TheAmishPirate

Breathless Dead

“Services far more practical than cautionary tales. Barradissar was your capital, and it remains your home. Considering those who know much of this planet, and those who will not assault us on sight, you’ve come to occupy a high ranking on these fast-diminishing lists. Our shuttle crashed on our descent, scattering two of our companions in the process. Both must be remedied before we can continue. And as our journey is long and unpopular, any capabilities we can take with us to discourage further rebukes would be invaluable.”

She did not trust him with this information. Trust was a strong word. It was closer to say that she believed he either would not or could not immediately harm them with this information, and urgency gave frankness an irresistible appeal.

Breathless Dead

“You do the telling an injustice, I fear. One story you may have, but how many more hide within it? Every choice we make and every choice we let pass, do these not make stories in their own right?” She glanced to Dolce, meeting his eyes, and delighted to see the same caution she felt in her bones. He’d noticed the desperation too. And that he’d wasted no time in recounting his own tale. “I do not laugh, and you must pardon my restraint, for these tales untold catch hold of my thoughts. The Defeated Emperor Who Retained a Sword. The Fallen Sage Who Realized Defeat. The Loss of All, The Choice to Laugh.”

[Rolling to Speak Softly: 4 + 2 + 0 = 6 I was going to ask What does he want, and how could we help him get to it?]

Had she truly seen the company she walked with and the halls where they trod, she would not have committed such indiscretions. But her eyes were distant, and her sight was filled with a time long past and ever-present. “There are many ways such tales can go, Liu Ban. But here is where they have brought you, and here is how they have left you.” Her voice softened with unmistakable familiarity. “Will you do us the honor of sharing them?”

Breathless Dead

The wave of Molech’s presence washed over them, a mighty command of awe from even this shadow of an Emperor. These caves, big enough to house a mind to weight the universe, could not hope to contain the whole of his spirit. Vasilia took a step back, and only a step. Her shoulders straightened, turned, as her weight settled on her back foot. Poised, posed, coiled like a spring, and yet ready to indulge in every step. Her tail flicked. Her eyes flashed, defiant and thrilled. Oh, it had been some time, hadn’t it? Long enough that she might think the universe full of nothing but the likes of Jas'o; dullards and braggarts all. Who was it, who had last stepped into the ring against an equal? What other face, what younger soul? If only the circumstances weren’t so poor...

In the silence following his decree, Vasilia put a hand to her chest, and gasped loudly. “I say! The darkness has not dulled your eyes, Liu Ban. The subtle machinations of the Thundercrasher, the Heaven-splitter, cannot hide from you!”

Beside her, Galnius bit back an oath, eyes darting to the skies as if to catch the thunderheads gathering. She paid him no mind. If one wished to sift her words with Zeus’ many titles - few of which were what one might call compatible with subtlety - and fret over how near a deadly line she danced, then let them sift away. It was technically a compliment, she wouldn’t say otherwise, and that’s all that mattered, really.

“Of course, I cannot lay claim to such titles,” there went Galnius again, making undignified noises. “Today, your gracious guest is Captain Vasilia, of the Starsong Privateers.” She doffed her hat in an elegant bow. “Here is the Princess Epistia, fearless in battle and peerless of sythe. And let us not forget Galnius and his hoplites, whose loyalty is beyond compare.” Let him sift that one, if he liked. “I surely speak for us all when I thank you for your honorable hospitality. But would such a visit be complete with a humble meal and a swift departure? No more complete than our company without a suitable welcome-gift. What say you, Dolce?”

Dolce stepped out from behind her, where he had surely been standing the entire time. “I think I would rather not eat lice, ma’am.”

“Nor would our host, my dear. Come! May we bestow upon you a first blessing, Liu Ban! For from these barren caves, we shall produce a meal worthy of song! Do us the honor of sharing in the first feast upon Baraddissar in centuries! Let our hearts and spirits be refreshed in this most miraculous company!”

“...also, if you could do us the favor of providing a more private venue for such refreshment, we would be most obliged. A wing of Kaeri hound us, and I daresay they may not find as much hospitality in these halls.” A jest, a fine tactical assessment, and an honorable route of deescalation for the good Liu Ban. Laugh, agree, and carry on without losing face. They had each taken the other’s measure, and what good would come of further boasting here?

Breathless Dead

The glaive froze half-formed at the name of the gods, thrumming with potential yet unrealized. The invocations of hospitality bade it retreat and retract once more. Expend not your might, tool of consequence. Sleep lightly on your master’s belt. Her hand remains near to call.

Vasilia only uncoiled to her full height. The grim focus of battle forgot itself in a disarming smile, as her other hand made the gestures of relevant awe towards the home of a host. “Then. In the name of Zeus and Athena, we gratefully accept your welcome to Baradissar. Receive in joy, remain in warmth, and give a little of the plenty of your home.” His first gift to them; the rites of host to guest. They were etched on the hearts of greatest and least alike. When you visited another in a dream, even there they were the first words on your lips. Were it not for that, there would be no words here. She had no practiced reply to a threat beyond threats. But she had her solid ground, and she could not begin to guess why he’d given it to her.

“May I say, sir,” she continued inoffensively. “That this has been the most gracious welcome we’ve received on our journey to date?” Easy. Light. A dash of humor. A testing of the waters. What more will you give her, fallen Emperor? What will you volunteer freely, and what will you make her fight you for?

Beside her, there was an inconspicuous lack of sheep, and it suited her to keep it that way for a few moments longer.

Breathless Dead

Beside him, Vasilia stifled a gasp behind her hand.

Dolce had seen starships and planets and the infinite gulf of the void, and if you’d handed him a tape measure right this moment, he’d set out to prove this was bigger than them all. For one, nobody had put a planet inside anything before, and that seemed to make it all the grander. But this wasn’t some inert ruin either. It was moving. It was thinking. It was alive, in most of the senses that mattered. And not a one of them could see to either end of it. “That.” He blinked, and rubbed at his eyes. “That is a little too big for us.”

“The mind of an emperor. And it still lives…” Vasilia murmured intently. “Interface, interface, does anyone have eyes on the interface? Oh, just think of the intelligence in this behemoth-!” She dashed on ahead, and Dolce had to tear his eyes away and follow.

“...it is too big, right? There’s not a room for this onboard we haven’t found yet? Lord Hades?”

Fellowship: The Heart

Jackdaw sunk against the door, chest heaving with the mad effort to pack more breath into her bursting blood. Every heartbeat throbbed in her head, her neck, her paws, never stopping, never waning. Was it skipping? Was that arrhythmia? Was it? Was it? She couldn’t tell, not even checking her pulse. She couldn’t keep the count. She couldn’t tell the beats. Anything could happen, but nothing would happen. Nothing to make any of it stop.

Then, light! Sound! She wordlessly cringed and cowered, pulling the cloak up tighter around her. Only when the last light flickered on did she dare look at the near-empty tunnel, and the completely inert bit of machinery. If it’d happened to anyone else, she might’ve laughed. But of course, it happened to her. The only one foolish enough to think a ratty old cloak would make a shred of difference against anything in this horrible place. A stupid, lost child, hiding under a blanket so the monsters wouldn’t get her. Even as - even as the monsters gobbled up her friends.

The terrible fox hugged herself tight, squeezing until her knuckles turned white. Then she reached yet deeper. Past cloak and past skin, past page and past memory.

Forward? Backward? Elseward? There was one more option.

There was always one more option for a fox with no name.

[Spending 1 use of Strange Curios to produce a name she might become.]

Breathless Dead

Dolce had a thick coat of insulating wool, and an upbringing on a perfectly temperate and pleasant planet.

Vasilia had an entire ship to look after, a detachment of hoplites that were behaving rather rudely, a lost princess, a lost comrade, an entire voyage to plan, and a rescue operation to carry out.

Which meant that Dolce was not in the least bit uncomfortable, and that he also had to respectfully communicate with their divine employer. It was only fair.

“Good day, Lord Hades.” Dolce bowed from the waist, thinking of iceboxes and fresh snow and blustery winds and “We have stopped here to procure a machine mind, to more quickly navigate the stars in your service. Once we have it, we hope to be underway soon.”

Breathless Dead

“Galnius? Darling?” Vasilia smiled sweetly. “It seems you’ve bumped your head in the crash. And, I do so apologize for that, I’m usually far more precise when steering blind. If only I’d landed us more smoothly, you’d have surely remembered that Redana takes orders from me. You surely didn’t mean to imply your station lies higher than hers, did you?”

She lazily extended her claws, flicking at a bit of nonexistent dirt.

“Now then; would you care to repeat yourself?”

[Rolling to Talk Sense with Grace: 3 + 2 + 2 = 7. Vasilia wants Galnius back under her command, now.]

Fellowship: The Heart

Jackdaw stretched to her full height-

No, not quite stretched. More, jumped? Sprung? Sprung. Sprung to her full height, and didn’t come down.

This was it. Not, it-it, exactly, but a first. King Dragon, in some component of the flesh, no longer just in pictures and words on a page. She’d played this out so many times in her head, in so many places, with so many people. A good chunk of them were on trains, or traintracks, or trains on traintracks, or beside either trains or traintracks - well, most of those had been ever since they’d joined up with Coleman. So. There were at least a few that ought to apply here. She’d, she’d had a speech prepared and everything. She should probably consult it again, yes?

Paws trembling, she rooted through her pockets and produced a well-worn scrap of paper, and hastily scanned it. Yes, yes, yes it was...exactly the way she’d left it. Exactly like she remembered. Hadn’t forgotten. All here. So. All she had to do now was. Say it. Out loud. Like she’d practiced. Like she dreamed. Like all the heroes in all her stories would do. Tell the beast who stole her best friend’s heart just what she was going to do to him.

She opened her mouth.

She screamed.

She ran.

The word was

Coward.

[Rolling to Run Away: 3 + 4 + 2 = 9. Jackdaw...shoot, Jackdaw gets their quickly, avoiding harm along the way.]

Breathless Dead

“Mmm. Well spotted.” Vasilia flicked her tail out of the water for what must have been the hundredth time. It just. Refused to stay draped where she left it. Meddlesome little- “Now where would a trained Kaori strike force spring from? They can’t possibly be living here, and we’d have noticed the Armada catching up to us. Do you see any emblems? Anything about them ring a bell?”

Call it a gut feeling, call it a soaked tail, call it criss-crossing bruises across her chest and a distinctly Redana and Alexa-shaped hole in her ranks, but she just knew she wasn’t going to like the answer.