The Call of Infinite Possibilities – Marto – 28.07/4.08
Aug 2, 2022 18:43:53 GMT
Jaezred Vandree, Derthaad, and 3 more like this
Post by Marto Copperkettle on Aug 2, 2022 18:43:53 GMT
You complete my faith
The world unwinds inside of me
It was the day before. Marto had just returned from the Sunset Spines and had listened to the Jackal say he’d take the others to see An’Ahkrim — something Marto had no interest in at all — when he finally felt it was okay to slip away. He found Gerhard at the Three Headed Dragon, which just so happened to be the first place he looked. He had been sitting on one of the upper floor balconies overlooking the main street, nursing a pint of ale. If he was being honest, the look of his friend kind of worried him. It worried him a lot. But Marto didn’t address that right away, he thought it best to ease into it with a simple question.
“How are you Gerhard?”
They had talked for hours, catching each other up on all the things they’d missed and all the horrible things that had happened. Marto learned about what happened to Orianna, that Mister, upset at Gerhard for stealing Gentleman away, who he is in relation to Andromeda and Mister, and that Gerhard’s previous steward planned retribution despite Andromeda’s protection. He also found out who Andromeda is, what her relationship to Gerhard is and how she’s been trying to find the young woman who had been snatched away.
Except she wasn’t just some young woman Gerhard knew. The way his hands kept reaching up to touch a locket he wore, one that shone with a soft, pale blue light, was always with an air of gentleness that spoke volumes more than any of the words he said about her. It felt like a private moment, and each time Marto unconsciously looked away, not wishing to intrude.
It did raise some questions, ones Marto didn’t know how to ask.
With the cost of walking the Staircase, and Gerhard dancing around the topic of his return, what does this newfound purpose mean for the one who started it all? Will Gerhard be able to save both Henri and Orianna? What would that mean for him?
“There it is. The noble sacrifice.”
The words rise unbidden to his mind and Marto nearly upends his ale from flinching.
“You don’t even know what you’re asking for, what you want me to do for you and what you would give up.”
Marto apologises to Gerhard, saying something about not getting enough sleep, which his friend mutters is something he’s familiar with.
“Who will you choose?”
Marto makes some kind of joke that gets Gerhard laughing. The distraction nearly works on himself too. He barely feels the scrape of claws across his ribs, or the tightening ribbons of ash, smoke and blood around his heart.
That is what it always comes back to. Choice.
You complete my fate
The halo crawls away
Marto was jogging back from the potions store when Kavel showed up. The goliath looked at the young knight in slight confusion and it took a moment for Marto to catch on before he twigged what his friend was asking with his eyes.
“No hamper this time. We aren’t planning on conversing with the people we’ll be seeing,” he said, handing both healing potions to Gerhard, who seemed impatient to get going.
Then Beets arrived, carrying a basket of baked pastries, filled with what she claimed were Orianna’s favourite fruits — pomegranate and peaches. A bit unusual but delicious nonetheless. She seemed very blassé about Gerhard’s call, let alone to be walking on the Staircase again, and Marto worried that she didn’t quite grasp the seriousness of the situation they were going into.
Or maybe it was her way of pushing past any lingering awkwardness after their last conversation where she confessed her love for him as Marto faced off against the strange personality her rage seemed to have. Probably that.
Derthaad showed up last, in a huff and out of breath. With the last of the party gathered, Gerhard contacted his steward, Andromeda. She instructed him to head to the north side of Daring Heights where she would have a portal ready and waiting for them. He was clearly ready to get going but Marto was keeping a discerning eye on him as much as the halfling could.
It never ceased to amaze Marto at the kind of magic the Infinite Staircase allowed people to do. Seeing silver mist appear out of thin air, to then form a beautiful ornate door that led to realms unknown, to him, was thrilling. It called to him. For the first time since returning from Phlegethos, Marto felt like he was where he was meant to be — with his companions, going on a mission to rescue two people who meant a lot to one of his closest friends. It certainly wasn’t the dream he had when he was growing up, becoming a knight and rescuing his sister. Merla had done that herself. But sometimes the oldest dreams never truly go away.
“Come on, Gerhard. Let’s go,” Marto says, gesturing for Gerhard to lead the way as he has so many times.
Gerhard takes one last sweeping look at Daring Heights, his eyes lingering on the afternoon sky, hand rising up to clasp the glowing locket. When he steps through the door, Marto and the others swiftly following, the errant feeling that his friend just said goodbye would not leave him.
You repeat my fate
Rewinding all we can
The Library of Infinite Knowledge is enormous. One could spend several lifetimes in its halls and barely complete their knowledge of one small section before they die. Perhaps that’s why some people chose to become like Andromeda, Marto thought. With infinite time comes unending chances to learn anything and everything you’d ever want.
He had been wary of meeting Gerhard’s new steward but upon seeing Andromeda, not only was Marto struck by her presence — so different from Mister’s he instinctively liked her. She appeared to be driven more by logic than passion, and actually seemed to care about Gerhard enough to anticipate his needs along with the rest of them. Marto wasn’t going to throw caution to the wind however. The Infinite and so much of who they are was alien to him, but he was beginning to get a better understanding of who they were. Or he thought he did.
They were brought to a quiet room, one where if Beets wanted to shout to the high heavens the Librarians would not need to come around and tell her to be quiet, either with their autonomous stares or by other, combative means.
Andromeda started with the topic Gerhard seemed most eager to hear about: Where was Orianna?
“The details are… I wouldn’t say sketchy, but maybe hard for you to fully understand. Mister has Orianna in what is called a demiplane. A literal plane of existence that he has created. This is not… wildly powerful magic; most semi-decent spell casters can accomplish it. What he has done, though, is nudge this demiplane out of sync with the rest of the universe. That is why it was very hard to find her. She didn’t… show up anywhere.”
If he wasn’t already sitting down, Marto thinks he would have needed to become comfortable with the floor really quick. The scope of power to do such a thing was immense. He didn’t even think Merla could do something like that.
“Until,” Andromeda continues, looking directly at Gerhard, “the other day.”
They all glance to Gerhard, a mix of expressions on all of their faces.
“I’m assuming the rest of you don’t know that Gerhard and Orianna had a conversation?” She looks around the room, sees the answer on their faces and nods, like she already knew that answer. “Mister allowed Orianna to have a conversation with Gerhard. But this communication between the two allowed me to track her location, and, I’ll be honest, I don’t like that he did that. It feels very deliberate. Among my family, Mister is not considered for his brains, but he is considered for his ability to outsmart most people.”
That tracked with the little Marto knew of him but it certainly didn’t make him feel any better. In fact, his concern skyrocketed while a few other things fell into place. It made sense then that Gerhard had seemed calmer, more driven when he had met him the other day for their catch up. Marto had been expecting to see someone nearly at their wits end. Instead, Gerhard was collected, focused, poised on the precipice of… something. Now, looking at his friend, he started to see something else, something that reminded him of the look Gerhard gave Daring Heights as they left the Prime Material.
“Well then, let’s just punch him in the face!” Beets says excitedly. She emphasises her offer by punching her fist into her hand.
Marto resisted the urge to drop his face into his hand.
“I would not recommend you fight Mister,” Andromeda says in a flat tone.
Another point in her favour. Marto didn’t know what they would be fighting or even if they even would be, but the fact that she was warning them to not do something that even he knew would be suicidal in the utmost fatal way only made her more likable.
“He can just stop us in our tracks and disable our magic, right?” Derthaad asks.
“He can do more than that.” Andromeda levels a grim look at the dragonborn before scanning the rest of them. “He can remove you from reality entirely, and I don’t mean by Disintegration. Mister can wipe your very presence from time and space.”
A shiver runs down Marto’s spine.
“Then why hasn’t he already, Andromeda?” Gerhard asks, finally speaking for the first time since they’ve arrived. “What stops him?”
A line appears between the steward’s brow. “I don’t think he wants to. He likes to… toy, with things. Call it selfishness, or boredom.”
Glancing at Gerhard, Marto sees the man’s jaw clench.
“Although,” she continues, “he seems to be operating like he has a plan. That is unusual for Mister. He’s more… free-spirited, shall we say. Now, he is driven.”
“Last time we met Mister he said he wanted Gentleman. I assume Mister cannot touch Gerhard because of your protection?” Derthaad asks. Andromeda nods. “Because Gentleman is with Gerhard, that means that he needs Gerhard to make a mistake…?”
“That is sound reasoning, yes,” Andromeda says. “Although, he is being bolder than I expected. He is normally more scared of me.”
All of this only served to raise Marto’s concerns from slight to pressing.
“So, if you don’t mind me asking, besides taking Orianna because of what she means to Gerhard, why does he have her?” the young knight asks, leaning forward in his chair.
“I know why.”
They all turn to look at Gerhard who is looking down at his hands. They wait, expectantly.
“Because he needed… somebody. I don’t know why, but he needed her to do something. She couldn’t tell me what. All I know is that it helped him. But, Andromeda,” Gerhard finally looks up, “she got a message back to us. Did you… did you see the message?”
There’s just the slightest tilt to the Infinite’s head. “I did not.”
Marto can see how difficult this is for Gerhard, and it surprises him because it reminds him of-
“She risked everything. Mister probably knows that she did, but… It was like a flower hidden in a sword.”
They all lean in a little closer, the poetry of his words teasing their eager ears. Gerhard reaches into his satchel and pulls out one of any pieces of parchment from its depths. But Marto sees this one is clean, crisp, new.
“‘A deadly puzzle. Planets and stars as cardinal points, time and space as the fixed. The mutable sign has seen all and is the unknown power that will open the Gate.’”
Marto waits, expecting more but Gerhard sighs, setting the parchment down.
“She’s trying to tell us something. I don’t know what the gate is. I don’t know how you fix time. I don’t know what the mutable sign is, but this has to mean something.”
If it does, none of his friends know the possible answer. Marto shares a bewildered look with Derthaad when Andromeda speaks.
“Gentleman figured out a way to use time and space, the positions of the stars and the planets, and turned it all into a machine — a cosmic artificer’s creation. He attempted to open the Staircase to everyone and when he did it obliterated three stars and their entire solar systems.”
The stunned silence in the wake of such words is deafening.
“We locked him away because of this,” she continues, “and we thought the knowledge of how to do this would be locked away with him. If Mister is going after this same machine…” Her eyes find each of theirs the truth striking them each in the gut.
“I don’t think I need to spell the rest out for you.”
You refill my place
You refill my place
Andromeda did most of the research already for the next part. It was simply a matter of shackling Gentlemen to Gerhard and then they could be on their way. Easy as pie!
Marto didn’t like it one bit.
Before doing that though they went over the steps of the plan: First, shackle Gentleman to Gerhard. Second, Andromeda opens a portal to the demiplane Mister has Orianna. Third, find, rescue and free Orianna. Fourth, find, rescue, and free Henri. Fifth, go home.
So why did that seem too simple to work?
One part was probably because Andromeda said Henri was somewhere on the Infinite Staircase near Orianna — something, Marto noticed, Gerhard did not like. The other part was where freeing Henri would destroy Gerhard’s Call, his bow, which according to Marto’s understanding would be their only way back home. Since Andromeda said she would be occupying Mister’s full attention by fighting him, there was still something not quite adding up.
And why was no one else saying anything?
Despite his misgivings Marto understood enough that delaying any more would be detrimental to their success, and their success depended upon Gerhard and shackling Gentleman to him. All of this was magic way beyond his ken, and it frustrated him to no end that Derthaad seemed almost complacent in his acceptance of things. But if the Investigator of the Daring Heights City Watch and probably the smartest arcanist they had on their team wasn’t going to question things, then who was he to do so?
Still, it didn’t feel right.
But when Andromeda started handing out fist sized quartz crystals to each of them Marto didn’t hesitate. Gerhard needed him and at the end of the day, if Gerhard wanted to do this then who was he to stop him making his own noble sacrifice?
“Everything you have? No. Nothing as trivial as that…”
Marto shook himself, shoving the treacherous memories away. They all stood around Gerhard at the four cardinal points just as Andromeda instructed them to. She began to chant in that strange, silvered language that none of them quite knew. At times it sounded like she spoke halfling, at others, it sounded like crackling fire. She took her own Call, a silver brooch that extended into a stiletto dagger, which she used to pierce the box containing the silvered form of the Gentleman.
“This might hurt a little, Gerhard, and… I apologise for that.”
That’s when Marto felt the presence of not Gerhard not only around them but within his mind. It was so strange, being aware of someone physically in front of you but also feeling a part of them reaching out and touching your mind. It didn’t scare him though, because Marto knew his friend was concentrating on his own part, and what he needed more than anything, was their support.
We Copperkettles are bearers of the kiln flames, singers of harmony and love, providers of protection and light…
The mantra carried him through the ritual as Andromeda pours the silver liquid from the box into the brazier. When the last of it fell in their quartz crystals shattered swirling around them before gathering to cover Gerhard head to toe. Then Andromeda picked up the white hot brazier, lifted it over Gerhard’s head and poured it over him.
For a minute it looked like he was going to be encased in silver to become a living statue. But then the silver cracked, then broke, gathering onto the quartz crystals that had formed swirling tattoo like patterns all over his body.
“How are you feeling?” Kavel asks. “Do you feel like you have a fraction of god-like power?”
“I feel really good,” Gerhard said, sounding surprised by the truth of it. “Like I’m fully alert, like I’ve had the perfect night’s rest and am full of energy.”
“So. You reckon you can lift more than me?”
Marto stepped out of the way, keeping a careful eye on Gerhard again, casting a glance at Andromeda every now and then. She didn’t seem to be laughing nefariously nor anything of the sort. If anything, it was Gerhard seemingly speaking to himself that ended up drawing the knight’s attention more and more.
Watching the two lift the massive heavy wooden table, though entertaining, was still concerning. There was a flash of silver as Gerhard lifted the table, and Marto was reminded of what Andromeda said before the ritual.
“Whether you’re successful or not is entirely dependent upon how you use the powers that the Gentleman will give you. If you squander them before you have a need for them, you will only be able to save one of the people you wish to.”
“Wow, Gerhard!” Beets said in the present, clapping enthusiastically. “You’re so strong now! You probably don’t even need us to help save Orianna, you could do it all on your own!”
“Mister would not have left his demiplane undefended,” Andromeda cautioned, giving the fairy a sidelong glance.
“Besides, and no offence Kavel, but strength isn’t everything,” Marto said, giving Beets a look before looking back to his changed friend. “You’re not going to do this alone.” Derthaad nods.
“I like this one,” Marto heard Andromeda say softly to Gerhard, a small smile playing across her lips.
Then her expression changed rapidly from impressed amusement, to confusion, to intense concern.
“Oh no.” She turns towards Gerhard. “He knows where you are!”
Come and save me
Come and save me
Andromeda’s horned head whips around, spotting the silver mist before any of them. From one breath to the next her form shifts into mist too and then quicker than any natural occurring water vapour could do, it darts across the room and slams into the other silver mist. The two become one and then start moving up and up and up until they pass through the ceiling leaving Gerhard, Kavel, Derthaad, Beets and Marto alone in the room.
Four sets of purposeful footsteps echo throughout the room, though none of Marto’s friends have moved. Then they emerge from around the stacks, one at a time, a fire genasi, a drow, a yuan-ti and a minotaur. All of the warriors. All of them with murder in their eyes.
“So. You’re the ones we were sent here to fight then,” the drow warrior says, stepping forward, her elegant form lithe and deadly. She eyes each of them up, as if marking their weaknesses.
“I mean, we don’t have to fight,” Derthaad offers. “We could try talking things out?”
The minotaur breathed out heavily through his nose, his greataxe held tightly in hands itching to swing back. Marto moves his shield from his back to his arm, eyes never leaving him.
“I’m afraid we have our orders from Mister,” the drow responds. The fire genasi balls her hands into fists, the glint of silver knuckle dusters on her hands prominent and deadly. “And we’re not exactly going to disobey them.”
Kavel didn’t need any more of an invitation. He leapt forward towards the drow, his stony fists pinioning out towards her face…
Lyrics from ‘Kiri’ by Monoral
