Re: MP Game - Yarnspinners
Machaka: Turn 16
While his retinue prepared the ritual space, Cetewayo considered his situation. His realm was not in the position he would prefer. His nation was small and almost surrounded by larger, intimidating powers. The few unaligned chaos lands that remained nearby were home to large, heavily armed and armored forces. While the magic schools in Balakavo were slowly beginning to show some results, without sources of magical power the great spells would stay an academic exercise. Thus, here he was in the wilds. Sometimes if you wanted something done, you had to do it yourself. Together with his retinue, he would search for magic to power the researchers discoveries.
First though, he had time to consider other options. He lacked knowledge of the world. He was trapped here in this small corner with only a small alley through which he might expand without war. Gaining additional knowledge was a priority. True he had sent out a spy, but that was slow, limited information. He could sense other Powers similar to his abroad in the world. Perhaps he could use this connection, however tenuous, to communicate with others who might be in a similar position. After all, he could communicate his will with his priests via their dreams and their connection to him. It was possible that using similar techniques he could contact some other leader. Perhaps this other leader would be willing to exchange information. One think that gave him pause was the recent strange, disquieting disturbance that seemed connected to this new sense. Thinking about it made him remember the cold of the grave. He was unsure what the disturbance indicated. Regardless, he was determined to pursue this possibility. But who to attempt to contact?
Cetewayo then remembered a recent gift he had received. One of the other powers had sent him an air gem. He quickly retrieved the gem in question and studied it. The gem had been sent with little fanfare and no real message from the mysterious R'lyeh. These were beings that one would definitely NOT call men. Rumor had it that they ate the brains of the humans that they captured. They were also rumored to have strange mental powers. The Last fact gave him another pause. It might actually be dangerous to attempt this contact. He had no knowledge of the power this being might command. He could not let fear rule him. He would try it! These were times for taking risks. Indeed, he was not without power himself. Using the resonance of the gem with its previous owner together with his own ability to sense these other semi-divine beings, he would forge a connection, for better or worse.
He settled himself into a deep trance focusing his awareness through the gem in a way both outward and inward toward the other. He searched farther, and then he felt a faint contact. Yes, there was something there. He struggled harder and felt the connection deepen. Suddenly he was overwhelmed by a kaleidescope of strange images. It was overwhelming. Nothing made sense. Dizzying and disorienting. Flashes. Bright. Dark. Angles, structures that could not be. Water. He tried to project his desire to exchange information. He tried to put his wishes into words but he couldn't tell if he was succeeding. He kept trying and there were brief flashes of images that he could almost make sense of. Suddenly he was standing by a table in the midst of a great void. On the table was a blank piece of parchment. Somehow he knew that it was supposed to be a map. He tried to alter it and to his surprise succeeded. Suddenly the map had his nation and something of the surrounding area outlined. As he began celebrating he felt a more concrete presence of something OTHER. He held himself in the connection by a force of will. Everything in him was telling him that he should flee. He had to get a return of information. Yes! He could see it. He focused on the map and saw stretches of the world filled in. At that, he let the connection go. To his horror, the connection did not fade. Instead it continued and he felt himself being drawn deeper. An intense flood of images so fast that he could not decipher them, even consciously register their content. He then forcibly severed the connection.
As he emerged with a shudder from the trance he quickly sketched out the map he had seen. It had been a disturbing experience, but one well worth the risk. He had not sensed animosity directed at him. Though, to be honest, he was unsure about his ability to decipher much that he had sensed, indeed his senses were still reeling from the experience. However, he had gained vital information and, if he could tolerate the connection again, more might yet be gained. He had hoped to gain insight into the mind of the other leader. However, the other had been so... alien... that he had no idea of what 'it' might be thinking. Even now, his own thoughts were following strange paths, the angles in his tent seemed somehow off, and why was he thinking about climbing stairs?
"climbing up the stair,
the wind moans,
the sound of despair..."
The thought drifted through Cetewayo's mind, almost without him realizing it. He determined to ignore these strange, wayward thoughts. There were no stairs in the camp... Then he realized that exposure to this alien presence was not without cost. Well, he had recovered from death... He felt his mind drifting into that strange mode again and realized that he did NOT want to think about death in that way. He would just have to deal with this as well. He Had Conquered Death. He paused, and felt none of the strange thoughts forming. More confident, he decided that a few strange thoughts after exposure to such an unusual being was to be expected and dismissed it as unimportant. On to more important things, he had a sudden craving for a rare steak... and maybe something crunchy...
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