Canticle - Chapter Twenty-One
Dec. 12th, 2024 07:31 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
kalinara posting in ![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png){kind=small}
i_read_whatSo last time, we saw Cadderly and Ivan reeling over Pikel's loss. And more fighting!
So, we're back to Danica. She...seems to be enamored with the wall. Oh, it's the curse of course, it's trying to encourage her to give herself brain damage again. But fortunately Newander and Percival are there to snap her out of it.
I mean, I appreciate that Danica is getting a good battle of wills trial here, but I wish her predicament was a little less ridiculous than "wants to bang her head into stone".
Newander does provide good encouragement, pointing out that she's braving the curse much better than any of the priests. Which is true, but to be fair, most of the priests are unaware there IS a curse. It's a weak compliment, when you think about it.
Danica points out that the dwarves (aw) walk with Cadderly, but Newander counters that dwarves have magical resistance. It's not a matter of self-discipline, but physical differences. I do rather like that.
But Danica has a fairly unassailable response:
“What of Newander?” she asked suddenly, more sarcastically than she had intended. “Does the blood of the bearded folk run in your veins? You are no dwarf. Why, then, are you not affected?”
The druid looked away; it was his turn to feel the weight of guilt. “I don’t know,” he admitted, “but you must believe that I feel the curse keenly with my every step. Cadderly guessed that the mist pushes a person to what is in his heart. The gluttons eat themselves to death. The suffering priests cut each other apart in religious frenzy. My own druid brothers revert to animal form, losing themselves in altered states of being. But why, then, am I not running with the animals?”
Danica's empathetic enough to realize that Newander's genuinely upset by this. And Newander continues to explain: he thinks that the curse isn't working because he doesn't know his own desires. He wonders if that means that he is failing at his calling, or even has no calling.
As he angsts, he starts crying, proving that actually he IS being affected by the curse after all. Poor guy. So it's Danica's turn to bolster him. Of course he has a calling, otherwise, he wouldn't be able to use divine magic. He brought the vines to her room and the moss to fight to ghouls.
Danica asks when he first started feeling the curse, and conjectures that because Newander is essentially a priest of the natural order, he senses the curse as a perversion to that order. The other two druids were caught unaware, but Newander experienced the curse when he returned and thus had the ability to resist the curse.
Newander isn't entirely convinced, but understandably, he does like the idea. It helps him focus enough to urge them forward.
The crypts are pretty confusing, but Danica scratches marks to help with their path. The also see torn webs and signs of passage, but can't be sure if that's Cadderly or some undead thing. But eventually, they find clear signs of battle and realize Cadderly had definitely come this way.
And then, sadly, they find Pikel.
“Pikel!” the woman cried, running to the fallen dwarf. Pikel lay cold and still just as Ivan had left him, his burly arms crossed over his chest and his tree-trunk club lying at his side.
Danica fell to her knees to examine the dwarf but had no doubt that he was dead. She shook her head as she studied his wounds, for none of them seemed serious enough to fell one of Pikel’s toughness.
Newander understood her confusion. He knelt beside her and uttered a few words as he waved his hand slowly over the body. “There is a poison in this one,” the druid announced grimly. “A wicked brew indeed, gone straight to his heart.”
Danica cupped her hands under Pikel’s head and gently lifted his face to hers. He had been a dear friend, possibly the most likable person Danica ever had known. It occurred to her, holding him, that he had not been dead for very long. His lips had gone blue, but there was no swelling at all and warmth remained in his body.
Danica has an idea. She remembers Newander talking about his neutralize poison spell. She wants him to use it. He points out that it wouldn't raise the dead, but she insists and begs him to trust her.
Then:
It was Danica’s turn. She closed her eyes and thought of Grandmaster Penpahg D’Ahn’s most prized scroll, the notes of physical suspension. Penpahg D’Ahn had stopped his breathing, even his heart, for several hours. One day Danica meant to do the same. She was not yet ready for such a demanding trial, she knew, but there were aspects of Penpahg D’Ahn’s writings, particularly those involved with coming out of physical suspension, that she knew would be of help to her.
Danica thought of the steps required to restart the suspended heart. In the writings, they were internal, of course, but their principles might be duplicated by an outside force.
So basically, much to Newander's shock and horror (he thinks she's disrespecting the dead), Danica invents Faerun CPR. She whacks him in the chest, a lot. Newander tries to stop her and gets wrestled down, but...
“Oo oi!”
The call froze both Danica and Newander.
“What have you done?” Newander gasped.
Danica, as surprised as the druid, shook her head and slowly turned. There sat Pikel, looking sore and confused but very much alive. He smiled when he gazed upon Danica.
The woman rushed off Newander and tackled the dwarf, wrapping him in a tight hug. Newander came over, too, patting both of them heartily on the shoulders.
Aw.
So Pikel gets to grow up to be a druid after all! YAY!
We get a small scene at the end of the chapter, where Druzil comes to his senses and realizes he's in danger. He has to get back to Barjin. He notices the mummy is out of control. And then realizes that even if Barjin won't help, Aballister surely will, and he sends a weak message to Castle Trinity.
The chapter ends here.
So, we're back to Danica. She...seems to be enamored with the wall. Oh, it's the curse of course, it's trying to encourage her to give herself brain damage again. But fortunately Newander and Percival are there to snap her out of it.
I mean, I appreciate that Danica is getting a good battle of wills trial here, but I wish her predicament was a little less ridiculous than "wants to bang her head into stone".
Newander does provide good encouragement, pointing out that she's braving the curse much better than any of the priests. Which is true, but to be fair, most of the priests are unaware there IS a curse. It's a weak compliment, when you think about it.
Danica points out that the dwarves (aw) walk with Cadderly, but Newander counters that dwarves have magical resistance. It's not a matter of self-discipline, but physical differences. I do rather like that.
But Danica has a fairly unassailable response:
“What of Newander?” she asked suddenly, more sarcastically than she had intended. “Does the blood of the bearded folk run in your veins? You are no dwarf. Why, then, are you not affected?”
The druid looked away; it was his turn to feel the weight of guilt. “I don’t know,” he admitted, “but you must believe that I feel the curse keenly with my every step. Cadderly guessed that the mist pushes a person to what is in his heart. The gluttons eat themselves to death. The suffering priests cut each other apart in religious frenzy. My own druid brothers revert to animal form, losing themselves in altered states of being. But why, then, am I not running with the animals?”
Danica's empathetic enough to realize that Newander's genuinely upset by this. And Newander continues to explain: he thinks that the curse isn't working because he doesn't know his own desires. He wonders if that means that he is failing at his calling, or even has no calling.
As he angsts, he starts crying, proving that actually he IS being affected by the curse after all. Poor guy. So it's Danica's turn to bolster him. Of course he has a calling, otherwise, he wouldn't be able to use divine magic. He brought the vines to her room and the moss to fight to ghouls.
Danica asks when he first started feeling the curse, and conjectures that because Newander is essentially a priest of the natural order, he senses the curse as a perversion to that order. The other two druids were caught unaware, but Newander experienced the curse when he returned and thus had the ability to resist the curse.
Newander isn't entirely convinced, but understandably, he does like the idea. It helps him focus enough to urge them forward.
The crypts are pretty confusing, but Danica scratches marks to help with their path. The also see torn webs and signs of passage, but can't be sure if that's Cadderly or some undead thing. But eventually, they find clear signs of battle and realize Cadderly had definitely come this way.
And then, sadly, they find Pikel.
“Pikel!” the woman cried, running to the fallen dwarf. Pikel lay cold and still just as Ivan had left him, his burly arms crossed over his chest and his tree-trunk club lying at his side.
Danica fell to her knees to examine the dwarf but had no doubt that he was dead. She shook her head as she studied his wounds, for none of them seemed serious enough to fell one of Pikel’s toughness.
Newander understood her confusion. He knelt beside her and uttered a few words as he waved his hand slowly over the body. “There is a poison in this one,” the druid announced grimly. “A wicked brew indeed, gone straight to his heart.”
Danica cupped her hands under Pikel’s head and gently lifted his face to hers. He had been a dear friend, possibly the most likable person Danica ever had known. It occurred to her, holding him, that he had not been dead for very long. His lips had gone blue, but there was no swelling at all and warmth remained in his body.
Danica has an idea. She remembers Newander talking about his neutralize poison spell. She wants him to use it. He points out that it wouldn't raise the dead, but she insists and begs him to trust her.
Then:
It was Danica’s turn. She closed her eyes and thought of Grandmaster Penpahg D’Ahn’s most prized scroll, the notes of physical suspension. Penpahg D’Ahn had stopped his breathing, even his heart, for several hours. One day Danica meant to do the same. She was not yet ready for such a demanding trial, she knew, but there were aspects of Penpahg D’Ahn’s writings, particularly those involved with coming out of physical suspension, that she knew would be of help to her.
Danica thought of the steps required to restart the suspended heart. In the writings, they were internal, of course, but their principles might be duplicated by an outside force.
So basically, much to Newander's shock and horror (he thinks she's disrespecting the dead), Danica invents Faerun CPR. She whacks him in the chest, a lot. Newander tries to stop her and gets wrestled down, but...
“Oo oi!”
The call froze both Danica and Newander.
“What have you done?” Newander gasped.
Danica, as surprised as the druid, shook her head and slowly turned. There sat Pikel, looking sore and confused but very much alive. He smiled when he gazed upon Danica.
The woman rushed off Newander and tackled the dwarf, wrapping him in a tight hug. Newander came over, too, patting both of them heartily on the shoulders.
Aw.
So Pikel gets to grow up to be a druid after all! YAY!
We get a small scene at the end of the chapter, where Druzil comes to his senses and realizes he's in danger. He has to get back to Barjin. He notices the mummy is out of control. And then realizes that even if Barjin won't help, Aballister surely will, and he sends a weak message to Castle Trinity.
The chapter ends here.
no subject
Date: 2024-12-13 12:57 pm (UTC)Either way, Ivan's going to be happy!
no subject
Date: 2024-12-16 12:28 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2024-12-17 05:37 pm (UTC)= Multi-Facets.
no subject
Date: 2024-12-18 01:31 am (UTC)