Season 14: The Witch Queen's Request

The soft quartz-light refracting around the grand chamber of the Queen of the Witching Court left many shadows, often making it crucially difficult to read Her Majesty's majestic face. Now as she leaned down to the unfortunate apprentice who had been given the report to read, lustrous copper hair falling over one eye, Queen Nicnevin's face was almost totally shrouded.

“Say that again,” the Giant Queen said slowly.

The young elf swallowed. They had been excited if nervous to get to speak to the Queen directly and had foolishly not read the report until they were in the antechamber about to be called.

“I… the report says that an elder brain managed to fuse Something Buried with a neolithid to temporarily control it. Most of the largest Somethings have congregated in Kantas - Something Eldritch has fully manifested but is currently at large. We've had reports of a city sinking from Something Hungry, we suspect Something Lurking to be in the town of Port Ffirst, though that's always hard to confirm directly, and Something Vast has recently been seen in the Witching Woods. Others have been spotted around the area, although we believe at least one to still be close to the Witching Court.”

“I thought that's what you said,” she said, in a voice that was so resonant the crystals in the room reverberated with every syllable, and also so impassive that it was impossible to know if this elf was about to be promoted or torn limb from limb. Queen Nicnevin leaned back in her throne once again and brushed her hair back, revealing a resplendent face deep in thought.

“These have been running rampant for over a year now and you've caught none of them?” she asks sharply.

The apprentice flinched. “The uh.. the team responsible for this have not had any success, no my queen. However they report they are ready to commence the re-binding ritual as soon as any are successfully trapped and returned.”

Nicnevin was silent for a long moment. “Then they need backup. It's time this was resolved. I will make the calls needed.”

—----------

“So let's review,” Saria said, looking over at Aurelia who nodded in acknowledgement from the head of the table. Picking up her stack of furiously penned notes, she slipped off her chair and began to pace, head bobbing just over the level of the tabletop.

“Sister Sunbane,” she began, addressing the tall, straight-backed night hag representing the Witching Court in the room. “You are here to request aid of the Dawnlands in the completion of a ritual to return the entities known as Somethings to a more dormant, manageable state, yes?”

“It's as I say, indeed. I speak only as the Witch Queen commands.”

“Sure. The Somethings are…,” papers rustle. “Forces of the universe; numerous, eternal and to the best of your knowledge indestructible?”

“Those who have tried have failed to the extent they themselves are nothing more than stories. Besides, the Fey Ascendant believes that to destroy a being so fundamental would do more harm than good.”

“More harm than… just one of these nearly entombed the entire city of Vorsthold!” Cecil objected loudly from across the table. “Thousands of people would have died.”

Sister Sunbane’s response was cool. “Then you should consider how great the scales are that my Queen balances.”

“Regardless, our objective is to capture, not kill,” Saria continued. “This is where things got a little confusing for me. The plan is to ‘reduce the crux of their power’ in this binding ritual - a ritual which had kept them at bay for eons prior. And that will… be enough, apparently.”

Here Aurelia leaned forward. “I believe I grasped the mechanics at play here. A Something, for example Something Buried, is a manifestation of burying, or perhaps the fear of being buried. Just because it is tied up in a stone circle in the Feywild doesn't mean that no one will ever face that fear again.

However, the full Something Buried being free and roaming the planes means the full weight of it's attention and power can be concentrated in a given spot, say a city underground, and the consequences are as we saw, catastrophic. Binding the Somethings means reducing their ability to focus their power. It takes them from a roving apocalypse to an ambient phobia once again, from a wolf at your heels to a distant howl in the night.”

“In as much as anything can be in these matters, that is precisely correct,” the hag confirmed, evidently impressed. “Think of it more as suppression than containment, if that helps.”

“Very well,” Saria borrowed a quill from Mavis and edited her notes slightly before continuing. “A number of your people are already tracking down the lesser of these beings - Something Sticky and whatever they're called. But you would like to requisition our adventuring community to tackle the larger of them, especially as they are relatively local and some have encountered them directly. The mission for each is to subdue and capture them, and then it got technical again.”

“We can explain that to the adventurers directly,” Aurelia said. “I think given some of these threaten us or our allies directly, we can safely agree to Queen Nicnevin’s request.”

“Good then,” Sister Sunbane said, standing up to her full impressive height. “The arrangemen–”

“One moment, Sister,” the archmage interrupted sharply. “I need to make this clear. It's obvious that we are being threatened by dangers released due to a mistake on the part of the Witching Court. We will do this, and gladly, however,” and here she stood as well, only reaching the shoulders of the hag, but meeting her gaze nonetheless. “You can tell Her Majesty Fey Ascendant: She owes us. And one day we will collect on that.”

For the first time since arriving, Sister Sunbane smiled, much more broadly than should conventionally be possible. “As you wish, Aurelia Archselon, as you wish.”