"Whoops. Sorry!"
Daniels shakes his head. This is just becoming embarrassing, wasn't he supposed to be the prolific violence guy?
Take a moment to aim my next shot.
It's a little hard to aim something you don't have. Luckily, your murder-thought does return in a few minutes' time just before you start getting bored, feeling a lot like an excited dog with not even the barest notion that it has done something deeply terrible just now. So you stand there a moment, regarding the warehouse.
[Thoughts On Ultimate Destruction: 1]
You guess you can just keep at rending the thing. Either they'll die or everyone else will, and you don't think either is an entirely unacceptable option.
Hm. Not very helpful, but she seems to know more about magic than anyone else I've met. Maybe if I fill her in on the details it'll jog her memory.
"I got my first Word down in the well in Anglefork. The minders summoned me and a few other people to Anglefork during the siege, in case you somehow didn't know already. Something about the summoning process linked us to the entity in the well, and because of that we can exchange things it wants for Words or other abilities.
"The well isn't the source of the Words. I've seen others use them - the first was a mechanical king in the catacombs below Anglefork, and the second was the gray stoat that attacked at the end of the siege. The stoat even used multiple words in combination, something I am physically unable to do.
"In addition to dealing with the Well, I've stumbled upon words while interacting with magical phenomena. I believe I acquired a word this way just a moment ago when the rift was sealed."
You can almost hear the doctor drinking in the information with the utmost attention, although she remains just short of interjecting with actual questions throughout your recital of the many adventures you've had. It takes a few moments to process it all, it seems.
[Secrets of the Distant Past: 5]
Well, she says, where to start. These words - Words, you correct - yes, these Words. You say you encountered them in the catacombs beneath Anglefork Castle - these would be the Imaginary catacombs, she assumes. You reply that you didn't find them at all imaginary - no, she corrects, Imaginary. As in the period. It's a very confusing affair, do remind her to tell you more about that later. In short, it's a period of time spanning six thousand years, more or less, none of which can be conclusively said to have happened. In fact, strong evidence exists in the historiography of El that it categorically did not happen, and even the flimsiness of evidence at home made sure the Glorious period following the Imaginary lasted but a few months before the entirety of the kingdom entered a catastrophic breakdown due to its shaky foundations. Unusual, you admit. But what does that have to do with anything?
She was getting to that - you see, a lot of Imaginary monuments tend to have a great many traces of their mostly unknown and perhaps even unknowable creator, popularly known as the King In Green. It explains why many of them tend to seem... otherworldly, for lack of a better word. The kingdom is absolutely littered with little curios from that time, most of them incredibly hazardous to both mind and flesh when approached, as she's sure you no doubt discovered upon attempting to explore down there to any great degree. So something down there having arcane powers not easily explainable in the framework of modern minding techniques and such isn't unusual as such, in that it's exactly the kind of nonsense you'd expect from down there.
However, you hear her raise a finger! The gray stoat - she must admit that much of the latter times in Anglefork Castle are something of a blur to her. The haze was a little overpowering in those days. Though she does know that the stoatmen had some form of trick on their side, as otherwise their streak of victories over the kingdom's own armies and the ultimate outcome of the revolution would be absolutely impossible rather than merely spectacularly improbable. So the idea that they may have courted a power of some kind is not at all unlikely - perhaps the very Imaginary sort you encountered, perhaps something different like what their own minders seemed to be trying (seemingly very successfully, judging by your presence).
But it's the form of this strange magic that is the most peculiar. Words - a very primal sort of myth, the power of language. The sort of thing you would expect of a more folkloric form of entity - singing the world into shape, speaking light into being, words of creation acting as prime mover for a cascade of improbability. And of course incredibly common in tales of the King In Green -
his Word is Law, the doctor begins to recite.
And by his Law was the realm pulled from the sea, and its people pulled from dreaming. And they sat in a circle as the Law was dictated, from beginning to end, and the people saw the inevitable truth of his Words.Something to think about, and your explanation does give rise to certain interpretations about the choice capitalization, she supposes, but not something to lend undue credence - none of these accounts, near as she has been able to tell, have anything approaching legitimate fact to them. At best they couch a little truth in a great deal of creative interpretation. There is certainly more to know, and certainly a lot more she could tell you if you'd like. Perhaps not in a dark basement in the middle of doing something else, of course.
But this well, she asks, you say there is an entity in it? It had been renowned as a haunted place, but she hadn't known there was so much more to that. The minders were deeply involved in experiments down there, she recalls, but in her obsession at the time she neglected to actually discover what those might have been. Did require a lot of rats, of course, but minders always do.
"Hmm," hmmed Thomas. This wasn't going to be easy, was it? And so unsafe; the EPA would have a field day here. Or a coronary.
"Is there a way around this? A bridge? A crossing one way or the other? If the goal is north, north we must go."
Seek alternate routes. Ask the unhelpful townsfolk if she knows of nothing.
[Bizarre Topologies: 4]
If there is one, says Claire, it is most certainly not for miles in either direction. Probably for good reason, she adds, this does look rather fresh to her untrained eye. You'd think somebody would have mentioned it were it older than, say, a month. As it is, she did know there was a canyon this way, but she was under the impression it was not in fact filled with the stuff of nightmares. Speaking of, do you have to keep standing around here? She can't help but hate the way the, er, water? Let's say the water. The water seems like it's staring at her, she says as she edges closer to you and shivers. A lot like the master, now that she thinks about it, shivering a little more intensely.
[Tapping For Rumors: 5]
You decide she's got the right idea, and head back toward To Be Announced, shortly finding yourself in the company of the clansmen once again. You approach one currently not holding her head in her hands, and ask if she knows a way over the canyon over yonder. Hohoho, she says, oho, yes, yes she does! Yes she does indeed! Excellent, you reply, what is it? Hoho, you want to know, you really want to know? It's really very simple! You walk across! Hah! Yes! You walk across!
Really, you raise an eyebrow skeptically. Yes, she says. Well, no. Not really! Hoho! She saw a man and a Moth walk across! They made earth appear beneath them! Some tried to follow - they fell in! It was a minder trick, you see! Hohoho! Devious minders, skillful minders, tempting poor Storks to terrible fates! She saw one yesterday, a shadow made of solid light! It laughed at her, and she laughed back, and that was all! Hohoho!
"Big man!" Leif shouts cheerfully in response. He shamelessly joins their breakfast, grabbing food without reservation. "I believe in my humanity very much, thank you. What's up?"
"Good morning, Rose. I have no memory if you found me any pants last night, but if you did then I lost them again. Sorry about that. You see, I woke up naked on top of that tree there. No clue how I ended up there."
No reason to ruin this good cheery mood going on. Please do not be marriage interview.
The roasted voles are exquisite here, you find as you follow the big man's example, though you settle for biting one's head off as the dimensions of your mouth do not allow the same gastronomic feats he's capable of. He watches you eat, clearly amused at your foreign quaintness. It's a fine day, would you not agree? You nod - any day with a solid breakfast such as this promises to be a fine one indeed. He slaps you on the back in a way that nearly makes you cough out a good portion of vole.
As you relate the anecdote of waking up naked in a tree, the two conjoined women giggle in delight. Oh, the joys of youth. They recall when they were in the habit of waking up in strange trees. It's how they met, they say as they look at each other, and you can't help but notice upon closer inspection that they look nothing alike. Rose continues to look somewhat embarrassed. Yes, she says, she was going to get you clothes, but then she got caught up in some nightly business - the healer is so very busy at that hour, and the man was shouting so. It was dreadful to behold. Nevertheless, she is very sorry for disappearing in such a manner.
She's skittish, our Rose, the large man says! Yes, even at her age! Honestly, the man says, it was probably your Moth wife that scared her off, competition's always nasty in that sense! Rose blanches, and Lee's distinct lack of amusement is such that you feel an almost literal chill from her direction.
"Oh yes, of course. Could you tell me more about this Wicked King, though?
Drink the tea.
[The Mother of Tea: 3]
The tea makes you wonder exactly how it was possible to create something so noxious without advanced processes of distillation, but the reality of the brew hits all too hard regardless. Following the advice of the watchman, you try to choke back the mother of tea in the process. It's a surprisingly monolithic mass of bacterial waste, you find, and is at once extremely spicy and incredibly rich. Your eyes start to water uncontrollably as you swallow and attempt to ask a question. Wicked King, what is?
Wicked King, the watchman thinks. First, foremost. Bad king, head came off. Still would not die. Broke something. Not dying easier now. Also grew bog. Less damp in past. Now deep and black. Ate mountains, ate forests, ate hills, ate animals. Now just bog. And more bog. And things above bog. And more bog.
Leif Erikson, Miner
- Itchy Woolen Britches (worn)
- A Word: INEVITABLE
- A Word: APOCALYPSE
- Body Count: 228
- Mead of Poetry (5 shining revelations remaining)
- Enders' Friend: The Grave of Red Clouds Parting
- Inscribed Wooden Stylus
- Iron spear
- 1.03 gp
- The Box: ?
- Induced Lucidity: the Aftermath, or the New Beginning
- Compatibility: Minding
- Tricks of the Mind: Perception, Memory
- Tricks of the Mind: Engagement, Negation, Abstraction, Prestige
- Tricks of the Mind: the Self, the Other
- Gods of the Underground: Did You Just What
- A Visit From The Stork: Is What You Yes
- The Voracious Dark: Two Deals Made
- The Voracious Dark: The Promised Sixth
- Moth's Flight: the Thief of Thoughts
- An Ancient Sea: The Hedonist's Inspiration
- The Miracle of Life: An Improper Guest
Eileen Minett, Vinyl Collector
- Naked
- Rusty, bloodstained knife
- A Word: HUNGER
- A Word: SYNTHESIS
- A Weapon: Explosive Cysts
- Grenade Jumping: A Solid Technique
- The Good Doctor: Secret Histories
- Higher Tonight: There And Back Again
Jack Daniels, Karate Man
- Naked
- Red and gold vest and breeches combo
- Leather boots
- Traces of Mischief: 90% Boneless
- Wounds: 1
- 14033 gp (in sack)
- The Queen's Guard: Tentative Asset
- Powers of the Beyond: Gardener of Thoughts
- Garden of Thoughts: the Stoat-Magistrate
- Dusty Wooden Speaking-Trumpet
- Crossbow Bolt (in throat)
- A Word: REND
- A Word: SILENCE
- A Weapon: Murder-Thought
- Uncoupled: Strength
- Wooden Door
- The Winding Path of Inspiration: Run Like Hell
- Tower of the Mind: Endless Well of Mystery
- Induced Lucidity: A Garden Well-Tended
- Elongated Affairs: Enemy of the New State
- A Place In History: Vastly Unreliable
- Anglefork Castle: the Great Worm
- 2 rats, crushed
- 1 rat, strangled
- 1 rat, live
- Travels In The Fourth Dimension: Sunday ± 2 Days
- Doomstones: So High Up But Such A Bitter View
- The Majordomo: A Great Divide Between Us Now
- The Voracious Dark: Decreasing Demand
- The Voracious Dark: More Specific Requests
- The Good Doctor: An Eager Listener
- Body Count: 3
Thomas Minstep, Insurance Agent
- Troubles In Anglefork Town: Bearer of the Sword
- A Word: ABSENCE
- A Word: GOODBYE
- The Doom Guard: A Productive Discussion
- A Weapon: The Sword They Fear
- Traces of Mischief: Whole-Body Radioactive Burn
- A Bowl, Black and Knobby
- Tight Leather Pants (worn)
- Incredibly Tight Blue Dress (worn, mutilated, mildly provocative)
- Travels In The Fourth Dimension: Sunday, July 25th, 409 S.D.
- The Good Doctor: An Island of Sanity
- The Queen's Guard: A Reward Well Earned
- The New Queen: Lasting Gratitude
- Lonely Roads: The Man, The Legend
- The One They Fear: A Satisfactory Contract
- The Box: Absolutely Delightful
- Body Count: 2
Oscar Wilde, Chemistry Teacher
- A Word: REVELATION
- Wounds: 2
- Traces of Mischief: Glowing Facial Rift
- The Serpent's Egg: Dissemination
- Body Count: 4
- Time-ender's measure (wrapped, processing? stopping?)
- 10 m of rope
- Half a candle
- 1 rat, skinless and smoked
- 6 gp
- Poor Misshapen Dice
- Lock of Hair (unidentified)
- Iron nail, unused
- An Inauspicious Key
- Burlap Foot Wrappings (worn)
- Burlap Hand Wrappings (worn)
- Moth-Eaten Hat (worn)
- Respectable Brown Skirt (worn)
- Old Brown Waistcoat (worn)
- Bright Yellow Tunic (worn)
- A Wealth of Burlap Ribbons
- The Winding Path of Inspiration: The Less Dangerous Friend
- Fuligin Gates: A Guest At The Watch-House
Author
Topic: Our Salvation: It Is Written (Read 263616 times)