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wildestlands2021-12-14 08:27 pm
wildestmods) wrote in wildestlands2021-12-14 08:27 pm
Entry tags:
The Crystal Shatters
[The events are seen happening in the background of several peoples' mirrors, in the wee hours just before sunrise. People that couldn't sleep or early risers. For those not on the mirrors, the noises are enough to wake everyone up.]
[The choice on where to go and when to leave is made for them. After several days of refuge, the protective crystal guarding Heartstone Trollmarket starts to make alarming crackling noises, like something electrical shorting out. Great groaning and cracking noises start to rumble through the cavern shortly after, like an iceberg cleaving off from a glacier. The glow from the crystal starts to flicker even more.]
[That's when they arrive, a wall of them, marching through the woods just before dawn. The screeching gives away that a frightening number of them has gathered under the leaves, even more than there were at the faire. The Nightrenders hang back near the tree line, as close as they can get to the Heartstone, sensing its failure is near. The mental effect they cause is still held at bay by the Heartstone's magic, but it feels almost like it's hanging in the air, crackling with menace, waiting to be unleashed.]
[With a final loud crack, the Heartstone shatters into a million crystalline shards. The sun still has not yet risen.]
[The Nightrenders start to advance - but something starts to advance towards them.]
Graga! Sgrabarabba rabba! [It is Gnome Chompsky, leader of the gnomes.]
[Oh, sure they kept trying to steal the gang's stuff, and they weren't overly fond of the trolls, who treated them like pests. But the gnomes' hearts aren't made of stone and seeing some of the squad pay their respects to the dead had still moved them, made them think that perhaps this was a group worth protecting. And many of them are far fonder of humans - especially Gnome Chompsky. The human Trollhunter and his friends, champions of the trolls, had always been kind to the gnomes. Many of the group is or looks human.]
[Need and Raistlin had reminded him of his old friends a little as well. They'd been very respectful. They hadn't had to be.]
Scragga ragga blagh!
[Who knows what he's saying but it's probably majestic! The gnomes pour out of Trollmarket in a surprisingly huge wave, beating the Nightrenders back towards the woods. The gnomes, not particularly prone to traumatic memories, are not easily hurt by the visions and are resistant to soul-sucking, and the massive horns under their hats make it impossible for the Nightrenders to bite their heads properly to get at the brains.]
[With each Nightrender tackled, it's a bit like watching a pack of wolves taking down a massive elk.]
[The wave of gnomes manages to push them back to the edge of the woods just long enough for the sun to rise. The Nightrenders back far away from the light but still freeze the second the light dapples through the trees, locked into whatever pose they were standing in. They can be more easily killed this way - but the effort to destroy one, let alone that many - is considerable. They could work at it all day and still not have killed most of them by the next nightfall.]
Grakkagrakka [Gnome says it approvingly, waving at his troops to return home.]
[This respite means they have a day to gather what they can and put as much distance between themselves and the Nightrenders as possible instead of being chased away so fast they had to leave much of it behind. The simple kindness of a few has earned the respect of many, and now the squad has a much easier and safer exit, with more time to collect their resources.]
[Time to get moving.]
[The choice on where to go and when to leave is made for them. After several days of refuge, the protective crystal guarding Heartstone Trollmarket starts to make alarming crackling noises, like something electrical shorting out. Great groaning and cracking noises start to rumble through the cavern shortly after, like an iceberg cleaving off from a glacier. The glow from the crystal starts to flicker even more.]
[That's when they arrive, a wall of them, marching through the woods just before dawn. The screeching gives away that a frightening number of them has gathered under the leaves, even more than there were at the faire. The Nightrenders hang back near the tree line, as close as they can get to the Heartstone, sensing its failure is near. The mental effect they cause is still held at bay by the Heartstone's magic, but it feels almost like it's hanging in the air, crackling with menace, waiting to be unleashed.]
[With a final loud crack, the Heartstone shatters into a million crystalline shards. The sun still has not yet risen.]
[The Nightrenders start to advance - but something starts to advance towards them.]
Graga! Sgrabarabba rabba! [It is Gnome Chompsky, leader of the gnomes.]
[Oh, sure they kept trying to steal the gang's stuff, and they weren't overly fond of the trolls, who treated them like pests. But the gnomes' hearts aren't made of stone and seeing some of the squad pay their respects to the dead had still moved them, made them think that perhaps this was a group worth protecting. And many of them are far fonder of humans - especially Gnome Chompsky. The human Trollhunter and his friends, champions of the trolls, had always been kind to the gnomes. Many of the group is or looks human.]
[Need and Raistlin had reminded him of his old friends a little as well. They'd been very respectful. They hadn't had to be.]
Scragga ragga blagh!
[Who knows what he's saying but it's probably majestic! The gnomes pour out of Trollmarket in a surprisingly huge wave, beating the Nightrenders back towards the woods. The gnomes, not particularly prone to traumatic memories, are not easily hurt by the visions and are resistant to soul-sucking, and the massive horns under their hats make it impossible for the Nightrenders to bite their heads properly to get at the brains.]
[With each Nightrender tackled, it's a bit like watching a pack of wolves taking down a massive elk.]
[The wave of gnomes manages to push them back to the edge of the woods just long enough for the sun to rise. The Nightrenders back far away from the light but still freeze the second the light dapples through the trees, locked into whatever pose they were standing in. They can be more easily killed this way - but the effort to destroy one, let alone that many - is considerable. They could work at it all day and still not have killed most of them by the next nightfall.]
Grakkagrakka [Gnome says it approvingly, waving at his troops to return home.]
[This respite means they have a day to gather what they can and put as much distance between themselves and the Nightrenders as possible instead of being chased away so fast they had to leave much of it behind. The simple kindness of a few has earned the respect of many, and now the squad has a much easier and safer exit, with more time to collect their resources.]
[Time to get moving.]
no subject
:Child, I'm a magic sword made to be immediately useable to anyone who picks me up, unless they're unsuitable. Whether she's a career swordswoman or struggles to cut meat at table, when she takes my hilt it feels right. That doesn't harm her. That doesn't change who she is or how she feels, though I've been the first of many swords for several people.:
[It's not possible to lie convincingly in Mindspeech, which comes with a flow of image and idea and emotion, usually too fast and fragmentary to clearly pick up on. Here, this is mostly a sense of great age and great calm. A great tree, with misty air streaming past around its trunk.]
no subject
You're not just in my head.
[Elle's used to that, to be honest. If anything, being alone in her mind is more alien to her, at this point.]
I could feel you inside me.
[Inside her body, in her limbs, her gut. It was beyond telepathy as she's experienced it. It felt more like-- possession.]
no subject
[Most people can't tell! They feel her presence vaguely, or nothing at all. Elle must be unusually sensitive. Need has enough restraint that she doesn't just seize on peoples' bodies and command them. Even when she's asleep and doesn't have most of her mind, she only takes control in particular circumstances. Even asleep, she always releases them immediately after the worst of the danger has passed and her bearer can take it from there.]
:I am a spirit bound to my sword. Besides mage-senses, I only perceive the world through the senses - the bodies - of living people. If I physically act on the world, it's through them. This kind of thing can be disturbing, I know. Many people in my position are dangerous.:
no subject
Can you possess people without their permission?
[Because that's what it really comes down to. Can Need take control of someone else against their will? It's possible Need can but wouldn't, but that trust will take some time to build.]
no subject
:Somewhat. If someone's stunned or unconscious I can control her body freely. If she's mentally able, she can resist me and we come to a standstill.: [The image here is a flash of tense, trembling stillness.] :Then I let go. I am... look, girl, I'm not able to lie like this, so I can't say I'm not capable of overriding someone if she doesn't have an exceptional will. I can't even say I don't want to at times.:
[It's like she's always cold, and living people are fires whose hearths she can curl up on when they hold her and carry her about. Except in this metaphor that doesn't fully warm her, and here and there and now and then she remembers she could climb into the fire and eat its heart, let the rest burn on around her.]
:But the only times I've done that are when someone who bore me was about to kill someone innocent. Otherwise - I'm not here to live peoples' lives for them.: [She considers a moment.] :If it helps: without a powerful soul bond, I can only take control of someone who's touching me. Through clothing and a scabbard counts.:
no subject
Okay. [She says quietly.
Because she gets it-- she gets that sometimes you have to override someone's agency to do. what's best for them. She fucking hates it, but she gets it.
She doesn't know how much she trusts Needs words, or her judgement, but Need is saying a lot of things that make Elle feel a bit better.]
Okay. [More firmly this time.] I don't-- I don't know if I can trust your judgement. I don't know you well enough for that, but...
I'll never learn if I don't try.
[She cautiously wraps her fingers around Need's hilt once again. this time she's prepared for the invasive sensation. She still dislikes it, but she can manage.]
Let's get to work.
no subject
:That's very brave of you. I'll try not to disappoint.:
[She warms her long-dead soul against the force of Elle's life, and yes, it is invasive, and no, she doesn't feel bad about it. This is how Need lives and has been living for a very long time. She shares in people's senses and emotions and life, but she takes nothing, she lets them make their own mistakes, and in return her own expertise and magic is formidable.]
:All right. First thing, I'm going to show you images of the kinds of lengths of wood that might work best...: