Closed Angrboða II

[Vicissitude]

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summer 21 year 123 of the third age
Continued from <here.>​

"You know, it's strange, because freezing something like that with normal ice would cause them to die, but with Abation, they only die if you actively cause your target to rot with another spell called Nucleate; I guess because I'm freezing her with Ardor, specifically?" Æhti paused for a second, pondering the exact mechanism by which the Metaphor functioned.

"E-either way, she's still alive…for now," he abruptly added on. "If you'd like to question her, we can partially unfreeze her at the outpost, where uh…nothing else would disturb us."

Admittedly, Æhti was curious about what exactly the Inari had been up to down here. Now granted, he wasn't sure how forthcoming she'd be, but he supposed it was worth a shot to at least try and ask questions rather than not bothering at all.

Regarding Velho's medical work, "...umm…I don't, no. Nobody does, actually. It's strange. I'd always known medical teams to be, well, teams, you know? Like a doctor, nurses, other staff…with Velho, it's just him. Every time!" Æhti sounded perplexed by his own explanation. "...and yet he gets on par or better results than other top Maltricians and I've not a clue how."

It really was strange, but one cannot practice Devorare's Vicissitude in the company of others; a shame such a wondrous Arcana must be hidden away.

"Like, for me, I passed out after being torn asunder by my initiator's emeralds with Terra– I briefly saw myself; whole torso ripped apart like a geode– and then I woke up flawless two days later; I was informed I'd been repaired in one surgery." This clearly fascinated Æhti, though from the way he talked it was evident he had not a clue about Velho's actual medical methodology, only his effectiveness.

The young man's pondering about exactly how his master did his job so well was interrupted by Cælum stopping to warn him about the sound he'd heard up ahead. Abruptly, Æhti would stop alongside the dragon, straining to listen– he heard the sound, too. The scuttling footsteps suddenly increased in volume, and soon a large, bioluminescent scorpion crawled into view; it looked like it had a crystal carapace, too– almost like it was made of sapphire. The beast was beautiful, but they'd have no time to admire it, belligerent as it looked.

"Cælum, move!" Æhti call out, jumping out of the way just in time to avoid being impaled by the scorpion's crystal stinger.

꧁══════════• ༺༉ { Æhti } ༉༻•══════════꧂



꧁══════════• ༺༉ ❁ ❀ ❁ ༉༻•══════════꧂​

 

[Caelum]

​

"Interesting, I never thought that it would work like that. Who would have thought that ice could be so complex?" At that, he thought about his own magic. He had not actually intended to fire off a giant rock-like shard of light at the ceiling. In fact, he had wanted to shoot a spear that could double as a weapon… but no matter how hard he'd tried to shape it, it hadn't come out quite right. These were complexities that he had never bothered to explore. Mostly because he had no teacher but partly because he didn't care. In his opinion, his breath weapon was the least interesting part about what his dragon magic allowed him to do.

He nodded at the comment about questioning the inari later. Caelum was more than a little paranoid that she might have friends nearby. When AEhti went into Velho's medical work, Caelum was impressed.

"That is strange. It doesn't even sound possible, if I'm being honest. I think even the strongest of druids would welcome help if they were trying to mend an entire torso. To be able to do that sort of thing… he must have such incredible medical knowledge and be able to use his saol very efficiently." He paused, let out a groan of discomfort then continued, "that's all good to hear though. I'm sure I'll be in good hands."

"I might have to hire him to oversee any initiations I might undergo if he's that good." He said after a small pause. He adjusted the inari once more then continued, "he must have cared deeply about your well being to have gone through the effort. Although I wouldn't be surprised if his motives were not the least bit altruistic." His words might have been harsh and borne of an incomplete understanding of AEhti's relationship… but that was how the dragon figured most aelves would treat 'their' humans. Caelum liked to think he was a little different in that regard even if he was cruel at times.

"Is that a…." Caelum said when the scorpion attacked. If not for the bioluminescence, he would have not been able to see it at all.

He needed little motivation to force himself into the air with magic. Flying with cargo was nothing new to him – he had carried multiple people with him for long distances but it was a slow, tiring affair. If only he was physically stronger or better at flying… but the inari was much lighter than a human. Plus, he was able to fly without expending any metaphor at all so his magical fatigue was a non-factor.

Caelum angled himself backwards as he ascended, watching as AEhti dodge out of the way of a stinger. "Great, just what we need, more poison," he quipped from up above. He'd felt safe, but he quickly realized that he'd reached the top of the cavern and that he was still well within striking range of the stinger. He had to swerve out of the way, circling around the creature until he'd reached its rear.

The dragon fumbled with his awkwardly stashed longsword, drawing it and holding it out in front of him. He had come a long way over the past several years with his swordsmanship but had never quite trained to use a weapon like this one-handedly while carrying someone on his shoulder. And certainly not against a gods damned scorpion.

He would wait for the stinger to jut forwards at AEhti before swooping down to try stabbing into the scorpion's hide, but something told him that its crystalline armor was going to defend against anything his puny wooden longsword could do.

 

[Vicissitude]

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summer 21 year 123 of the third age
Continued from <here.>​

"I think it's that actual ice is Imber and Ardor together? And that it's those two combined that causes the actual harm of being frozen by the natural elements? Abation is just Ardor," Æhti was guessing, but the hypothesis made sense to him.

"I suppose I can test that properly if I don't die going through the Aqua initiation," he said this curiously, though there was a certain defeated tone to it. "Saturate the target in Imber and then freeze them with Ardor and see if it's different."

At this point, Velho had told Æhti that he was going to be initiated into Aqua; the only part of that fate that was unknown at the moment was whether or not he'd survive. In theory, he liked the idea of being an Aquari, but the young man did not want to invite death unto himself. He found the world around him fascinating, and deeply desired to actually live within it. Still, he was born into a role in life that was inherently subservient– he didn't have a choice.

There was, at least, the silver lining of Velho's medical prowess.

Æhti laughed awkwardly at the comment Cælum made regarding Velho's motives. "Aye, I think you'll be just fine in his hands– if nothing else, he is very good at his job.

"As for his motivations regarding me, I've not a single clue what they are…and it's not really my place to ask. But he does come across as oddly…covetous? Maybe? Is the word I think of, at least, when I think about his behavior," he posited.

Covetous. Possessive. Controlling.

…and then there was the hunger in his eyes when he looked at Æhti.​

But that was something that the Fælnir preferred not to linger too long on.

"I'd love to think he 'cares' about me in some genuine way, but…" the young man chuckled sardonically, "...I do very much doubt it."

It was mere moments after he said that they were attacked, and Æhti was forced to focus on the present rather than theorizing about whatever esoteric motivations Velho had regarding him. Immediately, Cælum took to the air as the human man was forced to dodge the tail's heavy swing. The comment about poison might've made Æhti laugh were he not busy trying to avoid danger.

Æhti looked to Cælum, and making an educated guess based on his movements, spoke a quick incantation and dashed forward towards the scorpion. The spell seemed to hinder the scorpion, but not freeze it solid; he'd downcast Cryomancy to a journeyman spell. Its crystalline hide would be much more fragile and it would struggle to move.

The Aboteur managed to get in melee touch range of the scorpion just before Cælum's sword struck the creature, and he cast another spell just in time. This one was Nucleate– and since this scorpion was a hybrid of both organic and mundane materials, its hide would become exceptionally brittle in the area around his touch as the flesh beneath it began to rot.

The scorpion screeched in pain, clearly enraged. Swinging its tail at the little nuisance that was Æhti, his reckless movements had put him in a questionable spot that led him into getting hit– luckily, however, he was swept by the blunt end of the tail. Though he still got thrown into a wall and that certainly hurt, he was saved from the creature's venom.

The strike of Cælum's sword, however, would crash into the weakened beast and shatter its carapace to pieces.

꧁══════════• ༺༉ { Æhti } ༉༻•══════════꧂



꧁══════════• ༺༉ ❁ ❀ ❁ ༉༻•══════════꧂​

 

[Caelum]

Caelum didn't have a good view of what AEhti was doing and his knowledge of aether was quite limited. But he could tell that the human was doing something. Whatever he'd done, he fully credited it to the shattering of the scorpion's armor.

He had been expecting a lot more resistance than he got, so his body smushed up against the crumbling carapace and he nearly dropped the inari. Caelum had also foolishly assumed the scorpion had shattered to bits like the mushrooms from earlier… but he was mistaken.

The scorpion flailed around, not only hitting Aehti, but also Caelum. Granted, Caelum's trauma was a lot less severe than the human's because he was so close to the scorpion. He managed to stabilize himself in midair before hitting a wall and readied his sword to attack again. Fortunately, the scorpion had lost its will to fight when its armor had shattered. It felt vulnerable, afraid, and scurried off in the direction of the inari's hide out.

Caelum didn't think he'd broken anything, but the left side of his torso was very likely bruised. He flew over to where AEhti was and asked, "are you alright? That was a pretty nasty hit."

He looked the man up and down, assuming that anything the man said to assuage his worries were probably understating the damage. "I could drain the saol from the inari if I had to, that should be able to heal you… I wouldn't kill her but she probably has a decent amount of life force in her if she's capable of using at least two glamour magics. I don't even know if we need her alive. Maybe if I drained her completely the organ could still be used if you preserved it well enough."

 

[Vicissitude]

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summer 21 year 123 of the third age
Continued from <here.>​

Æhti's eyes widened as he flew through the air, his breath catching as he braced for impact. There was a loud thud and a sickening crack as he hit the wall, though the latter sound was only particularly audible to the human himself. The shock of the blow knocked the wind out of him, and he swiftly realized he likely had a broken rib or two upon trying to take a breath.

And though being thrown against the wall was not the best outcome, he'd accomplished his goal of weakening the beast and he watched as Cælum injured it enough to get it to give up. Æhti was fairly relieved by this result, because while it had hurt him, it had done so on instinct. The scorpion was an animal and it had likely perceived the dragon and the Fælnir as a threat of sorts– there was really no reason for it to actually die. In time, Æhti's magic would fade and it would likely be able to heal.

With the threat adequately dispersed, Cælum flew back down and over to Æhti– but before the boy could answer his question, he coughed, tasting copper; blood. And on the outside, red would be visible on his lips.

"I…think I'm okay enough?" He responded, brow furrowed.

Unlike with the poison rapidly stealing away his ability to move, he believed he could stubbornly grin and bear this.

"Don't…kill the Inari, I think Velho would prefer to extract the organ…from a living body, something about…requiring Saol…to make sure it doesn't, uh…rot. No Saol to preserve it…if she's dead," he strained himself to explain.

That was a unique downside to Glamour organs. Ardor would certainly be enough to sustain non-magical flesh, but being that Glamour organs required specifically being suffused with Saol to function, they lasted a remarkably short amount of time outside of the body of a living host– a few hours at absolute most.

Æhti tried to push his palms against the floor to stand and, feeling the sharp shock of pain radiate from his ribcage, winced and sat back down. He grit his teeth to keep himself from calling out.

"I guess it…wouldn't hurt to take…some of her Saol, though," he continued with a sheepish, almost embarrassed sort of smile. "At least…we aren't far, now."

꧁══════════• ༺༉ { Æhti } ༉༻•══════════꧂



꧁══════════• ༺༉ ❁ ❀ ❁ ༉༻•══════════꧂​

 

[Caelum]

Caelum debated using saol to heal himself but the threat of getting mageburn kept him honest with himself. So long as he could fly he would be fine. He couldn't say the same about AEhti who was looking quite injured.

"You know, if you'd worn some decent armor you probably could have avoided getting poisoned before. You should see about getting some if Velho keeps sending you on these kinds of errands." He tried to bring some levity to the situation. The dragon didn't wear armor by choice, thinking it ugly in almost all instances. And if he really wanted armor all he need do was allow his scales to grow back. In hindsight he probably should have worn some, but he hadn't expected this trip to be so onerous.

"Surely Velho pays you or at least gives you a stipend? Even I give my human enough money to do as she pleases." He spoke as he slowly drained saol from the inari and redirected it into the human. He was careful not to draw much, a few low level casts of magic felt safe to drain and he figured if the woman looked in danger of dying he could always reverse the process.

The process would take quite a bit of time, ten to fifteen minutes, but it gave them time to rest. Nothing came to bother them during this time, not that they were easy to see in this dark corner of the cave. Caelum was kind of disappointed that he couldn't completely drain her of her energy and especially anxious with how long it was taking. Draining her quickly had been his backup plan and was the only reason he'd given AEhti so much healing energy the first time around.

"This is taking too long. I know I haven't given you much, but maybe you feel a little better. If we're truly close to town you should have to make it far. If you can't walk then I could probably fly you as well, it'll just be slow. Maybe a bit faster if I can drag the inari…" he trailed off while trying to think of alternatives, if AEhti couldn't walk.

"We should get going though, or try to make a shelter to camp out in so we can properly recover some of our reserves. I feel like if we sit here too long we're just asking for trouble."

 

[Vicissitude]

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summer 21 year 123 of the third age
Continued from <here.>​

Æhti would've laughed properly were it not so painful to do so.

"I never thought about asking after that sort of thing," he adjusted himself in a vain attempt to sit a little more comfortably. "...because I started working for him under the pretense…that I'd be able to develop Galdr…without risk of Sundering…in exchange for assistance with…work at his business, not, uh…this," the sentiment punctuated with what might've been a chuckle had it not sounded more like a wheeze. The man winced.

Once Cælum had begun to diffuse Saol from the Inari into him, he began to feel better– albeit slowly. Still, slow was far superior to not all.

"He…gives me a budget…sort of thing? For personal use every month; can't go over it unless he approves…but it's a lot more than what I'm used to, frankly…" Æhti explained in response to his question.

He exhaled a sigh, then largely stayed quiet over the course of the next few minutes until it was less strenuous to speak.

"But you're right, if he's gonna send me on this sort of errand, I might think about investing in some armor down the line," the young man almost rolled his eyes.

The more time he spent with Velho, the more laborious the work became, it seemed. Granted, him being sent on this sort of endeavor could be a sign of trust or respect– it would reflect poorly on the Ferrier if he'd send along somebody truly incompetent to secure the organ, after all.

After around fifteen minutes, Cælum suggested the two of them get a move on, and Æhti nodded in agreement, trying to move again. It was far easier than the first time, that was for certain. He was able to stand and walk around on his own, though doing so was not entirely pain free. At this point, however, he didn't care– this was more than good enough to get him the rest of the way to the nearest little outpost, at least.

Trying to mask what pain still existed, "...I'm fine now, we can walk. Shouldn't be much further now," he said, nodding in the direction of the caverns ahead.

And he was correct, if Cælum followed him, their journey would only take another twenty minutes of walking, give or take a few. The outpost that they arrived at was the size of a small village and manned by a handful of Æld'Norai and their Fælnir servants. It appeared that this was more of a research outpost than a proper settlement and that it was helmed by an Æld'Norai Sloan cultivating some of the local cave fungi. Realistically, it was probably that Sloan's Grove.

Here, they could find the Exodus mage right away to go back to Hespæria, rest a bit, or take the time to ask the Inari– or even the Æld'Norai– questions if they wanted.

꧁══════════• ༺༉ { Æhti } ༉༻•══════════꧂



꧁══════════• ༺༉ ❁ ❀ ❁ ༉༻•══════════꧂​

 

[Caelum]

Caelum listened to AEhti intently, nodding along and occasionally glancing around for danger. His words made sense and perhaps Velho simply did not know how much danger they'd be facing. Caelum's expectations for this trip were vastly different than what it turned out to be. He'd expected to go to a village where someone was known to be an inari and capture them. Had he known beforehand that he'd be transported to a cave… well, he would have been a little more prepared, maybe even have formed his protective gear the day prior.

The dragon did not for a minute believe the human before him was alright, but he didn't see much else that he could do. He would float along beside the man as they walked, getting more and more tired from hauling the inari. The cave itself was quite impressive. More mushroom varieties showed up with varying colors. There was other wildlife too, mostly lizards and spiders. None of them seemed intent on tackling three large humanoids, however.

They made their way into a fairly large camp, or perhaps a small little town. It was nothing fancy, something clearly thrown up to be temporary based on the layout. It would be obvious that aelves were the ones who mostly populated the area by the designs of the housing… that and the humans running about doing errands.

The aelf that approached the pair had seen them coming out of the cave and was perplexed. "How did you get in there? We keep close watch on the cave and I don't believe anyone's gone in today."

"We took a portal in," Caelum explained. "It's kind of a long story… I'm after an inari's glamor organ and we were told there was one in the caves." He patted the icy creature on his shoulder as he finally dropped to the ground.

"An inari? Hmm, it's funny you say that. There have been some strange things happening around here these last couple of months. Among them, some Faelnir have gone missing, so perhaps this inari killed them. And who is this faelnir with you? He looks injured, you both do actually."

Caelum would allow the AEhti to make his own introductions and provide his own explanation after which the aelf would continue, "I know you've just been through a lot. Perhaps you should rest a while, give us the chance to heal you and also question the inari. Afterwards you can be on your way?" His tone implied that it was more of an order than a request.

Caelum would shrug, ultimately deferring the decision to AEhti. The dragon could wait to have his surgery – he was actually getting nervous about it. Plus, he wasn't in that dire condition but he guessed that AEhti would appreciate the chance to heal – unless he preferred Velho's supernatural touch.

 

[Vicissitude]

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summer 21 year 123 of the third age
Continued from <here.>​

Were Æhti not focused so intently trying to hide what pain he was still in, he might've appreciated the scenery a bit more. Bit of a lost opportunity, almost, because as somebody who'd always held personal interest in geology, he'd always wanted to spend some time in the caverns of Myrkvior spelunking. If the primary stone of the mountains was reinforced with magic, he could only wonder what he might find deep within the caves.

Perhaps he would suggest to Velho that they venture into the caves at some point? Or…if Velho didn't need him for anything pressing, allow Æhti to do so on his own. Velho could be, at times, more lenient than one would expect– though such behaviors were notably unpredictable. Maybe, in time, Æhti could figure out the right buttons to push to get what he wanted.

The Æld'Norai that approached them carried the air of somebody whose job it was to serve as sentry. He seemed bewildered that they'd manage to slink in undetected.

"Um…yeah, Cælum here is a client of my master– Velho fyn'Seiðr Hespæros– that wants to acquire Seeming. He needs to find a fae to serve as a donor, so we tracked one here. I'm an Aboteur, so I was sent along to preserve the…donor," the man spoke the last word with some degree of hesitation; Cælum would also note that Æhti's behavior became far more demure in the presence of the ælves.

The Æld'Norai would appear visibly surprised at the mention of the surname fyn'Seiðr, though he wouldn't comment on it.

"I suppose if that's the case, that solves one of our problems, though; having to repeatedly replace Fælnir fieldworkers was becoming a pain," the Æld'Norai added regarding the Inari, nodding his head in a subtle show of thanks.

"Please, though– let us heal you; wouldn't want to return him to his master like that," the Æld'Norai actually sounded legitimately concerned this time.

Through his Lifesight, he'd be able to see what damage Æhti had endured, and the boy was…in a tenuous spot, realistically. The sentry was being a mite more insistent, this time, because he didn't want to offend somebody of Velho's status by having allowed his property to pass through their camp in such a state without at least trying to intervene.

Æhti looked confused. "Is it really that bad…?" He was in denial.

The sentry simply nodded, "..this way, please," he said, turning to guide them over to another Æld'Norai.

The other figure was a woman, skin and hair an array of blues and greens, and she was sitting at an ornately crafted desk within a well made, but designed either to be temporary or quickly contructed, sort of tent-like structure. If one had to guess, it had been constructed by a combination of Druidism and Terra, using a mix of minerals, plants and fungi. She looked up from her work, what appeared to be a large array of different mycelial species strewn over the entirety of the desk's surface– though unless one was familiar with such things, one would be hard pressed to guess at what exactly it was she was doing. Cataloging, perhaps? Or maybe trying to splice things together and observing the results?

"I hate to be a bother, Tovæ, but can you heal them? …they're on a job for the fyn'Seiðr family," he tacked on at the end in lieu of a full explanation to imply importance.

The woman, Tovæ, would appear a bit annoyed at being interrupted, but nonetheless rose from her seat and approached the trio. Since Æhti was clearly the most injured, she Invigorated him first. It was in that moment where he realized truly how delusional he'd been, as he felt monumentally better afterwards; a night and day difference. Next, should Cælum allow her to, she'd do him the same favor.

"There, good as new," she'd say with a curt smile before returning to her desk.

"Don't mind her, she can be a bit…short," the sentry smiled weakly.

"Anyways, this way– I'll take you to the sentrypost, where I was. It'll be safe to question the Inari there," he continued, gesturing off to a larger, but similarly built nearby structure.

꧁══════════• ༺༉ { Æhti } ༉༻•══════════꧂



꧁══════════• ༺༉ ❁ ❀ ❁ ༉༻•══════════꧂​

 

[Caelum]

Caelum followed along, not surprised to hear a tone that suggested that AEhti was in dire need of help. He sat patiently while he waited, though he was visibly tired from hauling the inari around for so long. He wished that he'd asked for help with that after he sat and finally got to feel the extent of his own bruising. It was tough to actively prevent from healing himself so he was relieved when they offered to heal him to. He'd accept, naturally, and say his thanks.

"Much appreciated."

Caelum followed the sentry to the post and would set the inari down on the ground, but not before forming some roots to wrap around her, much line one might wrap someone up with ropes.

"How does this work? Do you just unfreeze her?" he asked AEhti.

Assuming that he would restore her to a state where she could talk, Caelum would say to her, "Hi, we're the two that you attacked earlier." His eyes took on a menacing look and despite his fatigue, he would speak in a loud, booming voice, much unlike anything AEhti had heard from him yet. It was times like these that Caelum brought out his inner dragon to intimidate people. A rarely used ability – but a necessary one at times.

"I just had a few questions for you… The first being what is your name, the second being whether you were responsible for the disappearances of humans in this area, and thirdly, if there are any other inari in the area that you know of. I'm most interested in the latter… and before you answer know that the only thing that can help you in your situation is to tell the truth."

 

[Vicissitude]

꧁══════════• ༺༉ { Reviewed } ༉༻•══════════꧂​

Cælum

+21 XP (~2100)

Æhti

+26 XP (~2600)

Journey continues!​

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