goodnight, you moonlight ladies
Remi Taliesin
the Bastion


Age: 31 | Height: 5'11 | Race: Demi-god | Nationality: Outlander | Citizenship: Torchline
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#15
Я
It was a good thought. Remi said with a pulse of fervent agreement. And it was something. We learn as much from our failures, and all that." He added a touch more dryly than he meant. He was a sort-of scientist after all, and though he did think they had taken something away from the Spire (other than despair), optimism seemed like too lofty a target just now.

The greatwood itself? Do the fae know? The manticore wondered. Perhaps they were right to want to keep us from their woods.

The topic of the Voice brought a continued pulse of confusion and helplessness from the giant creature, who, for all his newfound venom and strength was just as helpless as he'd always been in the face of villains far more clever and complex than he. Is it naive to wish the gods would...tell us their thoughts on all of this. I would feel a good deal better to know what it is they plan or want. The storms seem clearly a measure to keep us and this situation contained, but... The manticore shook his head, large body compensating for the upset in balance easily. ..I cannot help but feel as though I am playing a game I have no hope of understanding.

Nervousness and fear sparked in tandem at the mention of Arduinna's name. I was going to go and see Ianto and see what he thought of her. She...gave me a charm which she said would protect Aoife from contracting the blight. If she can make more, I would like to know. Though if she indeed can, but hasn't, I can only wonder at her price. And if she couldn't? Well that would just be another dead end in a long series of them.

Jigano's worries had kept the alchemist up for many a night. Ronin's temper had gotten the best of him on many an occasion, and though so far it was only his words he lashed out with, many of their training dummies had not been so lucky. There was a time that Remi wouldn't even let his husband near Aoife, though the starlit girl seemed to be all that could universally calm the hunter's blackening soul. Yes. He agreed, and though he didn't elaborate, the colossal weight of all his agreement entailed strangled the mental word nearly beyond understanding.
Speaks with a thick Italian accent.
Force and magic can be used against Remi without permission.
Jigano Silversmith
the Sage
Provost of the Loreseekers Soul Shepherd
Portal Guardian
Age: 36 | Height: 6'2" | Race: Attuned x Abandoned | Nationality: Outlander | Citizenship: Hollowed Grounds
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#16
Remi's words were welcome, not least because Jigano wryly admitted that he would have said as much himself if their positions had been reversed. He sent a flicker of gratitude across the link, appreciating the encouragement not least because it wasn't further approbation for his mistakes. The question about the Fae was enough to make Jigano pause in his flight, gliding and falling a little behind for a moment before he stroked his wings to catch up. I assumed Arduinna knew. She was the one who showed me the blight the first time. But... perhaps she does not know the time frame. When I go to speak to her I'll remember to mention it. Thank you for reminding me. He fluffed his feathers up a little at the other reminder, that they should not have gone into the woods in the first place.

If it was the Ascended that spread the blight, and the Voice sent them in to the Woods... I don't think we could have stopped them, he said at last. Might as well say we shouldn't have brought down the barrier. Which someone might say, he added with a wry, bitter humor. As much as I hate to think that way. I don't know if there was ever a right answer. Freeing the Voice may kill the Greatwood, but staying in the barrier was killing the people of the Hollowed Grounds.

Remi's description of the gods and their games drew a fervent note of agreement from the raven, mixed with a twist of resolve. They move on a greater scale than we can see, the bard said, the words slow as he considered them. We think in years, they think in centuries. We move across miles, they move across continents. And on my world the gods had limits to what they could do, imposed to help protect the mortal world and mortal minds from the struggles of gods occurring in scales we simply were not equipped to handle. He paused thoughtfully, winging along beside the manticore and watching the night-dark forest beneath them. Then, too, they might not trust us. From their perspective I can only guess but... Those of us who are outlanders have been here a year or less. The Naturals didn't stop the freeing of the Voice from her prison, or at least didn't do enough to prevent it, and they may be the descendants of the Voice's original followers. Even those of us who are pious by nature have friends among the Ascended. Perhaps they are waiting for us to prove ourselves worthy of being helped more. Or perhaps they are distracted by their own responsibilities to the rest of the world, of which we are only one corner. He tilted his head, a wry pulse of amusement flickering through the link. If faith were easy, we'd be swimming in priests.

Mention of the charm had Jigano perking up considerably. I would give much to get one for Rory, he admitted. Can you study it? Perhaps find a way to recreate it with your own magic? He would have frowned if his beak had been so mobile, instead croaking softly to himself. Then again, your magic comes at a price as well, in the energy you spend on it. I wonder the personal cost Arduinna paid, for making that charm? That may be what limits their creation, or else I'm sure she would protect the Fae as well.

Hearing the cost of Remi's agreement with what might need to be done before too much longer silenced the bard, who knew full well that it would not be the blighted who paid the heaviest price, but their loved ones. He sent a quiet pulse of regret and support to the younger man, chirring quietly in the back of his throat. Whatever Remi, Rory, and rest would need to do to protect themselves, Jigano already forgave them, and he knew Ronin would too.
Remi Taliesin
the Bastion


Age: 31 | Height: 5'11 | Race: Demi-god | Nationality: Outlander | Citizenship: Torchline
Level: 15 - Strg: 68 - Dext: 60 - Endr: 100 - Luck: 93 - Int: 3
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#17
Я
Flying slowly was difficult, especially for a creature as large as the manticore. A certain amount of speed was necessary to keep his body aloft, and though the same could be said for the raven, their relative speeds were vastly different. Feel free to hitch a ride. I have been told I am rather roomy. Remi offered with an awkward and bashful sort of laugh. He couldn't see a world where the bard would want to accept a ride from him, but given the Sage's sickness and the fact that his smaller body was likely working much harder than Remi's, the offer seemed necessary, if not the kind thing to do.

I will not pretend to know anything of Arduinna's mindset. The manticore returned with a dismal sort of inward curling at the unkind memories he had of her.

As indeed they do. Remi agreed. There were many who argued that the barrier shouldn't have come down, Amalia's soft voice perhaps one of them. It went against everything the Old Gods dictated, and yet for all of their warnings, nothing too cataclysmic had happened. Then again, death loomed on the horizon for the populous and the woods, so perhaps that's exactly what they were experiencing. The barrier would have come down eventually. If not us, someone else. Outlanders, naturals...it does not matter now. And, for all their bickering, it really didn't.

Listening with a curious interest as Jigano spoke, finding his metaphors more than apt and indeed causing Remi's soul to suddenly feel appropriately shrunken in this new context. I...think I understand. But it does not help with how I feel. The alchemist returned with a boyish but honest chuckle. Scales, justifications, explanations...the bard was likely quite right, but still the pit of despair persisted in the alchemist's stomach. Busy I can understand...and yet they have found time to remove my feelings, my memories...my eyesight... It wasn't self-pity, just an observation; the gods had time to meddle but were also too busy to aid?

As Ianto has told me many a time, Arduinna is always open to barter... The alchemist said, though with an inherent warning in his tone. I...have not, no. I worry about removing it from Aoife, and studying anything on a toddler is near impossible. I worry too about removing whatever magic it has in the process. To be honest, I understand very little of my creation magic. The alchemist admitted perhaps guiltily, but just as readily. Indeed...and I know Ianto has said as much. That it is out of her power to cure this entirely.

Swallowing down uneasy thoughts of pits, locked doors, and mouths spewing black vomit, the alchemist pulled in a breath sending a wave of gratitude towards the bard as they flew onward. The sickness...does not end in death. Safrin told Ronin as much. The alchemist revealed in a low and trembling voice.
Speaks with a thick Italian accent.
Force and magic can be used against Remi without permission.
Jigano Silversmith
the Sage
Provost of the Loreseekers Soul Shepherd
Portal Guardian
Age: 36 | Height: 6'2" | Race: Attuned x Abandoned | Nationality: Outlander | Citizenship: Hollowed Grounds
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#18
The raven would never have expected the offer of a ride, and Remi's phrasing sparked something that ached within him, fresh grief of how Edy would have cackled at the unintended innuendo. The painful truth of the matter was, though, that however proud a corvid a raven was, it was still far too small to keep up with a manticore so many times larger than it. I appreciate it, he admitted, not wanting to come right out and say that his wings were beginning to ache. Something proud and angry gnashed its teeth in his breast at being condescended to by the young pup--

But his lungs were already burning, and Remi wasn't going to catch the blight just from touching him. Flapping up and over the great sweep of the manticore's wings, Jigano settled between two massive shoulderblades, behind the proud mane. If he thought of it like raptor-surfing, it wasn't quite so bad. Ravens had a proud history of riding larger hawks and eagles, after all. This was just part of his shape, a natural instinct.

Lies to make himself feel better, but they worked enough that he said nothing more about Arduinna's mindset, or the criticism still leveled about the barrier's fall. No, it does not, he agreed softly, taking to heart the point that they could not change the past. All they could do was move forward with the consequences of their actions... however heavy those consequences could be.

You have been used ungently by this world, the bard agreed. I can only guess at their reasons, not know them with any certainty, or even much proof. And from what he recalled, at least some of those punishments hadn't been without cause. He still shrank from the 'should haves' that people had been leveling at him recently though, and couldn't find the energy to turn them back on Remi now. What was done was done, and even he did not think the punishments had fit the scale of the alchemist's honest mistakes. Your eyesight, though... I thought that was Arduinna? he asked cautiously, curious to hear her listed among the gods in that context.

Was Arduinna ever spoken of without warning? Her power was great, but her reputation was dangerous, and Jigano had felt the weight of her interest with a shiver that still ran up his spine to remember. She would not be patient with mistakes, or forgiving of insult, however accidental... Nor would she likely replace the charm if anything happened to it. Still, at least you know now it can be done? he offered. I wonder... we talked about transmuting the plants in the Spire basement to something harmless. Were you able to do that? Have you tried transmuting a blighted plant back to its unblighted state, perhaps? It was something to try, at any rate. As they'd already said before, something was better than nothing.

Especially as time ran out for the Blighted. As went Ronin, so would the rest of them go, most likely. He had been sick for a shorter time than the Fallen Star, but how soon before he, too, was destroying the farmhouse for the smallest of accidents? Bad enough that he snapped at Rory and Isuma when the exhaustion became too much and his control slipped. Not death of the body, perhaps, he said, mental voice quiet and oddly gentle at the fear in Remi's voice. Perhaps he should have offered some platitude or reassurance, but given his own precarious future he found no point in lying. With how little is known of this, though, does anyone know what we will happen to us instead?
Remi Taliesin
the Bastion


Age: 31 | Height: 5'11 | Race: Demi-god | Nationality: Outlander | Citizenship: Torchline
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#19
Я
It was strange, sharing this moment with Jigano of all people. Though Remi had flown with a number of his avian compatriots before, only Ronin had ridden him (badtumtiss). Especially beneath the starlit skies above the enchanted woodland below, to share a moment that with a better mood might have been seen as intimate with the Sage of all people was...surprising, to say the least. But as the raven settled, the manticore picked up speed. It took significant effort to intentionally crawl through the skies as he had been. Wings beating with long and steady strokes the pair rose to become a silhouette against the moon for a shining moment of strange symbiotic glory.

What makes you think she should not be listed among them? The alchemist asked, a boyish brightness sparking an almost challenging tone. She answers prayers at shrines, seems to know a great deal more than any mortal, and possesses far more strength than we seem capable of. Understanding little of the gods, it seemed quite clear cut to Remi that if the likes of the Voice were considered a part of the pantheon, then so too was the wild fae.

I was, yes. It proved useful too. Had we not experimented I think things might have gone very differently. The plants seemed to be a part of the structure itself. The more Deimos and Ashetta destroyed, the faster the walls collapsed. As far as blighted plants went? Suddenly the air was filled with a lion's grumbly roar as Remi's mind laughed loudly. Do you know, it never even occurred to me to try. He said as his laughter eventually teetered off into something that words could be fit around.

I will surely have to try.

Stillness slipped from Remi's mind even as his body moved in elegant ways to carry them further over the Greatwood and then the Stonesong. Ripples of fear and an inky and ruined sort of blackness crippled the alchemist's thoughts as he strove to find the words to communicate just what it was the blight would do. You will become quite monstrous. He said eventually, his voice free of emotion but the gates of his mental tether seemingly covered with frost now. Safrin I believe said it was like a parasite. It would simply...take over. Your body a vessel for the madness..
Speaks with a thick Italian accent.
Force and magic can be used against Remi without permission.
Jigano Silversmith
the Sage
Provost of the Loreseekers Soul Shepherd
Portal Guardian
Age: 36 | Height: 6'2" | Race: Attuned x Abandoned | Nationality: Outlander | Citizenship: Hollowed Grounds
Level: 12 - Strg: 30 - Dext: 45 - Endr: 38 - Luck: 42 - Int:
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#20
It was strange to let someone else do the flapping, and probably looked stranger still to see the feathery little puddle of white against the manticore's richer, earthier tones, but the rest was more welcome than the raven had been willing to admit even to himself. He couldn't see the ground anymore from this new perch, so instead he tilted his head to the side, studying the stars above with one eye as he tried to find patterns in the points of light. Feeling Remi flex beneath him - and there was a phrase he'd never expected to use - was a little uncomfortable in the awkward acknowledgment that they were neither of them really close enough for such a situation to be natural.

And yet, thanks to the blight, they might have been closer than they'd ever been in their shared fear for their mutual loved ones.

I... had not thought of her that way before, Jigano admitted, amused at the spark of humor in the alchemist's tone and unable to deny his points. And she did come to help the Undine when Phoebe prayed... He croaked thoughtfully. She's very old, too, I think. Hundreds of years, perhaps nearly as old as the barrier. Very well, you have tentatively convinced me. He chortled a little, the sound a raspy little noise in his raven's throat. He hadn't expected to find a new way of looking at the world tonight, but amidst the darker revelations of the night it was more than welcome to have one that was lighter in tone.

Even if he had not been able to join them in braving the Spire - and he still fought the surge of petty anger, snarling blame that caused him to tense and go silent for a moment as he shook with the effort of keeping mind and mouth shut against it - still there was a flicker of pride that his suggestion had proven useful. He said nothing more, afraid of what would slip out if he tried to respond, but the booming laugh of the manticore startled him enough that it shook loose the attack of temper as he had to instead fight his raven's instinct to flee that mighty roar.

It might not help the animals or people... but if it works you could help to heal the Greatwood, and show the Fae how it's done. I hope that would do something to help bridge the differences between us. He might have book knowledge of human magic, but Jigano understood little of how Fae magic worked. There seemed to be some similarities, though, and he had seen Delah's earth magic in the Cloister, so he knew the Fae had thought. If they could also transmute, then they should be able to recreate anything that Remi showed them.

Assuming, of course, that it worked.

Even though he couldn't see directly beneath them, the raven could see the horizon and the curl of the Stonesong as they approached it before Remi's flight took them over the broad water. It moved too swiftly to reflect the sky, but the stars seemed to grow a little colder as both men were left to contemplate a future that held little warmth. Well, the bard said softly, and for long minutes that was all he said. When he spoke again there was resignation in his voice, but also a spark of defiance, dim and sullen though it was. It wouldn't be the first time. The Long Night monsters did something similar to us. Rory and... and Edy and I. I wonder... if there's a connection of some kind? The question was tentative, Jigano uncertain as he explored the connection Remi's words had sparked. The blight is new, but it came from the Voice, and the portal... did it come from the Spire, where the Core was held? And the Long Night monsters, Jiao said they don't have them outside the barrier. Are they connected to the Spire as well? He paused long enough that Remi might have thought him finished, but he continued in a low, thoughtful tone. I only recently found notes confirming that the Demon and the Prince were Ascended experiments. That Ascended abilities are not like magic. They are... items. Upgrades melded into their bodies. But those upgrades can be taken from one and put into another, if the first person dies. Remi... how many people, do you think, did the Voice and her people experiment on to learn how to do that? How many lost and angry souls died in torment in that Spire? The monsters of Long Night... could there be a connection? As mad as the Spire Demon, and as destructive, but without bodies to call their own anymore. Only rage, ancient and powerful enough to harm and kill those they can find in the dark... The lorekeeper trailed off, huddling down into the manticore's warm fur as the persistent chill of his illness suddenly struck deeper, turning his gut to ice at the possibility.
Remi Taliesin
the Bastion


Age: 31 | Height: 5'11 | Race: Demi-god | Nationality: Outlander | Citizenship: Torchline
Level: 15 - Strg: 68 - Dext: 60 - Endr: 100 - Luck: 93 - Int: 3
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#21
Я
The alchemist chuckled through the bond. Mentally he allowed himself to puff up slightly, mental feathers rippling at this unimportant victory; the comical intent being something like a sphere-shaped and far-too proud chicken.

I will certainly try. It might help Phoebe in her studies as well. I do not believe I could affect the blight once it is in a body but...it is worth knowing. As ironic as it would be, that the alchemist had the solution to his husband's problem this entire time, fate would certainly not be so kind. That, and the complexity that was human life seemed infinitely different from the sort of thing he was able to do with plants.

The alchemist had never really heard of what happened during the spark-bird perch fiasco. Not in any real detail anyways. They took over, you mean? Remi prompted gently. From what little he could read of the bard's mind, even nearly a year later the memories seemed bruised and rife with grief. Even so, if it had to do with the blight and a potential cure, he thought it worth asking the Sage to elaborate through the difficulty.

I...do not know what the portal has to do with it. Sam seemed fairly confident that it was the ascendeds presence in the Greatwood and theirs alone that spread the blight. The alchemist hummed back thoughtfully. It was so hard to know what was mere coincidence and what was actually linked. Like having the pieces of multiple puzzles all thrown together into one box.

What!? The manticore tensed beneath the raven, his massive wings continuing to make minor adjustments to their flight even as the bulk of Remi's weight suddenly shifted. A cold and growing darkness reached out from the alchemist's mind like vast tentacles as a shiver roared down his spine. That is horrible.. But not so horrible as the conclusion the bard was slowly knitting together. You mean to say...the monsters of LongNight are the ascended? Or...parts of them?

Images of Sam, of Isla, of Rexanna and Bastien and Wessex all curdled into monsters, slamming their fists at the door and speaking in voices not their own flashed before Remi's eyes. Panic rose like bile in the back of his throat and beneath the raven's clawed feet, the manticore trembled.
Speaks with a thick Italian accent.
Force and magic can be used against Remi without permission.
Jigano Silversmith
the Sage
Provost of the Loreseekers Soul Shepherd
Portal Guardian
Age: 36 | Height: 6'2" | Race: Attuned x Abandoned | Nationality: Outlander | Citizenship: Hollowed Grounds
Level: 12 - Strg: 30 - Dext: 45 - Endr: 38 - Luck: 42 - Int:
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#22
A fluffy manticore was a warm manticore, and Jigano appreciated Remi's silly puffed up mental image, more chicken than kitten, but holding a bit of both (and hardly any scorpion at all, thank goodness!). He mentally chuckled back, even if it felt strange to be laughing with the alchemist in something that resembled - or actually was? - camaraderie.

There was a bittersweet note to that realization; that several of those he had been close to before were now at a distance that he had created, and that there was no telling how much longer he would be able to enjoy laughter and jokes like these before what made him Jigano warped and twisted beneath the weight of the blight that bubbled in his blood, and only rage remained.

If you can transmute the plants back and show the Fae how to do so, so the Greatwood can be strengthened, it might at least slow the spread of the blight, he offered, suspecting that the alchemist's thoughts were with his husband, who was unfortunately made of meat, not vegetation. Even if it doesn't help those already infected, if it can prevent others from joining us it would still be a great gift. He held back from mentioning Aoife, the toddler's protection linked to Arduinna, who in turn was linked to the Greatwood, but despite their earlier mirth the maybe-goddess was a source of pain for Remi that didn't bear lingering on.

Not when there were other things to dig up bad memories waiting in the wings, so to speak. The prompt earned a croak from his beak rather than an immediate thought, and Jigano shifted uneasily against Remi's thick fur and feathers, fluffing up his own plumage unhappily at the reminder of a past he knew he would have to revisit in the coming season. Not... exactly, he admitted, a flicker of shame underlying his mental voice. I would not say that we were controlled so much as... manipulated? Yes, our emotions were manipulated. Not unlike the blightrage, actually. In some ways, at least. He fell silent again, musing - brooding - over how to describe what had happened. He spoke slowly when he was ready, sounding a little uncertain at first but growing more confident as he went on. It was not as though we were forced to feel anything that was not already there, but that they reached into our minds and hearts and... and stoked what already existed, stirring up the tiniest flickers of resentment or annoyance and amplifying them, magnifying them, until they were an all-consuming rage that could only be sated with violence. It was more sudden than the blight, more focused, but... there are similarities, yes.

And as unsettling as that thought was, it led into another scrap of evidence for the hypothesis that crystallized in the cold Leafchange night, horrifying and far too terrible to be true.

Right?

The portal wasn't nearly as important as the rest of it, the connections between a goddess as twisted as the first Iron God of Jigano's world and the unquiet souls that sought vengeance against the living. Ghosts in the machines, amid the fallen monuments of a civilization that had sailed the stars as humans sailed the seas... and ghosts among the lightless time between the old year and the new. Would Ronin's starshine serve to keep them at bay when he himself had already fallen to the blight?

Would Ronin still be alive - his mind, the essence of who he was - when Long Night came?

Steady, Remi, the raven urged, unsure whether he could soothe the alchemist when his own temper flared and sparked unpredictably at the nightmare possibility his mind had conjured. He tensed as well, wings half-open and risking being swept from the manticore's back as he fought to steady himself, reminding himself as much as Remi not to lash out prematurely. It's just a guess. Not even a hypothesis, really, just wild speculation. There's no proof, none at all. Scraps of information with little context and guesses to tie them together, not facts. And even if it is more truth than fantasy, the current Ascended aren't to blame. The lost souls might not even be Ascended, not as we know them... not entirely. Not if the Voice experimented on Accepted or even Abandoned and Attuned as well. If I'm right - and gods least fortunate, I hope I'm not - then these would be the souls of those lost long ago, maybe even before the barrier was raised, not those still living. Had the Demon been an Abandoned, once? Had the Prince been Attuned? Or had they been something else entirely, never human at all, but artificial souls placed in artificial bodies? Questions, questions, so many questions, but the answers might prove to be even worse.

And not necessarily survivable.
Remi Taliesin
the Bastion


Age: 31 | Height: 5'11 | Race: Demi-god | Nationality: Outlander | Citizenship: Torchline
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#23
Я
I think...Ronin mentioned that at this rate, the Greatwood only had a year or so to live. It felt like eons of time compared to what Remi's husband had, but in the big scheme of things, thinking of the wood as its own complex organism, the timeline was probably quite similar. Which was just to say, they were still very much running out of time.

The alchemist rumbled a low growl in response to the Sage's further description. For one who'd had memories and emotions wiped, Remi was yet to have them manipulated. At least not by magical means; men, of course. Magic? Not yet. Hopefully, not ever. Gods that sounds terrible. The alchemist thought flatly; stating the obvious had never felt so unhelpful before and the thoughts rang hollow in his ears. But you are right. It is not unlike the blight...Having experience both... Well, Jigano hardly needed Remi to spell it out. Many of Ronin's outbursts had the tiniest kernel of validity to them, amplified and twisted by the blight into something that at the time, seemed worthy of considerably anger.

Though the manticore did indeed steady as he was instructed, he very much did not want to. Perhaps it was simply Ronin's continued aggression wearing off on him, but tearing a few trees down with his considerable claws seemed like it would be a welcome balm to his nerves. And Ludo...surely if they were souls, it might know of it? Might...have a way of collecting them and rendering them inert?
Speaks with a thick Italian accent.
Force and magic can be used against Remi without permission.
Jigano Silversmith
the Sage
Provost of the Loreseekers Soul Shepherd
Portal Guardian
Age: 36 | Height: 6'2" | Race: Attuned x Abandoned | Nationality: Outlander | Citizenship: Hollowed Grounds
Level: 12 - Strg: 30 - Dext: 45 - Endr: 38 - Luck: 42 - Int:
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#24
Maybe less than that now, the bard admitted uncomfortably, his mind going back to a visit to the Glade and the beginning of his downward spiral. I spoke to Safrin about it towards the end of Longheat and she told me the Greatwood had a year left then... that was a full season ago. A quarter of the time lost already, unless they could find a way to slow the progression of the... disease? Parasite? Corruption? All of the above? But I don't know how we could expect anyone to be trying harder than they already are to cure it. There were already enough lives at risk to make the stakes too high to brush aside by anyone with a shred of compassion.

Not that talking about having his emotions twisted by Long Night monsters was any easier of a topic. Yes. A pulse of appreciation flickered erratically through the Attuned link. When it came to comparing whether having emotions or memories manipulated was worse, there was no such thing as a 'winner.' There was only heartache and regret in the wake of what had been lost or damaged beyond their control. Given how much he loved Rory, even through the rage that caused him to lash out with sharp words and violence against blameless crockery, he had no doubt that Ronin felt the same for Remi.

Felt the same shame and guilt afterwards, too, when the rage subsided and left them shaking and horrified at what they had done to someone they cared so much for.

Rising anger turned to fear, however, at the possibility of where the Long Night monsters might have come from. There is, Jigano admitted slowly, giving the manticore's questions careful thought. He fell silent then, ruffling his feathers as he settled back down between the alchemist's shoulder blades and found a bit more equilibrium before he spoke again. Ronin and I had talked a little, once, about working together during Long Night, but that was back in Longheat, before... before things changed. Many, many things. Mostly for the worse... but not all, as evidenced by a raven peacefully riding around on a manticore's back beneath the Leafchange stars. I offered to help Ludo collect lost souls, those that wouldn't come to the gods on their own. Those that might be dangerous to the living. They had already given me a song to draw innocent spirits, those that were merely lost after Long Night. It should also work on more dangerous ones. And I have a lantern that they made for me, one that should hold souls until I can deliver them to a shrine for Ludo and Mort to reclaim... if they can be reclaimed. The masked god had not seemed optimistic that those souls turned monstrous would have any place in the afterlife.

Whether or not I will be able to do that now, though... His infection was not as far along as Ronin's was, but that was no guarantee that he would be in any shape of mind to protect anyone from the monsters in the dark by Deepfrost's end.

Or from the monster he might become.
Remi Taliesin
the Bastion


Age: 31 | Height: 5'11 | Race: Demi-god | Nationality: Outlander | Citizenship: Torchline
Level: 15 - Strg: 68 - Dext: 60 - Endr: 100 - Luck: 93 - Int: 3
ORIA - Mythical - Spriggan (Ghost)
Played by: Odd Offline
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Posts: 10,723 | Total: 16,193
MP: 3059
#25
Я
Less time. Of course. Not unlike the hourglass Ronin had, the alchemist seemed to always think of it in the past. He has a season, the Greatwood has a year! But not, because time continued to pass regardless of the alchemist's progress. Regardless of any progress.

Was that before, or after LongNight of last year? The alchemist asked, of the gifted lantern. If it was after...then there was no way to know until the week was upon them, whether it could suss out the monstrous souls of the creatures that roamed the darkened nights.

Trying to find light in the dimness of all this, the manticore's mind sent a pulse of curiosity outwards. The more blighted you become...if indeed any of this has to do with the monsters...I wonder if you will be... It felt strange to say it, on the verge of death and all, "...safe. If the other monsters will leave you alone, or perhaps flock to you as one of their own?"
Speaks with a thick Italian accent.
Force and magic can be used against Remi without permission.
Jigano Silversmith
the Sage
Provost of the Loreseekers Soul Shepherd
Portal Guardian
Age: 36 | Height: 6'2" | Race: Attuned x Abandoned | Nationality: Outlander | Citizenship: Hollowed Grounds
Level: 12 - Strg: 30 - Dext: 45 - Endr: 38 - Luck: 42 - Int:
ISUMA - Mythical - Griffin (Venomous)
Played by: Cirago Offline
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Posts: 3,914 | Total: 7,219
MP: 10170
#26
Longheat, the raven revealed with a pulse of regret. I made the offer in the heat of summer, hoping to get ahead of the scramble for Long Night preparations this year. But... He paused, and there was a sense of a furrowed brow as he searched his memories. There is a lantern... the lantern that Ludo gave to Rory last Leafchange. Amalia borrowed it after Long Night, to guide the souls that the song called. I do not think it will hold them, but it might serve to distract the monsters. If this guess of angry ghosts is right, he cautioned. We didn't bring it with us to repair the perch last year though. We didn't know what effect it had then, aside from never running out of light. But I will ask if we may borrow it this year. More light is better than less.

The pulse of curiosity was a welcome distraction from the darkness of their thoughts, and Jigano tilted his head curiously, but the direction of Remi's questioning held innocently sharp edges as it turned painfully personal. The raven flinched in his perch, a small croak of dismay emerging from his beak, only to be whipped away by the wind of the manticore's passage. Gods least fortunate, as if there isn't enough nightmare fuel already? Jigano snapped, a pulse of anger flashing through their link. It was a brief thing, bright but quickly burning out as he fought to rein it back in.

That's... not an impossible outcome, he admitted grudgingly after a few long breaths to try and calm himself. His voice was still a little jagged, but the deliberate sharpness was hidden again. The only problem is that the more blighted we become... I become... the more of a monster I feel on the inside. If they leave me alone, but all I seek to do is howl and rend, it will do the rest of you little good. He paused before speaking again, a sliver of thoughtful hope peeking through the weary anger. But if we can even slow the blight's progress, keep a semblance of our minds intact... then, yes, it would make the blighted the ideal guardians to help those who end up outside or under attack.
Remi Taliesin
the Bastion


Age: 31 | Height: 5'11 | Race: Demi-god | Nationality: Outlander | Citizenship: Torchline
Level: 15 - Strg: 68 - Dext: 60 - Endr: 100 - Luck: 93 - Int: 3
ORIA - Mythical - Spriggan (Ghost)
Played by: Odd Offline
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Posts: 10,723 | Total: 16,193
MP: 3059
#27
Я
Ludo's lantern? The alchemist replied, a pulse of fear brightly coating the words. Beneath the raven the manticore shifted uncomfortably. Once...I saw a lantern like that. Following it led to.. Breathing and other bodily functions shouldn't have interrupted mental speech, and yet as the manticore gulped down a ball of worry in his throat, so too did his thoughts come to an abrupt halt. ..it led to death. To memories I would rather not have relived. To Ludo trying to trick me to giving up my soul. Whether Rory's lantern was the same, the alchemist could not say. All he knew is that he'd not follow that light for anything.

The whipcrack of anger in the bard's voice was a surprise, but perhaps it shouldn't have been. The alchemist took no offense, merely sending a pulse of wry agreement. At least there will be more room in the rathskeller...or the manor, if we all stay there. The alchemist chuckled darkly.

I know for Ronin, Aoife always seems to snap him out of his worst moments. Perhaps..perhaps we can find some sort of token for you all to carry, or that we might carry, to bring you back when we need to. What those totems would be though, the alchemist had no idea. Much as he'd like to think it was simply what they loved the most, they couldn't really know that with any real accuracy. Not with trial and likely considerable amounts of error.
Speaks with a thick Italian accent.
Force and magic can be used against Remi without permission.
Jigano Silversmith
the Sage
Provost of the Loreseekers Soul Shepherd
Portal Guardian
Age: 36 | Height: 6'2" | Race: Attuned x Abandoned | Nationality: Outlander | Citizenship: Hollowed Grounds
Level: 12 - Strg: 30 - Dext: 45 - Endr: 38 - Luck: 42 - Int:
ISUMA - Mythical - Griffin (Venomous)
Played by: Cirago Offline
Change author:
Posts: 3,914 | Total: 7,219
MP: 10170
#28
Remi had not, generally speaking, had the best of experiences with Ludo. Jigano had to remind himself of that as he felt the alchemist's fear slip through the bond between them, hoping that the impatience he felt was a result of the blight and not simply a lack of compassion on his part. He had to fight past the annoyed urge to snap at the younger man to buck up, forcing himself to chirr reassuringly, though the sound might have been stolen by the wind. Probably better not to follow any lights on Long Night unless they belong to the Spark Bird, he admitted with a shiver. I doubt they'll have anything to do with Ludo, but they might well lead to death. Oh, the tricks the Long Night monsters could play...

Remi's pulse of agreement, the gentle lack of offense he took, poured a little quelling guilt on Jigano's ire and he subsided, croaking quietly. The Rathskeller, he said firmly. Or at least, the Temple. If I can get Rory to agree to come in to town this year. Someone should mind the Infirmary, at least, now that Isla... Now that Isla could not.

Not that he had much hope that Rory would be willing to leave the farm this year, either, but he would at least try to convince his mate to shelter in town in case they needed to fix the perch again.

A token would be welcome. Something like Aoife's necklace. Something to protect our minds, even if our bodies betray us, Jigano agreed with a sad sort of not-really-optimism. It was a pleasant dream, at least, even if it probably wasn't possible.


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