Home 24: A house in this market?

[KerfuffleMach2]

[Ravanys' Place]

The worm can either hide under the stairs, or crawl under the door to Ravanys' room.

Ravanys misses the first fox, but she sees the second at the door. She aims the shotgun at it, but doesn't fire yet. I mean, it's just a fox. Right?

As for the drones, the one at the roof did catch the creature leaving. One of the ones at the door follows the first fox. The second one keeps watch on the foxes outside.

[Ashen Lilies]

[Lake Cabin - Private Party]


Cass kisses Fayyaad, and then lets herself be moved so she's between them.

"Hmm... okay."

She sounds a little anxious, but maybe this could be fun.

[Gnrlshrimp]

[Nora's Suite]

Gustav had likewise been engaged in some casual ogling of Fayyaad, but his reaction to Nora's changed appearance is considerably more extreme. If either Fayyaad or Nora are paying close attention to him, they might notice a brief moment of faintness, a sudden ripple across his body, a flash of panic in his eyes.

Just for a moment.

Then it passes, and his tail curls round to rub against Fayyaad's thigh teasingly. "It seems our companion has been up to some mischief of her own. Ah, I think a little explanation might be appreciated before breakfast, Nora."

[Chaotic Bob]

[Ravanys' Place]

Fox #1 is either entirely oblivious to being followed, or really just not worried about it! This goes a ways towards explaining why it starts climbing one of the walls without every acknowledging its presence.
And why it'll be settling in a corner near the ceiling as if it was completely hidden in whatever shadows lurk there.

Fox #2 was going to be cool about its entrance, after being noticed, but then Sardus leaps down outside and starts causing havoc.
So instead it lets out a very foxy shriek of a noise and just bolts through the door towards Ravanys as if it was any other frightened animal.

Foxes #3-6 have to deal with the issue outside. As with #1, none of them are acknowledging the drone eyeballing them, but maybe that's because their attacker is rather distracting.
Having expected him to be preoccupied for at least a little longer, it seems they're not entirely prepared for this eventuality, as he descends upon and mauls #3.
#4-6 are smart enough to immediately back away from the immediate death zone, where they try for safer ranged tactics.

Namely, they all split open vertically through the middle, both halves of their faces peeling apart and garbling out some sort of not-really-fox-like-anymore noises.
#4 and #5 then proceed to fire their teeth at Sardus like nasty little bullets, trailing little lines of blood, and #6 goes with the good old standby of vomiting that rainbow ichor taint in his general direction.

That worm slithers under the bedroom door, to probably become an issue at a later time.

[Earl of Purple]

Ingrid's Cottage

It's a small, stone structure with a slate roof, surrounded by miles of thick mud, shallow water and hardy plants. There's a rotting fence marking the edge of the solid ground that the cottage is built on, and there's a path of stepping stones heading to the nearest edge of the swamp. There's a garden of weird plants and fungi; pale spheres, a glowing fern-like plant, a twisted and dead-looking shrub, and red-leaved plants growing on a pond nearby. Growing on the walls of the house are drapes of moss, brain-shaped fungal growths, and other weird plants.

After they arrive, just outside the fence, Ingrid hops down and will help Aran down, striding easily through the thick mud to her cottage. She'll open the door, unlocking it with... It looks like a plastic fork, really, with a tine snapped off. She doesn't close the door, and the unicorn won't move until Aran has dismounted. Then, it'll follow her to the cottage, stopping to glare at Aran if he doesn't get a move on.

[Deathkeeper]

[Ingrid's Cottage]

Aran falls feet-first into the mud with a plop, and he forces himself not to gag at the whole place. What has he gotten himself into? He certainly can't back down now; there's no way home. He thought he would be-well, he's not sure what he was expecting, but it wasn't this, that's for sure.
Aran tries his best to trudge through the mud. He'll make it, but he wasn't wearing the right shoes for this, nor are his legs incredibly strong. Eventually he finds his way to Ingrid's doorstep.
"Well, it's certainly...a home." he coughs.

[Nova_Eclipse]

[Lake Cabin - Private Party]

Electra gives Cass a soft kiss on her neck, and whispers in her ear.

"Back in a flash, then." She quickly rolls out of bed and pads softly over to one of her supply cupboards, returning with a length of soft climber's rope. It looks like a remnant, as though there's been some cut off, but there should be enough for their purposes. She holds it up past the cupboard door for a moment, then starts making her way back towards the bed with a confident gleam in her eyes, pulling the curtain behind her as she goes. Round two has begun, and she intends to make it just as memorable as the first one.

[Rebonack]

[Ravanys' Place]

One fox is pulverized.

But then, oh no!

Tooth bullets!

That's really creepy, dangerous, and gross!

One plinks into Sardus' neck before he can raise his wings, the feathers proving to be startlingly resilient. The remaining projectiles crash into the limbs with all the potency one would expect of shooting at solid rock.

"Ha, you guys are no match for-" he begins as he lowers his defense just in time to get rainbow sludge vomited all over his face.

This results in bad things. Namely, mutating catastrophically into a gross mass of teeth and claws and eyes and scaly skin. It doesn't appear to be killing him OR making him go insane. In fact, he's trying to reverse the biological discombobulation. It just looks like it might take him a few minutes. Which means he's mostly out of the fight for now.

[Earl of Purple]

Ingrid's Cottage

"Wipe your feet before you come in. Unless you're wearing magic boots that keep mud off 'em." There's a much-used boot-scraper next to the door, but Ingrid doesn't use it, instead taking her boots off and walking inside barefoot.

Inside, there's no internal walls, and looking around, Aran can see a bed, not large enough for two people, a work-bench covered in tools, a cauldron next to a large mortar and pestle, an iron stove with a collection of pots and pans next to it, a cabinet and every wall is covered in shelves. There's also a desk and chair. Everything is sturdy, well-made and plain. There's a hatch leading to a basement, and several oddities on the shelves- in addition to the books, there's lumps of crystal, ornate boxes, scrolls, glass jars and bottles, a weird, organic-looking dagger with a glaring eye in its pommel and other such trinkets. "So. I said you'd need to prove you were worth the magic. Tell me about yourself." Ingrid goes and sits on the bed, the unicorn lying on the floor nearby. Both stare at Aran, though if he looks exceptionally nervous Ingrid will motion for him to take the chair from the desk and sit on it.

[Morty]

[Lake Cabin - Private Party]

Fayyaad sticks close to Cass to kiss her again and let his hands roam a bit, but he also admires Electra as she comes back with some rope. When the curtain falls, he'll do his best to make sure Cass doesn't regret agreeing to it.

[Deathkeeper]

[Ingrid’s Cottage]

Aran does his best to scrub his shoes, but he won’t be able to free them and his pants completely from the muck.
”Well. My name is Aran, to go with my older sister Anri. She inherited our family library, which is good because I didn’t want it. I work for Miss Selen, as you know. I’m her apprentice, along with Ra’Cello. He’s a bangaa, one of those four-eared lizardmen. And frustratingly strong. The bastard- he cuts himself off, shaking his head. If I’m being honest he’s a decent guy, but he skates by on talent alone. And some of us try a lot harder but can’t compete with a set of scaly muscles that the woman we’re both courting apparently is into.
Ahem. I work with the mechanical side of her research, the bits that you don’t need magic to do. If I had just enough for the systems to respond properly my repertoire would be vastly bolstered.”

[Earl of Purple]

Ingrid's Cottage

"Bangaa? Don't know 'em. Don't care to know 'em. I stay here, in my swamp. People are a complication, most of 'em, scales, fur, skin, two ears, four ears... Don't matter. Don't need 'em. So. You want magic so you can impress Miss Selen, because you think that's why she's not picked you. Hmm. Why she don't just pick both of you I've no idea. So. Remove Miss Selen and Ra'Cello from the picture. Why do you want magic? What would you get out of life with magic that you can't otherwise get?" Ingrid doesn't really get traditional relationships. She's certainly not in one.

[Deathkeeper]

[Ingrid’s Cottage]

”I suppose that’s an apt summary, yes. My other options are just as unlikely.
As for your question, because the only career I have is at a standstill as long as I’m naturally bad at it. Any Normal person would have fired me by now. Selen only keeps me around for...Well I’m not sure. Maybe she feels bad. But I can’t pack up my life and become a waiter or something.” Aran insists.

[Earl of Purple]

Ingrid's Cottage

"So you want magic because you've built a career around magic you don't have, and without it you'd be, knowing Skyside, either given a dagger and fed to starving owlbear before an eager crowd or sold to a rich old lady as a status symbol. Seems a bit foolish to me. But... You've got dedication." Ingrid looks at her unicorn, which stands up and walks around Aran several times, sniffing and snorting at his body as it goes, before it goes back to Ingrid's side and she looks at Aran again. "Fine. Go to my desk. Write a letter to Miss Selen, about who you met and what you're doing. And tell her it's all your own choice, and if you die it's not my fault. I enjoy her letters, even if I only understand the short words."

[Deathkeeper]

Ingrid’s Cottage

”I would hope that the chances of that are slim enough. And if I die I would do my best to haunt you at least until you bothered to exorcise me.” Aran assumes that’s something she can do, at least.
With his grumbling kept to a minimum, Aran goes to find the desk and do as instructed. If Ingrid looks over his shoulder he apparently has extremely neat handwriting.

[Earl of Purple]

Ingrid's Cottage

"You're going to get your magic by battering with an old elemental born from a coal fire in a mine. Death shouldn't occur, but it might. And if you try haunting me, I'll trap you in a bottle and drop you in the ocean. A nice deep bit, too." Ingrid isn't good at exorcising or banishing anything. But she is very, very good at binding things, especially demons. She's not tried binding a ghost, but... It shouldn't be too hard. She's not going to read over his shoulder, but she does open the window and whistle.

A minute or so after the whistle, something arrives! It's an imp, with a thick coat of dark red fur, four lizard-like legs ending in gecko-pad-feet at the base of its torso, a pair of six-fingered hands with sharp nails, and two heads- the head on its shoulders, resembling a baby with a mouth of shark teeth, pure black eyes, and pallid grey skin like a week-old corpse, and another, snake head at the end of its tail. It has a pair of large, furry wings, presumably bat like under the hair. Around the imp's neck is a silver collar.

[Deathkeeper]

[Ingrid’s Cottage]

”I hope you mean bartering.” Aran doesn’t have the slightest idea how he’d go battering an elemental.

It’s difficult for him to hide his disgust at the imp. It’s terrifying! Must everything this witch associates with be horrible? If he could turn and run he would be considering it.
”So...is that to be my guide?” he asks.

[Earl of Purple]

Ingrid's Cottage

"Hopefully bartering, yes." Earl made a typo! "Don't be ridiculous. That's going to deliver the letter. How else did you think Selen would get it?" She turns to the imp. "Remember, don't eat it. You're lucky I allow you as much freedom as I do, and I can restrict that freedom any time I want."
The imp nods its baby head, but it's the snake head that speaks. "Yesss, yesss. P'ohze knowsss. Go place, deliver letter, not eat letter, come back, get vial of baby tearsss. Eight?" It sounds hopeful that it'll get eight.
"Five. It's hard to get them out here. And a fresh, juicy cockroach when you get back." The imp's baby face splits into a smile, and it reaches for the letter in Aran's hand.

[Deathkeeper]

[Ingrid’s Cottage]

”Oh. Yes. Of course. How silly of me.” Aran says, slowly reaching the hand with the letter out to the imp as if it might bite. He’s not going to end up as disgusting as this woman, is he? She did say it was a coal elemental. Not something pretty like a tree nymph...

[Earl of Purple]

Ingrid's Cottage

The imp snatches the letter and starts to take off, before pausing. "Where place it go?" Either Selen has seen the imp before, and probably reacted in shock, or P'ohze has some trick to prevent being seen. Or simply only looks this unpleasant here, where it can get away with it.

"Miss Selen, of Skyside. Now, let's go meet the elemental I have in mind for the deal. Back on the unicorn." Ingrid will climb on, pulling Aran after, and then there's another second or so of the alternate world the unicorn teleports through- except this time it's a ruined city, not a marsh, with fallen statues and bones littering the streets. One of the statues bears a passing resemblance to Anri.

Abandoned Mine

They reappear on an overgrown spoil heap, overlooking a hole in the cliff. There's a wisp of smoke coming from the hole, thick and black. Visible nearby are some signs of hasty retreat- a rusty minecart sits on equally rusty rails, still attached to a rotting leather harness for a pit-pony, and filled with loose rubble and some very old pickaxes, mattocks and hammers. Ingrid climbs off, walking easily over the loose rubble despite her bare feet until she's standing near the entrance to the mine. She whistles again, piercing and high-pitched, before calling out. "Collignithrack, Ingrid of the Swamp calls you! I have somebody to show you!" There's no reply for a while, before the smoke wisp grows gradually thicker, blacker and more toxic-looking until it's pouring out of the mine entrance like thick treacle as something emerges.

A wall of blistering heat heralds its arrival. It looks like a dragon, or possibly an oversized crocodile, with a body carved from black coal, white at the edges where it's turning to ash and cracked throughout with red heat. It doesn't have wings, but it's at least as long as an articulated lorry- only about two-thirds of its length leaves the mine. Its eyes and mouth glow hottest, and spills black smoke into the sky. It shivers, sending a cascade of coal dust and ash from its body. "You called. I came. Have you found a warlock to pledge themselves to me? Or is this another waste of my time? I do not fear your paltry bindings, Ingrid Ravnsdattir, nor do I fear your unicorn." Ingrid points at Aran, and it turns its massive, reptilian head to the other human. "Orange eyes. Already your soul burns. But not with power. Will you swear yourself to me, body and soul? Worship me as the God I shall be, and burn your enemies to a crisp and teach your foes the heat of coal fires?"

[Deathkeeper]

[Abandoned Mine]

Aran, despite his previous fear, stands tall and faces the elemental head-on. His heat is like that of Selen's furnace, and he's knelt beside that for hours.
"I would not speak falsities to you. I do not go into battle, and my only enemies are petty thieves and one lizard I merely have envy for. I am... Aran tries to find an archaic word it will understand. ...a smith, of sorts. A craftsman. I might dedicate myself to you in that aspect, but I seek not to be a herald of war." he declares.

[KerfuffleMach2]

[Ravanys' Place]

As soon as Fox #2 starts running towards her, Ravanys pulls the trigger on it. It could have just been a normal fox that coincidentally wandered in after all that happened.

But probably not.

Once the foxes outside start attacking, Hannah sees it through the drone. And decides to react. A light starts blinking on the drone following the first fox. So Ravanys could notice it. The one at the roof joins the one outside, both of which start flying towards the foxes attacking Sardus. Neither have weapons. But a drone in the face might distract the foxes.

The one near Ravanys keeps hovering over her shoulder.

In another part of the workshop, a half-finished project starts to power up.

[Earl of Purple]

Abandoned Mine

"A craftsman? Coal heats the forge that melts the steel, and I am the fire of coal. Creation necessitates destruction. For the power to forge new things, create hotter fires and smelt new metals, do you swear yourself, body and soul, to me? To worship me and spread my word?" The coal elemental looks quite interested in the possibility of creating. "I have not... Considered creation. I would require you to show me the first thing you create."

[Deathkeeper]

[Abandoned Mine]

Aran smiles, happy to have so easily derailed the enormous creature’s offer into something more palatable.
”Yes, to that I might swear, with your added condition. Though know that I am a terrible orator. I cannot go screaming your name from the hilltops with any degree of success.” Probably because he’s not sure he can actually pronounce the coal elemental’s name.
”And I’m not giving you my soul I met you thirty seconds ago. I need it for things and I don’t know you won’t jusy eat it today?” Aran flicks a look at the witch who decided not to mention swearing his soul would be part of this.

[Earl of Purple]

Abandoned Mine

"Hmm. Will you worship me? That'll do. But I'd like to see more of the things you create." Worship would give Collignathrak a claim on Aran's soul, and still advance its aim to godhood.

Ingrid stays back, not getting involved or commenting.

[Deathkeeper]

[Abandoned Mine]

Aran looks...troubled.
”If you mean to give you things, to ask you for help and expect it, and to tell you before I go to bed how great you are, yes. But I cannot tell you if I will be able to believe you a god. Because here I stand, looking at you, very much not a god. I am very desperate for what you can offer, but I cannot promise you things I am unable to give.” Usually people who do that in the stories end up with terrible, terrible fates.

[Earl of Purple]

Abandoned Mine

There's a pause, as the elemental thinks it over, before nodding once and sending another cascade of coal dust and ash off its vast form. "Hmm. I appreciate your honesty. But you are unable to give me what I want. You, Ingrid of the Swamp, still owe me that favour. This is not adequate repayment. Thank you for your visit." With that, the vast elemental of coal and fire retreats back into the mine, backing slowly into the darkened pit of earth.

"Well, I hoped that'd be suited. Still, now I know what you'll say no to, and what Collignathrak will ask. Next time'll go better. So, no soul, and worship only to an entity that can convince you they're a god. Basically none of 'em, then. Nothin' else I know's gonna be firey. Got a few more choices, though. Tree-spirits and animal ones, and an old pond. Which sound best t'you? You're the one picking." And she doesn't think they'll be as good a fit for what Aran wants as Collignathrak.

[Deathkeeper]

[Abandoned Mine]

Aran bows to the elemental and lets it go. He tries not to regret just saying yes. But soups are not so easily sold.
”Is it a clean pond? The nature of the place changes its demeanor, and if it would be a scummy, filthy thing I’d rather go with a tree or animal.” he tells the witch.
”I don’t see why it needed to be fiery in the first place.”

[Earl of Purple]

Abandoned Mine

"Pond's out, then. Fiery? Because you want to be a craftsman. A creator. Fire is very useful to many crafts and trades. Smiths, obviously, and bakers. Chefs, jewellers, carpenters, tanners, all use fire. At least some of the time. Fire magic would make you very useful to Selen, indeed." Even if she doesn't use those crafts, and is limited to creating magitech out of weaving, sewing and embroidery, it's flashy and impressive. "Animals I have are bears, shrikes and foxes. Well, one of each. Trees are oak, willow and hawthorn."

[Deathkeeper]

[Abandoned Mine]

"Well...I guess you make a good point. But I meant what I said. I can't make myself believe something that isn't true. I can't give...that being what he wants." Yeah, no way now he's remembering that name.
"But honestly the important thing is having the magic necessary to interface properly with our systems; the exact type doesn't matter. And since all those options have nothing to do with my field....I suppose the bear?" Trees and Bears are simple, and he expects less haggling than with a stereo-typically cunning creature like a fox. And maybe a bear can help him be a little stronger. Living in a dense flying city he doesn't know the first thing about different kinds of trees.