[The Dorms] A Perilous Acquaintance

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Kokuten
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Re: [The Dorms] A Perilous Acquaintance

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Crystalline cracks webbed over the spriggan’s defenses, and its power shuddered as one of the abjurers looked back for the girl. A gnarled claw reached through and struck the distracted rootfolk down, and the barrier fell. Like hungering dogs, the wraiths fell upon them.

Then howls and snarls erupted from the defensive line as oaths were announced. Spears and halberds struck the wraiths off the spriggans as Canidaer guardsfolk charged forth. Phyllis’ own weapon tore down another as more wraiths clawed their way from the trees. Lances of light fired from the walls as golems and constructs fired heated rays from stone rifles and cores. Phyllis roared back to some of the others as the forest began to shake with greater activity.

As the spriggans were pulled back to the gate, a fresh wave of murky teeth, claws, and screams burst forth from the bushes. One of Vengeance’s shades pulled a defender from her perch on the wall. Bjorn swooped in and drove his blade into the creature before it could begin its slaughter.

Willow had found her way into the forest, with the sounds of a frantic melee dwindling behind her. Just as a blue line began to form in her vision, she heard Helen.

“No, no; back. Why are we off the path? BACK.

Ghyslain was still carrying her on the chair alongside Willow, flanked by Horst on his gordalisk.

“Safer here for the moment,” answered Horst, looking back, “others might catch up.”

The line ahead of her traced through the trees, where a faint glow just barely showed. There had been a glint of brass bangles.

Pressing forth, she could feel the shifting presence of the forest. If there were gods in this place, Willow could feel them as she moved, like lighthouses over the ocean. Oily sensations flitted like schools of fish, rippling over her mind. Two of these unctuous feelings were circling ahead.

Those that had followed her hung back as the Allomancer floated forth. She cleared a small hill and found a pair of wraiths clawing at a dusty hole in the following rise. Their screeches were grating, but the screams of the little girl pierced through between the voracious pawing.
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Straken
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Re: [The Dorms] A Perilous Acquaintance

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”Oh come ON! What’s with that timing?! I am not at fault for that one,” Willow thought incredulously as she whisked deeper into the forest. Regardless, she hurried onward in hopes that she hadn’t stumbled into a Save A or B situation. In the back of her mind doubts began to surface, but with a growl she focused herself on the task at hand and burying her doubt. She would save the kid, then double back to help the defense. While it didn’t benefit her at all, she flared Zinc to strengthen the aura of serenity around her, and at least it would help her teammates as well as dissuading the wraiths. “I can save everyone. I can.”

Once atop the hill, she focused on the wraith pair clawing at the ground, while letting a part of her mind keep note of the pair in the air. Tucking the bangles, that she had nabbed with a pull of Iron, into a pocket she readied her saber. Dropping the burn on Mithril and flaring Pewter, Willow rushed the two grounded wraiths like a race horse with her saber primed for quick alternating slashes.
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Kokuten
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Re: [The Dorms] A Perilous Acquaintance

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The two wraiths by the tree were too preoccupied trying to grip at legs and arms to notice the Allomancer encroaching on them. Hovering down over the beds of leaves, she swept on one wraith, who had caught the edge of her saber. Were it not for her painfully earned finesse, the death throes of her first target would have given enough warning to the second. It turned, ripping its hand from the roots, clutching a shoe, only to have its head swiftly cleaved side-to-side by the flowing slash.

“Whoa,” Helen uttered, just barely audible from the crest on the hill.

“Glad she is on our side,” commented Horst.

“Mama–... Mama… Leaf– Lea–Leaf!” came the voice of the girl Willow had traced. Her tone was sounding delirious, and it wasn’t long after the deaths of the shades, that a pair of glowing hands clawed their way out of the other end of the tree. The girl popped out the other side, took one look at Willow, and began sprinting further into the dark. She caught the edge of a briar bush, becoming stuck, before trying to tear herself away to wade through a creek.
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Straken
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Re: [The Dorms] A Perilous Acquaintance

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Despite herself, Willow felt good about the results of her charge. Not from having cut down wraiths, but from how well Pewter augmented her skills that she had picked up. Compared to her fight with the hag where she’d been throwing haymakers she felt like night and day. That thought was cut short however as the child she’d just saved panicked again and ran off. Grimacing inwardly and remembering her thoughts about kids, Willow followed after the child; but being careful to not look like she was pursuing the poor kid. Shifting her burn on Zinc and Brass, Willow focused the metals on just the kid while soothing the kid’s fear and promoting a feeling of calm.

“Hey, kid! It’s okay, it’s okay,” Willow said as she sheathed her saber; all the while keeping Bronze burning so she could watch for more wraiths. “I’m here to help. I’m one of the good guys. My name’s Willow, what’s yours?”

She knelt by the kid to help them out of the briar.
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Kokuten
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Re: [The Dorms] A Perilous Acquaintance

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As Willow approached, the ethereal girl tried to pull away, but the briar bush had tangled up some of her hair. It was hard to tell if it was the pain, fatigue or a mix of both, but she stopped pulling immediately. The effects of brass were evident enough, as panicked breaths trailed off into tears. She erupted into sobs, wiping her eyes after every new bout of tears.

It took some careful work to separate her hair from the thorns; a little extra help came in the form of Helen, who had trundled down the hill at the sound of weeping. Her stony fingers were remarkably deft, and strange absent of the fear from earlier.

“I’m Pebbl-... I’m the Pebble God,” answered the girl between sobs, “Do you…”

She sniffed, and inhaled, “Do you know where I am? I’m… I’m trying to find the Leaf God. The River God and… Cloud God turned me away… My people were helping me… but…”

The sound of fighting was beginning to die down as the shifting mass of wraiths began to swim north. Combined screams and wails made them sound like a train engine, rattling the leaves above in their flight. As they departed, one of the monolithic presences in the forest began to move, one like the girl.

It was far, but moving toward them steadily.

“Stefan, Volker, Florian…” the girl stared back up the hill, looking harrowed, “... I’m alone…”
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Straken
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Re: [The Dorms] A Perilous Acquaintance

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Don’t make a Flintstones joke, don’t make a Flintstones joke…

“Well, kiddo, y’re right here. If y’re looking for specifics y’ll hafta come with me and ask one of the spriggans back the way we came,” Willow spoke easily as she worked the brambles out of the girl’s hair. With a side glance she gave Helen a wry look with a cocked smile as the golem helped; in the back of her mind, she kept track of her Bronze detection, noting the sizable signatures. Then there was the matter of the names and titles getting thrown around. A bunch of gods, a whole bunch of gods. “Are these gods like the artisans? Also, y aren’t alone now, kid. Ya got me around.”

Willow gave Pebbles a kind smile.
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Kokuten
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Re: [The Dorms] A Perilous Acquaintance

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“Pebbles” returned Willow’s smile with her own look of assuredness, but her eyes didn’t quite meet the Allomancer. The child had a look in her eyes quite like Drysi’s after the hag incident. As she came to her feet, broke the loose eye contact to look around.

Then, as naturally as any child, she took Willow’s hand, looking up just barely, as if for guidance.

“I don’t know,” came an honest sounding answer, more steady than anything she had said so far, “I don’t feel like a god, but my tribe called me a god. When they get sick, I help them feel better. Sometimes. Some- Sometimes I can make their vegetables grow more. The others… They’re just mean. Some are mean to their spriggans.”

A brief moment passed where Pebbles looked at Willow directly, before her focus fell away, “Are you the Willow God?”

“Hey- Hey hey!”

Helen protested as Ghyslain scooped her back into the chair.
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Straken
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Re: [The Dorms] A Perilous Acquaintance

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“Ha, no. Just a ranch hand moonlighting as an important person. Several degrees of separation between me and godhood,” Willow laughed lightly as she gave a comforting squeeze to Pebbles’ hand. As the posse worked their way back through the night, Willow couldn’t help but feel a little awkward. Being frank with herself she had never really be keen on kids, although much of that stemmed from herself so she figured the least she could do was hold a scared little girl’s hand.

Upping the burn on Tin, Willow listened intently to the surrounding forest in tandem with her burn on Bronze. The pulse of world drummed in her head as her ears rang with the subtle sounds around her. The group needed to get back to the checkpoint, but she wasn’t sure what the state of the situation was, so she was on guard.

“So what’s your name, kid?”
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Re: [The Dorms] A Perilous Acquaintance

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Pebbles looked up at Willow with that same unfocused stare.

“I’m the Pebble God.”

That small phrase was all she had to say as she fell in step with Willow. Horst rejoined the group, with his gordalisk carrying Willow’s staff and pack. Pebbles eyes grew when she saw the Spriggan, pointing at Diligence's fine work.

“A unity staff,” declared the girl, a hunger forming in her eyes, “I’ve always wanted my own.”

Tin-powered senses drowned out the immediate conversation for the rustling of the wild. Voices carried over through the trees, familiar and unfamiliar. There were groans of pain, but, at the same time, rousing cheers. Phyllis could just be heard barking what sounded like orders. There was a faint, thundering sound far off that was difficult to make out.

Clearing the edge of the shallow ridge next to the pass, the checkpoint looked no worse for wear. A few of the defenders were hastily repairing barricades and hoisting nets over the open spaces above. Phyllis was directing the repairs, keeping the smallkin in working order. Klaus was working his magic over a larger array of wounded with another spriggan. A pair of watch standers put up their weapons, before recognition halted their calls for alarm.

“She’s alive!” rattled a voice from the wounded.

The camp turned as one to look at the returning party. Pebbles gasped, and tore away from Willow in a dead run to the center of camp where three wounded spriggans limped to meet her. They were priests of the Pebble God, battered, beaten, clawed, but not lacking in zeal. Pebbles threw her arms around them and they all joyously fell to the ground, celebrating that they were all still alive.

“Not gunnae lie,” came Phyllis’ voice, using her sash to wipe away some blood, “ye had me worried when ye went chargin’ inta’ the woods, ye daft bird.”

A flutter of wings announced Bjorn as he came in from over one of the walls, settling on Willow’s shoulder.

“They are gone for now,” he reported, to Phyllis and to Willow, “flown north and into the sky. Dispersed.”

“Bloody hell,” Phyllis pressed a mit to her face, “cannae maintain this camp and press into thae forest. What are we gonnae do now?”
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Re: [The Dorms] A Perilous Acquaintance

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“Couldn’t have been that surprising, yeah? I mean, a kid ran off into the woods on her own; ain’t no way I’m ignoring that.” The words sounded almost casual as Willow scanned the camp, taking time to focus on Pebbles reuniting with folks she knew. Smiling softly, Willow finished her survey by looking at Phyllis and giving a confident half smile. “Besides, I knew you had things handled on this end.”

Willow stretched before grabbing her gear and getting it resituated. Her smile stiffened as her jaw set.

“As for what we do, that bit is straightforward. We need to press into the forest. That’s the MO here. We don’t do that, and all this just gets worse. Maintaining this camp isn’t a part of the mission.”
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