PREVIOUS: 007: Return Of Celery-Chan
đ˛ Lucya rolls to Sojourn, and Jagal rolls to Aid her-- a weak hit for Jagal, and a strong hit for Lucya! Jagal takes +2 spirit and +2 momentum. Since Lucya shares a bond with Mr. Bartender, she gets 3 benefits; I choose +2 health, +2 supply, and +2 momentum.
Lucya heads for the Lostmoor Tavern, hoping Mr. Bartender knows a place for them to stay. He's delighted to see her alive and well, and shows them to a spare room. There's only one bed-- which Lucya promptly claims for herself-- but it doesn't seem like Jagal has plans to sleep much tonight, anyway...
Jagal is happy to tarry in the tavern as long as he can, oafing about with tall tales and drinking contests until he's successfully gotten his mind off the less savory parts of his time in Lostmoor. When business runs down, he begrudgingly retires to the room to finish cleaning and mending things and maybe pass out on the floor for an hour or two if he's lucky.
In the morning, Lucya heads for the shops to restock on food and bandages before the rendezvous at Eleri's house. The events of the past day (and the past few days before that) still weigh on her, but her arm isn't bothering her as much.
Jagal is more interested in pickpocketing than shopping, but he doesn't get caught, and he manages to find some more honey at a decent price, so he'll call it a win.
Come noon, Eleri is back to waiting at their front door, a pot of tea rigorously prepared this time.
LUCYA: "Good morning!~"
ELERI: "Ah, um, m-morning! Yes! Please come in, I... have tea now!"
Jagal just waves and complies.
Eleri pours up some hot celery seed tea and looks from small hearth to hearth for a moment.
ELERI: "Okay, so we're scryingâA-ah, I should probablyâAre you, um, feeling b-better today...?"
LUCYA: "Aye, we're healing up just fine, dinnae worry!"
Lucya accepts the tea gladly. She's still not entirely sure if she likes it or not, but it's Different and Interesting.
JAGAL: (rolling his shoulder slowly with a noticeable hitch) "Jjjust fine, yep."
Jagal receives the tea gingerly, idly blowing on it until somebody else tries it first.
ELERI: "Okay! S-so! Scrying! Wh-who was it exactly? Technically I don't need to know any details as l-l-long as one of you does, I justâCouldn't hurt!"
LUCYA: "Well, I am looking fer an old friend, who I havenae seen in long, long time..."
LUCYA: "And Jagal... eh... I'm still not sure?"
ELERI: "Ah, I-I see..."
Eleri looks around, then heads to one of the fires in particular, apparently based on that.
JAGAL: "Well, I was promised payment in valuables, but if you wanted to throw in an extra scry for my trouble with the, uh, murder-spider-birds, I wouldn't say no."
ELERI: "Th-the... Oh dear..."
Lucya glares at him, but follows Eleri to the fire.
LUCYA: (whispering) "Dinnae feel too obligated t'the wee man, Mx. Eleri!"
Jagal joins the procession and starts to tug one of his sleeves up. He doesn't entirely trust Eleri to pull this off without fainting, not if it's happening more than once.
JAGAL: "You can use mine if you want."
ELERI: "I... H-h-huh? Use your what...?"
JAGAL: (blinking) "Uh, blood? For the scrying."
ELERI: "Y... O-o-okay, I guess, butâI-I'll at least try it without first?"
JAGAL: "...You can do it without?"
ELERI: "Y... Yes??? ThâY-you justâIt c-can help clarify when the flames aren'tâB-but you don't justâIt takes so much to make a difference, and there are alternative m-methods, so it's r-really a last resort, a-andâI-if I tried that every time, I'dâ"
ELERI: "Have... Have you b-been sacrificing blood every single t-t-time you scry??"
JAGAL: "I... thought that was just part of it..."
ELERI: "No!! TheâThatâYou... P-p-please take care of yourself?"
LUCYA: "Enough with th'blood already!!"
LUCYA: "How do ye do it then?"
ELERI: "AhâWell! On the most basic level, a-all it technically requires is looking into a well-maintained flame w-with the intent to study a specific person or l-location held in your mind, but that's very rudimentary and doesn't work for everyone. But th-there are all sorts of factors that have been discovered that can increase your chances of a successful result, or mitigate any, um, adverse effects that can happen with any ritual or with scrying specifically, or h-help clarify sound or images, o-or for a skilled scryer even focus on a past point in timeâOh, and there's been talk of a way to get through magical wards as well, b-b-but the ingredients are very rare, so it hasn't been well-studied, and I personallyâA-ah, am I rambling? I h-haven't even said anything on this particular setup, um..."
Jagal stiffens considerably at the "past point in time" bit.
JAGAL: "Right, why don't you tell us about the here and now, it looks very interesting."
Lucya smiles sweetly, but several of these words are going in one ear and out the other.
LUCYA: "Um, aye, I'm more concerned with the present day... Will it help if I've got something what belongs t'him?"
LUCYA: "Auh, but-- ye won't throw it in the fire, will ye?!"
Eleri looks ready to start on a whole other tangent about the make and history of this specific fireplace, but Lucya's comment manages to focus them a bit.
ELERI: "No, no, n-n-not without your permission...!"
ELERI: "Um, if it's something precious to you, then i-it can work similarly to blood, o-or provisions, in clarifying things, butâ! Hopefully that won't be necessary! Just h-having it on hand should help the chance of success, a-at least..."
LUCYA: "Aye, alright..."
Lucya digs through her bags and fetches a small, blue pouch with delicate embroidery along the edges. She hands it reverently to Eleri.
LUCYA: "I-it doesn't have t'be clear, I just... need tae know if he's still alive. His name is Brynn..."
Eleri takes the pouch gently and nods.
ELERI: "If he, um... well, i-i-isn't, then the scry will just fail... B-but failing doesn't mean that that has to be the case, so..!"
Jagal's hand shuffles through one of his pouches as Eleri talks about the chance of success, but whatever he's doing isn't worth the effort of actually looking, apparently.
JAGAL: (muttered sardonically) "So don't give up hope?"
ELERI: "Um... yes!"
Eleri lets out a slow breath and shuts their eyes for a moment, mouthing something to themself before staring hard at the flame.
đ˛ This is bending the rules a wee bit, but since Eleri is a master at scrying, we decide that they wouldn't have much trouble getting the scry to work-- we still have to roll Gather Information to get anything useful, though. Lucya get's a weak hit, so it succeeds but there's a twist...
The fire flickers and crackles, a strange roar building in its depths as its light grows too bright to bear. It dims suddenly, the roar shifting into the cascade of a river and a closer, softer splashing. The orange light fades to a white-and-blue dapple, the image holding eerily steady despite the flickering edges. A river cuts across a stretch of land devoid of anything but snow.
Kneeling at its edge is a man near-concealed between the billowing cloak at his back and the unkempt mane of black hair falling over his shoulders. But half his face is still visibleâa slash of a scar cuts through his tight-pressed lips over a neatly trimmed beard, the strap of an eyepatch is just visible ducking under his bangs, and the chunks missing from his ear distract handily from his flushed cheek. Most striking of all, his left eye glints with an icy blue that's colder and harsher than the mountain around him. His gaze is set on his hands as he scrubs them near-raw in the freezing water, red-yellow trails bleeding away into the river's flow. Yet the red stains on his hands don't quite seem to disappear.
In the midst of his scouring he suddenly pauses, then begins to turn. His piercing gaze drags along the snow until it seems he's somehow staring the scryer down directly, through all the miles that may separate them. His visage darkens, and the vision bursts into shards, the fire itself exploding into embers in turn.
ELERI: "Ah...!"
LUCYA: "..."
Eleri holds up their hands protectively, but none of the sparks reached beyond the fireplace. The fire itself, though, has lost any semblance of magic and is in dire need of rekindling.
ELERI: "......"
Lucya's eyes don't move from the fireplace.
Jagal slowly claps, though it's quite muffled by the gloves.
JAGAL: (no intonation) "Thrilling, exhilarating, worthy of the finest storyweaver."
Lucya barely even seems to react. She just holds her hand out meekly to Eleri.
LUCYA: "...Can I have it back now...?"
ELERI: "Y-yes! Of course! S-sorry."
Eleri shakily hands the pouch back over, then takes a few steps away, smoothing out their skirt anxiously before picking up a journal and quill.
Lucya holds the little pouch tightly in her hand.
LUCYA: "...Weren't ye ginnae scry somethin', Jagal?"
JAGAL: "Well, not without a fire I'm not."
ELERI: (writing furiously) "Th-there's... A-ah, the fire just to the left should be close enoughâI-is it a friend, too?"
JAGAL: "Mmm, not quite. Buuut since you're just throwing this in as a bonus, I won't hold it against you if it doesn't work out, yeah?"
Jagal hasn't taken his hand out of his bag, though he seems to be gripping something. He just strolls to the next fireplace over and takes a seat.
Eleri scribbles down a few last notes before exhaling, shutting the journal, and catching up with him.
ELERI: "Okay, um... A-a-are there any details I should know?"
JAGAL: "Nah. They're not necessary, right? I just gotta know who I mean?"
ELERI: "IâWellâUm... R-right. Th-that should be okay, I think..."
Lucya hasn't moved, but she watches them quietly.
Eleri hesitates a bit, in case he changes his mind, but he doesn't budge. With a sigh, they shift to get more comfortable, shut their eyes again, and murmur.
Eleri opens their eyes again, their gaze trained directly on the flame.
đ˛ Jagal has been having such a rough time, we decide to just give him this vision for free, lol.
The flames show a bird in a cage, a hawk with fine markings and a little string band around one of its legs. The cage is a ramshackle one made of twigs and twine, and it sits on some boxes in the back of a rattling wagon.
The wagon rides slowly over what was once a glade, now the crackling brown ruins of a forest fire. No people are visible from this angle, but the rhythmic chant and drumming of a raider squadron implies that the cause of the fire wasn't natural.
The drumming stops, and the wagon pulls to a halt. A tattooed hand reaches out and raps against the cage a few times, gently. A good luck charm? They say something, but it's drowned out in the rallying cry as the squadron descends upon another unsuspecting village...
Jagal slowly puts his cup of tea to his lips and sips without comment. He looks bored, but his grip on the unseen item has tightened enough to make his arm quiver.
LUCYA: (very quietly, to herself) "A bird...?"
As the image fades, Lucya finally moves. She walks over to the kettle to refill the tea she'd spilled, and sips away at it silently.
ELERI: "D... Did I just scry a b-bird?"
Jagal takes another second to enjoy(?) his tea in silence before he feels he's calmed down enough to risk speaking.
JAGAL: "Sure did!" (stands, apparently to stretch) "Was just wondering if animals counted as people or things, but I don't have the highest success rate myself, so if I was ever gonna check, it'd be now. If they're somewhere in-between, maybe that's a good angle for your research?"
ELERI: "A-ah! It's t-true, I haven't really tried much with animals. I d-don't really know about any specific ones th-that aren't..."
ELERI: "...his."
JAGAL: "Well, something to look into! Literally, I guess. They seem less prone to, uh, exploding the image, too."
ELERI: "O-o-oh, that... wasn't n-normal. I-I've definitely read about it happening! Just haven't actually, um, e-experienced it before. I g-g-guess I don't usually scry anyone that dangerous..."
JAGAL: "Aha. Better not scry me, then, just to be safe!" (grins and swigs some tea) "Ssso! My actual payment?"
Despite his best efforts, some genuine lightheartedness keeps trying to bleed through his typical blasĂŠ cheer.
Lucya's not quite buying Jagal's story (affectionate), but she's figured out by now that he'll never admit to anything in front of an audience. She winces, though, at the word "dangerous."
LUCYA: "Auhh... it takes a lot o' magic, then, t'do something like that?"
She finishes her cup, staring at nothing in particular.
LUCYA: "Will I need magic, too...?"
ELERI: "W-well, technically, you can see an effect like that if some kind of w-ward or talisman or other typical protective spell takes hold mid-scry, whether it's p-particularly strong or not. H-he didn't look like he had any of the materials for those, though, so, um, u-unless there was just someone else there we didn't see... I-it's probably a lot of magic, yes."
ELERI: "I mean, e-everyone has some magic! O-or, almost everyoneâI-I don't get the impression you're one of the r-rare ones without..."
Eleri looks between her and Jagal, and squints briefly at himâpresumably over whether he's really dangerous or notâbefore starting back towards their journal.
ELERI: "It's just a matter of, um, p-practice, mostly! A-and tips and tricks, as you g-go alongâOr l-learnt from someone elseâOr, well, th-there are also artifacts to consider, I guess, b-butâ" (cuts off as they register Jagal staring at them)
ELERI: "...Payment! Y-yesâRightâI-I was getting to... I'll just...!"
Eleri puts the journal back down, scurries to one desk(?), then another, and eventually manages to locate something palm-sized with a silver sheen to offer him.
Jagal looks over the proffered arrowhead, lips pressing together briefly.
ELERI: "A-a-ah, if that's not enough...! It is silverâI, um, d-don't have much of non-academic value, I'm sorry, b-but if I, um, have any tomes y-you might want to... b-borrow? O-or more scrying, um..."
Eleri already looks a touch dizzy from the two thus far, but then again they look a little like that all the time.
JAGAL: "Nah, this is plenty."
Jagal pauses, not seeming sure how those words came out of his mouth, but shrugs it off with a last drink of tea. He's just in a weird mood, he guesses.
LUCYA: "Hum... Me folks never had much t'do with magic, but..."
Lucya fades out again, watching Jagal and Eleri interact. She even smiles a little, grateful he's decided to backtrack on scamming them out of house and home for whatever reason. Her voice is faint, though, as she speaks up once more.
LUCYA: "Thank ye, Mx. Eleri, ye've been a mighty help... Can I ask ye one more thing?"
ELERI: âO-oh, yes! Of course!â
LUCYA: "How much can ye tell me about where he is?"
Lucya looks for a map like the one in Tanvir's house, but isn't having much luck with the clutter.
LUCYA: "I dinnae much about the Ironlands, outside me home... Can ye show me, onna map?"
ELERI: âA-ah! Iâm sorry, I-I should have asked if that was a concern b-before I⌠Aah⌠W-well, I still have a general sense, umâŚâ
Eleri closes their eyes again, holding their arms out slightly.
ELERI: âMmm⌠All right. S-so which way is north hereâŚâ (looks out the window and has a horrifying revelation)
ELERI: âItâs noon oh noâI-I should still knowâN-no, umâH-hang onâŚâ
Lucya peeps out the window, and points in the direction she sees the moss growing on the trees. The mountains loom on the horizon.
Jagal points likewise without stopping to think.
ELERI: âR-right! YesâOkay. Th-thank you.â
Eleri faces that way and holds their arms out again with a low hum.
ELERI: âOkay. AndâŚâ (flits around until they can find a map in a book somewhere, then rejoins the travelers) âOkay! S-so, um⌠Yoursââ (nodding to Lucya) ââshould be around here somewhere. A-a-and yours was closer to, um..."
Eleri gestures to a large west-central stretch of the Veiled Mountains and the northern half of the Ragged Coast, respectively.
ELERI: "I-I can try another scry for something more, um, helpful, b-but that would take s-some preparation..."
JAGAL: "They'll have moved by the time we get that close, anyway. Not worth the trouble."
Lucya studies the map carefully, glancing up through the window once or twice, but the newfound scale of her quest is hard to wrap her mind around.
LUCYA: "Aye... aye, ye've done quite a bit fer us already. Thank ye again..."
She sets her empty cup gently on the table. She wants to leave, but she's too polite to say anything.
đ˛ On a whim, we try Forging a Bond with Eleri, and get a weak hit. We can't think of anything else they'd want right now, though, so we decide they'll just talk to Lucya in a dream or something later.
JAGAL: "Yeah, what she said." (already approaching the door) "We should probably get going."
ELERI: "N-no, thank you for getting the book back to me! I-if there's anythingâI meanâI-I don't really have many resources o-outside of my immediate field of research, b-but, um... Y-you're welcome to come back sometime, i-if you need to! OrâTh-that doesn't sound right, um..."
LUCYA: "Aye, should our paths cross again, I'll..."
Her voice catches in her throat. She curtsies in thanks and quickly turns for the door, before she loses her composure entirely.
JAGAL: "We get the picture. Fortune see you."
Jagal exits with an offhanded wave.
ELERI: "Er, y-yes! Until then!"
Lucya turns straight back towards Lostmoor and starts walking, barely registering if Jagal is following her or not. She only makes it a few yards before she has to slow down and wipe her eyes.
LUCYA: "...Ye saw that too, didn't ye?"
Jagal follows fine, at least physically. He doesn't seem to be catching onto her state of mind quite as well.
JAGAL: "Saw that everybody still seemed alive as of a few minutes ago?"
LUCYA: "..."
She blinks at him through her tears, but smiles bemusedly.
LUCYA: "...He is alive, isn't he? Better than not, but..."
LUCYA: "He is changed and fearsome, aye, but he is my friend! I have tae help him... And if I can't do that, if he's hurtin' people, I have tae stop him..."
LUCYA: "Will ye still go with me?"
He half-coughs at the "hurting people" line. Good thing Jagal isn't her friend, huh?
JAGAL: "Well, you don't have to do anything."
JAGAL: "Except, of course, compensate me appropriately for whatever distance you can afford. I doubt it's all the way to the middle of the Veils, but who knows!"
LUCYA: "Aye, I'll do what I can... And should we find black iron, ye can have it, aye?"
Somehow, Jagal has inadvertently cheered up Lucya a little. She sniffles, still, but she pulls her cape close around and keeps walking.
JAGAL: "She's catching on~!"
NEXT: 009: Juggling Jagals