turns her wide eyes away and murmurs, "You didn't mention he was a fine thing, Brian." (True to form, she doesn't seem to either notice or care that other people are privy to her conversation.)
The Bog King's gaze sweeps over the gathered group, impassive.
Turn order suspended for now
You may act at will
Daina
As the creatures all still and the being presents himself Daina lands and takes her human shape. Though poised to act and still wreathed in fire. She sets her jaw and crosses her arms over her chest. "You seem to be the one with gal enough to waylay we travelers without even an introduction." Not really expecting a response to her words. She frowns as she looks to Nora and rolls her eyes. He wasn't -that- fair.
Aaren
Aaren breathes out, having lowered her voices to a less 'taking over the entire stage' level of volume. She doesn't stop singing Kelly's songs, but she does form them into words.
"Excuse me, sir." She sings, her tone and emotion desguised by the songs of resolution, calm, and location. "Will you please have your helpers take their hands off my siblings and my cousin?"
She knows she should let Slavina lead in such an important social situation, but Kelly's nerves are grating on her spine. She keeps her face schooled into diplomatic blankness.
Slavina
Slavina marks the parting of the mists and the freezing of the bodies, but takes her time reacting to it. She rolls her shoulders back just a touch and rests her forehead on the top of the child-thing's skull for a moment longer, eyes closes. Then, unhurried and unfazed, she brings her gaze up to meet the Bog King's eye.
She tilts her head to the side, silent. Still pinning him with her eyes. He heard her the first time - he doesn't need to hear her again. Kneeling in the mud is no proper place for a king to address someone like Slavina.
Fate
His eyes settle on Nora, glide over Kelly (who is staring at him, completely dumbstruck), then light on Frankie, then Daina as she speaks.
"You are not travelers. You are thieves and liars, who would try to paint me to myself and mine as a mere ruffian, preying upon the innocent." His voice is soft as ever, neutral, factual.
Then his gaze shifts to Aaren.
"I have come, and you have given me no more reason to grant your apparently endless and entirely too bold requests. Less so when they are asked alongside baseless accusations."
Then he looks upon Slavina. It's there his eyes linger, for a long moment. To her he says nothing.
"We challenge you to a game!" Nora cries, bold and sure even held to the ground with her fingers still dug into the mud. "We win, you let us go; you win, you keep us for good!"
Laughter rolls up from deep within the Bog King then erupts, gentle and pleasant, shaking the bog slightly as if quaking the earth far beneath his feet.
"You get to pick the game?" she tries, uncertain.
He laughs harder.
"Soooo..." Nora begins, "that's an aye, then?"
He doesn't answer, too overcome by incredulous humor.
Daina
Daina looks cross "Whoa Whoa we didn't agree to any game... I'm not wagering myself for anything." Her flames burning brighter. "What is being stolen?" she asks with an uncertain look to Nora and then returning her gaze to the laughing boy. "Far as we know we're helping her move house and not stealin' a thing."
Fate
"What are you, thick?" Nora hisses to Daina. "I'm trying to get us all outta here with as little fuss as I can, alright!?"
Daina
Daina looks skyward and huffs as she just stands by and let's the more socially adept handle this shit show. She isn't going to be anyone's property though game or no.
Slavina
It's the assault on her dignity that provokes an ever-so-slight change in Slavina's serene demeanor: a slight tension, a hardening in the mouth and brow, a spark in the eye.
"Baseless accusations? You name the servant of your own house, my lord." Her words are quiet, slick with ice. "Please, I invite you: name one item my family has stolen or one lie we have told, however small."
Fate
Nora winces and slides a glare Slavina's way.
The Bog King takes his sweet time making the fullest of his laughter. Then, he regards Slavina, mild, a slight smile still lingering at the edges, and says, "First falsehood: I have waylaid no one, certainly not honest travelers. I chased down criminals." Then he looks over the crowd again, his demeanor unchanged. "Second falsehood: you say I accuse you without base, but you have stolen my subjects from me just moments ago. Which is the highest violation of my law." He motions to Frankie. "To say nothing of such deeds done in the past." He looks to Nora.
"That was Gran, and she's feckin' dead!" she snaps.
The Bog King doesn't so much as flicker an eyelash. "'Tis Nora ó Bogach Uafásach who is guilty, 'tis Nora ó Bogach Uafásach who will answer the crime."
Nora growls in exasperation.
Then he returns his attention to Slavina. "And you heap a higher violation still: publicly besmirching my reputation, and in so crass a fashion." He lifts his brows. "If you like, I can allow you more opportunity to use the spade you shape with your words to bury yourself deeper, or I can grant you the hospitality that is your due."
Aaren
Aaren opens her mouth to say that Frankie can spit those bog people back up, but then she decides to let Slavina handle it.
Slavina
Slavina blinks, slowly, and inclines her head in respect - or perhaps acquiescence. "You are gracious, my lord; we can hardly refuse such an offer. Daina, would you please ask Frankie to release the Bog King's subjects?"
Daina
Daina sighs faintly and and nods as she unfolds her arms to make a rolling sort of motion with her hand. "Barf them back if you would Frankie" she folds her arms again.
Fate
As bid, Frankie horks each body up, in a perfect line.
The Bog King watches, amusement tinging his smile once more. But once it's over he spins around on a heel, flipping his cape behind him and starting back in the direction of the strange skyscrapers. Then he makes a sharp gesture with a hand.
The various grips let up from those who were being held. Kelly lets out a breath of relief, his shoulders easing, and Nora scrambles to standing, brushing mud off her skirts and off the withered head.
With another sharp gesture, suddenly the group is enveloped entirely the ground suddenly gives beneath their feet.
And then they sink.
And then they fall.
Slavina is the first to land upon cold, hard, unforgiving ground, not hard enough to break anything (save at the most unfortunate of angles) but not soft enough to not bruise, entirely wet and covered in mud. It's dark, almost lightless, and quiet and echosome.
Soon thereafter there's a muffled thud of someone else dropping, and then another, and another, and another, and one last one. Then silence.
Around each person is a small chamber almost entirely made of stone—the only exception being a wall of metal bars and spaces not wide enough for even a shoulder to slip through.