Originally Posted by
Blueraven's Grimoire
A word to the wise: Don't ever try to blow up a city. In hindsight, it would've been much easier to just assassinate a few people the old fashioned way, fight my way out, uncover some randomly contrived new ability that would allow me to escape by the skin of my teeth. Maybe I'd pick up a spiffy new item of power. Maybe I'd actually get laid. Odds are, I'd have my heart broken in a thousand tiny bits and pieces, the world would look a little grimmer, and hey, I'd be on my way home already. My adventures hardly ever go past the week-long mark, generally speaking.
I'll add that more people would've probably died too. More people always die when I do things the easy way. That's probably why it's so easy.
How that'd work as compared to trying to blow up a city, I don't know. Anyway. I've spent most of the past two days, give or take, rambling through the junkyard territories to the Bay of Long Teeth's southeast. We just got out of the last few heaps some hours ago and have made our way into what signs indicate to be Grinwald, the Green Bush, the Greenback, or the whatever-it-is*. Relatively few actual trees to speak of. Lots of gigantic bushes. Some thorns. Less than you might think compared to the woodlands of Raiaera. Temperature drops pretty badly at night. Humidity is less than you would expect too. Feels like the kind of place that doesn't get much snow or rainfall and both Savas and I think that there's a river or lake underground. The confluence of leylines here matches up to that sort of thing. We haven't really run into any wildlife yet. Conveniently enough, and thankfully at that, none of us seems to immediately need food** yet. We've made steady progress through the forest so far. I'd be willing to guess we'll be on the other side by tomorrow.
We have no idea where the hells we're going. And I'm worried, honestly, about us.
Aeraul seems to have imploded into some kind of self-deluded nihilist inner peace since Scara Brae. Seems to be going good so far, but...still. He had truly admirable control over himself when we were in the Bay, considering what kept happening to him in the Catacombs (that whole his-mind-was-constantly-being-shut-down-and-metaphysically-raped-to-shit-by-his-surroundings thing). On the one hand, great improvement on self-control and mental endurance. On the other, what the hells do you have to throw away, toughen up, or rearrange in order to go against your own nature like that? To my understanding, all tropes of orcs have a kind of mass empathy, the source of Aeraul's own ability to read emotions. What kind of terrible will or reason does it take to control a herd instinct capable of driving an entire city insane?
Savas is bloody Savas.
Rowan is...different. He keeps mentioning a familiar sounding demon store and a trip to Haidia but he won't go into detail about it. He's also sporting some new scars and some scars seem to have moved completely from where they should have been. The one on his chest? The big gaping scar o' doom that he was using to get into the pants of tavernmaids back in Scara Brae? Completely inverted to the other shoulder and hip. His Voice hasn't faded yet either. Most Voices take about an hour to fade out after they first manifest, then a mage has to learn the ins and outs of power control to use it at will. His has been going non-stop to the point that you can hear it in his breathing when he's asleep. His aura is also starting to change the color of his hair and eyes. It wouldn't surprise me if that spreads to bodily fluids either. Power incontinence can be a messy business.
We've set up camp for the night. Aeraul is taking first shift. I'm going second but I have trouble sleeping, so I'm writing this. Savas is not going at all. Ever. (Unanimous decision.)
* It seriously is called "the whatever-it-is" on one of the signs.
** For those who somehow don't know by now, any given mage is able to at least partially metabolize magical energies as a substitute for food and water, among other things. I can do it easily, Savas is...learning. Rowan seems to have started doing it during his time in Haidia, but he's clearly disturbed by not eating or drinking anything in a month or more. Aeraul is not running on magic yet, but he'll probably learn soon enough. His non-human heritage is giving him an edge so far.