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TOIL AND TROUBLE ❄ PART 2
TOIL AND TROUBLE ❄ PART 2
They say to never split the party but this Halloween, they absolutely need to. A quick flyby of the Sandersons' house shows it's empty - they're out trying to find the children that stole their magic book.
In the meantime, they have other problems. They are seriously outnumbered by the witches and there are still un-evacuated children in the town. They know that Sarah Sanderson will likely soon sing her song to lure children to wherever the Sandersons' intend to feed on them. There are also allies to try to gather, and other witch problems that have surfaced.
There is nothing else for it. The Guardians have to split up in the hopes the situation will get stable enough they can find Jamie's classmates who stole the book before the Sandersons do.
Or hope they can run down the clock until dawn, when they'll disappear in the light of day.
❅ Format: The mod will be using prose because multiple npcs may need to be written speaking but players can pick any format they want, including actionspam.
❅ NPCing: This part of the plot will have mod npcing. If you can, please try to tag at least about once a day to your respective threads so the mod can try to block out some semi-predictable time for npc tags.
❅ Status effects: There will be more dangerous witches here. Witches have magic and that means curses and other injuries the myth healing might not instantly fix. (Magical burns, etc.) You can play with this as you want. Spells and effects can either wear off in a short amount of time, wear off when the plot is over when day breaks, or need magical healing intervention at the Pole. Player choice.
❅ Long-term effects: Players who go with some kind of status effect for a character can optionally have long-term consequences from it if they like.
❅ Environment: Feel free to manipulate the environment in each setting location. You will often have whole setting areas to work with or even the whole open town. In some places, you absolutely can hotwire a car to run over a witch.
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He lets Elle make her proposal, and while he's impressed by her solution, he can immediately see a very unfortunate loophole. "Jack must be freed unharmed, not to drop into your pot," he adds quickly. "And any of us capable of leaving once the bargain is fulfilled shall be allowed to do so if we so choose."
He shoots Elle a look as he emphasizes the last word. A coded suggestion that she should stipulate that the type of flesh given will be her choice. He assumes she's counting on the myth healing factor to mitigate the loss, but that might be difficult if Baba Yaga asks for a vital organ.
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"This...may be acceptable," she says to Elle.
She turns to Loki. He's not off the hook.
"And what do you offer Baba Yaga? Will a mortal girl give her flesh while a god gives nothing?"
She expects it to be different than Elle's offering.
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So he's mentally prepared when she turns to him, his mind already racing. He could probably give a piece of himself like Elle, or some blood, but that means less now that she's already offered.
He puts on a hard smile and pulls a very particular candy out of his Lokispace. "Would you perhaps like to taste the essence of a god made into sugar? Crafted by a god of another realm with far greater power?" It's... less of a sacrifice, since he's offered it to other people before, but when he's shared it before, it was part of sharing his insecurities, as the candy personifies him by giving whoever eats it a taste of his hubris and inadequacy.
He hesitates a second before holding out both hands, candy in one, the other empty. "Or would you rather a spell?" He carefully crafts one in his empty hand. It's simple and he knows it well, as it's one of the first spells his mother taught him, how to write Asgardian runes in the air. He's prepared to lose the ability to use it forever, hoping that the sentimental value attached to it will be enough to counter its lack of utility.
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Loki is willing to give a greater sacrifice than she expected, but she doesn't let the surprise show on her face.
"Or perhaps you would prefer Jack's original test to be completed," she adds, but doubts the Baba Yaga will take that option. Loki has given her a much more valuable offer.
Since she's gotten all but the go-ahead for her offer, she looks around for a suitable blade. She imagines that Baba Yaga has something she uses to prepare for her meals.
cw: cannibalism
"I'll take the spell," she says. It has already been offered so she grabs it - and the memory, just like he thought.
After making the grabbing gesture, she holds a glowing light in her palm. There is the faintest image of a woman holding a young boy close and helping him trace his the runes in the air. She closes her palm and simply puts it into her pocket, like a useful odd and end to keep.
Loki will find the spell and the memory are gone. He'll remember it existed from times he's cast it but won't remember learning it.
As for Elle...
What neither of them know is about the oaths she's taken to the Guardians, magically reinforced. Oaths to not longer devour any flesh than that which has been offered to her - like Jack risking his own in failing at her little games.
And now Elle's offer.
But, care must be taken.
She holds out a blade to Elle, a cleaver flat on her palms.
"You offer your flesh willingly to me?" she verifies.
Might be best to be nail down the specifics. What. When. How many times it'll be taken.
cw: cannibalism, self-amputation, disassociation
Elle pulls off her coat and turns to Loki.
"Would you hold this? It was a gift." Dan made it for her. She doesn't want to get any blood on it.
She takes the blade from Baba Yaga and moves to an old wooden table near Jack.
Her mind is still. Each step she takes is methodical. She has to get this done as cleanly as possible. She cannot allow herself to frenzy.
Elle removes her belt, using the cleaver to cut off the end and places it between her molars. She cinches the belt as tightly as she can a few inches above her left elbow.
She doesn't allow herself to think as she brings the cleaver down.
Elle hears herself cry out in pain. The blade of the cleaver is embedded deep in the wooden surface. She spits the belt out of her mouth. There are imprints where her teeth nearly tore through the leather. Her head feels light, but the bleeding is sluggish. The tourniquet is doing its job.
She watches herself pick up the arm and turn to Baba Yaga.
"Remove Jack's bindings, then this is yours."
cw: dismemberment
He accepts the coat and folds it over one arm, keeping his face impassive while she takes the knife and readies herself. But he can't prevent the shock from showing when she cuts off the lower part of her arm. He had been expecting that she'd cut a smaller piece of flesh off. She's still standing and is coherent when she talks again, but he considers the tourniquet inadequate and starts recalling the battlefield healing magic he knows, ready to use it once they're all away.
Instinctively he moves between Elle and the witch. Not keeping them apart or preventing the handover of the- flesh, but ready to do so if Baba Yaga makes any aggressive move like she intends to claim more than what was offered. "Lower him to the ground before removing his bonds," he reiterates in a growl. "If he does not remain safe, then I will consider our bargain broken and my payment unlawfully taken."
1/
All he can do when the knife comes down is wince and turn his head away.
"Your bargain is accepted."
She waves a hand and the bindings around Jack loosen. He falls to the ground in a heap. His staff falls there with a clatter.
2/ cw: cannibalism still
"You shouldn't have done that. You shouldn't have -"
3/
4/
"I get to walk away with more than that," he insists. "You said, as part of our bargain, that I would walk away with the spell I asked for. Maybe I - I tripped up on the fine details but that was what was promised. Word for word. That I'd walk away with it."
He extends both hands out, one of them clutching his staff.
"Well, I'm walking away."
5/
And the conditions of failure were specifically that he'd go into her pot. Not that he wouldn't get the spell. He is walking away. And a deal is a deal.
Glowering, she nevertheless does what was asked, tracing her fingers in the air. Light springs from them writing in ancient designs from old dead languages, swirling around together with images that look like folk designs. They expand outward in a tapestry of light and color, growing and growing. Images of children in little houses appear, with the houses seeming to become encased in domes of glowing light made of intricate symbols.
The spell grows huge, filling the entire glen and when it is finished, she waves her hand sharply and it contracts down until it's a single glowing orb of shimmering colors, held in her hand. She tosses it to Jack.
"The bargain is met." She narrows her eyes. "But watch your step, Frost, for even if Baba Yaga doesn't claim your skin, the way you risk it like it's nothing more than a tattered old babushka means another surely will."
6/6
"We need to get you to the Infirmary at the Pole. Do you have any snowglobes? She broke mine."
cw: disassociation, major injury
"Thank you, Baba Yaga," she bows her head in respect and turns to Loki. Jack's attempt to support her is tolerated (in that she doesn't physically push him away), but she won't lean any of her weight on him.
"We have to walk out of here before we use a snow globe."
Elle starts moving back the way they came, out of the Baba Yaga's clearing. Her shirt and pants are ruined, she notes absently. She hopes she didn't get any blood in her hair. She should've put it up.
Elle barely hears any words spoken to or around her. She can't stop moving until they're safe. She can't stop moving until they're safe.
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He turns and nods to Elle. "Agreed." He also holds out a hand towards her back for support, and as shepherding. He wants to set as quick a pace as possible. "As soon as we are outside of her immediate territory."
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"Jack, when we get back you should go straight back to the town. Loki will catch up after I'm settled. We'll talk about all this later."
One foot in front of the other.
"And don't-- I'll tell people what happened afterward. Don't distract them right now."
She has to figure out how, exactly, she's going to tell them. Stacia will probably get it, but everyone else? She's not sure.
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When they get far enough away, they use the snowglobe.
The second they're back at the Pole, the yetis see the state Elle's in, stop their toymaking, and leap into action. Some usher the Elves away from the grim sight. Others rush in to help Elle, also supporting her.
"Help her to the infirmary. Elle, the arm will grow back. They'll help stop the bleeding until it starts to heal and regrow."
Just so she's not left sitting there thinking it's gone forever.
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She'll probably feel bad about traumatizing the elves later. When she starts feeling things again.
The yetis guide her to the infirmary. She takes a seat on a bed. She. could patch herself up, but everyone's looking panicked enough that it's probably best to let them help. She looks up at Loki. His black clothing is harsh against the white of the room, but the green really does suit him and the gold accents are striking. They bring out his eyes.
"Honestly? That could've gone a lot worse."
Elle's tone is light. She has the thought that she should probably eat something after this. She doesn't want her blood sugar to get low.
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He had started preparing the battlefield medical spells he knew to stop bleeding, ready to use them once they had a moment to rest. Which turned out to be unnecessary, as the first such moment was after the arrival at the pole, and the yetis had the situation well in hand. Not knowing if his magic could interfere with their myth healing (which could regrow limbs?), he allowed them to take the lead.
He gives a small hard smile and laugh at her remark. "Indeed. I would not have predicted that we would leave with the spell Frost had sought. I would have considered simply recovering him without making an enemy of her to be a victory."
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"Jack needs to get his shit together. Or at least, recognize that he doesn't and take advantage of the resources at his disposal. He got lucky, this time, that we were able to get him out safely."
A yeti starts working on Elle's arm. "Thank you," she mutters, then hisses as he starts treating it. She refocuses on Loki.
"Your spell, are you going to be able to get that back?" hers may be more immediately gruesome, but only one of them made a permanent sacrifice.
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There's the sound of water splashing in a basin as he makes sure none is on his hands, the grobblerumble of the yetis that seem to be calls of heads up as they toss a fresh hoodie along until it's near Jack, and then Jack flies by the door of the infirmary struggling with a fresh and as-of-yet-unfrosted blue hoodie. It's on backwards.
"Okay, guys, we practiced this! Can you please set me up so it's not backwards next time?"
He's not yelling or using a harsh tone but sounds very stressed over even just the smallest delay in timing.
There are groobaboogles of apology because they were supposed to line it up so he could just fly into it, whoops. It hikes up a little as he tries to reorient it around and he's not being situationally aware of the door.
Jack has very few scars. The way he died and was revived meant he was reborn pretty much anew. Since everything heals, most Myths don't scar unless there's some kind of magical cause, or the idea of having the scar outweighs the idea of not having it.
But that is a massive, massive one on his back. While the initial cut looks like it was clean and made with something razor sharp, it looks excessively cursed. Black veins are spidering out from it and the skin around it is a mottled zombie-like grey. It's even glowing a tiny bit with a strange, dark energy, not visible through the thick fabric of his hoodies.
But then he gets the hoodie properly rearranged and flies off again. "Phil, give me the spell and a globe!"
And there's a quick vorp and he's gone.
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"Frost does not seem to fully understand that he not alone anymore. Nor that he is, as the only Guardian native to this world left free, he is the most valuable of us to the fight. It is vital that he stay safe, and he now has allies who are capable of taking the risks for him." He pinches the bridge of his nose. "I am uncertain of how to convince him. Possibly if we were to prevent him from attempting a mission alone and instead executing it ourselves. But that is not likely to increase his trust in us.
"I think what might be best-"
Loki cuts himself off at the shouting. At first just so he won't have to shout over the noise, but then he sees the scar on Jack's back. He glances at Elle, silently asking her if she sees it too.
Once Jack's gone, Loki sucks in a breath. "As I was saying. I think we had best try to rescue one or more of his comrades. He is more likely to trust and rely on them. They are also more likely to know if there are any other problems with him."
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"I'm going to kill him," she says. She immediately realizes she is surrounded by people who would take issue with that statement. "Not literally. I'm just worried. And a bit pissed, but I can't really afford to be pissed so let's just call it worried.
"Yeah, prioritizing getting the other big guys back is a good idea. I'm gonna talk to Jack, I think I know how to approach this. But... I mean, I don't think it's a good idea to tell people. Not yet, at least. He should have a chance to come out and say it on his own. As much as I'm sure Bunnymund would love to hear about this, that probably wouldn't be productive right now."
Hmmm, her mouth seems to be doing the talking before her brain processes her own thoughts. That doesn't bode well in the "Elle Stages of Coping".
"Also, I don't have much of a filter right now so I'm declaring that anything I say during this time as private under the 'trauma-bonding' clause."
Elle holds up her right hand, to the grumbling disapproval of the yeti currently working to keep her from bleeding out, and sticks out her pinky.
"This is a binding contract."
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Loki looks at her outstretched pinky with some confusion before one corner of his mouth quirks up. "A rather dangerous admission to a god of mischief. I think I would be obligated to take advantage of the situation, if I did not also have a pressing need to make our enemies bleed to match your wound tenfold." He holds out his own pinky. "I will keep whatever you saw confidential."
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Elle hooks her pinky around Loki's, moves it up and down like a handshake, and lets go.
The yeti working on her has started stitching her arm up. Elle breathes in and out very deliberately. It's not the worst pain she's ever experienced, but it's far from comfortable. She really wishes painkillers worked on her.
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