#numenera2 | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

strangetalesofnumenera · 7 years

Text

Arkwiss

Arkwiss brought the crawler to a stop on the edge of the village. The nano watched the commotion caused by his arrival through the view-screen for a moment before removing his piloting harness and crawling through the narrow access from the cockpit to the cargo area in the back.

As he emerged, the engine gave an animalistic groan that indicated it was powering down. “I take it we’ve arrived?” Almsqu climbed out of the hammock they had strung across the small space, groaning with the pain of contractions as her body prepared to give birth. She squatted over the small birthing basin they had rigged in the rear of the vehicle, letting out a pained scream as the baby slid quckly and painfully from her womb.

Arkwiss handed his proxima companion a water skin while he used another to begin washing the baby.

“All systems have been safely shut down. We have approximately 52 hours of fuel left.” Id said, emerging from the engine compartment. His metallic skin glistening with steam and fluids from the ancient machine.

“Alright, thanks. We’ll see what we can pick up in town. Coming down the hill, it looks like the place is built around some sort of pillar in the center of the village, so hopefully they’ve got a spare cypher or two that we can use. Same routine applies, you stay here, Id, ready to restart the engine until we know that it’s safe, and that they won’t have a problem with an AI walking around on its own.”  “We understand, boss,” the sapient machine’s choir of voices betrayed their disappointment, but it had been self-aware long enough to understand how it made some people feel.

“Hey, how about we have a maintenance day when we refuel?”

“Sounds good, boss.”

Arkwiss grabbed fresh clothes as Almsqu began to feed the child. “It seems like it’s a normal girl today.”

Arkwiss opened the hatch. “Good, I’m going to go out and see what’s what. I’ll be back in a moment.” He pulled himself out, climbing up to stand on top of the vehicle. A crowd had gathered to marvel at the spectacle of the strange machine that had come into their midst. “It looks clear. Just some villagers. Nothing too out of the ordinary.”

Almsqu passed the girl up to him through the opening, curly, bright red hair ringing a small, heart-shaped face. She hugged him around the waist as she stood up shakily. “Hello, Arkwiss, I’m Ezylwyn. At least for today”

“Hello,” he replied, reaching down to give the seeker a hand. When he stood back up, Ezylwyn had already scrambled down the side of the crawler and was approaching an elderly woman who had stepped from the crowd.

“Well,” said the woman as she approached, “that isn’t something you see every day. Welcome to Ellomyr.”

“Iadace,” replied Arkwiss. “I am Arkwiss Partoss, this is my partner Almsqu, and that one is Ezylwyn.” Almsqu gave a low bow while the girl turned to stare at the sun still rising over the hills to the East.

“Well hello Arkwiss, my name is Kyrn, and, as long as you mean no ill, all are welcome in our humble little town.”

“Thank you, Kyrn. It would be nice to spend a couple of nights in a real bed, eating real food.”

“Well, as you can see, we are a very small village, but I’m sure we could find somewhere for you and your daughter. Follow me and I’ll take you to Gurner Fron, he’s what passes for leadership around here. Perhaps little Ezylwyn can play with the Revell children while we get you situated.”

Arkwiss nodded, and adjusted his pack. “Perhaps. Ezylwyn, why don’t you cover up and follow us when you’re ready?”

“Very well,” the girl answered, tucking her long tresses into her hood and wrapping her face in her scarf.

Kyrn led the trio through the town, pointing out the landmarks and introducing them to some of the more curious villagers. As they passed one house, a woman emerged carrying apack full of supplies and a strange, glass-like blade.  “Nieten,” called Kyrn, “good morning. Off on another hunt?”

“Yes, it’s going to be a good day today, I can feel it.”

“Well I hope so. By the by, this is Arkwiss, Almsqu, and Ezylwyn,” she said, gesturing to each in turn. “They’ve just arrived in the most fascinating machine. You’ll see it on your way out of town. Arkwiss, Almsqu, and Ezylwyn, this is Nieten. She’s not exactly a people person, but she’s the strongest warrior we have, and a much nicer person than she would have you

believe.”

Arkwiss offered his hand, “iadace, Nieten. Tell me, as the town’s strongest warrior what kinds of dangers does you typically face.”

“None. We’re pretty safe here. The biggest threat we need to be prepared for is the Iron Wind, not that there’s a whole lot of preparation to be done for it.”

“Isn’t that the truth. Have you ever seen it, the Iron Wind?”

“I’ve seen what it can do.”

“I see.” Arkwiss got suddenly animated, “Well, I once had to ride it out with nothing more than a minor protective esotery and my cloak as shelter, and let me tell you, it is not something I ever wish to experience again.”

“Interesting. We shall have to speak more about it later. Perhaps when I’ve returned.”

“Indeed. Best of luck on your hunt today.”

“Thank you.”

Ezylwyn piped up, her voice cracking with the first signs of puberty, “You’re going to go kill your food? Do you mind if I join you?”

“I prefer to hunt on my own,” said the glaive. “Like Kyrn said, I’m not really very good with people. That’s why I like to get out of the village when I can. I appreciate the offer, though.”

Ezylwyn made a noise of disappointment.

“I don’t think that’s a good idea, Ezylwyn,” interrupted Almsqu. “This is a new town, you should probably just stick with us.”

Kyrn looked at the group quizzically, “shall we press on then?”

“Yes, thank you,” Almsqu said.

As they approached the village square, Kyrn grew silent. A musical sound, almost like singing, filled the air. Soft at first, it grew louder as the group drew closer.

The square was dominated by a towering, vibrating obelisk. It was covered in strange symbols, almost like runes. The sun had fully emerged from behind the hills, bathing the stone in light, creating the illusion of a god or angel coming to offer salvation, radiating the light of heaven.

Arkwiss felt drawn to it, as though it were calling to him personally. As he approached, the vibration grew stronger, the music becoming almost painfully loud. He stretched out his hand toward the strange object, laying his palm on its surface.

The music stopped.

“Do. Not. Do. That. Again.” Arkwiss turned around to see Ezylwyn glaring up at him from the ground. She looked as though she had tripped—or been pushed down—her face contorted in pain, hood flung back and scarf lying in the dirt several feet away, as though she had just tossed it aside in her haste to remove it. As she stood, she locked the nano with the kind of withering stare that only an adolescent could give.“That hurt, Arkwiss. I couldn’t breathe. I do not like it.”

Before he could respond, a new voice interrupted, this one gruff, old, “I have been tellin’ tales an’ wonderin’ about the Trillin’ Shard a long time, but I’ve ne’er seen it seem t’ reac’ t’ someone like that.”

The newcomer stood in front of a thatched-roof house a few yards away. He was elderly, his face kind, lined with the passage of more years than Arkwiss guessed anyone he’d ever known had seen.

As he looked about, Arkwiss realized that almost everyone was watching him and his group. He couldn’t imagine that many strangers passed through this remote little hamlet, so he could understand their curiosity. A small army of children stood in the shade of the house next to the one that the elderly man had emerged from.

After a moment, Kyrn broke the awkward silence, “Good morning, Gurner. I trust the morning finds you well?”

“It surely does, Kyrn. Any mornin’ that somethin’ new and interestin’ happens is boun’ t’ be a good one, an’ this one will surely make for a good s’ory for the li’l ones.”

“I am sure it will. Might I introduce you to our guests? The big one playing with the stone is Arkwiss. His companions are Almsqu, and the,” she paused for just a moment, “the young one is Ezylwyn.” She said “young one” almost as though it were a question she was too polite to ask. “Arkwiss, Almsqu, Ezylwyn, meet Gurner Fron. If any person could be said to be truly in charge of the Ellomyr, it would be him.”

Gurner let out a good-natured “bah” as he approached the group, “I’m too ol’ t’ be in charge.” He shook Arkwiss’ hand, then Almsqu’s. “I jus’ wan’ t’ en’ertain the chil’ren and maybe learn a true s’ory or two about the s’one and it’s purpose before I die. Let the youn’ ones lead. Like Nieten. Dora is always talkin’ ‘bout her an’ how she shoul’ lead. I can’ say I disagree, either. But that is an issue for another day.” Ezylwyn took a step back when the old man offered her his hand. “Well, aren’ you the in’eres’in’ one.”

Arkwiss spoke up, “iadace, Gurner Fron, I am glad that we could bring you some joy, but could you perhaps tell me where I could find your village’s Aeon Priest? I have some questions about the stone.”

“Oh, I’m sorry, we don’ actually have one here. I’ve always hoped one woul’ come through, maybe provide us some answers since nobody here knows much of anythin’ beyon’ what’s been pass’ from generation t’ generation.”

“Well then, you’re halfway in luck. I’m not actually an Aeon Priest, but I did study with them when I was much younger. Perhaps I could examine it for you and see what I might learn.”

“Well, perhaps you can. But I’m sure you mus’ be tired and hun’ry from th’ road. Let’s get you fed, first. “ He offered a wide grin, revealing a mouth largely devoid of teeth. “I was jus’ about t’ make some gallen bacon, but I have a batch of eggs that I’m told come from some place call’ Karrow, Carow, somethin’ like that. I’ll fry up some of those, as well.”

“Caroa?” asked Almsqu.

“I suppose that coul’ be what it was called.”

“That is my homeland. I have not been back in many years.”

“I see. Well then, why don’ you two and your daughter come inside an’ make yourselves at home?”

“I am not their daughter.” The teenager looked irritated, her voice dripping with sarcasm.

“There’s no need to be rude,” stated Almsqu, stepping up next to the girl as they approached the house. She continued in a whisper, “he doesn’t know about our situation, please try to be polite.”

Ezylwyn rolled her eyes and stepped ahead of her “mother.”

Arkwiss lagged behind, falling into step next to Kyrn. “Thank you for your hospitality, this town seems unusually pleasant.” He tried to keep the suspicion out of his voice.

“Oh, we try. We don’t really have the resources to afford to be angering anyone. We don’t want trouble coming to visit, so we welcome anyone and everyone with open arms. Everyone is happy, and everyone is safe.”

“I see. Well then, we have one more companion. He stayed behind in the crawler because we didn’t want to alarm anybody, but I know he’d like to get out and see the town as well.”

“Oh, well, then, let’s get him in here. Tell him to come have a bite to eat.”

“I will, thank you.” Arkwiss closed his eyes, reaching across the distance with his senses. Id, the town seems to be safe. I’m going to open a portal so that you can join us.

Okay boss, sounds like a plan.

Arkwiss opened his eyes. “Okay, Kyrn, step back.” He reached out his hand as she complied and made a motion like turning a doorknob. At that spot, reality itself seemed to peel away, replaced by a six-foot circle of pure, white energy.

Id had to duck to fit through the portal, so that the first thing that came through was his head. When he was safely out, the portal closed behind him as he stretched to his full height of nearly eight feet.

From a distance, Id could almost pass for human, albeit an unusually tall, skinny one. Up close, however, it was easy to tell that he wasn’t. His “skin” was actually a material somewhere between synth and steel, run through with fine, silvery-blue lines, and his movements were slightly jerky, not quite as fluid as those of an organic person. His face, too wasn’t quite right, it’s resting expression a not-quite-natural smile, and his eyes a pair of twitching, telescoping lenses. He was also gaunt, to the point where one could almost see the mechanism beneath the surface giving him life.

“Kyrn, this is Id. Id this is Kyrn,” introduced Arkwiss.

“Oh, my,” responded Kyrn with a small laugh. “Aren’t you a sight. Welcome to Ellomyr. I’m sure you’re going to be very popular around here.

“Iadace, Kyrn, it is a pleasure to meet you.”

The Trilling Stone let out a single, percussive ring, loud enough to echo back a few moments later in the otherwise quiet morning.

A pained shout and a thud emerged from Gurner’s house. Arkwiss ran inside, using a simple esotery to blow the door off of its hinges. Ezylwyn lay crumpled on the floor unconscious. Blood trickled from her ears and nose.

“What happened?”

“She jus’ scream’ an’ fell over holdin’ her head, then she started bleedin’.”

Almsqu looked at Arkwiss. “Perhaps this Trilling Shard possesses the answers we’ve been looking for for so long.” Arkwiss nodded his agreement.

Gurner started to speak, then stopped, his mouth agape as Id entered, followed by Kyrn. “Well, I’ll be a diseas’ seskii. Your family sure does jus’ get more an’ more interestin’ by the momen’.”

“Id, healing spray.” Arkwiss lifted Ezylwyn off the ground and carried her to a couch. “Something’s wrong, it seems to be having some sort of reaction to the sound that the shard makes.” He laid the young woman across the cushions as she began to twitch and shake.

“Affirmative, boss, give me a moment to synthesize one.”

“Is there somethin’ I can do t’ help?”

“No,” the denial was more aggressive than Arkwiss had intended. “Almsqu, hold her still, please.”

The seeker did so as Id passed something small and pill-like to Arkwiss.

“Thank you, Id.” He shoved the pill into Ezylwyn’s nasal cavity, pinched her nose shut, and squeezed the bridge of her nose as hard as he could until he heard a crack and pop, followed by a soft hiss.

Almost immediately, Ezylwyn’s body went limp. Arkwiss released the breath he had been holding and slumped back into a seated position.

“You wan’ t’ tell me what that was all about?”

“It’s about a curse, laid upon Almsqu many years ago by a woman who calls herself the Emerald Magus. She was one of the few sorceresses I’ve ever come across who truly terrifies me. The result is Ezylwyn. We don’t know what it really is, but every morning Almsqu gives birth to it, it gradually ages through the course of the day, and that night it dies.

“The next morning, she gives birth to it again, this time with a different name, a different form. Sometimes it looks like a boy, sometimes a girl. Sometimes it looks human, or close to, and other times it bears no similarity to anything I have ever seen. The only thing that is constant is that it is born, ages, and dies, every single day, and that it always remembers, perfectly, everything that has come before.”

“Every day you say?”

“Yes. Can you imagine what it must be like to die, over and over, only to be reborn and remember dying?”

“That soun’s horrible.”

Arkwiss ran a hand over Ezylwyn’s head as she dozed. “We don’t even really know anything about it. Is it purely a creature of magic? Is it really alive? Does it have a soul, and, if so, what does it see on the other side? It’s lived and died thousands of times. What must that be like? Our search for a way to bring this horror to an end has led us here.”

“An’ it woul’ seem that Trillin’ Shar’ may have some sor’ of effec’.”

“So it would seem.”

Almsqu rubbed her temples and dropped into a chair. “Please, anything you know about the shard would be helpful. Whatever else Ezylwyn might or might not be, I do feel like its mother. I just want its suffering to end.”

“Like I said, nobody aroun’ here knows anythin’ about th’ shar’. Jus’ th’ odd legen’ tol’ from one generation t’ th’ nex’. Cer’ainly nothin’ that I woul’ wan’ you t’ base a life an’ death decision on.” Gurner shrugged resignedly, “Ar’wiss, you say you spen’ time with the Or’er of Truth, is you thin’ you can learn somethin’, then by all means. We welcome all comers aroun’ here, an’ I don’ thin’ anyone in Ellomyr woul’ have a problem with you all s’ayin’ as lon’ as you like. Jus’ make sure you’re able to earn your keep is all.”

“We appreciate it, and we’ll be more than happy to help around the village for as long as you’re all willing to let us stay. I can use my magics in a variety of ways, and I’m particularly good with machines, Almsqu is a skilled explorer and fighter, and Id does a little bit of everything, but he’s especially good at making useful items and tools. There wouldn’t happen to be an empty dwelling we could use, would there? Or enough material for me to make one?”

“Make one?”

“Yes, Id can help me use a spell I know to make us a house. I just need the material to construct it with.”

Gurner thought for a moment, then looked to Kyrn. “Kern, woul’ you goin’ t’ see if anyone is available t’ help gather s’uff to make a new house with? This is something I wan’ t’ see for myself. If you can do that, you might jus’ become the mos’ popular man in town. Make a whole lot of people’s lives easier.”

“I look forward to the opportunity.”

Gurner nodded and moved into his small kitchen as Kyrn departed on her mission.“Well, th’ day is s’ill early. Might as well make that food I tol’ you I had. Why don’ you join me over here an’ let th’ little one res’.”

The trio of adventurers joined him as he pulled several slices of meat and a large, green and pink mottled egg from a metallic box. Almsqu’s eyes widened when she saw what emerged. “That is a tremulan egg. In Caroa, my family followed the herds across the plains. I had though I might never again enjoy their meat. Please, let me cook it, I will make sure that it is done properly.”

“Well, alright, if you insis’. I’m glad I coul’ brin’ you such joy.”

“Oh, yes, thank you.” Almsqu went about starting the cooking fire and preparing the food.

“So, tell me a s’ory, Ar’wiss. Somethin’ from your adventures. I’d bet a her’ of gallen that you got a tale or two t’ tell. Maybe the s’ory about how your in’eres’in’ little group came to be adven’urin’ together?”

“I can do that. It’s a small price to pay for your hospitality.”

Arkwiss told Gurner about Id, the first of his group that he had travelled with. He relayed the story of a town called Deleon, and it’s miraculous healing waters. Of how an attempt to find the source of the water by digging below the town had unleashed a horrific plant monster that wound up destroying the settlement, the great digging machines he had found underneath that helped him to destroy the plant monster and the creatures it had turned the townsfolk into, and their perilous escape as the tunnels collapsed around them.

The nano wove the tale of the journeys he had with the machines and his friends who lived inside of them. Adventures that took him from one end of the Beyond to the other, until a fateful encounter with the Iron Wind near the Clock of Kala. How, battered and hungry, he had limped his way to the town of Norou, keeping his machine friends alive and moving by sheer force of will, and gained the assistance of an Augur there to reforge the battered remnants of the great artifacts into the crawler that he still travelled in, and the intelligences that once controlled them into Id.

With help from his companions, the tale of his journey through the Great Reach to the Lands of Dawn, on the other side of the world. It was there that he’d met a beautiful explorer in a hostile land filled with strange beings to whom humans were cattle. Despite their romance not lasting very long, they had decided to continue travelling together. It was during this period, he said, when they had been exploring a ruin below a place called the Forest of Razors when they had stumbled upon a fortress inhabited by a woman who called herself the Emerald Magus. As punishment, she had used a strange, black box to place the hex upon Almsqu that led to Ezylwyn, with the promise that only in death would the curse be broken.

Almsqu grew quiet as they ate their meal and Arkwiss recounted attempts to find a way to undo what had been done. Failures and false hopes, crushed dreams, wise men, seers, and wizards, for seven long years they had ceaselessly searched for an answer.

Finally, he told them of a merchant, in the grand city of Qi, who had told them of a small farming town built around a grand pillar of which little was known.

As the tale of Arkwiss and his companions drew to a close, the group grew silent, reflective.

Gurner was the first to break the silence. “I knew you had a tale t’ tell, an’ I wasn’ disappoin’ed. I’ve been craf’in’ s’ories for th’ little ones of th’ village for as lon’ as I can remember, but that was somethin’ else en’irely.” He pulled a piece of dried meat out of a pouch and began to chew contemplatively. “All th’ thin’s you mus’ have seen, I can’ even imagine.”

Arkwiss nodded. “Indeed, I have seen things most people wouldn’t believe. I have travelled from the Sea of Secrets to the Clock of Kala; the Caecilian Jungle to the Southern Wall. I took a portal that whisked me to the Dawn Lands, as far from here as one can get on this planet, as though I were simply passing through a city gate. From great machines drawing their energy from the fiery depths of the planet’s core to beings made of sound guiding travelers through the dangerous eddies of the sideslip fields. But all I want is a way to bring an end to the suffering suffered by both Almsqu and Ezylwyn.”

He looked across the room at the woman still sound asleep on the couch. “I just hope that I’m able to figure out what it is about the shard that caused such a reaction.”

“I hope the same, Ar’wiss, I really do. For now, though, why don’ we get out of here and see how those chil’ren are comin’ alon’ with the s’uff t’ buil’ your house.”

“That sounds good to me.”

Almsqu spoke up for the first time in a while. “I think I’m just going to wait here with Ezylwyn. I don’t want it to wake up all alone in a strange place.”

“That is probably a good idea. We won’t be far if you need anything.”

“Thank you. And thank you again for the meal, Gurner.”

“Oh, it wasn’ anythin’ special. Jus’ bein’ decen’.”

Arkwiss stepped out into the midday sun, Gurner Fron leading the way and Id close behind. They walked the short distance to the next house where aging villager knocked lightly on the front door before just pushing it open and letting himself in. The interior of the house looked like it had been tossed by one of the great spinning storms he had sometimes seen in the beyond.

At the back of the house, a middle-aged woman was carving the likeness of a xi-drake into a door-like slab of wood. With it’s wings outstretched and it’s mouth screaming soundlessly, Arkwiss could almost picture it soaring through the skies over the steadfast, an Angulan Knight standing proud on its back.

Gurner introduced the woman, who laid her work aside and stood as they approached. “Good day, Dora. That sure is a lovely piece you’re wor’in’ on this mornin’. I’m sure you saw, but we got some new arrivals in town, an’ I jus’ wan’ed to s’op by an’ in’roduce them. This is Ar’wiss and Id. They’re probably goin’ t’ be s’ayin’ in town for a while. Ar’wiss, Id, let me in’roduce you to Dora Redmire, the fines’ woodwor’er this side of the Black Riage.”

“Iadace, Dora. In all my travels, rarely have I seen such skill with wood carving. It is truly a beautiful piece.”

Id examined the carving, curious. “Interesting. The fine detail exceeds that of a baseline human. Your talent is clearly evident. Congratulations.”

Dora Redmire took Arkwiss’ proffered hand. “Well thank you, I guess. You must be the ones that my kids were sent to gather material for.”

“Yes, we hope to join your community while I study the Trilling Shard, so Gurner was kind enough to have Kyrn ask the children gather us the material for a house. We wouldn’t want to impose upon anyone during our stay.”

“Well, as long as you aren’t a burden, welcome to town. It’s pretty quiet around here, but that’s how we like it. Hey, maybe you can talk some sense into Nieten. She lives in constant fear that the Iron Wind is going to come and destroy us all, but Brucha One-Hand and I have been trying to warn her that the margr are a much more serious threat that we need to be prepared for.”

“Have you had issues with the margr around here?”

“They raided the town about 5 years back. Killed my husband and took Brucha’s hand. We’ve been trying to warn the town that they’re going to return and that we’re too vulnerable, but nobody wants to listen.”

“I see. Well, we met Nieten this morning as she was on her way out to hunt. She was interested to hear about my encounter with the Iron Wind once before, so I’ll talk to her when we get together.”

“Thank you, I suppose that’s all I can ask for.”

“Alright, Dora,” Gurner interjected himself into the conversation, “we’ll tal’ t’ you later. For now, we need t’ get this youn’ man an’ his people settled.”

Arkwiss and Id wished Dora a good day as the threesome departed the house.

“Dora’s th’ bes’ wood wor’er you’re likely t’ ever meet, but she does go on an’ on about th’ mar’r, the poor woman. Hasn’ been th’ same since Kole was taken from her. Many days I thin’ that th’ only thin’ keepin’ her alive is her chil’ren an’ her craft.”

“Would you mind telling us about what happened?”

“Th’ attack was a blur. They came down out of th’ hills without warnin’. There were so many. Before we realiz’ what was happenin’, they were in the village. Everyone was screamin’, an’ I didn’ know what t’ do, so I hid. It was all noise, an’ death, an’ when it was over, we buried our dead an’ figur’ out how t’ carry on livin’. Mos’ of us at leas’. Poor Dora jus’ can’ accep’ that the mar’r are gone.”

Arkwiss nodded, sympathetic. “I saw the aftermath of a margr horde once. I thank the gods that I was spared their fury. I had just left Nihliesh, the great machine city where I was born, to study with the Order of Truth in Qi. As I came over the hills just East of Far Brohn. In the valley below me, I could hear them, even miles off, in the early morning. As I drew closer, I thought it must be some strange beast, a massive ooze, roiling across the land. I hid, until it disappeared into the hills on the other side of the valley. When the caravan I travelled with went down to survey the destruction, there was nothing left alive, and one of the guards told me of the horror that had befallen the destroyed town that we found. I will never forget that village, or the horror of the demons that caused it.”

“Then you have some idea of what it was that we experienc’. We will always remember an’ honor our dead, but the mar’r are gone, an’ they aren’ coming back.”

Arkwiss looked toward the hills he had come down from, thoughtful, as he followed Gurner. He was still lost in thought when Id shook him gently by the shoulder. His attention snapped to to realize that they had stopped on the edge of the town near where the crawler was parked.

In front of him was a stack of lumber, sheets of synth, and a pile of rocks. Several townsfolk had congregated to marvel at the spectacle of the crawler, and the building materials that had been assembled by the small army of children now chasing each other over and around the piles.

Gurner gathered the children with promises of a grand spectacle of magic that had been promised by the sorcerer and his companion.

The nano-wizard looked around at the crowd and stepped forward, self conscious. He closed his eyes as he did, trying to shut out the sensation of everybody watching him. Focusing his mind on the tiny machines that spoke to him out of the air, he implored them for their aid. His need was great, and the task before him would push him to the edge of his abilities.

The reaction was almost instantaneous; like a question spoken straight into his mind: what do you need?

They crawled across his skin now, passing into and through his body at the summons. The assembled crowd gasped, as a sudden gust of wind rushed in toward the strange man and he began to float, just a couple of inches off of the ground.

To Arkwiss, the outside world had ceased to hold a place in his mind. He was one with the mechanical spirits of the air, looking down upon the tiny beings on the ground from his new body, an ephemeral titan with the power to create or destroy as he pleased.

A strange vibration drew his attention from the crowd. There, in the center of town, the Trilling Shard was gone, replaced by a pillar of light, a silent symphony that spoke to him in an ancient language. He knew that he should know what it said, if only he could make out the words.

It took all of his effort to turn away from the deific sight, effort that left him with a sense of emptiness in his soul, as though he were turning from the gates of paradise. Drawing from his reserves of mental energy, he one again brought his attention to the task at hand.

As he picked up a piece of wood, the crowd gasped. Setting the piece into place, he willed a small piece of himself to remain with it, holding it steady. After completing a simple wall of synth and wood, he picked up the pace, confident that he had gained enough control over this new form.

Bit by bit, the piles of material shrank as the house took shape. The children squeeled at delight and Gurner had a difficult time controlling them, preventing them from running and playing among the floating pieces, any of which could easily kill or maim the unwary.

After what seemed like an eternity, the building was done. It was a small house with two bedrooms and a covered bay for the crawler. He built beds, couches, chairs, and a cooking space right into the walls and floor, ensuring that all four members of their group would be comfortable, with a bit of extra space for guests, and a planning room for Almsqu to use as a staging point for exploratory missions into the surrounding area.

The structure would only last a day before the forces holding it together got bored, or distracted, or tired, and let it fall apart, so he had to make it permanent. To do this, he shed most of the ethereal body, keeping just enough that he could enter into his friend and show him what needed to be done.

The exciting part of the show now over, most of the assembled went on their way, excitedly chattering about what they had just born witness to. Together, Id and Arkwiss worked to fortify the structure into a permanent installation. A few of the towns people offered help in exchange for Arkwiss’ services to assist them with their own construction needs, to which, speaking through his partner, he gratefully accepted.

As the sun fell low into the western sky, Arkwiss became confident that the house would stand on its own and returned to his own body, satisfied. After thanking the ones who had helped him, he looked to Id.

“Why don’t you pull the crawler inside, and I’ll go get Almsqu. It’s been a long day, and I could definitely use a meal.”

“Sure thing boss. I’ll go ahead and unload everything and then standby for you to return.”

“Thank you, and good job today.”

“Thank you, boss.”

It seemed like all eyes were on him as he walked back toward the center of the small village. Most of the inhabitants had probably never seen real magic, and those that had most likely had never seen anything beyond some minor hedge spells. The attention made him uncomfortable, but he just put his head down and increased his pace.

Almsqu was sitting on a chair in front of Gurner Fron’s house, staring absently into the distance. The elder himself was seated on a chair next to her, chewing on a piece of cured meat, but not actually eating it.

“She’s dead,” said the proxima. “It was horrible. The shard started humming. It was a low, angry noise, but somehow rich and hopeful. She woke up, looking like she was trying to scream and couldn’t. Instead, she just clawed at her throat and began to bash her head against the ground. I tried to stop her, but she kept getting out of my grip and just smashing her face into the floor until she died. I didn’t want to move the body in case there might be some clue to help you figure out what’s going on.”

“I see. It’s probably best we don’t let anybody see us carrying a body through the village, so I’ll take care of it. Id is waiting at the new house, back near the crawler, so why don’t you go ahead. I’ll take care of Ezylwyn”

“Okay, please don’t take long.”

“I promise I’ll be as quick as I can.”

Almsqu nodded as she stood and headed back the way he had come from. Arkwiss looked through the door at the gruesome scene, then turned to the old man. “I’m sorry that this had to happen in your home.”

“I appreciate th’ sen’imen’. Do you wan’ any help takin’ care of th’ body?”

“No. I will handle it. Thank you.” The adventurer entered the residence and approached the body. Almsqu hadn’t quite done justice to the scene. Ezylwyn lay in a pool of drying blood spreading from where her face was pressed to the floor, one arm pinned beneath her. He gently rolled the body aside onto its back to see a hole in the floor. Pieces of meat from her mangled face clung to the broken slabs of wood, evidence of the violence that had been done, and her hand clutched her throat as though trying to remove a strangling force.

Arkwiss closed his eyes and drew a breath, suppressing the urge to gag at the sight. When he opened them, he stretched his hands out, casting a minor spell to clean up the mess and fix the floorboards. When that was done, he reached out again to the nano-spirits. They came almost immediately to his call, consuming Ezylwyn’s body quickly and cleanly, until there was no trace of it left.

When it was over, he stood. “Until tomorrow, then.”

Arkwiss thanked the spirits for their assistance and dismissed them as he stood, exhausted from the events of the day.

“Firs’ I saw you look like you were communicatin’ with th’ Trillin’ Shar’. Then you open a door in th’ air that allows your frien’ t’cross th’ town ins’an’ly. You buil’ a whole house for yourself an’ your stran’ frien’s with magic, and now you cause a dead woman to jus’ vanish an’ clean up th’ mess with little more than a wave of your han’. Is there anythin’you can’ do?”

“Yes,” he replied, stepping past the old man. “There’s too much that is still beyond my capabilities, in fact. Right now, I’m so tired that I doubt I could stop an angry yovok.”

“Well, I don’ know what that is, exac’ly, but I’ll take your wor’ for it.”

Arkwiss nodded and made his way back to the house. He was too mentally exhausted to focus on any more than putting one foot in front of the other, so that’s what he did.

When he arrived, Id was standing in front of the crawler. “Everything inside is ready to go. Tomorrow I will make a unit in which to properly store fresh meats and produce.”

“Thank you, Id. Would you mind standing watch all night tonight? I’m exhausted and can’t possibly pull a watch shift, but I’m still a little nervous about being in a strange new town.”

“I understand boss. I will stand ready until you and Almsqu wake in the morning.”

Arkwiss nodded and went inside. Almsqu was already asleep on the divan, having not even removed her boots, so he grabbed a blanket and covered her with it. “You’ve got the right idea. We’ll deal with everything else tomorrow, he muttered, kicking off his own boots as he entered the room he had decided would be his own.

The sound of screaming woke him. It was a horrified, pained sound. He jumped out bed and rushed to the front room.

Almsqu lay on the floor, body curled into the fetal position as best as she could with her swollen belly. Her mouth opened and let out the sound that had awoken Arkwiss from his sleep. Id stood nearby, looking lost.

“I don’t know what’s going on, boss. She just started screaming and flopped onto the ground.”

One glance told Arkwiss that something was wrong with the pregnancy. The swell of her belly was much too large this time. When he tried to move her into a position where he could get a better look, she grabbed his arm and threw him to the floor.

“Id, I could use some help. I think we’re going to have to cut her open and remove the baby.”

The machine moved, finally having a clear course of action before it. Grabbing Almsqu by the feet, he pulled her out of the fetal position and rolled her onto her back while Arkwiss regained his feet.

The screaming intensified, an inhuman sound now, as all three watched an impossibly large hand press into the flesh of her abdomen from the inside, then a second, third and fourth, followed by a too-large face. As Arkwiss grabbed a knife to cut her open, the screams devolved into a hideous liquid sound, and blood began to bubble from her mouth. The pair of would-be wet-nurses watched in horror as first one finger then another forced its way out through her skin until twenty little digits were poking through.

Well-defined muscles rippled across the gaunt creature’s back and the four arms that sprouted from it’s oversized shoulders as it uncurled itself from the bloody mess that had once been a woman. Arkwiss and Id watched in horror as the thing stretched out onto the floor of the small house. Gossamer anisopteran wings unfurled themselves from the gore-soaked form, twitching lightly.

“Id, grab all the water that we have,” Arkwiss ordered as he knelt next to the thing on the ground, and Id went to the supply closet without comment. A powerful arm swatted his hand away as he reached down to touch it, and the creature flopped onto its side, its stomach and chest twitching and heaving as it made bubbling gagging noises. Other than the arms and wings, it appeared to be a human girl, about ten years old, as it looked up at him with wide, amygdaloid eyes just slightly too large for its face, each one a different shifting color.

It vomited what looked to mostly be blood on the carpet, before pushing itself to its knees and crawling back toward the corpse. A throaty, belching, hacking sound emerged as it bent down and bit a chunk of flesh from Almsqu’s face.

As Arkwiss watched on in horror, it turned it’s blood- and gore-covered face to look at him inquisitively for a moment before grinning. It’s mouth stretched nearly ear to ear when its lips split, revealing several rows of what appeared to be razor-sharp teeth with bits of meat still clinging to them. The horror of the scene was only compounded by the voice that came from it’s throat, the voice of a typical ten-year old little girl, as it said “hello, father.”

Id returned with the water as the thing curled up in the middle of the floor and closed its eyes, quickly falling asleep.

“Do you want me to start cleaning up the mess, boss?”

Arkwiss just stared in stunned silence, prompting Id to repeat the question. He looked down at himself, then around at the room. Blood was everywhere, a macabre mural across walls, floor, and ceiling.

“Don’t touch the girl or the body. I’m going to go get cleaned up. Can you make me something to restore my energy? I have a feeling I’m not going to be getting back to sleep any time soon.”

“I can do that,” Id said, passing a water-skin. “It will not be a real substitute, but I will prepare something while you bathe.”

“Thank you,” replied the mage, walking into the washroom. He stripped off his clothes, hung the water skin from a hook, and began to scrub the grime and dirt of the previous day. The cool water was refreshing, providing a jolt of adrenaline to help him wake up. When he was finished, he used a minor hedge magic to dry himself and clean his clothes. He looked at himself in the reflective sheet of synth embedded into the wall. At least he didn’t look as bad as he felt.

When he opened the door, the girl was waiting, squatting like a thuman, clad only in crimson, looking slightly older than she had before. “Hello, father,” came the childlike voice again.

“Hello,” he hoped his voice didn’t betray his uneasiness around the creature.

“I know why you feel afraid. You have nothing to fear from me. I will not harm you.”

“Oh, okay.” He knelt in front of her, looking into her strange, color-shifting eyes. “Do you have a name?”

She cocked her head, thinking for a moment as though processing the question. “You can call me Nir.”

“Okay, Nir. Why do you keep calling me father?”

“Well, father isn’t quite the right word, I suppose.”

“No?”

“There does not exist a proper word for what I am to you. The best way to describe myself is that I am the possibility of what could have been. I am partly of you, partly of Almsqu, and partly of the Outside. I carry your essence and memories, as well as those of my mother, but my true self was brought here from somewhere else by the Emerald Magus’ spell. The magic of the Trilling Shard interfered with the curse, though, and now here I am, able to tell you the truth.”

“So, tell me, do you know if the curse is broken? With Almsqu gone are you here to stay?”

“I can feel myself changing,” Nir said, holding out her four arms for inspection. “I can feel the magic dissipating, though, so I think I will stop growing soon.”

“That’s good. Are you able to clean yourself? Do you know how to bathe?”

“I possess memories of this, yes. Would you like me to do so?”

“I think that would be a good thing, yes. I’ll just go grab another water skin from Id and get it hung for you.”

Arkwiss stepped into the room where he had left Id and Alsqu’s body. Id was frozen in place, kneeling in the center of the room, water skins strapped over his shoulder with a rag in one hand. “Nir, what happened to Id.”

“I made him go away. He was bothering me.”

“What, exactly, did you do to him?”

“I don’t know. I just thought about wanting him gone and then he just kind of was.”

He nodded and grabbed one of the water skins. “I see.” He walked back to the wash room and replaced the used water skin. “How about this, why don’t you get cleaned up, and I’ll see what I can do for Id? When that’s done, we’ll see where we’re at, okay?”

“Okay.” She disappeared into the small room as the nano-wizard reached out with his mage senses, searching for the spark of sentience that was his friend. Normally, he could communicate with any machine that had even the most rudimentary intelligence just like having a conversation with his mind. This was different.

He found himself in a void. To say that there was nothing would have been an improper description; this was the absence of nothing. He shouted into the emptiness, but even his voice disappeared almost before leaving his mouth. Closing his eyes against the darkness that wasn’t actually darkness, Arkwiss opened his other senses, trying to feel anything.

At the very edge of his consciousness, he could feel his body, calling to him, trying to pull him back like a seskii on a leash. He forced himself to ignore it and moved deeper into the darkness.

There, in the distance, he could feel a sound, almost like the beating of a drum, very faintly against his face. The more he focused on that sensation, the stronger it became. He felt the impression of the sound against his flesh more than heard it. When he finally opened his eyes, he found himself standing before a towering pillar of light. Id stood beside him, basking in it’s radiance, staring into it contemplatively.

“Id?”

“Hi, boss. Did she send you here, too?”

“No, I was trying to reach out to you and found myself in this place. Where are we?”

“I think we’re Outside, in some sort of a dimension of the mind.”

“What makes you say that?”

“Because we seem to actually be physically here, but also not. I feel like I am using my mind more than my body to act.”

Arkwiss nodded in agreement. “That makes sense. What is this, light, then? Is it the way out?”

The articial intelligence just shrugged. “I am not entirely sure. I think it is some sort of beacon. If it is more than that, I have not been able to deduce how to use it.”

“I see. Would you like to go home? I think I can get us there.”

“Sure, boss. That sounds like a good idea.”

“Good, then let’s get going, shall we?” The two old friends clasped wrists as he reached out to his body. The light surrounded them both in a warm embrace. After a few moments, the pair found themselves both back in the small house, and not. It was as though they had moved to a place between where they had been and their physical reality. Swirling eddies of color painted themselves through the air, moving over, around, and through each other and the objects in the room. As he turned around, he saw the light again, slowly dissipating now, this time shaped like a girl with four arms and gossamer wings.

Arkwiss heard a sound like a low whisper, over a background of faint music., and realized what was happening. “Id, you should be able to just will yourself back into your body now. I have an idea, if I’m not back in the next few minutes, it will be up to you and the girl to find me.”

“Are you sure? What are you going to do?”

“I’m going to fix this.”

“Okay, I trust you, boss.” Id seemed to shrink before disappearing altogether, almost as though he were being pulled back into his physical body.

“Okay, Almsqu. Let’s see about getting you back.”

Arkwiss reached out and scooped a swirl of crimson and violet nano-spirits into his hand. He recognized them for what they were now, and had an idea. He called out to them, stretching his arms out in supplication. “Spirits of the air and magic, please, answer my call. I am in desperate need of your assistance once more.”

The response was swift and immediate: yes, we are here, we are with you.

The mage lowered his head. “Thank you. My friend has been gravely wounded. I do not know how to fix her, but I have seen great miracles wrought of your power. All that I ask is that you fix her body.”

This is within our power, but the vessel is empty, the soul departed. We can do nothing for this.

“I know, but I think I may be able to.”

Very well. It shall be done.

“Thank you. I shall return shortly.” He stepped toward the light, recognizing it, and, by extension, Nir, as a gateway to the Outside. Once again, he was surrounded by the non-emptiness.

This time, he recognized that the constraints of his physical form didn’t apply, so he shed them as though he were removing his clothes. It was a similar sensation as earlier, when he had stepped outside of his body to construct his house, but on a scale that he could hardly comprehend. When he opened his senses now, he saw Earth, awash with energy, floating in a vast, roiling sea of chaos. Tendrils extended like bridges to other islands in the sea, and he looked down upon them like a deity observing its creation.

A single voice called out in response to his probing, one that he recognized, from the island that was Earth. He focused on the voice, falling down into the world he knew, following it ever lower until he found himself standing at the base of a mountainous structure of glass, metal, and synth. The Glass Mountain, Carao. He knew he shouldn’t be shocked. The call was coming from the base of the structure, where a throng of incorporeal forms had gathered.

He pushed his way through a crowd of spirits, calling her name until he found her. She looked confused, lost, unsure of where she was or why she was there. The relief on her face as he drew near was obvious.

“Arkwiss, where are we? Did we die?”

“Yes, but I have come to bring you back. We need you.”

“I see. Are you sure? I’ve never heard of the dead coming back to life before.”

“Yes, I’m sure. The spirits are helping, I just need to bring you back. Take my hand, and we’ll go home.”

When the seeker had accepted his outstretched hand, Arkwiss listened for the sound of his body, following the pull of his physical self across the leagues. To Arkwiss, it seemed as though only a few minutes had passed. Id was still in roughly the same place, though now he was standing there, apparently speaking to Nir. The teenager, still faintly appearing to be made of light, stood there, dripping water, still naked from her shower, clutching a towel in one hand. Almsqu’s body floated in the air, mostly restored by the swarm of colors that cocooned it.

Time seemed to be moving at a much faster pace for the pair as Arkwiss led Almsqu to her body.

“Don’t worry, everything is going to be okay.” He picked her up, placing her spirit into its corporeal shell before turning back to his own body, still kneeling where it had been when he first went searching for Id. “Everything is going to be okay,” he assured himself, and stepped back into himself.

#numenera #numenera2 #ellomyr #monte cook games #science fantasy #scifi #sci fi & fantasy #rpg #cypher system #fiction #fanfic #fan fiction #writing

1 note · View note

damos-avephen · 7 years

Text

The... Ellomyrians... Ellomyrans? Ellomyrites? The locals. They’ve started building some walls around the village. There’s a lot of work to do, but if they keep it up, we might all live through this. A lady calling herself Dora is working on some ballistae. Master woodcutter, they say. Nice lady. Very enthusiastic about beating back the margr. She has several people assisting her, including a man in a fancy white helmet. Looks like an artifact.

“Detonations.” I surprise myself by saying that out loud.

Dora glances up from her work for a moment. “Excuse me?”

“Do you have any detonation cyphers laying around? Or some other numenera that could be turned into some? If you can attach them to the tips of the bolts, you can take out a lot more margr.”

At this, the helmeted man chimes in. “That sounds like a good idea. I’ve got a detonation, but we’re going to need a lot more than that.”

“Nieten might know more about that, you should talk to her. She’s the best hope our village has.”

“You know your way around the numenera?” Helmet says, gesturing toward me.

Jenny quacks.

“Jenny, be quiet,” I say to the discourteous mechanical bird perched on my shoulder. I turn my head back to the helmeted figure. “Something like that, yeah. You?”

“Not well enough to get this cursed thing off my head, but yes, generally, yes.”

“You can’t get it off?”

“I tried, I gave up.”

“Mind if I take a look at it?”

He frowns. Without waiting for an answer, I walk up to him and reach out to tap on the helmet. He pulls away.

“Please don’t touch it, it won’t work.”

“Fine, then, Sir Helmet.”

“My name is not Sir Helmet, my name is Coldane.”

“What does your helmet do?” I say, not bothering to introduce myself.

“It... It shows me images. It beeps. It talks to me.”

“It talks to you?” Funny. He has a voice in his head, too.

“It has some sort of connection to the datasphere, I suppose. Tells me to do things. Answers my questions, sometimes.”

“Veska!” I shout.

Jenny quacks.

Colade winces. “Please don’t do that.”

I grab him by the shoulders and shake him. “Where is Veska? Ask your helmet! Ask it about Veska.”

“Who is Veska?”

“Don’t ask me,”, I say in frustration, tapping on his helmet.

“Fine! Stop touching it.” He whispers something barely audible, and begins quivering. Moments later, he looks up at me. “The Trilling Shard.”

What? What is that supposed to mean?

---

Coldane is not my character, he is from @coldanefindsellomyr

Check out Numenera 2 on Kickstarter, and Discover your Destiny: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/montecookgames/numenera-2-discovery-and-destiny

#Numenera2 #numenera #Ellomyr

1 note · View note

numeneramalcoharly · 7 years

Text

Part 13: Descent

Darrion slipped in first, his thin frame brushing past the thick rocky spikes. Then went Gaven, then Ofra, the Tactus, and lastly Malco. Malco stayed behind the Tactus to help pull it back out in case it’s long body wasn’t able to fit through the cramped hole, but apparently there was no need because Malco just stood back and watched as the chitinous sections just slid into the earth until the were obscured by a turn in the rock. Malco took a deep breath. ..... “HAAAaaaaaa” and began to descend. The rocks banged his elbows as he moved, pinched his sides, and blocked his knees as he searched for foot holds. The tunnel was not even close to straight down but soon after the first turn everything had gone dark. As his body began to fatigue from the exorcise he could no longer hear the sounds of his the rest of his expedition below him over his own laborious breaths. Malco, was utterly alone. Seconds stretched into minutes, which stretched into hours, each time he had to rotate around the bottomless cliff to find a foot hold felt like an entire day went by. It was warm in the pits, it felt like an oven. maybe it was just the exorcise, but Malco didn’t care at the moment, he just wanted it over with! There were two occasions where Malco found a corpse pinned between the stones. One was an Ithsyn which had been unlucky enough to fall down the hole a awhile back, its long blue neck shredded and caught between a particularly sharp crack in the rock. The other was a woman, she seemed to be carrying a large amount of gear on her, gear the got snagged on the stone and pinned her to the cave, she probably died of dehydration. Malco couldn’t see enough of her to know if he knew her. Maybe she was on the last expedition, the one that didn’t make it. Malco doubted it, but he couldn’t be sure, the darkness would probably hold that woman’s identity a secret for all eternity. Far below the world above. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- “So why is it called The Crypt anyway?” Gaven looked down at the map Darrion had drawn out before them, ink still wet. “That’s because allot of poor souls fall into the pits that lead down to it and get stuck along the way.” Darrion put the pen back into the block of liquid ink floating near his head. “When we go in, we have to make absolutely sure we’re not taking anything that can get snagged. Otherwise we might die down there.” Darrion stretched his arms out and looked upon the group. They were in Malco’s house, just days before they had to leave for the Valley of Sin. Darrion knew he volunteered for this job, but was having second thoughts. He didn't like going to the Crypt. He didn’t lie to the group, many unlucky adventurers or wandering beasts fell into the caves and died, but the real reason why it was called The Crypt was because his dad was buried there. Locked away in a cyber coffin, deep below the drit, just as he had wanted. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Maclo slipped. The fall was short. He was able to catch himself with his magnetism, if it wasn’t for the fact that he had been practicing for so long, he might have died much like the Ithsyn still above him, his body torn open by the sharp, all consuming rocks. He reach out for the tuft of fur at the end of his pole... but it wasn’t there. He had left the pole back above ground. It would have been too big to take into the Crypt anyways Gaven was barely able to carry his sword through and the pole was a good length and a half longer than that. The absence of the fur bothered him, not because it felt nice. No on the contrary it had grown coarse and ragged with age, but because it reminded him of a time when things were simpler. Times when the fate of Malco’s little world wasn’t in jeopardy, back when he still lived with his family. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- “When alone in the dark, one must learn to face themselves. You can’t run away from it, because there’s nothing to run away from. It’s just you.... and the dark. See, people have this strange habit. When something bad’s about to happen we close are eyes. We’ve all done it. We hide inside ourselves and block out the truth of the world around us. To hide within our fantasies and pretend that everything's going to be okay. That the world isn’t as dark as we think it is. But when you close your eyes to hide from the darkness, the only thing you’ll discover is that the darkness was already inside you. ... I like the dark. I’ve been crawling through cave’s and ditches since I was a little kid. My dad threw me into random pits and forced me to get out on my own.... I learned allot from him, he was always an honest man. I could see the worry on his face as he watched me climb from the tiny holes he dug. I could see the joy on his face as I brought back weird machines I found combing the fields. I could see the sadness on his face as mother left us and took my siblings with her. He was always an honest man. Perhaps that’s why I like the dark. Some say it obscures the world, that it hides the true nature of how things are. But I disagree, maybe it’s just me, but when I’m in the dark.... When I’m locked away with nothing but my thoughts and worries... I’m the most honest man I’m ever going to be.” ~ Darrion ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Gaven could feel the warmth of his blade leak through the scabbard as it brushed against his leg. Normally it was comforting, now it just added heat to the inferno around him. The tunnels in the Crypt were unnaturally warm, even the tunnels he had explored for the rocks he used to cook with weren't this hot. If he hadn’t been warned of this before hand, he might have tried to descend wearing all his gear, and might have died of heatstroke before even setting foot in the Crypt. Darrion said it got better once you reached the caverns, that the land was naturally expelling heat away from the machine below, or so it seemed. The bodies were disturbing, but it wasn’t anything Gaven hadn’t seen before. He thought Ofra had stopped a ways above him, for he couldn’t hear her incessant complaining about the manual labor she had to preform, but that might have just been a trick formed from the fact that he could only hear his own breaths and grunts as he slowly crawled down the shaft. He wasn’t as thin as the rest of them, his elbows scarped along the walls, leaving slight trails of blood as the chalky spirals cut into him. What he wouldn’t give for some plate armor, or at least some knee pads right now. Maybe he’d fashion some once they got back to the surface. The glass blades could be warped under the heat of his sword, so he’d be able to bend it easily. He paused for a sip of water, it was already warm... disgusting. He dropped a small ball into the waterskin and the liquid began to cool, but it took awhile to take effect. As he waited he began to watch up above him, he found a nice resting spot where he was able to prop his back against the wall and stand with his arms free at his side. Though he would have to move once the shrimp caught up to him. He didn’t see her. Maybe she stopped after all. Maybe a gap was too large, or she found something on the body. Gaven didn’t think she could resist looting a corpse for it’s cyphers. Gaven thought it rude since he already had what he needed back at camp and on his person, but to each their own. He took a sip from the skin again. Nice and cold. He’d have to be careful not to swallow the bead, wouldn’t want his stomach juices freezing, but it was well worth the risk. He screwed the top back on and began to crawl down the rest of the pit. He cracked his sword a bit before he left to see if the light would be able to catch any of the other climbers. None. Gaven shrugged, and carried on, waiting patiently to reach the bottom. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- “No plan survives first contact with the enemy, and your greatest enemy is yourself. In all my years of wandering around the world, I’ve found that the most common reason for someone to die out in the wilderness is not because of random chance or poor planning, but because they didn’t execute the plan correctly. I’m not saying fear is a bad thing. No, fear is what has kept me alive for so long, but when someone diverts from the plan because they begin to panic, that’s when people die, and it’s usually more than just the person who panicked in the first place.” ~Gaven Selby ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- The body felt new. Skin, fare. Clothes, clean. Muscles, hardened but movable. These were not the traits of a body long lost to the world above. As Ofra continued her examination of the body, she began to search the corpses tools. There were a few pings of Numenera that caught her attention as she scanned it. A few cyphers, a circular synth disc that needed to be identified later, and some sort of large ring with devices along the edge. Aside from those, the person had a few rations, and some vials of various liquids that were a toss between enhancement drugs, and poisons. She would have to ask Gaven about them later. She could already hear the swordsman calling her shrimp now. Ohhhh did she wish that when Darrion measured Gaven’s blade that it would’ve ended up to long, but no, the chef got to keep his prized knife and she had to leave Avis behind. The world wasn’t fair. if it was, she would have been blessed with the height of her siblings, but she stood a measly 4 lengths off the ground to the tip of the skull. Though what it took from her height, it gave back to her mind. She was smart, always had been, and loved to tinker. She used her small frame to climb into holes as a kid and find different Iotum and use it to craft cool machines for her family. Aswalys crafting, always working. That was her motto, her outlook on life. Awhile back she met the Tactus, a charming fellow who shared the same interests as her. They could talk for hours with each other about how different Iotum reacted with one another, or how the properties of some Iotum made them better for powered or non powered machines. Each conversation she had with him was the best she ever had, and he couldn’t even talk. As she finished picking through the bodies remains, she began to descend deeper into the pit below. Her small size would normally be a hindrance for climbs like these, but she had a series of small mechanical needle like arms that extended from the back of the hands and feet. She came up with the idea from watching the Tactus walk. It has saved her massive amounts of time when searching through holes. Giving her the ability to climb even nearly flat surfaces with ease. As she left the body above her, she said a prayer, nothing fancy, one of the many hundreds of prayers for safe passing to the afterlife that she knew. She selected one from a tribe of abhumans that live far north of here in a series of mountains that occasionally raise into the air for months at a time. The abhumans drop their dead through shoots in the ground while the mountain is floating. Then as the mountain descends it buries the bodies deep below the ground. the tribe believed that when a person died, their soul began a journey to the center of the world. Once there the soul met with the creator of the known existence and melded with it’s body to become one with the land around us. They buried the bodies in this manor so that the souls could have a head start on their journey to the core, she thought it appropriate. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- “When the last one of us hit the floor of the Crypt, I let out a sigh of relief. It had only been an hour, but it had felt like an entire day had passed. We stood in the cooled chamber and drank from our waterskins. Gaven pulled out his sword and used it as a torch, lighting up the passage with a bright blue glow. Moss covered the wall, and the floor was littered with small shrubs containing the bright red fruit that was seen on the surface. I don’t know how the fruit made the journey up from the Crypt down below. it seems impossible for a small plant to make the journey that nearly exhausted 5 able-bodied people, but stranger things have happened. Our time in the darkness had begun, and it was going to be allot longer than we expected.” ~Ofra ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- This is part of my contribution to the Numenera2 Kickstarter for the Trilling Shard. The Kickstarter can be found here: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/montecookgames/numenera-2-discovery-and-destiny/description

#Numenera2 #Ellomyr

0 notes

throwontax-blog · 7 years

Audio

#numenera2 #ellomyr

0 notes

just-like-you-imagined · 7 years

Link

If you like tabletop RPGs or have ever thought about trying one, you should check this out. Numenera has a wonderful setting, and is very fun to play. And this campaign isn’t only about crowdfunding, it also has a crowdsourcing element, where backers have been contributing their own characters and stories to a village that will be detailed in an upcoming supplement. You can find my own contributions at damos-avephen.tumblr.com, but there are many others who have written much more. You could be one of them!

#Numenera2 #Numenera

0 notes

sotadiczone-blog · 7 years

Photo

#Ellomyr #Numenera2 #rpg #characterdesign #montecookgames

#rpg #ellomyr #montecookgames #numenera2 #characterdesign

0 notes

ellomyr-blog · 7 years

Text

Arkwiss, parts 1&2

Arkwiss brought the crawler to a stop on the edge of the village. The nano watched the commotion caused by his arrival through the viewscreen for a moment before removing his piloting harness and crawling through the narrow access from the cockpit to the cargo area in the back.

As he emerged, the engine gave an animalistic groan that indicated it was powering down. “I take it we’ve arrived?” Almsqu climed out of the hammock they had strung across the small space, groaning with the pain of contractions as her body prepared to give birth. She squatted over the small birthing basin they had rigged in the rear of the vehicle, letting out a pained scream as the baby slid quckly and painfully from her womb.

Arkwiss handed his proxima companion a water skin while he used another to begin washing the baby.

“Alright, thanks. We’ll see what we can pick up in town. Coming down the hill, it looks like the place is built around some sort of pillar in the center of the village, so hopefully they’ve got a spare cypher or two that we can use. Same routine applies, you stay here, Id, ready to restart the engine until we know that it’s safe, and that they won’t have a problem with an AI walking around on its own.” “We understand, boss,” the sapient machine’s choir of voices betrayed their disappointment, but it had been self-aware long enough to understand how it made some people feel.

“Hey, how about we have a maintenance day when we refuel?”

“Sounds good, boss.”

Arkwiss grabbed fresh clothes as Almsqu began to feed the child. “It seems like it’s a normal girl today.”

“Well,” said the woman as she approached, “that isn’t something you see every day. Welcome to Ellomyr.”

“Well hello Arkwiss, my name is Kyrn, and, as long as you mean no ill, all are welcome in our humble little town.”

“Thank you, Kyrn. It would be nice to spend a couple of nights in a real bed, eating real food.”

Arkwiss nodded, and adjusted his pack. “Perhaps. Ezylwyn, why don’t you cover up and follow us when you’re ready?”

“Very well,” the girl answered, tucking her long tresses into her hood and wrapping her face in her scarf.

Kyrn led the trio through the town, pointing out the landmarks and introducing them to some of the more curious villagers. As they passed one house, a woman emerged carrying apack full of supplies and a strange, glass-like blade. “Nieten,” called Kyrn, “good morning. Off on another hunt?”

“Yes, it’s going to be a good day today, I can feel it.”

believe.”

Arkwiss offered his hand, “iadace, Nieten. Tell me, as the town’s strongest warrior what kinds of dangers does you typically face.”

“None. We’re pretty safe here. The biggest threat we need to be prepared for is the Iron Wind, not that there’s a whole lot of preparation to be done for it.”

“Isn’t that the truth. Have you ever seen it, the Iron Wind?”

“I’ve seen what it can do.”

“Interesting. We shall have to speak more about it later. Perhaps when I’ve returned.”

“Indeed. Best of luck on your hunt today.”

“Thank you.”

Ezylwyn piped up, her voice cracking with the first signs of puberty, “You’re going to go kill your food? Do you mind if I join you?”

Ezylwyn made a noise of disappointment.

“I don’t think that’s a good idea, Ezylwyn,” interrupted Almsqu. “This is a new town, you should probably just stick with us.”

Kyrn looked at the group quizzically, “shall we press on then?”

“Yes, thank you,” Almsqu said.

As they approached the village square, Kyrn grew silent. A musical sound, almost like singing, filled the air. Soft at first, it grew louder as the group drew closer.

The square was dominated by a towering, vibrating obelisk. It was covered in strange symbols, almost like runes. The sun had fully emerged from behind the hills, bathing the stone in the golden glow of morning. The spectacle created the illusion of a god or angel coming to offer salvation, radiant with the light of heaven.

The music stopped.

-to be continued-

#numenera2 #character #submission

0 notes

aethir-scarax-blog · 7 years

Text

Aethir’s Identification

Aethir looked over the device the Devan brought him. As there was no Aeon Priest in the village of Ellomyr, Aethir, a retired nano, was the go-to person to identify bits of numenera the villagers found or the infrequent adventurer plundered from a prior world ruin.

Aethir kicked his heels against the floor, rolling his chair over to his workbench. Devan's face lit up, "Did you find out what it did?"

Aethir swiveled his chair back to face Devan and put his finger to his lip in a shush gesture, turning back to his work. Aethir snatched the bundle of wires floating towards him, lit a small, focused fire on his fingertip, and soldered one of the wires into the device. His hand shot towards a small button which he soldered the other end of the wire into. The flame on his finger glowed an even brighter blue while he melted the metal around the button and the device to weld them together.

Devan took his eyes off the ceiling and peered over Aethir's shoulder to see what he was doing until he felt Aethir's elbow knock the wind out of him. Aethir used one hand to make a shooing motion towards Devan, sighing in annoyance, as his other hand grabbed the wire clippers sliding towards him on the desk. He opened up a compartment in the cylindrical device and cut up a bunch of wires around a rectangular prism, replacing some the prism with a blue sphere, slightly humming as he soldered the wires into it. He closed the compartment, screwing it shut.

Aethir thumb lightly pressed the button, and as it did light flooded the room where the object was pointing, illuminating a dusty, wooden bookshelf, next to a table with a large notebook with a pen and glass sheet lying next to it.

"Let there be light!" Aethir exclaimed, admiring his work. Devan's face, lit up in wonder after the object lit up, turned to a confused look as Aethir spoke. "Wassat saying? I ain't heard it", Devan asked.

Aethir rolled his eyes, "Just something from a collection of information I got off of a data slate from a prior world ruin in my adventuring days, nothing you need worry about."

Aethir and put the device as well on the table, "20 shins", he said matter of factly.

Devan's eyes widened, "20?! Last one I brought you was 5!"

Aethir put his indexed, finger and thumb to the bridge of his nose, sighing, "The last thing you brought me barely required any parts and it did was change something’s color, this is much more useful and required quite a bit from my collection." “I’ll bring you some more leather and string for your bookbinding." The words leaving his mouth reluctantly.

Aethir looked up at Devan over his glasses and said, "I could also use some actual shins or other trade goods. I'm running low on supplies, I'd like to buy some from the traveling merchants." He then rolled his chair back to the desk with the data slate as Devan rolled his eyes and left Aethir's house.

#Numenera2 #original caracter

0 notes

brucedrawsworlds · 7 years

Photo

An interview I had with CypherCaster magazine Issue 9 just released, and I couldn’t be more honored! Had a great time talking about paintings for Numenera (an RPG) as well as general thoughts on art and personal artwork. Check it out at drivetrhurpg! #gameart #gameartist #creativeprocess #fantasygames #rpggaming #numenera #numenera2 #artistinterview #interviewwithartist #landscapepainting

#gameartist #rpggaming #artistinterview #fantasygames #creativeprocess #landscapepainting #numenera2 #interviewwithartist #gameart #numenera

1 note · View note

sirlockee · 5 years

Photo

Numenera foi a escolha preferida da galera no Stories. Obrigado a todos pela votação 😎👍 . #numenera #numenerarpg #numenera2 #rpg #rpgsolo #rpgbrasil #rpgdemesa #nerd #montecook https://www.instagram.com/p/B5C-LgWBn0s/?igshid=hg6id0k5ncf5

#numenera #numenerarpg #numenera2 #rpg #rpgsolo #rpgbrasil #rpgdemesa #nerd #montecook

0 notes

strangetalesofnumenera · 7 years

Text

Trouble In The Trees

“So, first you were born.”

“Of course.”

“And then you grew old.”

“Yeah, like, really really old.”

“Older than Gurner Fron?”

“Nobody’s that old.”

“Really?”

“Really. I overhead the knows all those stories because he was there for them.”

“Because you weren’t even alive for one whole day.”

“Right”

“But then you died.”

“U-huh.”

“And then you were born again.”

“Yep.”

“The very next day?”

“Yes.”

“And this happened every single day?”

“Yeah.”

“For how long?”

“Around ten years, I think? It sort of grew hazy there for a few years.”

“And all because some mean old witch in a place really, really far away from here decided to put a curse on your parents.”

“That’s right.”

Ro thought about Nir’s story for a moment, laying back and floating on top of the water. It was a rare moment when the friends actually had a few free hours at the same time, so they had decided to go bathe in the river after a particularly grueling session training with Hiero.

Nir still wasn’t sure about the strange automaton, but her and Ro had become fast friends, nearly inseparable during those rare moments when they were both free at the same time.

Usually, their time together involved training. Nir recognized in Ro a kindred spirit, someone who, like her, was misunderstood, but had an intense desire to be worthy of the real heroes around her.

Unfortunately, Ro’s hero was Hiero, the Blundering Idiot who Talks Too Much. At least his heart was in the right place; he wanted to help save the town, even if he was determined to be the big hero like one of the characters in Gurner Fron’s stories. She did enjoy getting up in the morning and going to his training sessions. They were of dubious value to most of his forced trainees, but she couldn’t deny at least his skill as a fighter. Besides, she had fun, and took the opportunity to spar against the automaton on an almost daily basis once he had let the others go.

“You know, it sounds like this witch needs some hero to come teach her a lesson.”

“Maybe you and me could do it together.”

“I don’t know. Maybe with Hiero’s help. I’m sure he could handle her.”

“You should give yourself more credit. You’re better with a spear than I am, and quick, I’m sure you’ll be a great hero soon.”

Ro smiled at the compliment. “I don’t know, but I’m going to try.”

The two swam in the cool water for a few more minutes before getting dressed and heading back toward the village. As they passed through a copse of trees, Nir became aware of a snorting sound, like a large animal but unlike any animal she had ever actually heard.

She put a hand out to stop her companion. “Ro, there’s something here with us,” she whispered, looking around.

“I know, I heard it, too.”

“Why don’t you climb a tree and see if you can spot it, I’ll look around down here.”

“Okay.”

Nir watched her friend disappear up into the branches, then followed the sound, keeping pace as Ro climbed from tree to tree.

The source appeared to be a large man, close to eight feet in height, and covered in thick, coarse fur, but otherwise naked. Instead of feet, it had hooves, and what appeared to be small horns growing from it’s head. It carried what appeared to be some sort of spear made of large bones lashed together, studded with sharp teeth.

Margr! screamed Nir’s instincts. Her parents had told her about the nature of the goat people threatening the town. She looked up to the trees and made eye contact with Ro. Using had gestures to develop a plan silently, the young visitant stepped out behind the monster, hoping she was being as stealthy as she felt.

As Nir drew close to the creature, she stepped out from behind a tree and found herself looking into the thing’s hairy face. She let out a small yelp as a powerful hand hit her in the side of the head, smashing the side of her face into the trunk. Dazed, Nir fell to the ground, seeing her death in the margr’s eyes as it stood over. It lifted its spear for the killing blow as it let loose an otherworldly victory yell. The celebration was cut short, however, as a small knife emerged from its throat, the goat-person’s eyes barely having time to register its surprise before it fell over dead.

Ro rode the dying creature to the ground, losing her weapon as the motion twisted it from her grasp. She grabbed her barely conscious companion under an one an arm, trying to help her to her feet and shake her out of her stupor.

The mutant began to panic as the sound of more of the goat-men drifted toward her through the trees. “Nir, please, we need to get out of here. I think there are more of them.” The small mutant grabbed her much larger friend by the hands, determined to drag her back to town if necessary.

A roar drew her attention to a trio of margr emerging from the brush, all between the pair and their destination.

Nir was late. Nir was never late. Id was only mildly annoyed because he needed her to deliver a bundle of explosives to the watchtower for testing. The new design involved attaching a small winged engine to a standard detonation cypher, allowing a user to throw it at targets that were far away.

He guessed that she had probably just lost track of time during her morning training sessions with the machine knight and the little mutant who followed it around. He was glad that she’d found something that both made her happy and would be of use in the defense of the town, but she had other duties, and he knew her parents would never let her anywhere near the actual fighting when the time finally came.

Deciding to track her down once the delivery was complete, Id grabbed the heavily padded crate into which he’d packed the weapons, as well as a special item he had built specifically for Ro, Nir’s mutant friend. He’d watched a couple of their training sessions and had found himself impressed by the skill of one so young, so he took it upon himself to make her a weapon that might give her an advantage over foes much larger then herself, like the margr. Now would be as good of a time as any to deliver it. He would also finally have a word with their teacher about his methods. Too often, Nir arrived with blood trickling from her nose, sometimes her ears, as well. One time it had even been coming from her eyes. The wounds were a telltale sign of the kind of a blow to the head that would lead to damage of the brain, especially in one as young as her.

Biris, one of Dora Redmire’s sons, was on watch when he showed up with his delivery.

“Good morning, Id. What do you have there?”

“Prototypes for a new weapon. This needs to be handled very carefully. I’ve already shown them to Nieten and Brucha, so they’ll be coming by later to test these and let me know what they think. Please take care of them until then.”

“Will do, my friend. I have to admit, though, I’m surprised you’re bringing these yourself. Where’s Nir this morning?”

“I believe she’s still at her training with Hiero Sol. I intend to locate her just as soon as I climb down from here.”

“She can’t be, walked past not 5 minutes ago.”

“Did you see where he was headed?”

Biris pointed East, toward an impromptu inn that had sprung up to house some of the other newcomers to the village. Id thanked the boy and climbed down the ladder.

“Tell her I said hi when you find her, would you?” The boy’s voice came floating down after him, and Id shook his head in amusement. Human mating rituals were a bizarre thing to witness.

Hiero was, indeed, in the small inn, conversing with a small group of patrons. “Hiero Sol, a word, please?”

The much larger automaton turned to him in surprise. “Ah! It is you!” It pointed a finger in the air as if to declare a fact known only to himself. “I have seen you around the village! You are the strange one who makes medicine one day and weapons the next! Nir helps you at your shop!” Hiero listed the facts as if trying to convince Id of his own identity.

“Indeed. My name is Id, and I have actually come to find her, she is late and I had need of her assistance this morning. Do you know where she might be?”

“I do not. She left training with Ro two hours ago. She was actually supposed to meet me here right now, but these fine gentlemen were telling me that they haven’t seen her. It is unlike Ro to be late. She is a promising hero in training!”

“Do you have any idea where they went?”

“No, but I know they often play together amongst the trees near the river, that would be a good place to start.”

“Good, let’s get going. The sooner we find them, the sooner I can get back to the shop and the list of things I need to accomplish today.”

“Indeed!” Hiero struck a pose that Id wasn’t sure wasn’t supposed to satirize what actual heroism looked like. “I am Hiero Sol, Champion of Starlight and Defender of Humanity, and I will not let you down!”

Id just shook his head as the strange pair of living machines set off to find the errant children.

Ro watched as the margr split up to surround her. Hiero wouldn’t be afraid, so she couldn’t let herself be. She had to be brave. She had to fight. Nir’s life depended on her, and she refused to let her friend die.

Swallowing her fear, Ro drew her weapon from where it was still lodged in the dead one’s throat. She flicked the blood from the blade and fell into a fighting stance, straddling her fallen friend protectively and focusing on the one in the center, the large one, the one clearly giving orders to the others, even if she couldn’t understand their snarling, snorting language.

Her best bet was surprise. Maybe if she caught them off-guard she would stand a chance. She launched herself at the center one with a scream, hoping to surprise it. The creature was deceptively fast for its size, stopping her airborne assault with a well-timed foot to her chest that it used to slam her to the ground, pinning the small mutant.

Ro panicked, squirming, struggling for breath beneath the thing’s weight. She watched in horror as the other two emerged from the brush. The larger of those two stopped to grab Nir from where she had fallen, lifting her by the hair as the visitant’s four arms swatted at it feebly.

A nearly blinding light pierced the shade of the small grove, enveloping the margr to the right, and the one holding Nir gave a brief squeal of surprise before it simply disappeared as though it had never been there, leaving the girl to fall back to the ground.

There, toward the town, Ro spotted the glorious sight of Hiero Sol, Champion of Starlight and Defender of Humanity, and Id, the other machine person. Nir’s friend.

“Three on two is not very honorable combat, you fiend! And attacking children no less! You must be taught a lesson!”

Hiero’s words came as a welcome distraction, and Ro used it to free herself from beneath the creature’s foot. Something that looked like a miniature spear, about one foot long, with a flanged tip landed near her as she rolled. Any weapon was better than no weapon, so she picked it up as she scrambled to her feet, improvising a fighting stance with the strange weapon. As soon as she lifted it into a fighting position, a lance of hot, white energy emerged, nearly twice as tall as she was but weighing no more than a knife.

“Hey, gallen-breath, my name is Ro, Champion of, of,” Ro couldn’t think of anything right away, so she used the first thing she saw. “Of trees! Defender of Humanity! In the name of the village of Ellomyr, I am placing you under arrest for spying, for having an unlicensed army, and for attacking the town’s defenders!”

The margr spun back toward the girl while Hiero nodded emphatically and gave her an encouraging hand gesture. It screamed and charged. Instinctively, she brought the strange weapon to bear. The monster nimbly dodged the tip of the spear and brought its own weapon up to strike.

Defenseless, Ro watched as the tip drove toward her face. She brought her weapon back across frantically, hoping to parry the blow enough to avoid dying. Instead, she watched as her spear of energy connected with the bone weapon in an explosion of energy that knocked both combatants several feet backward.

The mutant fighter rolled backwards painfully, once, before slamming into a tree, knocking the wind out of her. The margr flew threw the air and landed on its back hard, its weapon destroyed, but quickly recovered. In a rage, it charged right toward Ro on all fours, snarling as it crossed the relatively short distance faster than the girl could hope to avoid.

Realizing she still held the strange device, she reacted almost instinctively, holding it out in front of her. Energy flared from it and as the creature drew near, lancing out to pierce through its face and skull, coming out the back near the base of its skull, stopping the margr dead in its tracks. The creature’s fur smoldered, nearly catching fire as the dead beast man fell over.

Ro watched in shock at the ease with which her opponent died, while Hiero applauded. She came back to her senses at the sound of a low whimper to the side. She stood to see Nir trying to push herself up. She rushed over and helped her friend. “Hiero, help! She’s hurt bad!”

The two automata rushed over, scooping up the injured children. Nir squeezed Ro's hand as they set off back toward the village. "Next time, I'm going to make you tell me where you came from, okay?"

"Mmm-hmm," responded Ro, barely registering the question as she passed out in Hiero's arms.

#numenera #numenera2 #ellomyr #monte cook games #rpg #role-playing games #fiction #fan fiction #fanfic #science fantasy #sci fi & fantasy #scifi

0 notes