Infinite Possibilities: 2/2 - 04/08/2022 - A Kavel Perspect

Punch Out

My left hand cupped Poppy’s neck and the same arm’s forearm and elbow dug into her chest - I had the enemy monk successfully collar-tied. The objective here was to restrict her ability to offend me - and my comrades - and I was halfway there. If I then got her to the ground, she’d be harmless.

My comrades, with the exception of Marto and I, were battered. If Derthaad had failed to counter Sandra’s spells, I assumed I would be fighting alone, as I am the only one who takes conditioning as seriously as I do. Sandra for her part was looking close to meeting her maker, which was good, because if she had any magic similar to comrade Derthaad, and she could finally release it; then I assumed it would be very bad for us.

Alexandra, far ahead of me, looked fresh faced - she had been loosing arrows and then teleporting away successfully throughout the fight.

With Poppy tied-up, I turned my head around to check on Axel. Despite his strong plate armour, he looked wounded, and despite my collar tie, I should not have taken my eyes off of Poppy…

Pop! Pop! Pop! Pop!

I took four solid, knuckle-duster enhanced punches to my undefended face. My jaw, mouth and right ear were all cut open and beginning to bleed. The punch that landed on my temple, though bloodless, was particularly brutal. I wobbled under its impact, but I did not buckle. Nor did I loosen my collar-tie. Poppy looked stunned - had she expected me to be ‘stunned’ from her punches?

I saw Beets evade Axel’s greataxe, healing potion in hand, as she darted under the table where comrades Gerhard and Derthaad stood on top. To be fair, evading Axel’s chop was rendered easier to do because of comrade Derthaad’s successfully landed psychic lance spell - Axel ate the full wallop and was incapacited.

I saw comrade Gerhard move to the edge of the table into my blindspot and a flash of silver drew out agonising cries of pain from both Axel and Sandra. This was followed by the unmistakable sound of Marto’s booming axe swing to Axel causing more agony for the minotaur. A more pleasant sound followed all this, as comrades Gerhard, Beets and Derthaad all breathed a sigh of relief - Derthaad had used his Aid spell with lots of magical energy behind it.

Things were looking good, but then Marto ran for the door…


Punches, Pot Shots, Lightning and a Void of Destruction!

There was no time to check on Marto, the punch-out was in full swing. I dug into Poppy’s gut, ribs and face with right uppercuts. Poppy returned fire with another dazzlingly fast four hit combo. That time though, I saw the second temple shot coming a mile away. However, Poppy had cleverly hid a punch to the liver behind it! As her knuckle duster made contact with my exposed liver, two seconds later I felt my body stop, shut down, and go into a defensive mode in order to protect the the organ… fucking liver shots! Being hit hard enough in the liver, it’s like being knocked unconscious, but you are still awake. Alexandra had also pierced me with an arrow to my left collar while Poppy was setting up the liver shot. They made a great tag-team. I tumbled forward, luckily halting my collapse with my left hand. Right hand covering up my liver for protection.

As I tumbled, I caught Beets with my eyes arching over the western bookshelf in flight and heard the recognisable sound of her mandibles chomping against flesh, and the sound of Sandra screaming.

Axel swung his greataxe at Marto three times. One of these swings rivalled comrade Ivan’s powerful technique. But, unfortunately for Axel, the combination of his recent incapacitation and Marto’s inexplicable fleeing for the door made Axel miss every attack. The new duplicate of Axel also couldn't hit Marto. Marto used the Misty Step spell to get over to the balcony where the exit was. Mission achieved - whatever mission it was that Marto was on.

I caught sight of another misty-step from my comrades, as I tried to will my body back into action. Gerhard was now standing on top of the northern backcase on my left, where he had teleported to for line of sight on the elusive Alexandra. Boom! went the arrow when it landed in the centre mass of Alexandra’s body. An explosion of silver force. Maybe that will stop her from teleporting, I thought. There was a moment during Gerhard’s attack where it felt like I blinked, but I was certain I didn’t. I’m not sure what happened. Was this related to the liver shot, or something else?

“Marto what the fuck?!” I heard comrade Derthaad shout as he launched a lightning bolt through Axel’s duplicate and through the western bookshelf successfully striking Sandra on the other side, whilst Axel’s duplicate was made to vanish. Sandra, standing near Beets and grasping both her neck where Beets had clearly chomped at, and her chest where the lightning bolt hit her - she was very badly injured. Sandra was not long for the world. But she fought on.

Two things happened simultaneously as Sandra charged up a spell. Firstly, Marto walked back through the door above with a pissed off look on his face.Secondly, I saw Derthaad’s eyes go wide as he lost sight of Sandra behind the western bookshelf. And then, a magical black marble moved from Sandra’s hand towards me, and stopped a few feet away. I could have sworn I heard both Poppy and Axel yell, ‘No! IT’S TOO CLOSE!” We all became engulfed in darkness and I felt an immensely painful tear in my body, as something where the black marble froze drew us towards it with a tearing force affecting our skin, flesh and bones.


Hello Darkness Goodbye Mister’s Friends

Curse Poppy and her sneaky liver shot! I was hunched over practically inert and felt like I was being forcibly shredded and pulled into the centre of Sandra’s dark, spherical spell. I could see nothing in this magical darkness. I could hear nothing too. I could, however, feel pain - lots of it. I felt blood come up my throat from internal injuries that the dark sphere had caused. I wasn’t doing too well anymore. I hoped that my comrades were not caught up in this sphere. I could feel something else though. I could feel Poppy. Though my collar-tie was loose, she wasn’t escaping, she was flailing. Why? I couldn’t hear her, but she must have been in agonising pain from the dark sphere. Somehow she was matching me pretty well blow for blow with her speed against my strength. Good for her. However, she was not able to match my conditioning and constitution. I felt her neck come apart bit by bit, and then her body fell into me, and then I felt more of her body break away in tiny pieces and float off behind me towards the dark sphere. Piece by tiny piece, Poppy vanished like her body were burning embers, until I could no longer feel the fire-genasi adversary, except for what became of her; ash pulled into a dark sphere, caused by her own comrade. Poppy had disintegrated. This was a hellish spell.

Suddenly, I could see! Suddenly nothing was pulling me backwards, and no external force was hurting me. I could see Alexandra still a little behind the eastern bookcase. She looked like her expression had changed from amusement to shock, as she saw dust drop from my front to the floor where Poppy once stood. I could hear a noise from behind the western bookshelf; a body slump to the ground accompanied by a horrific gurgling sound, as if being made from a compromised windpipe. I could then hear the flap of wings propel a bloodied fairy nearer to me, but much nearer to Axel. Beets swiped her claw straight across Axel’s throat, and Axel fell to the ground bleeding profusely from his neck, and then ceased to move.

I turned back around to focus on Alexandra, she had managed to avoid getting caught up in her own comrade’s cursed spell. I started to make my way towards her, hoping she would not teleport before I reached her. Four magical darts slammed into her in rapid succession, hitting her in the chest where Gerhard’s exploding silver arrow had previously injured her. I looked up to where the magic missiles came from; Marto on the balcony.

Perhaps Marto’s magic would help me reach Alexandra before she could teleport? I was joined on my journey by a comrade who must have had a similar thought. Said comrade was voicing their thoughts - I don’t think I’ve ever heard the City Watch’s sergeant swear so much. Derthaad reached a spot where he could aim a spell at Alexandra, and unleashed a gigantic lighting bolt at her. Alexandra managed to swerve away from full impact, but the front of her already injured body was now smoking, as she winced in agony. I thought at that moment that it must be my turn to bring this home.


Stonehand Fighting Technique - Finishing Move!

I ran up to the bent-over Alexandra, and delivered a haymaker of a left straight to her face. As I came to a stop, I pulled her in with my now unclenched left hand gripping her left arm, and my right hand cupping her left thigh. I squatted into her with my head against her torso and lifted the enemy archer onto my shoulders into a reverse fireman’s carry. Alexandra’s eyes were facing up towards the ceiling - they would soon be at ground level. I tilted her body towards her head as I came off of my feet and drove her head first into the ground, as my body followed hers to the floor - it increased the force of impact. Stonehand Fighting Technique Finishing Move; BURNING HAMMER!!!

Alexandra’s head was driven like a spike into the ground as her neck snapped upon impact. No more teleporting for her.


Comrade Physical Assessments

Marto stormed down the stairs. I looked up at the balcony. I estimated it was no more than fifteen to twenty feet high. I was certain that a few more thousand reps at the squat rack and I’d soon be able to jump onto balconies from the ground. I hear others tell me, 'Kavel, being able to squat really heavy weights won’t make it so you can fly like an eagle, as if your legs were wings!’ But, I remain confident it’s only a matter of completing the right number of reps at the right quantity of weight. We’ll see…

Marto reached the ground and helped Gerhard down from the top of the bookshelf - for a man with partial god powers, Gerhard looked in bad shape. Gerhard’s elevated position standing on the bookcase offered him no protection from the dark sphere. Both Marto and I offered him multiple healing potions. I even drunk a couple of my own greater healing potions. I have so many greater healing potions. At the end of adventures, I usually don’t fight over the big magic items. I let the spellcasters quibble over those. I don’t need them. As a result, I’m left with what didn’t get taken; quite often these have been greater healing potions - finally serving their purpose.

The silver weapons of our enemies fizzled out of existence.

“I wasn’t expecting such a fearsome lot,” Andromeda said, appearing behind us, “gather around.”


Back on Track

Andromeda healed us all like comrade Tayz has done before, with a mass curative spell. Although, perhaps even better, I even felt like I had just gotten a full night’s rest… maybe I could have saved those greater healing potions?

Andromeda said she was still fighting Mister whilst here before us. Gerhard asked for reassurance that she would still be able to bring us all back from Mister’s demiplane, if she opened a portal for us to reach it. Andromeda was confident. Derthaad wanted a private word to go over the plan with Andromeda, and she allowed this. Normally Derthaad says anything technical in front of us. I was not sure why he wanted a private word.

“Everyone ready?” Andromeda said, coming back from her conversation with comrade Derthaad. A marble archway appeared, it had transparent glass inside the arch with veins of silver appearing in cracks that were forming. When the glass shattered, we could see a study in a thirty by thirty foot room. A figure sat at a desk there.


Mister’s Hidden Demiplane

The walls inside were covered in books. It was as if we had found a side room inside the library we were just in. Except this study room didn’t have a high ceiling like the library - it had no ceiling. When we looked up we saw the darkness of space interspersed and lit up with stars.

The figure at the desk had their back to us as we entered. She turned around with trepidation. When she caught sight of us, she shouted, “oh my god you are here?! You’ve come for me!” Orianna then rose from her chair and ran towards Derthaad and hugged her lover… wait?!

Derthaad too was shocked. So, too was Gerhard, and the rest of us. What was happening here? More magic stuff no doubt. It seemed Orianna had acquired a blue shawl since I last saw her, and I could have sworn all these forearm tattoos were new as well.

Orianna mentioned all the lunches her and Derthaad had in the observatory together. Surely that was with Gerhard? Maybe she’s got the names mixed up. I think I sometimes pronounce Derthaad as ‘Derthard’ and it becomes easy to get it mixed up with Gerhard. I also thought it was possible Orianna’s eyesight had gotten poor since being trapped in this one room. Then Gerhard made an observation about time and space and multiple universes. It turned out that this Orianna was an Orianna from a different world, one where she never met Gerhard, and fell in love with Derthaad instead. Gerhard relayed to us that he could ‘sense’ this wasn’t his Orianna.

The marble entrance of the portal we used to enter the demiplane was closing. Marto urged this Orianna - Orianna-2, we’ll say - through the portal before it closed. Marto justified his actions as we had to save her too as well as our Orianna. I agreed out loud, and we were left in this one room, nowhere to go, and no Orianna of our own.


Investigation of Orianna-2’s Prison

“Does this mean Mister had more than one Orianna working for him?” I asked. Gerhard felt this was possible.

Derthaad had a go at interpreting the many sheets of parchment and star maps on the table. He eventually found a pattern on the papers that when stacked formed the outline of some unknown mechanism. When Derthaad finished his explanation, Gerhard informed us that the Gentleman was providing counsel, whilst also being entertained by us.

The Gentleman, through Gerhard, explained that he could see 4,392 different Oriannas in identical demiplanes stacked on top of each other, and it seemed that between the Oriannas they were making progress on different parts of the Gentleman’s former mechanism that destroyed a world.

“This is a fuck-ton more complicated! None of these Oriannas can stay here!” I was once again in agreement with comrade Marto, as he announced his observation.

“If we stop Mister, will this leave the Oriannas safe on their demiplanes?” Asked Derthaad. Unfortunately, the Gentlemen could only speculate that either it would be fine or the demiplanes would collapse, killing their captives.

The Gentleman had an idea. He posited that since Gerhard was able to ‘sense’ that Orianna-2 was not his Orianna, Gerhard himself should be able to focus a staircase journey toward the right Orianna on the right demiplane. In addition, Andromeda could take care of getting all other Oriannas to safety, if she was made aware of the new situation.

Gerhard contacted Andromeda, as he does, and made her aware of the situation. Andromeda had gone back to engaging Mister wherever that took place. We were told, she had not in fact noticed that Orianna-2 was now in the library. When made aware, Gerhard relayed to us that Andromeda put Copernicus and Lamelle on the task of freeing the many Oriannas.

Gerhard told us to hold on to him tightly, if he was going to teleport us to another demiplane. We took our time deciding whether it would be best to grab hold of me, and then only I would hold on to Gerhard. Gerhard told us to stop discussing this and hold on to him - the Gentleman it seemed was wetting himself with laughter at our indecision.

Grips on Gerhard, Gerhard concentrated to find his Orianna. When he was ready, his Call, the silver longbow, flashed a bright light that surrounded us and then the light vanished. We reappeared in an identical room. So identical in fact that there was no Orianna here. For a moment it seemed like maybe we hadn’t changed demiplanes, until we looked up at the open ceiling out to space. 200 feet above us, a lone, female figure could be seen near-motionless. This was an Orianna far out of our reach; cold, still and lifeless.


A World Somewhere Lost a Star

Derthaad posited that Orianna had left this room for at least an hour. I’m not sure how he figured that out, and I’m not sure it consoled any of us for being too late to save her. It seemed horrible to feel a sense of delight then, but when Gerhard confirmed through his senses that the Orianna in the void of space above us wasn’t his Orianna, there was a sense of relief. If the friends and family of this Orianna, Orianna-3 could hear my thoughts, I would want them to know I am deeply sorry for their loss, and am sorry we did not reach her in time.

Gerhard wished to reach Orianna-3 and bring her back to the demiplane’s walls, so I guess her body could be reunited with her loved ones.
“No,” I said, hand on my comrade’s shoulder, “Comrade - that one is dead. We can do nothing here. We must hurry and find your Orianna.” It seemed the Gentleman had some compassion for Gerhard. Gerhard explained that when he pointed his arm up at the space where Orianna-3 floated, it was the Gentleman taking control, as he magically pushed Orianna-3 toward a star that was ready to be born - a considerate ending for a person enthralled with the stars.

Gerhard recomposed himself, narrowed his focus, told us to hold on, and we vanished again in a flash of silver.

We emerged in yet again a very familiar thirty by thirty foot study, and there was to our delight a living, breathing Orianna. But, Gerhard confirmed that this was not our Orianna. Whatsmore, this Orianna, Orianna-4 was already being escorted through a portal to safety by a rather huge, red pit-fiend.


Copernicus the Big Red Comrade

“Copernicus! You are here!” Said comrade Gerhard. It was good to see relief and joy on my comrade’s face. These feelings had been completely absent for some time now. I was glad that seeing Copernicus was good for him. I too was relieved to see him. I heard he fell at the battle of Fort Ettin, and I knew that as a pit-fiend he could not be killed outside of Hell. But, only now could I verify this as true, and it was good.

Unfortunately, despite Gerhard’s best efforts we still hadn’t found the right Orianna. Copernicus reassured us though that he and Lamelle had been very productive and were halfway through returning the Oriannas back to their worlds, and only a very small amount of the two thousand odd Oriannas they had found were no longer alive, like the one we found before.

“Third times a charm!” Beets said enthusiastically.

“Come on comrade!” I said, clapping my hands in the air, and then standing behind Gerhard massaging his shoulders and slapping them, “Come on! Let’s go. You’ve got this!”

We teleported again. This time the Orianna of this new demiplane was sitting at the desk. She reluctantly, and trepidatiously turned to face us. Perhaps she was expecting Mister? As she turned to face us, her hand went up to her mouth as her eyes widened. Between her face and Gerhard’s face, there was recognition.

Gerhard misty stepped over to Orianna - the Orianna he had battled his way to rescue.


The One

Gerhard reappeared beside Orianna on his knees, tears in his eyes as Orianna collapsed down on to him shedding her own tears. It was a touching moment. I was very happy for the pair of them. The rest of us approached, but kept our distance.

After a while, the subject of Henri was brought to attention. It was a bittersweet moment for the lovers, especially Orianna held captive here, but she understood that Gerhard had to also do his best to free his friend.

“Well isn’t this a touching moment?” Came a most unwelcome and fear-elevating voice. Mister appeared in the room, and was joined by Henri. There were more cracks of silver surrounding Henri’s eyes, and those eyes were now entirely silver.


Infinite Bastard

“I thought we were friends?” Mister said to Orianna.

“You stay the fuck away from me!” She replied.

“Well. You’ve spoiled my plans. Congratulations,” Mister said, raising his hand and placing it behind Henri’s neck.”

At that moment, I concluded that somehow Andromeda had fallen, and that is why Mister was here. He would hurt Henri, and then begin removing us from reality. I thought of Nathalie. I thought how we would not get the chance to see if our initial passion and interest in each other would develop into a special bond. I confess, I had already played out loving scenarios in my head, allowing my normally present-oriented focus to wander in reverie. I had allowed my emotions to steer me, but I do not really regret the wandering I did imagining future happy moments with Nathalie.
I thought of Kruger too, my poor bro will have lost another brother. I know he had plans to help put an end to the surviving githyanki invaders. He was focused and had purpose in his life again. It was so good to see. But, ‘it is what it is’. There is nothing I can do. It ends now. It’s going to happen. Just accept it. You can go with overwhelming regret, or acknowledge the regret and just accept it. The latter was more ‘present-oriented’ and so that’s what I chose, my emotions would not be permitted to steer me in my final moments. I would go, fully present. I waited for Mister to begin his fun.

However, a hand appeared on Gerhard’s shoulder, as a puff of silver mist revealed its owner. “You will do nothing as long as I have anything to say about it,” Andromeda said towards Mister, as my feeling of acceptance switched to hopefulness.

Another puff of silver mist descended from the open ceiling, and an unknown Infinite appeared. The appearance of this tall, Infinite, female figure wearing a cape, a hat and a pair of eye-glasses sent shivers up Mister’s spine.

“Grandmother! … Hello there,” the words stuttered out of Mister’s mouth.


Granny Wasn't Pleased

I could tell that Grandmother was not pleased with Mister, because she walked over to him and slapped him full force in the face, knocking him over. He just accepted it, like he knew it would be worse if he moved, let alone protested or fought back.

Andromeda explained that now that she knew of the many Oriannas held and hidden on stacked demiplanes; she had enough evidence that the other Infinites agreed - there needed to be an intervention. Mister had what was coming to him.

Another marble arch appeared and the glass door shattered with silver cracks revealing a spot outside of Daring Heights.

“Go. Your job is done here Gerhard. Take Henri with you. You’ve earned it.” Andromeda said, before she left with the other Infinites and a restrained Mister.


Outside Daring Heights

We gave Gerhard some space to talk to Henri alone.

From what we could discern, Henri was no longer really himself with all the silver of the staircase inside of him. Gerhard put his hand on Henri’s face, and the silver cracks around Henri’s eyes began to disappear, and at the same time, Gerhard’s Call longbow shrunk in size, as silver strands appeared in Henri’s green scarf. Henri’s eyes shut and he collapsed. The rest of us ran over.

Henri opened his eyes, and they were no longer silver. Orianna casted some curative magic on him, and he was able to regain his feet.

“You’re Gert’s boyfriend?!” Beets asked with invasive enthusiasm. Henri replied that he wasn’t. Beets followed with, “I’m sorry! You are kinda hot!” I am not sure what is a more pressing concern here; the conscious personality Beets’ rage has, or her inappropriate timing? I’m not sure if Marto would agree with me, he seemed to be staring at something a thousand yards over in another direction.

“Derthaad! Kavel! Would you come over here for a moment?” Gerhard said, looking at me and Derthaad. We went over. Gerhard placed his hand on our chests, and tendrils of silver came out of our bodies into Gerhard’s fingers. It felt like a previously unrecognised weight had been lifted. Gerhard had felt his longbow shrinking, and held it in his hands. It looked more like a rod at this point. Gerhard told us the others would be free of whatever hold the Staircase had on them given time - they had not travelled the Staircase as much as Derthaad and I.

Gerhard then did something without announcement. He held the rod in both hands and snapped it across his knee. The two pieces came back together though, but in a smaller shape. The silver rod reformed into a silver quill, and the silver markings on Gerhards body evaporated away.

I smiled at my comrade holding his new Call, the silver quill, “you remember, a quill is what I thought your Call would be back on the moon, the first time we went?”

Gerhard smiled back, “well you remember what Copernicus said? The Call becomes what you need. I don’t think I’ll need a longbow anymore.”

“So how do you feel?”

“Good,” Gerhard responded. He looked towards Orianna and shared a smile with her.


Returning back to the City

We talked to Derthaad and asked him what he discussed with Andromeda in private. Derthaad said he just wanted reassurances on how the plan would work. I had never known him not to simply enquire for details in front of the team before, no matter how much of the magical details would go over my head.

As we walked back to the city, Marto offered reassurance to Henri that room would be covered for him.

It had taken a while to help comrade Gerhard get his long lost friend Henri back. It had also seemingly cost Gerhard something. There was an explanation from him that he would no longer be adventuring with us. He said he would be using his silver quill, his new Call, to do tasks for the Staircase and he would spend his free-time with Orianna, as much as he could. I wasn’t sure if the former was what he wanted, the latter certainly was. Gerhard seemed happy. This was good.

It was around noon it seemed, and we later discovered that it was then two days later on the prime material.

As we walked back into the city, the sun high in the sky, things were good.


A Few Days Later

I was staying with Kruger and Mendal in the Dwarven Quarter. Mendal had talked up the location so much, Kruger and I decided to give it a go, instead of staying at the Dragon. It was nice. Mendal was very well connected here, like he had favour. Through him, it was possible to get my hands on a two and a bit feet tall cut of walnut wood, and a similar sized truncheon of mahogany.

I had been thinking of Gerhard when Kruger handed me something in the mail from the new trainee-infinite. I was thinking about an exchange between him and Henri, that seemed to me to suggest that Gerhard had explained to Henri how Orianna was the most special person in his life. Given how the initial mission I went on with Gerhard was about retrieving Henri, someone very special to him, it was interesting that along the way Gerhard found someone more special to him. I began to think about the possibility that Gerhard was thankfully saved from - only being able to save one individual.
Gerhard no doubt would have chosen Orianna. This is understandable. But, if I was in a similar situation, would I have chosen Nathalie over Kruger? From what I understand, Henri is somewhat like a brother to Gerhard, like Kruger is to me. I thought of Nathalie first, when I accepted that we were finished. But given a choice of only being able to save one person, I think I would have to go with my brother. I am fond of Nathalie, but realistically I have only just met her. One day, I hope to explore the possibility that me and Nathalie will have a special connection more valuable to me than my chosen sibling. If that day comes, Kruger would understand my chance in choice preference, if I had to make a horrible choice.

I opened the package Gerhard sent me.



I knew what this stone was. It was a thoughtful gift… I actually already have my own one of these. In fact, I also have a white stone, too, and in addition me and Sorrel consider each other our siblings. Ha, ha, the thought really counts though! I appreciated my friend.
I should probably give the now spare black stone to Sorrel and explain that Gerhard wished for me to have this, but didn’t know I already had one.

I put the new stone where I keep the other two in the top left hand pocket of my vest. I then looked over at the walnut piece of wood. I retrieved my woodcarving tools from my bag, and began tracing an outline on the wood of a basic shape, and then got down to carving.

A day of carving later, I had finished and lacquered a two foot figurine of Nathalie from the walnut wood. I carved her in the pose she stood in opposite me at the start of the ceremonial exhibition fight we fought. I carved her with her swords drawn, but by her side before we bowed to each other, our eyes fixed on the other’s face.

A day afterwards, I picked up the mahogany piece and began carving a figurine of myself, as I was the same day of the exhibition (with a little less hair and beard than I have now) eyes fixed back at Nathalie’s face, captivated by the warrior and beauty before me. I would like to show her both figures, and give her the wood figure of my likeness. I hoped she would like them both…