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Farewell, Kernunnos

Scene details

Setting: The victorious Star Chasers return to Aurita Meloda to assist Cutini Nak and the beastkin in building a new shrine for Kernunnos.

Log


 A hubbub of activity pervades the ruined central plaza of Aurita Meloda, dominated by the sound of sawing wood. The canals are just as brackish and choked as the party remembers from their first visit, little having changed on that front. But the evergreens that had toppled onto stone paths are gradually being cleared away, and what remains intact of their ancient wood is being turned into sturdy planks. Merfolk guide rafts full of timber through the canals to clear the walkways, maneuvering the materials toward the ocean-facing cliff, piling them up by a striking overlook shaded by a cluster of oaks. There, lizardfolk are laying the foundation of a wooden edifice, overseen by their dignified leader.
 "Sort the timber into thicker and thinner," Cutini Nak orders her priests, "and begin painting the latter now, so it is dry when we apply it to the frontispiece."
 "The artisans are saying there's not enough red paint," a smaller lizardman says, approaching at a jog.
 "Then send some to gather more iron sand from the Delta," she replies instantly. "Request aid from Gasa Dan."
 "At once!"
 The high priestess of Aurita Meloda surveys the surroundings, pausing to watch as a ten-foot-tall mechanical capybara trundles along a walkway, carrying a heavy burden of cut timber and laughing beastkin children, before turning and bobbing her head at the party, a reptilian expression of friendly familiarity.
 "We owe you a debt that we can never begin to repay," she tells the Star Chasers. "With the Undercity opened and the Lights of Rebellion removed, peace has come at last to the people of Aurita Meloda."
 "It is we who are grateful," Ivo gallantly replies, seated upon the cracked stone, carefully applying the last of a coat of white paint to a thin plank of wood. Even if they are honored guests, he cannot bring himself not to work in a scrappy community like this, where it has always been a struggle to make ends meet. "We will be glad to know that Kernunnos has a home among mortals, and not sequestered in that lonely forest where we found him."
 "It is an honor to safeguard a great spirit," Cutini Nak says, turning to look at Reize and down to his chest, speaking directly to his pendant. "Are the colors of the paints to your liking, Lord Kernunnos?"
 "Indeed," the sapient eidola replies from the flickering crystal, his voice sounding oddly shaken. "I am... quite moved."
 The whites and reds closely resemble that of the Painted Remains within the Lonely Woods and of the totems to be found at the borders of the Logging Town. It appears that, despite their lack of any meaningful historical connection, the beastkin of Aurita Meloda are attempting to replicate the manner of worship of the druids of Vaeltrandia, to grant comfort to Kernunnos.
 "I'll arrange for envoys of the Central Plains people to visit so they too might pay their respects," Ivo pipes up, "given that they maintain the burial mounds of the Vaeltrandians. Oh, a termite." He pulls it free from the wood with his gloved hand, and tosses it aside. Before it can hit the ground, a passing lizardfolk flicks out a tongue that stretches several feet, snatching it from the air.
 Ivo sweatdrops.
 "We sure have managed," he says to his party, "to make some unusual friends during our time in Granse."

  • Character: Argent
  • 1 year, 10 months ago

  "Yes." says Argent as she glances up from her own work. Rather than work on construction or painting the edifice, the homunculus is instead hard at work mixing up paint and solutions for treating the wood against the elements. Of course, she's not exactly doing it the usual way people do these things. Instead she leans over a bucket, a steady stream of brightly coloured drool dripping down into it from her lips.

  "I am hopeful that the sand they procure is low in contaminants." she goes on thoughtfully. "Such things greatly affect the taste." Unusual friends indeed.


  When the young explorer, with Ivo and the group, are meeting with merfolk and the lizardmen, he looks pleased as everyone seems to be unified once more. THe young explorer is quite brighten, looking over to his pendant as Kernunnos speaks with Cutini Nak.

  "Great! You'll have your new home soon, Kernunnos and... you have your own dedicated place." He won't have to worry about any invaders and Faruja knows that the spot is off-limits for 'purifying'.

  While he is joined with Ruidosa, both of them have been working on adding some finishing touches to the paint of wood, decorating it with the red to contrast with the white color. He brightens, looking over at the wooden plank. "I do say that's a fine craftsmanship if I say so myself! Wouldn't you, Rui?" He looks quite excited.

Ruidosa La Crima is near Reize, taking notes in her tome as she scribbles little words, draws diagrams and otherwise is in a 'good mood' as she smiles and looks up from her work. "Hrm? Oh! It's fine work Reize---y!" she nods matter of fact, handing over one of the cans of pain near her over to Reize quickly to make sure he has a fresh supply.

Then Ivo says something and she blinks. "H=hey, I'm not unusual..." says the vampire duchess.

She goes back to taking notes and drawing diagrams of Aurita Meloda.


 "Fascinating," Ivo says to Argent, features carefully blank as she expels paint in his vicinity. Taking up a fresh plank of wood, he dips his brush into the homunculus's bucket whenever she pauses for a moment and proceeds to paint, all while staring into the middle distance, aggressively dissociating.
 They make quite a pair.
 "I too owe you and yours an incalculable debt," Kernunnos says to Reize, voice rich with emotion. "Wherever your journeys take you next, Reize, you will always be my champion. Do not hesitate to return should you ever seek my guidance."
 Ivo startles at Ruidosa's words, eyes widening.
 "Oh, uh--"
 Pausing, he glances between the homunculus and the vampire.
 "Yes-- present company excepted-- obviously."
 He mustn't be turned into a frog here. Someone will eat him!!!
 "I, ah, do have one last favor to ask," he says to Cutini Nak, recovering his composure somewhat. "I would like to visit Meloda's Blessing one last time. There is a potential solution to your troubles I would like to try."
 "You are already the heroes of Aurita Meloda," the priestess replies. "I trust you all with the last remnant of Meloda, her blessing and her punishment."
 "You have been punished," Ivo softly says, "more than enough."
 The sound of grinding gears and youthful play approaches. Mega-Capo, Fabroxo's bizarre invention and friend to all, is stomping its way over toward the shrine, now bearing what, as he comes closer, appears to be an exquisitely carved wooden stag, peppered with hollows filled with rich soil from which bright flowers grow, vivid among studded beastkin aether gems.
 "ART ENLIVENS THE SPIRIT, DON'T YOU THINK?"
 "Don't tell me," Ivo says to the great clockwork mechanism, still nervous around their erstwhile adversary. "You want to be an artist now, too."
 "MEGA-CAPO LOVES POETRY MOST OF ALL."
 Ivo hesitates, averting his eyes, and flushes for some reason.
 "Me too," he then murmurs. "Where did mine go, anyway...?"

  • Character: Argent
  • 1 year, 10 months ago

  "I believe he is correct in using the word unusual to refer to myself, however." the homunculus says, a little paint leaving a trail down her chin as she speaks. "Although in an environment in which the majority is unusual, it becomes the case that the usual is unusual. As such, I believe that in present company, it is you humans who are most unusual." A homunculus, a vampire, a variety of beastfolk...an enormous clockwork automaton. She might have something of a point.


  There is a calm look on the boy's face before he places his hand to his pendant. "...Thank you, Kernunnos." He closes his eyes. He places the pendant to his chest, feeling the pulse glow from it. In a way, the boy can physically see Kernunnos in front of him as he lays his palms to the pendant.

  "I'm happy that we were able to get you a new start, Kernunnos." The boy brightens at the inhabitor of his pendant. It is approaching the time of them going on their separate ways. For him, the boy has much of the world to see. For Kernunnos, it is building a new foundation, but built upon the past.

  "People will be able to tell the tales of your history."

  There is a figure approaching the group, finally emerging from the gathered lizardmen. "Don't worry, I'll make sure of it." It is the lanky, red-haired druid, Nais. He holds onto the staff, looking pleased with the current state. "I know you and your friend..." He glances towards Ruidosa, "Made a journal of the place. I'll ensure that it's properly published in the records." As he lifts a hand from the robe, he show cases the book that was handed off to him by the boy a while back.

  With a grin, the boy brightens, "Thanks, Nais! I'm happy that you're forging your own path while keeping the story alive."

  After a moment, Reize muses, "...We have met a lot of interesting companions along the way, huh?" He looks over to his pendant, and then over to his partner. He traces a hand over to his neck behind the scarf, knowing the mark of their bond.
 


Ruidsoa La Crima makes a face as Ivo says present company is included as she scribbles in her tome, softly sighing a little. "Is that thing still walking around, isn't it a safety hazard?" she asks bluntly of the clockwork creation. "Ugh, whatever." she says as she scribbles scribbles as she eyes Reize.

"We have, but uh." she rubs the back of her own head. "Wasn't this whole... erm, my mom would use the term 'kerfluffle'... about waking up your friend?" she asks.

That's an awkward question for her as she looks to the druid-former-robber as she sighs a little. "Okay." she says softly. "Maybe a little unusual." she says with a deep sigh as she goes back to scribbling into her notebppk.


 "The majority is unusual, huh?" Perhaps because of the topic of poetry, Ivo has momentarily turned reflective. "Our journey to Arcadios has made me wonder what it would be like to visit a civilization of homunculi in its prime. Conventional wisdom would have it that such a society could not sustain itself." Homunculus digestion varies widely. While some can covert almost any component into its residual aether, others, like the most powerful Star-Crowned, were sated only by the sacrifice of sentient souls, fed through Vaeltrandian conquest. "But imagine a world in which Kernunnos's Crux of Creation and Arcos's Crown Jewel had been united from the outset, funneling raw Creation aether into the crystals of homunculi to revive and sustain them. What would it be like to visit such a place...?"
 He sighs contemplatively.
 "I suppose the Crown Jewel only exists because of the horrors that took place," he muses, "so such a hypothetical is too far-fetched." After all, the artifact that they sought, with the power to finally revive Lily back in Cosmopolis, was created from crystals plucked from the brows of perished homunculi upon Arcadios. Perhaps such an invention would be impossible without such cruel sacrifice.
 Ivo stirs at Nais's approach, flashing a smile.
 "We couldn't have done it without you," the magitechnician says to their former foe. "And now the traditions of the druids, too, will endure." Even if many of their greatest techniques have been lost, it will be possible to rediscover them so long as Nais continues his efforts.
 "MEGA-CAPO UNDERSTANDS YOUR REASONABLE CONCERNS," the big metal capybara is replying to Ruidosa, "BUT IS GLAD TO REPORT THAT MEGA-CAPO HAS NOT YET HARMED EVEN A FLY."
 "Even when we ask it to," Cutini Nak says, for the first time sounding a little exasperated. "The golem won't hunt for us. But it does," she continues, softening as she looks at the children still playing on the hulking frame, "make an excellent baby-sitter."
 "COMPLETING TASK. DEPOSITING CARVING."
 Mega-Capo, carefully advancing, sets the bejeweled wooden stag in the center of the shrine-in-progress before withdrawing, leaving room for others to admire.
 "Yes, it's perfect," Kernunnos breathes, Reize's pendant flickering in time. "Your people are wise in the ways of my kind. I will be able to inhabit this just as I did my previous shrine."

  • Character: Argent
  • 1 year, 10 months ago

  "I understand that such things are of interest to you." Argent starts, pausing a moment to wipe away some of the paint staining her chin and without so much as a hint of shame reaching over to wipe her hand off on Ivo's clothing. Well, she can't make a mess of her own clothes. They're quite fancy, after all. "While it may be possible for lesser homunculi to exist in large numbers, I do not believe it is practical for the more powerful varieties to exist in significant numbers. While the Crux and the Crown would be able to provide extremely large amounts of aether, I believe they would eventually demand constant and perpetual access to them. Additionally,"

  It's here that the slightest hint of a frown creases her forehead.

  "I do not wish to make use of the Crown unless it is absolutely required. It is distasteful."


  The awkward question by Ruidosa is not forgotten about. It is in that moment that his cheer starts to fade away. Their entire reason for this travel was to find a way to wake up Lily.

  ~ "Lily?! Wake up! Oi! Oi! Wake up! Please, wake up!" ~

  His expression briefly turns a bit grim, his hand resting over his arm. While they did make great strides in their journey, their main objective was not achieve. He hears about the Crown Jewel and recalling its origin, he frowns at the thought. "...Would that really be the way...?" He furrows his eyebrows, "Even if it is... I don't think it's the right way to go."

  As Argent voices her sentiments with the Crown, he gives a slow nod.

  His thoughts leave when the gargantuan Mega-Capo sets the bejeweled flame stag into the center of the shrine that's in the process of being built. He gazes at the stag, and then he starts to approach it. He slowly unhooks the pendant from his neck and places it over towards the bejeweled stag.

  "Guess this is it, huh?"
 


Ruidosa La Crima frowns a little herself when Reize's expression turns Grim. "But to not use it... isn't that just as bad?" she says softly. "Mother would probably say something about sacrifices being for naught then..." she trails off, closing her tome now as she sighs. "What do you want to do, Reize, Argent then?" she asks.

She eyes the big clockwork creation wearily as she watches as Reize hands the pendant over, and she watches, opening her tome again to draw a quick diagram of the carved stag head.


 Ivo stares with evident dismay at the paint stain on his sleeve, opening his mouth to interrupt Argent as she speaks, only to notice several places where he has, despite his best efforts, already spilled paint on himself. He just sighs, and looks up as Argent speaks, his expression now sympathetic.
 "That's understandable," he says. "We'll keep its use to a minimum. At the very least, we now have one method of restoring Lily where before we had none, with the power of the Starspark, if there proves to be no better way." He hesitates, glancing between Argent and Reize, before nodding at Ruidosa. Ivo agrees with her (and of course her mother), but feels he should have anticipated the others' reluctance. "W-well, I'm sure if we *research* the Crown Jewel, we won't need to actually make use of it. We have a tremendous lead that we never would've found anywhere but Granse!"
 Realizing he's responsible for raising a grim topic, and not nearly as sure of that statement as he is pretending to be, Ivo searches for a different angle, before brightening a little.
 "There are few homunculi in Cosmopolis," he remarks, "and the magitech used for processing raw reagents is thus typically unavailable to the lower classes." It is one of the many ways that the aristocracy exert economic leverage over the common folk of the lower tiers. "If Laineth were to try setting up shop there with you, I bet you'd have a lot of happy customers."
 As the ever-opportunistic Ivo expounds on yet another new possibility, Kernunnos speaks from the pendant that Reize is extending toward the carving of the stag.
 "Our chapter is ending," the eidola says, tone warm and kind, "but another begins. My champion-- no, my champions." He addresses the party as a whole. "Every story you shape will be the better for it.
 Milky light, like that of a distant galaxy, pours from Reize's pendant into the statue, its flowers beginning to bloom and flourish, its many gems aglow. And as it does, Reize's pendant pulses, its inner structure shifting.

> Kernunnos has left the party.
> All active and passive abilities from Kernunnos are now unavailable.
> Reize's Spirit Capacity has increased from 1 to 2.

 "I leave you," the benevolent demigod's fading voice declares, "one final gift, a testament to our eternal bond." That light washes over Reize, and then it is gone, and all is silent. The artisans have ceased their work to watch, and the priests have bowed their heads in reverence.
 A faint buzzing may then be heard, after which a horned beetle emerges from the surrounding oaks and, curiously, alights upon the tip of the stag carving's nose. And, somehow, Reize knows instinctively that it has a rarity of three stars.

> Reize has acquired the passive ability "Beetle Lover."
> He now automatically detects the presence of any beetle rare (***) to ultra-rare (*****).
> A very long and emotional fanfare plays.

  • Character: Argent
  • 1 year, 10 months ago

  With a look towards Reize, Argent gives the boy a nod. "Should it become required for the recovery of Lily, it is acceptable to use the Crown in such a way. I do not believe that it is advisable to engage in the production of large amounts of homunculi, however, as the maintenance requirements and resources required to maintain them will not be viable to supply." she says. Given where they so recently came from, she's probably not really /wrong/.

  A moment's contemplation of Ivo's suggestion and she nods again, this time towards him. "Yes. I believe that such an endeavour will yield a significant income. While the supply of alchemical compounds is often limited by lack of access to knowledge and equipment, the demand for such things remains high. As such, large amounts of profit can be procured." What goes unsaid is that said profit is probably going to be spent on interesting rocks, and gems, and metals and such for Argent to sample.


  While holding the pendant, he feels the pulsing light. He takes a deep breath as he watches the transfer. When he feels the presence of Kernunnos depart from him..

  > Reize regains EX Art: Ignition.

  Upon the demigod's declaration, he lifts a hand to wave at his friend. He feels that light briefly wash upon him, and then it fades. And yet, his eyes widen as he feels the brilliant energy radiating from the stag beetles. "Wow...!" He takes a few steps away, smiling a little more. "Til we meet again, Kernunnos."

  He looks at Ruidosa, "...I don't know, at this point. We'll maybe figure things out when we return to Cosmopolis." His smile slowly returns, "Maybe Lily will wake up by the time we're back." At least, he tries to tell himself.

  He looks at Ivo, now offering his older friend a smile and then towards Argent, "Why don't we take care of the last thing here." He brightens, "The undine are longing to rejoin their companions."
 


Ruidosa La Crima beams a smile when she's called a champion! She watches the eidola leave the party and soon they are without him. As the beetle lands on the nose of the carving, she squints a little and hrmmms.

> Ruidosa has resisted the urge to try to shove it in her mouth.

She draws a diagram of it though quickly, just in case.


  Reize is eyeing Ruidosa... just eyeing...

 


 As the construction of the shrine resumes, Ivo grins, first at Argent's response, pleased to know that she and Laineth will try settling in Cosmopolis for a time, and then at Reize's suggestion.
 "Could I presume upon you to notify the undine without me?" he asks. "I'm going to return to the Drowned Undercity one last time, now that I have Cutini Nak's permission. The undine will find it difficult to reside her so long as the waters remain impure. And there's something I want to try with Meloda's Blessing."
 He pauses and takes a deep breath.
 "Something that might quell its fury once and for all."
 He looks among his friends, then, and smiles again, reassured by their faces and expressions. No matter what is to come, as long as he can be by their side, he knows that all will turn out well enough. And as Kernunnos said--
 "Leave this part to me," Ivo confidently continues, "and I'll count on you all for the rest."
 --every story will be bettered by their shaping it.

> The party has acquired the title "Champions of Kernunnos."
> ( https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-H4Bo8u-uOk )