wildestlogs | HOME SWEET HOME

HOME SWEET HOME

Elrond let the gang decide when to leave, providing hospitality and medical care until they're ready. When the quest calls to them and they know it'll tug them along soon, he makes sure each is fully supplied and armed with weapons of their choosing, some custom made. They each have a pack, food supplies, and extra clothing. All of them get offered sturdy boots, even those who have stranger body types like Filbo.

He gives the group four copies of a book transcribed with the prophecies that had been brought to Rivendell, to be studied and interpreted on their journey.

Those who mentioned knowledge of the One Ring are briefly pulled aside away from the guests at Elrond's Council. They're implored to keep it secret, for the knowledge of Frodo's task could lead to people trying to steal the Ring when he's on a journey to destroy it.

Crowley is also released from the dungeon, with Elrond apologizing for the Elves' caution. It's at least clear he's been shown some of the same hospitality. He's healed up, well fed, and clothed in replacement clothes just like they all are.

Elrond's final goodbye to the whole group is warm and genuine.

"Namárië. It is a word we use for greetings and goodbyes. It means 'be well.' Whether you seek to help this world or try to find a way home, it is our hope that whatever paths you tread fly beneath your feet, and whatever obstacles you face are quickly overcome."

A pause.

"It would be easy to try to make you feel that the hopes of those in this new world go with you; but such burdens should only be carried by those who choose it. The Green will not admit it, but they have done you a great wrong. If you try to only find your way home, it's justified, and I hope you do find it."

Yes, there are prophecies, but making people do something by force is wrong, and all weary travelers deserve to find their way home. After a brief time of saying any goodbyes, they get to make their way to the other side of the valley. On the other side of the pass is the castle the Green spoke about.

The castle is a Frankenstein monstrosity that seems cobbled together from many buildings and machines. The second the last of the gang piles inside, it starts moving, massive legs clanking along. But where it's going is unknown. At least that means they have time to explore, rest, and get settled.

There are many mystical objects and mysteries within. One half of the castle seems to be a strange frozen realm of faerie, with strange sights to explore. But even the warmer side of the castle has its oddities. Magic waterfalls that show memories, and a scrying pool that shows frozen images of home, locked to the times each member of the squad left theirs. There are magical doors that lead to sights beyond the imagination, strange collections and even entire small realms, some beautiful, some dangerous.

The three magical creatures, Jonald, Ronald, and Rolkien constantly get underfoot trying to get the group settled, but refuse to talk about their former master, seemingly hurt at his leaving the castle.

The castle also seems to like assigning roommates for some of the group, making it so doors only open to their assigned room anytime they try to go to a place to sleep, even teleporting to them to the room if they fall asleep elsewhere.

It's a strange place, sometimes dangerous, sometimes annoying, but at least they have even more time to rest, train, plan, and prepare. They will have a few weeks to adjust to their new normal.

Then...who knows where the road will take them.
OOC DETAILS
❧ Prompts. The mods aren't doing prompts, but players can check out the page on the Moving castle for inspiration. The castle has many mysteries and oddities and absolutely anything can be behind the magical doors.

❧ Food and water. The castle seems to have an internal pressurized water supply and food is plentiful...for now. The food supply will not last forever but some food was left behind by the castle's previous occupants. There there's enough for a long break without hunting. There is some fresh food that's rotten and needs to be thrown away but whoever lived here clearly knew how to keep food prepared. There are cooking oils, flour, and sugar for bread and baked goods. There is jerky of various types of meats, dried fruit, sun-dried tomatoes, stores of nuts, jars of preserved fruit and jams (and empty jars to make more), and hard cheeses that need only a little mold cut off them to still be edible. Some of the jars have confit, meat cooked and preserved in lard, or garlic preserved in oil. A small root cellar has a few barrels of potatoes, parsnips, and onions.

It also has some barrels of beer and bottles of wine.

There are also dried herbs hanging in bundles from the kitchen ceiling, jarred pickled vegetables, and vinegar for pickling more. There are also fresh veggies the group can harvest together. The gardens will not be infinite in supplying the group but luck has it that many vegetables are ripe for harvest right now. The squad can pick juicy tomatoes, green beans, peppers, carrots, radishes, blackberries from a small thicket, squash, and plenty of zucchini. The garden does need tending to stay healthy. Aside from harvesting from it, weeds need to be pulled, beans and tomatoes need to be trellised, spoiled veggies on the ground need to be tossed away.

❧ Bathing. There is no soap other than what the Elves may have given them but there are hot baths. The water has to be heated on a fire down the hall and carried to the tubs.

❧ Weather/Atmosphere: The air outside and inside is on the warmer side. Even though the stone is cool, the cooking fires warm the air to something comfortable. The air outside in the gardens is warm and sunny, with the occasional cool breeze due to the altitude.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

"One or more Gaias might give a fuck about individual people," Stacia says with a shrug. "But Gaia as a collective doesn't. Sucks to be the ones who do care, but it sucks more to be us, so they'll just have to lump it."

She cocks her head to the side.

"I don't believe I've had the pleasure of that knowledge, no," she says.

Elle nods.

"My pack follows Lioness. Huntress and protector of the pride."

So yeah, maybe Elle is a little emotional about putting kids in danger. It's her job, dammit.

"It's all about maintaining balance, serving our pride, and making sure that bad leaders don't fuck everyone over."

There's more to it than that, obviously, but that's the gist.

"It was never a question of being surprised. But being offended is part of my job."

She's had time to think this over;. Time to think about what Marcus would say and time to put her thoughts in order so when Stacia (inevitably) asked, Elle would have a coherent answer.

"Forcing everyone in the way they did? That isn't just not giving a fuck about what we want, that makes bad soldiers."

Maybe if she focuses on her initial conversation with Gaia, Stacia will forget to pry into the second one. (Unlikely.)

Sounds like a very Shadow Lord totem. Stacia makes a mental note to come back around to that later, ask about the differences between Lioness and Lion, from what spiritual brood she springs.

She opens her mouth to say something, then pauses and changes it to a question. Questions are good, they keep her observant and no one can say that a Ragabash can't ask questions.

"Why are you approaching this as if Gaia is a leader?"

"They brought us here and gave us our mission. It's not like we have someone else telling us what we should be doing right now."

Gaia kind of takes that position by default. Plus, 'serve Gaia first' is one of Lioness' bans.

"Gaia may not usually be the one giving us marching orders but that doesn't mean she can't."

"How is that different from the way we interact with Gaia back home?" Stacia asks. "She and Luna made us shifters and gave us our mission there, too. We just had an opportunity to speak to an aspect of her this time."

Here's where it gets difficult. They're skirting dangerously close to the stuff she isn't sure if she should tell Stacia or not.

She looks down as she tries to think of what to say.

"Now we're running into a problem with timelines and spoilers. There's stuff... there's stuff I probably shouldn't talk about."

She doubts that Stacia is going to accept that non-answer, though.

"But the gist of it is that this isn't the first aspect of Gaia I've spoken to."

It's the fifth, actually.

Stacia narrows her eyes and rolls Elle's response over in her mind, examining it carefully. Elle could be lying to avoid having to give her a straight answer, but Stacia doesn't think she is and refuses to start with that assumption.

"...All right," she says finally. "I'm going to assume that you're speaking in good faith. You're a cat, and therefore I am not even remotely the boss of you. Garou deciding that their the boss of other Fera is historically a bad thing, so I'd prefer to avoid it. So let's change up my question."

She pins Elle with a look.

"What can I expect from you in similar situations in the future? Am I going to be carrying the full weight of gathering information from the things-that-are-not-unlike-spirits, or will you be able to help?"

Elle shakes her head.

"No, this was... a pretty singular incident. She was saying stuff that touched on some personal pressure points, but I probably could've deal with it better in the moment if it had been literally anyone else."

It was kind of a perfect storm.

"Even if we run into that Gaia again... I think I'll be okay. I was caught off guard and reacted poorly, which was stupid of me. But know I'm prepared."

No more wildly revealing rants about fate and free will. Probably.

If she does go on another one, she'll be careful to think through what she's saying than coming from a place of pure emotion.

"I can't know you're prepared, because I haven't seen it." Stacia is very careful to keep her voice completely neutral, matter-of-fact. She is Not The Boss of Cats, and she's sticking to it. "I'm assured that you're prepared, and I look forward to seeing it because it's you, me, Ace, and Bunny when it comes to dealing with spirits like this. And Ace mostly keeps his mouth shut because he's even worse at it than I am."

Stacia knows just enough about spirits to make polite conversation. Ace only knows how to shut up, or how to be a big shiny distraction. Anything else and they ambush a Theurge.

"I need you to hold it together next time," she says. "Please. I can't do this on my own."

Maybe it's a little dirty pool to touch on the pack-like aspects of their situation, given when she knows about Elle, but...Shadow Lord.

That's a dirty trick made even more annoying because it works. And Elle knows that Stacia's using it on purpose, even if it's true.

"I'm good with Spirits. I mean, I'm not a Garou so the relationship is a bit different, but in general you don't have to worry about it. Gaia was... a special case."

Well, one of them. She wonders if it's worth warning Stacia. Probably... Elle knows by now that keeping Stacia updated is usually the best course of action, even if Elle doesn't want to reveal more of herself than is absolutely necessary.

"And Fate spirits. It's not so much my issue with them as much as their issue with me. So if we run into them... you'll probably want to take the lead," she admits reluctantly.

"Gaia's always a special case," Stacia says wryly. She huffs in amusement, shaking her head.

"I've only had to deal with Fate spirits once, and they were throwing a tantrum about the world getting broken apart and slapped back together wrong," she says. "Which means they're probably going to be in the same mood here, so I've at least got experience with it." She nudges Elle playfully. "Maybe they'll be too upset about everything else to be pissy about you on top of it."

"Or maybe they'll just strike me down on the spot out of pure spite," Elle jokes, nudging Stacia back, smiling to show that she's joking.

"I'm not usually this much of a hot mess. I can pull myself together, I swear," it's said with a smile, but there's also a hint of sincerity.

"I'm sure you can," Stacia says warmly. Then her tone slides toward wry. "In our line of work either you can, you learn, or you die."

Garou who can't handle their shit get dead. She only knows enough about cats as she's gleaned from Isaac; but given that they're mostly solitary, she can't imagine it's any easier for them.

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