twisting passages by Millimax | World Anvil

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Wolfsday, 14 Blooming 998 Y.K.

twisting passages

by Millimax

 last time we were in the sewers zer' did a great job of mapping so that this time we knew where not to bother looking for lem
 so we headed directly to where we'd left off and started exploring again
 we found a spot that had caved in but was partially cleared away which seemed pretty strong evidence of activity so we investigated
 and accidentally set off a makeshift alarm which alerted a small group of angry folks carrying weapons
 
 we tried to hide so they'd pass right by but spark couldn't conceal her flame-mane enough so they found us and they tore right past the diplomatic option pretty much instantly
 one of them cracked a whip to force two small goblins to charge at us which is several flavors of messed up
 another of them shot a crossbow bolt at me! but spark caught it and threw it right back and they didn't dodge so ... what goes around comes around?
 
 and then there was the mage
 medya sang them to sleep briefly but they woke up a little too quickly and used their sickle to cut open ... a rough portal between planes?
 i can only describe what reached out at us as "ghost tongues" and several of us got licked
 but bell managed to get the mage to drop their sickle and lose control of the tongues which dragged them screaming into the portal which then vanished
 never summon anything you can't outrun
 
 speaking of freeing forced combatants
 bell and spark took down the whip-cracker and i had no trouble encouraging the goblins to flee
 one of them grabbed the newly-ownerless whip and ran off with it and i hope they see it as a souvenir and not a promotion
 then we took a break because when you see a crossbow bolt headed directly at you whether it hits or not you need some time to recover
 that goes double for otherworldly ghost tongues
 
 soon after we found a door with a simple locking spell that bell coaxed open
 i'm not squeamish around the dead and none were visible but the hallway we entered was part of the "necropolis of shaarat" and it creeped me out
 when we got to the door crucible told us was lem's we knocked and he thought cinnabar was visiting but once we explained that we were friends of gears he let us in
 he had a sort of hodge-podge laboratory for alchemical work set up in there!
 
 it didn't take long to see that he was very anxious about cinnabar and when we asked he admitted to needing some help to get out of a very unsafe situation
 he'd been down there for years to do some other job but cinnabar found him and forced him to help her make dust
 and then cazha wedged herself into the dust trade and cinnabar pushed lem for more production so he'd been run completely ragged for some time
 this is not how a healthy economy operates
 
 we asked how we could help and lem asked us to tell cinnabar he wanted out of the whole mess
 when we found her door we knocked and said we were there to talk about dust so she opened up
 relic took one look and said that there was something very wrong in her that needed banishing by any means
 normally i spend more time questioning that sort of lethal intent but my gut told me that he was absolutely right
 as a supporting argument there's what happened next
 
 cinnabar looked at relic and said something in an unfamiliar language that he somehow knew
 then she pulled out a crossbow and shot at the floor
 glass shattered and then there was a cloud of pink gas
 then i suddenly felt annoyed at the others in our group as though ... they were to blame for all my frustration and discomfort? or they were in my way somehow and holding me back?
 the memories feel alien now but in the moment i felt spiteful in a way i never had before
 
 that pink gas must have had the same heart-twisting effect on bell because she came at me with her new hammer but the shield spell in my legs protected me
 i felt that i should retaliate but before i could i caught a glimpse of medya
 know that i would never hurt her and i would give up everything up to and including my life before i would hurt her but in that state i couldn't feel any of that love
 i steadied and i aimed and
 i missed
 i'm so glad i missed
 
 i was so distracted by what i'd just done that spark was able to land some solid blows on me
 i knew she wasn't in control and i don't blame her at all but i'm glad she's usually on my side because wow that hurt!
 then cinnabar hit bell and i with lightning – ouch again! – so we both used a spell i call "rebuke" that reflected much of her violence right back at her
 which stunned her enough that relic had the opportunity to
 ...
 cut her head off
 
 and that was that
 with the effect of the gas cleared we took a little time to share much-needed healing and apologies and comfort before we explored her lab
 her writings were a mix of research notes and diary entries about being "born into pain" and how much she loathed her captors ...?
 and then there was a barrel full of a crystallized substance she called "raw" that glowed the same hue of violet that her metamatrix had
 it looks her body produced the precursor to dust
 
 some of her writing was the same as spark saw in her dragon-prophecy-induced vision and likely what she spoke to relic so that's an interesting connection
 we packed up her notes and equipment into zer's convenient psionic pocket-world
 bell reminded me that we could both learn a lot from an autopsy so we put cinnabar's body in there also but not until after i remembered an obligation to pass along a message
 "by the way ... lem wants out"
 another task off the checklist
 
 with lem freed from cinnabar's grip he was ready to leave the sewer but he said he'd need our help to find a safehouse
 turns out he was down there because it was the only place he felt safe enough to do that first job which involved taking care of someone
 we promised to help
 guess what? that someone is "morran decannith" – most of a sickly human with a forged forearm
 he tried to do what i'm trying to do but he did it wrong
 there's no harmony there and it's killing him

Continue reading...

  1. look how organized i am also i got knifed today
    Griffinsday, 13 Seeding 998 Y.K.
  2. can't get their face out of my mind
    Griffinsday, 13 Seeding 998 Y.K.
  3. the days are way longer in khorvaire
    Wolfsday, 14 Seeding 998 Y.K.
  4. good medicine
    Wolfsday, 14 Seeding 998 Y.K.
  5. writing this down so i can get some sleep
    Wolfsday, 14 Seeding 998 Y.K.
  6. good morning
    Flamesday, 15 Seeding 998 Y.K.
  7. this motley group
    Flamesday, 15 Seeding 998 Y.K.
  8. errand day one
    Flamesday, 15 Seeding 998 Y.K.
  9. sleep and the self-made pony
    Bearsday, 16 Seeding 998 Y.K.
  10. errand day two
    Bearsday, 16 Seeding 998 Y.K.
  11. gryphon appreciation day
    Bearsday, 16 Seeding 998 Y.K.
  12. wait what now
    Bearsday, 16 Seeding 998 Y.K.
  13. that campus map
    Bearsday, 16 Seeding 998 Y.K.
  14. they love to overdo everything here
    Bearsday, 16 Seeding 998 Y.K.
  15. qualms
    Crownsday, 17 Seeding 998 Y.K.
  16. message in a dream
    Thronesday, 18 Seeding 998 Y.K.
  17. and points north
    Wolfsday, 20 Seeding 998 Y.K.
  18. breland blue
    Wolfsday, 20 Seeding 998 Y.K.
  19. a modest prophecy
    Wolfsday, 20 Seeding 998 Y.K.
  20. stabbed in the neck by a sunbeam
    Flamesday, 21 Seeding 998 Y.K.
  21. gifts for all
    Bearsday, 22 Seeding 998 Y.K.
  22. zone of twilight
    Crownsday, 23 Seeding, 998 Y.K.
  23. everything and lots of it
    Crownsday, 23 Seeding, 998 Y.K.
  24. counting from zero
    Thronesday, 24 Seeding 998 Y.K.
  25. returns and investments
    Thronesday, 30 Seeding 998 Y.K.
  26. found in translation
    Crownsday, 7 Blooming 998 Y.K.
  27. going with the flow
    Thronesday, 12 Blooming, 998 Y.K.
  28. rescue arrangers
    Thronesday, 12 Blooming, 998 Y.K.
  29. calm but collected
    Griffinsday, 13 Blooming 998 Y.K.
  30. twisting passages
    Wolfsday, 14 Blooming 998 Y.K.
  31. he did it wrong
    Wolfsday, 14 Blooming 998 Y.K.
  32. what works and what doesn't
    Flamesday, 15 Blooming 998 Y.K.
  33. cazha bloodwing only knows one game
    Bearsday, 16 Blooming 998 Y.K.
  34. . . .
    Bearsday, 16 Blooming 998 Y.K.
  35. gravity
    Crownsday, 17 Blooming 998 Y.K.
  36. mistaken
    Wolfsday, 20 Blooming 998 Y.K.
  37. today's the day
    Bearsday, 28 Blooming 998 Y.K.
  38. it worked it worked it worked!
    Bearsday, 28 Blooming 998 Y.K.
  39. so i chatted with another goddess
    Bearsday, 28 Blooming 998 Y.K.
  40. i'm sitting as fast as i can
    Griffinsday, 1 Sunfall 998 Y.K.
  41. strange day so far
    Wolfsday, 2 Sunfall 998 Y.K.
  42. startling eve
    Wolfsday, 2 Sunfall 998 Y.K.
  43. i hope there's coffee because i sure could do with some
    Flamesday, 3 Sunfall 998 Y.K.
  44. hard work's reward is more work
    Flamesday, 3 Sunfall 998 Y.K.
  45. those who can't do ... steal
    Bearsday, 4 Sunfall 998 Y.K.
  46. d'cannith jorlanna throws lousy parties
    Bearsday, 4 Sunfall 998 Y.K.
  47. motivations redoubled
    Crownsday, 5 Sunfall 998 Y.K.
  48. i learned this from bipeds
    Thronesday, 6 Sunfall 998 Y.K.
  49. into the arcane congress
    Thronesday, 6 Sunfall 998 Y.K.
  50. oh and there's a killer on the loose
    Griffinsday, 7 Sunfall 998 Y.K.
  51. up all night to get published
    Bearsday, 10 Sunfall 998 Y.K.
  52. the thanks i get
    Bearsday, 10 Sunfall 998 Y.K.
  53. order of operations
    Bearsday, 10 Sunfall 998 Y.K.
  54. technically not the worst day of my life
    Bearsday, 10 Sunfall 998 Y.K.
  55. fighting our fears
    Crownsday, 11 Sunfall 998 Y.K.
  56. i don't like surprises
    Crownsday, 11 Sunfall 998 Y.K.
  57. unsettled
    Crownsday, 11 Sunfall 998 Y.K.
  58. more unsettled
    Griffinsday, 13 Sunfall 998 Y.K.
  59. happy gryphon's day
    Griffinsday, 13 Sunfall 998 Y.K.
  60. burning issues
    Bearsday, 16 Sunfall 998 Y.K.
  61. it's been a week already?
    Bearsday, 16 Sunfall 998 Y.K.
  62. awkward in aundair
    Crownsday, 17 Sunfall 998 Y.K.
  63. lab results
    Crownsday, 17 Sunfall 998 Y.K.
  64. hard fighting's reward is more fighting
    Crownsday, 17 Sunfall 998 Y.K.
  65. forbidden tome
    Thronesday, 18 Sunfall 998 Y.K.
  66. heart of flame
    Thronesday, 18 Sunfall 998 Y.K.
  67. jorlanna's burden
    Wolfsday, 20 Sunfall 998 Y.K.
  68. long distance
    Bearsday, 22 Sunfall 998 Y.K.
  69. this week's summery
    Crownsday, 29 Sunfall 998 Y.K.
  70. i'm just a little hoarse
    Griffinsday, 1 Offering 999 Y.K.
  71. outside influence
    Griffinsday, 7 Offering 999 Y.K.
  72. hoofprints
    Flamesday, 9 Offering 999 Y.K.
  73. when it rains it pours
    Bearsday, 10 Offering 999 Y.K.
  74. what did we learn today?
    Crownsday, 11 Offering 999 Y.K.
  75. impressions
    Griffinsday, 13 Offering 999
  76. chilling effect
    Wolfsday, 14 Offering 999 Y.K.
  77. forming a queue
    Flamesday, 15 Offering 999 Y.K.
  78. helpful friends
    Thronesday, 18 Offering 999 Y.K.
  79. being heard
    Thronesday, 18 Offering 999 Y.K.
  80. inside influence
    Wolfsday, 20 Offering 999 Y.K.
  81. this shopping list confuses me
    Bearsday, 22 Offering 999 Y.K.
  82. senseless
    Thronesday, 24 Offering 999 Y.K.
  83. contrast and compare
    Thronesday, 24 Offering 999 Y.K.
  84. digging for rocks
    Wolfsday, 26 Offering 999 Y.K.
  85. well defended
    Flamesday, 28 Offering 999 Y.K.
  86. misrepresentation
    Thronesday, 30 Offering 999 Y.K.
  87. taking it back
    Griffinsday, 1 Reaping 999 Y.K.
  88. facing responsibility
    Wolfsday, 2 Reaping 999 Y.K.
  89. abundance of caution
    Crownsday, 5 Reaping 999 Y.K.
  90. stress tests
    Thronesday, 6 Reaping 999 Y.K.
  91. sykes is making a huge mistake
    Griffinsday, 7 Reaping 999 Y.K.
  92. the difference between silence and quiet
    Flamesday, 9 Reaping 999 Y.K.
  93. noise
    Bearsday, 10 Reaping 999 Y.K.
  94. always use protection
    Thronesday, 12 Reaping 999 Y.K.
  95. into so many pieces
    Griffinsday, 13 Reaping 999 Y.K.
  96. control
    Griffinsday, 13 Reaping 999 Y.K.
  97. composure regained
    Bearsday, 16 Reaping 999 Y.K.
  98. pressure and heat
    Crownsday, 23 Reaping 999 Y.K.
  99. the king is dead
    Thronesday, 24 Reaping 999 Y.K.
  100. all kinds of progress
    Bearsday, 10 Leaffall 999 Y.K.
  101. howling intensifies
    Bearsday, 10 Leaffall 999 Y.K.
  102. don't call it a setback
    Crownsday, 11 Leaffall 999 Y.K.
  103. land of the dead
    Flamesday, 15 Leaffall 999 Y.K.
  104. getting on well with the locals
    Crownsday, 17 Leaffall 999 Y.K.
  105. just passing through
    Griffinsday, 19 Leaffall 999 Y.K.
  106. that's enough i get it stop with the wolves already
    Flamesday, 21 Leaffall 999 Y.K.
  107. gathering
    Bearsday, 22 Leaffall 999 Y.K.
  108. flavors of karrnath
    Crownsday, 23 Leaffall 999 Y.K.
  109. surprises
    Thronesday, 24 Leaffall 999 Y.K.
  110. creatures and comforts
    Thronesday, 24 Leaffall 999 Y.K.
  111. moving pieces
    Thronesday, 30 Leaffall 999 Y.K.
  112. improvisation
    Griffinsday, 1 Sowing 999 Y.K.
  113. old
    Wolfsday, 2 Sowing 999 Y.K.
  114. bite the sky
    Crownsday, 5 Sowing 999 Y.K.
  115. class roster
    Crownsday, 11 Sowing 999 Y.K.
  116. our visit to fort deepdark
    Griffinsday, 13 Sowing 999 Y.K.
  117. purple waves of grain
    Flamesday, 15 Sowing 999 Y.K
  118. rest
    Crownsday, 17 Sowing 999 Y.K.
  119. the mournland is unpleasant and i'm glad we'll be visiting again
    Thronesday, 18 Sowing 999 Y.K.
  120. d'cannith zorlan makes lousy decisions
    Thronesday, 18 Sowing 999 Y.K.
  121. cold comfort
    Bearsday, 22 Sowing 999 Y.K.
  122. reaching out
    Crownsday, 23 Sowing 999 Y.K.
  123. larger than we appear
    Flamesday, 27 Sowing 999 Y.K.
  124. user serviceable
    Flamesday, 27 Sowing 999 Y.K.
  125. completion's sake
    Bearsday, 28 Sowing 999 Y.K.
  126. flavors of zilargo
    Thronesday, 30 Sowing 999 Y.K.
  127. so glad he doesn't snore
    Griffinsday, 1 Marking 999 Y.K.
  128. closing the distance
    Crownsday, 5 Marking 999 Y.K.
  129. butting heads
    Flamesday, 9 Marking 999 Y.K.
  130. the goats loved it
    Flamesday, 9 Marking 999 Y.K.
  131. marks
    Wolfsday, 14 Marking 999 Y.K.
  132. safety in numbers
    Bearsday, 16 Marking 999 Y.K.
  133. seen
    Crownsday, 17 Marking 999 Y.K.
  134. gut wrenching
    Crownsday, 17 Marking 999 Y.K.
  135. it's still grey
    Griffinsday, 25 Marking 999 Y.K.
  136. warped
    Flamesday, 27 Marking 999 Y.K.
  137. exposed
    Thronesday, 30 Marking 999 Y.K.
  138. company town
    Thronesday, 30 Marking 999 Y.K.
  139. grace notes
    Griffinsday, 1 Snowfall 999 Y.K.
  140. disconnected
    Wolfsday, 2 Snowfall 999 Y.K.
  141. why won't this place just let us do our thing and leave
    Flamesday, 3 Snowfall 999 Y.K.
  142. adding lightness
    Crownsday, 5 Snowfall 999 Y.K.
  143. terms and conditions
    Flamesday, 21 Snowfall 999 Y.K.
  144. something unexpected
    Thronesday, 24 Snowfall 999 Y.K.
  145. four legs good
    Thronesday, 30 Snowfall 999 Y.K.
  146. ander reed knows how to have a good time
    Highnight, 999 Y.K.
  147. dreams coming true
    Bearsday, 4 Frosting 999 Y.K.
  148. dreams uncaught
    Crownsday, 5 Frosting 999 Y.K.
  149. scattered light
    Crownsday, 6 Frosting 999 Y.K.
  150. travel plans
    Griffinsday, 7 Frosting 999 Y.K.
  151. this motley crew
    Flamesday, 9 Frosting 999 Y.K.
  152. sea feast
    Griffinsday, 13 Frosting 999 Y.K.
  153. wrecked
    Bearsday, 16 Frosting 999 Y.K.
  154. digging deeper
    Griffinsday, 19 Frosting 999 Y.K.
  155. family legacy
    Flamesday, 21 Frosting 999 Y.K.
  156. too thick to fail
    Bearsday, 22 Frosting 999 Y.K.
  157. loud and clear
    Bearsday, 22 Frosting 999 Y.K.
  158. paint what you know
    Griffinsday, 25 Frosting 999 Y.K.
  159. she really left her hoofprints all over
    Crownsday, 29 Frosting 999 Y.K.

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by 3 Armored Kittens · Prodromos v.1.1 - World Anvil 0.9.15.009 © 2017-2024 [en] | Anvil Time: 05:45, Apr 29 2024