November 2013 - Page 3 of 8 - Tales of the Aggronaut

NaNoWroMo 21–Homecoming

November 22, 2013 by Belghast

NaNoWriMo 21

Yesterday was a pretty damned good day for me. Firstly I actually went to work, which is a positive as far as the week went. It was a good thing too since I was the only person in my group in the office and we had several crisis to deal with. More important than that I wrote a lot for me at least, over 3500 words. Some of that was in the morning and finishing up the chapter I was working on, but a lot of it was this new chapter. This takes me to 37,364 wordcount. Right now I am hoping I can get to over 45,000 this weekend which will put me on pace to hit 50k at or around Thanksgiving. I am not sure why, but I really want to finish this up before the post holiday craziness sets in.

Here is the story so far, once again super raw and in unedited form. The more I write the more I realize I will re-write.

21 – Homecoming

The lightskimmer glided on top of the sunwall in perfect silence, if not for the rush of wind Torklah would not have believed they were moving. The pair had been riding for a little over a day when off the starboard bow of the ship appeared what he took to be Valkore settlements. The majority were neat arrangements of wooden lodges around a larger central communal building. The skimmer continued on without stop until on the horizon he could see a much larger arrangement of buildings along the coast. The vessel began slowly just as gradually as it started, and once again Torklah would not have known it were not the speed of the trees passing lessening.

Josah had also sensed the slowing of the skimmer and crawled up from the galley with his and Toklah’s packs in hand. “It seems as though we are here” Josah said handing the pack over to the elder sasquatch. Moving to the bow of the boat, Josah slung his own pack and sent the ladder streaming down to the ground. He descended to the ground below where a crowd of valkore was gathering. He held the ladder steady as the shaman descended as well. When they were both safely on the ground Josah gave the ladder a little tug and it zipped back up into the ship.

He watched as the skimmer started up slowly and before long had zipped out of sight silently along the sunwall. Finally turning to face the gathering crowd he noticed an older man stepping forward from the pack. “I am Elder Torgos, welcome to Hagengarde. We are not used to seeing people arrive by sunwall, it has caused quite a commotion.” He motioned for the townsfolk to disperse leaving only Torgos and a few guards. “I assume you are of the Elfen courts?” the old man queried looking both Josah and Torklah over carefully.

“Yes, I’ve heard story of the Trogjan amazing a force here. I believe they mean to destroy the sunwall” Josah said while accepting the old mans handshake. The old man nodded “Yes that is what we have heard as well. I assume you will be joining the other Elfen then in preparations?” Josah looked at Torgos with a shocked expression. “Whato ther Elfen?” Torgos took a moment surprised that he did not know about the others. “Some days ago a man and a wounded woman were found near Hagengarde.”

Josahs expression of confusion turned to one of desperation. “Morrow? She is here? Please take me to her.” Torgos nodded and began walking off away form the sunwell to a small lodge on the outskirts of the village. There resting in a fur bed was a stocky woman dressed in flowing robes. “Morrow my love! You are alive!” Josah exclaimed rushing to her side and kneeling down beside her bed. The woman opened her eyes, her face slowly turning to one of recognition. She spoke a very weak “Josah, I was worried.”

“No my love it was I who was worried. I had no idea if I would ever see you. Who is here with you?” It was around this time that another person appeared at the door of the cabin. The man rushed in picking up Josah and giving him a huge hug lifting him up off the ground. As he being squeezed Josah managed to give a very strained “It is good to see you too Bemel. How long have you both been here?” Letting him down off the ground he replied “I’ve lost track of the days, but several. The weapon sent me here along the coast. I roamed around aimlessly a bit when I found Morrow severely wounded. I managed to flag down a Valkore skyship, and they have helped us since”

“Josah, there is something you have to know. Baigan intends to attach the sunwall and is amassing a force at Fort Kraken.” Josah nodded grimly “I had heard as much” he motioned to to the sasquatch “Torklah here saved me as well, and mentioned that the forces of winter were growing ever active in this area. I realized what they intended to do.” Looking at Elder Torgos “What is the intended plan? Surely you mean to make a strike against them?” The elder nodded “Yes we mean to lead a strike against the fort. I fear the fate of all the wildlands rests in the balance. If the summerwall falls, so will we all.”

“So it is true then?” the old sasquatch spoke up. “Winter means to destroy the wall? If that is so we do all stand to lose. Once one village falls they will all begin to fall. My warriors are needed for the harvest, but if we lose our lands there will be nothing left to harvest.” Torklah said with a stern face. “I will speak to the earth mother and have her summon our warriors. They will heed her call.” Bemel beamed brightly as if he had just received the best news ever. “The elfen, people of the storm, and people of the earth all banding together. We have the makings of a very powerful army. I too have sent word to Avalon and expect to reinforcements to arrive on the sunwall.”

With the secret weapon Pico brought to the table, and the strong forces they were assembling they might just be able to pull through. He knew that winter would be bringing to bear every backbreaker squad they could spare as well as all manner of other machinations of war. Additionally there would be Baigan who had proved himself to be a more than capable wizard. He never expected that the fates would bring all of them together, but still he was concerned about Jace, Benj and Kale. He hoped that each of them was safe somewhere in the wildlands. Bemel thought it best to leave out the part about Pico being the mastermind behind the weapons that had scattered them across the land.

Torklah moved slowly to the side of Morrow, he knelt on the ground near her. “You too are a child of the earth. I sense it in your nature. The earth mother wants to heal you” He got up and lifted her in his large arms, slowly making his way for the door of the hut. At first Josah tried to stop him, but the old shaman simply gave him a stern look. He carried Morrow out into the open air, laying her body down upon the dirt of the ground. he uncovered each foot, and her hands laying them flat upon the ground. Kneeling beside her he placed his own hands on the ground as well.

“Earth mother, your child is hurting. Bless her with your bounty.” The old shaman closed his eyes and dug his fingers into the earth. With this the ground began to rumble much like it had when he summoned the rockling. Instead of summoning a being, it began to coil around Morrow’s exposed limbs. The earth slowly enshrouded her until she was completely encased in churning rock other than her head. With this her eyes shot open and she gasped loudly as a gasy miasma began seeping up through the earth covering her and spilling out onto the ground in thick green pools. Morrow closed her eyes again, and slowly the earthen covering began to retreat down off of her body and along her limbs.

“Thank you earth mother, you have purged your child of its corruption” The old sasquatch reached down with his hand placing it on Morrows forehead. “Awake child, you are free of your burden” and with that she opened her eyes and sat up, stretching. She looked over at the sasquatch not really sure what had just happened. The only thing she was certain of was that she hurt no more. Where once was pain was replaced with only a glowing warmth. She jumped up from the ground and cheered that she was free of the sickness.

“I am not sure who you are, or what you just did, but I thank you.” Morrow said grasping the great shamans hands. “It was not I, it was the Earth Mother. She has heard your call for years, but only now realized it was you who did not know how to answer.” Morrow looked at him with shock. She had always felt close to the earth and felt empowered being out in the wilds, but she did not realize this was not a normal gift. She was not a woodbinder like Benj or even like Jace would be, but she knew things almost as though she absorbed them from her surroundings. She wondered if this was what the sasquatch meant.

She joined Josah and Bemel, now she felt as though she could actually help out in the effort. The forces combined surely would be a match for that of the Trogjan. She would make Baigan pay for all the pain he had caused. She would make sure the wildlands and avalon were free from the influence of winter. They had much planning to do, and an army to assemble. They did not have long until the equinox, and she knew they had to strike before them. Morrow hoped that the powers they were assembling would be enough to win the day.

NaNoWriMo 20–Hagengarde

November 21, 2013 by Belghast

NaNoWriMo 20

I ended up staying home again yesterday but struggled with the will to write. I have to get over this crud because it is making me feel like doing nothing. As a result my progress in NaNoWriMo feels like it has crept to a halt. I am sitting at roughly 35,701 but I feel like I am behind the pace, or at the very least have lost whatever lead I had coming into the game. Right now is the most picky stuff as well, I am trying to join up all the disparate threads into one narrative to set up for the final actions.

Here is the story at hand currently… remember super raw super unedited.

20 – Hagengarde

The skyship had been a far more pleasant place than she would have expected initially. While the captain seemed gruff, she had eased over time the longer that Pico and Berrol were on board. In fact she had taken while a shining to the little Berrol who she was now teaching about the main steering complex. Pico was happy to see him smiling since he spent the first day on board sobbing over his father. Astanax had not made it out with them, and it was uncertain whether or not he actually would. While normally not the motherly type… Pico made adjustments for the little guy and tried her best to watch after him.

She sat down in the underbelly of the skyship and in this rare moment of private sifted through her pack. There in a small grey box sat her escape plan. She had done fresh calculations and was still completely uncertain that it would actually have the desired effect. Normally in test firings the analytic weapons had no effect on human flesh, but she had no idea what it would do to magic flesh. She also did not know if it would push her back into her own world… or if it would create a tear in the ward further complicating the problem. She knew one thing, she could not leave without Berrol and she was certain the grenade would not be safe for him.

As she stepped out onto the deck she noticed a landmass dead ahead that was growing larger as they moved towards it. She could see a near endless coastline and surmised that this had to be the eastern coastline of the United States, or what passed for that here in this world. As they moved closer she could see little settlements dotting the coastline. They appeared to be moving towards the largest of these clusters. She thought to herself that this must be Hagengarde, the place that Karrek urged her to go. The valkore were rumored to be dragon hunters, so she hoped they would be able to get her a piece of the dragon bone she needed for analysis.

As effortlessly as it had moved across the sea Pico was not prepared for the sudden lurch as the ship crossed onto the shoreline. It glided its way along the coast until it reached a pier of sorts jutting out into the air. On deck there was a flurry of activity as men grabbed hold of the deck with some sort of a wench, using it to tow them slowly into a resting position. They deployed the same gangplank they had used before, but it felt far more ominous crossing a gap to this floating pier. She was thankful she was not prone to vertigo, because this certainly would have triggered it. Much to her surprise Berrol seemed completely unphased by it, and bounded down the plank and onto the stone pier waving for her to come on. She crossed very slowly and deliberately but made it fine, taking the little boys hand into hers and heading into town.

Hagengarde was absolutely nothing like she expected. After seeing the harsh majesty of Brittagus, she was expecting all of this world to look something like that. The Valkore on the other hand, while masters of the sky seemed to be significantly primitive in other ways. While the city was every bit the bustling metropolis that Brittagus was, it instead was made up mostly of these lodge like buildings. Each was made out of wood or something that looked similar, with bits of bone and metal to embellish. It all gave her the feeling of a holywood “wild west” town but with significantly nordic influence. The people looked similar to her, but much more stout and sturdy. Even Barret who apparently was slight for a Valkore, looked like a bodybuilder.

As she crossed the town something struck out of the landscape. To the left and up a rise was a longer version of these lodges. In place of a wood exterior was a bleached white surface held together with rivets of black iron. If she was not entirely mistaken the building appeared to be made primarily of dragon bone. She made her way across the streets and up the rise until she was standing next to the building. Reaching out her hand she ran it over the smooth exterior. It looked almost exactly like the ward she had seen. It was joined in the same manner with the same iron craftsmanship. It struck her… did the wards initially come from the Valkore?

As she was examining the exterior the door to the lodge flew open and a man was standing in the threshold preparing to exit. She lept back taking shielding Berrol behind her, she recognized that face entirely too well. It was one of the men at the farm house event, the one who had spoken to Aimes, with blazing red hair. She didn’t know what this meant or why he was here, especially after taking a full strike of the analytical weapons. She didn’t know if she and Berrol were in danger, as she looked him over assessing the threat he certainly did not seem dangerous. The commotion had caught his attention and he was now staring blankly at her, quick Pico think of something to say.

“ugh… Hi, you startled me” fumbled Pico. The man looked her over for a moment before relaxing slightly. “Torgos is out currently with the chief huntsman, if you needed him.” the man returned “I was just going out myself to get something to eat. I am sure if you check back later he will be here.” Pico thought to herself, he seemed friendly enough and he certainly had no idea who she was. “Actually I came over here because this lodge appears to be made of dragon bone. Do you know anything about it?” she said pointing idly at the exterior she had been examining. “Huh, come to think of it yeah, I guess it is bone… I had not really noticed. I am not from around here.” Bemel replied sensing something odd about the woman.

Pico had always favored honesty when possible, she made a horrible liar. Even though every bone in her body told her not to, she found herself replying to the man. “I’m not from around here either, I am not even from this world.” With that the man gave her a curious look and then a sudden wave of realization washed over him. “You are from the mortal realm aren’t you? You have the smell about you. At first all I could sense was the mage colony, but now I see an underlying smell of humanity. What brings you to Hagengarde? Better yet… how exactly did you get here? You don’t seem like a halfkin.” Bemel replied curiously. He opened the door to the lodge and offered Pico entrance, thinking that while they were talking they might as well be comfortable.

Pico thanked him and she and Berrol entered taking up seats in the main room. “It’s a long story… I came here through a stable gateway underneath what you would call Brittagus.” She explained about Berrol and Astanax. She spoke about Karrek and the Inquisition, and why exactly she had to escape. She spoke of the Order of Merlin and how Berrol represented the last of that line. She had no idea why all of it came pouring out, especially to a stranger and a potentially dangerous one at that. She talked about how she had sworn to protect Berrol, and make sure he was safe. All the while Bemel simply sat there listening, not showing much emotion.

When she had finished he simply said “You are with the organization they call the ‘watch’ are you not?” Of all the things she was expecting out of his mouth that had been the furthest from it. How exactly did he know about the ward watch? There was no real reason to deny it since he had obviously made that leap himself. “Yes… I’m Pico, Pico Cosgrove one of the engineers responsible for the analytic weapons.” With that she could sense anger rising in him, maybe she had shared a bit too much there. “So you are the one that built the weapons they attacked us with? Do you currently have those weapons here? Are there more of you?” Pico shook her head slowly “It is just me, and no I don’t really have anything like that… we couldn’t risk using them again.” She let out a deep sigh “The wards are falling, and those weapons damaged them significantly.”

Bemel looked shocked for a moment and then a wave of understanding passed over him. “How long have they been weakening?” She told him about the slow and steady decay over the last hundred years, and how the weapons damaged it significantly more. She had thought the weapons would be their salvation, but instead it only seemed to hasten their demise. “We have not been able to repair the wards, nor have we even come close to creating our own synthetic one.” She rifled in her pack and produced the leather bound tome she had taken from the undercroft. “But with this book I might be able to finally create one, I simply need a sample of dragon bone to analyze when I get back home.” A sinking feeling settled into her stomach as she thought “If I get back home”.

Bemel looked very serious for a moment “You’ve picked a rather inconvenient moment to come here. Were it another time I could have potentially helped you get back to your world. Now however we are preparing for war.” Pico gasped audibly, were they going to invade her world as retaliation for the strike against them at the farm house? She remained silent as the man continued “Centuries ago the forces of winter rebelled against the natural order of the seasons, and claimed the northlands as their own. In an attempt to halt their progress we created a barrier, much like your wards. It too is failing, and the mean to use the power of our captured queen to destroy the barrier.”

“The Valkore were nearly driven to a point of extinction by the Trogjan, the ‘things’ that attacked us at the farm house. We are planning a strike on Fort Kraken on the other side of the wall, hoping that we can disrupt the forces long enough for someone to get inside and rescue the queen. Without her power they will not be able to bring down the wall.” Pico thought for a moment, then summoned her courage. “If I help you, can you get me back home safely?” she asked the man. “I can, but how could you help us?” mused Bemel. Pico rifled through her pack and produced the small grey box holding it out carefully in front of her.

“This is a prototype weapon, I brought it with me… as an escape plan. I am not really certain how it will work in this world. But I think it will destroy anything magical in the area of the blast.” Bemel looked at the box Pico was holding and shrunk back in his seat a bit. He had felt the sting of those weapons and remembered the bomb they had dropped that caused the pack of Orts to simply disappear. “The skyships could get someone close enough to the fort to drop the bomb. It should take out a fair number of enemy troops.” Pico said carefully placing the box back inside her pack. However unlikely this alliance was, Bemel thought that maybe the watch had just given them a fighting chance. They would take Fort Kraken, and free the queen.

NaNoWriMo 19–The Nightlords

November 20, 2013 by Belghast

NaNoWriMo 19

Really feeling miserable right now. I attempted to write last night but just could not seem to focus. I managed to muddle through 1500 words, but I feel like I chopped this chapter off at a weird place. I will continue on and finish it tonight, but for the time being here is what I have. I probably should have stopped a long time ago, but I keep introducing new forces in the world as the various groups meander their way towards their destiny.

Here is a recap of everything that has come before, once again it is raw, extremely raw… especially this mornings post.

19 – The Nightlords

As they walked nearer to the wildfae enclave a sense of dread hung in the air. In part the mood had simply not recovered from the ambush by the reavewolves two days ago. This however was not the only reason. As they moved closer and closer to what should have been a relatively large Wildfae concentration they saw none of the familiar signs. When Jace and Kale had approached Dobin’s enclave they were traced by little green lights darting around just out of sight. The fae should have made their presence know or at least felt in some way. Instead they walked through the woods in a complete and eerie silence.

Merowyn grumbled to herself “We should be seeing sprites by now, welcoming us to the conclave. I don’t like this one bit.” She glanced over at Dobin and he face was worn by worry. “This does not make sense at all.” he grumbled as he fluttered past the main group of the party to scout ahead. He had reached the outer perimeter of the conclave and still not a single wildfae made their presence known. It was not out of their nature to hide from strangers, but if that was their concern they could have cloaked the entire conclave. This was something else, something had happened here.

Dobin with two fae that had buzzed up to join him flitted about the village, zooming in and out of huts each time coming up completely empty. Where could everyone be, there were no bodies, no signs of a struggle. The village was just completely and utterly empty. The village seemed to have been deserted white a while. As dobin fluttered into another cabin he noticed that the stones in the hearth were long cold and dormant with no signs of a recent fire How did almost a hundred fae disappear. It had been not two months since he had been up to this conclave to deliver a message. At that time the place was a bustling hub of twinkles and wings.

Mero, Jace and Kale set up a camp of sorts in what had been a communal hall. They gathered some wood nearby and within a short while the hearth was blazing with new life again. The walk had been long so they would need to rest despite how downright spooky the village seemed without life in it. Dobin simply could not rest, and nor could two of his guard Scree and Nera. The two of them had family in this village and it was all he could do to keep them from rushing ahead without him.

In moments they had fluttered ahead beyond the north boundary of the conclave and on the road that lead to the Sunwall. They were zipping ahead looking for clues when Dobin signalled a halt. The fluttered over to a spot of ground and he zoomed down to examine it more closely. Something had been through here recently, a large bipedal creature with claws on its feet. It appeared to be dragging something that looked a bit like a large stick. Pointing to places in the dirt he exclaimed “See how it drags the ground every few feet, that is the gait of someone walking with a staff” Dobin said as the other two fae nodded appreciatively.

The tracks continued up the road as far as he could see, but he did not want to stray too far from camp. They would be needed if something attacked over night, so as hard as he tried he urged for Skree and Nera to follow him back to camp. Finally he appealed to their sense of duty to protect the Lady. That while they did not know what happened to the conclave, they could protect The Lady in the meantime. By the time they reached the village the other two were full of patriotic loyalty and buzzed off to stand watch on the outskirts of town.

He returned to the side of Merowyn reporting back his findings. “There are the tracks of something large moving away from this village north towards the Sunwall. We followed it a ways, and they looked to continue down the road. We doubled back to wait until morning before following them further.” The little fae addressed the lady. “We will find out what happened to them tomorrow. We will get to the bottom of this. While I chose your village, these fae are my children as well.” Merowyn said with a look of distant determination.

The group settled in for the night, and while the tiny warders heard the occasional strange noise in the night as a whole the evening went without much event. In the wee hours of the morning there was a commotion from the far side of the village, coming from the north along the path that the sprites had scouted the night before. There came a fluttering and the occasional bumping noise, and as the sprites rallied to the noise, Jace could see that it was another sprite flying towards the camp in a very erratic manner.

The light that normally shone from each sprite had gone and replaced was a light dim glow. As he flew towards the center of the camp a trio of sprite guards managed to intercept taking the beaten fae in their arms allowing him to collapse tired against them. The trio flew the newcomer to Merowyn, who took the tiny sprite into her arms. The tiny sprite sputtered and coughed and managed to squeeze a few words out. “They came, made us do things” it stopped trying to catch its breath obviously wounded somehow. A tiny rivulet of blood appeared at the corner of its mouth and ran down its cheek.

The tiny sprite seized for a moment in Merowyn’s arms and then was deathly silent. Great tears pooled up in her eyes as she blinked furiously to try and stop the torrent. With a quavering voice she decried “Whoever did this will pay. Everyone gather up camp, we follow the trail northward.” With that the camp was broken and packed back into the various bags and the group set forth retracing the steps of whatever beast had done this. The telltale dragging of the staff was relatively easy to follow in the soft loam of the trail. It was not long until they had arrived at the end of the village and continued following it up towards the Sunwall.

When they reached the Sunwall something seemed off there too. The path lead up to it and in what should have been a solid wall of fire there was a small empty space. Merowyn thought to herself… if the Sunwall had been breached there could be all manner of things that had slipped through. She herself had never actually been on the other side of the wall. It was the permanent line between summer and winter and had been that way since the war of the seasons. To cross the wall meant certain death, or that was what the elfen told their children to keep them safe.

She could tell the other sprites were restless and uncertain of the path ahead. All of them had grown up with similar tales of faceless demons on the other side. If she was to find the source of that that poor sprites pain however, she would have to summon her bravery and cross. For a moment she stood there breathing in deeply trying to forcibly calm herself, and then in the next she was moving forward towards the breach in the wall. She felt the sensation of the warmth of summer, that was suddenly replaced by the bitter biting chill of winter… and she was through standing on the other side.

As if summoned by her courageous act Dobin and his retinue joined her first, soon to be followed by Jace and Kale leading up the rear. The other side of the wall was a very different place indeed. The other side was an endless blanket of shroomspire forests with only small paths carved out here and there for people to traverse the wilderness. This side however was a barren and craggy plain with bits of ice and rock jutting up everywhere. The earth was much more firm and for a moment she had a bit of trouble picking back up the trail.

She soon found the familiar staff drag marks lightly scraping into the ground, and they continued following to the north and east. There was a slight path cutting through the terrain and she assumed that the nameless other had been following it. Everything about the surroundings set her on edge, and this was not helped by the assorted bleached bones that lay strewn about the landscape. She wondered if the summer side once looked like this too, or if this was simply the machinations of the Trogjan.

The path lead to a rocky cliff overlooking a valley. Deep within the valley she saw a small keep of sorts. Less a proper battle keep like she had heard tales of, but instead more a territorial watch post. As she watched she noticed little shapes moving around shifting in and out of focus. At first she thought it was her eyes playing a trick on her, but as she stared more intently she began to make out individual shapes and noticed the same dull purple glow emitting from each. She was pretty certain they were the sprites of the conclave. What were they doing guarding a Trogjan keep?

NaNoWriMo 18–Lightskimmer

November 19, 2013 by Belghast

NaNoWriMo 18

Yesterday as I said I was feeling like crap. It probably would have been the ideal opportunity to write, but alas I did not until early evening. I did however manage to make it through roughly 2000 words taking my total word count to 32,129. I take joy in watching the “words per day” estimate on NaNoWriMo.org lower. Last night I was at 1300 words per day to finish on time.

Once again here is the story to date, all of it raw and unedited.

18 – Lightskimmer

It was nearing high shadow when Josah first saw the familiar glow of the sunwall. He and Torklah had travelled for for most of a day and he knew they had a quite a bit further to go before they arrived. Looking over at the old sasquatch, Josah thought it was probably a good idea for them to make camp for the evening. “Torklah, we should make camp here. We will need our strength when we arrive at the river of sun.” The elder shaman agreed rather easily, and he was showing the signs of the days journey.

The two of them made camp in a small grotto near the trail. It looked as though others that had come before them had camped here. There was a partial circle of stones that obviously housed a fire. “My people uses this camp during hunting trips near the river, we should be safe enough here.” The shaman said as he settled down onto a rock leaning back against a treeshroom. “The fire will keep away anything that might attack in the night.” The elder sasquatched rifled through his pack producing a loaf of bread and some cheeses.

The two of them rested eating in silence for a bit before Torklah spoke up again. “What is it that you intend to do when we reach the river?” Josah thought for a moment and then responded. “I should be able to summon a lightskimmer, and we can ride that to Valkore territory. Once we get there we should be able to determine where the Trogjan will be attacking from.” Torklah let that sink in “What is a lightskimmer? I have never heard of that before?”

“Lightskimmers are magical craft that the elfen employ to traverse the river of sun. While we call it the sun wall your name is actually more fitting. It is in fact a road that connects every corner of the elfen lands back to the capiol of Avalon. While there are hundreds of miles between us and the Valkore lands, it can get us there in less than a day” Josah responded. He thought that it must be an odd concept to a Sasquatch, even a Shaman. As a people they actively shunned using magic to make their lives easier, and as a result they lived very spartan and simplistic lives.

As far as power goes, Josah was not really certain what the Sasquatch had. He knew they were called the people of the earth, but he did not really understand what that entailed. The elfen based their magic on life, or in the case of winter the absense of life. The scions of summer could harnes the power of the sun to create great flame magics. Regardless of the application every last casting was based on some aspect of the cycle of life. It seemed odd to Josah that magic could exist that did not directly involve this cycle.

“Torklah, if you don’t mind me asking… .what is the source of your magic?” Josah asked with honest and curious eyes. The old shaman thought for a moment before responding. “We draw our power from the earth. The ground beneath our feet is alive and speaks to us. We stand as a conduit for it’s will.” Torklah concentrated closing his eyes for a moment. “It’s okay little one, you can show yourself. Old Torklah will protect you.” The wizened shaman addressed an unseen force.

As the coaxing continued there was a stirring in the dirt at his feet. It churned slightly almost like a whirlpool before the dust and dirt coalesced into a form. It was of a crudely bipodal shape with stubby rock feed, a large dirt clod for a torso and bits of vine forming arms. The little earth thing crawled up upon the shamans lap and sat down apparently rather at ease with the sasquatch. “That’s it little one. The earth has guardians with us always. It is just that most cannot feel them like I can.” Josah a little taken off balance stared at the rockling for a moment. “Spirit of the earth I greet you. I am Josah a spring scion of the elfen court of Avalon.” Torklah looked down at the rockling as though listening to it. “The guardian is please to meet you”.

Josah explained to the rockling his plight, how the events of the farmhouse lead him to see the help of the Sasquatch. How he planned to rescue his queen and find his beloved Morrow. When he had finished his tale there was a long and akward silence, once again the Shaman appearing to be listening to the rockling. Finally Torklah looked up from the rockling to address Josah. “The great earth mother has felt your pain, and feels the ripping and tearing of the Trogjan callously cutting into her crust. She offers you her assistance in saving your queen, in the hopes that the cycle of nature and the cycle of earth can live together in harmony.”

Josah was not sure what exactly he had expected, but he did not expect to get the help of a primal force such as the earth mother. He had heard stories about her influence, but since the elfen were not able to commune with her he simply was not sure of her power. It was said that the earth mother had the power to move mountains as needed and raise giant golems to battle her foes. The thought of any assistance, let alone a force that powerful was beyond anything he could have imagined. When Josah finally spoke he addressed the Rockling directly. “Guardian, I am humbled by the support of the Earth Mother. It too is my hope to restore the balance of the cycle.”

The little rockling hopped down from the shamans lap and collapsed back into the soil at his feet. By this time the coals in the fire were crackling low, and the deep shadows of the night wrapped in around them. “We should get some rest, the river of sun is still quite a ways off” Torklah finally mused. He slid down off his rocky perch and laid a mat from his pack out alongside the fire curling up under a blanket. It was not long before Josiah had joined him in doing the same, and the two of them drifted off to sleep with the low embers warming them.

The elder shaman was the first to rise and by the time Josah awoke, he was hobbling around camp tending to things. “You should have woke me” Josah said stretching up from his mat. The elder sasquatch gave him a sideways glance before replaying rather flatly “You are still under the influence of the poison, and needed your rest more than I did. Once you pack your bedding, we can get under way. I’ve made us a small roll that we can eat as we walk.” Josah did just that and within a quarter hour they were back on the road.

It had been awhile since Josah had been this close to the sunwall. It of course wraps its way around Avalon, but the walls and spires of the city obscure the view. Seeing it stretching across the wilds, cutting a swath through the shroomspires was an entire different vista. The walked mostly in silence, other than a few one or two word comments back and forth. Josah was fine with this, he really didn’t have much to say, especially since in this thoughts he was still obsessing over the events of the farmhouse and the dread that something might have happened to Morrow.

The last time he had seen her she had been badly wounded. Then they were both struck by the humans weapon that had flung them apparently in completely different directions. He hoped beyond hope that she managed to land near another member of the council. Josah was certain that if Benj or Bemel were near her they would have tended to her wounds. He just realized… he had not thought at all what might have happened to Jace and Kale. The queen sacrificed herself to save them, but he felt horrible that he had not once thought about their safety in this whole ordeal.

Kale looked like she could more than take care of herself, and hopefully she would watch after Jace. In this most recent bout of obsession Josah had not noticed that they had arrived near the foot of the Sunwall. He stepped up to the wall looking batch at Torklah “You might stand back, the Sunwall can be unpredictable” The old shaman nodded and took a few steps back giving him a wide berth. Josah held his hand out to the wall letting his hand dip into the flames as though they were skimming water. He felt out through the surface of the wall and feeling the familiar resistance of a skimmer he gave a great tug with his mind.

The Sunwall began to churn violently like a roaring river. To the east a shape appeared riding along the top of the wall. As it got closer Torklah realized it was some sort of a boat. It slowed to a halt hovering above them at the top of the wall. Josah waved his hand up at the sun ship, and a ladder toppled down to the ground. “My apologies friend, but we are going to have to climb. This is why I thought we needed our strength” Josah said hooking a foot in the ladder and pushing upwards beginning to climb. Torklah thought that the elf did not realize that the Sasquatch were natural climbers, capable of scaling shroomstalks almost from birth.

While it took the Elfen quite a bit of time to work his way up the ladder the elder shaman managed to do it in what seemed like one fluid motion. Torklah stepped out onto the deck of the ship and it looked much like he would have expected a water going vessel to appear. There were a wide array of seats out on the deck under a giant sale like canopy. There appeared to be stairs leading down into the body of the boat, which he assumed would have sleeping quarters. “The lightskimmer is designed to carry both military and royalty alike, so you will find it suited for both purposes” Josah pointed at what looked like crossbow stations up and down the deck.

The elfen walked up to a small perch with a crystal device set into the wall. Reaching out with his hands he touched the crystal and it pulsed to life, Speaking an audible command Josah beckoned the crystal. “Take us to Hagengarde, in the Valkore Territory”, With that the boat lurched forward starting at first slowly, but accelerating rather quickly. Torklah looked over the bow and immediately wished he had not as he watched the tops of shroomspires whipping by at a dizzying speed.

He took a seat towards the interior of the deck, trying to get his balance and calm his suddenly churning stomach. Josah walked over to join him, retrieving a drink from a chest beside the seating and handing it to the big sasquatch. “Drink this, it will help with the nerves. It is a tonic of sorts that we keep on hand for those not used to Lightskimmer travel.” Josah helped himself to a similar looking bottle and leaned back against the seat. “We should be completely safe up here, as we skim along the top of the Sunwall. According to the guidance crystal it will take us almost a days time to reach Hagengarde. I suggest in the meantime we relax. We have no idea what awaits us on the other end.” The shaman agreed and slowly sipped his own bottle.