RP:Svilfon and Satoshi Encounter Eboric
Part of the Links to the Past Arc
Satoshi has been roaming through the wilds and ruins for the better part of three days, and judging by the despondent way she slumps atop her golem-turned-transportation, the kit's had no luck on her search. Not that that does much to stop her from frequently checking the silver-bound book at her side as well as the surrounding landscape, frowning. "If it's not them out here," she asks of her magical construct, "then what's causing all those energies, Buster...?" The golem, as always, is silent as it trudges aimlessly onward.
Svilfon had woken up in a wonderful mood after falling asleep in Satoshi's library. He'd spent a few minutes checking his prisoner-soon-to-be-meal was alive, before deciding today was the day he'd hunt down the snow queen and show her the surprise he told her about so long ago... things of importance, such a priest dinners, really shouldn't be rushed. But today had a good feel about it, he thinks; time to go find himself an ice queen. With a jaunty whistle blown through gaps in teeth, the wizard wanders out into Frostmaw proper, before lifting his hand to his hat and concentrating on its twin. He feels the swirling energy out to the west and with a small grin and a whispered word the wizard vanishes in a cloud of melted snow and dancing smoke. It takes but a moment before he's deposited on the worn path, between the silent dead that rest here, and with a grunt he looks about; spying on top of Buster the queen. "Lady Icicle!" He stumbles closer to her, careful not to stand on any of the flowers frozen in death. "I've been searching for you." He grins; all fangs and gaps.
Eboric emerges from that swirl of energy, although it is unlikely that he can actually see it. He walks haphazardly; halting, moving first one way and then the other, but making his way in the general direction of Satoshi and Svilfon. As he walks, one more in tune with the Otherworldly powers might perhaps catch a glimpse of the ghosts of the ruined town, flitting to and fro around the barbarian. He suddenly comes to a complete halt, staring fixedly at the other two living (or semi-living) beings.
Satoshi is caught between a spell and a ghost-town, or so it feels to her quivering whiskers in that moment where both presences make themselves known almost simultaneously. The first, and the one she recognizes as kin, is thusly the one not looked toward, in favor of seeking out the ethereal source that's set her whiskers on edge. Always that whisper of the other-world can often be heard in these ruins, never has the kit felt them as acutely as she does now, although she lacks the heightened senses need to actually see the entities whirling about the barbarian's vaguely familiar form. "Wizard~... is that a friend of yours?" There's no need for her to ask Svilfon how he's gotten here, as attuned to his abilities as she is, but he's at least given a greeting by way of flicking tails despite her refusal to look away from the looming warrior.
Svilfon 's wide grin lasts as long as it takes for him to pick up on the swirling energies dancing just beyond perception around the barbarian warrior, Eboric. He staggers to stop and spends a long moment returning the man's stare with one of his own, before answering the snow queen in quiet tones that whisper through the snowy place of rest. "I... think so." Never one to care about consequences, Svilfon abandons the safety of being close to Buster (He knows how formidable the golem is first hand) to instead take a step closer to the barbarian. "Eboric?" Unconsciously the wizard summons his Xalious-wood wand, though he keeps it at his side. "What in the name of Sven's hairy balls are you doing out here? I know you guys don't feel pain or cold, but damnit!" He grins and tips his hat; his light hearted tones only slightly wavering; betraying them to be somewhat forced. "You'll freeze off your little Eboric."
Eboric remains silent as the graves the townsfolk never had while Satoshi and Svilfon speak, and does not even react when the wizard steps closer. The struggle for supremacy between the two souls, Eboric and Alimer, is almost tangible, twisting the brutish features into a terrible snarl. Finally, after a few long moments of this, a laugh cuts into the chill air, causing the unseen spirits to retreat a short distance away from the barbarian. The laugh is dull, hoarse, and more forced even than Svilfon's tone, but it is a laugh all the same. "I packed my undergarments with extra fur," he says, "So that my mighty little Eboric will stay warm and cozy." He looks to Satoshi, as if seeing her for the first time. "What is that," he asks.
Satoshi straightens with an almost audible snap, fur bristling at the question. "That? -That-? The Lady of Frostmaw is what -that- is, and it's sacred Frostmaw land you and your mighty little Eboric happen to be wandering about on." With an indignant huff and a placating hand upon her rumbling golem, the magus sends Svilfon a sidelong look, trying to determine by glance alone what he makes of this situation. After all, the only information she has on the barbarian is that he was in the colosseum at one point and speaking to the wizard. Anything further is pure guesswork, like his likely level of skill if he's actually surviving in these haunted ruins, and an ego--warranted to not--considering his reference of 'mighty'.
Svilfon was ready the moment that vicious snarl twisted harsh features into an almost demonic smile, and the laughter that comes in its wake is hardly comforting. The words of a spell dance upon whispering lips, but the inaudible sound dies away at the barbarian's words. Keeping his tone light, the wizard snorts, "I knew that bulge wasn't real." His words are stolen by the bristling snow queen, though. As she speaks her words the wizard shoots her a quick, somewhat comforting glance, before he speaks again to Eboric. "She is Satoshi, queen of Frostmaw.' For a moment it seems the vain and the egotistical will meet, and a poor jovial wizard will be the meat squished between this sandwich of theirs, before he decides upon a new course. "Hop down, lady icicle. You are safe." He's not entirely sure of these words, but he speaks them nevertheless. "And warrior; formidable you are, and mighty. But I'd not tangle with the queen of snow and ice." Considering his reckless disregard for his own health, perhaps the wizard's words will be heeded. "Now, you can both tell me what the hell you're doing out here! Before I freeze to..." Well, not to death. He's been there and done that. "Before I freeze."
Eboric's fight is lost the minute Satoshi speaks the word 'Frostmaw,' and each following use of it only seems to drive Eboric's awareness of himself further back, allowing the bitter soul of the long-dead king to rush back in, followed at once by the spirits of his followers, their unheard voices driving the huge man to one knee in the snow. A roar wrenches free of Alimer's throat, followed by words shouted in an archaic, heavily accented dialect. "Frostmaw?" He bellows, spittle flying to steam on the frozen ground. "Land of the giants? This land is not yours, giant-spawn, nor will it be while I draw breath!" Although the words shake the barbarian's frame, he still remains kneeling, unthreatening as yet. The spirits swarm about him, their quiet clamor seeming to remind Almier that he, in fact, did lose this land to the giants, when he died so long ago, for his mouth clicks shut with an audible snap and, from under eyes that smoulder with hate, he speaks again, his voice colder than the winds. "Murderers of women and children. Treacherous beasts, who slaughter the innocents. We have not forgotten, nor will we until the wrong has been righted."
Satoshi 's natural reaction to threat and insult is typically a hostile one, but the barbarian's shout and the unseen spirits' cries seem to work their own magic upon the foxkin, washing away all lines of tension to leave her seated upon the golem in a positively serene manner. Azure eyes, both unspeakably calm and immeasureably sorrowful, settle upon the warrior as he rages without movement. It isn't the short-fused, vain magus that sits here now, but an entirely different entity, one that carries some knowledge of this land's history to override Satoshi's confusion brought on by Eboric. "Your words are wrong," Svilfon will undoubtedly notice the shift in Satoshi's voice if not her demeanor, usual sing-song tones hidden beneath a blizzard's melody of crackling ice, frozen winds, and shuddering pine trees, all of it coming as if from a distance while simultaneously echoing from within the snows around the three, "It is us that were betrayed, our murdered that lie in unrest beneath this ice and stone, -our- wrong that needs righting from those that betrayed us."
Svilfon spends a long moment staring between Satoshi and Eboric-as-Alimer. He feels a situation developing beyond his control, and beyond that which he understands. So rare as it is for the jovial wizard, he keeps his mouth shut. Instead he moves half a step closer to Buster and Satoshi and begins to casually clean his nails with the vicious tip of his heavily engraved wand. The change in both their voices causes concern, and he was ready as he could be to stop any sudden violence erupting between them - if he could stop it at all - but beyond that, he was content to wait and see where this goes.
Eboric rises to his feet, crunching in the snow. His eyes lock on Satoshi's own as he speaks, gesturing around him at the shapes that, perhaps, only he can see. "Tell that to these, my people. Tell that to the children who watched their parents die, only to be murdered themselves. And tell that to the brave men who fell on that field there," and here he points to the west, "Where in the black of night, we fell to the treachery brought by your people."
Satoshi remains seated, seemingly oblivious to the wizard's presence as she too keeps her eyes set on Eboric. Still his accusing words bring no aggressive response from her, only a deepening of that anguish in her expression. "Tell that to mine that lie along side them, slain by allies sworn. No warrior is meant to go into the final dark with a blade in their back..."
Svilfon clears his throat loudly, before he speaks in a quiet voice layered with sadness; a strange tone from the wizard. "War is a beast that devours bodies and souls alike. Enemies become demons, their children baby demons, their wives the mothers of demons... It is a creature whose legacy is written in hatred, and while that hatred lives the beast will never die." The wizard looks up then, locking Alimar and Satoshi with a brief gaze each. "There are three ways to deal with an enemy: You can fight, you can run... both breed more hatred. Or you can befriend them and the strangle the beast that is truly responsible for atrocities committed." He tips his hat, an absent gesture, before falling back into silence; unsure if his words were even heard by the two.
Eboric shakes his head once, curtly. "You twist the truth, much as your elven lackeys did." This is said to Satoshi, before the man addresses Svilfon. "And you must know nothing of the nature of man. War will always be, but only the truly evil use treachery to win." Then, to the both of them, he speaks again, his voice half-crazed. "I remember that day well. I remember each and every wound I took, and the sight of my men dying around me." He puts a hand to the sword hilt that rests at his side. "I remember the final blow, and the darkness closing. And I remember rising again, looking down on the field of blood as-" The eyes widen now, realization coming like another deathblow. "As they struggled through the snow, westward and away." Abruptly, the barbarian topples like a felled tree, thudding into the snow with an audible thump, where he lies still.
Satoshi looks world-weary when she turns to peer down at Svilfon. "It's not so easy to quell that beast. Not when humans and elves have proven their treacherous natures and sullied the warrior's art." Shaking her head, the kit closes her eyes, seeming not to hear Eboric's final words before he collapses. Moments after he's fallen forward, Satoshi's own form slumps, threatening to topple off the golem, until she gives a small jerk and straightens once more. Blinking owlishly, the magus glances around perplexed before looking to Svilfon once more. "Wizard..? I... wha- did I do that..?" A pointed look is given to Eboric's prone form then, the kit uncertain if she's the source of his incapacitation. She can't recall a thing from the past few moments and is only aware of the sensation of being drained to her core, as if she's cast too many spells in too short a time. "By Sven's Balls, I feel like when that wraith was burned from me..."
Svilfon nods his head slowly to Eboric's words. "Perhaps not, though I am a man without enemies. I'm sure there's a lesson there somewhere." Pale eyes shift to look at Satoshi and as she speaks a small frown forms on his lips. He is uncertain of her, unsure how even to reply to someone he knows so well speaking words that are not their own. And then she slumps. Instantly the wizard has moved beneath the golem, ready to catch her if she falls; the plight of the fallen barbarian apparently forgotten. But he is not needed. Soon enough the snow queen has caught herself and in a voice once more ringing with her euphonious tones she speaks. A reply comes by way of shaken head, "No, he... did... I don't know." The frown he wore dissolves at the queen's final words, though; the last indication that it is truly her, for no other speak quite like they do. "By Sven's balls indeed, lady icicle." He pulls back the brim of his hat, before looking closely at both Eboric then Satoshi. "I... don't know what the hell is going on here, but wars and trechery, voices that aren't your own. I do not like this."
Eboric lies facedown in the snow, his bearskin cloak covering most of his body, the black fur slowly fading to white as the snow continues to fall. A slow trickle of blood seeps from his nose, injured in the fall. He is, after all, a tall man.
Satoshi climbs down from Buster's shoulders while listening to Svilfon, her attempts clumsy from exhaustion and a singular arm, but in time she reaches the permafrost. From there she glances between wizard and barbarian, unable to explain why looking at the stranger elicits a feeling of misery. Svilfon's words bring her back to focus, however, "This land's waking up, wizard. I don't know if it was me, Lady Jolie, that wraith, that necromancer's rituals, or something else that did it. But -something- has riled the restless ones. The magics here are strange, and the snows feel foreign and old. So, so old. I thought it was the elementals on the move that I sensed here. I think I was wrong." She pauses then, to stare a moment longer at Eboric. "...Should we move him? We don't freeze, but he doesn't feel like us." The question is, in a roundabout Satoshi way, her method of asking if the barbarian is safe to go near while he's unconscious.
Svilfon taps his wand against his lip, before casually dropping the arcane item. It never hits the ground, though; the moment it left the wizard's grasp it fades from sight. "Was it... you?" He turns to face Satoshi properly. "You know that... link... the blizzard? You gave the land a shake, lady icicle. Enough to wake the dead?" He falls into silence for just a moment, before nodding his head. "I will..." He doesn't say it'd be safer for her to stay away; whether he fears for her, the barbarian or the return of the maiden, he wouldn't elobrate. Instead he quickly moves to Eboric's side. On a bended he knee he drops, before heaving his weight against the man's bulk. It's enough to roll the barbarian onto his back, and with an almost affectionate pat on his shoulder, the wizard speaks, "Don't want you to drown in the snow. Hardly a warrior's death." With a crooked and somewhat ambiguous grin, Svil stands again and speaks to Satoshi as he moves back to her side, "What do you remember?"
Eboric doesn't wake up at Svilfon's actions, but his breathing seems to deepen into the steady rhythm of sleep. Rolling onto his side, he burrows down into the fur cloak, creating a tiny little den for himself. Oblivious, he rests, never feeling the snow that begins to cover him.
Satoshi delays a long moment in answering Svilfon, distracted as she is by watching the stranger burrowing into the snow. It's not often she runs into another that can comfortably sleep in this environment and, despite the peculiar events that have just taken place, she's unable to help a faint grin at least that similarity. The expression takes on a bemused edge then, when she acknowledges the wizard's question, and the foxkin shakes her head. "Song. I only remember song. Like the elementals used to sing, but the voice was different." Satoshi adds as an afterthought, "I think we should leave, if your... friend... isn't going to freeze to death. Something's wrong here, and I need to figure out what, but I can't think clearly here to do so."
Svilfon snickers quietly at the grin, perhaps knowing its source. "It was the lack of song that worried me." Her voice he means, but doesn't really say. "But he will be fine here." Silently the wizard promises he will return to check on the barbarian, but for now the ice queen was his first priority. "We can leave, lady icicle. Your library?" He figures one of the few places she can truly relax will do her good, and perhaps a sleep; she does look rather reminiscent of after Bozrah was dispatched; drained and weary, but too stubborn to rest. "Let us go, Satoshi queen." The wizard can't quite help look over his shoulder; perceptive enough to pick up on something lurking that should not be here. "Yes, let us go.
Satoshi nods in agreement and, with a deft movement that betrays the bulky golem's celerity, finds herself returned to her icy perch, ready to head off. "So tell me~," she trills, putting an extra effort into her musical tones for Svilfon's sake, "what that intriguing letter of yours was about? I'm painfully curious~."
Svilfon whispers a quiet word and fades from sight in a cloud of smoke, appearing again on Buster's free shoulder; happily perched. If she wasn't walking, he wasn't walking. With a quiet snicker he speaks, "A surprise! A gift." Hardly an answer, "Food, too. Fresh and wonderfully spicy with a feigned holy rage." The wizard wipes some drool that dripping down his chin. "I saved him just for you." That wasn't it all, but it was clearly all he was going to say.
Satoshi 's golem picks up the pace at a silent command from her. After all, the kit does so love edible gifts, doubly so after such a draining and peculiar event.
Svilfon mutters something about the golem needing a pointy hat as the pair trudge off into the snowy distance, but he's careful not to mutter it too loud... Buster lives up to his name a little too well for the wizard's liking.