Anarion

TSL: The Excess of Flowers

B-big! Big! Giant demon general! Oh creation, oh oh, what was she going to do? What had she done?!

For a brief instant, Giriel's senses fled her entirely and she was simply convinced that she was going to die. No amount of images in books, or scale illustrations with tiny stick figures for scale and descriptions of strengths, weaknesses, and magical sympathies actually prepared a person to stand before a great demon with a hundred hands whose voice is the sonorous thunder of that which should not be in such a place! She could not speak, could not think, could not be quail and wonder at how she had brought herself to die.

A moment passes. Giriel feels the presence of Peregrine at her side, rehearsing...something? Was she going to try and cast a spell at this thing. Or...an augury like it was asking? It was asking for an augury was it not? Or was it expecting them to have already done an augury perhaps? Would attempting a working now be viewed as untoward? Did Peregrine even care? No probably not, probably she was simply curious whether a binding seal would work cast via a transposed soul manifesting in hell and was either fully convinced in her technique or fully prepared to die for the pursuit of knowledge. Knowing her, she had a plan for someone to offer their body as a vessel for her in a year or two so she could get back to work undisturbed while everyone thought she was dead.

That was not a helpful line of thought and still they were being met with expectation. How much time had passed? Probably a year? Or 30 seconds as the creature cut off itself and waved about blue veils as though showing off its grisly trophies would win them over to its cause.

"The symbols are the stone and the sickle!" Giriel blurts out. "The burning stone is your symbol of victory and the sickle your symbol of battle. For...for it is the place of your armies to reap where they go and leave a harvest of flame upon the world. You should be wary of the...uh the dragon and the stag because of...um the dragons opposing your forces and the stag preventing your march, who will, uh, probably unite to defeat your armies?"

Oh gosh, that was the worst, the absolute worst generic read she'd ever made and she'd actually been so uninventive that she'd tipped the demon off to two actual major forces in the area if it was paying attention.

[Defy Disaster with wits. Giriel was willing to sacrifice information about Red Wolf and Uusha to the demons. 1+1+2=4. Snake eyes XP]

Dark Age (playtest): The Lands of Pendragon

Tristan

Sir Hector gives you a long, thoughtful look. She's very seriously thinking about your question. Isn't that freeing? Perhaps she hasn't considered it before, being wrapped in a responsibility she believed she had. Perhaps she simply wants to give you the respect of taking in what you're saying and not responding instantly as though your words offered nothing new.

After a long moment, though, she says "no."

It is a soft, quiet no. The sort of no that is at once tentative and yet utterly certain.

It then is followed then by a firmer one. "No. It is not freeing, not for me. I can see what you mean. Almost like looking at a distant field." For a moment her face is wistful before it falls. "But no. I wanted greatness of a sort. I wanted to use everything that I learned, everything I trained for. Instead I am not chosen. To wish for responsibility and not to receive it is a special kind of agony."

She goes silent and looks to you to respond. In all the time you've been in the castle, you've never heard her that poetic. You might have called her thoughtful and even insightful, but not poetic. This is an odd glimpse beyond the veil, and she does not know what you'll do with it. You could deny her in this moment, perhaps; judge everything she believes wrong and broken and she would have no rejoinder to offer. You could offer her support and comfort, perhaps more than she has ever received. Or perhaps...perhaps this is a moment for you to decide what you came to this castle to do, Tristan.

TSL: The Excess of Flowers

The thing about demons is that you shouldn't consort with demons! There's a reason that it's common knowledge not to do that. Demons will hurt you. Not that they'll claw you or bite you. They might do that, but that sort of thing is the easiest to guard against. No it's that demons are beings that aren't right with the world. That's the core of Malfeas and Adorjan and all the way down through circles and circles of existence down to the smallest little imp. These are beings that don't want this world, this version of creation to exist as it is. The old and lost lords lamenting all the cracks and flaws they see in the sculpture. If you stay with them long enough, let them have their way with things in word and deed, they'll try to chip at the statue. Make a few alterations to bring it closer in line with what they want. Maybe put in some new cracks because really the whole thing ought to come down so they can start from scratch.

And the thing about demons, to keep this statue metaphor going, is that they'll keep at it like a chisel against reality. Sure, you can defend against that. You can build sturdy and strong, you can put up guards and wards, barriers and protections and all sorts of rules to keep yourself safe. And that works to a point. But we're talking about a chisel against reality. You always have to be asking, is your barrier set up to handle one strike? Ten? Fifty? Five hundred thousand? Is it set up to handle every different sort of strike from every angle, every speed and force and variation in movement?

In a lot of ways, Giriel wasn't worried about Peregrine. She was a genius. The sort of person who really did think of everything and took the right precautions. And if you were going to be a proper witch, you had to take these risks. You couldn't just write off demons and say "well, that's a bad plan, guess I'll never deal with them" because other people were going to do it and you needed to know how to handle them. Sometimes there was even something worse happening and you needed the power and the risk to get the job done. Not often, not nearly as often as people seemed to think, but sometimes. So, in most ways Peregrine was well within bounds, highly skilled, entirely reliable. But in one very important way, Giriel was incredibly worried and had been for a while now: hubris. Peregrine was always pushing, testing new theories and ideas and plans. It only took one mistake for big problems when it came to demons and so Giriel always approached this sort of thing with trepidation.

Also, there was the fact that demons weren't dogs despite how some people treated them. They were thinking, sapient beings, especially some of the higher circle ones, who were smarter than the vast majority of people. If you pulled one of those into your service, even if you did it perfectly, they would pay attention the whole time. Your deeds might become rumors in hell, you might become a subject of interest to hell. That was, as one might expect, a very bad thing to have happen.

And yet! Peregrine could not be stopped, Uusha could not be convinced, and there was a real problem out there that had led Giriel to bring this all up at all. So what other choice was there? The only choice, the only option for a proper witch was to lean into it, to make sure the ritual went off as well as could be, to understand that it was Malfeas, to know the shape of its powers, and so to call on its demons with power and authority.

So Giriel joined Peregrine in the work. She drew the proper circles and the binding runes and checked them over, and checked Peregrine's and asked Peregrine to check hers. She tuned her flute and checked her sound. However, the key to the actual sorcery, despite what most dabblers thought, was not complex runes or having just the right sort of instrument. It was focus and will. Sorcery, the binding of demons especially, was an act of will. The ritual created the right signs and symbols to tell the universe what you were doing, and it got you the demon you wanted. A good flute made sure that the demon could hear what you were doing much more clearly than if you had to work with an improvised reed and that was important! But more important by far was that the effort focused the caster's will.

When it came time, Giriel played her flute in tandem with Peregrine's, and the two sounds coalesced through the cave where they had set up the summoning and echoed deep beyond the mountain.

And yet, despite all the preparation, the care, and the timing, it seemed that something had gone awry.
[Giriel offers a string to a demon of Malfeas and rolls to commune. 1+3+2=6. A miss and an experience.]

Sunshards

When you are a Princess in a domain of flight, there is no such thing as being unobtrusive. A beautiful lesson in Jessic's story, and in Keron's. For that matter, why should a princess be unobtrusive anyway? She may, perhaps, have the humility to respect the fighters and the fight itself, but so too should she respect the fighters for their skill, their talent, and their focus. She should not assume that they are so delicate and easily distracted from their duel that she has to creep in unannounced.

So it is that Chen's flight is remarked upon, and though she blushes to be such a center of attention, it is not her place to enter with stealth, but to be a Princess for all assembled. And this task, to be seen, to be resplendent, she can do. She can do it in the way the sun and moon dance in the sky above her and shine their light through her crystal blade, illuminating her to the audience in rose gold and gleaming silver. She can do it in the way that the wind lifts her hair and swirls her dress, carrying her in its embrace as it speaks to the watchers of euphoria, the rush of speed and freedom of flight. And Chen can do it in contrast, at once so alike and so different from Princess Jessic just as a dagger differs from a greatsword.

For a moment, Chen does remember her mothers and her conflicts and all the things that await her. But for this moment, she sets aside those heavy matters and remembers them fondly. Could she have held herself under such attention without collapsing into a flushed mess had Hestia not encouraged her poise and Ysel her grace? There is something they offered her, and a great deal about which they cared, even if they might well have grasped too hard at their own visions as Jessic had put it so well.

For a moment, Chen simply lounges atop her sword above the stands. She glances at where she had planned to sit with an amused smile and resolves to visit those children when she can and then turns her attention to the match. Let Keron prepare herself, they weren't going to have a fight before this duel was done.

And what a duel! Chen had the true good fortune to watch Yue the wolf become Yue the girl in an explosion of colorful fabric and tea-color hair. She got to watch Yue change her style in the midst of the duel and continue to run about wagging her tail despite a lack of any one being visible. To see squire Tianic swinging her sword in glorious mandalas that offered Chen more than a little of her own inspiration. This was a dance of joy, pure and beautiful and free, the kind of joy that allowed them to forget everything else in the whole world while they danced with each other and it made Chen smile.

But there was another person here. One that Chen had kept waiting. And as the duel was still ongoing, she had an opportunity for an introduction before what was very much looking like a bonus show match would start. So, very calmly, but with just the broadest smile on her face to put the sun and moon to shame, she lowered herself next to Keron, all the way to Keron's loyal footrest who had not moved as her mistress had not commanded it.

Chen's eyes were filled with her smile as she tilted Rose's chin up with a finger to look her in the eyes and said: "Rose, you look beautiful"

[Entice: 1+5+2=8]

Dark Age (playtest): The Lands of Pendragon

Tristan

“Nothing” says Hector sadly, her face like stone. “I am entitled to nothing, least of all that which may be within my capabilities.”

In the dim light of the flickering torch, Tristan, you see a side of Hector that you did not expect. A great mantle that those strong shoulders could have born. Know you of the sword that your lady Constance carries? That ancient blade, decider of kings? These shoulders could have born that scabbard. Not to wield, no, but to bear the weight. You can imagine Hector holding that burden, tending to the well-being of a young king to be, one not unlike the Lady Liana. You can see Hector offering strict tutelage, stern and serious yet with a love that would stay her wrath, the blade upon her back always ready to be a gift when the time is right. You can see, in the strength that rests upon her that she could have raised a king, a great king over Britain, in a time where swords were not given out by mysterious woodland ladies or ancient and inscribed stones or any other such faerie nonsense.

And then, then the vision is gone. Like the flickering torchlight, faded in an instant, and you stare merely at a sad and stern knight. A woman who trains for a battle she will never fight and a role she will never bear. Who knows that at her best, she will pass a torch to Robena and someone will listen to her wisdom, and at her worst she will have trained for nothing and pass away without a legacy to her name.

Sunshards

Chen tilted her head in the morning air in quizzical thought. She held herself like that, just thinking and letting the breeze swirl around them for a long few seconds.

There wasn’t an easy solution. There wasn’t one way to show someone love and respect and kindness. She was going to have to figure it out.

Then she turned her eyes right up to Jessic’s. “So, Princess Jessic, what’s your story then?”

***

The first thing Chen did after the long anime run and her chat with Jessic was to fly around town.

She was a guest and a prisoner all at once, and she knew that she had been putting off a daring rescue for a while. Or something, she wasn’t sure yet if the right call was to try and bust in while sneaking Rose out (which was incredibly stupid in a castle none of them knew how to leave, but therefore also bold and daring precisely because it was unlikely to succeed). There was negotiation of course, and demands, a formal duel perhaps, though she wasn’t sure that either Jessic or Keron would be interested.

So, she was going to look around and do so in Princess style. A sword flight around the square was like saying “I’m here!” And people wouldn’t have seen her since that initial capture. But now was a time to be seen and to see. To spread a little word, to have whispers reach the palace and the handmaidens, that Princess Chen was out and about. Was she free, was she a prisoner on display? Perhaps Rose would find a way to send a sign or Chen would find her girlfriend out and about.

Eee, her girlfriend. A thrill went through her at that. A bold claims she’d made, all full of worry. But a right one. She thought Rose needed it too, and Chen felt so much more confident facing the world with her friends at her side. It was so different to having to stand there alone and declare yourself against all comers. Hmm, maybe that was why Qiu used her shards that way…

Chen rushed through the air, her light blue dress whipping behind her, balanced on her sword and arms held back for speed. She let herself be deep in thought and at once take in the clouds and the streets, the sun hovering as it did on the horizon and the deep gray stones of the castle tower.

And then she saw what seemed to be a tournament already happening. From the banners, streamers, and pennants all in rainbows it was quite a spectacle even if they were still in early matches and not yet to center stage fights. She slowed so as not to distract the combatants and went to inspect the signs as to who was up in the match.

…
…
…

Yue the wolf vs. Tianic the Squire. Yue…the…wolf. She was reading that right, wasn’t she? But, but Hyra had been and and Yue was…Chen had only been off on her own little fantasy for a few days, right?! What had happened?!

Well, she had to see this. Chen slipped into the stands and sidled into unobtrusively to an edge seat next to a couple youngsters who were cheering wildly and paid her no mind as she looked down at the stage. Yue?!?!?

Sunshards

Chen lets the cool breeze of the sky castle blow through her morning bedhead. She's been sleeping in a room next to Jessic's quarters, and came over this morning in her jammies (the sky castle being chilly, she has a set of fleece pants and a fluffy pink t-shirt) to sit on the balcony and chat before they got into the day's studies. There's supposed to be a fighting tournament too, or maybe it's been going on already? She lost track of time, but probably should check in on her friends at some point. She hasn't seen Rose either, but surely by now the candle had burned down and Rose was fine and just biding her time. Still, she should check in.

But for the moment, she was sipping hot cocoa and sitting on a nice stone deck looking out over the vastness of an open sky. She felt comfortable with Jessic. Comfortable enough to skip dressing or brushing her hair. Maybe it was just that she'd already been trussed up and dangled for the whole town? Or more likely, it was that they'd been sitting and watching anime together and you stopped caring when it got late into the night and early in the morning. There was just, Chen didn't know, just something about those times of day that said you didn't have to be all put together and pretty yet.

She breathed in the steam and took another sip. She loved that Jessic loved warm drinks, and warm clothes and warm things. It was incredibly sweet, and somehow cuter because she was such a big powerful dragon. She wondered if that was part of the story Jessic was telling? All these thought about art and culture. Was everything part of someone's story? Maybe that wasn't the right way to look at it. Maybe it was the other way around: you thought and you felt and you believed things and the stuff that you cared about sincerely is what became your story. That seemed more right to Chen. She was inspired by how sincerely Yue seemed to love learning about this world. And even more so by how much Rose had enjoyed their play. And the face she had made when they were brought up here, the blush in her cheeks, that was the real Rose for sure. It made Chen blush a little thinking about it, and she hid it in the steam and the whipped cream of her cup (because obviously hot cocoa came with whipped cream, Jessic wasn't a monster).

"I think you're right." She said presently, looking over her cup. "I think, there are things I've cared about, but watching anime, learning about all these different stories that people have made, I feel like it's giving me things to think about. Being told that you can do anything you want with a sunshard isn't that helpful, you know? 'Anything' is so many things that trying to pull something out of thin air just ends up being nothing. Or it ends up being some big monster thing like my moms did to train me or maybe like Yin does. Or it's like, a good cup of hot cocoa and a relaxing bath or something. Which is okay, but I feel like there could be so much more."

She sips for a second. "Why do you think some of the princesses push their stories so hard though? I mean, I understand that when, or if I get a shard, I get to make my own domain. A-and since I'm deciding, I get to make stuff in my domain how I want just like you do here. But some of them, it feels like they try to force everybody into their story. That's kind of what Qiu does, and I get there's a way to work with her that's like letting her be important and giving her the special fight without just being sad and angry. But it's still like she's getting the shards to force everyone to have the fight she wants. And I think, like, Mommy Ysel used to be like that and kind of still is, she just decided that she was good with Ys and its vassals and doesn't go off and fight so much any more. And Yin is kind of...like she turned Hyra into a wolf because Hyra upset her. She didn't ask if Hyra wanted that, or see how it worked out, she just left in a huff when I wouldn't help her and I think she's probably still mad at me about that. But like, she's sooo pushy. I think that having that kind of power should be like, you offer your vision to the world and people get to choose how they want to live in it. It shouldn't be like, like forcing people to be something they don't want to be."

Chen thought for a second. "Or even, I think, that forcing people is the thing that's bad. Like, what made me feel so bad is that when I found that I really liked some of the important princess stuff, my moms were forcing me to to be what I wanted to be. Like it stopped being my thing and became the thing they were forcing on me. Even though I wanted it! That's different from, y'know, all the kidnapping and play and stuff that we all do. I mean, sure you hung me over the square so I could wiggle and squirm to entertain everyone cuz I was captured, but that was, was because I wanted to be that role and it was fun, and I knew it was part of the role I took on and was okay with it."

Chen thought for several more seconds, a space that Jessic was giving her to work through her own mind, she realized. "I want to come up with a beautiful story that makes me happy and that inspires other people to join me. I want to fit in the other princesses stories too and make them happy, but I don't want to force people into them, I don't want people to be hurt and sad. And, I'm gonna stand up for anyone who needs help." She nodded once, emphatically, and then emptied the rest of her hot chocolate.

Dark Age (playtest): The Lands of Pendragon

Tristan
You find Sir Hector in the corridor outside the great hall, opposite the courtyard. All the spaces facing the courtyard are dark at Constance’s explicit direction, but on this side Hector seems to have brought a torch with her and considered it safe enough to set it in a wall sconce and have her hands free to cross in front of her for a proper stance of unapproachable contemplation.

She therefore starts when you approach her with puff pastry and gives you a look that, were it not obviously just a misleading trick of the flickering light, you might briefly have described as chagrin.

“I thought you’d be avidly spying on the courtyard like half the servants” she says, taking the offered pastry. “Even if your lady made certain that nobody would be able to see anything but silhouettes from the windows. But instead you’ve come to find me. To what do I owe the honor?”

That is, as far as you can tell, the most friendly greeting she’s ever offered, and there is no better opportunity to ask pointed questions. How do you ask her of her jealousy?

[and roll appropriately for however you seek to learn such pointed things.]

TSL: The Excess of Flowers

“Hi! Peri! Slow down, you know we can’t all be savants. Which soldier do you mean? Give me a name if it’s safe.”

Giriel tried not to sigh as they were walking. For one thing, a big sigh meant inhaling a lot of dust from all the raiders on dry mountain roads. The lowlands had a recent storm, but it hadn’t made it up this far, not yet at least. So, the tension in the air wasn’t just from Uusha, but spoke of thunderstorms to come sometime soon. They’d be welcome when they came, a reminder that the fury of the heavens was beyond all these petty squabbles and even the dead paid due respect to such things.

Dealing with Peregrine was a challenge though. She had eaten her soup at least. She hadn’t noticed who it had come from, of course, or where, but it was right there next to her and other people were eating and that had been enough to get her body going through the motions from muscle memory even if her mind had been elsewhere. It was a blessing that she had said hello at last, and now she’d launched into theory. And while Giriel might be able to understand it, she knew that she couldn’t try to do it at Peregrine’s speed. Plus, one did have to say the safety things very carefully. For all Giriel knew, “that soldier” was a euphemism for some high ranking demon and Peregrine would just drop the name in the middle of a field like it was nothing. Probably not, but one did have to be careful.

Really, Peregrine and Uusha made the perfect pair. Frustratingly so. A better knight would not have put Peregrine up to such blighted work no matter how good her theories. And a better witch would have talked some sense into Uusha in the first place before she’d gotten all this momentum and convinced herself she was acting for everybody’s good by disturbing their ancestors to engage in mass murder.

“And Peri” she added, before the other witch could launch into a second run of theory, “why are you raising the dead for this? I heard about signs of demons near here on my way up. If you’ve got a good theory to test with your music, turn your magic on them and help everyone, not on young soldiers trying to make a living.”

Sunshards

Princess Chen is enraptured. There is no other word for it. Jessic has shown her something beautiful. And not just beautiful, but focused, niche, special. That people had these stories in their hearts, such specific people doing such absurd and specific things. Of course, she had known, that was after all how so many different princesses had their sunshards. But, she had understood this sort of vision only with her mind, not with her heart. Honestly, she hadn’t even really understood with her mind. When your main points of personal experience were Qiu, Yin, and your parents training you, it didn’t exactly make the idea of this kind of story enticing.

Imagine, if you will, growing up and thinking to yourself, in a world full of magic, “my job is to keep everything just as it is” and practicing with the sword for such a purpose. There is still wonder, so many things to discover, but there is no drive there, only a sort of fear and a forgetfulness of the self.

So Chen is enraptured. She can’t tear herself away from these stories that match the ideas budding in her heart. But even as they end, she finds her mind carrying them on. She finds herself daydreaming during breaks, imagining during meals, and dreaming to herself of fantasies at night. She dreams not of the sort of force that Yin creates, or even the wild and free plains that Jezara has worked, but of something different, of cities filled with people who can change their shape at will, of sword flying with little wind leopards and being carried about by a Rose in full throated joy of herself, and a place where everyone can have a companion of any sort they wish.

It is not that she has convinced anyone of her vision yet, or suddenly escaped the dreams of every other person in her life. But as days pass, there is a new sort of conviction forming about what Chen wants in the world, one that might carry her against the pressures she faces. An underlying dream that suffuses her as she blinks in the sunlight of the sky castle, dazed and happy in a way she had quite nearly forgotten she could feel.