Zion: Light of the New Moon Part 2, Ch 2.4 Bannihar
Zion - Light of the New Moon, Part 2 Chapter 2.4
Bannihar RIFT
Three out of four readers provided input (which means Jules loses 1 Willpower and Bannihar loses one Favor). The group will be attempting to raise a temporary passage across the gorge. The modifiers to Bannihar for this chapter are currently - Favor, + Willpower if successful or + Delay - Favor and - Luck if a failure. These can still be modified.
The attempt to bridge the chasm began at sundown. Knowing that they had just under twelve hours to complete the project, Elias proposed to start before the moon actually rose; it would give them an extra fifty, perhaps sixty minutes.
"The anchor points where this project connects to the--"
"Where the bridge." Elesin interjected.
"What?" the armadillo turned toward her; the word was more an angry counter to being interrupted than an actual question.
The kangaroo treated it like a question, "It's not 'this project', it's a bridge."
Elias started again unabated, "The anchor points where this project connects to the earth are going to be the strongest, most stable parts so whatever protection Tah'aveen has in mind for us won't be needed until I start building outward."
"And you're confident that we can complete the bridge before morning?" Lord Raes inquired.
"If I was confident then I wouldn't have objected so much about doing this." the armadillo answered caustically.
"It's alright, Elias." Kayte slid a paw onto his shoulder, "I believe in you."
"He just doesn't give himself enough credit." Elesin explained aside to Iskiy and Jules, "As long as he doesn't focus on flying buttresses and foofy-Doenian reliefs in the sides we'll be fine."
"Shut it, you overgrown rabbit, or I'll find a way to include a kangaroo statue too." the Geomancer scowled and, with nothing more to be said, Elias took position at the lip of the chasm... and the magic began flowing.
Kayte stood beside the armadillo. her paw on his shoulder as she whispered quiet prayers to Tah'aveen. Lord Raes remained off to the side watching the progress of Elias' work as the Geomancer raised large sections of stone from the side of the cliff. The armadillo molded the stone thickly and securely against the lip of the fracture. Roarg and Sebastian stood further back, eyes gazing skyward with alternating glances toward the large chasm.
Over an hour into the project it was obvious that the casting was taking its toll on Elias. Kayte's whispers turned from general wishes of good luck to specific prayers, beseeching the Pregnant Moon for vigor, stamina, and renewed energy... and her prayers were heard.
"I thought he did big projects all the time." Iskiy whispered quietly among the others, "Didn't he raise whole buildings back in Bannihar?"
"He had a team of builders helping him." Roarg explained, "He didn't have to do it all himself... besides, most of those projects weren't done in one night."
"He's having more trouble the further out the bridge extends." Elesin noted casually, watching the armadillo work, "He's such a perfectionist, I mean, seriously... he COULD start walking out across it so he can be closer to the working edge, but no... he has to stand where he started... pff... he's such an arrogant ass."
"I thought casters lost concentration if they moved during a ritual." Sebastian offered.
"He's not doing a ritual... he's just shaping earth." Elesin rolled her eyes, "Once you shape rock it's shaped; end of story. I think he just wants to be able to keep an eye on his project from one point of view so he can be happy with the end result."
"No matter what he won't be." Roarg offered, "He wants to end with something beautiful and lasting but we're rushing him."
"And for good reason! We're kinda trying to get a move on here." the battle mage pointed out.
"Quiet." Lord Raes quickly interjected, his eyes never leaving the spot where Kayte and Elias stood. If the dog's comment didn't catch everyone's attention, the sudden, resounding, loud crack did. All eyes on the priestess and Geomancer, the group watched as several large fault lines appeared in the cliff around them.
"Oh... that's not good." Sebastian commented.
"Elias!" Kayte started, grabbing hold of him as the ground beneath their feet shifted.
"Got it." the armadillo noted disinterestedly, and the stones, soil, and underlaying bedrock reintegrated, fusing together as it pulled the loose section of earth back into position, "This damn build site isn't as steady as I'd like."
"You're doing fine." Kayte whispered softly, pulling herself to him in an embrace. Elias let out a seep sigh, and continued his task... for nearly another four hours.
By that time Roarg had Sebastian in the air scouting the progress of the developing arch of stone Elias was creating. Elesin was complaining that he was doing more work and that a straight line of stone to the other side would have been faster and easier. Roarg had to explain the basics of construction and the favorable weight-bearing benefits of an arch... and then explain it a second time when Elesin looked at him blankly.
"Well, whatever he's doing it's not working out so well." Elesin pointed, motioning to the continued movement of stone as large sections of rock rippled out over the length of the arch, not stopping until they ended up at the leading edge, roiling together and fusing into several more feet of walkway. The progress was going slower, and it was decidedly taking its toll, both on Elias and on Kayte. "He's doing more work than he has to, moving it that way.
"Sebastian!" Roarg called, waving to the gryphon in flight. Sebastian dove downward and alighted gracefully next to the badger. "Keep an eye on the stone around the cliff... if it looks like it's about to crack again we need Kayte and Elias out of there."
"I'll be ready too." Jules noted from off to the side, finishing a lasso on a stout length of rope.
As it turned out, Elias' reinforcement of the cliff face held... it was the leading-edge of the archway that caused problems first. A loud, resounding crack signaled the beginning of the end for the Geomancer's project as a huge, jagged line appeared just about half way across the current length of the bridge.
Elias let out a strangled gasp and attempted frantically to correct the issue. Tendrils of stone wriggled, ineffective at reconnecting the break. The ground beneath the Geomancer's feet rippled and drooped, flowed and heaved, knocking both him and Kayte over. "Damn it!" the armadillo shouted and, suddenly, the cracks in the archway halted.
"Stop bitching." Elesin spoke from beside him. She strolled past the prone Geomancer and onto the archway, keeping one paw out toward the fracture and the other back toward the party. Sections of stone rippled across the ground after her and, when she was practically on top of the fracture she motioned to it; the earth began forming around the break. It was hardly the same beautiful, smooth work that Elias had done, but the end result was undeniable.
"She's ruining it." Elias wheezed, taking in huge lungfuls of air as he lay spent.
"It's not perfect, Mr Hewen, but the job is being done." Lord Raes noted, reaching down to help him up with one paw, the other assisting Kayte. Neither stood up easily, "You've both done enough... rest."
"But she's making too many mistakes..." Elias objected.
"Rest. Now." Lord Raes ordered; it was obviously not a suggestion.
The armadillo did not relent, "She'll need people who know what they're doing."
"I'll help." Roarg volunteered, "Lord Raes is right, Elias... rest."
Roarg quickly stepped in and began directing. Sebastian was sent back into the air to watch Elesin's progress from different angles. Jules was kept near the edge of the cliff to watch for fracturing, damage, or possible fault points. Roarg marched right out onto the incomplete archway, taking Iskiy with him. The badger took a few minutes to instruct the Wild Lander on what to look for in the way of progress or possible danger, then went out to help guide Elesin's use of earth magic.
Several hours later, and Elesin was close enough to the opposite side to start focusing her work there. Scarcely thirty feet separated the archway from the opposite side and the kangaroo began to draw stone from the nearer cliff, pulling up a large mound of rock, dirt, and granite, developing the supply of materials before calling out to them, pulling the slurry up and nearer.
Roarg looked up from his inspection of the archway, eyes going wide as he saw the cracks appearing all along the downward slope of the arch, "Elesin..." the badger called, "Elesin!"
"Almost done." the kangaroo called back, "Gimme a minute."
"You're putting too much stress on the bridge!" Roarg shouted.
"I'm not doing anything with the bridge." the kangaroo countered, "I'm working on the grounded... thing."
Roarg shuffled across the flaking archway, "No!" he shouted, "You're adding weight to the bridge by lifting the stone!"
"I'm not lifting it... I'm raising it." she countered, "You really don't know a thing about earth magic, do you?"
Frantically, Roarg balled his paws into fists and knelt, slamming them both down onto the archway. A ripple flowed through the stone, immediately solidifying it and fusing all of the spider-webbing cracks back together. Back on solid ground, more than one eyebrow raised. "Stop it, damn it!" Roarg called, going into a roll from his crouched position before springing back to his feet.
"We're almost done." Elesin countered with a grumble, "Does EVERYONE think I can't do this or is it just my imagi--" and, with that, the leading ten feet of bridge, Elesin included, broke off and tumbled downward... about five feet before stopping mid-air. "What the?" Elesin started.
"It's her!" Iskiy shouted. The group gathered up near the Wild Lander as he pointed to a pure-white form on the opposite side of the fissure. It was a wolf, and she was dancing. Each graceful movement of an arm was mirrored by a smooth-sweeping tendril of stone, emerging from the far cliff face and latching onto and INTO the arch created by the party. Every sweep of a foot paw built up the pile of slurry that Elesin had created; each flick of the wolf's tail purified the mixture, drawing out the imperfections until only solid stone remained.
"THAT'S the girl you were talking about?" Lord Raes questioned.
"Yea... she's..." Iskiy paused, "eye-catching."
As the party watched, the pure-white wolf continued her dance, the stone beneath her feet seeming to ripple in response to her touch. The earth spanned the distance between her side of the fissure and the archway created by the joint efforts of Elesin and Elias. The loose earth (and Elesin) slowly rose back up to join with the bridge; Elesin somehow passed through the stone unharmed as if it were nothing more than water.
The battle mage ran her paws across her body once she was standing back atop the arch, "Neat."
The white wolf didn't stop there, rather, the stone rippled across the whole of the archway, flowing all the way back to the party's side of the fissure, reinforcing the entire structure. She continued dancing, and her voice was clearly mirthful as she called, "Well? Why ye be waitin'? Comin' across or no?"
"She is a Wild Lander by the sound of that accent." Lord Raes confirmed, "From the north." Iskiy simply nodded his agreement.
The party moved quickly, leading 'The Risen' across as the wolf woman rose up off of the ground, balanced perfectly on a spiraled ring of stone. "Show-off..." Elias mumbled, a scowl drawing his lips tight, but he kept watching nonetheless, transfixed by the display that seemed to come so easily to the strange Wild Lander.
"She has antlers..." Jules noted quietly.
Iskiy reached across and gently patted the other Wild Lander, "Yea... that's what I said too."
"Hail again, Isliy." the wolf greeted him, still dancing
"uh... Hi... uh... Dana." the scout offered a faint wave.
"Ye surprise me... I did'na think city folk had such a strong grasp o' earth control."
"Most don't." Elias rose up defiantly, pushing his fatigue aside, "I'm a master of earth magic."
The wolf woman laughed; it was more an amused tone than anything else and, with that, the spiral of stone slowly sank back into the earth as if it were water from a fountain falling back into its pool. Dana stepped out of the rippling flow of stone and it settled back into place as if it had never moved in the first place. "Then ye have much much more t'lern."
"I don't take kindly to insults." Elias challenged.
"Twasn't an insult... just sayin' what I see." she smiled, the earth beneath her paws lowering back into the ground as they musicality to her pace finally ended and she came to a stop, facing the group, "But any real spirit caller knows that ye don't control the earth... it always answers better t' bein' asked." and her eyes slowly migrated to a black stone spiral ringing Elias' forearm, "But I wager ye already know a little 'bout that."
"A little." the geomancer appeared slightly off-balance by the wolf's assessment.
"Ye ken do more'n most, City Dweller..." she smiled, "but ye still have much t'lern." and, with that, she motioned once with her arm and the entire stone archway created by the group flowed back into either side of the chasm, taking ten seconds to undo what took the party neary ten hours. Dana looked back to Elias, "Ye be someone who has t'know everythin'... knowin' that ye have more t'lern is a good first step." and she gave a good-natured wink.
"That's..." the armadillo whispered, "...amazing." and he watched her, transfixed, as if she were a goddess taken mortal form.
Kayte paused, glancing between Elias and the new silver wolf. It took several moments for it to be noticable and then it was only in her eyes. Priestess Delier turned away, hurt.
* * * * * *
Part four of Chapter 2 for the Bannihar and it looks like they're crossing the chasm by raising their own stone bridge. Now that the group has safely navigated the fisure there's one post left in this chapter, and now, loyal Contributing Readers, it's time to decide what that 5th post contains:
1) Iskiy and Dana spend time talking about their similarities. 2) Elias spends a lot of time talking with Dana about the spirits of the elements. 3) Lord Raes takes Roarg aside & demands to know what happened on the bridge. 4) Jules manages to get Dana alone and runs her off-- she means trouble! 5) Lord Raes pulls Elias aside and gives him a harsh talking to about Kayte. 6) Elesin & Sebastian red border post. It COULD happen. (someone suggested it)
Contributing Readers have until midnight on Thursday the 29th to vote. Please bear in mind that the vote chosen this post may have some very long-ranging side-effects, so choose carefully!