Farrel- Vengeance in the Mushrooms Woods

For in-universe game play. Journey through both familiar and foreign settings, explore lost ruins and forgotten cities, and try to bring light to the darkness of the world... or, you know, blow stuff up. Either way.
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Alberich
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Re: Farrel- Vengeance in the Mushrooms Woods

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[OOC: I don't mind a bit the slow pace. Busy time for me, too--in fact, I wouldn't have been able to write all week even if Jack had been free. If only the three of us are playing, what matter? The sword quest is, after all, Jade's (and I hope she can remain at the center of it); if you want another thread with other characters for other tales that move faster, it would be easy to start one or even branch it off from this one--I would be glad to create a new character if you have something in mind. Eve's poised to be part of the "Contest of Miseries" thread, but I haven't revived it yet, in part because Jack's been too busy to post much even in this one, and I am happy to wait.]

It was a night for gardening activities of one kind and another. And not so long before, a certain gardener was conducting a frustrating sort of interrogation. The speaker had urgently requested the meeting. And now that he was here, he seemed extremely reluctant to tell anything. He was senior Eisenfaust...senior in years, if not in current authority.

"Waaal, sir, I mean this comes from the old days. A while back, a heh heh, so far back, hardly seems to matter really...."

"If it's worth tearing me out of bed for, it's worth telling me what it is."

"Waaaaaallll, sir, it's about that place called Ester, used to control it, you know, probably half forgotten about it by now, heh heh...."

"Yes, Wallace, I know. You were our last governor there. It's Falkenrohr territory now, and it's staying that way." It wasn't really Wallace's concern, but the Gewehr seemed intensely jealous of another large group controlling the place, Jones had always assumed over something to do with toll revenues. The final "diplomatic" solution had been to let these minor-leaguers hold the place...and no one else was to disturb them, or ally with them.

"Waaaa..." -- Jones was starting to glare at those "waaaaal"s (was this man's nickname "Waaal-ass?");' Wallace cut it off. "There's something I didn't exactly tell you back at that time, sort of a local affair, not really need to trouble anyone with it, place ran pretty smoothly and all..."

Jones was fantasizing about putting this oldster to work as a manure spreader (a role currently held by a junior priest being punished for his part in an attempted "smiting" of heathens...a distinctly undiplomatic act in a town where the Church was not dominant). It would not be so far from what he was doing now.

"...but there's woods near there. Mushroom woods. And there's this kind of local tradition that you just don't go there. And waa....aaah, you know, sometimes there's good reasons for a tradition like that..."

There was a good deal more like that. Jones was fantasizing about putting Jones to work for a manure spreader...in the role of the fertilizer. But eventually he got the truth out of him:

(1) There was some kind of wizardly presence in the woods, and it had dealings with whoever ruled Ester. Part of those dealings was encouraging the local governor not to let anyone know the dealings were going on. (Including, as in Wallace's case, the local ruler's own bosses.) Another part was to strongly discourage strangers from going into the woods at all.

(2) This same presence seemed to have a good bit of localized power and even wealth, though sometimes in very strange forms. It did not want to trade openly in town, only rarely bought supplies with the governor's knowledge, and was not a significant source of revenue. But things went well when it was kept informed of events but otherwise left alone. And they went not-well when it wasn't. So much better to just stay away from it. (Although Wallace's knowledge of Ester before his own time had always been limited, and some of it was fading, he had a notion that the Gewehr and Waffenbruderschaft had controlled the town at different times, and made similar arrangements. He assumed the Falkenrohr chief was in the same position...dealing with it, but keeping quiet about it.)

(3) Now, it seemed, Elke...who's paid a visit to Ester and taken some kind of interest in the Mushroom Woods on her own...was behind some kind of effort to do some airship exploring in a place that really didn't need exploring. (And how old Wallace had learned that might take more time to learn than it was worth.) And wasn't there some kind of, ahhhh, fail-safe to call it off?

It would not have done Wallace's heart any good to know that the airship was approaching an area where crystal ball signals didn't work...
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Jack Rothwell
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Re: Farrel- Vengeance in the Mushrooms Woods

Post by Jack Rothwell »

OOC Sorry guys, I'll have to put this on hold for a while. Things have gotten hectic irl atm and I don't know when I'll be free to continue. /OOC
Alberich
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Re: Farrel- Vengeance in the Mushrooms Woods

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[OOC: Understood, mate. It's good to be busy. If you would, just drop me a PM when/if you are free to play again, since that gives me an email alert. Grey - I mean to leave this adventure here 'til later, it being Jade's and all, but am up for others with other characters in other threads if you feel the inspiration - just let me know.]
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Graybeard
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Re: Farrel- Vengeance in the Mushrooms Woods

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OOC, in haste: I'm good with suspending this until JR comes up for air again. Let me think about the idea of a different thread to tie up other loose ends. As noted earlier, no need for that with Sister Rose, nor really with Layla. Some things do need finishing-up with Therese, but that's hard to do without Drusia. Want to take a shot at something with Tim? I had a bunch of things in mind in Clovius that we never really got to.
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Alberich
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Re: Farrel- Vengeance in the Mushrooms Woods

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[OOC: Be glad to! If so, I suggest he get a little time skip...enough to get ensconced in the community and out of Tovah's house. If Rose or one of your other Veracians reverted to PC mode, also, I'd be glad to create another Orthodox...maybe a Church Advocate...for a sparring partner. PM me whenever your muse strikes you.]
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Graybeard
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Re: Farrel- Vengeance in the Mushrooms Woods

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OOC, OK, then. Nothing for Rose, thanks -- again, she's the focus of a long-running fanfic I'm writing -- but for Tim, a parallel thread will get going soon after Christmas. Are you sure you don't want Tim to be in Tovah Dragonslayer's house? It's a great place for tale-telling and intrigue, after all. :twisted:

Let's not drop this one, though; still hoping that JR's life eases a bit so we can complete Jade's story.
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Alberich
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Re: Farrel- Vengeance in the Mushrooms Woods

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[OOC: Agreed. And I'll look forward to it! Tim is very conscious of the need to maintain some degree of independence--not to mention the kind of talk that would result from sleeping every night under an unmarried woman's roof--so he would certainly get out of there as soon as he could, even if it meant taking very humble lodgings.]
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Jack Rothwell
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Re: Farrel- Vengeance in the Mushrooms Woods

Post by Jack Rothwell »

OOC Alright, came up with a potential solution for this rubix cube of obstacles./OOC

Jade observed the advancing horrors with a crescendo of frustration. All this for a sword?

"Khoo! Udo! If you've got some crazy magic spell you can use to shut them down now's the time to do it!" She turned to the building. "If not, can you put a barrier around me so I close that wizard bastard down? I've taken out the flowers nearest to us. I should be able to shoot a path through them before they can drain the magic!"

Jade reloaded the empty chambers in her gun as she spoke. One way or another, this madness was ending NOW.
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Graybeard
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Re: Farrel- Vengeance in the Mushrooms Woods

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[OOC: And now, introduced for you to do something creative with, Ace's invisible airship. You do remember it from the assorted Kiyoka threads, I hope?]

"Khoo! Udo! If you've got some crazy magic spell you can use to shut them down now's the time to do it!"

Khoo felt the most horrible, sinking feeling he'd ever had since leaving the Sky City on all these insane adventures. I can't do it, he thought. Still totally tapped out on magic. And: We're going to die. He surprised himself by putting an arm around Anna-Lisa's waist, seeing that she'd just discovered that she didn't have the personal strength left either, to cast one of her trademark Fireballs ...

... But as he did, he noticed something.

There'd been a strange buzzing sound far up in the air for the last few minutes. He hadn't had time to try to figure out what it was, but now, in the moments of clarity that precede violent death, he looked upward ...

... And for the barest second, an airship materialized as though from nowhere, several hundred feet above them.

Better yet, three objects dropped from this apparition directly toward the compound.

Khoo had no idea whether they were bombs or not, but he had a momentary surge of hope ...

=====

They weren't bombs, but rather sandbags -- very heavy sandbags -- plummeting toward the clearing. What had happened was this:

Aboard the airship, Ace swore spectacularly. He'd managed to maneuver the thing directly over the firefight that seemed to be happening beneath him and had started to get the semi-magical photographs that Elke [OOC: and optionally also the Silver Hands -- go back about ten or fifteen entries where the option was posed -- /OOC:] had "commissioned" him to take. But suddenly -- as the ship passed directly above the magic-nullification field -- two things had happened. First, it had temporarily lost its invisibility, showing itself to Khoo for that brief moment. Second, it had also lost some of its lift, which after all was partly thaumatic in nature, and the ship itself had plummeted thirty feet or more ... until he could cut loose a few of the bags of ballast.

"What the HELL was that?" he said to no one in particular, as the ship started to rise again (it would rise more dramatically as soon as it passed out of the nullification field and regained lift), and the bags fell toward earth like misguided missiles.

[OOC: And what they do when they reach the ground is up to you. Let's work with it.]
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Jack Rothwell
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Re: Farrel- Vengeance in the Mushrooms Woods

Post by Jack Rothwell »

Lady Luck rolled the dice... and came up 6's.

Jade just had time to see a gnarled misshapen face emerging from the gloom before hundreds of pounds of sand came crashing down with a spectacular crunch and a shower of undergrowth. The second struck the leg of the horror just behind it and dropped it to the ground. The 'tree man' (it was the closest approximation to what jade thought it looked like) made a noise like amplified creaking wood and continued to drag it's way towards the explorers. The techsmith let out a whoop and leveled her revolver at it's head.

"Yeah! Take that you foliage fuck!"

"Jade? Is that you?"

The voice came from high above her. She craned upwards to identify the owner and seeing nothing but empty air.

"Who said that?"

"It's Leo! We're on an airship! it's cloaked!"

"Leo? What in Luminosita's balls are you doing here?"

"Long story!" He called back. "Eve's here too. Ace! Land this thing! My damsel's in distress!"


OOC Done./OOC
Last edited by Jack Rothwell on June 16th, 2019, 3:17 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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