The Raam-in-disguise couldn’t help but to raise an eyebrow at just who had answered the door. She had expected a Yaga girl of some sort, not a foreign human of some import, and certainly not a man and his fox…. Hmm. Could they be from Mie’s caravan? The attire fit the profile. Lissa quickly ran the calculations in her head; had they too been petitioning for help from this necromancer girl? If so, they hadn’t been very successful, it seemed.
She was nearly taken off guard by the man’s parting question. In lieu of answering, she kept that raised eyebrow for his answer, before heading inside.
“Great. Well, if you can spare another moment of your peace and quiet, I do have a request. An unorthodox one, nonetheless,” she hedged, inviting herself into the Yaga girl’s home as she closed the door behind her. The first thing that struck her after entering was the manner of dressing of the necromancer girl. It was a bit unusual for the area, yes, but frankly, to Lissa it seemed downright cute and maid-like for a practitioner of dark magic. It was almost disarming. Her eyes briefly roamed over the girl’s cabin, curiously inspecting its interior, before her eyes fixed back on the necromancer’s green ones.
Judging by her dismissal of her pervious petitioner, this was likely the only chance or hook she had to get a serious consideration from her. Thankfully, Amos and Jolca had armed her with some somewhat useful information. “I’m here to request the rite of Amaranthine Adjudication.”
Akando nearly surprised Gideon with his greeting, almost catching him off guard. Looking to the hunter and relieved that it was a familiar face for once, Gideon merely nodded to acknowledge his presence as he continued to speak. An offer to meet the hunters would be a good change of pace, especially after the previously successful hunt he had completed for the Living Vein. Even if some of the hunters were out or still missing, it would be a good idea to get acquainted with the bulk of them.
"Ah, yes, the Living Vein... I wasn't so sure if they lived around these parts or not. Perhaps they, too, were misplaced with the Elder Beast's sudden migration?" Gideon stroked his chin in curiosity, before nodding to Akando's offer. "And yes, I'd love to meet the other hunters. If my hypothesis is correct, it may be good to discuss what I know about this beast, so that the rest may know of what to do when running into one. It would also be prudent to continue discussing plans to hunt more... sustainably. The encounter with the Kyrnith we had still worries me."
Before Gideon followed Akando, he glared at Sorcha's direction once more.
"Speaking of worries, do you know of that strange swordswoman? I can't quite put my finger on it, but there's something... odd about her."
“...its something from the old world.” Yuisa flatly stated, as though this was an obvious answer. “The magic they possessed back then is far beyond our understanding…but I believe ID was short for Identification or something.” She’d watch, somewhat unamused as Vammy began waving around the key they had found earlier. “I really don’t think-”
“Bzzt-Id-acce-bzzt- Welcome back, Director LaChanc-zzt.”
“...you certainly have the luck of demons.” Yuisa stiffly replied as the hologram vanished from the glass sphere, the sounds of metal and gears creaking and turning, unlocking from ancient and long, long centuries of slumber. Slowly the large metal doors would slide open, creaking and grinding against their old stones. It was a wonder this place had any power left, really.
On the other side of the door, was…just a small room. A metal box, mostly. Large. As soon as they’d step inside, a panel of buttons would light up on one of the panels. There seemed to be old letterings next to each, but it was too old, worn, and ancient to read…for Vammy, at least.
“...its an elevator, huh.” The demon uncharacteristically quietly replied as though she was afraid of being overheard. “Press the button on the bottom. Should take us there.”
And she was silent once again.
The goddess has an odd shaped device that is spewing fire and burning down a garden.
Current location: Old prison Time: afternoon Current Objective: Find the contraption the God Iva mentioned Potential Events:
Sella hissed, recoiling back from the cacophonous sound, instinctively losing the grip on her sword, head swimming from the loud noise as she’d fight to reorient herself. This, also allowed Finn to finally be free of her grasp as she’d released her grip, pulling back from him. Melleph fared only slightly better, being a bit further away, but still wasn’t fast enough to stop Soyala - who would plunge her own dagger into the Valtems neck, a large gash being cut into her flesh.
The result well…was near instant.
“...ah…”
Her body went limp instantly, a quiet final gasp of air escaping from her lungs.
“There we go, that makes this a bit more even, doesn’t it?” Soyala laughed derisively at Sella as she dropped Melleph’s limp body onto the ground.
“You…human…land-dwelling scum…!” Sella hissed. She was quickly recovering, and was getting ready to attack again it seemed like.
The goddess laughs at the result, smiling as though she if, nothing else, is satisfied with the outcome. Current location: Dawn Time: Afternoon Potential Events:
“When you first drink it, well…the body can have a particularly adverse reaction to it. Death. Hallucinations. Most first timers tend to get a bit rowdy and pick a fight with everyone, ahaha.” Jivka laughed nonchalantly. “Buuut eventually you’ll get used to it, and it makes the body stronger. Helps if you fight or work out during the high, ya know.” She’d pluck a few leaves from the vines. “Makes some people a bit more aggressive, though, if they’re a bad fit for it. Gotta mix it with a couple other things back home, too. I could show ya if you want.” The yaga would stuff the leaf into some of her pouches, likely to make more later.
“...say you’re an herbalist right?” Jivka said with an inquiring glance. “You ever heard of ‘Shalfey Blossom’?” She’d inquire. “...doubt it, eh. Its a local thing. Legend says its a cure-all for most physical maladies and can be used to make life-extending potions.”
The balls bounce around, rolling and bouncing around the box…and smack the goddess in the back of the head while she was apparently enjoying tea with someone. SHe angrily looked back at Nylah. Current location: Yaga Village Time: Morning Potential Events:
As soon as Lissa made her request, the Yaga went quiet. Eerily quiet. Her eyes looked Lissa up and down, arms folded across her chest and her mouth seemed to almost briefly curl into a snarl before she inhaled sharply.
“Do you…have any idea what you’re asking?” She’d reply coldly, exhaling her held breath. Judging from the icy glare she was now giving Lissa, she was not happy about this request in the slightest. “My kinsmen put you up to this, didn’t they? On the off chance you’re more educated about us then you appear, you should know your chance at successfully doing this is close to zero, but fine,” She’d shake her head. “I assume you’re here for the same reason that the other one is, so drag him back in here. As a show of good faith on my end, I’ll let both of you in the Adjudication, but there are a few things we should discuss first before we begin. As a follower of the Pale Violet, I must listen to such requests and judge them fair or not regardless of my personal desires. So present your case first.”
The information Jolca and Ambros would have given her about the Adjudication was that basically, it was a formal entreatment of the Goddess herself - and have her and one of her agents judge whether or not a particular issue was worth her time getting involved. The Death Goddess hardly ever got involved in mortal affairs, after all, and there were usually only two cases where she would directly intervene. If a great loss of life was about to come at the hands of foolish mortals, or if the request was of a personal interest to her.
Neither case would be easy to argue, here unless they could find something that was of personal interest to the goddess or convince her that allowing this to continue without her intervention would result in a mass loss of life.
“I must warn you, though,” She’d coldly state. “If you fail…then we won’t hear this case a second time, no matter what you desire - and in such a case, I will have more than enough permission and reason to remove you from bothering me.”
A maid with a purple blindfold and a broom suddenly shows up in the dialogue box. The Moon goddess, startled, runs away while the broom wielding maid chases her. Current location: Northern Snowfields Time: Morning Potential Events:
“That lady that showed up earlier today?” Akando frowned. “Don’t know much. She arrived this morning with an elf - apparently she’s her bodyguard or something. From the way she carries herself, though…she seems more like a barely tamed beast that if she wanted, would kill on a whim.” He’d start walking, leading the Raam towards the lodge near the edge of the village. “I’ve thought about asking if she could help around the village, but something tells me she’d say no from the way she seems to disregard everything else around her except the elf.”
Akando pushed open the door to the lodge, warmth welcoming the two as the sun slowly sank over the horizon. Smell of warmly cooked food met both as well, local herbs and spices tantalizingly wafting through the air. Hunting trophies hung on the walls, bears, and a few things that could only live deeper in the forest.
As for the hunters present, only about fifteen would greet Akando as he’d enter the spacious cabin. Most were more than friendly, too, greeting Gideon just as welcoming.
“I want to know more about those veins, though.” Akando would say. “The ground around here isn’t suitable for mining. We’ve looked, so most of our iron and metals are brought from that merchant, Mie. So if we could hunt these and have a somewhat stable supply, that’d be good for us.”
The moon goddess yawns, taking her haul of wood back towards a cabin in the distance…only to not look where she was going, and fall down a canyon. Thankfully, she respawned some distance away from her dropped loot. Current location: Dawn Time: Morning Potential Events:
Vammy was starting to feel the key wasn't going to work.... And then it did! It said something about a "Director LaChanc-" and then the door opened to the grinding of metal and stone. "Woohoo! It worked!" Vammy exclaimed until the door opened to reveal... "Huh? This is less that I expected...."
It was just a box. A metal box with some weird buttons lighting up. "A metal box?" She scratched the back of her head until a certain someone showed up in her head and told her to push the button on the bottom and that this was called an elevator. "Elevator. Never heard of that before." The demon elf commented, looking between the elevator and Yuisa. "Well then, my lovely and deliciously pretty partner, shall we continue on?" She asked before grabbing the human's hand and guiding her into this "elevator" and pushing the bottom button like her own personal demon told her. "I've never seen anything like this before. I take it this metal box will take us somewhere? That what a certain bitch told me before she made herself go super quiet again."
Death? Hallucinations? That wasn't any sort of small side effects to be sure, much less ones to speak so nonchalantly about, yet at the same time Nylah would listen on silently as she picked a good number of leaves for herself as well. She would need to dedicate this all to memory, get it all written down and such later perhaps. Just more ingredients too carefully add to her pouch for the time being though. More to look into, maybe see. If something could be used to lower the risks of these leaves, then perhaps the effects of making the body stronger could be integrated in smaller amounts into some kind of safer medicine? Maybe. It was a thought at least, even if it was an experimental one.
She would be curious to see how Jivka created the particular potion these leaves were associated with, at any rate, and would turn to look at the yaga and give an affirming nod to her offer.
...And then came the final thing.
“You ever heard of ‘Shalfey Blossom’?”
"Legend says its a cure-all for most physical maladies and can be used to make life-extending potions.”
The Mothraki suddenly froze in place for a moment, the shock of the news a bit jolting as Jivka continued. Shalfey Blossom. A cure-all? Life-extending potions? It sounded too good to be true, and yet Jivka had garnered Nylah's full and undivided attention even more so by simply mentioning it.
She would, however, attempt to loosen herself back up and 'relax' again before speaking to the other girl. Control her breathing, get her focus back on the person in front of her, etc. At the same time, however, the chance that she could...yes. She had to learn more. Understand more. Even if it only did so much, a building block toward a proper solution of 'that' was far better than nothing.
"I...haven't heard of it before, really. But you have me curious. What else does your people's legends say about it?"
And its location among those other details as well perhaps. Or potential locations if nothing else. Maybe places it used to or does grow? Whatever she knew, but without trying to be too intrusive or adamant about things. Just keep it to normal conversation. Yes. Because she was rather curious about it now indeed.
Kyr Reed acted as a sort of coagulant as well as sedative. Made people calmer…not particularly useful for treating frostbite on its own, but it was useful for staunching bleeding or injuries. Could be crushed into a paste with a variety of other things to achieve various effects. Wind-Leaf acted as more of a stimulant. When properly mixed with Kyr Reed it made salves and healing poultices good for bolstering the immune system and promoting natural healing. Coral Moss and Slug mucus were a bit harder to find, since the slugs only could be found in shallow water during the day, with Coral Moss being found in damp sea caves off the coast near the Goddess Spear. Slug Mucus was good for making topical salves for alleviating pain, while Coral Moss, when exposed to certain other substances actually heated itself to temperatures good for gentle rewarming of frost-bitten areas.
***Making anesthetics and preparing healing potions and salves.
It’d be easy enough to prepare both of those things especially with the things she had on hand. Fresh water for a base, crush the ingredients, then boil it to a broth. Simple enough, they didn’t have time to refine it. The Salves could be made by taking the same ingredients and crushing them into a paste without the water. Better for topical use on flesh wounds.
***Herbs In Yaga Territory
“A lotta the plants here you’ll have to dig a bit in the snow for.” She’d say. “They grow pretty well. Others you might find growing along the trees or even in some rocks. Just pay attention…like this one.” She’d say, using her foot to kick aside a pile of snow. Under it was a small plant, an herb with a fairly big root and small, three pronged leaves. “This one is a pretty potent poison. Makes an animals muscles lock up so they can’t move.” Jivka would lead Nylah through the forest for quite a while, pointing out a number of different plants and herbs. One could be used to induce vomiting - helpful for making someone spitup anything toxic they ate. A particular purple leafed plant was a pretty powerful hallucinogen and was sometimes used in yaga rituals, apparently.
“My favorite though is this one.” Jivka moved to a vine that was growing around a tree, pulling off one of the bright red flowers from it. “Oros leaf, we call it. If made right, it can really help one get stronger physically…well, if ya know survive the side effects. A number of the top Yagan hunters have to drink a draught made of this stuff to be recognized by all clans as anything more than a simple warrior.”
“When you first drink it, well…the body can have a particularly adverse reaction to it. Death. Hallucinations. Most first timers tend to get a bit rowdy and pick a fight with everyone, ahaha.” Jivka laughed nonchalantly. “Buuut eventually you’ll get used to it, and it makes the body stronger. Helps if you fight or work out during the high, ya know.” She’d pluck a few leaves from the vines. “Makes some people a bit more aggressive, though, if they’re a bad fit for it. Gotta mix it with a couple other things back home, too. I could show ya if you want.” The yaga would stuff the leaf into some of her pouches, likely to make more later.
***
***
***
***
-Acquired Lore/World Knowledge:
***Yaga Deity + Yaga Perspective On Rifelshka -
and slowly running her thumb across it. “It doesn’t have a name. Our deity, that is. We just know he exists and is the reason we survived the Moonless Era.” She’d pass it to Nylah for her to hold. “As for The Death goddess…” She lowered her voice, briefly glancing over her shoulders despite there being quite obviously no one else in the cabin. “We say the rest of the gods are lesser spirits born from our nameless deity when he fell from the heavens, his body was formed into these lesser Spirits. But the Death Goddess? She existed before him and if you believe the elder, had a direct hand in creating the Moonless Era and seeks to kill our deity once more. That’s all I’m saying.” She’d fall silent, seemingly nervously scratching the back of her head. “Uh, sorry I’m gonna take a walk. Hate talking about this, but one more thing. Do not mention her name here, outsider. That’s a good way to get every Yaga to want you to leave. Say she hears every time her name is spoken and we don’t want to try any attention from her.”
***Why the Krysa are at the Yaga Village and are attacking Mie -
Something has the Krysa spooked.” A brusque reply the Yaga ignored the snow starting to fall, leading the three towards a small house towards the middle of the village. “Someone trying to attack one of their wisemen or something? I dunno. They blame that merchant that travels through here around this time.”
***About Novak:
First, I know that I don't look the part of one of Mie's people. I originally wasn't- I was just some nobody that her caravan picked up, and she was gracious enough to allow me to earn a living working for her. She sent me to sneak out since I'm neither an Oni nor a Chagawa human, thus they have no reason to suspect that I'm with her."
***Mie's Caravan Situation Information As Acquired from Novak:
"I presume Haruno already filled you in as to what our situation is. Nothing's changed since she left- we're still holding out, but our food is running low and we need to get this resolved one way or the other. However, I did manage to learn some rather interesting things on my way here. The Krysa woman you saw me with, Lady Marushka, is with the Office of Internal Peace. She's acting on direct orders from the Tsarita herself, hunting some "person of interest" in the snowfields. I also overheard a mention from her guards about the life of someone important being threatened. Sir something...Ost...no...Osh...Ozven, that's it. Sir Ozven, they said."
***
***
***
-{Enthralling Dust} (Racial): Mothraki produce a potent pollen like dust upon their wings. Merely by existing they spread this where they go, though it's mostly harmless if not inhaled in large quantities. Causes hallucinations and dulls one's senses. As one may expect, people tend to frown upon this sort of thing.
-{Journeyman Light Magic}: A magic encompassing pure light and illumination, ranging from harmless orbs to light up one’s path all the way up to rays/beams of light as attacks to even light barriers and other light constructs such as swords and spears and shields and so forth. A versatile magic that does not call upon the fire of the sun, but does have its myriad uses and capabilities.
-{Novice Herbalist}: Non-magical practices of a healer, ranging from identifying or figuring out the use of new herbs and recognizing familiar ones, to making things like certain poultices and healing-based alchemy/potion-making, to how to handle wounds/injuries and such using these things.
-{Herbalist's Bag}: A simple leather bag with a well-built shoulder strap, that is filled with a good number of many types of herbs, a good amount of bandages, and finally tools to make tonics, poultices, and potions alongside a scare few pre-prepared ones that are within the bag itself. She usually wears it around most of the time. (EDIT: Has refilled her supplies, with three one total healing pots remaining now. Also now has four three vials of baby-chameleon-thing poison.)
-{Small Knife}: A gift from her mother, made with a smoothed-out bone handle and treated with certain oils, mainly used to help cut things like vines and plants when out collecting herbs and so forth. Also a very niche emergency self-defense tool.
-{Food}: A small pouch sitting on her opposite hip that contains a few strips of preserved game meat and a few dried edible herbs from the local area. Not much in amount, since it was meant to be snacks for heading into the woods to gather herbs before 'that' happened.
-{Wristband}: A simple little bracelet made of pretty stones dyed in various colors, carefully having had a hole made through each, sitting on a band made of twisted and treated leather strips. Worn on her left wrist and given as a gift to her by her mother. How long it took to acquire or even make is unknown.
-{Cuteness}: She is a definitely cute moth girl. This is inherent to her existence. Yes.
Although Lissa sometimes tended to behave otherwise, she was not intimidated by the Yaga’s cold response, although she had to wonder why it was so frosty. She had her own guesses, ranging from how the girl was simply lazy, or it was because she had been more or less pressganged into following the Death Goddess’s tenets, but it wasn’t something she could divine. More importantly, she hadn’t said no, although given her own understanding of the ritual, it wasn’t something she could say no to. “Yes, and yes, and I understand,” she replied. She’d traveled far and wide enough that she’d had some information on the Death Goddess, but never as much as she truly wanted. After all, she hadn’t known of the Adjudication until she had been told by her kinsman, as she said. At the mention of the other man, she frowned for a moment as she hesitated, but she ultimately shrugged. “Okay, I’ll bring him back in,” she nodded, before dipping back out for her other visitor.
Scanning the clearing, she quickly found her mark and called him back over. “Hey, fellow petitioner,” she waved. “You’ve been given a second chance, courtesy of yours truly! Assuming you’re here for the same reason I am, and I think you are, we’re going to make a very good case.”
That done, she dipped back into Baba’s cabin, only to be put off again by her hostile tone. “Well… alright. It was my understanding of how this worked, anyway.”
Novak was surprised at being let back in by the white-haired woman. Whatever she said to the Yaga must have been very convincing.
"Thank you, very much," he replied as he re-entered the house, but not before glancing around to see if anyone else was nearby. The wards had already failed to keep two people out, after all.
He took a moment to think, then the Yaga witch in the eye, and spoke.
"Here is my case. The caravan whom I belong to is besieged by the Krysa and Yaga, trapped and unable to flee. They blame us for an assassination attempt of a Krysa noble, and will accept neither surrender nor withdrawal from their lands. I only managed to slip out because they didn't recognize me as one of the caravaners. If the caravan cannot get out of there, they will die whether by starvation or being killed for a crime they don't even know about."
This wasn't anything so far that the Yaga didn't already know, but he wasn't finished yet. Lady Mie had tasked him with a contingency in case he couldn't find Dawn, and if Dawn was unable of get them out, he might not have any choice left but to go with it.
"There's more to it than that- if the Krysa and Yaga cannot be convinced to let us go, or we cannot somehow escape, we are going to escalate things, and it will get bloody. Lady Mie has ordered that, if all else fails, I am to head to Chawaga and seek the aid of the Oni clans, to come here and rescue what's left of the caravan by force. If they want to bring battle to peaceful caravaners, we'll oblige them the likes of which they won't expect. And heavens help the Krysa and Yaga if the rescue is too late, because if the Oni of Chagawa come all the way here only to find Lady Mie dead, the bloodshed probably won't stop there. Unless, of course, the Krysa and Yaga can be convinced to let my friends go."
He wasn't sure how feasible it was, only that it was what Lady Mie instructed him. Would the Oni listen to him? Would they go all this way here to save Lady Mie? And could it even be done before she and the other caravaners ran out of food?"
"Look, I've been trying my hardest to piece together this puzzle myself, in hopes that with the aid of the folks from Dawn, we could gather enough evidence to convince the besiegers to let the caravan go. But with the Krysa on edge and suspicious of everyone, with an intelligence officer snooping around on the orders of their Tsarita, it's difficult enough to gather the basic facts without painting a massive target on my back, let alone assemble a case that could bring pause to the rat-folk.
That was his case. He turned to the newcomer, silently waiting for her to make her own case. He was unsure if a goddess would deign to intervene in a mortal matter, but he needed to try every possible angle to help Lady Mie's group.
“Are you that much of an uneducated fool?” Yuisa replied gruffly. “Surely you know what a pulley is and how one uses and raises cargo…or are the elves just that backwards?” She’d lean against the back wall of the metal box as the sound of grinding gears started, the box jolting suddenly and then slowly starting to descend, door now apparently jammed open as ancient cables and wires creaked and groaned under the weight.
“...I’m surprised this thing still works given its apparent age.”
Soon enough, though, the elevator would give them a glimpse of its destination. Through the jammed open doors, the pair could see an absolutely massive room as the elevator descended into the floor several meters below. It was a large room made of some sort of metal, massive steel beams running across the ceiling…and the most impressive thing, though, was what seemed to be another one of those stone golems, slumped over some sort of metal beams that were supporting its heavy, inactive frame.
As the elevator neared the floor, there was the sound of a snapping wire. Yuisa’s eyes widened. Well, turns out it didn’t quite work completely well after all as the elevator began its plummet.
The goddess has an odd shaped device that is spewing fire and burning down a garden.
Current location: Old prison Time: afternoon Current Objective: Find the contraption the God Iva mentioned Potential Events:
“Well, before you get any ideas its just that. A legend.” Jivka said to the Mothraki. “Supposedly it grows someplace to the north east ‘ice burns like fire’ and ‘where one finds clouds resting upon the ground’.” Jivka continued, frowning a bit. “No idea what that means, but…so, the Aspect of Wisdom was returning from a trek to the countries to the western continents when they came upon a plague stricken Yaga village.” She’d pause, glancing at Nylah.
“You following me? So a mother asked the Aspect to heal her daughter. After refusing it’d eventually agree. The cure was a flower that the Aspect grew within the ‘heart of a glacier’. The village was eventually cured and the Aspect continued their travels back south.” Jivka shrugged. "Can't say much more than that. I'm no lore expert...but I think its a neat story at least. Anyone who found that herb would earn a lot of respect among the others."
The balls bounce around, rolling and bouncing around the box…and smack the goddess in the back of the head while she was apparently enjoying tea with someone. SHe angrily looked back at Nylah. Current location: Yaga Village Time: Morning Potential Events:
The Yaga witch tapped her finger against her forearm as Novak spoke his case. It was hard to tell what exactly she was thinking. Aside from a twitch of one of her ears, she revealed only an emotion of mild irritation still. For a few long seconds after Novak had finished speaking, only the cold wind blowing through a nearby window would be the only sound until Baba elected to speak again.
“...and?” She would soon speak up. “Sure, it’s tragic…but what of it? People die every day in this world, either due to the selfish action or inaction of others or simply due to the elements. It’s not our place to upset the natural course of events.” She’d walk over to a few plants hanging on the wall, pulling them down. A type of onion from the looks of them. “Suppose you’re right. The Oni come and slaughter the Krysa and Yaga. Its hardly a matter for us. Would you expect us to intervene just because those religious zealots in the southern provinces ignorantly slaughter those not like them?” The yaga glanced towards Lissa, wrenching the onion bulb from its leaves as if to make a point.
“I do hope you have something more compelling to add to this argument because quite frankly this feels like a waste of everyone’s time and I can assure you my lady loathes having her time wasted.”
Just as charming as ever, it seemed.
“...so let me ask you a question before your companion here makes her case.” She fixed Novak with a genuinely curious look. “I said so before…but what would you do if your employer is guilty? Would you admonish her yourself? Side with the Krysa since it means they are in the ‘right’?”
A maid with a purple blindfold and a broom suddenly shows up in the dialogue box. The Moon goddess, startled, runs away while the broom wielding maid chases her. Current location: Northern Snowfields Time: Morning Potential Events:
"We're so 'backwards' that we use magic for such mundane implements." Vammy mentioned, as she stared at the open door wondering if they would close back. They would not. "Besides, what use is attaching such things to giant mushrooms?" Vammy mentioned, derisive of her home as she turned to her servant.
"If it was magical I wouldnt be so surprised but... Well, it's doing well, I guess." Vammy mentioned as she caught a glimpse of their destination. It was oddly made of metal for the most part rather than of stone or out of stone. Well, part of it. The steel beams themselves were an unexpected sight. In the midst of her pondering the continual sight of golems, there was a loud snap. She knew little about how this elevator contraption truly worked, but ahe knew that the snap was related to the now rapidly descending box.
Frowning, Vammy scooped Yuisa into her arms. "Hope you like flying, dont bite your tongue." The demon then jumped out the open doors of the elevator. She used her magical power to levitate in the air and blasted fire from her feet to slow their descent. As planned, it didnt take them too long to reach the ground in a safer manner.
“Well, before you get any ideas its just that. A legend.”
"A-Ah, yes, of course. Apologies..."
Yes, just a legend. A bit disheartening, but at the same time it wasn't exactly a hopeless matter either. There was a direction and description of sorts of the location it was in. Likewise at least some of the information felt like she could make some kind of sense of it. Well, try to at least.
Certainly 'where one finds clouds resting on the ground' could mean a couple of things. It could mean a place covered in a dense fog or mist, for one thing. But it could also mean the top of a great mountain, perhaps, where the earth seemed to meet with the sky. And the latter thing felt like it made some more sense to her, at least for the time being, as a more valid potential choice of location then. In that vein it was also a start in a potential right direction to find this legendary herb, if nothing else.
Meanwhile the other clue of the place being where 'ice burns like fire' was itself more mysterious. Was the place on fire and cold at the same time or something? One could set a fire in the middle of a wintery place, they'd done that just getting there, but on the top of a mountain potentially? Odd. Very odd.
But for now she quietly nodded back at Jivka as the Yaga girl finished describing the legend to her.
"As you said, it is certainly quite the story indeed."
Maybe some of what she'd gathered could be used to at least alleviate some of her mother's suffering whenever they got back. At least so she could buy some more time to try to look into this potential lead. Legend or not, even if she could find something even partly like the legend growing in such a place then it would be worth it. Even just to bring about minor improvements toward a cure, or finding part of one, all of it was better than the nothing she'd found so far otherwise on her own.
...Though in some part, she did wonder how things were going for the others right now. Not that Eirhild had much to do sitting there to keep warm, but surely Lissa and Novak were each up to something out there perhaps?
Kyr Reed acted as a sort of coagulant as well as sedative. Made people calmer…not particularly useful for treating frostbite on its own, but it was useful for staunching bleeding or injuries. Could be crushed into a paste with a variety of other things to achieve various effects. Wind-Leaf acted as more of a stimulant. When properly mixed with Kyr Reed it made salves and healing poultices good for bolstering the immune system and promoting natural healing. Coral Moss and Slug mucus were a bit harder to find, since the slugs only could be found in shallow water during the day, with Coral Moss being found in damp sea caves off the coast near the Goddess Spear. Slug Mucus was good for making topical salves for alleviating pain, while Coral Moss, when exposed to certain other substances actually heated itself to temperatures good for gentle rewarming of frost-bitten areas.
***Making anesthetics and preparing healing potions and salves.
It’d be easy enough to prepare both of those things especially with the things she had on hand. Fresh water for a base, crush the ingredients, then boil it to a broth. Simple enough, they didn’t have time to refine it. The Salves could be made by taking the same ingredients and crushing them into a paste without the water. Better for topical use on flesh wounds.
***Herbs In Yaga Territory
“A lotta the plants here you’ll have to dig a bit in the snow for.” She’d say. “They grow pretty well. Others you might find growing along the trees or even in some rocks. Just pay attention…like this one.” She’d say, using her foot to kick aside a pile of snow. Under it was a small plant, an herb with a fairly big root and small, three pronged leaves. “This one is a pretty potent poison. Makes an animals muscles lock up so they can’t move.” Jivka would lead Nylah through the forest for quite a while, pointing out a number of different plants and herbs. One could be used to induce vomiting - helpful for making someone spitup anything toxic they ate. A particular purple leafed plant was a pretty powerful hallucinogen and was sometimes used in yaga rituals, apparently.
“My favorite though is this one.” Jivka moved to a vine that was growing around a tree, pulling off one of the bright red flowers from it. “Oros leaf, we call it. If made right, it can really help one get stronger physically…well, if ya know survive the side effects. A number of the top Yagan hunters have to drink a draught made of this stuff to be recognized by all clans as anything more than a simple warrior.”
“When you first drink it, well…the body can have a particularly adverse reaction to it. Death. Hallucinations. Most first timers tend to get a bit rowdy and pick a fight with everyone, ahaha.” Jivka laughed nonchalantly. “Buuut eventually you’ll get used to it, and it makes the body stronger. Helps if you fight or work out during the high, ya know.” She’d pluck a few leaves from the vines. “Makes some people a bit more aggressive, though, if they’re a bad fit for it. Gotta mix it with a couple other things back home, too. I could show ya if you want.” The yaga would stuff the leaf into some of her pouches, likely to make more later.
***Legendary Herb According To Yaga Legend:
“You ever heard of ‘Shalfey Blossom’?” She’d inquire. “...doubt it, eh. Its a local thing. Legend says its a cure-all for most physical maladies and can be used to make life-extending potions.”
-------
Well, before you get any ideas its just that. A legend.” Jivka said to the Mothraki. “Supposedly it grows someplace to the north east ‘ice burns like fire’ and ‘where one finds clouds resting upon the ground’.” Jivka continued, frowning a bit. “No idea what that means, but…so, the Aspect of Wisdom was returning from a trek to the countries to the western continents when they came upon a plague stricken Yaga village.” She’d pause, glancing at Nylah.
“You following me? So a mother asked the Aspect to heal her daughter. After refusing it’d eventually agree. The cure was a flower that the Aspect grew within the ‘heart of a glacier’. The village was eventually cured and the Aspect continued their travels back south.” Jivka shrugged. "Can't say much more than that. I'm no lore expert...but I think its a neat story at least. Anyone who found that herb would earn a lot of respect among the others."
***
***
***
-Acquired Lore/World Knowledge:
***Yaga Deity + Yaga Perspective On Rifelshka -
and slowly running her thumb across it. “It doesn’t have a name. Our deity, that is. We just know he exists and is the reason we survived the Moonless Era.” She’d pass it to Nylah for her to hold. “As for The Death goddess…” She lowered her voice, briefly glancing over her shoulders despite there being quite obviously no one else in the cabin. “We say the rest of the gods are lesser spirits born from our nameless deity when he fell from the heavens, his body was formed into these lesser Spirits. But the Death Goddess? She existed before him and if you believe the elder, had a direct hand in creating the Moonless Era and seeks to kill our deity once more. That’s all I’m saying.” She’d fall silent, seemingly nervously scratching the back of her head. “Uh, sorry I’m gonna take a walk. Hate talking about this, but one more thing. Do not mention her name here, outsider. That’s a good way to get every Yaga to want you to leave. Say she hears every time her name is spoken and we don’t want to try any attention from her.”
***Why the Krysa are at the Yaga Village and are attacking Mie -
Something has the Krysa spooked.” A brusque reply the Yaga ignored the snow starting to fall, leading the three towards a small house towards the middle of the village. “Someone trying to attack one of their wisemen or something? I dunno. They blame that merchant that travels through here around this time.”
***About Novak:
First, I know that I don't look the part of one of Mie's people. I originally wasn't- I was just some nobody that her caravan picked up, and she was gracious enough to allow me to earn a living working for her. She sent me to sneak out since I'm neither an Oni nor a Chagawa human, thus they have no reason to suspect that I'm with her."
***Mie's Caravan Situation Information As Acquired from Novak:
"I presume Haruno already filled you in as to what our situation is. Nothing's changed since she left- we're still holding out, but our food is running low and we need to get this resolved one way or the other. However, I did manage to learn some rather interesting things on my way here. The Krysa woman you saw me with, Lady Marushka, is with the Office of Internal Peace. She's acting on direct orders from the Tsarita herself, hunting some "person of interest" in the snowfields. I also overheard a mention from her guards about the life of someone important being threatened. Sir something...Ost...no...Osh...Ozven, that's it. Sir Ozven, they said."
***
***
***
-{Enthralling Dust} (Racial): Mothraki produce a potent pollen like dust upon their wings. Merely by existing they spread this where they go, though it's mostly harmless if not inhaled in large quantities. Causes hallucinations and dulls one's senses. As one may expect, people tend to frown upon this sort of thing.
-{Journeyman Light Magic}: A magic encompassing pure light and illumination, ranging from harmless orbs to light up one’s path all the way up to rays/beams of light as attacks to even light barriers and other light constructs such as swords and spears and shields and so forth. A versatile magic that does not call upon the fire of the sun, but does have its myriad uses and capabilities.
-{Novice Herbalist}: Non-magical practices of a healer, ranging from identifying or figuring out the use of new herbs and recognizing familiar ones, to making things like certain poultices and healing-based alchemy/potion-making, to how to handle wounds/injuries and such using these things.
-{Herbalist's Bag}: A simple leather bag with a well-built shoulder strap, that is filled with a good number of many types of herbs, a good amount of bandages, and finally tools to make tonics, poultices, and potions alongside a scare few pre-prepared ones that are within the bag itself. She usually wears it around most of the time. (EDIT: Has refilled her supplies, with three one total healing pots remaining now. Also now has four three vials of baby-chameleon-thing poison.)
-{Small Knife}: A gift from her mother, made with a smoothed-out bone handle and treated with certain oils, mainly used to help cut things like vines and plants when out collecting herbs and so forth. Also a very niche emergency self-defense tool.
-{Food}: A small pouch sitting on her opposite hip that contains a few strips of preserved game meat and a few dried edible herbs from the local area. Not much in amount, since it was meant to be snacks for heading into the woods to gather herbs before 'that' happened.
-{Wristband}: A simple little bracelet made of pretty stones dyed in various colors, carefully having had a hole made through each, sitting on a band made of twisted and treated leather strips. Worn on her left wrist and given as a gift to her by her mother. How long it took to acquire or even make is unknown.
-{Cuteness}: She is a definitely cute moth girl. This is inherent to her existence. Yes.
“Right. I think we’re on the same team, after all.”
Lissa’s thoughts were confirmed the moment that the man made his case, which was a succinct summary of what she herself had learned thus far. Still, it was interesting that another one of the caravan had made it out of the siege. The fact that they intended to break the siege by bringing down the rest of the Oni clans was news in itself, although she suspected it wasn’t nearly as simple as that.
“Right. Well… I’m pretty sure this relatively minor affair might actually precipitate a region-wide mass casualty event, if you’ll excuse my clinical phrasing of the picture I’m getting,” Lissa started, tapping the side of her chin with an index finger as she made herself comfortable in the Yaga necromancer’s home, despite her little display of abusing her onion bulb.
“You see, the village of Dawn was a major settlement that’s not too far from here, if you’re not already aware of it. Recently, it’s been… hit with a small series of disasters, to the point where they’re relying on critical aid in the form of goods, medicine, and supplies from Mie’s caravan,” she explained. “Without the trade route being clear, in the absence of another source of external help, Dawn itself may cease to exist, together with its inhabitants and any tertiary hamlets that rely on it. I wouldn’t be surprised if they do send a force of their own to preclude such an event, as counterproductive as it might be.”
She glanced over at Novak. “And if what my fellow petitioner says is true, then the village will truly be in trouble if armed conflict does come to the region—it’d be even worse than not having access to caravans. To summarize, if we allow this to go on… you would be staring down the face of an entire region that’s decimated and depopulated, from famine, war, and probably pestilence too… and as a humanist, that’s really not something I want to see pass.”
"A bodyguard for an elf? Hm... tell me more about this later, perhaps tomorrow if they will still be about."
Gideon thought about the stranger once again. Perhaps his concerns may be addressed if he were to meet the swordswoman's charge. For now, though, there was the need to properly meet and address the other hunters. Gideon followed Akando into the lodge, bowing his head to the hunters about in response to their salutations.
"These Living Veins... I'm still not entirely sure if they are prevalent here. I'd have to do more studies on them for sure, perhaps figure out a way to hunt them without the need of multiple Stonesingers. They tend to blend in fairly well."
With that said, Gideon would position himself somewhat to the center of the lodge, somewhere where he could get the attention of the hunters.
"Well met, everyone. My name is Gideon, although I'm sure Akando has already told you all about me. I've had my share of experiences hunting across the lands, myself. I believe if we can work together, we can resolve the issues we have with both food and resources after that blizzard had occured. While I will defer to you all in matters regarding the local fauna, there are some concerns I would like to bring to the table as well..."
Gideon woulld continue to discuss with the hunters, making sure to mention the importance of sustainability once more especially after his and Akando's encounter with the Kyrnith.
The main topic Gideon would get into, however, is the potential prevalence of any new or as-of-yet undiscovered beasts that lay in Dawn's hinterlands. In particular, he would cite the Living Veins as an example, going into everything he has ascertained from his initial encounter with the beast. This includes the best places to shoot or throw a spear at the beast, as well as how vicous a bite from a Living Vein could be.
This is a waste of time, this stubborn dog has made it very clear she won't lift a finger to help, Novak thought as Lissa spoke her case. The Yaga was still quite unconvinced and still quite indifferent to his friends' plight. Novak couldn't help but wonder, however, just how deep was her dedication to her goddess' tenets of callous non-intervention? Would she be singing a different tune if the Krysa interrogators got hold of her? Was all her talk about not fearing death just bravado, or did she really believe it?
The real question he wondered was this: was she a foolish sorceress yet to experience a real test of her faith, or was this the end result of someone who had already been thoroughly broken?
"The right decision?" he asked angrily. "Helping them to starve out a caravan over the actions of one person is not a remotely right decision, especially when they have neither told us why they want us dead or made any offers of surrender! Even if one among our number was guilty, do all of us deserve to suffer for it, especially if we have no idea as to their guilt?" It was clear that this nihilistic witch was clearly getting on his nerves.
"But yes, if I had solid proof of her guilt, I would confront her over it."
"But you've posed a question to me, now let me pose one for you, Yaga," he spoke, now somewhat calmed. "If, as you suggested, I were to betray my caravan and side with the Krysa, would you begrudge me for taking it to its logical conclusion and also telling them where and how to find you? Would you begrudge your goddess if they were at your door and it was you that she refused to help deliver from the rat-folk?"
An elevator or pulley system was so…basic though. How could anyone not know them. Such words though, never left Yuisa’s throat as the elevator began to free fall from its cables snapping, its age having finally gotten the best of it.
“H-hey put me down!” Yuisa shouted as the demon scooped her up in her arms, intending to use her fire abilities to help slow her descent…well, it certainly was a good idea in practice, though perhaps she should practice doing something a bit more before putting it into use. As she leaped from the quickly descending elevator, accurately controlling her descent while also holding onto something proved a bit trickier then it seemed.
She’d end up slowing her descent, but it didn’t help Yuisa certainly wasn’t being cooperative, trying to wiggle free of Vammy’s grasp…and ultimately tipping her over and sending the both slamming into the ground from a few feet up.
Conveniently, and likely to the demons amusement, she’d end up face planting into Yuisa’s chest.
“Get…offf…” She’d complain.
They were in the deepest part of this prison it seemed. Was it some sort of workshop? The stone golems seemed to be made here, and there were so many old storage shelves, boxes, and unidentifiable tools…
A small creature, wrapped in an orange coat of some sort, with what seemed to be a cheshire grin, but with no eyes and a large set of rabbit like ears atop its head. In one of its four fingered grasp, was a book of some sort. A bow was strapped to its back as were several arrows. Spindly appendages that ended in sharp points served as its feet, making it seem as though it was walking on stilts, but it seemed to have no problem moving even though it was barely two feet tall.
It seemed briefly startled by the pair's appearance, and wasted no time in running down a large side hallway.
Not that they had to pursue it…they had a task to find something, after all.
The goddess has an odd shaped device that is spewing fire and burning down a garden.
Current location: Old prison Time: afternoon Current Objective: Find the contraption the God Iva mentioned Potential Events:
“...eh, what’s with that lukewarm response?” The yaga frowned, placing a hand on her hip and flicking the Mothraki’s forehead with a finger. “Do you wanna help me find it or not?” She’d ask, having hopefully gotten her attention. “Like I said, anyone that found it would be a pretty big deal around here and I wanna find it.” She’d assert again. “And I thought you’d be into it too, since ya seemed like ya know a lot about this stuff. Got any ideas?”
The balls bounce around, rolling and bouncing around the box…and smack the goddess in the back of the head while she was apparently enjoying tea with someone. SHe angrily looked back at Nylah. Current location: Yaga Village Time: Morning Potential Events:
“No.” The Yaga replied quickly, without even thinking about it. “Aside from the fact I would never ask her for help in the first place as I can handle myself, if she did refuse to help...well...then she has merely deemed by time in the mortal realm has come to an end and my penance served.” her voice grew quiet, a small, wistful smile forming on her lips. For once, her expression softened as she’d glance away from Novak. “Do not misunderstand. This is not blind devotion, but merely me accepting and understanding my past crimes and wishing to make them right.”
She’d go back to what was apparent cooking as Lissa would state her piece. Overall, she didn’t seem overly interested in the arguments presented. There was no personal reason for the goddess to get involved in this petty squabble, and as far as she was concerned this was just the nature and course of things.
“Then why don’t you solve this yourself?” The Yaga questioned Lissa. “If you’re aware of this, then you already have the knowledge and power you need to do something about it. Why do we need to get involved? What would you have us do, anyways?” She’d place a bowl of now ground up herbs on the table. “But fine, whatever. I can see both of you are serious about this. I do not believe your arguments warrant much merit, but I will see that she hears them and they are judged fairly. Tomorrow night. Come back tomorrow night and you’ll have your answer, right at sundown. In the twilight hours. If you’re even ten minutes late I’m assuming you’ve decided to forgo this foolish endeavor.”
A maid with a purple blindfold and a broom suddenly shows up in the dialogue box. The Moon goddess, startled, runs away while the broom wielding maid chases her. Current location: Northern Snowfields Time: Morning Potential Events:
The hunters greeted Gideon with apparent friendliness, most were eager to hear of this Raam sage that had come to their village and had also already helped them more than once. They’d listen to his words with some curiosity, and when allowed they’d start informing him of some more beasts that live in the area - notably in the deep forest and in the snow fields beyond the forest.
The former, was full of all manner of mysterious and nasty creatures, it seemed. Only the most skilled hunters went there and even then, most would prefer never stepping foot there, aside from Maira who was still missing. Grove Bears, things a particularly aggressive form of rabbits, and a number of other more curious beasts though they also mentioned that most animals living there had the protection of the Kyrnith, it seemed.
The snowfields, though, were a different story altogether. Aside from being where the Elder Beast that caused all this snow and ice were currently resting, it was fairly dangerous already. Snow Wraiths, occasionally some raiders, and other mysterious and large creatures that called desolate, uninhabited snowy places home.
After all this talk of business though, some of the hunters were starting to get a little bored.
“They say you traveled all over, right Raam?” He’d ask. “You must’ve seen and hunted lots of beasts out there. Got any stories?”
The moon goddess yawns, taking her haul of wood back towards a cabin in the distance…only to not look where she was going, and fall down a canyon. Thankfully, she respawned some distance away from her dropped loot. Current location: Dawn Time: Morning Potential Events:
"Very well," Novak replied. "I will to return here tomorrow night as instructed." Now that there was definitely nothing left to do, he turned and exited the house.
Thanks to this white-haired girl, they now had a possible lead that he did not anticipate- a petition with the goddess of death. Would she actually reply, though? The Yaga certainly didn't think so, and Novak couldn't fault her logic. Why would a deity intervene in a petty matter like this? And if they did, would they do so in such an open manner, or would they resort to machinations too subtle for mortals to notice?
Regardless, Novak wasn't going to stop in his efforts. It might be wise to avoid doing anything that could sabotage or interfere with the performance of the Yaga's ritual, but there was still more about this situation to learn, and more about the obstacles to assess.
Novak wouldn't wait outside for the girl whom he presumed was Lissa to exit the witch's house. He would need to get going, and it might be safer if they moved separately. Whatever questions he had could wait until after they were back in the town.
It was a wild ride but in the end they were, indeed, alive if maybe not a small bit worse for wear. For Vammy though, how she ended up was quite delightful. Face first in Yuisa's chest? This was great. "Hey sexy, get around here often?" She asked, being an absolute gremlin about it before relaxing a small bit despite the human's complaint. After a couple of good seconds, she leaned up toward the human's face and gave her a small peck on the cheek. "We'll have to do this again, babe." The demon continued to tease before pushing herself up quickly and grabbing the human's hand, helping her to her feet.
"Well, that was... A thing." She mentioned, looking around the area. "There's a lot of random stuff around here." The demon mentioned, noting all the random boxes and stuff. "It's a weird looking place. Do humans have places like this around?" She questioned Yuisa before noticing a small, odd thing. "W-wait. What's that thing?" It was a small creature with an orange coat, a wide grin, rabbit ears and.... No eyes? "It's cute in an odd kind of way." But as quickly as she noticed it, it ran away. "H-hey, wait a second!" She yelled at it, running to the place it ran down. She didn't continue the chase, not knowing the layout of this place. "Hey, uhh, that was a weird thing. What's your thoughts on this place, Yuisa?"
The Mothraki perked back up, snapping out of her brief spurt of doldrum, wings almost fluttering in brief excitement as she finally realized why Jivka had asked her about the legend in the first place. Yes! That'd be great. Or, well, it could be great! Yeah. Even if it took them around simply new places and new herbs it could be a useful adventure if nothing else! Anything that might get her one step closer to that goal would be worth it.
...It had to be.
"Ah! Yes! I would be honored to join your search for it! As for any ideas, ah...," she said, a hand coming to her own chin as her brows furrowed in deeper thought, "Well, the clue of 'where one finds clouds resting on the ground' could very well mean the top of a mountain I believe. Or some kind of valley or place covered in a fog or mist.
Er, the other bit about being where 'ice burns like fire' eludes me though. Does the ice hurt to touch? Does it truly burn bright like a fire?"
Nylah let out a small sigh. It was a guess, or at least the best one she could make on the fly. Fire was not good to touch, so maybe it was the same with the ice in this legendary clue? Or maybe it glowed like fire or such? Either? Both? Ugh. Maybe Jivka would have some kind of idea or another to add to things. But there was one last little clue that she'd overlooked in her initial thoughts, on second thought, that she felt like she could take a swing and a guess at.
"As for growing in the ‘heart of a glacier’, ah, I suppose that sounds like a cave or path leading inside of a glacier or such perhaps?
That is all I have for ideas at the moment, I'm afraid."
Kyr Reed acted as a sort of coagulant as well as sedative. Made people calmer…not particularly useful for treating frostbite on its own, but it was useful for staunching bleeding or injuries. Could be crushed into a paste with a variety of other things to achieve various effects. Wind-Leaf acted as more of a stimulant. When properly mixed with Kyr Reed it made salves and healing poultices good for bolstering the immune system and promoting natural healing. Coral Moss and Slug mucus were a bit harder to find, since the slugs only could be found in shallow water during the day, with Coral Moss being found in damp sea caves off the coast near the Goddess Spear. Slug Mucus was good for making topical salves for alleviating pain, while Coral Moss, when exposed to certain other substances actually heated itself to temperatures good for gentle rewarming of frost-bitten areas.
***Making anesthetics and preparing healing potions and salves.
It’d be easy enough to prepare both of those things especially with the things she had on hand. Fresh water for a base, crush the ingredients, then boil it to a broth. Simple enough, they didn’t have time to refine it. The Salves could be made by taking the same ingredients and crushing them into a paste without the water. Better for topical use on flesh wounds.
***Herbs In Yaga Territory
“A lotta the plants here you’ll have to dig a bit in the snow for.” She’d say. “They grow pretty well. Others you might find growing along the trees or even in some rocks. Just pay attention…like this one.” She’d say, using her foot to kick aside a pile of snow. Under it was a small plant, an herb with a fairly big root and small, three pronged leaves. “This one is a pretty potent poison. Makes an animals muscles lock up so they can’t move.” Jivka would lead Nylah through the forest for quite a while, pointing out a number of different plants and herbs. One could be used to induce vomiting - helpful for making someone spitup anything toxic they ate. A particular purple leafed plant was a pretty powerful hallucinogen and was sometimes used in yaga rituals, apparently.
“My favorite though is this one.” Jivka moved to a vine that was growing around a tree, pulling off one of the bright red flowers from it. “Oros leaf, we call it. If made right, it can really help one get stronger physically…well, if ya know survive the side effects. A number of the top Yagan hunters have to drink a draught made of this stuff to be recognized by all clans as anything more than a simple warrior.”
“When you first drink it, well…the body can have a particularly adverse reaction to it. Death. Hallucinations. Most first timers tend to get a bit rowdy and pick a fight with everyone, ahaha.” Jivka laughed nonchalantly. “Buuut eventually you’ll get used to it, and it makes the body stronger. Helps if you fight or work out during the high, ya know.” She’d pluck a few leaves from the vines. “Makes some people a bit more aggressive, though, if they’re a bad fit for it. Gotta mix it with a couple other things back home, too. I could show ya if you want.” The yaga would stuff the leaf into some of her pouches, likely to make more later.
***Legendary Herb According To Yaga Legend:
“You ever heard of ‘Shalfey Blossom’?” She’d inquire. “...doubt it, eh. Its a local thing. Legend says its a cure-all for most physical maladies and can be used to make life-extending potions.”
-------
Well, before you get any ideas its just that. A legend.” Jivka said to the Mothraki. “Supposedly it grows someplace to the north east ‘ice burns like fire’ and ‘where one finds clouds resting upon the ground’.” Jivka continued, frowning a bit. “No idea what that means, but…so, the Aspect of Wisdom was returning from a trek to the countries to the western continents when they came upon a plague stricken Yaga village.” She’d pause, glancing at Nylah.
“You following me? So a mother asked the Aspect to heal her daughter. After refusing it’d eventually agree. The cure was a flower that the Aspect grew within the ‘heart of a glacier’. The village was eventually cured and the Aspect continued their travels back south.” Jivka shrugged. "Can't say much more than that. I'm no lore expert...but I think its a neat story at least. Anyone who found that herb would earn a lot of respect among the others."
***
***
***
-Acquired Lore/World Knowledge:
***Yaga Deity + Yaga Perspective On Rifelshka -
and slowly running her thumb across it. “It doesn’t have a name. Our deity, that is. We just know he exists and is the reason we survived the Moonless Era.” She’d pass it to Nylah for her to hold. “As for The Death goddess…” She lowered her voice, briefly glancing over her shoulders despite there being quite obviously no one else in the cabin. “We say the rest of the gods are lesser spirits born from our nameless deity when he fell from the heavens, his body was formed into these lesser Spirits. But the Death Goddess? She existed before him and if you believe the elder, had a direct hand in creating the Moonless Era and seeks to kill our deity once more. That’s all I’m saying.” She’d fall silent, seemingly nervously scratching the back of her head. “Uh, sorry I’m gonna take a walk. Hate talking about this, but one more thing. Do not mention her name here, outsider. That’s a good way to get every Yaga to want you to leave. Say she hears every time her name is spoken and we don’t want to try any attention from her.”
***Why the Krysa are at the Yaga Village and are attacking Mie -
Something has the Krysa spooked.” A brusque reply the Yaga ignored the snow starting to fall, leading the three towards a small house towards the middle of the village. “Someone trying to attack one of their wisemen or something? I dunno. They blame that merchant that travels through here around this time.”
***About Novak:
First, I know that I don't look the part of one of Mie's people. I originally wasn't- I was just some nobody that her caravan picked up, and she was gracious enough to allow me to earn a living working for her. She sent me to sneak out since I'm neither an Oni nor a Chagawa human, thus they have no reason to suspect that I'm with her."
***Mie's Caravan Situation Information As Acquired from Novak:
"I presume Haruno already filled you in as to what our situation is. Nothing's changed since she left- we're still holding out, but our food is running low and we need to get this resolved one way or the other. However, I did manage to learn some rather interesting things on my way here. The Krysa woman you saw me with, Lady Marushka, is with the Office of Internal Peace. She's acting on direct orders from the Tsarita herself, hunting some "person of interest" in the snowfields. I also overheard a mention from her guards about the life of someone important being threatened. Sir something...Ost...no...Osh...Ozven, that's it. Sir Ozven, they said."
***
***
***
-{Enthralling Dust} (Racial): Mothraki produce a potent pollen like dust upon their wings. Merely by existing they spread this where they go, though it's mostly harmless if not inhaled in large quantities. Causes hallucinations and dulls one's senses. As one may expect, people tend to frown upon this sort of thing.
-{Journeyman Light Magic}: A magic encompassing pure light and illumination, ranging from harmless orbs to light up one’s path all the way up to rays/beams of light as attacks to even light barriers and other light constructs such as swords and spears and shields and so forth. A versatile magic that does not call upon the fire of the sun, but does have its myriad uses and capabilities.
-{Novice Herbalist}: Non-magical practices of a healer, ranging from identifying or figuring out the use of new herbs and recognizing familiar ones, to making things like certain poultices and healing-based alchemy/potion-making, to how to handle wounds/injuries and such using these things.
-{Herbalist's Bag}: A simple leather bag with a well-built shoulder strap, that is filled with a good number of many types of herbs, a good amount of bandages, and finally tools to make tonics, poultices, and potions alongside a scare few pre-prepared ones that are within the bag itself. She usually wears it around most of the time. (EDIT: Has refilled her supplies, with three one total healing pots remaining now. Also now has four three vials of baby-chameleon-thing poison.)
-{Small Knife}: A gift from her mother, made with a smoothed-out bone handle and treated with certain oils, mainly used to help cut things like vines and plants when out collecting herbs and so forth. Also a very niche emergency self-defense tool.
-{Food}: A small pouch sitting on her opposite hip that contains a few strips of preserved game meat and a few dried edible herbs from the local area. Not much in amount, since it was meant to be snacks for heading into the woods to gather herbs before 'that' happened.
-{Wristband}: A simple little bracelet made of pretty stones dyed in various colors, carefully having had a hole made through each, sitting on a band made of twisted and treated leather strips. Worn on her left wrist and given as a gift to her by her mother. How long it took to acquire or even make is unknown.
-{Cuteness}: She is a definitely cute moth girl. This is inherent to her existence. Yes.
The moment the Valtem's grip faltered-- Finnegan's instinct for survival overtook any begrudged plans of diplomacy he may have previously held onto as he lashed out with a kick; desperately struggling to create as much distance as he could between himself and the enraged fish that threatened his life. Despite the bravado he had shown minutes before; the thoughts passing through the apostle's head only involved distancing himself from his enemy, and clutching at the sword that remained embedded in his shoulder as whispers continued to build in his ears...
Pulling at the sword in his shoulder, a gentle prayer escaped his lips as he fought to gain his bearings.
