Domonokos scratched his chin absentmindedly. An old habit that seemed to have carried over from his past life.

"I got a vision of our prey. Some ancient beast, being held off by the rituals of native beastmen, but not for long. I'll estimate it will take us two hours walking south to get to it, with only one to spare before it sets itself free. If we move now, perhaps we could fight it together along it's captors. Or we could explore the area or set up an ambush here, and wait for it to come to us, buying us some more time

What do you think?"
This message was last edited by the player at 10:05, Fri 09 Sept 2022.

After Atilla had spoken his command he had glanced every direction. Would there be some flashy spell effect? Would he suddenly be teleported somewhere? As it turned out instead a familiar sight appeared before him. A golem he recognized from his fiefdom, or at least the echo of one. When the golem extended it's hands he took the hint and offered up the doll before both disappeared. "Well, that's one thing dealt with."

The others still seemed to be in various types of trances. The wolf-man had no idea what they were doing but no doubt they all had various abilities he didn't know about. So he waited for another to speak up first and listed to [Domonokos]. "Well, not a huge fan of charging forward. That being said I don't really have any skill or ability the might be useful in an ambush. If there are already people fighting this insane god then I think we should try and make contact. The whole 'enemy of my enemy' schtick. Not sure if it's worth exploring around here and risk getting nothing if we know they aren't going to last much longer."

That being said [Starling] had not finished his discussion with the spirits. There was a chance the spirits could provide an alternative. If the group agreed to march towards the spirit he spoke again. "Starling, do you want to be recon? With your cloak you might be the safest one to scout while we move."

"Setting an ambush would be useful if we held more information. Some weakness of our prey or some advantage would could glean from the natural terrain or locals. Without either of those, though, we're down to either a rush to try catching our enemy before they can be prepared or trying to take up a defensive stance. Or seeking out some natural advantage the area here might offer. But even that search is a gamble.. what way to proceed is hard to tell," Rajmund reasoned, as he listened on to the various talks thus far.

Starling silently turned his red left eye to toward a different direction than the rest of his body was facing, before several awkward seconds later the rest of his body followed suit. He stood there, in the seemingly dead jungle that he knew was actually teeming with life, except it wasn't because it was getting all drained off somewhere.

He silently pointed in nearly the opposite direction the others were facing.

"Recon? Huh? Oh yes. I am actually pretty good at sneaking around and such apparently. But what wait...look there!" he said as he pointed down to the ground, away from where the others were facing.

"Look there! On the ground, between the ebb and slow. This jungle is teeming with life and isn't dead at all. It's only looking that way because the new life energy keeps getting sucked and drained way, in a stream of energy going that way, along the ground. The decay there, on the ground...it isn't the same thing as death. It's a bedrock of new life but it's all forcefully flowing that way, kinda sorts behind us and away from the jungle we were facing." he said.

"If we are going to get a jump on this thing, or perhaps learn more info about things we can use against it, we have to stop going against the flow and instead go with the flow, and let them flow go with us in the process." So we need to go that way, even if the jungle seems thicker the other way." he added, pointing in the direction of the invisible flow of natural energy he could see with his spirit-sight.

Starling then attempted to look at the river of spiritual life energy he could see, and try and learn more about it while he waited for the others to respond and see if they'd agree to follow the invisible tides.

Starling points out to the party that the flow of vitality from the area is unnaturally being drawn like a river in a certain direction per his spirit sight.

Starling then uses [Appraise] along with [Feng Shui] and His Spirit sight to analyze the flow of life energy he now sees flowing away from them. He'll double-[illuminato] if something tries to hide something from him in this analysis.

"I see. In that case, we should start following the flow for now, see where that gets us. We have about an hour to spare, so traveling south-west is not exactly out of our way. We should be able to explore the source of life and get to the beastmen before the beast escapes"

If noone opposed, Domonkos would start walking, following Starlight's lead.

Atilla looked where [Starling] pointed and saw nothing but more jungle. He did not doubt however that the other godling saw some path or flow as he described it. "A small detour works for me. Lead the way Starling." The wolf-man followed the others as they started their trek into the jungle.

As the party began following the 'flow', the air around them shifted with strange angles in the same way the void had; they were moving through some alternate space.

It was extremely difficult going. It was constantly uphill, always through the bushes and the deep muck rather than around. The exact opposite of any natural path that would be taken; the path of most resistance. When the looked up at the curve of the great planet on the horizon, though - in the rare moments where the natural sky could be seen; most of the time they saw a distant roof of a massive cavern - they could make out that they had made an hour's progress in ten minute's time.

Abruptly, they came to a shoreline by a river that could justifiably be called a slowly drifting lake, for all its vastness. To Starling, it was clear that the flow ran straight through it. The river was clear; he could see straight down to the bottom his [Appraise] told him the river was named Mṛtyu, and that it was "as deep as thought and as wide as time."

It seemed they were at impasse, beneath the sky of distant stone and between the strange angles.

[Timestamp 21:15]

While he let the others come up with their own way to cross the river, Domonkos decided to experiment with his own newfound abilities. He made an attempt to use [Grave Magic] to carve a path in the stone for the party of godlings, so they may avoid the river entirely and cross through the edges of the path ahead.

The wolf-man sighed in annoyance as they trudged through the humid, festering, sad excuse for a jungle. 'I apparently can't sweat through my head. Great,' he internally noted as he panted. Still it was hard to be too mad since they had seemingly made great progress. Atilla was by no means a natural explorer but with what little he observed they had made great time.

Unable to see the path they followed he had been somewhat confused when the party had approached a shoreline. Confused on where to proceed he had looked into the water and appraised. "So I'm assuming we need to cross this somehow?" He glanced over at [Starling] for him to confirm his suspicion. When it was obvious they needed to cross Atilla rubbed his head. All his training so far was useless against water. He felt somewhat embarrassed that despite this being his element he had little to contribute, magic was still very must a mystery to him.

"Do we think the description might be some sort of clue or a riddle? 'Deep as thought', maybe if we don't think about it the water is shallow," he offered as he stood on the coast. "Oh fuck, am I thinking about it by saying this? How do you not think about something?! Telling someone to not think about something is a sure fire way to guarantee they think about it!" The wolf-man muttered a few more curses as he tried to empty his mind. If no one else had succeeded with a more logical solution Atilla closed his eyes, attempted to clear his thoughts, and took a step into the hopefully shallow river.

Starling nodded.

"The spirit-flow trial that I'm following is...weird, to say the least. It feels like we're hiking up a freaking mountain, but when you look up at the sky only minutes have passed. I'd say we've covered about an hour's worth of hiking in like ten minutes, which is pretty amazing!" he said.

"And yes, the life-flow leads into the large river-lake thing. And I feel we should stay on track and on course with the life-flow, and not try to deviate from it. This could be as much a spirit-trail as it is an energy flow and I think that's why we're making such good time despite the fact the hike kinda sucked up till now." he continued.

He looked at the water, and bent down and touched it lightly, closing his eyes. He called upon his shamanic powers once again, although this time one that was more directly in tune with water. [Rain Dancing] wasn't JUST for rain, but helped commune with all watery spirits as well and he hoped it'd offer a slight edge over [Lunar magic].

"Greetings, river Mrtyu. Salutation and blessings upon you! I am leading my friends along the side-stepped path, through the life flow and beyond the solely physical world, while still being grounded within it. Could you help us walk with you easier, to turn your as depth to that of a mere moment's thought and your width to a mere moment's time? Just so that we can continue on the spirit-path?" Starling asked graciously.

"We don't wish to disturb you needlessly, but we need to follow the life-flow path if we are to find a solution to the imbalance of this realm, of its waters and soil."

Starling attempts to use [Rain Dancing] to commune with the river Mrtyu, and beseech its aid diplomatically.

Rajmund followed along with the group, keeping his gaze around them as if watchful for any surprises as they continued. His expression - as much as one could read an expression on his features - looked perhaps thoughtful as Starling described the life and death nature of the land and how the energies were flowing. But he said nothing as yet, looking to be absorbed in his own thoughts on the matter for the moment at least.


He continued to follow until they reached the water's edge, listening as some suggestions and attempts were made to reach out to the spirit of the river, which he watched and waited on for the moment lest he interrupt improperly. His gaze looked back the way they had come as well, then forward to the rest of the group and those inspecting the water and the path forward.

From the river there appeared a great serpentine shadow. It rose out of the waters, an immense [Lesser Jorgumandr].

Mrtyu glared at Starling. "Fuck off, degenerate stick-man, your hollow courtesy make me cringe in distaste. Unless you desire death, which you might, do not speak again."

The serpent dived back into the water, the shadow disappearing. A pale humanoid hand shot out from the water to seize Atilla's foot before it to could touch the surface. The head and shoulders of a humanoid woman with blue hair and pale skin covered in fine lines like scales followed up. "Now you, beefy man, I like. Speak all you want, sugar-teeth, I am enrapt." Mrtyu grinned, showing off excellent dentition.

There was no stone to cut with Grave Magic; distant roof above them had a cavernous quality, but nothing stopped them from walking along the shoreline left or right.

[Timestamp 21:25]
This message was last edited by the GM at 03:08, Mon 19 Sept 2022.

Starling was...taken aback to say the least by the response of the river spirit Mrtyu. He wasn't sure what he had said or done to offend the spirit, unless it simply disliked the idea of diplomacy overall and preferred Atilla's action-approach. Or maybe it was Atilla's water element that was helping.

Starling attempted to assess the phenomena that was occurring before him, to try and silently learn more before deciding how to proceed. He was going to try something more forceful with the river but saw no need, for it was responding well to Atilla. So he'd listen and watch, for knowledge was power that he could use to potentially aid the group.

Starling uses [Query] on the [Lesser Jorgumandr] before is vanishes from sight, to try and learn more about it and why it was.

Starling uses [Query] on the river itself, to try and learn more about its properties.

Starling uses [Query] on the woman who appeared, in case doing so revealed anything different from the first query or otherwise revealed new secrets.

Unable to carve a path for himself as the boundaries of this area seemed out of reach, Domonokos opted to shut down his logic brain and rely on the [Intuition] that his new body came with. He wasn't quite sure how things would work out as he started walking towards the edge of the water, following the straight path Starling had pointed at, but he guessed that was the point of it.

The sound of water crashing caused an eye to snap open. Both eyes widened in alarm when he saw the gigantic serpent appear from the river. He watched in confusion as the monster scolded [Starling]? The wolf-man's confusion only grew as the jorgumandr sunk beneath the surface of the water and a hand grabbed his foot.

Atilla snapped his head down to find a woman held it? Not a normal woman he realized when he saw the blue hair, scaled skin, and fanged smile. Her words all but confirmed it was the same spirit he had just seen. Baffled by the course of events he recalled what [Grim] had told him in another world, a choice between love and a monster. 'Well if that huge serpent is the monster I know which choice I'd prefer,' he mentally noted as he attempted to grin with his own toothy maw.

All he had to do was somehow keep Mrtyu 'enrapt'. From her reaction to [Starling] it seemed a formal address was out the window. If the spirit was going to flirt with him maybe he should flirt back? Granted he hadn't done anything like that in decades but he figured it was like riding a bike. Atilla pulled his foot back and kneeled on the shore. He focused his [Familiar] talent to try and get a judge on the spirit's mood.

"Hey there, apologies about my friend. What is a beautiful and powerful river like you doing in a dying old jungle like this? Surely something as profound as the Mrtyu deserves better?"

'Nailed it.'

Rajmund takes a few steps closer to the water himself, though still keeps a respectful distance given his size - no longer the small little goat from his original arrival after all. He looks out in the area where the spirit of the river had appeared and then submerged again, speaking up to it while Atilla spoke to the other spirit. He did pause to [Appraise] each as they first appeared to get some gauge of who and what they were.


"Death is a state of being that all creatures and spirits yearn for at one point in their lives - or their deaths. But while many view that yearning as seeking an end, others yet realize what they truly desire is a new beginning. A river such as this, in a place that once was full of life, must desire a return to such a time.. I suspect Death is not what you wish to deal in but Life. Even as that life around you is pulled away, you would change it if you could.. wouldn't you?" Rajmund asked of the river spirit.

Query [Lesser Jorgumandr]:

An immense serpent that draws strength from leylines to deploy overwhelming magic.

One of the titanic guardian species native to the realms of Gods, yet unaligned.

The Jorgumandrs are artificial guardians, created by the Grand Array to stabilize crumbling worlds. They detest instability.

Query [The River]: Genius Loci effect, produced by realm guardian. Identified leylines: Chaos, Life.

Query [The Woman]: Alternate form of Lesser Jorgumandr. Wields Mutation magic.

"As thick in the head as you are in the arm, very pleasing, exactly how a man should be."

Mrtyu was having fun now, but seemed to have found Starling not just boring but outright offensive. From Atilla's past life, he could recognize when a woman was testing if he had 'game', the ability to be diverting company. Starling had tried too hard, and for some reason was 'very ugly' to the river.

"I maintain this river that joins the two Ilans, the jungle and the rainforest, so I am technically at work right now. I could do better, but you know, I like feeling important."

Atilla could tell she was feeling calmer. Addressing the river as a regular person had been the right tack to take. Her attention shifted to Rajmund.

She considered. "The Gods have got to go, nothing is flowing as it should, they should be my bosses but don't do anything. If you can kill them, I can eat them, and maybe bring back some life."

Then her eyes narrowed. Atilla's [Familiar] talent told her she was curious, not suspicious. "How did you four make it here, this place is off-limits for mortals, are you guys spirits? You taste mortal, you don't have auras, but somehow futz with my leylines.

Domonkos didn't pick anything up with his Intuition [90], but he could tell the river was dangerous.

[Timestamp 21:35]
This message was last edited by the GM at 03:35, Thu 22 Sept 2022.

Atilla arched a brow at Mytru's response. It was pretty obvious what she thought of him but he let it slide for now. If an insult or two stopped a giant sea serpent from attacking he could make that sacrifice. More importantly he felt her emotions had calmed down a good deal. It seemed as if they had gained her interest at least.

The wolf-man nodded at the river spirit assessment. "I could not agree more. The god is destroying everything and needs to be stopped." He glanced at the others before he continued. In another world they seemed to have reached a conclusion. "It seems we both want the same thing so why not help us out? We aren't spirits we're... like super mortals? Potential gods? We're here to kill the god and prove ourselves worthy." He hoped that proved sufficient enough to sate the spirit's curiosity. It proved a difficult challenge to surmise just what they were in this new world.

"Just point us in the right direction to get to the jungle god and we'll take. him. out." Atilla paused to flex his arms and struck a pose. It seemed safer to lean into the meathead nature she had claimed he had. "Any information you want to provide us would be appreciated. Worse case is that we fail to do anything right? Then you're right back where you were. Best case we beat the God and you don't have to worry about it. Most likely we'll just weaken it before it kills all of us." Atilla's confidence had slipped as he ended his proposal. The idea of them being slaughtered weighed heavily on his mind.
This message was last edited by the player at 03:59, Sun 25 Sept 2022.

Seeing as there was not.much for him to contribute at this point, Domonkos opted to sit back and let the others do the talking. At least for now, while there was still plenty of time.
This message was last edited by the player at 05:02, Sun 25 Sept 2022.

Like Domo, Starling felt that Attila was doing a fine enough job of being a serpent-charmer and didn't see the need to interject. Especially since she didn't seem interested in him and that was fine, really. His main goal was to help the group gain information and being the unwitting wing-man of Attila was working somehow.

Instead, the lunarian decided to focus more on the river and the peculiar attributes it had. His [query] was a potent information-gathering tool and he sought to use it to its utmost. The more he could learn early on, the better be could help the group survive later on.

Starling used his [Feng Shui] to better sense these leylines he was detecting, and he attempted to [Query] the leylines in the area themselves to learn more about them, as well as about any secrets they may potentially hold.

Starling attempts to scrutinize the leylines.

Rajmund lets Atilla speak for the group, drawing out more details from the river spirit and trying to gain their help. Meanwhile, he also studies the surrounding terrain, in particular the trees and plants that are dead. He takes a moment to utilize his [Internal Oculus] to see what the spirit world looks like here.

Rajmund

To his or her Internal Oculus, they were standing in empty air over a vast abyss. Behind them and before them were huge bubbles of prismatic light, on their 'side' of the abyss mostly dominated by an ugly dark green and on the other by a bright amber-brown. Running between them was the 'river', a high barrier wall of fused metaphysical energy between the two realms; that was shored up on foundations that ran all the way down to the Realm of Rivers, where the shadowy dead dwell.

The nexus of all this power was the world-devouring serpent they were presently having a strange conversation with, a reaper of dying realms that had arisen from the stygian deeps.

Rajmund had the odd feeling that if he was a very, very good little goat he could someday Evolve into something like the leviathan spirit he was ogling.

Starling

The edges of three planes of existence met here - one of Life, one of Chaos, and one of Time. leylines of power twisted here, feeding this massive serpent and allowing it to maintain a physical form. His query defined it as the classical example of what happened when a realm's Guardian was stronger than its God - it would seek to devour the God in question to evolve into a True Dragon.

Domonkos & Atilla, et al.

The riverside they were standing bent away at a right angle, the river only loosely following the new curve in its course. Their path onward was clear.

"Bring me the corpse of a God, little wolf, and I will show you the way home to your mate and cubs." said Myrtu. She then looked at Domonkos. "Quiet little grave-robber, you will go far, if you retain your instinct to listen more than you speak." she said, approvingly. She held out a hand, in which there was small round river-stone that shone green, black and red. "Take this, and plant it in living rock, if you would have a mighty guardian for your own Realm."

[Timestamp 21:45]
This message was last edited by the GM at 12:48, Thu 20 Oct 2022.

The wolf-man followed the serpent's gesture and watched the river itself twist and turn to a new direction. If that had happened a day ago Atilla would have been incredibly confused at the strange sight. After everything he had seen however the sight seemed par for the course.

He mentally prepared himself to ham up his speech as he puffed up his chest. "Much appreciated Myrtu. Now just..." he trailed off as he listened to the river spirit. It wasn't just what she said that stopped him, although her offered stirred plenty of emotions in his chest. Atilla was not the most observant but even he knew he hadn't mentioned his family aloud to Myrtu. If she knew about his desire to go home then what else did she know? He suddenly felt like he was actually the idiot he had been portraying. They needed to leave now while they still could.

His canine snout formed a frown as he narrowed his eyes. He relied on his [Familiar] talent as well as his [Sixth Sense] skill to ensure the spirit didn't try anything suspicious. "Domonokos take the gift and let's go." Atilla waited for all of the others to start to walk down the riverside before he joined them.

Starling had been listening silently at the exchanges between Myrtu and the others. He didn't intend to help the water dragon one bit nor did he think the thing deserved any help. It was just another grubbing, opportunistic denizen of this world like all the rest of them.

His eyes narrowed a bit when the pre-dragon tried to manipulate Attila with mention of his Earth family, but he remained composed and silent and watched to see how the wolf-man would react. Thankfully, he kept his composure. Starling saw through such gross manipulation and sure as hell hoped Attila did too. He'd mention it later to Attila, after they had left the area.

He silently followed after his companions.

Starling nodded stoically and followed silently after Attila.
This message was last edited by the player at 03:31, Fri 21 Oct 2022.

Domonkos stared at the stone for a second, thinking of what words he should say, and then realized that the obvious answer was saying nothing. He reached out and grabbed the stone, and gave Myrtu a silent nod of gratitude.

He then turns to Atilla, nodding again. "Let us go then". The Prince of Relics then joins the march towards their target, hoping they hadn't wasted too much time here.