Video - UN: Runeseeker (CW for Body Horror/Headlessness)

[onerthes]

If you want to get ahead in life, I recommend keeping a good one on your shoulders. The alternative is troublesome.

[Badum Tish.

That dryly delivered and awful joke was said by Vira-Lorr's head, which was resting on a metal plate in front of her. She was seated in her fortune teller's booth, relaxed back and reclined in her chair, wearing a particularly high necked Ao Dai that completely concealed the clean cut from sight. Trails of smoke extended from within the collar, floating upwards. Her head, meanwhile, was resting in the spot that the crystal ball usually would, looking about as acrid and "Over every last minute of this" as she possibly could. There was no way in which she was pleased by this.]

Ahem. It appears that some of the masks are a bit too effective at making us seem like monsters. This was an experience I was not planning to have again. But, rather than search high and low for blood in this situation? I will tolerate it as long as I must until it returns to normal. The discomfort is ... minimal. It's just very disorienting.

However, until this remedies itself, I will be sticking to the shop closely. I don't have a collar to keep from losing my head after all, you understand. And... [she switched which leg was crossed on top of each other and, in the process her leg accidentally bumped her head, causing it to topple over with a yelp of distress.]

This! This is exactly why I am not going out right now! Damnit! I'll have whoever's head for this!

[The answer came when a small litwick hopped up on top of the table and waved at the camera angle beatifically, touching a button and blessedly ending the feed.]

Comments

Sorry this took so long. :( Feel free to drop if it's too old.

[tempredmental]

[Keith's tone was a bit flat when he answered, like... okay, he got it. That was the obvious response.] Naturally.

A demented ro... [His voice trailed off. Really, he should definitely know better by now. He shook his head and sighed.] Right. Because of course there was.

[givetheslip]

Precisely. Unfortunately that's not true for everyone.

heh no prob. i don't mind continuing this one a bi tmore. It's informative for them.

[onerthes]

As strange as this may sound? The bear was not some child's nightmare. It was a monstrous creation from one of the sleeper's world's. They apparently actually dealt with this in their world. [She grunted.] Mother Superior summoned them to torment us for a month.

It was my sixth death. Something... broke in my body and I was trapped in the state of death until the dream was nearly done.

[onerthes]

No, it really isn't. Many of those in Trench aren't themselves battle hardened. And in some ways, you can see a little bit of a broken state for someone like me. Becoming that battle hardened has a price.

[onerthes]

They have more life force, less expended. There would be a larger natural pool to draw from, which would make less risk for them. Although I suppose there would also be more to lose if they failed.

[survivalthroughhate]

There are also certain spells one can only learn as they grow older and wiser. Things like resurrecting the dead to fight again. Though my mother did once mention to me there was a young prodigy to be found among the Nightsisters who could wield magick far beyond what a kit her age should have been able to.

[He assumes Merrin perished along with the rest of the Nightsisters during the massacre, not knowing she is still alive.]

[onerthes]

Oh... that is a ... yes. Anything in the school of Necromancy would almost certainly be much higher level and therefore come with far greater risks involved. Prodigies aside, access to higher and more risky magic would also be a limiter.

[givetheslip]

That it does. To me, it's been worth paying...but not all should have to do so.

<3

[tempredmental]

Your sixth... [Keith had only died once this time around. While he was getting the impression that he'd probably died during his previous "visits", he didn't remember those, so he preferred not to think about it too much. But he couldn't avoid the one he actually did remember, and he couldn't imagine having to go through that again, let alone six times.]

Did it... break... because of how many times?

[survivalthroughhate]

I would be most interested to learn some of the magicks that defy some stated laws of reality such as teleportation.

[That one was one of the reasons Mother Talzin had survived for as long as she did.]

[onerthes]

I believe so, but that had more to do with the seventh. And yes, I realize what that sounds like. I believe the next death trapped me in that state. [She made a face] I was already going through with it and it shattered me, quite literally, in that situation.

And when it happened, the gates of death opened. Ramona started to more directly intervene among us with the last of her power, so it might very well have been her intervention too.

She never was competent at raising the dead.

[onerthes]

They should not have to, but in this world we can control the level of horror that some face. To an extent. It's just a work in progress to really master that control.

I hope there will be a time where people can live utterly in peace here.

[onerthes]

I suspect that many of the worlds have similar 'forbidden' arts which are at the edges of what is theoretically possible. Teleportation seems like that sort of thing, though....

Wasn't there once a fuzzy blue fellow who could do that?

[survivalthroughhate]

If there was, I never met him.

[Maul is sure he would have remembered a fuzzy blue humanoid given how distinctive he sounds.]

Perhaps I'll find something in the Archives on how to do it.

[azurestar]

[He did not know Dullahans did that and it shocked and kind of confused… and disturbed.]

Is… is that something you can actually do?

[onerthes]

I believe his ability was ... intrinsic for a lack of a better word. I want to say that the word 'mutant' was used, though I feel like that had a negative connotation. [She shook her head.] That may have been peculiar to his world though.

Distinct possibility. Worth a shot at the least.

[onerthes]

Thank the gods, no. But the old stories of dullahan from this world say that they did it. In ours, they were large armored knights without heads and their spines did not have anything to do with matters.

[tempredmental]

So, Ramona was the one bringing everyone back? But she didn't create Deerington.

[Keith frowned a bit.]

Did Ramona care for Julia?

[survivalthroughhate]

If I do, I will let you know. You've always appreciated knowledge where it is found.

[azurestar]

Dude, who thought of the spine thing as a great add-on feature?? That's totally creepy and makes no sense! Like, how would it hold itself up to use the whip if it has no spine??

[onerthes]

It's slightly complicated. She trapped the soul of Julia's mother Cynthia, who is the Moon Presence, and forced her to perform the resurrections, trapped in a state of eternal death.

[She scowled and then sighed.]

When she first arrived? Yes. She bonded with her as a friend. I think she legitimately cared. But she came to believe she wasn't real, and that she only existed as long as Julia imagined her into being. So she sought ways to keep the girl from draining all of her power...

and when she was near death, she did anything, absolutely anything to keep Julia alive. Just a little longer.

She loved her, but she feared death and oblivion more than she loved. A drowning woman grasping for flotsam to survive.

[onerthes]

I will look forward to the report.

[onerthes]

Well, they're fae and monsters associated with death, so creepy is kind of normal, wouldn't yoou say? And I think their body is kept mobile based upon magic more than natural biology.

[azurestar]

That's what I mean! They were already creepy, they didn't need more creepiness! [He shudders then lets out an exaggerated 'ugh'.] Yeah I guess, but it's still dumb.

[onerthes]

[She managed an awful laugh.]

You're the first to call it dumb. I might just remember it if I ever get to do it. It is kind of a foolishly silly thing to turn your spine into a whip isn't it?