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

[Tecumseh]

With a deep heave that can only be interpreted as a sigh, the shifter transforms back into a human. He sits on a rock, as naked as Ellesar, his hands folded around his knees in front of him. He looks out over the lake, keeping Ellesar in the corner of his vision.

"Why are you here, elf?" he asks with a deep exhale. "You are everywhere you are not supposed to be.

"You are apart from your friends. This is a hazardous place for one such as yourself." Ellesar supposes he means someone who isn't Awakened. "And here you are now, especially vulnerable. That is unwise."

There's an uncomfortable pause as Ellesar tries to figure out if this is a threat or merely a commonsense warning, especially in light of yesterday's events. "You are a hunter," the shifter continues after a moment, with the slightest glance to Ellesar's rifle. "Why are you not hunting the men and women who killed your family? Why are you here, in the mountains, in the forest, so far away from where they must be? If my pack were harmed, or even in danger, my path would set."

He tilts his head the smallest degree, peering at Ellesar with his eyes turned. "Why are you here? For your friends, there is great power here. For you, great danger."

[pbangarth]

Stogie calls Jake to him. After a moment of delay, Jake responds, and comes around Stogie's right side to sit at his left. Stogie gets down on one knee. Digging out a treat for Jake, he offers it to the dog and scratches him behind an ear. Jake gobbles up, and tilts his head. Stogie's concern filters through their mental link. Jake can't see it. Going up is just ... right.

"I don't know what is going on here, Jake. And being ignorant is the wrong way to be when powerful forces are flying around your ears. I'm scared, Jake. For me and for you. But I have to figure out what is moving these Sisters. And.. this place! Holy shit. I've never seen anything like this, and I bet few people have. What is up there?

Stogie gathers some rocks nearby and makes a trail marker, an arrow pointing up the magic path. He brushes the dirt off his hands.

"Whaddaya say we go look?" Jake doesn't need any more than that. Like a rocket he launches himself up the mountainside. Slowly, boy. Slowly. Stogie follows, and Jake pulls up to a walk.

[Tecumseh]

Opting for valor over discretion, Stogie marches on. Climbing over rocks and around boulders, he cautiously makes his way up the ridgeline that runs up the mountain. The ley line is beneath him and runs directly underneath the spirit ahead. As he closes the distance, he begins to realize exactly how massive the spirit is. It's bigger than any troll he's ever seen, even the jacked-up, overstuffed monstrosities that are popular in the media.

It's difficult to imagine that earth spirits need to sit, but this one appears to be seated on a giant slab of andesite. It looks to be at least three meters tall, even seated. Standing, it must before four meters tall, plus a meter wide or more. If it weighs less than ten tons, Stogie will kick Jake and not apologize.

A glance of sunlight reflects off the spirit and blinds Stogie for a moment. Getting closer, it's even harder to say what the spirit actually is. It's mostly rock, but the joints seem to be made of ice and snow. Are there glacier spirits? That might be the best way to describe it.

It seems almost contemplative. Not that such things have distinct heads, but Stogie would guess that it's watching the other spirits that are racing about. It turns when Jake gets a bit too close, its massive form shifting as pebbles and ice crystals fall out of its articulations.

Stogie is caught out in the open. On the astral, he can feel the spirit staring through him. It quickly dismisses Stogie before turning its attention to Jake. It stares at Jake for a long, uncomfortable minute, emitting grinding, crushing noises from within its massive frame. After a heart-stopping wait, it finally turns back to the glacier, watching whatever it was watching before.

[pbangarth]

Jake takes the spirit's gaze as a personal challenge. Nobody outstares a border collie! He gives as good as he gets, and whufs once when the spirit turns its gaze away. Jake boss over rock!

Stogie watches the exchange and chuckles at Jake's behaviour at the end of it. He considers the earth spirit. Not surprising in this place that it would be sitting on the residue from volcanic activity. Interesting that it sits right on the line of magical energy.

"Are you a guardian of this place?" he asks of it. Never talked to a spirit before. First time for everything.

[Tecumseh]

The spirit sits there impassively without registering a reply. It doesn't offer any recognition that it has been spoken to. The spirit is wild, lacking any imprint from a summoning magician. As such, it is missing the connection to and understanding of the human world that a summoner provides.

On the astral, the spirit looks different from any that Stogie has ever seen. It is very much the product of this time and this place. It has a body of rock and water for blood, a heart of fire and a halo of wind. It is very much the spirit of a mountain, and a volcano no less. Stogie gets the impression that it might behave like a volcano too: largely dormant, but horribly violent when it erupts.

[AtroposReborn]

The facade of a smile fades from Ellesar's face. "Tell me then, wolf: Where does this danger come from? Is it you that means me harm? If so then why not attack me here and now when I am, as you say, vulnerable?" He pulls his towel off and spreads his arms out to his sides, completely exposed. Small scars can be seen at certain junctions throughout his body and his flesh remains bumpy from the chilled air.

"You speak to me of loss, of revenge. What do you know of these things? I have spent many moons searching for the men who slayed my family, but the well has run dry. There are no more leads. So here I am, hoping beyond hope that I will find someone who can help me." The elf puts his arms down, keeping a hold onto the pink towel. He begins walking around the wolf to get to his clothes and rifle.

[Tecumseh]

The shifter has not demonstrated any sense of humor up to this point, but a thin smile traces across his face as Ellesar flashes him.

"You should not tempt me so," he says with his ambiguous Mona Lisa smile. "I am dangerous."

He stands. "But so are many things in these woods. Your encounter yesterday with the [incomprehensible] should have taught you as much."

The shifter appraises Ellesar closely. "The Sisters may be able to help you - they are capable of much - but first you must help them."

He glances down at Ellesar's rifle. He pivots slightly, allowing the elf to grab the weapon, staring at him the whole time.

[pbangarth]

Stogie waits for a response. When he gets none, he shrugs, and walks around the spirit, giving it more space than Jake did when he drew its attention, and continues up the mountain, following the line of magic. Jake bounds ahead, sniffing everything.

[phlapjack77]

Smohalla settles himself by the fire, his torn jacket in hand.

He rummages around in his travel pouch and pulls out a bone needle and some hemp thread.

As he gets down to work, he wonders where everybody has gone...

[Tecumseh]

Stogie is quickly approaching the point where following the lines of magic up the mountain will be prohibitively difficult. The next stretch of Mt. Rainier's north slope rises at a 45 degree angle. The footing is dangerous from loose rock and unstable, fresh snow. As it is, he's gained several hundred meters of elevation from the campsite and is going to need to take a break soon.

The crater at the top of the mountain begins maybe two kilometers away. In the distance, he sees three fire spirits bouncing in and out of the crater. They jet through the air with the appearance of arcing lava. Squinting a bit, it looks like they've chasing an air spirit. The air spirit tries to dodge and escape but it's hemmed in by the coordinated efforts of the fire spirits. It does not look like a fun game for the air spirit.

[AtroposReborn]

Ellesar shoulders his rifle and looks at the pile of dirty clothes. Now what? I have nowhere to wash them and I doubt the sisters just keep spare men's clothes laying around.

His thoughts quickly return to the situation at hand as he notices the man watching him. "I hope that these sisters and I will be able to help each other. However that is for a later time. Perhaps you can help me. I seem to be in need of..." he pauses, not quite certain as to how much the shifter understands of metahuman ways. "Coverings, I seem to be in need of coverings. Would you know where I could find some?"

[Tecumseh]

"Coverings?" the shifter asks. "I am under the impression that when your kind needs coverings, they kill something else and use its hide." Ellesar thinks the shifter might be referring to the troll and her huge bearskin shawl.

"The Sisters have skins and blankets for warmth in the winter. The ork may also have something which suits you."

Ellesar wrinkles his nose privately. The ork tends to wear a skirt woven out of cedar. Her shirts look like rough wool. Maybe he could ask Smohalla to summon an air spirit to wash his clothes and then blow dry them. An engulf attack would work on his underwear, wouldn't it?

The shifter, feeling a cold draft as the sun descends behind the trees, transforms back into a wolf. He returns to the campfire and settles down.

[AtroposReborn]

Ellesar, once again wrapped in his pink towel, also returns to the warmth of the fire. As he stares into the fire his mind wanders off, occasionally toying with the thought of a wolf pelt for a coat.

[pbangarth]

For a moment, Stogie watches the spirits' game. In a roundabout way it reminds him of how he lost his farm, when the gunmen came.

Air spirits are way faster than any other kind. Why doesn't it get away? Or even just zap away home like spirits do? Oh. Maybe the mountain itself is its home. Even so, three can trap it in two dimensions, but it has three to play with. It should be able to get away. Like there! When they arc, it should be able to dodge out below the arc. Like old Margaret used to do with the younger dogs trying to herd her.

He's not a magician, but Stogie knows there are ways to communicate in the astral. He just sort of ... wishes ... his idea to the air spirit. Maybe that will work. He calls Jake to him, in case it becomes time to run. In any case, it will be too much effort to continue the way they have traveled. Jake might be able to handle slopes, but this one is pernicious and long, and the day is wearing on.

[Tecumseh]

Almost as soon as Stogie thinks it, it happens. The air spirit finally leverages its superior speed - and perhaps its Movement power, Stogie theorizes - to rocket straight up in the air, easily outpacing the fire spirits that bubble and boil below. Stogie's left to wonder if he had any part in the escape, or if the spirit simply came to the same conclusion simultaneously. Very curious.

[Tecumseh]

Later that afternoon, the team returns to the campsite from various directions just as dusk is falling. Everyone stops short, pausing to listen to the most incredible commotion coming out of the clearing. There seems to be a full scale war underway, with gunshots, explosions, calls for help, off-road vehicles spinning their wheels, rock slides, fires burning, victorious laughter, and general uproar. Yet for all this there are no flashes of light, no booming compression waves that would indicate actual explosions, nor any good reason why any of this would be coming out of a ten-meter clearing unless the Sisters also have some bleeding edge trideo equipment that they occasionally break out for movie night.

Approaching cautiously, you sneak forward and find an unexpected scene: The fire is crackling warmly and brightly, a pot of water bubbling peacefully above it. Hester and Selene are sitting next to the fire, smiling and laughing with a tawny orange Sasquatch that is kneeling in between them. The ork and the troll have matching gunshot wounds to their shoulders, the ork's on the left shoulder and the troll's on the right. The sasquatch is on its knees beside them, using a needle and thread to sew the wounds shut. Meanwhile, the two Sisters are flashing hand signals back and forth with their free hands. The sasquatch nods agreeably and makes shockingly realistic sound effects to punctuate the story. Everything you heard was painstaking lifelike and completely originated from within this three-meter-tall hairy orangish biped. If only there were an Entertainment spell to complete the scene.

Smohalla knows a bit of sign language - no more than a child, really, and barely enough to distinguish American Sign Language from Perkins-Athabaskan. Still, it's enough to piece together the broad strokes of the story, which somehow involves an action sequence involving the Three Sisters. Yet, despite being shot, Hester and Selene still appear to be quite jovial. It's the best mood you've seen them in up to this point. The wounds do not appear to be serious. They're large enough to suggest a high caliber round but they appear to be glancing blows to the outside of their deltoids. The sasquatch uses some of the simmering water to wash the wounds as it works. Ellesar glances at the end result from a distance and has to nod: looks like the sasquatch makes a pretty clean stitch, no medkit or anything.

[pbangarth]

Not much chance that they would actually surprise this bunch, but Stogie takes no chances. Once having taken in the strange scene, he calls out, "Hoy, camp. Friends coming in!" He then stands clear of the shrubs behind which he was hiding and holds out his hands to the sides. "Looks like you had some fun!" Jake lies on the ground, perfectly still. That sasquatch. It's just not right. Is it human? Is it a bear? Is it a rug?

[AtroposReborn]

Ellesar remains silent and still. He's more confused than anything and only reaches for his rifle out of instinct. He keeps it firmly in his hands nonetheless.

[phlapjack77]

Smohalla says hello to everyone around the campfire as they arrive.

He studies the Sasquatch as he works, and gives a nod of greeting.

He considers using magic to help, then decides against it.

Then he wonders what could have caused those gunshot wounds.

He doesn't like what those wounds could signify.

[Tecumseh]

The laughter of the women fades as they turn to the team. The troll grunts in Or'zet under her breath. Smohalla can't hear it but Stogie thinks it sounded something like, "They're back." The women aren't laughing anymore but they still have smug smiles on their faces. There's an unmistakable gleam in their eyes.

It's clear you've interrupted story-time. The sasquatch falls silent and turns its back to you to finish sewing. Once that's done, it wraps the wounds snugly in a white bandage. The troll flexes, squeezing her fist and testing the wrap. She seems pleased with it.

"Well, everyone's finally back!" Ellie says, returning to the clearing with a pot that's comically large for her small frame. "You missed some excitement!" she says as she carries the pot to the fire. The sasquatch removes the smaller pot so that Ellie can put hers over the fire. She brushes her hands off when she's done.

"Poachers!" she announces, turning to the men. "I don't know whether it was lucky or unlucky that we crossed paths with them." The ork and the troll look decidedly pleased that things worked out that way.

"What's the world come to, that men will shoot at women!" Ellie complains rhetorically/defensively/with a huff. She plants her hands on her hips and tsks at the thought.

The ork mutters something in Or'zet that makes the troll laugh. Stogie doesn't catch all of it, but it sounded like, "___ __ ___ shoot the devil ____ __ ___ ____?"

[pbangarth]

Jake flinches under the pressure of the displeasure he feels from the women by the fire. Sometimes it's a pain to be the end result of a hundred generations of breeding to be able to read subtle human cues. He trots over to Ellie, wagging his tail.

Stogie tips his hat to the unhappy ladies and follows Jake to Ellie. "Sad to hear you had some trouble. If I can help patch you up, I would be glad to do so. I've had a run-in or two with poachers in my time, too. Nasty bunch. But to be honest," he smiles as he says this, "I've found that the female of the species is usually the more dangerous. I suspect the first shot they took was in anger, the last one in fear."

[AtroposReborn]

Ellesar walks slowly over to the group. He returns his rifle to his shoulder without taking his eyes off of the sisters and the sasquatch. He chuckles lightly. "Stogie I daresay that the ladies would rather be patched up by Jake for fear of misplaced parts." The elf's laugh intensifies, oblivious to whether the others got the joke or not. After a few quick moments he calms himself, his face returning to its usual stoic self. "Besides, their hairy friend has done a fine job. He could teach me a thing or two."

[Tecumseh]

"She," the troll rumbles deeply at Ellesar, correcting his assumption of the sasquatch's gender. The sasquatch looks embarrassed to be mentioned and ducks her face away, hiding under her long head hair.

Ellie walks over and pats the sasquatch on the shoulder. Then she lays her hands on the troll and concentrates for a long moment. There's a burst of mana on the astral, starting off as a warm yellow glow before steadily building to a pure white crescendo. It seems like a much stronger outpouring of magic than what should be needed to heal such shallow wounds. There's a blue-white flash at the finale and suddenly it's gone. Ellie turns and repeats the process on the ork, sterilizing and sealing the wound magically. Once she's done, the ork and the troll take the opportunity to test the treatment by slugging each other in the shoulder. Neither of them flinches: a sure sign that the healing is complete.

Ellie turns back to the men and frowns. She still looks put out by the poachers, her aura showing the annoyance and uncertainty that's on her face.

"What I can't figure out," she says, "is what exactly they were poaching. They didn't have the equipment for collecting reagents, they didn't look like trappers, and their guns were strange for hunters. The elf just had two pistols! What on earth would he hunt with those?" She puts her hands on her hips, as she often does, and shakes her head.

She throws her hands up in defeat. Turning back to her pot, she tries to put the matter out of her mind by focusing on dinner.

[pbangarth]

Stogie perks up when he hears about the elf's weapons. "Two pistols? Can you describe the poachers more fully? I may be jumping to conclusions, but they may have been hunting metahumans. Who live in the mountains. Here."

[AtroposReborn]

The mention of an elf captures Ellesar's direct attention. Why would they come out here? It's not as though there is much of worth in this place. Unless they know about the mountain or the sisters. Still, it would be best if we could acquire more information. He faces the sasquatch. "Apologies for my assumption. I come from a place where most of the field medics are male." He waits to see if Stogie's questions are answered before he presents his own.