Flight of the big, ungainly seed pod
Sep. 17th, 2006 08:21 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
terryclothFriday night we had a session of the Shadake game. It was another one of those 'how do I make this interesting?' bits.
So the plan was to have Bella grow a huge balloon sufficient to carry Seek's army to Portland, and for his 'priests' -- the former monks of the oracle's village -- to talk to the birds to convince them to take the balloon where they wanted to go instead of just shooting it down, like they did the small test balloon Zedd took up as a proof of concept.
The problem was that the priests still kind of hated and/or feared Bella, so they kidnapped her in the middle of the night and hid her underground. Zedd and Den managed to figure out that she'd been taken and by whom, but didn't manage to find where until Bella awoke and sent rootlets up through the ground to grow a tree directly over her position.
So, they found the hidden cave, and stormed in to punish the unruly monks. It was a horrific, one-sided slaughter, as the monks' only real defense was their ability to speak to the animals and beg them for help, and Zedd kept teleporting them away before they could finish.
So, Bella was rescued, and given the vast amount of corroborating evidence Zedd and Den had found while looking for her, the priests were thoroughly blamed for her kidnapping. Still, Seek needed them, so they weren't too heavily punished, just interrogated and kept locked up.
The interrogation revealed the details of the prophecy that had them all worked up. Looking it over, it seemed to be talking about Bella, indeed, and that she would be the catalyst for the end of the world by giving the chipmonks in the Emerald City ideas. Which meant that it was too late, and the prophecy was probably already in the process of being fulfilled. But Den was okay with it, since he liked the idea of being turned into a plant.
So there was some thought of just going home, and letting things take their course... but that would leave Seek without his miracle, and Den thought that it would, indeed, be a very good thing for Seek to be FAR AWAY. Portland had a gate, so they could always just use it to get back to Spokane and thus to home, afterwards.
And then it was time to fly! The balloon took a while to load with the army and its supplies, so they ended up lifting off after dark. They flew directly over the glowy lake near the mine, which reminded Zedd and Den of the random hostility of Kantrigar, whose territory they were going to fly over -- so they had Bella take it up above the clouds, where they flew for a long time unmolested by cats, birds, or any sense of where the hell they were.
Eventually, dawn broke, and it seemed like they were approaching a massive storm, like a slow, non-violent hurricane whose massive eye contained a montain range that Den was pretty sure wasn't any part of the cascades. And where the heck was Mt. Rainier, anyway? They hadn't passed it in the night...
So they dropped below the clouds to look, and found themselves within sight of the Emerald City. The storm was the mist-wall, and they'd been going in completely the wrong direction. Worse, something was trying to pull them down and force them to land, but Bella was able to lift out of the sudden wind and get back up above the clouds.
A pair of bird-men followed them, though... however, having left the Emerald City on good terms, they decided to slow down and let them catch up. Zedd and Den teleported to the top of the balloon envelope to greet them, and seeing Zedd teleporting they approached in a friendly manner, taking him for a hunter.
There wasn't really a whole horrible lot to say, but they filled each other in and parted ways. But somehow, the balloon kept finding its way back towards the Emerald City! Eventually, they figured out that the monks were lying when they swore they were trying to take them south, and Bella put them to sleep. Den was able to take over control of the birds, and actually take them to Portland.
Portland was still there, although there were signs of trouble -- like several fires burning around the periphery. Seek pointed out a specific farm and told Bella to land them there. It was his family farm, and they'd surely be glad to see him despite his situation.
As they started to land, however, a phalanx of hawk screeched and arrowed towards them...
last session | next session
Then, I spent the whole weekend playing video games, except for a small amount of time Saturday in which I managed to gorge myself on peas and chili and muffins to the point where I'm *still* sick today. And I'd been doing so good this week, up until then... this is why I can't lose weight.
So the plan was to have Bella grow a huge balloon sufficient to carry Seek's army to Portland, and for his 'priests' -- the former monks of the oracle's village -- to talk to the birds to convince them to take the balloon where they wanted to go instead of just shooting it down, like they did the small test balloon Zedd took up as a proof of concept.
The problem was that the priests still kind of hated and/or feared Bella, so they kidnapped her in the middle of the night and hid her underground. Zedd and Den managed to figure out that she'd been taken and by whom, but didn't manage to find where until Bella awoke and sent rootlets up through the ground to grow a tree directly over her position.
So, they found the hidden cave, and stormed in to punish the unruly monks. It was a horrific, one-sided slaughter, as the monks' only real defense was their ability to speak to the animals and beg them for help, and Zedd kept teleporting them away before they could finish.
So, Bella was rescued, and given the vast amount of corroborating evidence Zedd and Den had found while looking for her, the priests were thoroughly blamed for her kidnapping. Still, Seek needed them, so they weren't too heavily punished, just interrogated and kept locked up.
The interrogation revealed the details of the prophecy that had them all worked up. Looking it over, it seemed to be talking about Bella, indeed, and that she would be the catalyst for the end of the world by giving the chipmonks in the Emerald City ideas. Which meant that it was too late, and the prophecy was probably already in the process of being fulfilled. But Den was okay with it, since he liked the idea of being turned into a plant.
So there was some thought of just going home, and letting things take their course... but that would leave Seek without his miracle, and Den thought that it would, indeed, be a very good thing for Seek to be FAR AWAY. Portland had a gate, so they could always just use it to get back to Spokane and thus to home, afterwards.
And then it was time to fly! The balloon took a while to load with the army and its supplies, so they ended up lifting off after dark. They flew directly over the glowy lake near the mine, which reminded Zedd and Den of the random hostility of Kantrigar, whose territory they were going to fly over -- so they had Bella take it up above the clouds, where they flew for a long time unmolested by cats, birds, or any sense of where the hell they were.
Eventually, dawn broke, and it seemed like they were approaching a massive storm, like a slow, non-violent hurricane whose massive eye contained a montain range that Den was pretty sure wasn't any part of the cascades. And where the heck was Mt. Rainier, anyway? They hadn't passed it in the night...
So they dropped below the clouds to look, and found themselves within sight of the Emerald City. The storm was the mist-wall, and they'd been going in completely the wrong direction. Worse, something was trying to pull them down and force them to land, but Bella was able to lift out of the sudden wind and get back up above the clouds.
A pair of bird-men followed them, though... however, having left the Emerald City on good terms, they decided to slow down and let them catch up. Zedd and Den teleported to the top of the balloon envelope to greet them, and seeing Zedd teleporting they approached in a friendly manner, taking him for a hunter.
There wasn't really a whole horrible lot to say, but they filled each other in and parted ways. But somehow, the balloon kept finding its way back towards the Emerald City! Eventually, they figured out that the monks were lying when they swore they were trying to take them south, and Bella put them to sleep. Den was able to take over control of the birds, and actually take them to Portland.
Portland was still there, although there were signs of trouble -- like several fires burning around the periphery. Seek pointed out a specific farm and told Bella to land them there. It was his family farm, and they'd surely be glad to see him despite his situation.
As they started to land, however, a phalanx of hawk screeched and arrowed towards them...
last session | next session
Then, I spent the whole weekend playing video games, except for a small amount of time Saturday in which I managed to gorge myself on peas and chili and muffins to the point where I'm *still* sick today. And I'd been doing so good this week, up until then... this is why I can't lose weight.
