Heaving herself back onto her horse, Shiva does her best to answer Nik's rapid-fire questions as they continue their journey. "Yes, she talks to me, and it seems that we'll be able to talk more frequently now that we've cleared some disconnect between us. She showed me things, a world with big metal objects for travel-cars, she says. And other smaller metal things for communication that have identification numb-phones. It all seems to...."
Nikolai grins and nods rapidly as he listens to Shiva's words. "Yes! Same, my specter showed me several of the same things, but less useful objects... more akin to Astra furora. Weapons that kill on a scale we could scarce image. It was truly terrifying, but it also sounds like these people have found a way to exist without magic. Fascinating. Perhaps I should look to link up with my own specter. Did this merger damage the specter at all?"
"Yes, so strange and terrifying. I don't believe that our merging damaged her, rather the opposite. She said that she was losing herself to me, thinking my thoughts and speaking my words. Once we came together, she said that she was wholly herself again. Perhaps not merging causes them to wither?"
Nikolai rubs his chin as he thinks. "That could make sense actually. His voice seemed much stronger when we first met and our last interaction he seemed... lost? Confused? I do not wish to see my alternate life disappear. What about you Caio? Alaris? Have you noticed any such things happening?" He seeks inwardly for the voice.
'Are you becoming lost? I will help you. We are in this together. I do not think you would allow me to falter, I will not allow the same. What must I do?'
“Yes, I saw these cars in one of my dreams. Big colorful buildings with hundreds of people living in them, crammed into rows. Music, like what we’d hear in Temnitsa, but different. I can’t speak to these feelings of merging or withering. My shadow has been distant this entire time, and I don’t share your compulsion to save him whether or not he’s at risk. If there is something to be gained from a partnership then perhaps, but I don’t much care for having a permanent passenger in my head.” Caio says with an air of disinterest.
Thoughts echo in Nikolai's head as though his own.
Perhaps..., there's a pause and then more. I appear to be... tethered to you. We appear to be tethered to each of you. I think that, without that anchor, it is possible that we would 'fade'. If the anchor is not you, then a new body, or some other magical object as a host.
Nikolai does not pay much attention to Caio's words as the other one speaks with him in response to his line of questioning. 'How did this happen to you? Is there anyway to get you back home?'
If some portal would allow that, then we would still require our own forms to traverse it. Otherwise we will be forever tied to our other selves, denied independence until we perish together.
Nikolai rubs his chin as he thinks. "That could make sense actually. His voice seemed much stronger when we first met and our last interaction he seemed... lost? Confused? I do not wish to see my alternate life disappear. What about you Caio? Alaris? Have you noticed any such things happening?" He seeks inwardly for the voice.
'Are you becoming lost? I will help you. We are in this together. I do not think you would allow me to falter, I will not allow the same. What must I do?'
Alaris sighs as they soak up Shiva's story and Nik's theorizing. Nudging Zadkiel forward, back towards the carriage and the pilgrims, they can't stop thinking that while they may have one shadow... the paladin seems to have two, and one is a relentless tormenter. Reining back for a moment, Alaris looks over their shoulder and replies, "I haven't heard from my 'other' since my... my screaming fit in the alley."
Turning away again, Alaris reaches out... This feels silly, thinking thoughts at myself... is it true that you're in danger?
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Eshuvenniel Kazander Ravid,Valor Bard and Acolyte of the Goddess of Luck Caradoc Langham, Halfling Rogue - Lost Magics - Epic of Pre-made Proportions! I'm not looking for heaven or hell... just someone to listen to stories I tell...
Maybe, Alaris feels her own mind call back to her. How would you feel as the audience to somebody else's version of your life? Helpless and out of control. It's getting harder to say where you end and I begin.
Maybe, Alaris feels her own mind call back to her. How would you feel as the audience to somebody else's version of your life? Helpless and out of control. It's getting harder to say where you end and I begin.
"That... makes a surprising amount of sense. I feel like the audience to the lives of these companions of mine... Sometimes I think maybe I have no life of my own at all. I will help you get free of this if I can."
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Eshuvenniel Kazander Ravid,Valor Bard and Acolyte of the Goddess of Luck Caradoc Langham, Halfling Rogue - Lost Magics - Epic of Pre-made Proportions! I'm not looking for heaven or hell... just someone to listen to stories I tell...
The road east out of the city lists south towards the river Hirn, until it reaches Piotrbrod, the last bridge on the road to Ostroga forest. This will be life for the next week or so. The well-trodden dirt track stretches off away from Piotrgrad, winding its way between the farms and homesteads that litter the fertile lands of the Hirn floodplain, until it reaches the untamed grasslands of Koncowy.
Come mid-afternoon the priors begin to tire after many hours of travelling and ask their escort to find a good place to make camp.
Caio nods and begins to pull his horse off the road as Ghoul takes to the sky. "Nikolai, assist me if you would. I'll take the eastern side and you take the west, with Ghoul." With that he rides off from the road, scanning the grassy hills for a suitable place to rest.
Caio and Nikolai ride ahead, scouring the hedgerows and copses of woods between the near-bare fields of crops for a suitably sheltered spot to bed down for the night. It seems like they're going to have to settle for something mediocre, when a huge elk struts out onto the road and bows its great, antlered head towards them.
Caio raises his hand for Nikolai to stop as he sees the beautiful stag. The ranger gets down off his horse slowly and approaches before bowing deeply in respect. “Greetings. It’s an honor to find ourselves in the presence of such an impressive buck.” His voice is calm and soothing, and his hands are open in a gesture of peace. “We come with others, and we seek a place to rest for the night away from the prying eyes of predators. Would you be so kind as to help us?” With each sentence he gestures with his hands in a slow sort of sign language. To Nikolai who so often sees his harsh and critical side, it’s almost as if this is a completely different person.
Slowly, the elk raises its head. Its nose presses against Caio's pale hand. The creature's breath is warm and moist. It snorts and turns to walk into a nearby thicket.
Spring is not a week old and the trees are still bare, but for the barest hint of sprouting greenery. However, as the elk leads Caio into the thicket, the branches grow thicker and denser, until they finally emerge into a green-carpeted clearing cloaked in thick foliage. It seems almost too expansive - bigger than the copse was on the outside. The elk turns to face the ranger once more. It lowers its head to him and then canters off into the undergrowth.
“Thank you.” he says somberly as the creature leaves. With the perfect campsite granted to him, Caio turns back and collects Nikolai before returning to the group. “We’ve been given a safe place to rest. Be quiet and respectful as we take up space here, and in the morning make it as if we never had been. Follow me.”
As they had waited for Nikolai and Caio to return, Nimue had directed her horse to the side of the road to munch on some flowers and grasses growing there. Upon seeing them return, she nods, gently urging her horse back onto the road. "Lead the way. I'm sure we're all looking forward to the reprieve."
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Heaving herself back onto her horse, Shiva does her best to answer Nik's rapid-fire questions as they continue their journey. "Yes, she talks to me, and it seems that we'll be able to talk more frequently now that we've cleared some disconnect between us. She showed me things, a world with big metal objects for travel-cars, she says. And other smaller metal things for communication that have identification numb-phones. It all seems to...."
Nikolai grins and nods rapidly as he listens to Shiva's words. "Yes! Same, my specter showed me several of the same things, but less useful objects... more akin to Astra furora. Weapons that kill on a scale we could scarce image. It was truly terrifying, but it also sounds like these people have found a way to exist without magic. Fascinating. Perhaps I should look to link up with my own specter. Did this merger damage the specter at all?"
Valaith "Rimehand" Kalukavi - Chronicles of Arden
"Yes, so strange and terrifying. I don't believe that our merging damaged her, rather the opposite. She said that she was losing herself to me, thinking my thoughts and speaking my words. Once we came together, she said that she was wholly herself again. Perhaps not merging causes them to wither?"
Nikolai rubs his chin as he thinks. "That could make sense actually. His voice seemed much stronger when we first met and our last interaction he seemed... lost? Confused? I do not wish to see my alternate life disappear. What about you Caio? Alaris? Have you noticed any such things happening?" He seeks inwardly for the voice.
'Are you becoming lost? I will help you. We are in this together. I do not think you would allow me to falter, I will not allow the same. What must I do?'
Valaith "Rimehand" Kalukavi - Chronicles of Arden
“Yes, I saw these cars in one of my dreams. Big colorful buildings with hundreds of people living in them, crammed into rows. Music, like what we’d hear in Temnitsa, but different. I can’t speak to these feelings of merging or withering. My shadow has been distant this entire time, and I don’t share your compulsion to save him whether or not he’s at risk. If there is something to be gained from a partnership then perhaps, but I don’t much care for having a permanent passenger in my head.” Caio says with an air of disinterest.
Chronicles of Arden: Sheercleft - Vark Galestone | Half-Orc | Storm Sorcerer
Chronicles of Arden: Hunters - Caio Cypherien | Shadar-Kai | Inquisitor Ranger
Thoughts echo in Nikolai's head as though his own.
Perhaps..., there's a pause and then more. I appear to be... tethered to you. We appear to be tethered to each of you. I think that, without that anchor, it is possible that we would 'fade'. If the anchor is not you, then a new body, or some other magical object as a host.
The Chronicles of Arden: Sheercleft - DM for Aiden, Bründir, Jex, Thurston, Valaith and Vark
The Chronicles of Arden: Hunters - DM for Alaris, Astrid, Caio and Shiva
Nikolai does not pay much attention to Caio's words as the other one speaks with him in response to his line of questioning. 'How did this happen to you? Is there anyway to get you back home?'
Valaith "Rimehand" Kalukavi - Chronicles of Arden
If some portal would allow that, then we would still require our own forms to traverse it. Otherwise we will be forever tied to our other selves, denied independence until we perish together.
The Chronicles of Arden: Sheercleft - DM for Aiden, Bründir, Jex, Thurston, Valaith and Vark
The Chronicles of Arden: Hunters - DM for Alaris, Astrid, Caio and Shiva
Alaris sighs as they soak up Shiva's story and Nik's theorizing. Nudging Zadkiel forward, back towards the carriage and the pilgrims, they can't stop thinking that while they may have one shadow... the paladin seems to have two, and one is a relentless tormenter. Reining back for a moment, Alaris looks over their shoulder and replies, "I haven't heard from my 'other' since my... my screaming fit in the alley."
Turning away again, Alaris reaches out... This feels silly, thinking thoughts at myself... is it true that you're in danger?
Eshuvenniel Kazander Ravid, Valor Bard and Acolyte of the Goddess of Luck
Caradoc Langham, Halfling Rogue - Lost Magics - Epic of Pre-made Proportions!
I'm not looking for heaven or hell... just someone to listen to stories I tell...
Maybe, Alaris feels her own mind call back to her. How would you feel as the audience to somebody else's version of your life? Helpless and out of control. It's getting harder to say where you end and I begin.
The Chronicles of Arden: Sheercleft - DM for Aiden, Bründir, Jex, Thurston, Valaith and Vark
The Chronicles of Arden: Hunters - DM for Alaris, Astrid, Caio and Shiva
"That... makes a surprising amount of sense. I feel like the audience to the lives of these companions of mine... Sometimes I think maybe I have no life of my own at all. I will help you get free of this if I can."
Eshuvenniel Kazander Ravid, Valor Bard and Acolyte of the Goddess of Luck
Caradoc Langham, Halfling Rogue - Lost Magics - Epic of Pre-made Proportions!
I'm not looking for heaven or hell... just someone to listen to stories I tell...
The road east out of the city lists south towards the river Hirn, until it reaches Piotrbrod, the last bridge on the road to Ostroga forest. This will be life for the next week or so. The well-trodden dirt track stretches off away from Piotrgrad, winding its way between the farms and homesteads that litter the fertile lands of the Hirn floodplain, until it reaches the untamed grasslands of Koncowy.
Come mid-afternoon the priors begin to tire after many hours of travelling and ask their escort to find a good place to make camp.
The Chronicles of Arden: Sheercleft - DM for Aiden, Bründir, Jex, Thurston, Valaith and Vark
The Chronicles of Arden: Hunters - DM for Alaris, Astrid, Caio and Shiva
Caio nods and begins to pull his horse off the road as Ghoul takes to the sky. "Nikolai, assist me if you would. I'll take the eastern side and you take the west, with Ghoul." With that he rides off from the road, scanning the grassy hills for a suitable place to rest.
Chronicles of Arden: Sheercleft - Vark Galestone | Half-Orc | Storm Sorcerer
Chronicles of Arden: Hunters - Caio Cypherien | Shadar-Kai | Inquisitor Ranger
Caio and Nikolai ride ahead, scouring the hedgerows and copses of woods between the near-bare fields of crops for a suitably sheltered spot to bed down for the night. It seems like they're going to have to settle for something mediocre, when a huge elk struts out onto the road and bows its great, antlered head towards them.
The Chronicles of Arden: Sheercleft - DM for Aiden, Bründir, Jex, Thurston, Valaith and Vark
The Chronicles of Arden: Hunters - DM for Alaris, Astrid, Caio and Shiva
Caio raises his hand for Nikolai to stop as he sees the beautiful stag. The ranger gets down off his horse slowly and approaches before bowing deeply in respect. “Greetings. It’s an honor to find ourselves in the presence of such an impressive buck.” His voice is calm and soothing, and his hands are open in a gesture of peace. “We come with others, and we seek a place to rest for the night away from the prying eyes of predators. Would you be so kind as to help us?” With each sentence he gestures with his hands in a slow sort of sign language. To Nikolai who so often sees his harsh and critical side, it’s almost as if this is a completely different person.
Chronicles of Arden: Sheercleft - Vark Galestone | Half-Orc | Storm Sorcerer
Chronicles of Arden: Hunters - Caio Cypherien | Shadar-Kai | Inquisitor Ranger
Slowly, the elk raises its head. Its nose presses against Caio's pale hand. The creature's breath is warm and moist. It snorts and turns to walk into a nearby thicket.
The Chronicles of Arden: Sheercleft - DM for Aiden, Bründir, Jex, Thurston, Valaith and Vark
The Chronicles of Arden: Hunters - DM for Alaris, Astrid, Caio and Shiva
Caio nods and follows, motioning for Nikolai to wait.
Chronicles of Arden: Sheercleft - Vark Galestone | Half-Orc | Storm Sorcerer
Chronicles of Arden: Hunters - Caio Cypherien | Shadar-Kai | Inquisitor Ranger
Spring is not a week old and the trees are still bare, but for the barest hint of sprouting greenery. However, as the elk leads Caio into the thicket, the branches grow thicker and denser, until they finally emerge into a green-carpeted clearing cloaked in thick foliage. It seems almost too expansive - bigger than the copse was on the outside. The elk turns to face the ranger once more. It lowers its head to him and then canters off into the undergrowth.
The Chronicles of Arden: Sheercleft - DM for Aiden, Bründir, Jex, Thurston, Valaith and Vark
The Chronicles of Arden: Hunters - DM for Alaris, Astrid, Caio and Shiva
“Thank you.” he says somberly as the creature leaves. With the perfect campsite granted to him, Caio turns back and collects Nikolai before returning to the group. “We’ve been given a safe place to rest. Be quiet and respectful as we take up space here, and in the morning make it as if we never had been. Follow me.”
Chronicles of Arden: Sheercleft - Vark Galestone | Half-Orc | Storm Sorcerer
Chronicles of Arden: Hunters - Caio Cypherien | Shadar-Kai | Inquisitor Ranger
As they had waited for Nikolai and Caio to return, Nimue had directed her horse to the side of the road to munch on some flowers and grasses growing there. Upon seeing them return, she nods, gently urging her horse back onto the road. "Lead the way. I'm sure we're all looking forward to the reprieve."