GLoG 92: Generosity, Love, Opportunity, Growth

[Chaotic Bob]

[Memory Woods Hut]

Feia actually looks vaguely concerned by that spell's explanation.
"That...sounds an awful lot like my sister's bond-tracing magic. I don't know where she picked that particular set up, but I recall her keeping some implementation of it on standby in case some professor or another needed removing."
It was a bit of a scorched earth style spell, with quite a bit less specificity compared to this Love's Pain...but apparently the concept is broader than expected.
Which isn't great, for a multitude of reasons.

Delilah's still looking pretty angry, clutching at her necklace, but she's not actually paying attention to the proceedings anymore. Just staring off into the distance, towards the city.

Venmaunt seems a bit annoyed that Magtok seems annoyed. Or maybe annoyed that he was going to be a spell-based trojan horse. He's controlling it, rather than swearing and making a bigger scene unlike a certain cyborg, but the tone is clearly there on his scaly face.
"The alternative 'timeline' here is that she simply swoops in, takes your goddess, and then absolutely no one sees anything amiss with the world until it stops existing. While this might not be your ideal, planned-for scenario, it is at least attracting public attention. Attention in this city is intrinsically toxic to such plans as my mother's.
If you would like some good news, due to the nature of how twisted Time is around her lair, I can fairly confidently say timeline divergences can't possibly be the problem."
Which is good, otherwise we have the delightfully infinite problem of just waiting for literally any alternate Feia succeeding and still ruining absolutely everything.

[Purple Eagle]

[Kids and Bear]

"Aww..." Asher looks sad at the news, but understands that adults have work, like his Momma told him, and that work means they won't always be around all the time. Just like Reelshka and tending to the babies! Thankfully, Tuskfang is here to bring a smile to his face, a chance to meet new people.

His eyes grow big when the underground is mentioned, and he bobs on one spot, his wings twitching. "I w-wanna meet them! When can we meet them, Tuskfang?"

[billtodamax]

In Search of a Fortress

Bab chirps, disconcerted, until she starts getting petted. This she understands. She leans slightly into Khannie's petting fingers.

Taguz said she's gonna be even taller than dad! Olon says excitedly. Dad says he's gonna have to make her and Ator a special room off the balcony where they can live when they get bigger. For now they just sleep with us. Ator's gonna get even bigger than Bab I bet. Endok says, feeling a little left out of the conversation. Nuh-uh! Yuh-huh! Khannie might want to distract them before they descend into argument.

[Gnrlshrimp]

[Dragon Landing]

Somewhere along the main road leading to the site, Sylvess swoops down and skitters awkwardly to a halt in a typically poor landing for the copper dragon - he's much better at swooping in and performing a wall landing, honest! Just a flick of his wings and he can latch onto any wall you like! But nooo, it always has to be somewhere flat on the ground, doesn't it?

He hurriedly steps out of the way to clear the runway for his companion, waiting for Spako to land before coughing nervously and looking around. "S-so, um, we're here to see who exactly?" Sure, Spako had told him the name once or twice already. He forgot. He does that.

[Morty]

[Kids and Bear ==> Off to see the dorfs]

"Can we go right now, mom?" Tuskfang asks.

"I don't see why not." The babies will probably wake up soon, so it'll be good to have the boys occupied elsewhere. "Just remember to knock on the door nicely and ask if you can see them."

"Whoo! Come on!" Tuskfang will go put on his coat quickly and lead Asher out of the cabin. "Endok and Olon are dwarves and they live underground like goblins do," he prattles. "They have a really big fort with lots of dwarves and all their grownups have beards."

[Purple Eagle]

[Off to see the DORFS!]

Asher follows his friend happily, listening intently as he hovers closely beside Tuskfang. Scout's eaten his fill and spots the two boys, so he runs close to them and follows closely.

The winged boy is greatly awestruck by Tuskfang's mere description, he has a way with words that sparks the boy's imagination. But then, Asher's pretty excitable already. Celestial nephilim kids are known to be very emotional. "Ooh, even t-t-the women have b-beards?" Now, that's something he's never seen before, and yet another thing he's looking forward to seeing!

[Morty]

[Off to see the DORFS!]

"Yeah! Olon is a girl and her beard is starting to grow!" Tuskfang relates excitedly. "Mom says goblins don't grow beards very often but maybe I will when I grow up." Tuskfang leads Asher down a stairway opening in the campgrounds and knocks on the door.

[Purple Eagle]

[Off to see the DORFS!]

"My Poppa has a b-buh-beard!" Asher replies happily, still flying. Maybe he'll get a beard, too, though likely at that age he'd prefer to be clean-shaven. The green-haired boy lands on the ground and runs behind Tuskfang, eagerly looking around at the stairway he hadn't noticed before.

[Deathkeeper]

[Dragon Landing]

Somewhere along the main road leading to the site, Sylvess swoops down and skitters awkwardly to a halt in a typically poor landing for the copper dragon - he's much better at swooping in and performing a wall landing, honest! Just a flick of his wings and he can latch onto any wall you like! But nooo, it always has to be somewhere flat on the ground, doesn't it?

He hurriedly steps out of the way to clear the runway for his companion, waiting for Spako to land before coughing nervously and looking around. "S-so, um, we're here to see who exactly?" Sure, Spako had told him the name once or twice already. He forgot. He does that.

[Dragon Landing]

Spako swoops down, flaps into a hover, and lands neatly on Sylvess' back in his kobold shape. Which is good because if he miscalculated he might have jabbed his boyfriend with the dagger (sword!) he wears on his hip.
"I have no idea! We're here to find a shrink. They have those here. So now we have to find someone. Onward, my nervous steed." declares the kobold, patting Sylvess' flank with his tail.

[Morty]

[Dragon Landing]

The two dragons will no doubt be directed to Sophie in short order if they ask for a therapist. The rather unassuming woman will greet the dragon and the currently-kobold with an unphased expression.

"It seems you're looking for me. I'm Sophie Mouchabieré, GLoG's resident therapist."

[billtodamax]

Off to see the DORFS!

They'll find upon knock on the door that it's not actually closed - it swings open under the assault. The staircase leads deeper down into the ground, and they'll be surrounded with engravings that tuskfang is by now familiar with. Mostly exulting in the success of the dwarves - a well crafted cabinet, the founding of the settlement, a really good engraving of a well crafted cabinet.

Engravers have an ego sometimes.

Also amongst the engravings are a few goblins, humans, and elves. The humans get off relatively easy - mostly they're just being scammed in trade deals by far more intelligent dwarves. The elves tend toward acting pious and holier than though while dwarves look bored and ignore them. Goblins, well, there's a lot of kneeling and grovelling and a lot of goblins no longer in a position to kneel and grovel (having been granted dwarven mercy).

Assuming Tuskfang remembers the way, they will eventually find their way off the stairway and down a corridor to Olon and Endok's rooms, although not without a number of dwarves giving them strange looks. Weirdest looking Cave Swallow Man they've ever seen. If they knock they'll hear a dwarven voice yell out: Can you get that Olon? and the door will be opened by a young dwarf. She's 8 years old, wearing silk dyed black and navy, and she's very proud of her beard even if it isn't very long yet cause you can tell it's gonna be the best beard ever look it's really filled in around the bottom and none of the other kids her age have a beard nearly as good even though Tun says that his beard is better he's just jealous it's way patchier under the chin. It's Tuskfang and some weird elf dad! He has wings!

[Morty]

[Off to see the DORFS!]

The engravings with goblins bother Tuskfang in a way he can't quite define. It reminds him of how his mom told him not to listen when his grandpa was talking about dwarves. Then she told him to go play with his cousins, but he still heard raises voices and grandpa hasn't said anything about dwarves since. Tuskfang doesn't understand any of it, but he doesn't have time to ruminate, because he focuses on remembering the way to Endok and Olon's home. It's a good thing that he's got some of a goblin's sense of direction underground.

"Hi Olon!" he says when the door is opened. "This is my friend Asher! He wanted to meet you and Endok."

[Gnrlshrimp]

[Dragon Landing]

"O-oh, um, hi? Maybe? I don't- um, Spako?" Yes. Sylvess is definitely his nervous steed. He's very nervous about this, actually. He'd much rather Lucy was out right now but that'd be a bit self-defeating, wouldn't it?

"Spako, um, says I need help." There. Leave it to Spako to explain things. This is all his idea anyway!

[Purple Eagle]

[Off to see the DORFS!]

All the engravings bother Asher, because he'd experienced some racism at Cheasadh's hands and asked his mother about it. The knowledge that sometimes people hate people for looking differently made him cry himself to sleep, even if he doesn't understand it as much as he later will as he he grows. He doesn't want to feel sad, though, so he focuses on just following Tuskfang.

Being underground is weird, too, because his power is over the earth and he can sense everything, and it feels different than being in a building, with the amount of earth on top of him.

When Olon reveals herself and Asher takes in her form, a big smile comes on his face, one that's not affected too much by being called a 'weird elf'. "I'm not a w-w-wuh-weird elf, I'm a c-c-celes-tee-al neph-ee-lim!" He draws out the words because he's not yet good at saying both words at once without it sounding weird. "I l-l-like your beard, it's p-puh-pretty!"

[Deathkeeper]

[Dragon Landing]

Spako gives a flap of his wings and lands on the ground in front of Sophie. He bows.
"Well Miss, to put it simply my boyfriend is nuttier than a Thanksmas fruitcake. We need help getting him worked out of all his uh, extraneous personas that are ratting around between his ears." he explains, scratching an ear somewhat awkwardly.

[billtodamax]

Off to see the DORFS!

Hi Tuskfang! Hi Asher! He says he's not an elf dad! She says happily to the pair before turning back inside yelling at her dad. She trusts Tuskfang not to bring an elf to her house. She happily walks away from the open door further into the house. Olon didn't invite them in because she is 8 and her etiquette is still bad. Tuskfang and Asher will see an older dwarf currently cooking. He gives a little wave to the pair. Hello Tuskfang! Endok! Tuskfang's here! He calls out before turning back to the stove. Endok's in our room with Ator and Bab - Tuskfang have you seen them! Olon starts talking to Tuskfang and Asher and hopefully they're inside by this point. We got pets!

[Lord Magtok]

[Memory Woods Hut]

Feia actually looks vaguely concerned by that spell's explanation.
"That...sounds an awful lot like my sister's bond-tracing magic. I don't know where she picked that particular set up, but I recall her keeping some implementation of it on standby in case some professor or another needed removing."
It was a bit of a scorched earth style spell, with quite a bit less specificity compared to this Love's Pain...but apparently the concept is broader than expected.
Which isn't great, for a multitude of reasons.

"The professor's told me what little he knows of the spell," Magtok explains, referring to a scene that isn't finished yet and knowledge he's yet to acquire. He's doing this because he's a huge jerk who likes screwing with continuity and making things more difficult for me than they already are, I presume. "He didn't know everything, though. If you know anything more about that particular spell, it could make all of this a whole lot easier." For instance, would it make any difference if he disowned Needs as his brother here and now? If he swore that he would never again blindly serve the whims of the capricious MagCollective, but was his own individual from this day forward, the one and only Smagtok? I mean, probably not, right? If the spell that could be outsmarted simply by naming each Affy something like Aff 1, Aff 2, and Aff 3, Affidavit probably would've insisted on being called something like that by now. Still, it wouldn't really take any extra effort to do something like that, so-

"Speaking of, Needs, I'm disowning you. You're not my brother anymore, you're just some talking fish. You're the Heirophant now," Magtok explains casually, careful to keep his tone as amiable as he can, lest Needs the Heirophant think he's actually done something to upset little brother Maggums.

"That won't work, Fool. The Narrative has no love for half-measures. We may weave the perfect fable of a courageous knight risking it all to slay the dragon in the name of his goddess, but all the poeticisms and prophecy will mean nothing if he goes to battle half-drunk and overconfident, with a dull blade and rusted armor," the catfish blurbles, rolling on the floor until it's upside-down and facing Magtok the Fool with that same vacant expression he's worn the whole time he's been in this form.

"Alright, fine, you're still my brother and not the Heirophant, then. Happy?" Magtok scowls, mumbling something I can't repeat about Needs being an incredibly rude so-and-so. Oh man, the fate of the entire Nexus isn't really in the hands of these nitwits, is it?

[Morty]

[Dragon Landing]

This big dragon and this small kobold... well, none of her business, really. Besides, dragons can change shape, can't they? Let's focus on the business at hand. Sophie nods. This sounds like some sort of multiple personality situation, so it won't be easy, even with her newfound skills.

"I see. I'm here to help, of course. We're going to have to set up regular appointments, but I have time to get started now. I'm afraid you won't fit in my office, so if you can't become smaller we can set up somewhere private by the woods."

[Off to see the DORFS!]

"Good morning, Mr. Utost!" Tuskang says politely as he comes in. Then his attention is occupied entirely by a mention of pets and his tail wags excitedly. "I haven't seen your pets yet! What kind of animal are they?"

[Chaotic Bob]

[Memory Woods Hut]

Unfortunately, Feia shakes her head a bit at this.
"The particulars of that magic were stripped from me when she took everything else. I am aware of the general concept, but like most of her more important secrets...that's all I know."
Which, while predictable and annoying, does make sense. Why would the megalomanical dragon leave such an obvious informational weak-point sitting in the Nexus? Obviously some degree of arrogance is still in play here, because said weak-point is still alive, but...

"It's one of her chamber spells."
Looks like Venmaunt knows a bit more though. He's closed his eyes and looks like he's straining on a particularly difficult line of thought, but he does have something here.
"Mother's most taxing spells have specifically prepared rooms with most of the dangerous particulars of the magic already prepared. None of them are things she can just clap her hands and perform, she..."
His frown deepens and he seems to be searching through his mind harder, but sighs. Opening his eyes and shrugging, he gestures towards his aunt.
"Even the shade and I can only expose so much while she still lives. It's one of the reasons I know she's survived."

That "shade", of course, is Edict.
Wherever he is right now.

[Rebonack]

[Island]

"It was pretty cool exploring it," Lucas agrees as he pulls out his phone and starts taking some pictures.

How else will anyone believe that he explored a cool ruin?

Unless he loots something.

But he isn't going to do that, just in case that skeleton springs up and tries to murder them all.

"Maybe it got grabbed and left here? That happens all the time Inside," Lucas reports. "But not as much in outlying areas like this. The further you get from Inside, the more stable things get."

Stable is good.

Unless like you LIKE zany randomness.

Like a crazy person.

[In Search of a Fortress]

Animals sure are weird, Khannie thinks.

They just keep growing and getting bigger without turning into anything else. Except the bugs. She learned about caterpillars at school and at first she thought maybe they're pokemon but it turns out they aren't.

As the argument begins spooling up she reaches into her backpack and pulls out a book. "Oh! I wanted to show you guys this cool thing I bought with my allowance money."

Normally her allowance money would have been insufficient.

But she got more by beating up the pokemon of some really lousy pokemon trainers. Gambling on fights typically isn't the sort of thing children should be doing, but she's from a pokemon universe so that's fine and normal.

She brandishes the book at her friends! "I got it from this cool guy at Market Street he says he found it on this skeleton down in a dungeon and he thinks the skeleton used to be a wizard!"

Oh.

Oh hot-sauce this is the real deal, isn't it?

Khannie found a for-real wizard book.

"I haven't opened it yet I wanted to come over here so we can look at it together!"

[Purple Eagle]

Off to see the DORFS!

Hi Tuskfang! Hi Asher! He says he's not an elf dad! She says happily to the pair before turning back inside yelling at her dad. She trusts Tuskfang not to bring an elf to her house. She happily walks away from the open door further into the house. Olon didn't invite them in because she is 8 and her etiquette is still bad. Tuskfang and Asher will see an older dwarf currently cooking. He gives a little wave to the pair. Hello Tuskfang! Endok! Tuskfang's here! He calls out before turning back to the stove. Endok's in our room with Ator and Bab - Tuskfang have you seen them! Olon starts talking to Tuskfang and Asher and hopefully they're inside by this point. We got pets!

[Off to see the DORFS!]

"Good morning, Mr. Utost!" Tuskang says politely as he comes in. Then his attention is occupied entirely by a mention of pets and his tail wags excitedly. "I haven't seen your pets yet! What kind of animal are they?"

[Off to see the DORFS!]

Asher walks in and looks around the house, still smiling. "G-Good morning, M-Mister!" He politely says, but his attention, too, is occupied by the pets, so the boy squeaks happily, his wings twitching, and eagerly follows the woblin and the dwarf inside the children's room.

Scout the brown bear follows, because while he's big enough that two small kids can ride him, he's still too small to be an adolescent bear.

[Gnrlshrimp]

[Dragon Landing]

A moment later and there's two kobolds as Sylvess shifts to the much smaller form. Still has wings though. Wings are nice.

..also female now.

Spako's fondness for "Sylvie" seems to have been enough to convince Sylvess that should be his default choice for koboldiness.

"I, um, yes, what Spako said. A-a-and don't worry, I can fit. Although, um, this might be part of the problem?"

[Deathkeeper]

[Dragon Landing]

Spako gives Sylvie a conflicted look. She's adorable, as she was last time, but...
"It might be a cause of the problem, yes."

[Morty]

[Island]

"Yeah, it was really cool to explore it," Iknika agrees. "It's spooky. Let's go see the rest of the island now."

[Dragon Landing]

Sophie thinks about it for a moment. Yes, shapechanging turns split personalities into even more of a problem, doesn't it...

"I see. Well, let's talk in my office for now. We'll try to unpack it and come up with something if it turns out staying in your original shape is necessary. Do you want to be present as well?" she asks, turning to Spako.

[Lord Magtok]

Memory Woods Hut

"So if she's feeling overwhelmed and has only one person in her way, or one person and their duplicates hounding her, she'll do her best to herd the problem into this special chamber and erase them from time and space and history forever," Magtok summarizes, a strangely gleeful grin on his face. He looks to the assembled conspirators with the look of a talking rat who knows exactly how he's going to try to take over the world tonight, before stepping forward to pick Catfish Needs off the floor, and throw him back out through the broken window the sorcerer originally leaped through only a few minutes before.

"Great. Fantastic, actually. I just need to badger her enough to resort to the big guns, make sure nobody jumps in the way to stop me from sacrificing myself at Feiadyne's altar, and we win. You guys can just finish her while she's drained, and all of reality is saved once again. Good talk, team. I'll have the professor swing by and pick you guys up when we're ready," he declares, apparently missing the whole point of all of this. Magtok, you incautious pillock, this isn't a 'impale yourself on the enemy's sword so your buddy can stab 'em while they're useless' kind of problem. If you die in that chamber, that's it, game over. There will be no more Magtoks anywhere, ever. You won't be bouncing back like you've done with everything. Even Needs and Faction will be swept away by your foolish arrogance and desire to play martyr. Are you truly this blind? This is not how you save the day.

...but you already know that, don't you?

[Purple Eagle]

[Romantic Lake Boating]

Karasu steps out of the portal in her cabin, taking her from Raptor Island to the Good League, after which she leaves her cabin and starts running to Natalie's cabin, using shadows where possible to shadowport from place to place, while maintaining her energy. It's mostly bright, after all. She's a dark-skinned Afro-Asian girl with purple curls at the very top of her short black hair, and is dressed right now in a red top - a colour she's rarely seen in, but then it's both a Valentine's colour and her girlfriend's favourite colour - patterned with card suits, and black tights over a blue skirt made of a jeans-like material. She's unarmed right now (mostly), and once she arrives at Natalie's cabin, she'll knock.

"I'm here, my rose." She announces out loud so Natalie'd know it's her - but then they planned this, so she probably already knows - and then smiles reservedly, both hands behind her, using the opportunity to feel for the hilt of Natalie's Valentine's Day present

[billtodamax]

In Search of a Fortress

Well, that's gonna distract them. OH ARMOK A WIZARD BOOK! Olon explodes with excitement (slightly freaking out Bab, who fidgets around in Khannie's hand and starts flapping a little. Khannie we didn't tell you! We helped out a weird sorta wizard and she helped us do some magic only I dunno if it worked cause she did a wizard teleport halfway through teaching us so we had to guess the rest - An' Dad said he'd put it up somewhere near the farms but we dunno if it's really working or not and it's hard to tell so I bet this is gonna be better magic. While talking the pair scurry over to the table and start clearing space for the book. Ator is set gently onto Endok's shoulder where he clings, slightly precariously.

Off to see the DORFS!

Ok so Ator's a giant bat but Bab's a giant cave swallow and she's much prettier than Ator no matter what Endok says. Olon tells Tuskfang as she leads the pair over to her room. She pauses for a second as she registers the bear coming in. HEY WAIT TUSKFANG DID YOU GET A BEAR? Way to get a cooler pet than they got, Tuskfang. She opens up the door and the pair will see Endok inside playing with what looks like a regular sized bat and bird. The bird does look like it's a bit of a youngun though - maybe this is just the size they start out at. Hi Tuskfang! Hi uh... hi. Endok says from inside the room, giving an apprehensive look at Asher. This was both a stranger AND a weird elf and thus was worthy of suspicion.

[Morty]

[Off to see the DORFS!]

"Hi Olon! This is my friend Asher. And Scout's his bear, not mine," the woblin explains promptly. "Are those your new pets? A bat and a bird?"

[Earl of Purple]

Romantic Lake Boating

Natalie opens the door! She's a fifteen-year-old girl with sun-tanned skin, black hair and green eyes. She's wearing a black t-shirt with the Ascent of Man printed on it, except the man at the end has turned around and is speech-ballooning 'Stop following me!' at the various ape-humanoids behind him, and a purple skirt. As usual, she's barefoot, and raises an eyebrow. "A rose, am I? Prickly and hard to hold, is it? If that's how you feel, maybe we should cancel the date." Natalie doesn't mean it, which is very obvious as she struggles to keep a straight face.

Island

Nothing will stop the three intrepid explorers from leaving, if that is what they wish.

Well, nothing except possibly that sleeping-gas trap halfway up the ramp out of the barrow, if they forget to put up a wall of force to avoid stepping on it.

[Purple Eagle]

Off to see the DORFS!

Ok so Ator's a giant bat but Bab's a giant cave swallow and she's much prettier than Ator no matter what Endok says. Olon tells Tuskfang as she leads the pair over to her room. She pauses for a second as she registers the bear coming in. HEY WAIT TUSKFANG DID YOU GET A BEAR? Way to get a cooler pet than they got, Tuskfang. She opens up the door and the pair will see Endok inside playing with what looks like a regular sized bat and bird. The bird does look like it's a bit of a youngun though - maybe this is just the size they start out at. Hi Tuskfang! Hi uh... hi. Endok says from inside the room, giving an apprehensive look at Asher. This was both a stranger AND a weird elf and thus was worthy of suspicion.

[Off to see the DORFS!]

"Hi Olon! This is my friend Asher. And Scout's his bear, not mine," the woblin explains promptly. "Are those your new pets? A bat and a bird?"

[Off to see the DORFS!]

"Yes, Scout's my b-bear cub!" Asher adds to Tuskfang's words, his eyes widening first when the pets are spoken of by the female dwarven kid, and then after he gets to see them for real. He doesn't understand why Endok looks at him so apprehensively, but introduces himself all the same. "T-T-That's me, Asher! I'm a nephi-i-i-i... nephilim, n-not an elf!" Because Olon mistook him for one.

But then he can't leave well enough alone and scratches the top of his left wing feathers with his right hand a bit. "M-Momma says we're l-like elves and f-fair folk and g-gnomes and h-human, but divine. T-This is Scout, he's f-friendly!"

Hopefully they don't treat him differently because of that! Asher's very quick to tears when his feelings are hurt, as Cheasadh once found out first-hand.

Romantic Lake Boating

Natalie opens the door! She's a fifteen-year-old girl with sun-tanned skin, black hair and green eyes. She's wearing a black t-shirt with the Ascent of Man printed on it, except the man at the end has turned around and is speech-ballooning 'Stop following me!' at the various ape-humanoids behind him, and a purple skirt. As usual, she's barefoot, and raises an eyebrow. "A rose, am I? Prickly and hard to hold, is it? If that's how you feel, maybe we should cancel the date." Natalie doesn't mean it, which is very obvious as she struggles to keep a straight face.

Romantic Lake Boating

The other fifteen-year old smiles at her girlfriend's shirt, and then even brighter at Natalie's obvious joke. "No, Talie. Beautiful and something to be treasured." She replies, taking her girlfriend's hand in hers and leading her away towards the lake. "Happy Valentine's Day, babe." She says, kissing her girlfriend chastely on the lips. "I saw a robin today with the prettiest feathers, reminded me of you. He comes to my cabin's roof to eat the birdseeds I put out everyday." She says, sharing something of her day today.