It's Tough to Be a God Caller (RWBY/Pathfinder Quest)

As Blake tries to talk the White Fang down you can already tell that it isn't going to work. The human is too confident despite a blade at his throat and the thugs seem unnerved by Blake. Plus there's more of the big flying things coming in. This is going to get violent fast.

The key to this is the human, who's utterly unphased by Blake holding a blade to his neck. Whether the White Fang are bandits or a cult the minions probably won't know anything, while he's going to know where the flying things are headed to and which of the boxes they're here to steal.

"Then my cloak turns red." You say, watching the man set off a wand hidden in his cane to force Blake away from him.

You unclasp your cloak and tap the scarf patch on your bag, causing it to glow white as it slowly dissolves into motes of light. At the same time a much dimmer glow appears around your torso, getting brighter as your cloak fades. At the same time you pull your spear from the satchel, shrugging the strap off of your shoulder and letting the bag drop to the ground. As your breastplate solidifies you pluck your wand from your belt, twirling it confidently as you flex your wings, free from the confines of the cloak.

You run and dive at the man, spreading your wings to glide, perfectly positioned to track him through the smoke.

"Here kitty, kitty kitty..." He calls mockingly, seconds before your boots slam into his back.

"Caw, caw, pretty boy." You say in the same tone, quick flicks of your wand sending sharp wisps of shadowy smoke flying at him.

He rolls and recovers admirably quickly, bringing up his cane to try and blast you. It's hollow? You cut the burning projectiles from the air, the resulting explosions failing to sear your skin.

"You're a bit of a birdbrained little chick, aren't you?" He asks. You know he's expecting the goons moving to surround you to catch you off guard, but you won't be their concern for long. You don't need to look to see them after all.

A low growl is all the warning they get as Eltira pounces, the unfortunate goon chosen as her target immediately collapsing under her weight. Odd that she isn't using her claws or fangs to finish him in a single blow.

'Try not to kill them.' Eltira whispers through your connection.

'They're bandits or thieves.' You point out, turning to face the members of the White Fang that charged you instead of helping their comrades. Cowards one and all, hidden behind masks and hoods.

'Here, we don't have the right.'

A rushed incantation and an elegant flourish with your wand catches most of them in a sticky net of shadows, leaving only three to threaten you with their blades. A low sweep with your spear knocks the first's feet out from beneath him, followed by a rising slash that intercepts the second's sloppy attack and sends his sword flying. He's wide open for you to club him with your wand, sending him plummeting to the ground. The last's blade scrapes along your armour as your turn, your wing battering him and pushing him back. A quick smack with the flat of your blade and a kick to the fallen thug removes them both from the battle. The only one left paying you any attention is pointing a long metal tube at you - is that one of the Dongun rifles?

The sound of an explosion and the impact of a giant's sledgehammer on your breastplate is your answer, driving the breath from your lungs and driving you to your knees. At least a dozen more ricochet off of your armour before Eltira bites into the thug's hand and weapon, silencing the din and giving you space to recover.

It takes you a moment to stand and get your breath back, enough time to turn and see the human seemingly has Sun at his mercy. Blake is taking the threat of his explosive cane seriously, so you need to intervene now.

"Enough of this." You snarl in Hallit, dragging your wand up to point at his eyes and twisting. A wisp of darkness flies from the tip, thickening and twisting as it wraps around his eyes and turns solid.

"Cute. So did the horny girl decide it was lights out or are there more of you brats running around?"

"Do either of you have any rope?" You walk over as if you hadn't been cringing on the ground seconds before.

"I can improvise." Sun says as he pulls off his shirt.

"How did you get the White Fang to work with you? What do you need all this Dust for?" Blake demands of him, sounding much surer than she looks with how she hesitates to put her blade near him.

"I don't need the Dust for anything Kitty. But their boss has explosive plans that need a little more power than the tricks you kids rely on." He says.

An oddly wet sound draws your eye towards the water and a patch of darkness you can't see through. Stepping forth from the shadows is a surprisingly familiar figure in an incongruous black suit with a pale red tie that matches his eye and a distinct lack of buttons.

"In fact-"

"What a surprise. This candle of a thief, snuffed out the moment he encountered meaningful resistance. Again. I'm beginning to think your heart isn't in this." Your brother cuts off the human with an the snobby accent of a noble-born Chelaxian. His eyes flick to you and he shows far too many teeth when he smiles. "Hello sister. You're much earlier than I expected. But with a companion like that, competency is to be expected." He says, gesturing to Eltira despite her hiding in the shadows and creeping towards him.

"Jerek? What happened to you?" You ask, bewildered by his new look. Sure it's been four year, but what happened to his coat? His voice? He hasn't grown an inch but he's figured out style?

"Nothing too important. What matters is what's going to happen to your friend." He says cheerfully. A bone white rod appears in his hand and points at Blake, a sickening black ray lancing towards her with a sucking sound. Void energy, focused enough to snuff out an orc.

You throw yourself in front of the ray before you can think, twirling your wand to gather and focus your Vital energy in response. It isn't enough. For a moment you stand with both feet in a grave, all strength draining from your limbs.

"Iomedaeans. So very predictable." Jerek gloats as everything goes black.

--

Eltira snarls as she resists the drain from Telka, their bond threatening to betray them right after the halfling betrayed her. Allowing it to take her would have kept Telka healthier, but not conscious. An unacceptable outcome.

She wills the shadows to swallow her and she draws strength from them, stepping out in front of Telka in her greater form. The battle wasn't going well. Monkey boy had collapsed and Blake was barely standing over him and Telka, her sword raised protectively as she fights off exhaustion. Jerek was thankfully unhindered, somehow fending off a girl with bright orange hair and an array of floating swords with a rusty straight razor and a filcher's fork. The girl isn't one of Blake's friends that she'd seen earlier, but the third was meant to be a redhead.

Convenient, but not good enough. No warning growl for this treacherous swine, no chance of him walking away. A broken spine was a fair price for his deed, one that Telka can fix once he's forgiven. She lunges forwards, but the whelp somehow sees her coming. Even with the girl's dozen blades she isn't fast enough to close and crush him. Not without wearing him down a little first.

"Get up Torchwick. Rats like you are meant to be good at opportune escapes." He complains.

"Not as fun when you have to do something, is it Tiny?" The human responds. He stands with surprising ease despite the blindfold, the shreds of a shirt falling to the ground.

"Neither of you are walking away from this." Eltira vows.

"Please. You might not be what I expected of my sister, but I know your weakness." Jerek says with a grin.

Eltira snarls and throws herself at him, letting his blade sink into her for a chance to pin him to the ground. The orange haired has backed off, her swords glowing and circling her as she takes aim.

"Let me guess. Telka."

"No. Light." Jerek grins as he flings his fork into the air, not caring about the deep gashes in his arm. A bright beam lances from the girl's weapons, carving apart one of the flying contraptions before striking the fork, scattering as if it were a prism and burning Eltira's essence. And Telka's skin.

This time Eltira lets go, knowing her partner will need the power sustaining her physical presence. She'll have to pray that the local spirits are kind.

--

You awaken with a gasp, an odd burn searing across your thigh. The human, he's getting away. He's key to all of this. Through blurry eyes you focus on him, manage to entangle your fingers and force the incantation to come out clear.

Runes burn on your arms and in your eyes as you focus, your stomach roiling as something more than you, more than Eltira responds to your need.

The web that forms coats the human head to toe, gluing his boots to the ground and making him fall. His white clothing is grey with shadowsilk and you wouldn't be shocked if his lips are glued shut. The area around him is covered in webbing, barely a square inch clean.

"Truly?" You hear Jerek ask, somehow standing just outside the webbing you created. "Fine. Enjoy your victory sister. It won't last."

Another oddly wet teleportation sound and he's gone, as you try and stand through force of will.

"Are you okay?" Blake ask,bending down to look at you.

"I've had worse. No holes in me, and no one died." You say, failing to smile.

"I don't know what happened, but Eltira. She's"

"Discorporated. I'll resummon her later. So long as I'm fine she'll be fine." That's your sacred duty. To survive and make sure someone else can summon Eltira.

"Blake!" A red haired girl throws herself at Blake, giving her a relieved hug. You briefly lock eyes with a ginger girl and nod in thanks. It's over.

--

With nowhere else to go you follow Blake and her friends back to school. You're more than a little out of it when the teachers address you, but soon find yourself awake with proper vigour.

What does Blake ask you about in the morning?
[ ] Your Brother
[ ] Yur History
[ ] Your Magic

--

Wee, the hottest days of the Summer happened in March. Makes no sense but whatever. Hopefully the fight transitioned well from my head to the page.

I've added the wayfinders and aeon stones to your character sheet.

It's one thing to be exhausted physically. It's another to be exhausted in your... soul? No, that isn't right. You've felt the sickly-sweet pain of a demon striking at your spiritual essence plenty of times and this wasn't that. It's not the stabbing pain of a migraine either. You're not just hurt, you're dimmed. Your fight or flight instinct was diminished by what Jerek did, the fury and anguish you should have felt didn't come. Even worse, you just keep getting sleepier and can't manage to scrounge up any zeal to keep yourself awake.

A pity that you only managed to grasp the differences between the essences of magic and how they affect you after direct experience. Maybe if you'd been one of the idiots that almost died to a succubus. You'd fallen afoul of a nabasu before, but this is different. Like there's a ghoul standing over your grave, licking its lips at the upcoming feast.

You try to pay attention to what's happening but wind up reliant on Sun to stay standing. At least he smells nice. The cute girl with the deadly swords vanishes, replaced by a girl even shorter than you and twice as adorable. You're not sure they noticed sword girl's departure,not with the town guard showing up. Too late to do anything, as is typical, but astonishingly willing to listen.

The stars are so dim here. And the moon looks weird.

At some point two others show up. A tall bright blonde and a slim white haired girl with a spectacular scar on her eye. You're sure she catches you staring, but at least you aren't drooling. Well, not until you fall asleep at least.

--

"And who is this meant to be?"
"She got shot by her brother. A black Dust bullet."
"Who does she think she's fooling with those horns?"
"She didn't lie to me."

--

Come morning and you awaken in an obscenely soft bed. A pile of fluffy pillows, a massive warm blanket, and an absurdly spacious room even with three other beds in it. Even if you were splitting the cost four ways you can't imagine having the coin to stay in a room like this.

It takes you a while to remember what happened yesterday. Long enough that you roll out of bed and manage to crawl over to your satchel, pulling flask after flask from it, looking for the right one. Blessed Barleybrew from the Dubrov Knoll Monastery? Best saved for a dire need. An empty elixir vial? When did you even get that? It does explain the tart taste in your mouth though. Bodill's Stout, perfect.

The Storval Plateau, the teleportation circle, the city, Blake and Sun, the fight, Jerek...

Maybe you shouldn't start today off with a drink.

The room provides a good distraction at least. Good curtains, a massive wardrobe as a second room, another room with tiles, a sink and a weird ceramic seat with water inside and a bunch of switches linked to lights on the ceiling.

More importantly, all your things are here. There's a few dents in your breastplate, but nothing that won't buff out with a bit of work.

A knock at the door you didn't look behind is Blake, looking a lot happier than yesterday.

"Did you and your friends work things out?"

"Yeah, we're better now. How are you holding up?"

"I'm fine. Potions fix everything."

"You sure? Your brother shot you." Blake's eyes stray down to your chest and it stings to realise she's looking for a wound.

"Shot? He chanted some sort of ray at me, maybe even a curse. But I'm fine now." You say, pulling the neck of your shirt down so she can see that you didn't even get a new scar from the spell.

"You came all to Vale to find your brother and he shot you."

"Yeah. I'm still trying to figure that out." You admit, turning and walking over to the window. "I haven't seen him in five years, haven't sent him a letter in four. He can't have known if I was alive when he sent that letter, but he expected me to show up. And then he blasts me hard enough that I definitely would have died before I bonded with Eltira. It doesn't make any sense for Jerek to do that, unless he's not Jerek anymore."

"How could that happen?"

"Jerek's a changeling. If he felt the Call and his mother decided to start sending him visions of the future, and he responded to that at all, it could have warped him. But that should come with physical changes like claws as well, which I didn't see. So he might be under a mind control spell like Dominate or Charm and think that attacking me is perfectly normal. Except that wouldn't change his accent. And while there's a chance he moved out to Cheliax and picked up a posh accent it's pretty unlikely. So maybe it isn't actually him. Someone used an illusion or polymorph spell to pretend to be him and screwed up. Except he recognised me, and why would someone remember him mentioning me only to get his accent wrong?"

"Wait..."

"Finally we have possession. A demon or a ghost or something took over his body and is up to something vile. Maybe his mother bound a spirit to him, maybe that stone circle was haunted. Either way it must have happened after he sent the letter." This is normally when you'd go ask Natty for advice, but Eltira is going to have to suffice.

"What are you talking about? Mag-"

It only takes a few seconds of focus to call Eltira to you. You point stiffly at your shadow with one hand, the dark indigo summoning circle spinning into existence and freezing in place, the meaningless runes quivering as you call to her in Hallit. She steps out of the shadows with four glowing eyes, shrinking as your spell circle fades, the same knotted sigil glowing on her chest and your shirt.

"Are we hunting your treacherous brother?" She asks.

"Maybe. I don't know if that was him."

"Can we stop for a minute?" Blake interrupts.

You and Eltira look at her and wait for her to speak.

"Your brother shot you and your first assumption is that he's being magically mind controlled?" She asks incredulously.

"We parted on good terms and Jerek is a coward. He'd rather run away than start a fight." You answer, not wanting to think about the alternative.

"And you think magic is more likely than him changing over the last five years?"

"Sure. It only took me six months to learn what I know, and I'm not exactly a genius." You say, wondering why Eltira is staring as if you're the idiot. "What?"

"Did you look up at any point last night? See anything unusual, child?"

"The stars are dim and the moon is weird, but we're on Arcadia."

"The moon doesn't break because you move a few thousand miles."

"The moon broke back in Earthfall when it hit the Starstone. We're just seeing it from a different angle now." You insist.

"I have journeyed to the Valashmai Jungle in the southern part of Tian Xia. The moon doesn't 'change angle', it just spins a little."

"What are you two talking about?" Blake interrupts.

"Please tell Telka what the name of this planet is." Eltira says smugly.

"Remnant." Blake answers, sounding utterly lost.

"We're not on Golarion?" You ask.

"What's Golarion?" Blake answers.

"It means cage child. It is another world, full of life and magic. Unlike this one, where magic is but a passing dream." Eltira explains.

"What does that mean?"

"Magic isn't real. It only exists in stories and the imagination of children, like Santa." Blake says.

"Seriously?" You ask, surprised anyone can say something so foolish. "Magic is everywhere. Animals use it, demons are made of it, you've seen me cast spells. Eltira is talking because she's magical!"

"You have a very impressive semblance but one talking cat doesn't mean magic is real. Summoning is a known phenomenon, and everything else you did could have been Dust." Blake says resolutely.

"Magic is fundamental. It's in everything. Not believing in it is like not believing in the gods or gravity." You say, struggling to understand how Blake can say something like that.

"Maybe I don't believe in the gods." Blake says quietly.

"Eltira is a god. Small g yes, but still a god." You say, holding your hand up to hold off any more interruptions. "And I'm not going to be mad if you don't believe that, not a lot of people understand how that could be any more. But look at me. I'm in my underthings and I don't have any fairy dust up my sleeve. I swear to you that I'm telling the truth."

You pause and interweave your fingers, gripping the shadows created and drawing them together. Wisps of shadow become a flowing ribbon around your fingers as you pull them apart, willing it to take shape. This needs to be done properly.

"I swear that this is magic. That I have always known people who can cast spells, that it was magic that teleported me here yesterday and that I haven't lied to you. This I swear by the Blade of the Inheritor, and if I lie then let me be known as a faithless cur and devoured by lions."

The shadows dance around each other and fuse into a longsword, the sunburst around it hilt glowing like the sun. Not remotely what you were trying to do, but a good omen.

Blake watches it happen, looking stunned.

"You're telling the truth." She says quietly. "How do I know that you're telling the truth?"

"It is a blessing of the goddess Iomedae." Eltira says. That fight the urge to pray in thanks and nod, your mouth suddenly dry.

"Are you okay?" You ask.

"Just give me a moment." Blake asks. You nod and turn back to Eltira.

"I'm hoping Jerek was enchanted or possessed." You say, returning to the most pressing issue.

"It's possible. Something kept me from sinking my fangs into him, and she shadows around him seemed strange." She says. "But it's also possible you don't know your brother as well as you thought."

You fall silent as you consider that. Jerek was three years older than you, had grown up beside you. Neither of you remember being found by the Starstone Brewers, a small fact that made you different from the others Ma adopted. A changeling and a tiefling, both facing suspicion and hate from the witch-hunters and the foolish.

You didn't take him leaving Kenabres the day after Tamarie was buried well, but you were a child. Surely he hasn't spent five years nursing a grudge over that... Right? The things you said.

Some things can't be unsaid.

No, he reached out to you first. It was only three letters in a year and a half, but it's not like there's a cheap, reliable courier service between Varisia and Kenabres. And even if he is holding a grudge, he asked for your help.

He's the only brother you have left. The others are all dead. So long as there's a chance he needs your help, you will be there. No matter how he feels.

"No, Jerek is possessed or controlled. So what could possess him?" You decide.

"I believe you are the expert on demons. Start there." Eltira says.

"It's a big list. Invidiaks and vermleks both do it by their nature - invidiaks become your shadow then you while vermleks kill you and wear your skin as a suit. At least half a dozen others naturally wield domination magic, including lilitu, succubi and seraptis demons. But outside of them, I have nothing but ghosts."

"Most spirits can learn to possess mortals. And there are doubtless other outsiders capable of it." Eltira says.

"A Chill could do it." Blake volunteers. "They're rare and people say they make their victims look like Grimm, but no one really knows for sure."

You nod, glad there's more options.

"A chill. I'll look them up when I get a chance." You decide. "Spirits that make people look like grim reapers."

For some reason that makes Blake snort.

"I think I believe you." She says after a moment.

"Great. I'm on another planet where people don't believe in magic and something made my brother try to kill me. But at least the cute cat girl doesn't think I'm crazy." You say with a grin. "Wait, do you know how to teleport to another planet?"

"No." Elitra says.

"Then I'm trapped on another planet." You say, shrugging it off as pointless after a moment. Fortunately that's when your stomach made itself known.

--

Breakfast exposes you to the students of Beacon and lets you properly meet Blake's team. What do you find yourself doing afterwards, when the students have class?

[ ] Exploring with Eltira
Your god is always prone to wandering, but there's a rare purpose and urgency to her today. Go with her and find out what's up.
[ ] Sudden Sword Girl
When seeking out the training fields of this school you run into the other girl that was there last night, the one who fought Jerek.
[ ] Sun's Surprise
Sun apparently doesn't go to school here for a few days yet and offers to show you around. Get familiar with the school and with Remnant.

--

Probably could have exposited for another 2000 words but it would have been way too much. Ask any questions you want, I'll answer.