ENDPLOT | ROLL THE BONES, PART 1

[ironwood]

Characters: ALL!
Date: Early/Mid November
Location: Under the shell
Situation: It's either Malicant or the Foreigners... and their worlds.
Warnings/Rating: Add warnings as needed.

The Foreigners had begun their counterattack by trying to possess the Great Turtle whom Malicant had taken, and although the movement had failed, some vital information had been uncovered. Under the shell lay Malicant's weakness, and inside the Dreaming was where he could be fought.

Any help from the kedan is uncommon. They're wary, watching, as a group beginning to lose sight of the community. Their family groups are more tightly-knit than ever, and any approach from the Foreigners is answered by suspicion at best and violence at worst. That makes daily life difficult, when the majority of the city refuses to have much to do with them. Why aren't you doing anything? they seem to say. What good are any of you? All you've done is make things worse. We'd be better if you'd never come.

The Foreigners are unwelcome in Keeliai. The cultists are becoming a majority. Now is the time.

There aren't many left of the Foreigners left, but inside the Dreaming the limitations of the waking world no longer exist. For every Foreigner and their worlds, their loved ones, this is the chance to make themselves safe for good. And all of them will be needed.

---

LINKS
Beneath The Shell/Midnight Hotel | Malicant’s Tools/The Vilii Stone | OOC Plot Post

OOC
There are two main headers, one for preparation at the Hotel where Milyn and Eva will be available to speak with The second section where they will be able to search the caves beneath the Shell inside the Dreaming to find the Vilii Stone, and where the boon'd characters will be affected. If you are threading something that doesn't fit one of those categories, just add it to the bottom of the post. Questions go to the plotting post, please! Once the Stone has been acquired the second half of the plot will go live in the logs comm.

Comments

Translation: ping me if Dante's needed again.

[royalguard_style]

Things always have to be complicated.

Dante didn't like the idea of passing up a fight or leaving two people to kill each-other, but the last time he fought someone possessed, he killed him. Besides, intervening didn't exactly work out last time.

But no. He's not abandoning either of them, and he was too insubordinate to obey. Instead, he lept up and perched himself on a nearby stalagmite, ready to intervene if need be. "Sorry, but we need the both of you alive more than any rock. Gotta make sure you don't kill each-other. "

o7

[gistful]

Again, Dante reminded Anton of one of the Dead Men, in the loyalty he covered with smarm and sarcasm. It was imprudent--but so were the Dead Men. Only once had pragmatism overruled imprudence in their history together, and even knowing there had been no other choice lest many others suffer for it, Anton still regretted that need.

So he didn't object to Dante remaining, no matter how imprudent it was. Instead Anton stood his ground, his attention having never left Valdis, and though Daisy was still raised he didn't move to fire.

"I do not intend to kill you unless I must," he said calmly, "but if I do, and I apologise if I must, rest assured I will take the care of your injuries afterward as well."

[redlightgreenlight]

Valdis followed the demon-man's movements with her eyes as he alighted atop the stalagmite. He was such strange prey, wanting to make certain that no one died, wanting to ensure that she didn't kill and wasn't killed. Foolish, idiotic, too many words and dramatics, not enough sense to know when to quit, too stubborn. Far more detail than she should know, but somehow she did. Her head turned to observe him more closely, releasing a low growl of frustration as his name failed to come.

Then she turned back to the other man, the murderer. Yet not a murderer? Her head lowered, ears flattened and lips curled in a snarl, but still she did not move. Her muscles quivered with barely restrained energy as she tried to figure out why she couldn't remember. Something was blocking things that she knew she should know, something was telling her to attack and kill, that the memories were unimportant.

Yet the murderer didn't want to kill, a strange philosophy for a killer, killers didn't apologize and didn't offer aid to enemies either. Her head began to hurt as whatever force was driving her became displeased with her attempts to remember. Her limbs began to move without her consent, her weight shifted back onto her haunches and she lunged at the man with the gun.

[gistful]

It was clear that Lady Valdis was struggling; an animal truly bent to its instincts wouldn't hesitate in such a manner. Wait for the opponent to make the next threatening move, yes, but for one so bound up in bloodlust to falter said much about her mindset. She was fighting. That was good. It meant Anton could get through to her.

"Lady Valdis--"

Too late. Anton dodged, but forward, rolling beneath her body and back up to his feet. "Lady Valdis," he barked, "hold! Hold for Faðir!"

[redlightgreenlight]

She landed, snapping at the empty air and turned with a snarl. If her movements had been willing, perhaps she wouldn't have missed, yet her body prepared for another attack.

Faðir.

The power behind that single word, the name spoken in her native tongue, was enough to make her freeze. It had been a gift to someone important, the man who had once told her that she should not be so foolish as to allow the enemy to control her. She had feared that control, feared that she had been used to kill and had been afraid that she might be used again.

There was only one explanation. The enemy had invaded her mind, blocked her memories and taken control. Where she had once felt fear, she now only felt anger. Valdis turned that rage upon the barrier within her mind, throwing her consciousness against it. The barrier shattered and her memories came flooding back. She shook her entire body as if she were shaking off water and then regarded Anton with soft green eyes.

I seem to have regained control, She said, sitting down to alleviate any sense of being a threat, It seems that I am indebted to you once again.

[gistful]

It wasn't precisely a gamble so much as a surety, but Anton was still glad to see it borne out as he thought it would. He had kept Daisy ready at hand while Valdis trembled with her inner battle, but now he exhaled and stepped forward to put his hand on her head, between her ears, though without a stroke in case that would be insulting.

"Debts are not needed between comrades in war," he repeated, nearly the same words he had said to Dante when Dante had thanked him for his help against the cultists. Anton turned and looked at Dante, and nodded. "We're clear, I believe."

[royalguard_style]

Dante was prepared to have to shoot Valdis, prepared to have to do the unthinkable as he watched his dear friend die. And yet? There wasn't even a fight. Anton had called out for Valdis, and she obeyed. But why? Anton had mentioned something about name based magic, but that couldn't be it. Did a being like Valdis even have a proper birth name? Did he command that kind of respect, or was Valdis just that strong? The two of them were both a mystery.

"Hey, what are you sitting down for? We're in the middle of something important here." Pandora reverted to it's normal form as he called out, his way of saying 'glad to have you back.' "Unless you found that stone lying on the ground."

Dante hopped down, and nodded back to Anton. "Good. Should be a clear shot from here, unless someone here can turn invisible."

[redlightgreenlight]

Valdis lowered her head to accept Anton's touch, other than Wan, he was probably the only one she would tolerate doing such a thing.

I've never had comrades before, Valdis replied, I must admit that it is nice to have them now.

The moment of peace was broken by Dante's voice and Valdis almost growled at him, but continued conflict was unnecessary, especially at a time like this.

Even if some of them test my patience. She added, though she made no move to stand just yet.

[gistful]

Anton chuckled deeply at Valdis's last response. Testing though Dante may be, the relationship he had with Valdis struck Anton was more akin to the relationship Larrikin had had with nearly everybody. As much as Valdis complained, Anton suspected there was a solid foundation of camaraderie there.

"Then we had best be off," Anton said, and gave Valdis one little stroke with his fingers, more an assurance than a pet, and took back his hand to help carry Daisy's weight. Then he strode down the tunnel, assured that he had two comrades to trust with his back.