Zelphas

Why Not Longshot Insight

Torben Torben watched as the humans stepped in to calm things down, the tension in his shoulders slowly relaxing. He was about ready to be fully calmed down, or at least back to a much calmer place, when the angry gnome walked over to the armored human and punched him, twice, in the stomach. As the tension broke around them and the humans started laughing, Torben stayed quiet and very still. His eyes looked away from the group, down to his own hands, the splinters and bits of wood still caught in the claws. "Looks like we can stay," Torben commented to Ragz, very quietly, his voice a mixture of half-understood emotions held down by long training and will. Torben was glad of the food, when it came, but politely refused the wine; the calmer part of him apparently decided that he should keep his wits as sharp as possible, such as they were.

I'm going to chime in quick and say that I like this back-and-forth in the IC from an OOC perspective; Rillik is the first "on screen" presence to treat Torben like a bugbear first rather than a person, which I think is good for his character arc.

Torben's still caught in the fact that he was asked to join this group, refused at first, and then relented when D'Artegenon insisted, and now Rillik is throwing down an ultimatum: tell us your secrets, or reassure us that you aren't out to get us, or else... what? You can't travel with us? Torben already didn't want to travel with all of you; he's not sure how that can be used as a threat. Also, Torben all but said "I can't tell you because I gave my word", so directly saying those words feels confusingly redundant. I'm realizing that all of that is probably not useful to moving the scene forward at this moment, though, so I'm trying to whip up a post that softens that stance enough for Torben to at least nod. Sorry for the delay.

I did start writing it before I saw the post... but Torben's irritated enough that he'd say it after, too, so it's up to you.

Torben "You asked us to be here." Unintentionally punctuating his words with the heavy tear of splintering wood, Torben set down the two halves of the log he had been working on and turned to face the distrustful gnome more directly. "You invited us to join with you. You all insisted, when we warned you that we had danger following us. And now you're accusing us of bringing you into danger?" The fact that the dog was enchanted came as a surprise to Torben, but he hadn't asked Ragz to reveal anything. Torben's actions could be argued about all they liked, but Ragz was his friend. "You can't have it both ways. We didn't ask to join you; why would we be planning some sort of attack on you? "You talk about secrets like you've never had any. Is that true? I don't want to know your secrets. They're yours. If you want to tell me, fine. If it causes problems later, we'll deal with it then. I didn't ask Ragz for his secrets; they're his." Torben shook his head. "If traveling with you requires me to tell you my life story and accept your judgment on every bit of it, gnome, then I may as well start on my own way now. You've made it clear enough what you think of having a bugbear nearby anyways." Tired of all of this, Torben stacked the broken wood neatly by the fire, then moved over to his packs. "Up to you, Ragz; we both travel better by night anyways, if you want to go."

I'll take the outside bet on Nascent Godling.

Okay, before I forget, Downtimes: The Brothers Fable (Expertise (Survival) DC 15): Routine 30 x3 for a total of 12 Successes. And just for fun, I'll roll the last one: EDIT: That's 3 Successes, bringing the total to 15. Expertise (Survival) DC 15

So, bad news: Josef was far too anxious to have his phone on anything except on vibrate, and his Blessing means that he never noticed his phone vibrating; it was lost in the background pressures that now made up his physical sensations. Good news: Josef is already exiting the pharmacy, and Karl's shout draws the other boy's attention quickly enough. Josef hesitates on the edge of the square for several moments, wondering if he could avoid them, but the ever-present low buzz of the drone nearby finally convinces him that he should play his part. "Find something interesting?" Josef asks the group by way of introduction, walking up behind them and scanning the bulletin board. He finds the notice quickly enough, and only the intensified buzzing of multiple drones allows him to keep his expression blank. Josef knows his duties, as a Knight, he knows that there's more to it than just facing off against Demons, but... the fact that their first real action as Novices is likely to be against humans is not something he was hoping for. "...I'll pick up more medical supplies," He comments finally, glad to hear that his voice is fairly even. Going by the last month of travel, Josef knows that he'll probably end up looking dour on the final cut, but a few comments and actions can shift "dour" to "responsible" if he works at it. Besides, getting medical supplies for a possible fight is simply a good idea.

Josef blinked in surprise, honestly astonished to be supported in his vote. The fact that Karl, of all people, agreed with him was perhaps the biggest shock. --- Josef blamed Heather and Remy in roughly equal amounts for how he acted during their month-long trek through the wilderness. Even he realized this was unfair, but he clung to that unspoken belief stubbornly. Heather started it, with her irrepressible ability to fill every moment with something to do--and her need to bring others into it! She never pushed, not aloud, but Josef knew she wouldn't leave it alone until everyone had taken part in a song, or a story, or some sort of game on their trip. The ever-present drone wore on Josef's mind; the last thing he wanted to do was have his life broadcast to the world, but since that was a foregone conclusion he wanted as little as possible. He made a show, each night, of testing and stretching the limits of his powers; they were flashy, at least, so he could put on a performance for the cameras. But as the days went by, he found himself appreciating the boredom; boredom meant that this part of the trip would be passed over, when the time came to broadcast everything. But Heather wouldn't be satisfied with that, and Josef's attempts to find something to satisfy his friend's desire to include everyone led him to what Remy was already doing--describing bits of the wilderness they passed through, their uses and benefits. He thought he had picked something simple when the pauses finally grew unbearable, describing a bit of creeping knightshield ivy on a nearby tree, so named for its leaves shaped like tiny kite shields--but then he had looked closer, and realized that the shields had slightly more rounding and a fine sawtooth edge, meaning that this was a strain of the somewhat rarer dragonscale ivy, and while both had benefits as a mild anesthetic the dragonscale variant was also a mild stimulant; in fact, dragonscale ivy's rarity was due to overuse, the euphoria from the rarer plant inducing occasional feelings of invincibility and recklessness among those who ingested it, meaning that it had actually been outlawed a century or so prior in several places and only recently was that relaxed-- Before he knew it, Josef had talked for half an hour about the different types of ivy and creeping vines in the area, almost certainly wasting everyone's time. That night, just before sleep took him, he swore that he wouldn't let it happen again. Then three days later, he noticed that a scattering of wildflowers were in an unusual formation, suggesting that something had been buried nearby and disrupted their growth. He swore again to go back to his grim silence. But two days after that, they passed through a copse of large evergreens, and the carpet of needles was slightly less dense than he expected-- All in all, by the time the group reaches Merryweather, Josef is thoroughly disgusted with himself for the full dozen times he ran off after a half-glimpsed leaf on their trek or prattled on for long, long minutes about this or that bit of flora. --- "Agreed on the White Buck, but probably not the exploring. I'm going to need to restock," Josef comments with a grimace, holding up his right arm and hand for emphasis. Underneath several clean white bandages are a welter of long, straight cuts, souvenirs from a blackberry bush that Josef had heedlessly pushed through in his effort to confirm that several berries in the center had ripened out of season, a fun little quirk that probably wasn't worth using most of the use of his arm for the last two days. The poor bush hadn't survived the blowback from his powers, and in fact Josef had spent a fair amount of time both putting out fires and bandaging himself up. At least his Blessing let him heal quick, but he had still run through a lot of bandages over the last month, and he was close to running out. After checking in, Josef goes looking for the nearest pharmacy. He tried to be quick--get in, get bandages and a few healing supplies, get out--but the owner is apparently something of a herbalist, and her offhand comment about the plants that grew nearby quickly turns into an animated discussion about what she grows in her garden and the little tweaks and tricks she's found that don't show up in the printed books on medicine...

Fen stares back at her brothers, looking just as flabbergasted as they seemed to feel after reading her notes. She doesn't react to their speaking for too long, simply staring, and starting to shake again. Finally, she looks down, grabbing the pencil and a large piece of paper. The silence stretches as she scribbles something in large letters. Throwing down the pencil, Fen holds up the paper in shaking hands, hiding her face. I killed you. I killed all of you for eight years. I'm sorry I'm sorry I'm sorry

Unfortunately, he was literally instructed by an authority figure that his life has trained him to respect to not let anyone know about why he's going on this quest or who he's bringing the tentacle back to. He's been given several reasons not to trust this person, but at this point in his relationship to the group he's going to stick to his "I can't tell you more than that" stance.

Eleanora picked up the Blightrock Apple delicately with two fingers, using a blue panel from her robe to clean off the... excess on it. "Ah... hm. Sorry 'bout that," she says apologetically, looking at the distressed Ramenooze. "It was slightly more poisonous than I thought, I guess..." --- Santokumaru seems to have been dealing with the negotiations fairly well so far. Eleanora claps her hands once, her million-watt grin once more flashing across her face. "Well, it seems'ta me that we need ta have a talk with this Munchking a'yores," she declares cheerily. "I'm sure we c'n negotiate summa those apples away from him, if we try our darndest!" OOC Officially moving the Blightrock Apple to Eleanora's inventory, if that's all right.

Torben's max carry weight before becoming encumbered is 540 lbs. He has no more than a vague intellectual understanding of what 'heavy' means.

Torben Torben's head hunched lower and lower into his shoulders as the trickle of questions turn into a rushing flood. What part of 'I can't tell you more than that' do these people not understand? He knew that this doesn't make sense, that something felt wrong about it. But something felt wrong about just about everything in his life since he left the monastery, and no one seemed to have a problem with that except him. Why did they have to pick away at this point? They invited him to travel with them, and now they wanted to question his quest? The irritation and frustration boiled over. Before he could stop himself, Torben turned and hurled the log in his hands as hard as he could into the woods. The air split with an audible shriek as the chunk of wood soared away until it struck the trunk of a tree, where it shattered with an enormous boom. Instantly, Torben felt ashamed. "I'm sorry." It was an automatic response, trained from years of being scolded for his "lack of control" while growing up in the monastery, but it was no less true for its automatic nature. The deep gnome gave him an excuse to turn away, and he went back to work breaking up the logs, moving much more slowly and carefully than before. "I'm fine," he responded shortly to the gnome's offer of help. After a long beat, he added, more quietly, "...Thanks."

I lost thirty-odd hours to Slay the Spire, so I can attest to its addictive nature. I wasn't very good at it, though, and I eventually fall away from games that don't have actual, established endings, so I eventually moved on.

Fen's plan was to wait until some of her brothers arrived at King's Burgers, and then show up to talk with them. As she figured out what she wanted to say and how she wanted to say it, she realized that she would need more time. And more paper. --- If/when the Fable brothers arrive, they would find Fen already there, seated on one of King's Burgers' outdoor tables and surrounded by crumpled paper (as well as a burger with a single infinitesimally small bite taken out of it, which was carefully re-wrapped and awaiting storage). Depending on when they arrive, they would either be handed loose paper or see several folded notes, each with a name written in sloppy handwriting on the front. The Notes Fred Your room collapsed; I’m sorry. I’m sorry, I used some of the money for food and things, but the rest still paid my entrance fee, so it worked. Francis I’m sorry, the blacksmith moved away, and his daughter got married. She has two kids now. The new blacksmith, Sibusiso, is very nice. His wife taught me sign language. Fabian You were right; that Mistralan Huntress team won the Vytal Festival, though it was the year after you I don’t know where they are now, I’m sorry. Fadi I’m sorry, I cleared out the pond of Grimm by myself. I couldn’t wait for you. I didn’t I’m sorry. Falk I’m sorry, a storm broke the roof, and the pieces all rusted. I couldn’t keep them safe. Fang I overhunted the squirrels one year, even though you told me not to. There are still fewer squirrels than there should be in the forest. I’m sorry. Farid I’m sorry, I haven’t been to a service in sev eight years. I couldn’t I didn’t I don’t Sorry. Farly I’m sorry, I should’ve paid more attention when you taught me. I still don’t know what a Lien is worth, not really. I just know people seem to like them. Faust I’m sorry, I beat up some friends of yours. They came by looking for money, said you owed something. I still can’t cook I’m sorry. Fedir I’m sorry. I stole some food from the grocers, on the third winter. You told me not to steal. I tried to give money back, but I don’t know how much it was worth. I’m sorry. Fievel I’m sorry. I don’t think there’s any more “bandage grass” in the woods. I tried to cultivate some on the fourth summer, but it all died. I’m sorry. Ferdinand I’m sorry. I didn’t know what Fire Dust was, and I set your room on fire the first winter. I don’t think anything made it. Sorry. At the table, Fen fidgets, looking everywhere except at her brothers. Her small frame is shaking slightly.

Torben Torben should've known that there was always one more question. It was the same in his school years, and he found himself hunching his shoulders like he did back then. "...Yes," he replied shortly, hoping that was the end of it. It wouldn't be--it never was--but he could hope, for the moment.

Depending on Levont's personality, he might be concerned or even gratified to notice Josef soaking in his words like a sponge, committing them to memory immediately with fierce concentration. "Check with Fort Naoth, Blessing adaptation, routine check, use phone and mirror if possible. Thank you, sir." He discounted the possibility of a re-Blessing ritual immediately; the stick was gone, and going through a re-gifting after the stick was gone would be something his father would never understand. --- "Maybe," Josef agrees noncommittally to Heather's statement. Privately, the thought of his powers "growing" makes him wonder if the numbness will grow stronger. He's already found it useful as a stabilizer--almost comfortable, in an uncomfortable way--but it getting stronger might not be good. "As far as I can tell, it's only tactile, yes. I remain the deeply emotional person I always have been." That last sentence may have been delivered in complete monotone, with a corresponding blank face. --- The fact that Karl could effectively attack out of range of Josef's thorns was a constant annoyance... but Josef was faster than Karl was, even when Karl pushed himself, and Josef tried to take advantage of that option to get in close whenever he could. Their spars (Karl was one of the only ones that Josef agreed to spar with more than once) usually still ended in Karl's favor, though, at least in part because Josef was too worried about the possible side effects to really go on the offensive (and Karl was possibly just better, but Josef couldn't admit that). --- At first, Josef is irritated to see Dimitri there again as they prepare to leave for the First Trial. He has managed to hide the side-effect of his power from his father for the entirety of the past week; if only Dimitri wasn't there, and he could be sure of getting away free... He's a bit jealous of the rest for having more normal connections--until he sees Heather looking around for someone to see her off, and Karl's mother pretending like she's there by accident. His irritation swiftly turns to shame. "Please don't do that," he still snaps at Heather, walking up behind her, though with perhaps less force than usual. Looking past her, Josef knows he should say something to his father. He opens his mouth to speak, but what he wants to say is impossible, and nothing else will come out. So, after an awkward moment, Josef reaches out his hand, fully expecting Dimitri to pull him into a hug. The pressure still feels... off, somehow, and Josef tries to carefully extricate himself without looking like he's carefully extricating himself, taking his place back with the other Novices. When the tokens are offered, Josef takes one quickly, before he can let himself hesitate. He understands the practical reasons for such a record--crystals, he can even understand the reasoning from an entertainment standpoint--but it still galls him to be recorded at all, to be forced to play on the stage at every moment from here to Lomorre lest his slip-ups be broadcast to the entire world. He pulls on the pack with his now-customary care, making sure that it isn't unbalancing him. At least he doesn't have to worry about any discomfort from the pack. Although he may have to check himself for any raw spots in the evening... "Do you accept this charge?" "...I do." The gravity of the moment should hide his slight hesitation, this time. "Then your First Trial begins now." Well, that's it then. Josef had, for some reason, expected more... something, in the moment. Heather sways, and Josef looks over to her with concern, only to find himself rolling his eyes slightly at her comment of the "biggest quest of all!" If this was the biggest thing any of them did, they'd be rather poor excuses for Knights... which would fit the way things are going for him, honestly. "Wilderness has mine," Josef says firmly a moment after Heather speaks. He knows he sounds contrarian, but he's already going to be filmed at all times; he'd rather limit the size of his in-person audience as much as he could, at least for now.

Fen stares, frozen, as it all goes off-kilter. She hasn't planned this far ahead. She didn't think that she'd have the chance to plan this far ahead. As everyone else moves and acts, her hands slowly lower. I'll... watch them too she sends slowly, then follows her brothers out the door. Assuming they have all stopped somewhere near each other, Fen pauses for a moment, pulling out a piece of old, wrinkled, torn paper from her pocket as well as a crooked, shabby old pencil. She scribbles something on the back, and then walks over to Fred, handing the paper to him. The Paper The paper itself is old and weathered by time, but it is mostly still legible. On the front "Fen's Huntress Academy Tuition Fund" is written in Fred's neat handwriting, along with careful markers tracking each brother's contribution to the fund. On the back, in Fen's untidy scrawl Meet me where Mac and Ronald's was, if you all want to talk. As soon as she is near a window, Fen takes off, becoming a speck in the sky in moments. OOC Stealth, to disappear for a moment Perception, to keep an eye on her brothers

Eleanora caught her balance and then blinked, looking at the Ramenooze with growing concern. "Aw, buddy, are ya feelin' a little overheated?" She said with mild concern, then began to smile again. "Well, this ting's pretty good at numbin' stuff! Why don't ya give it a try?" Stretching out her hand, Eleanora offers the Ramenooze the Blightrock Apple, certain that there are no flaws in this plan. (Accidentally) Attack the Ramenooze with the Blightrock Apple (WLP+WLP, HR+6 Damage)

Torben Torben grimaces; he had hoped this question wouldn't be asked. "I don't know what good they're for," he answers honestly. "I was just told to get them. And... I'm not--I can't tell you more than that. I know it's not for any bad reason," he amends hastily moments later. "There must be a good use for them--otherwise, why would--why would I be sent to get them? I just... I wasn't told why, and it wasn't really my place to ask." He wondered, belatedly, if that was part of the problem with the whole affair back at the monastery, but deliberately set that idea aside; if he started distrusting in the Abbots, then what could he trust in? Shrugging a bit uncomfortably, Torben went back to tearing apart the wood.

Normally, Josef would never let Karl have the last word. Today, however, he simply grimaces and looks away, turning back to the end of the festivities. --- Josef barely hears Levont's explanations and cautions about the future. Later, he quietly but firmly rejects the idea of filming his training, and would reject the filming of his Trial if it was allowed; for now, his entire being is focused on getting his thoughts in order so that he can address his... situation as quickly as possible. Because of that, he speaks up perhaps a bit too quickly, stepping right on the edge of the Archivist's final statement. "Archivist Levont, I need to speak with you immediately, if you are able." He doesn't look at the others; they'll be traveling in the Trial together, so they'll find out soon enough. Let them enjoy the night. Assuming that he can get the Archivist to one side, Josef cuts quickly to the point. "Due to a... mistaken rune on a tattoo on my part, my Blessing seems to have largely replaced my nervous system with thorns made out of fire." He definitely isn't hyperventilating; he just spoke too quickly, that's all. "Since awakening in the Pool, I have been unable to feel anything I've touched, and breaking my skin has released the thorns from underneath. Doc--that is, Doctor Winthorpe is... not reliable for unorthodox cases, and this is a matter of Blessings. What..." Josef forces himself to breathe slowly. He can't let his words get too fast, or they won't be understood. "What are the next steps, Archivist Levont, sir?" --- By talking immediately to Archivist Levont and then following his instructions, Josef is able to avoid his father until nightfall, when he is much more composed. Then, by claiming the need to train and refine his Blessing, he is able to limit his interactions with his father until the Trial. With any luck, Josef will be able to leave Greenbrook without Dimitri ever knowing just how badly the Pool ceremony went wrong for his son. --- Josef does not appear in front of the other Novices until the second day of training. Lily may not notice much that's different in the young man, but the rest have grown up with Josef; they would notice that his movements are slower, more deliberate, that he looks carefully before sitting down anywhere and seems to guide himself to the seat with one hand, and especially how he has picked up what seems to be a nervous habit of holding his arms in front of him and twisting to see all around them, glancing at his legs, and twisting to check his back, as though checking himself for ticks. Heather is the first person Josef tells when she asks, but the rest learn about the other part of his Blessing soon enough; once he knows how to care for it, he doesn't hide it from them. For the next two days, Josef focuses on calling his thorns out of him and manipulating them in various ways. They burst out easily enough, he finds, but something seems to be missing in his handling of them; unless he wraps them around his dragonsteel club, they quickly burn themselves out, vanishing in a puff of smoke and heat. For some reason, he feels certain there's more to them than that, though he couldn't for the life of him say what it could be. By the end of the first day (the second day of training for everyone else), Josef figures out how to sweep his club and "fire" thorns out at targets, using their tendency to burn bright and then burn out as an offensive boost. He also does a little bit of tests on his basic speed and strength, though he is always extremely careful. By his estimate, at the end of the first day, he hasn't really gotten much stronger, but he has become much faster; he isn't as fast as Gen is now, but he thinks he might be faster than Gen used to be. Perhaps a nervous system made of fire quickened his reflexes, he considers, though he has no way to test that. The second (third) day is spent seeing just how many thorns Josef can call out from him all at once. The answer is, when he stops trying to direct them, quite a few! If he takes a moment to concentrate, Josef can fill a good section of the practice field with burning thorns over the course of a few moments. These thorns burn out just as quickly as all the others, but it is quite a merry blaze during those few seconds. It's a bit too... indiscriminate, for solid battlefield application, but at least its something. In a rare moment of whimsey, Josef imagines that he's sitting in the middle of a thornbush that someone's set fire to, and then his normal character cuts in and he ponders gloomily why such a picture fills him with a strange sort of longing. --- The fourth day of training reveals a somewhat disturbing "advantage" to Josef's Blessing. Realizing that he isn't going to get much farther with such a battle-focused Blessing without some application, Josef accepts Gen's offer to spar. The other boy has Josef (and everyone else there) outclassed in speed and strength, but Josef's Blessing gives him solid area denial, and he has worked to make it punishing to anyone who touches him while he's actively in combat; with that, the two boys are surprisingly evenly matched. They dance around each other for some time, Josef doing everything he can to foul every attack that Gen throws at him, until finally the other boy has the opportunity for a clean stroke. With no other recourse, Josef brings up his club to block Gen's enormous blade. The shock of impact feels... odd, to Josef, even odder than normal, but everything feels odd to him in the past few days. He pushes through it easily enough, smiling slightly as the impact unleashes his thorns towards the other boy even as he catches his balance from the force of the blow. He angles his club for a quick uppercut to Gen's chin, but the blow wobbles weirdly and misses the other boy entirely, despite them being right in each other's faces. Josef steps back to grab some space, and is surprised when Gen leaps back as well. "What.." he starts, following the other boy's eyes towards his club. Oh. His arm's bent the wrong way. And he's fairly certain he doesn't actually have a joint halfway up his forearm... Josef cedes the match to Gen after that little discovery, though the (literal) fire within him seems to push him to continue the fight. Another bit of his warped Blessing unfolds in his understanding, like a flower petal: he can keep fighting beyond what his body would normally be able to endure. In fact, if he's reading his instincts correctly, his Blessing will urge him to keep fighting well past the point of safety. In some surprisingly calm portion of his mind, Josef notes this as another thing to look out for.