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It was early evening with clear skies when there would be a knock at the door to Velho's business. It was an urgent, unfamiliar one, made by the small fist of a teenage girl. "Hello?" she'd call out, "anyone home?" It was Sjal, dressed much like she had been when AEhti had first seen her just a few days ago. She had a look of desperation on her face with dried tears on her cheeks.
Behind her was her father – a 20' tall red dragon who was breathing quite heavily. He had flown here as fast as he could. What they'd seen was something that he didn't think he would be getting out of his mind anytime soon. Dozens slaughtered in the forest right outside of the bog, blood everywhere. Those red eyes…
His first thought was to come to AEhti. He was the most powerful mage he knew of in the area and probably one of the few that would actually care that a bunch of humans were being killed by some strange creature. He'd been too scared to try to face the creature alone, especially since it seemed to attack much more viciously than even a felinog. Sjal had wanted to go in on her own, poor girl. Alas, Caelum convinced her that even combined, they wouldn't be enough.
Abraia sat comfortably in the multi personed saddle she had crafted for Caelum's dragon form. It had plenty of room to hold more passengers. She was a lot more collected than the others after witnessing the attack. Humans dying made her mad but she thought it was some crazy elf and there was nothing they could do.
She also did not think that they stood a chance. There was also no garuntee that they would be able to find the creature. If it was not an elf then it was likely a grove bane even though she thought those were just fairy tales. Taking down a mythical monster was not on her to do list for the day.
She was glad she brought her spell book. It was on her lap ready to cast a spell at any time. It would have to do because she didn't wear any armor.
༺༉❁ March 15 year 124 of the third age ❁༉༻ <notes>
For Æhti, the day began like any other day where he wasn't particularly busy. He awoke, dressed, and then went to tend to Cloud, as at this point he actually quite liked the large beast. It was by the time the boy had finished feeding the cat and climbed his way back up from the little island that he saw a large, red dragon land in front of Själasalr. Atop it, too, were two women, one who dismounted in a panic and knocked upon the door. He recognized her from the strange encounter with the jester boy. The other woman seemed to be the most calm out of those three, as he spotted distress in the eyes of the dragon as well. Æhti recognized the latter as Abraia, and though he'd never seen Cælum in his proper dragon shape, her presence implied his identity.
He jogged over to the young woman, confusion painted over his features. "I-...hello, um…can I help you? What's happened?"
The Galsterei was admittedly not quite sure how to deal with people in crisis. Given the primary purpose of Själasalr, he'd assumed that they must be here because somebody important passed away– another employee of Velho's, a woman named Lucia, was usually the one who dealt with grieving families as she held the best combination of charisma and empathy for the job. Æhti, on the other hand, tended to panic and get anxious, worrying about making things worse for people.
Sjal spotted the familiar face but she didn't smile. She said, hurriedly, "Long story short, there was some kind of shadow creature attacking faelnir. It killed so many of them and my dad thought AEhti might want to help take it down before it causes even more damage. He said AEhti loves fighting deadly beasts and this was right up his alley."
She paused then said, "oh, and he said to say something about Velho might wanting to come deal with the spirits." Much of this was confusing to her and she hated being a messenger but she was also eager to go fight that thing. Just thinking about how many more faelnir could have been killed by now made her small hairs stand on end.
The girl's eyes widened as she recognized the man standing in front of her as someone she'd seen before, not too long ago either. Small world.
Abraia yawned widely while watching from afar. She understood why the dragon didn't want to go to the front door himself and ruin the landscaping.
"You think he will say yes? You lied to Sjal about him liking this sort of thing."
If Abraia was in his shoes, she would decline. If he only did dangerous things because Velho made him then it was an easy thing to say no to.
She waved when she saw Aehti and smiled at him. She knew that he would be invaluable to the effort but part of her wanted him to stay back because she knew that the dragon would choose not to pursue the shadow.
But if they were going to fight it then she knew they would probably get some good materials out of it. Dangerous things like that tended to be packed full of useful supplies, some that could be used for smithing.
Æhti blinked in surprise at the request– people had indeed died, but they weren't here asking after Själasalr's obsequies. The girl, Själ, spoke of a shadow creature, and even asked after Velho. Whatever this 'shadow creature' was must be formidable for it to have stumped the three before him enough to seek out both Æhti and his master. Själ mentioned it might be a spirit, but if they didn't know for sure what it was, it might not be. There were tenebrous entities that weren't spirits, after all– but even if it wasn't, Velho was still a formidable mage in a general sense.
Æhti did wonder why Cælum himself wasn't speaking, as dragons were fully capable of doing so– but he supposed that wasn't really important. He had half a mind to say no, his own self preservation trying to curb him away from unnecessary danger. Velho put him through enough as it was, but…charitable heart that he was, he felt as if he wouldn't be able to forgive himself if he were to decline and even more blood was shed as a result.
"Uh, well…let me ask after him, and we'll see," he responded, his brow furrowed, features writ more with confusion than anything else. "Wait here."
The young man would turn and disappear into the funeral home. In total he would be gone for a half hour– perhaps Velho took some convincing? – but eventually he would return alongside a withered, lavender tinted Æld'Norai. Æhti had taken the time to switch out of his more casual clothing and into his armor. On the other hand, Velho was dressed in black silken robes, cinched at the waist with a thicker, silver inlaid belt. The outfit itself lacked ostentation in terms of design, but the fabric and its subtle, silvery patterns looked exquisite. Further, Velho did not walk out the door– rather, he floated. The fabric of his robes melted into a caliginous fog and it appeared that he had no legs at all.
He looked at the waiting trio curiously. "Æhti said your Paradise has been afflicted by a malevolent spirit of a sort? Or perhaps not a spirit at all– maybe a beast, or a creature," the ælf shrugged. "Either way, your tale has caught my curiosity. We'll see if we can assist."
If Cælum and the others indicated that they wished to leave right away, Æhti and Velho would join the two women on dragon's back. Once up there, though, Velho's lower body would reform, allowing him to sit properly.
1 x Expert Apparation to maintain incorporeal legs for a full day
Caelum hadn't been the one to talk because he knew that AEhti probably wasn't the type to want to fight a dangerous creature for the hell of it, despite having told Sjal otherwise.
"I think he's going to ask Velho if he can go," he responded to Abraia after Sjal turned to him and gave him a shrug.
Five minutes passed, then ten. Sjal assumed AEhti wasn't coming back out at that point so she jogged back to Caelum and climbed expertly back into the saddle.
"Can we go?" the girl asked frustratedly at the twenty minute mark.
"I once had to wait a whole day for Velho to become available. I'm guessing the delay means that he is preparing to go, else AEhti would have probably come out to update us." Caelum was willing to wait up to an hour. After that point he'd have no idea if they would even have a chance at finding the creature again. Thankfully, he didn't have to wait that long.
"Actually, this happened towards the outskirts of town. We were on our way back to Paradise but thought that this was worth investigating… with some help. It's a short flight away if you want to climb on aboard." Once everyone was on, Caelum would take off as delicately as he could.
He refrained from trying to explain the situation further, thinking that it'd be best to simply show them. Not too long later they'd arrive to the scene of the disaster. Caelum would circle the multitude of dead bodies for a few minutes as Sjal pointed to them so everyone could get a good look before he landed.
"Patience child" she said to Sjal who was impatient as ever.
"They could be gathering and preparing suitable weapons. It will take more than a skilled blade to do the job. If they are smart they will bring armor too."
Abraia was more talkative than the others. She was disgusted to see Velho join but she did not let it show. She knew they would probably need him.
"Hello again. Are either of you two aware of what a grove bane is? I think that might be what we are up against but I do not know anything except that they are shadow creatures that target anything but elves. I'm hoping I am wrong but I like to assume the worst."
The place they landed was ankle deep in water. Bodies were slashed open or impaled making the local water red in color in some spots. There were some trees around that also had spatters of blood. She could not see any sign of the grove bane even as she got out of the saddle.
Velho noted the coldness with which he was regarded by Abraia, though he wasn't too surprised; she hid whatever her true feelings were well enough. And while many Fælnir revered the Æld'Norai, many also viewed them as cruel, some even fearing them. And of his kin, Velho did not have the friendliest of affects, either.
When Cælum stated that the attacking entity had been spotted on the outskirts of town, Velho appeared somewhat surprised. "Outskirts of Thokkmyrr? Or deeper into the swamps? If such a thing was happening so close to the city I'm surprised I wasn't alerted sooner…" rather, he was surprised his mother hadn't sent somebody to deal with it already if the incident was that close to her precious city. Potent witch that she was, threats direct to Thokkmyrr she sometimes even deigned to obliterate herself.
Æhti himself was surprised to hear that, too. Being born and raised here, he was aware that Hesperide tended to guard Thokkmyrr itself like a hawk but cared exponentially less about the goings on of smaller villages as they got farther and farther away. He didn't exactly know why this was, only that it was so.
Still, both Æhti and Velho figured it'd be easier to just see it for themselves rather than asking questions. While they flew, Abraia named her suspicion: the Grovebane.
The younger of the two appeared alarmed at the suggestion. "I am…familiar. My mother used to use stories of those things to keep my sister and eye from straying too far from home," he'd begin. "She'd go into detail about their potential for cruelty, but claimed that if we stayed close enough to Thokkmyrr we'd be safe…the whole city being Hesperide's demesne, they'd leave her subjects alone, or the like." At this point, he was fairly certain his mother had made up the latter logic as a fear tactic to make him and his sister listen, but still.
And to that, the beleaguered elf chuckled a bit– he knew of the Grovebane and the role it played in Fælniri legends. "Is that why I was asked after? Knowing that those tend to leave us Æld'Norai well enough alone?" his words languid, voice tired but amused.
He almost didn't want to kill it. Capturing the thing for study would serve him far more than if it were dead. The Ferrier had always wondered after their true nature.
When they landed, however, the bog was littered with carnage– blood seeped into the water, tinting it a deep, blackened red 'round the corpses or floating pieces and viscera thereof. It looked like a trading caravan had been attacked, their carriages overturned and animals either having fled or been killed as well. But for now, all that accompanied the group was death and the ambient sounds of the swamp– was the source of this slaughter still even nearby?
Æhti, feeling brave, dismounted to investigate, wandering some few feet away from Cælum and company. Velho followed the boy, floating after him on account of the fact that he'd yet to corporealize his lower body. Because he valued the Galsterei's life, he hoped that if the Grovebane were to make manifest, it'd avoid targeting him outright due to the fact that they, generally, didn't harm Æld'Norai. Perhaps, then, it'd avoid Æhti, too, because of his proximity to Velho.
A tree stood towards the edge of the group of bodies. The shadow at the base of the tree started to shift, and the grovebane would reveal itself. Its body seemed to form from the shadow itself, as if it had travelled through them somehow.
It saw Sjal and Abraia, eyeing them. Its eyes flickered to Caelum, then AEhti, and finally Velho. The aelf's presence gave it pause. It cocked its head to the side, as if asking "Why?" Had the aelf brought him more prey? It tucked its thoughts into the back of its mind while considering what to do. It wanted to protect this area for some unknown reason. It could not have people trespassing.
The grovebane sunk back into the shadows shortly after becoming visible, seemingly fleeing the area… but then, Caelum would start to feel something strange. His shadow would start to shift underneath him and soon he would find himself unable to move his body of its own accord.
The dragon would turn his head towards both Sjal and Abraia, with his mouth wide open… then, he would snap his jaws at them, trying to kill them.
Abraia did not like the look in the dragon's eye when he turned to face them. She had never seen him open his mouth like that either. Vicious, it was. She leapt from the saddle when his mouth came clamping down on where she'd just been.
"Something is wrong!" She cried when she hit the ground. She ran as fast as her thin body would let her.
She was dead weight with no spells, no weapon, no nothing. She scooped up a branch nonetheless in case she would need it.
She tried to think about what had just happened. The logical explanation was that the grove bane had been able to influence the dragon somehow.
She wondered if there was anything that could be done to break the control. She trusted that the old elf would be able to do something. If not, then maybe Aehti had some tricks up his sleeve.
Walking through the murk of Hespæria was something neither Velho nor Æhti were inherently unfamiliar with, though this time there was an undeniable air of foreboding hanging over them both. And for that reason, the Ferrier watched over the Fælnir as a mother would her young– something Æhti picked up on and was confused by, though it was not the time nor place to vocalize this (would it ever be?). Perhaps due to their proximity, the Grovebane did choose to lash out at the dragon, the dragonkin, and the other Fælnir.
Wanting to preserve most of his spell reserves on the chance that it would attempt to harm Æhti, Velho's initial reaction was more meant to pacify than anything else. "Stay here," he'd say to Æhti– a voice firm and with more conviction than typically used. The Galsterei did as he was told; he didn't have any desire to harm Cælum or the other two, anyhow.
Floating through the air towards the now hostile dragon, Velho could only assume the beast had been Possessed. From his lower back emerged his six Tendrils, each composed of more dense, tightly packed muscle than what existed upon the rest of the Ferrier's body. At first, they appeared to bear only the same pale-purple flesh that the Ælf bore, smooth in appearance, but they'd quickly begin to sharpen and shift. Bone would rip through the ends of them, and just as quickly as the wounds began to bleed did that blood warp and harden into a strange, crystalline substance. The finished product resulted in each tentacle being tipped with hooks not unlike what harpooners used to catch whales.
As Cælum was clearly distracted by his attempts to kill his own, the floating monstrosity that was Velho ceased his movement at about twenty five feet away, instead using his Tendrils to pierce the dragon's hide. Once done, each Tendril that succeeded in this goal would secrete a small amount of Pathos– the substance which served as a vehicle for his Banes. This time, his choice was the Bane of Sap– over the course of the next few moments, Cælum's muscle's would weaken until it was no longer possible for him to move.
"Cease your hostilities, Grovebane– what brought you here? Surely, so much bloodshed must have a purpose," he'd say in a bid to pull its focus towards something more diplomatic. The Grovebane were normally murderous, but usually killed to feed; this outburst was an oddity.
3 x Journeyman Hemomancy to alter his Tendrils
1 x Journeyman Bane [Sap]
Sjal had not been as fearful as Abraia. It wasn't until Caelum's head lurched forwards at her did she jump from the saddle. She landed roughly on the ground, spraining her ankle as she did so. She drew her sword and turned to fight, only to be whacked aside by Caelum's tail. She'd quite literally fly through the air towards where AEhti was. Her sword would fly from her hand when she landed and skidded to a stop.
The grovebane seemed quite capable of puppetting another creature and being able to use its body to its full capability. The only thing it seemed to be unable to do was force Caelum to use his breath weapon.
Caelum's body started marching towards AEhti, but before he got far his body would be speared by an attack from above. It did little to stop him at first – the grovebane forced his legs forwards as if the attack wasn't even felt. Moments later, however, the dragon's legs simply ceased to function.
The dragon's shadow would shift for a few moments and the grovebane would emerge from it. It looked up at the strange looking aelf who was trying to talk to it. It was not intelligent to understand words, but it understood that what it was doing was unwanted.
The black creature put its hands on its stomach while locking eyes with Velho. Perhaps the blood mage would be able to sense that it was pregnant, or maybe he'd be able to see that it was 'showing.' The lifecycle of a grovebane was a mystery, so seeing a pregnant one was probably something that few, if any, had ever witnessed.
With a shriek, the grovebane suddenly pointed its arms out, one at Abraia and one at AEhti. Its arms formed into spikes and launched like harpoons from its body, intending to finish what it set out to do.
Abraia wouldn't even see the attack coming. She would be mid run when a black spike shoved its way through her side. She slowed to a walk then fell. She turned to see what was going on and to wave for help.
Dying hadn't been on her list of things to do. And yet, it seemed to be happening. She knew they should have never come here. Why hadn't they listened to her?
She saw how damaged Cae looked. Were they both going to die? Curiosity had a way of killing the cat. She wanted to tell sjal to run. At least one of them could make it out of here.
The spike had gone right through her body which was a comfort. She wouldn't have to deal with the pain of pulling it out. The obvious downside being she had a gaping hole in her body that would never naturally heal.
Whilst Velho was certainly no scholar of Grovebane, he knew their intelligence was below a man's but that they were considered smart for a beast. Speaking to it was worth a shot, he figured. Alas, his Animism was too rusty to be of any real use, and the shadow creature appeared unappeased by his mundane words. The Ferrier did note that the creature looked pregnant; perhaps that explained its vicious hostility? Maybe it was trying to defend its territory, or maybe it required far more food than normal during gestation and this was reckless feeding.
At that point, he'd withdraw his Tendrils from Cælum. The resultant wounds would barely harm the dragon in the long run, small as they were relative to his overall mass. And not wanting to risk the Grovebane attempting to Possess Cælum again, Velho did not opt to relieve the Bane; the dragon would find that his leaden muscles would still be unable to move much at all.
When Abraia was struck, the Ferrier appeared unbothered. He was concerned, briefly, for Æhti, but the Galsterei managed to react in time. By shifting his abdomen to solid Myrksteinn, the beast's attack clashed against him and knocked him back onto the ground against a mossy log, though he was otherwise unscathed. The young mage wanted to help Abraia, but he knew the Grovebane itself had to be dealt with first.
"Put it in stasis, Æhti," Velho called to his assistant, words more of a hiss than a yell.
From where he'd landed, boy would do as he was asked and cast Intermanteia on the Grovebane, making the spell as potent as he could manage. Assuming a creature of legend might be able to weasel its way beyond the Galsterei's grasp, Velho cast a spell of his own at the same time. Floating about ten feet in front of Æhti, he'd take a breath and then exhale a cloud of blackened Ashes big enough to engulf the Grovebane and anyone else that lingered too close to it. The Ferrier had utilized a concentrated breath of Banefog, the Ashes infused with the Bane of Sap. Any who inhaled even a grain of it would feel the effects of the Bane immediately.
If their combined efforts appeared to be working, Æhti would then race over to the fallen Abraia and quickly cast Inermanteia again to stop her from bleeding out.
Velho: 1 x Expert Banefog [Sap] for volume
Banes are as potent as the caster's Skill Level (Master)
Æhti: 1 x Master Inermanteia
Each of these spells require GM Resistance to resist completely (master would be half resistance each), but cast together would work against GM Resistance.
It was not the first time that an aelf had tried to attack the grovebane. Sometimes the attacks were purposeful, sometimes on accident. Perhaps it was due to its hardiness or ability to slip away from danger, but it was not scared of aelves. Still, it had never seen magic quite like what Velho possessed.
The sickly looking aelf's strange magic caught the grovebane by surprise. It was only submerged in the bane's effects for a brief time before it teleported to another shadow – Sjal's. If the aelf was set on fighting it, it would simply kill the weaker humans off then flee. That was the plan, anyways. It grabbed her by the shoulders and tossed her aside, easily deflecting her sword strike with its impossibly hard body.
Suddenly, a flash of light erupted from Caelum's mouth. The light seared into the grovebane and caused it to flinch, unable to finish off Sjal. It quickly turned its eyes on Abraia's shadow and took a step towards her… but it suddenly felt the effects of the fog in full. It staggered in place and shook its head. It was a powerful effect and the creature felt that it needed to flee.
It teleported to Abraia but struggled to find the strength to keep moving. It didn't care about killing her at this point – it just wanted to get the hell out of there. The bright lights Caelum emitted reduced its options for teleporting and the bane prevented it from being able to run. The nail in the coffin was AEhti who was finally able to freeze it.
Finally, the grovebane toppled onto its side. Its eyes dimmed as the aether within it started to slow. And with that, the fight was over.
When the Grovebane's strength gave out, Æhti's full focus shifted onto Abraia. He managed to stop her bleeding with Inermanteia, but the wound was grave and that was the extent of his triage abilities. It would be dangerous to transport her without further assistance, and the lack of blood flow from his spell could cause harm if she had to linger that way for too long.
Velho's mind was initially split; he wanted to give all of his focus immediately to the felled Grovebane, but he figured he ought to tend to Abraia first. While he would prefer to leave her care to the one responsible for her– Cælum– the dragon was currently indisposed, and by the Ferrier's own magic, no less.
With a bit of a sigh, he'd float over beside Æhti (lower body still little more than discorporated Ash) to get a better look at her wound. Luckily for Abraia, her wound was traumatic but not outside of the purview of his Draoidh. With a gentle touch to the edge of the wound, her torn flesh would glow with the faint, jade green of Saol before rapidly beginning to regenerate. She would stabilize quickly, though it would be half a day or so before the damaged tissues regained full integrity.
"Thank you," Æhti would say, the marks of stress on his features finally beginning to drain away.
Velho only nodded before floating away to Cælum, at which point he'd place a palm upon the dragon's hide and release the heavy hand of his Bane. And with that out of the way, he no longer appeared to care much about what the others got up to; his sole focus shifted onto the Grovebane. He'd drift over to it without a word.
From within the many folds of his robes, Velho would pull a Shaper's Torch. Meticulously, he proceeded to use it to weaken the flesh and bone around the joints connecting each of the Grovebane's limbs to its body. He would then shift the shape of the crystallized blood-hooks tipping four of his tendrils to blades, at which point he would proceed to cut away all four limbs at once. Limbless, it would be manageable for Æhti to carry, and thus for Cælum to fly them all back. The Ferrier then intended to store the maimed beast within the cells of his cellar, keeping it pacified with a combination of Æhti's Inermanteia and the Rite of Repose until he found a better way to care for it.
Abraia will be able to collect any reagents she wants from the Grovebane (assuming the extraction thereof won't kill it) before she, Själ, and Cælum leave if Cælum makes the request.
wc: 2454
1 x Expert Invigorate
3x Journeyman Hemomancy to reshape Tendril tools
Abraia thought she would die when she saw the monster towering over her. She did not die. Cae saved her. No. They all saved her.
She was restored to a passable state by the elf that she had hated so much. It made her think more kindly about them. Maybe this one was different. Cae kept good company.
"Thanks." She said to the elf but she didn't know if he cared about her. Probably not. Maybe he was just being nice. She nodded to Aehti but wasn't in the mood to chit chat. She had some trauma to process.
She didn't want parts of the grovebane. She only wanted to go home. She went over to Sjal to help her and make sure she was fine.
"Let's go home." She told Cae after she climbed into the saddle again.
"I hope you learned your damned lesson about chasing after monsters."
