singindemonhq (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
singindemonhq) wrote2004-01-14 07:35 pm
singindemonhq) wrote2004-01-14 07:35 pm
Clan Lore and Mutual Enemies.
I once knew an operative who said that nothing worthwhile is ever easy. He claimed to relish a challenge. He'd have loved this gig!
Erynne had been wearing a burned-out Talisman -little or no magic left in it. I had to either get it recharged or find a functional Talisman.
That meant taking a portal to Siberia, where a family of Shaman in Icewind had called operatives several times, with the same recharged Talisman, by using a male to say the Invocation.
(They were kidding themselves that it gave them magic without paying a price! By now it looks as though Icewind can only elect a leader by calling an operative to "test their worthiness" - and that's a price that's harmed them in the past.
Last time they did it the gig triggered a leadership fight. I was watching that, not the audience - and that let a cub sneak up from behind and bite a chunk out of my ankle!
I don't embarrass easy. Anything can happen on tour, especially in the sticks, but - well, it slowed me down, and I just delivered an exit line and smoked out. it was their own customs that left them a leaderless mob, and they blamed the chaos that it caused on the thwarted operative.
This time they were planning to have the Invocation read by the female that once bit me. (I'd have thought she was just a "pay-off bride" to be my Queen and buy my cooperation, but I'd learned more about Clan customs from Erynne.
The whole Clan owed me a dept because Danseen had marked me. They were using her to pay it, but she wasn't the payment I wanted. It was a payment that she wanted to be, though. They'd had her explore her past, to have no hidden secrets. She'd dutifully remembered - and she was so eager to get out of there that she'd almost summoned me ahead of time!
She had a charged Talisman for this dimension! Finally! It was in a magic-insulated box, too. I got that away from her just as fast as I could! It's in my pocket now.
That alone was worth the trip - and that was just as well. It looked as though it was all I was going to get. I'd hoped to bring back information, too, but I was clear that I knew more than the girl. She was afraid to take me to the Shaman.
(I couldn't smoke around to find the magic-users, once I was carrying the Talisman, and there was no way I'd have left it with the girl. I'd arrived just in time to stop her using it. In some ways she seemed more afraid of her own people than she was of me.)
I was about to give up and portal back when a Shaman called Running Fox joined the party. He claimed power -and had the vibes for it. He was wearing the skin of a bear that'd killed his people, too. That's a strong charm, for them.
By then I'd realised what I ought to do. I reminded them that I'd been marked - the bite from Danseen could have turned me Lycanthrope! (I'm an actor. I kept a straight face when I said it.) I had not been taught the Trails of Survival, and Icewind owed me! I claimed my rights under the Outlier Bond.
When he gestured toward the Danseen-girl I showed the brand that Erynne had put on me, during a hot July in another dimension.
Erynne and me are married by Clan standards, committed, with promises made and sealed. Her Mark seals me as a member of Corona, too - and, Shaman or not, he had no more right to demand that I take another wife than I would have had to demand the same of him!
That improved communications a lot! The Lamia is threat to all, especially 'changers, and I left there with spells that would run from power-circles there, in Icewind! It meant we wouldn't have to set-up much in Sunnydale, if we got a fast chance at her.
Icewind have a way with charms and I was given amulets that harness the powers of Shaman long-dead to strengthen the mojo.
The Danseen–girl had stayed as close as though she thought herself a bride, until we neared the portal. Then she was gone. A little later I found the burned-out Talisman and a portal disc were gone, too. I don’t have time to delay.
I have the spells against the Lamia. The sooner the better, for those. Once I get the charged Talisman back to Erynne there’s at least a chance that I can take her back to my home dimension. She’ll be safe, that way.
She's mortal. That changes everything.
Erynne had been wearing a burned-out Talisman -little or no magic left in it. I had to either get it recharged or find a functional Talisman.
That meant taking a portal to Siberia, where a family of Shaman in Icewind had called operatives several times, with the same recharged Talisman, by using a male to say the Invocation.
(They were kidding themselves that it gave them magic without paying a price! By now it looks as though Icewind can only elect a leader by calling an operative to "test their worthiness" - and that's a price that's harmed them in the past.
Last time they did it the gig triggered a leadership fight. I was watching that, not the audience - and that let a cub sneak up from behind and bite a chunk out of my ankle!
I don't embarrass easy. Anything can happen on tour, especially in the sticks, but - well, it slowed me down, and I just delivered an exit line and smoked out. it was their own customs that left them a leaderless mob, and they blamed the chaos that it caused on the thwarted operative.
This time they were planning to have the Invocation read by the female that once bit me. (I'd have thought she was just a "pay-off bride" to be my Queen and buy my cooperation, but I'd learned more about Clan customs from Erynne.
The whole Clan owed me a dept because Danseen had marked me. They were using her to pay it, but she wasn't the payment I wanted. It was a payment that she wanted to be, though. They'd had her explore her past, to have no hidden secrets. She'd dutifully remembered - and she was so eager to get out of there that she'd almost summoned me ahead of time!
She had a charged Talisman for this dimension! Finally! It was in a magic-insulated box, too. I got that away from her just as fast as I could! It's in my pocket now.
That alone was worth the trip - and that was just as well. It looked as though it was all I was going to get. I'd hoped to bring back information, too, but I was clear that I knew more than the girl. She was afraid to take me to the Shaman.
(I couldn't smoke around to find the magic-users, once I was carrying the Talisman, and there was no way I'd have left it with the girl. I'd arrived just in time to stop her using it. In some ways she seemed more afraid of her own people than she was of me.)
I was about to give up and portal back when a Shaman called Running Fox joined the party. He claimed power -and had the vibes for it. He was wearing the skin of a bear that'd killed his people, too. That's a strong charm, for them.
By then I'd realised what I ought to do. I reminded them that I'd been marked - the bite from Danseen could have turned me Lycanthrope! (I'm an actor. I kept a straight face when I said it.) I had not been taught the Trails of Survival, and Icewind owed me! I claimed my rights under the Outlier Bond.
When he gestured toward the Danseen-girl I showed the brand that Erynne had put on me, during a hot July in another dimension.
Erynne and me are married by Clan standards, committed, with promises made and sealed. Her Mark seals me as a member of Corona, too - and, Shaman or not, he had no more right to demand that I take another wife than I would have had to demand the same of him!
That improved communications a lot! The Lamia is threat to all, especially 'changers, and I left there with spells that would run from power-circles there, in Icewind! It meant we wouldn't have to set-up much in Sunnydale, if we got a fast chance at her.
Icewind have a way with charms and I was given amulets that harness the powers of Shaman long-dead to strengthen the mojo.
The Danseen–girl had stayed as close as though she thought herself a bride, until we neared the portal. Then she was gone. A little later I found the burned-out Talisman and a portal disc were gone, too. I don’t have time to delay.
I have the spells against the Lamia. The sooner the better, for those. Once I get the charged Talisman back to Erynne there’s at least a chance that I can take her back to my home dimension. She’ll be safe, that way.