Silly Plots 2: Electric Boogaloo

[Deathkeeper]

MeteorQuest

Koshal blinks and looks at Hunter, trying to figure out what her deal is. "Well, what do you do exactly? They told me that yoou help with Message's faith and with her beasts but you're never around. "

[Recaiden]

Hunter may well have blinked in surprise herself. But who would know?

"Well, it's in the name. I fight things in the Hunting Grounds, studying all the myriad creations of nature and the Huntress. That's how I grow-" she performs a flourish with her claws and blinks over to Koshal's other side. "-and test the worthiness of those I find. I practice a lot of wilderness and survival techniques as part of that, plus a bit of alchemy and weaponsmithing. One day, perhaps we might surpass the Huntress...one day very far away."
It was a huge setback when she let the sky tyrant die. But given the insult it gave, it had to be done.

The fox creeps closer to investigate Faye's scent, and fairly bounces around, wanting to play.

"That fox was the very first one. Before we reclaimed the power of Anatar, we could only make permanent creations by binding them into living shapes like him. But since, I've made all sorts of things. Structures like the rookery-tower here and my home, companions like Faye. Variations on normal creatures - I'm sure you've seen the split-horses and pterodactyls - and stranger things too; like the pterosaurs that never land and the oculary chaithers. I'm not sure if there's an end to that. The krotiqs are mighty and terrible kings of the depths and all, but a perfect lifeform? Probably fruitless. I suspect the gyre is endless."

"And I work on the Song." She taps the side of her head. "Not that you can hear it. My insights, I send to Message, and she tells our priests. New beasts make the crossing from my home mostly without me. The Fortress is Leah's place. I've moved on, and she doesn't need me there in person."

[Deathkeeper]

MeteorQuest

"Well, I don't have any magic." Doesn't he? "So I can't learn from you on how to make creatures. So you think you would want to test me? I'd do my best." he promises.

Faye lowers herself to the ground, tail wagging madly and waiting for the fox to make the first move.

[Recaiden]

Hunter scoffs.
"First, how are you so sure you don't have magic? You're so young half of the powers out there wouldn't have shown themselves yet. Not to mention you could learn something like Anchor did."
"First-and-a-half, you're not ready to learn Creation."
"Second, you've already been tested. Got taken by surprise, fought back. Can't give you a better test without risking your life."

She puts a hand on her hip.
"You think you're here to be taught something, but you're here to learn."

Then sits down, legs bent, and takes off her helmet.
"Possibly about the value of freedom or self-determination or living in the present? I don't quite know Message's mind. Oh, hey, do you want magic?"
That can happen. But he was probably just being polite.

The fox springs at Faye, not as though she were a delicious mouse to pounce on, but simply to wrestle and roll about.

[Deathkeeper]

MeteorQuest

"Yes!" Koshal says, imagining himself as a super cool mage knight. Of course Message offered to give him magic for his shadow last time and he no longer has any such shadow to offer.

Rolling between the two canids ensues! How fun.

[Recaiden]

That's fine. Didn't Koshal just hear from Wenomir that you need hard work to get anything worthwhile? Even if you get a magic dog freely, what good is it if you don't love it, care for it, practice together so you can do things like blinking out of a dream-boar's shadow to surprise it? Wherever you get magic powers, you'll have to work at using them.

"Come here, then. Sit down, close your eyes."

Hunter gets up to a crouch.

[Deathkeeper]

MeteorQuest

Koshal obeys and sits down before Hunter cross-legged. He closes his eyes and waits.

[Recaiden]

Spoiler: Previously

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"This will hurt, just a little." Hunter reassures him. This is probably not true. The sun flares up, bright bright light pouring down on Koshal. It's hot. Burning. But survivable, definitely. Not like what's happening elsewhere, as the light coheres and etches into the ground, burning it clean. And then, of course, Hunter bites into his arm. Like a mosquito. No, like a snake. The teeth sinking in, tearing, the tongue flickering across. Everything should seem to be slowing down (or is it just him?), his veins burning beyond what the sunlight could do to his outsides. Then she's drawn back.
He probably didn't even notice her also biting into his mind. Message, of course, has no need to eat people any longer, worship is perfectly wonderful as a replacement. And her parts are just parts, far from that hunger. But they can. And Koshal will be better off if the part of him that gives up so easily, that little voice that says 'this is how things are.' is missing for a while. Even if it never comes back quite the same, he'll probably be the better magic knight for it. So she does her best to drain that away. Koshal will get back to feeling something like normal over the next few moments, and by the time he opens his eyes the light should be well-behaved again, shining evenly and cooly down like it hadn't just reduced the whole surrounding area (save a little circle containing the five of them) to scorched ruin.

"There!"
"It will take a while to take hold. Drink plenty of water for the next day or so."
"Anchor can teach you more details of a kind of magic. When you find her."

Koshal looks around and the desolation around him, blinking and shaking his head to get the stars out of his eyes. Shakily, he asks, "Do...does this normally blow up everything around it? Is this like reverse vampire stuff?"

"Reverse vampire stuff?"
"Ugh, no. Not fond of those things...not at all. I wouldn't know about normal. Never done this exact thing before."

"So...that's it? I wasn't really expecting the whole sun and stuff. Message is usually night and blackness and stuff but that was really cool. Thanks. But I don't really know what happened?"

"Know your enemy. Be your enemy!" Hunter poses dramatically. "You'll probably gain access to the Song within a few days. Our telepathy. Might not work for minotaurs. And the potential for magic is likewise in your blood."
"It's up to you to learn to use it."

"Okay...is it like, a certain kind? Or is that a question for Anchor?"
"And what Song?"
"You mind-talk by singing?"

Hunter nods. "Anchor is the expert on these things."
"Well, you can just talk, but...you'll see."

"So, if you have a Song then can you ask her where she is for me?" Koshal asks, cheering up. Faye, shaken, curls up next to Koshal, giving Hunter a look of "Why?"

This is the way it is, Faye.
"Um, no, she's not part of it. But I can find her." The fox lays down at Hunter's feet while she closes her eyes to concentrate on Message.
"She's, um, a bit busy right this second. Looks like she's gone way down the coast to the south."
"But I'm sure you two could catch up." Eventually. "Or wait until she's back around."

"Well uh, how busy? Dune can probably get me there but I don't wanna interrupt if she's fighting a big monster." Koshal asks Hunter.

"It would have to be some fight to still be going on by the time you get there."

"Well, I guess she won't mind if I go to find her if she knows I'm coming, right?" the minotaur asks, waving over his horse who walks over, though he occasionally tosses his head at Hunter, rather terrified of her at this point.

Hunter nods. "she'll probably remember.
She smiles at the silly one-headed horse.

"Oh, this is Dune, Miss. He's a very good horse." Koshal says proudly as he takes the reins.

"Hello Dune. It has been a while since I rode a horse, hasn't it?"
"Well, you take good care of Koshal."

Koshal nods cheerily. Truth be told, he doesn't feel terribly different. Not yet at least. He was almost expecting his eyes to glow or something with that crazy lightshow. But still. "Thank you, Lady Hunter." he says, as he mounts his horse and goes looking for Anchor, Faye barking once to her fox friend before following.

Well, he isn't very different yet. He might start to feel a bit feverish as the telepathy takes root. The trick is that the magical potential was in him all along.
"Good luck, Squire."
The fox calls once after Faye, and Hunter calls her pterosaur mount out as he rides away.

And then, after he bandages up the bite mark, Koshal can get on his way.

This is further even than going all the way to the GLoG. But at least Koshal is somewhat assured that the person he's looking for will be there. Eventually Hunter's directions bring him to a small stone castle perched on an escarpment by the seaside cliffs. In the lowlands, cute giant birds race around, some, ridden by people, herding the others. A pair of cages extend from the castle, hanging out over the drop. And one, he might see, is occupied by the very person he's looking for.

[Deathkeeper]

Lowland Castle

Oh, dear. Koshal tries to take some pills that he had in a medicine box in the saddlebag. He hopes they will help the fever but if it's magic he just doesn't know. They're just stuff from a store. Things for headaches.
Either way, he has to save Anchor? Leaving Dune behind, Faye and Koshal try to sneak their way along the edge of the cliff so they can get close enough for Faye to Blink them to the cage.

[Recaiden]

No(t very much) magic about the fever, and the pills should help. But he might end up feeling even worse when the medicine wears off, as the bacteria will be working even harder to overcome it. Or maybe the medicine will help his body fight off the 'infection' before it stabilizes into giving him telepathic powers.

Faye brings them up somewhere. Either on the ground below and off to the side of the cage, near the castle wall, or hanging onto the chain the cage is suspended from, or even inside the (now very crowded) cage.
"Oh hello." Anchor says, quietly. Wouldn't want the guards up on the parapet to hear, would we?

[Deathkeeper]

Highland Castle

"Miss Anchor, what are you doing in there?" Koshal asks as he holds onto the chain and tries not to let his feet slip on the bars. He knows this is part of a scheme since no part of Message could get captured by normal people.
"How can I help?" he asks, fumbling for a knife to offer her from his belt.

[Recaiden]

Or it could mean than more-than-normal people put her here. Koshal is wrong about that besides. The sword part could get captured pretty easily.

"I'm waiting for you. Message said that you would need some help and teaching." Anchor says, motioning that he should stop with the knife. "I can escape if I need to. Before that I was waiting, I mean, waiting for something else that I must still be waiting for, right? Letting some magic do its work."
"You could get some things for me, if you wanted to help."

[Deathkeeper]

Highland Castle

"I... Koshal shakes his head, warding off the unwellness he feels.
"What so you need Miss Anchor?" he asks.

[Recaiden]

Poor sick minotaur. Or is this his fear of heights getting to him?

Anchor brushes her bangs back, out of the way of her eyes. "Hmm. I need some little animals. About three. Bones, from at least two different skeletons. And it would help to have my unicorn statue from inside the keep. Grab the spellbook if you find that too. I have enough memorized to get by, but it would be stylish. My shadow is taking care of the rest."
It might be hard to tell with the sun overhead as it is, but she doesn't cast any shade on the cage floor.

[Deathkeeper]

Highland Castle

Koshal would probably tell Anchor that that is quite a lot of things for a young, sick minotaur behind enemy lines, but Hunter ate that part of his brain.
"Do the animals have to be alive? And how guarded is the castle? I'm not super good at sneaking with bricks for feet." he admits, gently tapping the bars with a hoof.

[Recaiden]

See? It was holding him back.

Anchor nods.
"Yep, still alive. It's got a couple on patrol around the walls, but you can probably slip past them. A few more up in the keep. If you find the Lady and tell her I sent you, she might help."
She winces at the sound of his hoof tapping on the bars.
"Don't make noise! Now, go on. Being a knight sometimes requires all sorts of skills."

[Deathkeeper]

Highland Castle

Koshal nods and Faye blinks them back into the cliff. Faye will work on catching some mice for Anchor while Koshal tries to slip into the castle.

[Recaiden]

I'm sure Faye is an acceptable mouser.

How is Koshal trying to get in? Is he walking right up the winding path to the front gate? Climbing the walls? Slithering in through the sewer outlet? Something more creative?

[Deathkeeper]

Highland Castle

Faye will also keep an eye out for carcasses with bones she can bring to Anchor. Can always take one from a living animal if necessary.

Koshal will look for an open window in the back he can use his grappling hook on. He's never really tried using it but he has to try...

[Recaiden]

This isn't the sort of place that has glass in its windows, and today the shutters are open to let the salt air in.

Probably Koshals's first (several) throws fall short, or even when they do fly far enough, bounce off the stone, etc. Grappling hooks are hard, especially when you need the flukes to catch onto one single window ledge rather than plentiful rigging. I'm sure he'll get it eventually but in the process I bet he'll have made a lot of noise.

As for Faye, surely her sense of smell can track down suitable carrion bones. But will there be other scavengers to contend with? Yes. Will they be any more that cute little turkey vultures? Maybe not.

[Deathkeeper]

Highland Castle

Koshal misses two throws before he remembers that he can just levitate. With a sigh he floats up to the window and pulls himself in before any guards come to check.

[Recaiden]

Up and in he goes! Koshal is in a drafty little turret. Stairs lead down, doorways go this way and that along the battlements. That's probably where guards would come from, so down seems like a good option. After that, important things are always at the center of the castle or in the highest tower.

[Deathkeeper]

Highland Castle

Koshal takes a doorway in on the way down. He peeks into doorways if they are silent and probably unoccupied. He's looking for a book and a statue? Maybe hey will be in the study? Castles have those.

[Recaiden]

Down inside, they do have doorways, metal-banded wood filling the archways. Where they are open, they usually open on cold unoccupied rooms: a dining hall, a storeroom. But the study is an exception. Among the dusty shelves there's a table with a scholarly-seeming man looking over the spellbook. He turns the pages gingerly, as if the book might explode or snap at him, and takes notes down on a pad of heavy paper.

[Deathkeeper]

Highland Castle

Koshal frowns. He can't make a scene. Not until he's found the unicorn at least. Koshal puts a little mark on the wall with a pencil from his bag and then keeps looking. Maybe he'll charge in and threaten the guy when he's found the thing Anchor said was important.

[Recaiden]

Eventually, in his sneaking around, Koshal will find that the statue is not in this part of the keep. He can check up in the main tower, or down in the dungeons.

[Deathkeeper]

Highland Tower

Koshal quietly goes up to the main tower. Who would put a statue in the dungeon? A silly person, that's who. And Koshal isn't a silly enough person to look there.

[Recaiden]

There's something about this place...maybe just the altitude.
At the top of a spiral stair, he finds a heavy door, behind which he can hear faint ... laughter? weeping? the chirping of small treetop animals?

[Deathkeeper]

Highland Castle

Koshal frowns but he does his best to caaaaaarefully open the door as quiet-like as he can and peek inside without being noticed. Hopefully. It is hard when you're a big bull with bricks for feet trying to open a heavy door quietly.

[Recaiden]

It's hard. The door is not well-oiled, and combined with his brick-feet and poor leverage, it squeaks terribly.
The sounds from inside cease.

Up here, it's warm. There's a heap of smoldering logs in the fireplace. A little window, all closed up and ungrappleable. A little table beside a chair with-
"Don't you have anything better to-"
"No. Who's there?!"
-from the sound of the voice, an upset human woman, hidden from view behind the partly open door.