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ready for a new round of Ceramic DM?(judgements in, check in for finals...)
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<blockquote data-quote="NoOneofConsequence" data-source="post: 940985" data-attributes="member: 5400"><p><strong>In the hope that I'm not too late.</strong></p><p></p><p>Nooc vs mystra's chosen</p><p></p><p>The child mystic’s head lowers slowly down upon the anaconda’s body and soon the little boy seems almost asleep. The massive python, easily twice the height of a grown man when stretched straight, coils itself about the little body. Yet, in spite of the apparent danger, the watching crowd makes no move to take the boy away. Instead, with bated breath, they watch as the boys breathing slows to a gentle, flowing rhythm and the snakes muscular coils begin to pulse with that same rhythm (pic 3).</p><p></p><p>From her vantage point in the inn’s portico, just behind the crowd, Kalanthi watches as the small boy, barely four years of age, begins to whisper words from his trance. The attendant priest, his blue and orange robes dusty from crouching on all fours near the ground, relays every word to the crowd. The words come slowly, but no one rushes the child or leaves from impatience. Fascinated by the foreign ritual, Kalanthi listens to the priest’s relayed pronouncements. After hearing the dire warning of impending doom in the countryside, she heads back into the inn proper. Behind her she hears the sounds of the priest beginning to gently awaken snake and child from their trance, and the sound of coin being tossed by the crowd into the serpent’s basket.</p><p></p><p>“Civilized folk are always scared of what’s in the countryside,” she thinks to herself. “And they pay to hear bad news?” Kalanthi’s tribal heart cannot fathom the ways of the Eerkha, the ‘civilized folk’.</p><p></p><p>Walking up the inn’s three flights of stairs, Kalanthi walks down the corridor to the room she shares with her companion, Torodesh the Mage Most Magnificent. As she steps through the doorway, she sees the mage ‘Most Magnificent’, scrabbling about in the dust on the wooden floor. Light streams in the window from the late afternoon sun and the motes stirred by the mage’s prostrate fidgetings dance in the golden shafts. In the space on the floor where the light strikes the wooden boards sits the object of the mage’s attentions, a two and a half pound, leather-bound block of enchanted crystal, his “eye of the mage”(pic 1). He throws some more dust into the air, this coloured a deep blue and drawn from a pouch at his belt, so that it dances in the sunlight and then falls upon the surface of the crystal, there to be absorbed by magical forces beyond Kalanthi’s understanding.</p><p></p><p>“Who would have thought that a common inn room would have such marvelous light?” Torodesh says by way of conversation. “Hah! How many arcane crafters, stuck in their drafty marble towers would be jealous if they only knew what I know?”</p><p></p><p>“A room is a room is a room,” says Kalanthi with a shrug.</p><p></p><p>“Primitive! What would you know?”</p><p></p><p>“I know there’s a boy predicting the future through the coils of the snake down outside,” Kalanthi replies, not stirred by the insult. Kalanthi understands that Torodesh is Eerkha and therefore has no real understanding of honour. Among her own people she would have already struck down the fool who insulted her thus.</p><p></p><p>“It is neither the boy nor the snake who predicts, actually,” Torodesh pronounces sagely. “The two together form a temporary confluences of earth forces, a ley-junction of sorts, and in this junction the priest utilizes a latent geomantic talent to read the future.”</p><p></p><p>“So it is the priest who foretells the future?”</p><p></p><p>“Or the earth itself,” Torodesh offers. “You could argue that either is the case.”</p><p></p><p>“Why use a child?” asks Kalanthi, coming to the heart of her confusion about the ritual.</p><p></p><p>“A grown man’s heartbeat is far too strong for the serpent’s sensitive hearing. The creature would be deafened and the ritual disrupted. Sometimes they use small women, with light bodies, but usually it is children.”</p><p></p><p>Kalanthi was sure that she had heard that snakes were deaf but again she didn’t waste breath arguing with Torodesh, an Eerkhahiri. “How much longer do we wait?” she asks.</p><p></p><p>“Patience, barbaric maid, patience,” chides Torodesh. “Soon I will have gathered all the power that I will need. Then we will confront the earth giant and I will bind him.”</p><p></p><p>“You mean I will confront it,” Kalanthi thinks, but she says nothing.</p><p></p><p>----</p><p></p><p>Four days from the inn, Torodesh and Kalanthi look down a long corridor of worked black, stone. The corridor is nearly perfectly square, so great is the quality of the workmanship. Hanging at regular intervals from the ceiling are globes of fine glass, each one glowing with a magical light brighter than the brightest oil lamp (pic 2). The corridor is lit as if in full daylight and Kalanthi extinguishes her burning torch, its feeble light made to seem inadequate and small by this magic.</p><p></p><p>“A marvel isn’t it?” breathes Torodesh. “Behold the crystalline power of the mages who bound the earth giant here centuries ago.”</p><p></p><p>“If they bound it here, why are we going to release it?”</p><p></p><p>“Because, my wild warrior maid, I am going to rebind it, to my service,” says Torodesh, as though explaining something simple to a child. “Now go down there and do as I said.”</p><p></p><p>“You want me to break the seal?” Kalanthi confirms.</p><p></p><p>“That’s it! A big seal of glass set into the stone. Crack it, the binding will be broken. Then return to me and when the giant awakes I will bind it to my service.”</p><p></p><p>“Why can’t you break the seal yourself.”</p><p></p><p>“Because I must prepare for my magic, between the plinths,” Torodesh points back out to where the carved stones stand like a gateway at the tunnel entrance. “That is where the confluence of geomancy and heliomancy is strong enough. I explained all this to you.”</p><p></p><p>“This is servant’s work,” Kalanthi complains, but heads down the corridor regardless. She pulls a miner’s pick from her </p><p></p><p>“Do not be churlish,” Torodesh chides as he heads back out into the natural daylight and hefts his wizard’s eye crystal by its leather strap.</p><p></p><p>----</p><p></p><p>Torodesh has only just taken up his place between the ancient standing stones when Kalanthi bursts at full pelt from the tunnel mouth. She skids the half dozen yards to the first stone plinth and then rounds it, sword drawn, hiding behind the rock.</p><p></p><p>“There’s no need to hide like a frightened child,” says Torodesh.</p><p></p><p>“Oh, shut up fool and do your magic!” </p><p></p><p>Torodesh shakes his head and is about to rebuke the superstitious barbarian when an enormous groan issues from the tunnel mouth. The Mage Most Magnificent turns his head in wonder when the enormous bulk of the earth giant erupts from the tunnel. The worked stone of the walls flies in all directions and Torodesh is forced to duck as a piece the size of a small pony almost takes his head from its shoulders. With unimaginable force, the giant levers itself to full height and charges through the plinths. </p><p></p><p>Kalanthi darts backwards as the giant fists shatter the first of the standing stones, the one she was hiding behind (pic 4). She holds her sword ready in her hand but makes no foolish attempt to use it. </p><p></p><p>Hands trembling at the awesome power of the creature, Torodesh lifts his wizard’s eye and focuses his will. A beam of condensed sunlight lances out from the crystal block and strikes the giant straight in the chest. To Torodesh’s everlasting horror, the mighty being merely stands and absorbs the heliomantic energies. Though it would seem impossible to imagine, the giant grows even taller and its limbs become more mightily thewed than before. Its feet kick over the last of the standing stones and then it strides into the foothill forest towards nearby farmland.</p><p></p><p>“Well,” says Kalanthi, coming to stand next Torodesh in the settling cloud of dust that had once been standing stones. “It’s headed towards the Eerkha lands.”</p><p></p><p>“Yes,” agrees Torodesh, glumly, failure settling on him like a heavy winter cloak.</p><p></p><p>“I wonder if this is the doom in the countryside that the mystic predicted?” Kalanthi muses. Torodesh groans as if in great pain.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="NoOneofConsequence, post: 940985, member: 5400"] [b]In the hope that I'm not too late.[/b] Nooc vs mystra's chosen The child mystic’s head lowers slowly down upon the anaconda’s body and soon the little boy seems almost asleep. The massive python, easily twice the height of a grown man when stretched straight, coils itself about the little body. Yet, in spite of the apparent danger, the watching crowd makes no move to take the boy away. Instead, with bated breath, they watch as the boys breathing slows to a gentle, flowing rhythm and the snakes muscular coils begin to pulse with that same rhythm (pic 3). From her vantage point in the inn’s portico, just behind the crowd, Kalanthi watches as the small boy, barely four years of age, begins to whisper words from his trance. The attendant priest, his blue and orange robes dusty from crouching on all fours near the ground, relays every word to the crowd. The words come slowly, but no one rushes the child or leaves from impatience. Fascinated by the foreign ritual, Kalanthi listens to the priest’s relayed pronouncements. After hearing the dire warning of impending doom in the countryside, she heads back into the inn proper. Behind her she hears the sounds of the priest beginning to gently awaken snake and child from their trance, and the sound of coin being tossed by the crowd into the serpent’s basket. “Civilized folk are always scared of what’s in the countryside,” she thinks to herself. “And they pay to hear bad news?” Kalanthi’s tribal heart cannot fathom the ways of the Eerkha, the ‘civilized folk’. Walking up the inn’s three flights of stairs, Kalanthi walks down the corridor to the room she shares with her companion, Torodesh the Mage Most Magnificent. As she steps through the doorway, she sees the mage ‘Most Magnificent’, scrabbling about in the dust on the wooden floor. Light streams in the window from the late afternoon sun and the motes stirred by the mage’s prostrate fidgetings dance in the golden shafts. In the space on the floor where the light strikes the wooden boards sits the object of the mage’s attentions, a two and a half pound, leather-bound block of enchanted crystal, his “eye of the mage”(pic 1). He throws some more dust into the air, this coloured a deep blue and drawn from a pouch at his belt, so that it dances in the sunlight and then falls upon the surface of the crystal, there to be absorbed by magical forces beyond Kalanthi’s understanding. “Who would have thought that a common inn room would have such marvelous light?” Torodesh says by way of conversation. “Hah! How many arcane crafters, stuck in their drafty marble towers would be jealous if they only knew what I know?” “A room is a room is a room,” says Kalanthi with a shrug. “Primitive! What would you know?” “I know there’s a boy predicting the future through the coils of the snake down outside,” Kalanthi replies, not stirred by the insult. Kalanthi understands that Torodesh is Eerkha and therefore has no real understanding of honour. Among her own people she would have already struck down the fool who insulted her thus. “It is neither the boy nor the snake who predicts, actually,” Torodesh pronounces sagely. “The two together form a temporary confluences of earth forces, a ley-junction of sorts, and in this junction the priest utilizes a latent geomantic talent to read the future.” “So it is the priest who foretells the future?” “Or the earth itself,” Torodesh offers. “You could argue that either is the case.” “Why use a child?” asks Kalanthi, coming to the heart of her confusion about the ritual. “A grown man’s heartbeat is far too strong for the serpent’s sensitive hearing. The creature would be deafened and the ritual disrupted. Sometimes they use small women, with light bodies, but usually it is children.” Kalanthi was sure that she had heard that snakes were deaf but again she didn’t waste breath arguing with Torodesh, an Eerkhahiri. “How much longer do we wait?” she asks. “Patience, barbaric maid, patience,” chides Torodesh. “Soon I will have gathered all the power that I will need. Then we will confront the earth giant and I will bind him.” “You mean I will confront it,” Kalanthi thinks, but she says nothing. ---- Four days from the inn, Torodesh and Kalanthi look down a long corridor of worked black, stone. The corridor is nearly perfectly square, so great is the quality of the workmanship. Hanging at regular intervals from the ceiling are globes of fine glass, each one glowing with a magical light brighter than the brightest oil lamp (pic 2). The corridor is lit as if in full daylight and Kalanthi extinguishes her burning torch, its feeble light made to seem inadequate and small by this magic. “A marvel isn’t it?” breathes Torodesh. “Behold the crystalline power of the mages who bound the earth giant here centuries ago.” “If they bound it here, why are we going to release it?” “Because, my wild warrior maid, I am going to rebind it, to my service,” says Torodesh, as though explaining something simple to a child. “Now go down there and do as I said.” “You want me to break the seal?” Kalanthi confirms. “That’s it! A big seal of glass set into the stone. Crack it, the binding will be broken. Then return to me and when the giant awakes I will bind it to my service.” “Why can’t you break the seal yourself.” “Because I must prepare for my magic, between the plinths,” Torodesh points back out to where the carved stones stand like a gateway at the tunnel entrance. “That is where the confluence of geomancy and heliomancy is strong enough. I explained all this to you.” “This is servant’s work,” Kalanthi complains, but heads down the corridor regardless. She pulls a miner’s pick from her “Do not be churlish,” Torodesh chides as he heads back out into the natural daylight and hefts his wizard’s eye crystal by its leather strap. ---- Torodesh has only just taken up his place between the ancient standing stones when Kalanthi bursts at full pelt from the tunnel mouth. She skids the half dozen yards to the first stone plinth and then rounds it, sword drawn, hiding behind the rock. “There’s no need to hide like a frightened child,” says Torodesh. “Oh, shut up fool and do your magic!” Torodesh shakes his head and is about to rebuke the superstitious barbarian when an enormous groan issues from the tunnel mouth. The Mage Most Magnificent turns his head in wonder when the enormous bulk of the earth giant erupts from the tunnel. The worked stone of the walls flies in all directions and Torodesh is forced to duck as a piece the size of a small pony almost takes his head from its shoulders. With unimaginable force, the giant levers itself to full height and charges through the plinths. Kalanthi darts backwards as the giant fists shatter the first of the standing stones, the one she was hiding behind (pic 4). She holds her sword ready in her hand but makes no foolish attempt to use it. Hands trembling at the awesome power of the creature, Torodesh lifts his wizard’s eye and focuses his will. A beam of condensed sunlight lances out from the crystal block and strikes the giant straight in the chest. To Torodesh’s everlasting horror, the mighty being merely stands and absorbs the heliomantic energies. Though it would seem impossible to imagine, the giant grows even taller and its limbs become more mightily thewed than before. Its feet kick over the last of the standing stones and then it strides into the foothill forest towards nearby farmland. “Well,” says Kalanthi, coming to stand next Torodesh in the settling cloud of dust that had once been standing stones. “It’s headed towards the Eerkha lands.” “Yes,” agrees Torodesh, glumly, failure settling on him like a heavy winter cloak. “I wonder if this is the doom in the countryside that the mystic predicted?” Kalanthi muses. Torodesh groans as if in great pain. [/QUOTE]
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