Closed Angrboða

[Vicissitude]

summer 21 year 123 of the third age​

When Velho had approached Æhti and told him to gather his things for an excursion to hunt a fae, the boy was shocked and confused. Not upset, per se, but he was, certainly, lost.

"You want me to…what?" The boy stammered.

"Oh, don't sound like I'm sending you to your death…you won't be alone. The client is going with you, and he's a dragon…plus the potency of your own magic…what's the big deal?" Velho genuinely appeared to not understand.

"I…I guess," he sighed. Would be a pain either way. "And where did you say I'd be going…?"

Earlier that day, Velho had been in contact with a liason of the Emerald Vigil. He'd relayed to them his request and, some few hours later, received a missive with a list of recent fae sightings. He'd picked the one he thought would be the easiest to track down and catch, then wrote directions on a piece of parchment. And now, he handed that parchment off to Æhti.

"Detailed instructions are enclosed…hopefully the Inari's stuck around that area," Velho answered.

With that conversation having been had, Æhti, still bewildered, went off to pack things for travel. And when Cælum arrived, he'd head to the lobby to meet with him, trailed by another ælf who appeared to be staff. When Æhti saw Cælum, he tilted his head, slightly confused– he wasn't what he had expected, but then, his expectations were admittedly quite vague.

"...Cælum? I'm, uh…Æhti. Velho's…assistant." He sounded unsure of the word to use. Velho used a variety of words to refer to him, not all of which would make sense at this moment.

"The ælf with me is going to teleport us to an outpost in the caverns of Myrkvior mountains, uh…that's near to where this Inari apparently is. Beyond that she won't be joining us, but I have money to pay for our way back though, so don't worry about that," he offered by way of awkward explanation.

The young man really did not know what he was doing, but, well, he couldn't say no, so he had to try. And the Æld'Norai, apparently an Exodii, beside him simply smiled and nodded.

"I can get you quite close, but not exactly," she would add.

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



꧁══════════• ༺༉ ❁ ❀ ❁ ༉༻•══════════꧂​

 

[Caelum]

​

"You're going to what?" shouted Flora when Caelum told her about his plans to get an operation. She looked positively furious, so much so that her fists shook even as she tried to calm them.

"Don't worry, it'll be alright" Caelum said to her as he calmly put a hand on her shoulder. Any other day he would have punished her for not addressing him properly but he was so preoccupied with counting out the required money that he didn't notice. He couldn't tell if Flora's anger was due to the risks of surgery, the large pile of money he was setting aside, or a mixture of both.

The loud volume woke the baby in the other room and its mother came hurrying out to tend to it. The shouting, the crying, it was all a bit much for the dragon. He simply wasn't in the mood to be here any more. If anything it meant that he needed to get the operation sooner rather than later so he could get to work on his project. He'd already picked out a spot – the area near the cave in the firelands – and all he really needed to do was start building it… Then he could have some peace and quiet again.

Caelum looked down at his pet who had dropped to her knees and wrapped her arms around his feet. Perhaps she was right to worry – he hadn't asked about the operation's success rates because he didn't want to be talked out of it… though he figured someone would have warned him if he was about to throw his life away. Either way, Caelum started floating into the air, ultimately pulling himself free and zipping out the window.

​

The dragon flew extra fast, having allowed his wings to come out over the past day. It'd been so long since he'd used them, but the effect they had on his speed and maneuverability was considerable. He'd reasoned that if he were going hunting with Velho's assistant then he ought to give it is all so that they could return expediently.

He took a portal to the wetlands and before he knew it, he was face to face with Velho's assistant. A human, as it so happened, which surprised Caelum greatly.

"Hi, AEhti, I am indeed Caelum. Nice to meet you." He noticed the man's unsureness but nodded all the same when he relayed where they would be going.

"I can fly us the rest of the way," Caelum said with a hearty smile as he waited for the portal mage to do her thing. "I've got to say, I didn't expect Velho to recommend a human. He mentioned you would be able to preserve the donor, I believe using Abation? That sounds like some pretty advanced magic. Say, I wonder if my fire could melt your ice."

A thin stream of smoke slipped through the sides of his mouth as he grinned. Caelum was clearly much more excited about the trip than AEhti. He was eager to go on a hunt!

 

[Vicissitude]

summer 21 year 123 of the third age​

Æhti blinked, as if caught off guard by Cælum's questions and comments. In fairness, they weren't surprising; it was reasonable for him to have assumed the promised 'assistant' was another Æld'Norai. Many of Velho's peers found the way he coveted Æhti to be strange.

The young man brought a hand to the back of his head and smiled in a way that almost looked apologetic. "I…yeah, sorry if I'm not what you were expecting," he began, not too confident in his words.

"But yes! I'm considered, ah, skilled with it," he wasn't sure whether or not to profess his mastery in the presence of his betters. It felt like boasting, which in this scenario, he didn't really want to do.

"And do you mean you possess Fulgur…? Or…oh wait, you probably mean your Grist– Luxium Governance, then, am I correct?" At this point he was parroting what he'd been learning about Glamour from Velho.

"I'm not quite sure…Fulgur and Abation, and in turn, Luxium and Ardor, are equal but opposite. It'd depend on which one of us is stronger, or who's spell reserves ran out first– but I'm none too keen to try; being burnt to crisp does not sound pleasant." Sometimes, when Æhti was anxious, he'd talk or over explain things to prevent silence.

The Exodii put a gentle hand on the boy's shoulder, startling him. "Æhti, the two of you really ought to be going lest you keep Velho waiting," and though she said this, it was more for her own benefit than Velho's.

"Right! Yes…make the portal, then," the Fælniri responded with an awkward breath of a laugh.

She returned a wan smile, then clasped her hands together and muttered a short incantation. Her palms would glow for a moment, and then a bright cut of color would create a tear in the space before the trio. In an instant, it would rapidly expand into the shape of a doorway large enough for Cælum.

"There– I'll close it once you two are safely on the other side…and, ah…do take care," the Æld'Norai said with a small wave.

Æhti nodded and, appearing somewhat reticent, stepped through the portal. He'd emerge into a cavern; an enclosed space of deep darkness illuminated only by the gentle glow of the surrounding fungi. The boy blinked. He'd never been within the mountain caves before. And then, realization struck; when he had a moment he'd want to grab a sample of the rock composing the walls– the stone of the Myrkvior range was a much beloved material for Terrari to bind to.

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



꧁══════════• ༺༉ ❁ ❀ ❁ ༉༻•══════════꧂​

 

[Caelum]

"Bah, no need to feel sorry. I love humans just as much as elves! And yes, Luxium, though I was only joking. From what I hear, your types could probably hold my mouth shut before I could even let out a flame!" He chuckled as his own insight though it did make him think about what he would do if something like that happened to him. Fighting against Galdr mages was something he was woefully inexperienced with.

"Thank you aelf, I owe you one," he said as he walked through the portal, pulling his wings in as he did so he wouldn't take up more space than necessary, though the aelf seemed competent enough at making the opening wide enough.

"Damn I'm in a good mood today," He said as he came out of the other side. It was having his wings out, though he didn't realize it. It made him feel alive, like a true predator that he was born to be.

"Say, what's the plan? I suppose I was so excited I didn't think to discuss things before we took the portal." His voice lowered a bit when he realized how dark it was. He had expected to appear in a forest but this looked like some sort of cave or tunnel. He only vaguely remembered the human telling him that they were going to caverns even though it'd only been a few minutes ago. It made him wonder what kind of creature with the ability to transform would choose to hide out in a place like this instead of a town with amenities.

"Say the word and I can light this place up brighter than the sun, but I figured I'd ask in case you had other things in mind. Mind, I'm not exactly the sneaky type so staying hidden and quiet is probably not going to go well for us."
[/i]

 

[Vicissitude]

summer 21 year 123 of the third age​

"You do?" He blinked in surprise at the comment about humans.

Then, regarding magic, "True…in most situations, I do just aim to prevent my opponents from attacking at all," Æhti replied a few moments before going through the portal.

That was the pragmatic strategy, at least. He preferred it because he was a cautious sort; didn't like to take risks– hence why the present day's situation gave him so much anxiety. Æhti had never, to his knowledge, interacted with an Inari before. He did not like that he didn't know what to expect.

However, Cælum's ample enthusiasm did actually help ease Æhti's nerves– especially the comment he made about actually appreciating humans. He honestly couldn't remember any non-Fælnir ever saying anything like that before…at least, not in his presence.

"Are you? Well, I'm glad one of is…" he trailed off.

Then, realizing how he sounded, "...um, ah…genuinely. I mean that."

"I wasn't expecting to go anywhere and then my master just told me he had a job for me, and well…now I'm here. It's a bit jarring."

He paused for a moment, "...but the plan I suppose is to find the Inari and hopefully I can put them in stasis before anything goes wrong."

His eyes finally adjusting to the dim light, "...we don't need to be stealthy, but I wouldn't deliberately call attention to ourselves before we need to…if that makes sense?"

Æhti almost reflexively sounded unsure of himself, as if he was trying to avoid sounding like he was giving Cælum orders.

"Anyways, the instructions he gave me indicate that we should follow the mushrooms…? The more of these glowing orange ones we find, the closer we are to where the Inari has made their hovel, I guess?" This part, he genuinely barely knew what he was talking about– the information he'd been given was passing vague.

"Oh! But wait…um…sorry," he blurted out an apology before lifting a palm.

His hand lit up briefly with an aetheric glow, and a little piece of an overhead stalactite broke off and gently floated back down into his palm. The black, shiny obsidian was inlaid with lilac hued veins, and without much delay, Æhti ate the rock. Terrassimilation was always a strange sensation…he doubted he'd get used to it, even by his final material.

"I…wanted to bind with the rock here," he explained, somewhat sheepish– but surely Cælum at least knew of that aspect of Terra.

"I'm ready as I'll ever be, I suppose…shall we go? Looks like the mushrooms grow denser that way," Æhti said, simultaneously pointing down a path to their left.

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



꧁══════════• ༺༉ ❁ ❀ ❁ ༉༻•══════════꧂​

 

[Caelum]

​

Caelum was surprised to hear that Velho felt so jarred about being assigned to this task. He supposed that was a natural feeling for a human who reported to an aelf, but for some reason he'd expected their relationship to be more equal. Velho had described AEhti as 'ward' and 'assistant' but the man seemed to be treated more like a servant. Probably a lot better than Caelum treated Flora, but that wasn't saying much.

"Ah, sorry to have inconvenienced you. With any luck this will go quickly and you'll be back home in no time. And alright, no beams of light… for now."

He frowned at the mushrooms as AEhti busied himself with a rock that he'd magic'd from the ceiling. Follow the orange mushrooms… seemed straight forward enough. He turned his attention to what AEhti was actually doing with the rock and was surprised to see he was a Terrari as well.

"Feel free," he said nonchalantly, "what's so special about it?" He assumed there must be something special since it looked to have some interesting looking veins, but he didn't know squat about special rocks. It was hard enough keeping up with all the different kinds of plants.

Caelum nodded and then they were off. The scenery was rather bland, all things considered. Mushrooms, some glowing moss on the walls, the occasional drip of water into a puddle. They must have been near a source of water which made sense if the inari was living here.

"Did you get any specific information about the inari? Is it capable of any magic, is it particularly dangerous, any mention of what it might look like?" Caelum would ask the questions quietly as they came to mind. He'd felt awfully confident before, but he supposed the inari could look like just about anything, which was especially dangerous if they could also use something like Galdr to take them by surprise.

 

[Vicissitude]

​

summer 21 year 123 of the third age​

After Æhti ate the rock, he'd look to Cælum. "Well, the stone of Myrkvior has the strength of steel. I suppose I could just bind to steel, too, but this is…far prettier," his sentiment punctuated with a short laugh. "And I believe it's a bit more acid resistant than steel, but I'm not sure. Plus, because it's stone, it doesn't conduct heat as well as metal, so it's harder to melt," he'd pause for a moment, searching his mind for everything he knew about the stone.

"...that, and it's been rumored that casting while bound to it is a bit easier on one's aether than if one were to bind to normal stone. I suppose I'll find out about that soon enough," the young man added on.

As they began to walk, Æhti couldn't help himself– the caps of the orange mushrooms looked like the glow of magma. He wondered if they were warm to the touch, and in order to test this, reached out a hand to tap the surface of one. The mushroom's uneven surface was, indeed, strangely warm, and when the man had touched it, it wobbled; glowing, red-orange spores were dispersed into the air a few inches around it, but otherwise nothing happened. If the spores actually did anything other than look pretty, he couldn't tell.

The young Fælnir found the caverns to be beautiful; he could sort of understand why a fae might want to hide away in here, though he himself wouldn't have desired to live a life of such isolation. And as the mushrooms grew in denser clusters, they soon came across a small stream that ran along the side of their path. Where it stopped, it didn't truly 'stop,' rather, it dipped into the earth, continuing to flow elsewhere even deeper beneath the surface. And if they looked forward, it would widen. Maybe there was a decent water source up ahead, nearby to which the Inari had set up their 'home,' whatever it was?

"Um…the Wisp that reported on this one seemed fairly interested in it so their notes weren't too terrible. The Inari has Seeming and Sloan; the Draoidh variation that focuses on fungi. Figures why they're down here…" he trailed off.

In the distance, something moved– obscured by darkness, however, such movement would be difficult for either Æhti or Cælum to detect, much less track.

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



꧁══════════• ༺༉ ❁ ❀ ❁ ༉༻•══════════꧂​

 

[Caelum]

"Heh, had no idea rocks could be so special," Caelum said, thinking about how there must be a lot of mages who had to make choices about what materials they chose. "Say, once you bind to it, is it permanent? Or can you unbind later?" It had been a thought that had come up often when he thought about other magics but had never bothered to ask.

Caelum kept his hands to himself as they walked, though he didn't mind that AEhti chose to prod the mushrooms. While he was generally adventurous when testing out flora, he knew nothing about plants that grew in the mountains and he wasn't in the mood to get inundated by some hazardous effect. Not knowing where they even were, exactly, certainly contributed to his feelings.

"So they can control these mushrooms then," Caelum said with a nervous laugh, "which means we might be in their grove… right now… You should probably stop doing whatever it was that caused those spores to come out."

He slowly formed a wooden longsword in his hand. "If you ask me, we should start killing all the mushrooms we see. I could set them on fire easily enough, but I worry about what that much smoke will do in this enclosed space. It might make it impossible to breath and then all three of us would be toast."

As he spoke, he started swinging his sword at the mushrooms, attempting to sever them from the ground but it was a mostly pointless gesture. There were far too many to clear even if he was given an entire day, and being a druid himself he knew just how pointless trying to fight on one's home turf was.

He would be blissfully ignorant to the movement up ahead, having occupied himself with talking and swinging his sword.

 

[Vicissitude]

​

summer 21 year 123 of the third age​

"Luckily, this Inari can't have a proper Grove…they're not Tethered to Ældrassil. Only those who are can actually make a proper Grove in Ælheim, Sloan or not," and of this, Æhti was quite happy. To wander about blind in a Draoidh's Grove was a fool's errand.

"Doesn't mean they won't still be able to control the fungi, though, so…you're still probably right that it'd serve us better if I stop messing with things…" he trailed off; it had always been a bit hard for him to contain his curiosity.

Æhti pondered for a moment at Cælum's suggestion. "I really wish it were reasonable to burn them, but you're right; the smoke in an enclosed space could suffocate us, but also, we don't know if burning these mushrooms might have an ill effect. Some things only harm when they enter the lungs, and burning is a sure fire way to allow for that."

The young man sighed. "Were I a better Terrari, I'd have the earth grow round them and then crush them…but that amount of Aether would surely burn me out," he said, sounding a bit dejected with himself.

"Actually–" he paused, standing still.

It took quite a bit of focus, but after a moment, he lifted both palms out in front of him, murmured an incantation, and his hands began to shimmer an icy white-blue. Slowly, all around them, the fungi began to chill, freezing mushroom by mushroom, spore by spore. If Cælum were to swing his sword at them now, they'd shatter into glimmering, frozen snow-like fragments. Æhti maintained this for a few seconds, effectively freezing all of the fungi within a fifteen foot radius of him.

When he finished, he looked to Cælum, "I'm…not sure how many more times I can do that, but…worst case scenario, we can run over here where most of it's dead and it'll be harder for the Inari to affect us."

The Sloan was none too pleased about Æhti freezing her fungi. Swiftly, from the shadows, a piercing projectile soared through the air and lodged itself in the Fælnir's abdomen. He gasped, shocked, hands immediately grasping at the wound and adopting a defensive posture.

"Fie, Cælum–" he called out to get the dragon's attention, frantically looking around– the moment he spotted his assailant, he'd be able to act, but he truthfully had no idea where that had even come from.

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



꧁══════════• ༺༉ ❁ ❀ ❁ ༉༻•══════════꧂​

 

[Caelum]

"Oh, that's a relief," Caelum said as he breathed a deep sigh. He'd been so close to going into a panic. Every tiny little noise around them had made him want to jump. A lizard crawling on the wall had looked at him funny and he'd half a mind to blow fire at it. But it scuttled off innocently enough.

"Hmm, I suppose I could try using hardlight. It would certainly give away our presence, but I suppose that I'd rather them know we're here than to die from a sneak attack." He proposed the idea when the human mentioned using rocks to crush the mushrooms. It was a good idea, in theory, but his experience with hardlight had been neigh nonexistent. But he did not have to be good at shaping objects with light to simply flood an area with chunky debris.

Thankfully, he didn't have to expend the Saol. The air started to chill and within moments the mushrooms froze over. "Wow! Frozen solid," the dragon said with a chuckle as he smashed one to bits. He didn't know the mechanics behind how it worked but it was still impressive. He doubted he could control his vines if someone had frozen them solid.

"Hmm? What's that" Caelum said, still grinning broadly. His face froze when he saw the human was injured. Partly because he didn't particularly like harm to come to humans but more-so because he was sure Velho would be quite displeased if his ward died on what was supposed to be a simple job.

Caelum had no words to say. His body reacted instinctively. His wings formed a protective shield in front of him as he crouched down to charge his mouth with saol. As it so happened, puny sized wings did not offer much protection. A dagger tore right through the thin fleshy fabric, nicking his upper arm as it passed by. Another came soon after, cutting a little deeper this time. The best the wings could do was hide his figure, but were useless otherwise.

Caelum had to act he realized very quickly that their time would be short if they couldn't actually see where the attacks were coming from.

ROAR

The hardlight was at least a meter in girth and four meters long. It was fired like a cannon right out of the dragon's mouth. It collided with the ceiling with such tremendous force that stalactites showered down throughout the cavern, causing someone to hiss in annoyance somewhere off to the side. It hadn't been Caelum's intent, but the falling debris were enough to smash a good deal of mushrooms, but there were still plenty around.

Recognizing what he'd just done, Caelum held out his hands and out popped a flurry of roots that he used to cover both himself and his Galdr-wielding companion. "You okay?" he called out. He had no doubts that he could stabilize a wound even if he wasn't capable of advanced healing. The trouble was not knowing when the next attack would come, or from where.

The good news was that the cavern was lit up with a light so potent that it would hurt a normal person's eyes just to look up at it. There simply were no shadows to hide behind anymore.

 

[Vicissitude]

​

summer 21 year 123 of the third age​

Cælum was, thankfully, responsive and swift to act. As the cavern lit up from the column of light and a swathe of vines grew behind which he could take cover, Æhti wedged himself between the vines and the wall behind him. Looking down at his wound, he realized that the projectile was shaped like a dagger but made out of a material he didn't quite recognize. Maybe a hardened fungus of some kind? The thought made him uneasy. Fungi could be poisonous, and being stabbed was a great way to introduce poisons to the bloodstream.

Quickly, he grabbed the handle and pulled it out. At the same time, he pressed a hand to his wound and mumbled a jumbled set of syllables as he stalled the bleeding with Inermanteia. Outside of his initiations, Æhti wasn't that used to pain– but in this scenario, he had to endure; he had no desire to die. Not today, not here.

"I'm…fine…er, I think…" Æhti sounded unsure of his answer, but at least stubborn enough to indicate he'd press on for now.

In the light of Cælum's magic, a small Inari, a deep, mahogany brown with orange tips to her ears and tail, was revealed about thirty feet off in the distance, surrounded by her mushrooms. She looked incensed, and by the time Æhti had stabilized his first wound, more of those fungal daggers were sent flying through the air at them both. He had to stop her, but he wasn't quite close enough. That was the downside of Abation– its stopping power was unmatched, but its balancer was shorter range.

"Cover me, Cælum," Æhti gave this as his only warning before running forward, trying to be mindful of the mushrooms.

In the time it took him to run fifteen feet, at least one additional projectile impaled his shoulder with a sickening squelch. He winced, but kept moving. Once he knew himself to be in range, he started his incantation to put the Inari into a cold stasis. He could choose between Inermanteia and Cryomancy, neither of which would kill her, but Cryomancy would be less pleasant– and because she'd hurt him, he went with the latter.

There was still a chance that Æhti could be interrupted if Cælum didn't himself act, but the Aboteur had to try to stop her onslaught of daggers as fast as possible.

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



꧁══════════• ༺༉ ❁ ❀ ❁ ༉༻•══════════꧂​

 

[Caelum]

​

Twisted into a very awkward position with one hand outstretched towards AEhti and one pointed up at the ceiling, Caelum took a moment to disconnect himself from the roots and roll out from under cover. He glanced at the human pityingly – he hadn't looked particularly fine moments ago and he'd advertised no ability to heal. Still, the man seemed set on pressing forwards instead of retreating. Whether it was due to his will to see Velho's task through or for revenge, the dragon was not sure.

"W…" he started when he was told to provide cover. Caelum had been bout to fling himself, thinking that he could probably get to it much quicker than a human could, but AEhti's speed was impressive. Perhaps not as fast as Caelum could fly, but much faster on foot.

Instead, the dragon leapt into the air. Another dagger came for him, but with time to react, Caelum was able to grow a block of wood out of his palm to stop it dead in its tracks. "I don't know much about providing cover, but I can do this…" he thought as he opened his mouth once more.

A spotlight was shone on the inari, further hindering their ability to see. Now the only direction she could bear to sense visibly was behind her. It still didn't stop her from flinging dagger after dagger while retreating, though not a single one was likely to land its mark. Caelum slightly tilted his head to maintain the spotlight effect on the woman, flying towards her as he did so, effectively positioning himself right above her before long.

Mouth open and unable to properly speak, Caelum stayed silent. It was the first time in his life that he'd wanted to communicate while casting his breath weapon and being unable to speak seemed like a legitimate downside. He very much wanted to focus the light and simply incinerate the inari for the pain it had caused him… but he knew he needed the damned creature alive.

It was a pity that they hadn't been able to have a nice conversation. He'd intended on offering the inari a deal. One that would involve the inari ratting out one of its kind to be killed instead so that she could ultimately serve as a teacher of sorts… but Caelum was realizing that there was no way he would want to be taught by this inari.

 

[Vicissitude]

​

summer 21 year 123 of the third age​

The light from Cælum's original maneuver and then this additional breath were enough to obscure the Inari's vision such that she could no longer aim almost at all. A distraction can serve as 'cover' as much as any shield, and while the Inari continued to throw daggers blindly, no more would hit Æhti. This allowed him to finish his incantation uninterrupted, and over the course of another few seconds, the glimmering sheen of an icy patina formed over the entirety of the fox's body– she'd been frozen.

Immediately, Æhti moved to yank out the second spike and then utilize Intermanteia to once again stop the bleeding. He noticed, too, that he'd begun to feel ill, and that it was slowly becoming more difficult to breathe. Staggering, he would move to approach Cælum once the dragon let his breath fade, not looking at the beam to avoid blinding himself.

"I…I, uh…I think those strange daggers were poisoned, or poisonous, or...something," he managed to mumble out before slumping to his knees, barely able to stand.

"You-...you're Æcturnis yourself, right? Even a weak Invigorate might…stabilize, help," he managed to continue, though his strength was rapidly beginning to fade.

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



꧁══════════• ༺༉ ❁ ❀ ❁ ༉༻•══════════꧂​

 

[Caelum]

"Oh, that's a relief," Caelum said as he breathed a deep sigh. Caelum didn't know what he'd expected, but it certainly wasn't for the inari to be encased in ice. A sick thought came to mind, wondering if she'd break into dust just like those mushrooms if he slammed into her. She'd deserve it, of course. She'd been the aggressor even if they had planned on harvesting her organ.

It took a few moments for Caelum's eyes to lose their murderous glint and for him to focus on the human below him. The man had claimed to be fine, so what was he complaining about?

"Poison? Hmm, I suppose that's possible," Caelum said as he lowered himself to the ground, wondering if he felt off or not. He'd begun funneling saol into his wounds as soon as they'd been made, so perhaps that was why he hadn't noticed. "No worries, friend of Velho, I will make you right."

"Oh now you're just being dramatic," he said with a sigh when AEhti dropped to his knees. Caelum stooped down and laid the man back on his stomach (if he allowed it) so that he could be examined properly. Else, the dragon would crouch down and see what he could do from that angle.

"Let's see…" he said softly as he put a hand on the human's stomach and another on his shoulder. "Mind, I have absolutely no medical knowledge whatsoever. All I can do is flood you with healing energy. I'm guessing that'll be good enough, but if it isn't then… any last words?" Judging by how quickly the man had dropped to the floor, Caelum didn't know if he had much time left if worst came to worst.

Regardless, Caelum would pour so much saol into AEhti that it would be borderline overkill to heal the flesh wound. With any luck, it would be enough to handle the poison too, but he couldn't be sure. His attempt left the dragon feeling drained, leaving not even enough for a minor cast before risking mageburn.

"Feel okay? I really hope so because I've got no more saol left to give and I really will need your aether if we run into any more trouble"

 

[Vicissitude]

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summer 21 year 123 of the third age​

Unbeknownst to them both, the poison afflicting Æhti was one which could kill by slowing the body down. The victim would slowly lose control of their musculature, and in high enough doses, all of the muscles of the body would slowly relax– including the heart, preventing it from beating. There was no way for either of them to tell what the lethal dose was or if such a threshold had been passed, all Æhti knew was that he no longer possessed the strength to hold himself up, speech was a struggle, and it was even becoming more difficult to keep his eyes open.

By the time Cælum had made it over to him, Æhti couldn't really move his mouth enough to shape words, much less respond. When the dragon touched him, it'd become incredibly obvious that the Fælnir did not have control of his faculties, as he was fairly limp at this point. It was a relief to hear that regardless of how seriously Cælum was taking the situation, he would at least heal him.

The influx of Saol worked wonders, assuaging Æhti's rising panic in tandem to allaying what damage had been done to his flesh; he felt his wounds close and his strength slowly beginning to return. He sighed, deeply relieved, squeezing his fingers into a fist first as a test before shakily moving away and rising to his feet. He wasn't fully restored, but certainly Cælum had purged enough of the poison that he was able to move on his own power again.

"First, thank you–..." he began, rolling his shoulders, happy to be able to move correctly again.

Continuing, "...second, I promise I wouldn't be dramatic over nothing," he chuckled awkwardly. "…whatever those daggers are, don't touch them. I'm not sure if it needs to enter the bloodstream or if it transfers by touch, but that Inari is definitely bound to something poisonous."

From looking at what remained of them, it was clear enough that they were of a different species than the orange mushrooms which filled the cave. But unless Cælum had encyclopedic knowledge on fungi, that would be about all he'd be able to glean.

"Would you like me to carry the Inari?" He asked reflexively; at this point, Æhti did all of the heavy lifting for Velho.

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



꧁══════════• ༺༉ ❁ ❀ ❁ ༉༻•══════════꧂​

 

[Caelum]

Caelum didn't want to believe the human, but if he was telling the truth then that would help explain why he'd so little saol left over. He supposed it didn't matter anyways because the damned inari wasn't going to be using any more daggers… ever. He glanced at one of them, finally noticing that it was actually made out of a mushroom-like material. Squishy but somehow dense enough to be thrown. He wanted to know what it would feel like if he squished it under his boot, but decided against it.

"Don't have to tell me twice, I won't touch them," he said, "I've no idea what the poison might have been… I have done a good deal of study when it comes to plants in the forest, but none regarding fungi. I suppose we should both get looked at by a proper physician when we get back. It probably wouldn't be unheard of for something like this to affect our organs over time." He didn't want to admit that most of his knowledge was limited to things such as plants that affected emotions – not so much those with poison/medicinal properties.

When the topic of who was to carry the inari came up, Caelum volunteered. "Eh, I think you've been through enough. Plus you might need your hands free to fight if we run into more trouble. I wasn't kidding when I said I'm drained."

He hoisted up the cold Inari over his shoulder and was surprised by the weight. Caelum was not very strong so he grunted as he adjusted its position. "I take it you know how to get out of here? I thought I'd be able to fly us back but… probably not unless I get some rest or have time to take my dragon form… maybe it's better if we try to trek back to a town with an exodus mage."

 

[Vicissitude]

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summer 21 year 123 of the third age​

"I have some knowledge on plants; mother's an herbalist, so she taught me a bit. But you and I are in the same boat with fungi, then. I have no idea what that was, all I know is I'd like to keep it away from the both of us," Æhti responded.

He wasn't surprised to learn that a Draoidh who hadn't gone out of their way to take on Sloan wasn't super knowledgeable about fungi…it was sort of a niche subject only a small subset of people seemed to hold any significant interest in. Or, he supposed, had the time to invest in learning about.

Watching Cælum lift the frozen Inari had given Æhti half a mind to protest, half a mind to say he ought to carry it, but the dragon had a point. While it might be easier for Æhti to carry it, if he needed to cast, that would be…inconvenient for them both. Sure, one can get away with casting some spells by mere thought, but such a thing was less efficient and it was prudent to make every spell count.

"Well…I have written directions from the Inari's encampment, presumably here, to a nearby research outpost. Velho said they've an Exodii we can pay to get back," the man said as he dug through his pocket for the parchment in question.

Æhti looked over it a moment before returning it to his pocket, then looked to Cælum again. "Yeah it's not actually that far. I wonder if the Inari intentionally picked an area close to them?" He paused. "With poison fungi bound like that I sure hope it wasn't for any nefarious reason…"

Turning back the way they came, "...this way," he'd say as he began to move.

Still, even though the distance they had to walk was ultimately not that far, they could encounter any manner of strange cave beast scuttling about in the darkness that loomed ahead.

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



꧁══════════• ༺༉ ❁ ❀ ❁ ༉༻•══════════꧂​

 

[Caelum]

Caelum stooped down to pick up the sword he'd made and subsequently dropped. It was nothing special, but he'd save saol if he carried it with him and ended up needing it. He tucked it into his belt awkwardly then started walking down the path.

"Who knows?" he said when the motives behind the inari were brought up. "Is it dead? You froze it… and I'm pretty sure I'd expect 'em to be dead but I dunno. Maybe you wanted to keep them alive so the organ doesn't get damaged? Fuck, I don't even know which organ we even need. I really should have asked Velho more questions. Anyways, what I mean to get at is… if they're not dead then we might be able to interrogate them."

"Then after that… I guess I guess I can get this surgery done. You ever help Velho with that kind of stuff? I suppose not if retrieving organs is a new kind of task for you." With inari in hand, the surgery felt more real. He was going to get cut up and something was going to get put inside of him. It made the dragon's stomach churn to think about it. He had no issue seeing gore, but whenever he pictured that kind of stuff happening to himself…

He shook his head to clear his thoughts. There was a sound that he was hearing up ahead. A splashing sound. A few footsteps, then a pause, then a few more steps. "I think there must be some kind of puddles or something up ahead," Caelum said as he strained his ears. "no idea what it could be… maybe an animal drinking? I'm not used to being in caves like this so I don't even know what kinds of creatures hide out here."

 

[Vicissitude]

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

Cælum

+30 XP (3,000+ WC)

Æhti

+30 XP (3,000+ WC)
+Myrkvior Stone Terrassimilation

Inari acquired, but they aren't finished yet!​

꧁══════════• ༺༉ ❁ ❀ ❁ ༉༻•══════════꧂​

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