IC V Against the Current

[CoffeeIncluded]

Natalia doesn't sleep well that night either. Steeped in blood, she slays the foe before her...and when she falls, she meets her own face. Natalia looks in the mirror and a Crusader looks back at her, then a Horde member, then she can no longer tell the difference.

Maybe it's a small mercy that this bolts her awake just past dawn, before anyone else is awake, too early to rise, too late to go back to sleep. Natalia takes a deep breath. She needs to walk around. Silently, Natalia slips out of bed and walks around. Everyone looks peaceful, untroubled in their sleep. Miriam's sprawled on her back and Kurt's arm is stretched under his head and Shiny's hunched up, muttering something about being a master camel tamer and martini maker. They should be peaceful. They don't have the blood of countless orcs in their hands. She set the trap, not them. Funny. She always kept count, of how many she killed, regardless of species. Bit she doesn't know how many orcs were in the blast. She can't keep count anymore.

And Natalia looks down at Mithril, her hands folded, her lips slightly parted, her hair draped over a curled-up Whiskers, almost achingly beautiful in the early light. She loves Mithril, but even if the wizard felt the same way towards her, which she doesn't, she deserves better than Nuts. She deserves so much better.

Natalia goes outside in the quiet of early dawn Soshima, looks around for Aicha or Zenn or Ash or the masters or anyone, while yesterday, from orcs to Shiro to secrets to her own burning runs around and around in her mind. If she can't find anyone, then Natalia just sits down on a curb or bench or something and hunches over, burying her head in her hands.

[Admiral]

Roper considers Kurt's words carefully, and as the dwarf turns to leave Roper gestures for him to wait. He presses his hand to his eyes in frustration. "Maybe it's just that sword you're carrying making me soft... Master Endor was a paladin before he was a samurai, and he showed the same kind of mercy as you did. He was always the finest teacher of us- excepting Master Yuki perhaps- for him the satisfaction of smiting an evil foe was nothing compared to the pride of redeeming one."

"Anyway... if I recall, the magistrate has some spell scrolls that could be of use in your situation- only two, if I recall correctly, and we've had them since we moved out here. The spell inscribes a permanent mark on the subject, one that will trigger when a set of conditions is met- for example, if the subject tries to harm you and your party, or escapes- and activates a debilitating curse. This would protect you and your friends against him."

"But again, we have only two... And thus I would ask if you must insist in bringing all the prisoners with you. Do you have the attention to watch over all of them? Are they all equally deserving of your kindness and mercy?"

[Cavelcade]

Kurt sighs at the question, as he considers it carefully. "There is one I didn't trust...I will talk to them again, with a friend who's better at reading people than I am. If...they don't trust them, I will leave them to you. Thank you, master." He bows again, then takes his leave, going to look for both Shiny and Natalia, if he can find them.

[Athedia]

"I can and will." Mithril promised as they asked her to keep their secret.

She listened to the history they told, the new knowledge filling into its lot on the timeline.
"I am sorry, and understand his blindness. Change that occurs over time and to those you love is sometimes the hardest to believe. But your story brought questions. This goblin invasion, was it similiar to what we see now? This necromancer you speak of may yet live. Those who delve into such magics have no qualms about fooling death. And a wizard powerful enough to raise an army would have to be of a great intelligence."

[CoffeeIncluded]

Natalia is curled up on a bench, holding her hand out, collecting the magic and letting it dissipate without casting anything. Just a couple days ago this feeling of the magic finally flowing through her would have given her such glee. Now, she's not so much.

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i want to see if there's someone, shiny or an npc Natalia can talk to, but if Kurt needs to see her now she's free to talk.

[Admiral]

[B]"This goblin invasion, was it similiar to what we see now?"

The masters seem puzzled. "What do you mean by 'what we see now'? I heard nothing about voices invading people's heads, at any rate."

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Remember that from their perspective, they're not thinking about orc/giant alliances or anything like that. From their perspective, they just foiled an orc invasion, and learned their masters' mind is being remotely attacked.

"This necromancer you speak of may yet live. Those who delve into such magics have no qualms about fooling death. And a wizard powerful enough to raise an army would have to be of a great intelligence."

Roper sighed in recollection. "He had come back from death before, so the concern was very much on our minds at the time. After Shiro and Danton defeated the Necromancer, the High Priest of the Church personally ensured he would never return. The magic involved was far beyond my comprehension- you'd have to ask the Church."

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Retcon: the Necromancer was a halfling wizard, not an orc wizard. With a -4 to Int, orc wizards would have an awful rough time, a fact that just hit me today.

[Admiral]

"What's getting you down, Natalia Neverclear?"

Natalia, seated on a stone bench next to the riverbed, turns around, and Shiny is striding up behind her, stretching his arms as he walks. He sits down next to her to enjoy the view of the river and the guards patrolling it.

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We'll chat here before interviewing the prisoners.

[CoffeeIncluded]

Natalia looks over at Shiny. Slumped over like this, she's barely taller than Shiny. "All fighting, death, destruction. I fight...to protect, to defend, but...what if lose myself? Want Horde and Crusaders and slavers too gone, but...to what ends?"

She buries her head in her hands. "I killed Horde. Killed as much as Crusaders, by fire and tricks instead of steel. Horde and Crusaders vile, evil, live on hatred and froth, but...what different? If kill the same? We...fight, kill to protect, would never never harm families, not you or Kurt or Aicha or Zenn, sneaky but not cowards like Crusaders, but..."

Natalia lets her hands flop down on her knees. "What happens to mercy?"

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Ok, sounds cool!

[Cavelcade]

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Posting this up now, before I go to bed, so things will be able to move a bit more smoothly.

Just as Shiny and Natalia's heart to heart comes to a close, Kurt comes into view, looking relieved to find the two of them sitting together. "Shiny, Natalia, I need your help! I have to go and decide on whether some people are trustworthy or not and I am...well, bad at it. Can you spare some time? It's ah...to do with deciding what to do with the slavers we captured."

[CoffeeIncluded]

Natalia turns to Shiny. "Shiny Manymasks, what...what if not sure underneath? I feel...growing other faces too. Others of anger. Remember kobolds? Long ago, underwater? Kobolds we trapped? Would bind now?" She looks down. "I want to, but...don't know." The rogue shakes her head. "And crusaders...two dangers. Death all around to those not like them, crusaders and horde. You, Kurt, and...mentors. My teachers. Torin and Karik. All in danger. Will protect, have to protect, but...protect or chase? Chase, and then forget...where started?"

[Admiral]

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We'll handle Shiny and Natalia during the intermission, and Kurt's issue when Cavelcade gets back. Wanted to get to this first.

The next morning brings some much needed peace for the party of travelers. Kurt looks to redeem the band of prisoners they had saved, while Natalia seeks to handle the overwhelming guilt of the gunpowder attack, and Shiny helps her in her redemption. For once, Miriam feels satisfied in her search for redemption; her battle scars from two days earlier are still healing, and the experience of watching the Crusaders take the victory will not soon leave her, but she feels proud to have served her part.

Only Mithril is restless; having promised to keep secrets about Soshima darker than she had ever expected. Before leaving with the others, she wanders about the town, wondering what other secrets this town holds now that she knows the truth about its founder, Shiro.

The innocent civilians run past Mithril as she wanders around: some children are laughing, playing; perhaps unaware of the danger they were in; and that her friends had saved her from. She is so distracted she hardly notices the woman in the hood until she is upon her; and when it happens, it takes a moment to recognize her.

"Hello, Mithril, servant of Boccob," she says. Looking up, Mithril is shocked- before her stands an old woman with light grey hair, one she had not seen since the temple of Boccob in Hulburg a month earlier, and one she had never expected to see again.

"It's time we spoke," says Avaralynn.

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This is the coda.

[Athedia]

After the events of the past few weeks Mithril barely showed her reaction. She was startled but what good would it do to show that? "So I am not mad. You do exist. But you are not who you claimed, I could find no history of you."

[Admiral]

Avaralynn tilts her head towards Mithril intently, her eyes full of mystery. Mithril sees that her hands are lily-white, bearing no guildmark. "Not all that I told you was the truth, but one thing was: we both serve the Lord of All Magic."

"It is in His service that I found you in Hulburg, and that I am before you today. Listen closely. The Uncaring does not normally meddle in our world: neither Good nor Evil concern Him; only their balance. But times have changed, and that balance is threatened. If it is to be maintained, you and your friends will have a part to play."

[CoffeeIncluded]

Natalia falls silent for the moment, not sure whether to keep talking, to keep spilling her heart out, or to listen if Shiny has anything to say. She's not even sure why she's talking to him. Except that then, Natalia looks at him, alive, and knows.

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I've been waffling back and forth over posting this for hours. I hope I'm not pissing you off.

[Athedia]

Mithril looked concerned. If Boccob was getting involved in something it meant trouble. As much as she prayed to him and worshiped she knew he took a hand's off approach toward the world. Observing, interested, but not meddling like some other gods.

"What does Boccob want? And why pick me? There are much more powerful wizards in the libraries and the Institute."

[Admiral]

"Boccob's knowledge is not limited to the past and present," Avaralynn intones. "He is the Lord of All Magic, and all of time and space is open to Him. You may not be chosen for who you are, but who you will become."

"And there is another reason," she says, leaning in further. "We know that you have heard the Voice."

[Athedia]

"You mean in Shiro's head?"

[Admiral]

Avaralynn nods.

[Athedia]

"So the voice, he or it is behind this? I remember Shiny saying the Hooded One was speaking in his head, the Hooded One's not Shiny's. Are they the same?"

[Admiral]

Avaralynn nods again. "And in many minds beside. There are many villains in this world," she says, "so many foes and evildoers. But there is only one war: the War of the Whispers."

"I wish I could say that it is your choice whether to fight," she adds, "but I cannot; for this war will consume all else until there is no safe ground left. Even now its quiet battles weaken the very foundations of this continent's civilization- a danger that perhaps only you can reverse."

[Athedia]

Mithril knotted her hands back and forth, worrying at her cloak. "Even if I could tell my companions about the voice, and the truth of here, they would never believe me. You suddenly appearing here, a War of Whispers? They would think me mad." She laughed nervously, bringing her hand up to move her hair from her face. "I am not fully certain I believe myself sane."

With a deep sigh she gave a slight smile, meeting Avaralynn's gaze. "But I owe enough to you to believe. And enough to others to fight."

[Admiral]

"What you tell your friends is your choice... but know that in any case they will all be called upon to fight. Your path to the dwarves is the right one... you may not find answers, but you will learn the proper questions."

Avaralynn suddenly smiles as she sees Whiskers poking his head out of Mithril's pocket, his fur as white as snow. With an unexpected warmth she leans forward and gently pets his head, her affection breaking through her cold facade.

"I know you have more questions... your unending curiosity is to your credit... but it is not my place to answer them. Boccob's knowledge is a delicate gift, and it has its limitations." She steps back from Mithril, and before the wizard's eyes she seems to fade away into smoke and vanish into the air.

"Take great care, Mithril, servant of Boccob," she says, her voice turning into a faint echo.

"There are stormy seas ahead."