IC: The Sun Never Sets, IC thread for The Sun Never Sets Options

[pbangarth]

Stogie rubs his hands together and digs quickly through his backpack. He pulls out a small metal cup. "I haven't had caffe in years! I wish I had the right kind of cup. This metal thing will cool the coffee too quickly. Maybe I'll just heat it by the fire a bit." Stogie places the cup near the fire. Then he digs out a bag of kibble for Jake. In a metal bowl he places some down for Jake, who greedily attacks the food and consumes it quickly, keeping an eye on the walking rock pile, as if it might try to take his food.

"Well, boys, it looks like the ladies' spirits possess things rather than materialize. Makes sense. Three women out in the woods. What do you call that magical tradition? Hedge witchcraft? Almost like we're in a story by Shakespeare."

Stogie watches with obvious pleasure as the spirit-pot brews some strong, thick, foamy coffee, and then mixes it with a little sugar in a secondary pot. Stogie grabs his cup, "Good! Warm, but it won't burn me." and pours himself a couple of ounces of the coffee. "Take care, boys, this stuff will be strong!"

He gingerly sips some of the brew. "Ahhhhh....."

[phlapjack77]

Good morning Stogie.

Please have some goat if you would like, there is plenty.

Of course you can have some Jake.

Good morning Ellie.

Thank you for the advice.

Would you allow me to observe your morning ritual?

I would consider it a great honor.

[Tecumseh]

Ellie clasps her hands and looks pleased at the idea. "Oh, why, Sky-Father, yes! In fact, we would be honored if you could lead us in the ritual. You should find the ritual similar to your own. I daresay that you could teach us a thing or two about mana. I would wager that Talol will teach you something in return."

[pbangarth]

Stogie puts his feet up on a rock by the fire. "Jake and I'll keep the fire stoked while you kids go off to play. Ellesar, pull up a stump and have some of this coffee. It's good."

[AtroposReborn]

Ellesar joins the others in time to see them gathered around the fire. I wonder what this is about. Perhaps I should have stayed at the lake. He pulls up a stump beside Stogie, inhaling a good whiff from the steaming cup. "Ah, sadly I must decline your offer. I have not indulged in coffee since a very unfortunate camping incident. But this is not the time for such a tale. What is this I here of rituals?"

[phlapjack77]

I am the one who is honored, Ellie.

Please lead the way.

Smohalla stands and faces his friends.

He shoots a glance at Stogie and Ellesar full of raised eyebrows and wide eyes.

Turning, he makes to follow the trio.

[Tecumseh]

Ellie takes Smohalla's hand comfortingly and slowly leads him forward. "Come with me, Sky-Father. The odds of you triggering an eruption are minimal. Probably."

[ Spoiler ]

Smohalla follows the Three Sisters into the forest. He soon finds himself huffing his way up a steep incline with loose, rocky soil. Despite her short legs, Ellie navigates the slippery terrain elegantly. Hester and Selene barge up the hill, their long legs compensating for any slippage of their feet. After a sweaty half kilometer, Smohalla finds himself in a small pocket indented into the side of a small mountain. From his excellent sense of direction he knows that they hiked almost due north. The spot, almost like a belly button in the hill, looks back to the south over the campsite, the small lake, and to Mt. Rainier beyond. There are a few trees scattered on the hillside, but the clearing is just rock, exposed to the sky.

At this time of year the sun rises at 07:00 sharp. Smohalla can see the tiniest bit of sun emerge above the mountains to the southeast as he looks over the terrain below. The women kneel in the clearing, forming a triangle before Ellie laughs at their ingrained habit. She moves to the side so that Smohalla can kneel and form a square. The women extend their arms out to their sides so that the square has borders. Smohalla has his arm over Ellie to the left and the troll to his right.

Smohalla looks around, considering the mana of the place. If he had to say, it seems halfway between the flavor of mana back at the camp and what he felt while hunting earlier in the morning. It's a loaded environment; he wonders for a moment if it would be prudent to remove his power focus. He knows his ritual spellcasting is rudimentary and doesn't want to do something unfortunate, like trigger a landslide. Or maybe he should, since he could just fly away and his hired task would be complete.

Ellie notices Smohalla's delay and sees his hesitation on the astral. "Now, Sky-Father, just do what you always do. Songs of healing and purification. Don't worry; Talol will do the rest."

He nods and takes a deep breath. Focusing his thoughts, he closes his eyes so that he can focus on the astral. He sees the mana building up, organizing and collecting itself around the women and himself. They gather it up as a funnel gathers water, channeling it forth into flowing streams. He flexes his mind, beginning the ritual with a high, pretty note of song. The mountain responds with a blast of mana, the force of it jetting through the group like a river torrent.

Just like this morning it was easy. It feels like the power here is perfectly aligned with him. It slips around him easily, like the air over his feathers when he curls himself into a sharp dive. The feeling is liberating. It feels so perfectly natural, like there is nothing in the way. Was it once like this? Back in the age when mountains outnumbered men? Could it ever be this way again?

Smohalla can't breathe. The mana is racing through him vertically, pouring out of his mouth, preventing him from taking a breath. But then he realizes that he doesn't need to breathe: the mountain is sustaining him. The power is rushing through his brain, chasing away conscious thought. He feels it dividing his mind in two, splitting the astral and mundane, forcing them onto separate shores of the river. Then, the river overflows, flooding both shores, carrying him away with it. All at once there is nothing left of the world.

[ Spoiler ]

Smohalla opens his eyes into a new reality. The metaplanes, he thinks to himself. It could be nothing else. Others have tried to describe them, but they are not a story that can be told. He once wondered if he would ever see them, if he would know when the line had been crossed from the astral to the meta. Now he knows. There is no confusing this realm with any other. He gazes about, bewildered by the presence of the place. He must be inside the sky, or folded together with water, or underneath the planet. His body is gone but for all the world it feels like his heart is racing. He spins around, each direction revealing sights and scenes and beings untold. The hammering in his chest raises up through his neck and into his brain, his eyes losing focus as he throws back his head and shouts to the world.

Smohalla wakes to find himself flat on his chest, his arms out to the side and his face pressed into the rough gravel. There's dust in his mouth and his muscles are sore (3 stun) as he slowly pushes himself off the ground. He looks up to see Ellie smiling. Hester and Selene consider him impassively, their eyes not truly focused.

"How did that feel?" Ellie asks, looking pleased.

It was ... liberating. Life-changing. Something has been taken from him, but much more has been given. Who wouldn't want to perform magic here? There's not a drug, nor a BTL, nor any neurochemical transmitter that could compare to it.

"Up we go!" says Ellie, rising easily. "Who wants pancakes?"

[phlapjack77]

Smohalla is speechless, and says not a word the entire way back to camp.

He gives Ellesar and Stogie and Jake brief nods as he sits near the campfire.

Deep in thought, he shakes his head in the negative when offered breakfast.

Reflection is important after moments such as he just had.

Like dreams, unless you tighten your grip they slip through your fingers.

[pbangarth]

Stogie takes note of Smohalla's aura. Colours are in there he hasn't seen before. Gonna have to ask him about that, later.

[phlapjack77]

The experience on the mountain side has had a profound impact on Smohalla.

The astral and the physical - two sides of the same coin.

He has taken his first step into a larger world.

[Tecumseh]

Ellie flits around camp, baking breakfast and generally being a domestic little bee. She spins a heavy cast iron pan in her hand easily, humming to herself as she turns flour, sugar, and eggs into expert flapjacks. She eyes Smohalla's goat, her mind churning with possibilities. It reminds her of something which she almost forgot. She sticks her head and short body most of the way into a sack before emerging with a string of sausages.

"Wild hog!" she announces proudly. "Made them myself. The ladies bagged the beast."

For the first time, Hester and Selene light up. They kind of picked at their pancakes but they're fully attentive now that the sausages have come out. Ellie tosses them in the pan and gets to work. While they sizzle over the fire, she putters around, making sure everyone's coffee mug is filled to a satisfactory level. She pays special attention to Jake, making sure he gets plenty of love. You catch her "accidentally" messing up a flip of the pan, letting a hapless sausage cartwheel through the air to Jake's waiting maw below.

"What are your boys' plans for the day?" she asks after everyone has been served. She turns and looks to Ellesar. "Hunting? Trapping? What's your agenda?"

[AtroposReborn]

Ellesar waits until he has finished chewing a small chunk of sausage before he answers. "I was considering a quick dip in the lake if it's not too cold. It has been some time since I washed my feet."

[phlapjack77]

I would like to meditate on what I have learned.

The spirit of the mountain is powerful.

Perhaps I will try to talk to it.

[Tecumseh]

Ellie laughs merrily at the thought of swimming in the lake before she stops abruptly, considering herself rude. "Well, I suppose it all depends on your definition of too cold. I can assure you that it will be cold, and I wouldn't endorse a long swim, but a quick dip won't finish you off.

"In fact..." she trails off as an idea comes to her. She wiggles her fingers at one of the various sacks around camp. A small black-and-white box flies out and into her hand. She tosses it to Ellesar, who catches it an inspects the box. It appears to be a premium brand of soap, unscented and made out of soy milk for sensitive skin.

"Wonderful soap," she says. "I use it myself. Very gentle. Hester and Selene can't stop raving about it." You're not entirely sure if she's serious about the last point. You're also uncertain if this is a considerate gift or a subtle rebuke.

Ellie smiles encouragingly and stands. "I feel like it's going to be a good day!" she announces with a pronounced inhale, fists on her hips. "Usually the morning ritual really saps me and I have to take a mid-morning nap! Well I daresay that Sky-Father took the brunt of it this morning. I think the girls and I will take advantage of the good weather and will venture out for the day. You boys can take care of yourselves for lunch, yes? We'll be back in time for dinner. That fire should stay burning on its own. You'll need it, young man, should you take the plunge." She nods at the lake.

She pats Smohalla's hand as she leaves the circle. "By all means, Sky-Father, speak with Talol. Just be warned, Talol doesn't always speak back." She raises her eyebrows mischievously, casting a private wink as she turns to go.

[phlapjack77]

After the women depart, Smohalla turns to his companions.

I would like to stay here for several days.

We can learn many things about the Sisters.

Their intentions, their motivations, their spirit.

The time here would be well spent.

Other mysteries can be studied as well.

How do you feel about this?

[pbangarth]

Stogie thinks about this a minute. "We have to figure out the truth of the matter. Here is at least as good as anywhere else."

[Tecumseh]

The sun slowly warms the mountain air as it rises higher in the sky. A water spirit pops up next to the troll after breakfast. It seizes the dirty dishes roughly and scrubs them vigorously, taking its job a little too seriously. After the chores are done, the sloshing waterman disappears and is replaced by a mid-sized earth spirit. Ellie waves goodbye as the earth spirit enfolds the women in its power and whisks them away at high speed. They disappear into the hills beyond.

Left to yourselves, the party breaks up. Smohalla launches himself into the air, looking for a perch in a tree or on a rock from which to survey the scene and contemplate the mysteries of the mountain while recovering from the morning's exertions.

Jake lets Stogie know that he's got energy to burn and would like to take a long walk, preferably one where he could chase some small animals.

Ellesar can stay or go as he chooses. He could have some privacy if he wanted to take a swim, or he could wait for the others to return if he didn't want to risk drowning in six inches of water after his muscles locked up from the cold water. At least the fire is nearby and producing a steady halo of heat.

[phlapjack77]

The morning sun slowly crawled up the dome of the sky.

Day passed from early to mid, mid to late, until finally surrendering to deep, dark Night.

High in the treetops Smohalla was yet unaware of these developments.

Talons clenched impossibly tightly around a tree branch, his physical body swayed as from some unseen breeze.

He was nearby his friends, and yet far, far away.

Riding the aether, his astral wings bore him on a journey as never before.

His descent of the seventy steps to the cavern of flame was only the beginning of his tale.

[pbangarth]

Stogie hunts around in his pack and the various hidey holes around the camp from which Ellie drew breakfast materials. He wraps up a nourishing selection of fruits and nuts. "I'm packing a traveling lunch for me and Jake. I'd like to follow the ley line up towards the mountain for a while. See what I can figure out about the energies flowing down here.

"I'll turn back in time to make it back for dinner." He whistles for Jake who leaps ahead into the forest. Appropriate whistles and nods, and Jake heads up along the line of magic. Stogie follows, senses open to the astral.

[AtroposReborn]

Ellesar leaves shortly after Stogie and Jake, heading back to the lake. He washes his hands and face in it, wondering if the frigid water is affected by the magic surrounding the mountain. He spends the day there, looking around for anything of interest, including animal tracks, equipment left by the sisters, or anything that doesn't quite fit the surroundings.

[Tecumseh]

Ellesar finds himself alone, the others having left for their various pursuits. He pokes around the campsite a bit and begins to wonder if Ellie isn't secretly running a bed-and-breakfast up here. In addition to the soap he was given earlier, he finds a large, pink bath towel. While the color might put off a lesser man, Ellesar's secure enough to realize that nobody's watching.

Grabbing his rifle, he sets off to walk around the lake to explore and look for tracks. He finds an abundance of them, the lake apparently being a popular watering hole for the wildlife of the area. He finds tracks for bears, mountain lions, and deer, among others. The magic of the area doesn't seem to scare them away. If anything, the place seems more popular than he might expect, given that there's a long river emerging from the lake - the one the team hiked along yesterday - that provides plenty of water for any animals downstream. Yet the tracks seem to come from downstream too, suggesting an appeal to this place for the local fauna.

Satisfied that he's alone, he sits on a rock on the shore and takes off his boots and socks. He dips a toe into the water; it's cold alright. He glances around again and figures that this will be his best chance to clean up in privacy. He peels off his clothes and, making sure the towel is within easy reach of the shore, jogs into the water and plunges in headfirst. His brain registers the shock but he's dealt with worse. That's not to say he wants to swim a whole lap though. He bounces out of the water in the shallows, grabbing the soap and quickly lathering up. One or two quick dunks later and he's rinsed.

Turning for his towel, he suddenly realizes that he's being watched by K'wa'iti. The shifter is in wolf form, sitting on the edge of the lake right next to his towel and rifle. The wolf sits there passively, watching Ellesar with narrow eyes. Hopefully he's just squinting from the sun. Ellesar suddenly feels as soft and pink as his towel. He mountain air is cool and, combined with his wet skin, a chill is rapidly setting in. Figuring his options are to stay where he is and freeze or go for the towel and risk being jumped by the wolf, he figures that the latter is the better option. It's the quicker death at least.

Ellesar reaches out and grabs the towel without K'wa'iti moving other than to turn his head. Ellesar towels off quickly, separated from his rifle by the wolf's massive body. He can reach his clothes but they're still dirty. The thought of putting them on while he's now clean is unappealing. The wolf doesn't give any indication that he's going to move or go back to camp before Ellesar does.

[Tecumseh]

Smohalla sits in his tree, his mind weaving back and forth between realities, his mental location at any one moment as impossible to predict as the motion of a tree branch in the high wind.

He tries to retrace the steps of his morning journey but he cannot. His way is blocked, the gate to the metaplanes obstructed by some unknown and unseen keeper. Repeatedly, he is forced back to the astral realm. There are secrets left to learn, and paths that must be led to be followed.

The clock lurches forward with each attempt. Time in this corner of reality is unpredictable. What might be the merest moment in one realm requires multiple hours in the physical world, and vice versa. His head spins, disoriented from a constant uncertainty of time and place. When his eyes reopen on the night sky, it takes a moment for him to remember where, who, and what he is. Such is the experience of the Awakened world, dividing a single being from itself.

[Tecumseh]

Stogie and Jake track the magic up the mountain. It's not hard to do; with Stogie's enhanced senses, tracing the ley line is no harder than following a set of fluorescent footprints. The lines lead almost due south, straight for the crater where the peak of the mountain used to be before the eruption.

It's a steady march uphill. Within two kilometers the brave adventurers find themselves along the edge of Carbon Glacier. Wildlife sightings are not infrequent. In fact, given that much of the terrain is rocky snow or snowy rock, there's more fauna here than Stogie would expect.

Jake doesn't consciously notice it, but Stogie can sense it through their link: the border collie wants to go further up the mountain. Stogie realizes that Jake would go all the way to the top if he let him. It's nothing he can see, hear, or smell, but there's something about the place that draws Jake in.

Stogie's focusing so much on it that he's surprised when he's buzzed by something above. He looks up and see an air spirit flitting about. It appears to be wild, dancing and playing midair. Looking around, Stogie sees a water spirit off on the glacier to his right. It doesn't pay any attention to him; it's doing whatever water spirits do when they're not on their home planes.

Sighting a free spirit is rare. Seeing two back-to-back is a pattern. Stogie slows his steps and looks around more carefully. Far up the ridge he and Jake are climbing, maybe half a click straight ahead, is a giant earth spirit. It looks like it's made of boulders. It bears a strong resemblance to the spirit that Smohalla summoned earlier, the one that brought the goat back to camp and sent Jake into a barking frenzy. It's hard to say from this distance, but this one might be even bigger.

Jake hasn't noticed the earth spirit yet. He looks back at Stogie impatiently, urging him on.

[phlapjack77]

This unknown force, this unseen barrier, it would not yield.

Each attempt to breach it was rebuffed silently yet undeniably.

His efforts to reach the metaplanes stymied, Smohalla turned his thoughts to other matters.

The Sisters had spoken many times of Talol, the spirit of the mountain.

Perhaps it was time to try to have palaver with this great spirit.

His astral form returned to his body to find it exhausted to the point of death.

Too long had the halves been separate - Talol could wait for the morrow.

The glowing bird slowly sank into the shadowy one, until the two were one again.

Winging his way tiredly back to camp, Smohalla dressed and joined the others around the campfire.

[AtroposReborn]

Ellesar wraps the towel around his waist, grateful for the warmth it provided. Still, the towel was not nearly enough to prevent him from shivering slightly. He attempts to take his mind off of the chill by speaking to the shifter. "Hello friend," he says with as warm a smile he can produce. "What brings you out here? Hopefully I didn't spoil your morning dip." He hopes that the jest will not be lost on the beastman, knowing full well how the ways of men do not always reach him. Not that Ellesar is too keen on them either.