wildestlogs | IMLADRIS

IMLADRIS
The group is told to take a week of rest in the Last Homely House as the injured and sick among them heal. The Elves promise them that after the injured are healed, there will be a great Council, with representatives of several peoples in attendance. There Lord Elrond will meet and assist them with speaking with the Green.

Until then, they can wander the peaceful halls of Rivendell, which are filled with travelers from all over the Wilderlands who are making a rest stop while they travel through the lands of Middle-Earth.

There are many halls in Rivendell, but the most notable part of Rivendell is the Hall of Fire, a great feast hall where people can eat, drink, and be merry. Alongside chairs, cushions line the floors in much of the hall. This is the great social hall of Rivendell, where the Elves and their visitors share news of lands far beyond, tell stories, or perform music. The music here almost sounds divine, especially when the Elves sing and play instruments, but they're just as eager to hear songs from other lands, so if any of the squad decide to share, they'll be glad to listen.

Some of the hall's guests are a touch more lively than the others, like a party of dwarves staying at Rivendell. Their stories are a mite more adventurous and if you get in their good graces, they might be willing to share some of the beer they brought with them. Listening to their stories or their talk about their craftmanship is a way to get into their good graces. They have news of the lands beyond.

The Elves love learning, so there are libraries the group is allowed to browse, though they mostly only contain tales of Middle-Earth (for now), though the Elves seem to be collecting what books about other lands they can. These libraries often have viewing stations with telescopes pointing at the sky. Though concerned about what it portents, Elves have been almost delighted by the changing skies, enjoying the challenge of trying to understand how the sky has been knitting itself together with the addition of new worlds.

There are also beautiful balconies here, overlooking the gorge and the waters below, and terraced gardens filled with flowers, bushes, and flowering trees. Their rooms are open to the outdoors and have beds that seem grown into the shape of bed-frames instead of carved. The bathrooms actually have running water. The Elves have figured out how to direct the clean running waters of the gorge in primitive indoor plumbing. Water for hot baths has to be heated first in brass cauldrons over coal braziers before getting dumped into the bath, but are at least located right next to the tubs.

Different flowing slides and fountains can also be used as waterslides for the adventurous, though this will make the Elves tut in disapproval. (X cw: warning for mild nudity from a distance.)

It's time for the squad to rest, eat, and regroup. If a great Council is going to be called involving them, it might be a good idea to make sure they go into it as a united front, because the Green is clearly fine with trying to make decisions for them.

OOC DETAILS
❧ Cursed Weapons/Powers: So they know about how they'll be treated: those with cursed weapons and dark powers will be tolerated by the Elves after entry. While they'll get the same general treatment, the Elves around them may at times seem uncomfortable. Those with cursed weapons will only be distrusted a little, as the weapons themselves will seem more suspicious than their bearers. Those with dark powers or some kind of dark nature (such as being a vampire, Necromancer mage, werewolf, etc.) will be treated with the greatest distrust. But they'll be allowed to wander freely.

❧ Communication: The Elves will make it clear a Council will be called when the injured have time enough to heal and that the group can stay in Rivendell until they're all healed and refreshed. They'll be told they'll be equipped with weapons, clothes, and supplies when they eventually leave. The characters can move freely and characters can stay at the bedside of injured friends.

❧ Injuries: Characters with morgul-blade wounds will be find that any areas or limbs where the shard was will no longer hurt but will be numb at first, with feeling returning over several days. They'll be physically weak for several days at well, winded when walking a short distance. Within a week or two, depending on their constitution and the severity of where the wound was, they'll be able to walk on their own and start to rebuild stamina. Other non-Morgul-blade injuries will heal fully within a few days of treatment.

❧ Clothes: The group will not yet be fully equipped for their travels (that will happen upon leaving) but everyone will at least be given new clothes in Elven styles since theirs are dirty or torn. These are in many different colors but most commonly colors found in nature, like green and blue. Characters without appropriate footwear will also be given light and sturdy boots that will somehow be in their size without their size being asked. They'll also be given basic toiletries like scissors that can be used to cut hair and beards. There are no razors, however, because the Elves don't need to shave so they don't keep them on hand.

❧ Food: Food and drink are plentiful. The food leans towards fruits and veggies but there's enough game for any meat-eaters, cooked well in unknown spices. Wine is abundant, some vintages more inebriating than others. The restorative cordial miruvor is available to help weary travelers get their energy up and revive their strength. It doesn't get characters drunk but helps them revive their strength. It has a light, pleasant floral taste and smell. Beer can also be provided, though that of the traveling dwarves is superior to what Rivendell has to offer.

❧ Weather/Atmosphere: Rivendell is open to the outside air but the temperature is always perfectly temperate and pleasant. The sun shines frequently and is only lost behind shimmering mist. Sunsets and sunrises paint the sky in sections of the valley in every color imaginable. The valley is safe to travel in as long as they don't go back past the Ford of Bruinen or through the gap in the mountains past Rivendell on the valley's opposite end. The air is filled with the smell of green things and delicate perfume of flowers.

❧ Archivist Spells: Around the valley, Archivists can bank up to (4) iterations of a water spells that blasts a brief torrent at an enemy, with the force of a fire hose.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

"I didn't think you were planning anything? Honestly, you hadn't really come up on my radar 'til this shit went down." She shrugs. He can be annoyed - she's being annoying - but she also gave him a chance to stop the conversation and it's still going, so he can't be that harked off.

"As for the point in standing up for someone - 'cause railroading is bullshit? Not that I know for a fact that it'll happen, but if there's conflict in a group there's always a chance of scapegoating, an' those chances rise when the conflict involves someone people are already shy of, for whatever reason. Which is why I figure someone ought to try an' get your side, 'cause right now - "

She hesitates there, almost imperceptibly. She'd meant to say "the only one talkin' on your behalf, is you," but that could come across as a threat, and this isn't a 'let me in or I'll let other people gossip you to death' kind of conversation. He's not a rival ganglord or a johnson or a mark. He's part of the crew, having a conflict with another part of the crew, and she just doesn't want him getting run roughshod over because Bunny is charismatic and popular and he's... some weird gremlin everyone is convinced is a cross between Satan and Machiavelli for whatever reason.

She doesn't think Bunny'd do it on purpose. But she'd never meant to do any of the harm she did, either.

Well, except for the all the crime and murder. That shit was entirely on purpose and she'd do it again, too.

" - Right now, there's a chance of groupthink I ain't okay with."

"While you are right in your assessment," he holds back a sigh "I don't have the energy to work just to convince them that I am a human being with my own reasons for what I do."

He still kind of has to convince himself, on that one.

"Besides, scapegoating does wonders for cohesion. I make each of them feel like others are more tolerable. If they were to target their attitude of self righteousness to more than one person, this group would crumble way faster."

He's condescending, but not necessarily lying or wrong.

"You don't need to convince everyone. Just enough people that there's someone on your side if it get put before the group."

Something about the way he says it is bugging her; she puts it on a back burner. It's an odd thing to say, self-pitying, but a certain air of self-pity seems to be his thing and also isn't super relevant, because you can be a horrendous bastard who deserves it and still get unfairly fucked by groupthink once the social wheels start turning. A mob that's right is still a mob.

Anyway, she's here to listen and asses, not judge and act.

"To a point," she responds, to his claim. "But it's also like robbin' Peter to pay Paul, or drinkin' to stop the nightmares. There's a streak of sanctimony in the group, for sure." Herself very much not excluded. "The Green picked hero-types. That means bein' the kind of person who can decide they know what's right and that's everyone else's problem. Actually being right is a bonus. But they're also people who can be reasoned with, and most of 'em have rules they care about following. Most of those rules say something about giving people second chances, an' only going after people for things they've actually done."

She knocks the ash out of her pipe.

"Not all, mind you."

"I don't see them going after others for things they have done." Price raises an eyebrow "Either way, what is it that you want me to do?"

"I mean, so far, no one's gone after anyone about anything. It's all just whisper network shit."

Which isn't something Saturday views as necessarily better than getting everything out in the open and dealt with, but customs differ.

"I do know from Bunny that Dan wants to forget about the whole thing and move on. I believe this is what Dan wants and intends to do. So I don't think you're gonna get dragged out and put on trial or anything, especially since little harm was actually done. But I do think it'd be worthwhile to let some people get to know you better. Make some allies. You're supposed to be some big-shot psychologist cunning manipulator guy, right? Shouldn't be hard. I mean, here I am, curious as a cat about what your side of the story is, just because no one seems to actually know."

"Well, I allowed Daniel to get to know me better and that has turned out to be a grave mistake."

Honestly that whole scenario is further proof that his life as the counselor of Project Freelancer was better in every way: he could use his talents in the way that best suited him and make great discoveries, surround himself with people he loved, channel all his energy for the greater good while also breaking free from hypocritical moral rules by just doing it his way, and most importantly no one could hurt him.

Then he lost everything, and when he tried desperately to take it back and failed Dan took advantage of him, pretending to be his friend just to use him while having the nerve to act like he encouraged positive behaviour while he was just wanted a piece of that toxicity he was working on. The worst part, he did it easily because Price has no idea what love and friendship look like - in fact, Carolina has confirmed that he died without ever knowing.

"He had been doing something that I was deeply uncomfortable with, and when I pointed it out he denied and refused to stop. That is all you need to know."

"I mean, has it? He didn't turn on you - Bunny was the one who flipped out. Dan just wants to pretend it didn't happen, which is how Dan expresses that he's fucking torn up about something. He's a hide-the-hurt kinda guy," says Saturday, a hide-the-hurt kinda gal.

She's increasingly starting to wonder where this guy's rep came from, exactly. Pinning down one of the color-coded space marines goes up a few notches on her priorities; this man is either very good, or someone is very, very confused.

Maybe both?

"Anyway, you asked and that was my answer. If that's your answer, then that's that, ain't it?"

Price squirms a bit hearing the 'he didn't turn on you' part. Perhaps Dan didn't, but he betrayed his trust when he was very vulnerable, it should count. As much as he likes to think that it might have been a subconscious thing, he is perfectly aware that Dan did it on purpose, and that's honestly worse.

"Yes. I believe that we have cleared up the subject successfully."

Saturday doesn't miss the squirm. She's been suspecting there's an element of a persecution complex here, and that's a good hint she's not wrong. But she doesn't pursue it; for now it's enough to catch the scent. Rome wasn't built in a day and skittish creatures don't eat out of your hand first try.

"Well, in that case, think I'll finish my smoke. 'Less you wanna rake me across the coals, now - turnabout's fair play an' all that."

Price blinks, no expression on his face.

"I don't see a reason to do such thing."

"Then I guess I'll just finish my smoke."

"Well, then. See you around."

He goes back to his room, relieved that this interaction wasn't catastrophic. Saturday seems like a nice person, but one of those so adamant in their role that get lost in it, or at least this conversation didn't give off that sensation, either way, good.

It didn't even take that much effort. It's actually easy for him to go on, if it all remains purely neutral. That has to mean something.

IMLADRIS

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