Cecylene
Eternal Idea Engine
- Location
- Massachusetts
- Pronouns
- He/They
All the years they've stolen, all the women they've made suffer, returned and turned back onto them.
Shining Wyrm & The Blood Immaculate [Original Fantasy/Dragon Fiction]
- Thread starter Nighzmarquls
- Start date
- Original
- Location
- PA
Hunh. I think I get it.
If the Captain had owned up to conspiracy then Jewel would accept that.
If he had fought to the end to protect the Countess he may have also proved himself righteous.
But this…
He kills the Countess he's sworn to, and threw the men he had do the actual deed under the bus, metaphorically.
He was unwilling to speak Truth to Power until it hit him, personally.
Harsh yes, but in lieu of him being so untrustworthy…
I don't blame Jewel for firing him on top of the cursed into maidenhood for who knows how long…
If the Captain had owned up to conspiracy then Jewel would accept that.
If he had fought to the end to protect the Countess he may have also proved himself righteous.
But this…
He kills the Countess he's sworn to, and threw the men he had do the actual deed under the bus, metaphorically.
He was unwilling to speak Truth to Power until it hit him, personally.
Harsh yes, but in lieu of him being so untrustworthy…
I don't blame Jewel for firing him on top of the cursed into maidenhood for who knows how long…
Wow, even more nuance to that curse than I thought. The lines about honor were not just there so that the lords and ladies beneath her might misunderstand, but also for those whose morals demand they follow orders. In addition, this judgement of making the guards just as vulnerable as their victims is more poetic a justice than I could hve imgined. Jewel really did do it as gently and neatly as Tsulogothulan said.
As for their appearence, I am 90% sure that it is something akin to medieval depictions of baby Jesus. A disquiting mixture of child like proportions and adult features. Even if their bodies are completely changed physically to match apropriately, the guards' adult mannerisms are liable to be off.
As for their appearence, I am 90% sure that it is something akin to medieval depictions of baby Jesus. A disquiting mixture of child like proportions and adult features. Even if their bodies are completely changed physically to match apropriately, the guards' adult mannerisms are liable to be off.
Summary of What We Learned: Book 1 Through to Part 8
Work in progress. More chapters will (hopefully) be added, but this is enough that I feel like it's finally worth posting.
-
- 1.1−1.ii
- 2.1−2.i
- 3.1−3.i
- 4.1−4.i
- 5.1−5.iii
- 6.1−6.ii
- 7.1−7.iii
- 8.1−8.ii
- 9.1−9.ii
- 10.1−10.ii
- 11.1−11.ii
- 12.1−12.ii
-
[ACCORDION]
[/ACCORDION] -
- ×.1−×.i
Last edited:
8.5
Nighzmarquls
The Endless Hunger
- Location
- United States
8.5
Adelyne always had a lot of time to think, eventually.
Before it was when she was slipping through the crowd looking for a good mark, or sitting on the corner to rest her legs and catch her breath after escaping her less skilled snatches.
Or when no one could offer more than a rind of bread to gnaw and watery beer to drink and she was trying to eat slowly enough she could pretend to be full.
Lately she had time to think while she failed to measure up in the tasks set by her lady.
So while trying to somehow get the floors of Kaeketeh free of dust and scraps Adelyne put her mind to thinking.
Her grandpa would say she should save some of her thoughts for when it actually mattered instead of wasting it all after the fact.
But Adelyne rarely remembered in the moment.
She acted and then thought.
In the feasting hall she had laughed.
Laughed because it was oh so silly. Then kept laughing because her thoughts had begun to creep into the space beyond the surprise. Once those terrible thoughts slipped in she had to laugh because she couldn't afford to start screaming. Her lady, her savior, the beast and tyrant and wyrm that owned her life in far too many ways was just so absolutely absurd and terrifying.
Jewel had thought those things were what children looked like!
The Wyrm had the power to curse (deservedly) almost a thousand men! With a reach that eventually had touched the entire city! And such a terrible curse it was too! Something fit for dark tales under starlight.
Adelyne's Lady had changed them! By the stories and whispers she knew of regarding the powers of sorcery she could have made the men into pigs, or rats, or crawling worms!
Could have slain them all dead where they stood or made them into scum in the river!
Stolen their shadows so that the touch of daylight burnt them into nothing!
Sorcery as Adalyne understood it could do most anything.
But Jewel was a kind and absurdly fair lady and so had tried to turn them into children! The power of it was horrifying but even worse was the absurdity of how badly her lady Wyrm had failed to do as intended!
The creatures she had wrought of the old countess' men were maybe the right size for children.
From a distance and the back you could maybe mistake them as children. But up close their limbs were too long despite the size, the heads shaped not quite right. And most importantly of all were the faces.
From the front there was no mistaking the curse changed for a human child.
Adelyne had seen a dozen of the accursed men. Each had different and distinct features but not one of them had a face any but the blind could mistake for a child!
Their faces did not even look human!
The shapes were all subtly wrong! their eyes far too large and tilted slightly, lashes too thick, Their mouths too small. And yet even with that it did not end. Jewel had declared that these were what she thought children looked like?!
But the faces these things wore while perhaps pretty or even adorable in an uncanny and disquieting way were definitely not children! It did not help that most of them were also scowling with expressions too old for youth, with faces that wrinkled and scrunched far more than anyone Adelyne had ever seen should be able to.
Not even the fattest lord in middle town could furrow a brow that much!
Such smooth skin as these things had was not supposed to be able to curdle up like a twisted oaken knot in anger!
And when one sneered?!
Noses should not be able to move like that! Nostrils flaring so wide.
Their faces squeezed and shifted in ways that Adelyne found equal parts fascinating and disturbing.
She had not seen one of them smile yet but every expression they made was a disorienting motion across their faces and she suspected if one ever did it would be terrifying.
But hopefully her lady's declaration would mean Adelyne never had too.
It had been a dismissal and release in word, but the tone spoke of exile. No one could mistake one as anything but what they were either. They were visibly and undeniably touched by sorcery.
Every one of them looked like a foreigner in their own homeland!
And word was already spreading through the staff just who exactly the strange tiny figures (most of them now in the seeming form of girls) once were.
Their distinct look would now mark out the old Countess' man!
Even some that had retired were changed if the gossip was right!
Everyone in Kaeketeh with a score to settle would know just who to go after. It was such a warm thought it brought a smile to her lips despite the mystery of why the dust would not go where she pushed it!
Adelyne stopped in her mostly wasted effort to sweep.
Her thinking was catching up to her.
Staring into the hall at the other staff that mostly ignored her and considering just how many fearful looks once watched the streets of Kaeketeh. How many friends cowered at the looming figures in those terrible colors. What would happen when they realized that those strange, foreign looks meant a former wearer of that hated armor?
Oh...
Oh, fortune's stars!
Oh, that was going to be bad!
So fortune damned stars in an overflowing shitpit bad!
Adelyne felt a twinge to run to tell Jewel, but the damage was already done. Word would already be making its way out, and for all the wroth her lady showed Adelyne had learned one thing.
Despite having cursed the awful men with warped bodies and very distinct faces Jewel did not in fact want the awful things Kaeketeh was possibly already doing to them to happen. In fact the wyrm would certainly be hurt and possibly even furious at those that tried to settle old scores.
No matter how deserved.
What would an upset Jewel do to Kaeketeh?
Adelyne was already running before that thought finished blooming. She shouted to one of the Valasect footmen she recognized as she passed. Something convincing she hoped, but honestly that was less important than the vital need of getting out on the streets.
She needed to meet with her Grandfather!
He would know how to get the word out!
The cursed former guards were not to be harmed!
Run out of town?
Sure.
But not hurt!
She just had to find him on the street before someone got too high in their new standing in the world and decided to do something monumentally stupid. Did something that was unignorable and drew down the wrath of a dragon on the entire city.
Adelyne thought the shithead guards deserved worse than they got for working for the countess.
But that didn't matter! Her Lady had declared they had paid their due!
If Jewel couldn't even tell how badly she had failed to turn them into children, what would she do in trying to bring justice to one of Adelyne's bone headed peers on the street?!
And the Lady Jewel had not just cursed one guard or a few!
The Shining Wyrm of Viznove cursed all of them!
Adelyne's over shod feet slapped hard against the cobbles of the courtyard.
The next curse uttered for the countess' justice might sweep the entire city!
Not a gate or shouting voice could stop the daughter of Kaeketeh in her haste to save her home!
She was through the wall fort and its bridges before she even knew it.
Now Adelyne just had to get past midtown. Without any but private guards it should be easy.
Grandpa Ginter would be by the docks eating some smoked fish for a late lunch, or maybe drinking by the gate this time of day.
She just had to run clear across the city and somehow beat the speed of stupidity and gossip.
Adelyne was running fast before, but now she fled so hard her lungs burned and her toes smarted.
This was going to end so fortune damned badly!
But maybe she could stop the worst of it?
- Location
- PA
Ooooh.
Right. Fairy-tale though the curse might have been intended…
Well…
Hrrrm.
That actually makes me wonder grimly how the curse might react…
As for the faces…
…
That…Almost sounds like they have anime faces. In a realistic setting.
Hunh. That feels appropriate given Jewel's age, but I imagine if I were to show her a drawing of what I meant she would be mortified at having gotten it that wrong.
Right. Fairy-tale though the curse might have been intended…
Well…
Hrrrm.
That actually makes me wonder grimly how the curse might react…
As for the faces…
…
That…Almost sounds like they have anime faces. In a realistic setting.
Hunh. That feels appropriate given Jewel's age, but I imagine if I were to show her a drawing of what I meant she would be mortified at having gotten it that wrong.
The now child guardsmen don't have scales or tails, are of the right size with fair skin, and most importantly smell the part, so really there can't be anything that off about them. Right? I don't think it's that she wouldn't notice them as any different than other children when side by side, but rather they are closer to her platonic ideal of what a child is. Emphasizing the features that distinguish children from adults in her understanding of them in some places, and their similarities in others. After all, what is a child, and what is an adult are things entirely learned for her. Without any humans informing her of the uncanny vally by way of reaction, she couldn't know of its existance.
On to the rest of this chapter, the amount of chaos occurring even before any other noble arrives is staggering. Adelyne‥, her plan wouldn't even be that bad were it not for Ginter being several years dead now. I can already picture her left aimless after learning that, and then Jewel tracking her down to find her. Naturally this would be in the neighborhood of those most liable to do just what she is trying to stop. At the very least, Jewel does not seem to have another curse's worth of wyrmflame in her yet. I doubt anything that happens would warrent such anger from her to curse those who wish to cause harm to the former guard anyways. Will there be mundane punishment? Not unlikely, but beating the already judged is probably not quite as bad as being complicit in turning citizens into abominations for reasons of personal interest above morals and duty.
On to the rest of this chapter, the amount of chaos occurring even before any other noble arrives is staggering. Adelyne‥, her plan wouldn't even be that bad were it not for Ginter being several years dead now. I can already picture her left aimless after learning that, and then Jewel tracking her down to find her. Naturally this would be in the neighborhood of those most liable to do just what she is trying to stop. At the very least, Jewel does not seem to have another curse's worth of wyrmflame in her yet. I doubt anything that happens would warrent such anger from her to curse those who wish to cause harm to the former guard anyways. Will there be mundane punishment? Not unlikely, but beating the already judged is probably not quite as bad as being complicit in turning citizens into abominations for reasons of personal interest above morals and duty.
From what I'm understanding, they got cursed into an realistic anime girl form.
How Wyrm of Jewel to think it's how children look.
How Wyrm of Jewel to think it's how children look.
8.6
Nighzmarquls
The Endless Hunger
- Location
- United States
8.6
Jewel Wanted to sigh as the first of her new vassals was recognized.
Really it was almost certain that Marcisław of Kliatbatrn would be no trouble, but having the preeminent lord of the knights and cavalry of Viznove take the knee and say the words promising service and allegiance took a huge weight from her still dampened flame.
It had been three days since that working and Jewel's flame still felt barely more than half what it was before.
She'd never had her inner fire take so long to recover from anything! Not even her first flight had been so exhausting.
Every meal she was ravenous, even when her middle felt like she was carrying three more eggs the hunger was more forestalled with a sense of bloating then fully satisfied.
But her flame was recovering!
The meals filling her body to bloating each day slimmed down by the next morning and her flame felt enriched and renewed although it was always by diminutive amounts for how much bread, stew and meat she took in.
Tsulogothulan found that curious and had muttered something about their own limits related to the nature of their domain and its waters.
Ah it was time.
Every vassal of Viznove had a token of their fealty and service.
Rochford's was Father's bow.
For Kliatbatrn it was a gauntlet of black iron and ivory.
It had been given to Jewel without ceremony after the welcoming feast for Marcisław and his party. All so Jewel could step forward as she was right now.
Ready to speak the words.
"I accept your fealty as your liege and Countess, to wield the lands of Kliatbatrn in my defense and the righteousness of my will. To be armored by my power and grace as this maile shall armor you."
Jewel slipped the gauntlet gently and smoothly onto the offered open hand of her Father's still long time friend. His skin hung looser on that hand then it had when Jewel saw him as the general of the Armies of Viznove.
Now he would likely be her General when it was needed.
"Rise as Lord Marcisław of Kliatbatrn. The Fist of Viznove and my Horse Lord Paramount."
And Kliatbatrn stood, his footmen and those of Rochford and Valasect making up for the loss of the entirety of the Kaeketeh guard.
The dissolution of House Bathory's forces in the city had been followed by the removal of all flags and signs of the countess herself.
Instead Rochford and Nádasdy now stood in equal standing in the banners and heraldry.
Jewel still had the banners of course, and all the tabards and other colored cloaks.
Some of the cloth would likely be sold to houses which shared enough colors with Bathory to not need to be redyed.
But the artful banners were bundled up while Paul sent birds to his sisters and the more distant relatives that might wish to claim the family's banners. There were apparently minor branches of the house Bathory that Jewel could earn ties of alliance and support from by relinquishing her place as heir to them.
Jewel found that rather heady and bit much considering how many things she had on her plate dealing with just her own Vassals!
But Paul thought it made good sense so she agreed.
One loyal vassal was acknowledged.
Jewel let the relief wash over her as she thought of those to follow.
The Countess' two surviving Gryphon Knights were going to be complicated.
Paul and Father both anticipated that there would be haggling on their status. And there was precedent for such mere knights to be elevated after good service in war to greater lords.
Such rewards had not been given at the closing of the last war despite both riders having survived and flown well in a battle that had claimed many of their peers and elders in the art of flight.
But for today there were cheers and the ceremonial banging of spear butts on the floor.
This evening there would be what Jewel had finally managed to wrangle into a more modestly seasoned feast to honor her first acknowledged Vassal.
Later a very similar ritual of acceptance would be performed with her Father. But Paul recommended waiting until either all the other vassals had taken the knee to Jewel as a final mark of her ascension past her Father, or as a way to put pressure on any more stubborn hold outs. When she bestowed the Rochford bow it would be claiming her place as his liege, no longer under his authority.
However for now the ceremony dictated Jewel's near every word and how she held herself.
"My Vassal, is there business or concerns you would bring to your liege and the seat of Viznove?"
And as was to be expected the lord Kliatbatrn replied.
"All is Well in Kliatbatrn in her fields and along her hills my Countess"
Any such requests were for discussions made the night before. Along with most of the actual arrangements and haggling that would be expected to settle the matter of responsibilities between liege and vassal.
But there had been little asked of Jewel for Kliatbatrn or its Lord. The trade route and ties between Kaeketeh and the northern barony upriver were so old and well established that by all accounts any succession which smoothly passed Kaeketeh from one ruler to another would also pass the vassal contract with hardly any effort.
Jewel released the poise of an officious countess at last.
"Well now that is settled, who's hungry for a mid day meal? I'm absolutely famished!"
And she was, the hunger was renewed as it had been every day.
The footmen relaxed, and as Jewel had insisted for all who attended in these ceremonies room was made at the tables for every one of them.
It was a small token, but Jewel wanted to distinguish herself from the distance that her predecessor had favored. Nevermind the obvious case that said distance from her men had possibly made it all the easier for them to murder and dismember her.
Food arrived, not the opulent and over sweet or seasoned fare of the overindulgent Bathory, but simple bread, meat and other good eating as Jewel enjoyed in Rochford.
A proper stew would have to wait until after Dariusz and his family made their way to Kaeketeh for the year. A necessity that pained Jewel terribly, but there was simply no way that she could afford to return to Valasect before the end of winter.
Simply the act of settling sufficient affairs would have strained that possibility.
But with the loss of all the Bathory Guard in the city to Jewel's curse and justice there were not enough men to ensure the peace!
Muriel, Bromthil and the Kliatbatrn Captain that Jewel still had not learned the name of were working with what members of their own troops had veterancy to organize a muster and training of interim guards.
Hopefully some of the more trustworthy vassals could be enticed to offer a similar effort to the rebuilding of the Kaeketeh footmen.
"As you command Countess."
Coin was of course also on offer and there were plenty of volunteers among able bodied men (and at Jewel's insistence women who could prove fit enough).
But eager, unbloodied and untrained foot would be worse than utter lawlessness according to her books and the advice of everyone Jewel trusted the council of. So Kaeketeh needed Jewel's presence to act as a stabilizing force until an administrator and competent guards could be trained and settled.
Trust had to be earned and order healed as the word of the former guard's betrayal spread.
Everyone took their seats as tables were moved and more chairs found to provide sufficient places for everyone.
Jewel desperately wanted to be rid of this piss and shit stinking city.
To leave was technically within her right. She was the Countess and final law of the land under only the distant decrees of the High King. But Jewel could not abandon Kaeketeh no matter how awful it stank! Not until her departure would no longer leave the poor people in ruin and chaos.
How long would it be before Jewel could sleep in her own bed and use her carefully carved baths again?
Hopefully not long.
Cecylene
Eternal Idea Engine
- Location
- Massachusetts
- Pronouns
- He/They
Some point of order, Tsugolothulan is the Weird of a particular swamp, and has command over swamp related magics.
Sewage itself is honestly more in line for Fizzbunches as the Weird of civilized place though being the Weird of Corners likely means he wouldn't be all that deft a hand at the design process.
A Weird of Seiges or Tunnels would likely be more capable at assisting.
Ah, so poor Jewel will never leave Kaeketeh
8.7
Nighzmarquls
The Endless Hunger
- Location
- United States
8.7
Havel was not having a good day.
To be honest it was not a good season either.
And considering where it started maybe he could even extend that probably the whole past year had been a subtle and particularly cruel act of the gods upon him.
Seemed about right for a fifth son of a Gong Farmer that had thought he'd gotten away from the stink.
He'd been lucky to earn a place among the guard's training boys! And when he properly earned a place in the countess' men two years ago? Well his Lenka's parents had finally agreed to their marriage after he got his proper coat and armor!
So he was not going to say that year was bad.
But this last one?
The training and hours were hard but the pay was good without needing to shovel shit and haul it down the street all night and you always had someone at your back. He even had the Countess on his side! He heard some of the lords treated their footmen poorly, but not the Countess. She was always smiling at Havel when she came to inspect the Captain's work or the times he had duty in the feasting hall.
But all of that had come crumbling down in an afternoon.
And it hadn't been when she died!
No, it came during the trial of the traitors!
"As the Countess of Viznove and Lady of Kaeketeh I pass Judgement on the traitor guards of House Bathory."
He had not even been in the feasting hall but he had felt those words rattle his bones as they poured out from the Keep. The words had rung out from him so terribly and all consuming it felt like his teeth would crack.
"On all who have turned their eyes from the evil and vile acts done before them."
And with the words memories had welled up within him, of the moments when he doubted if a particular girl was what his fellow guard claimed.
"On all who saw and knew betrayal of the oaths of nobility and fealty and did nothing."
Or when one of them joked how it would be a waste to not give one a taste of womanhood before they were gone forever into the dungeons for their crimes.
"On those whose hands took life they should have guarded."
He'd never even realized how many times he'd turned away in just two years. Of just how often a thief happened to be a woman or a girl. How often even those finer dressed might be taken on suspicion of unlicensed whoring.
"For every trespass against innocence, for every year stolen, for every drop of blood tainted."
The feeling of those memories seemed to burst open inside him. He'd seen women spot the guard and then in a panic go for blows which saw them taken away for assault of the countess' men doing their duty.
"I judge you guilty of all acts vile made under the shield of your complacency and cowardice."
Those words were when the pain struck, he'd fallen to it and so had Matej beside him. The sentence shook so fiercely from every bone that it burned and buzzed, and then the invisible fire of it moved outward. The world turned white and a roaring silence filled his ears.
But even in what should have been a senseless relief from pain the words roared through him.
"I declare your penance shall be to live and suffer every year stolen under your watch or by your hand."
And then he had finally lost all sense.
But he was Havel, fifth son of a filthy gong farmer. So of course he couldn't get the easy simple release of death after that.
After all, the punishment was to live!
To live the years that some star forsaken dragon had deemed he'd stolen simply because he didn't want to lose the best opportunity he'd ever dreamed of! Just because he wanted to be able to come home to his wife without smelling of shit as his father had!
So of course then it got worse!
First he woke up in the dungeons below the keep, where women who had been properly convicted were once taken.
He'd not fully realized what it was that happened, he'd just woken up surrounded by a bunch of inhuman girl-like things with eyes that shined in the dark and had immediately pissed himself thinking that they had thrown him to the wizard's monstrous 'patients'.
But when one of them cursed and recoiled and the others flinched back just like he'd seen in the barracks when a guard wet the bunk in a drunken stupor?
When he heard them mutter in familiar words if not voices?
When he felt himself as he patted down looking for injuries?
That was when Havel realized what the sorcery had wrought.
Live every year stolen.
He remembered the faces, he was sure he didn't know them so clearly before the curse.
But now every single face was clear in his mind.
Every feature.
His fingers touched his face, and it almost stung.
It was not any one face.
But that bit of nose?
That curve and crease of a lip?
The corner of an eye?
A brow?
A tooth?
It was all smoothed together.
But without even seeing it Havel knew the face he wore, the hands he flexed, the muscles and toes.
The soft skin and locks of hair.
He knew them the way he knew every single face now panicked and afraid and pleading to him back from his past which he had left to their fate.
So many faces.
Glances out of the corner of his eye as he turned to look at something else. Or when he started avoiding looking in the first place.
He'd been just about ready to actually sit in the dungeon and give up against the weight of those memories. The crushing certainty of them. But then their new countess declared justice served, their punishment given.
Havel and all the other cursed were now free to go.
Released in batches.
The Wyrm Countess sent them out on the bridge to middle Kaeketeh and her guard closed the gates of the wall fort behind them.
Quick as you please.
The banners were foreign now. The familiar colors Havel had worn with pride were stripped down.
The city felt different and somehow changed, conquered and overturned.
It hurt in his chest almost worse than that burning curse had!
So yes Havel was having a truly awful day!
But even in his shock he had it better than some.
Not all of the Countess' men even had a place to sleep other than the barracks! Only the captain and a few of the veterans and those like Havel with a wife or family actually had homes of their own!
But nevermind that!
Discharged, Punished, Cursed into flesh not their own and then left as a milling crowd of former men with nothing to their names for some but the infant shifts they wore and a pouch with a season's pay.
He'd been surprised their new Countess paid them. But then she was supposedly fair.
Fair?!
His brows pressed hard into each other and his lip found new and horribly familiar teeth rubbing against them as he snarled.
How did he know what those women's teeth felt like?!
Havel had no idea.
Curses and Sorcery!
At first he had just stood there. Trying to ignore the sounds of once men breaking into sobs.
Those that had not fallen to such a state as to openly weep had slack expressions and wide eyes. Most who did not wail had at least a shine of tears and trembling lips. Others mustered some honor to only have streams of incontinent cowardice pouring down their cheeks. The only thing Havel could do was maintain a stoic silence.
But he could feel how his brows clenched in grief, the hot water on his cheeks, the way his lips trembled. All of them were visibly brittle, barely standing in some cases. Huddled like chickens on the bridge.
Then a voice rose up, from the gate fortress. A Stranger's bark.
"The Lady said you're free! So be free ya filthy traitors! Git Out!"
The tone was familiar where the voice was not.
A captain had given them an order!
Before he even realized quite where he was going Havel was walking home.
Others also moved.
Somewhere along the way it ended up with only a few of their number falling in with him. A little knot moving in the old habits. The cobblestones were familiar under his naked feet, from childhood, from his wedding day.
He didn't know when he parted from the rest of the main crowd. He simply walked familiar streets.
Then before he knew it he was outside his house.
He'd bought it for Lenka and him when he'd made his rank as one of the countess' men.
Saved up apprentice pay for most of it!
Inside he could already see signs that Lenka had not been doing well. There was no sign of light or a fire!
There was no motion he could see through the windows.
Did she already know what happened to him?
Had she fled back to her parents?
One of his followers spoke up. Voice familiar and haunting for the way it reminded him of cries he was certain he had forgotten.
"Wait... this is... Havel? Is that you?"
His name, he almost wondered if those strangely familiar ears of his perked at that. He could feel his brows squirming up his skull in surprise.
He turned and saw a face that was the most astonished and yet also hopeful expression he had ever seen. He wondered if that was what his own expression was, the same slightly shocked look which was much like when you took a blow to the head.
His voice was not his own, it was their voices, bits of each of them all woven together.
Unique but not his own.
"Y-yeah... I'm I... Yeah I'm Havel."
The face smiled, but the eyes showed every single worry and concern. There were crinkles of disgust and also even a hint of a look of desire there. All mingled and blended together but plain as morning sun.
Those eyes practically shouted every single thought and feeling, screaming the truth across every feature of the poor cursed man before him.
"Aa-ah I'm- it's me. Matej."
Havel offered a smile, but it felt like there was a grimace in it too. His brows and lids and eyes also moved, there were tears threatening. He tried to think up a joke but suddenly the idea of trying to make light of this all collapsed and he let the grief of it just lay plain and true on his face.
He was not even a man anymore!
He was nearly bawling like an infant!
Havel's tone was brittle and felt thin. Like winter's first ice on the river. He tried to ignore how the tears were dragging in currents down his too round cheeks.
"We didn't talk much... You know where I live?"
Across from Havel a face that was as much a blend of haunting victims if different in the details collapsed into its own form of honest grief.
"Yah, Captain wanted us to know yer girl... In case..."
Havel felt a sting of memory, he was just starting to shake his head to try and banish the itching thought of it. The memory was interrupted, he saw a looming figure coming up the road to the left. Sauntering in a way that looked like trouble. The clothes were a worn dock worker cut.
The reek of fish and ale followed soon after. Coming up behind the dockman there were others. Not as clear from Havel's low vantage. But they looked like rough trouble for a footman.
For a moment everyone froze. But then a sneer took up the dock worker's face. The expression was a subtler thing, faint and almost stone faced compared to the open wariness that had overtaken the three faces of Havel's former comrades.
The voice was definitely a dock worker, but one smug on deep cups and new found strength.
"Well well! Fortunate stars favor the bold boys! We got a gaggle of our countess' freshly cut down and softened traitors just out here wandering their lonesome!"
That brought cruel laughs from the rest of the men.
Fear was plain on the faces in front of Havel, they didn't have any weapons or armor. A bag of silver each perhaps but offering a bribe seemed unlikely to work. None of them were even half the height and definitely no more than a quarter the weight of the slimmest and frailest of the men that were spreading out to surround them.
There were only four of them alone, small and still out of sorts in flesh not their own.
As Havel looked around the crowd was being joined by the curious and then the interested and equally cruel. But worse still he saw the other people a street down that witnessed what was going on.
He could see them and after a brief look of concern, recognition settled over them.
Some sneered just like the dockworker at that moment.
But many more flinched fearfully.
And they turned away.
Havel felt the tears briefly held back finally break free.
Feeling like it was his own old face turning away from him.
He could already see what came next.
Shivers overtook him.
He could not look away as the thugs closed in around them.
This was going to be it for him?
"You idiot fucks get away from those waifs!"
And then a screaming fury of a woman was practically flying between the thickening mass of burley men. Leaving some of them falling with pained groans and hands going between their legs in a way that made all four of the former men cringe in sympathy.
A goddess blessed apparition of anger and justice suddenly stood between Havel and for a moment he had hope.
Until he recognized that face.
The one that he had chased with Oldrich shy of a year ago. The face of the woman that had run from him and prostrated herself before the very countess wyrm that had cursed him and all of her predecessor's footmen.
He didn't even know her name but Havel knew that there was a certainty she would soon realize her mistake and leave the four of them to every awful thing he had ignored and looked past.
As soon as she realized who he was.
After the previous chapter I thought we wouldn't see what came of Adelyne's impulsive rushing off. Are the chapters still fully chronological, because if so that means she must have been running around the city for at least three days, by which point I expected someone would have found her. I suppose it shouldn't seem that strange, as everything has been nothing but a hectic chaos since Jewel arrived.
As for the former guard, that would explain why they just look wrong to everyone save Jewel. Posessing features from every one of their victims, there is no way that would end up strange due to the varience in age. Also, seeing one of the guards' perspectives on the judgement, it really clears up how deserving some of the more oassively complicit are, but also that the job really attracts people with decidedly different morals from Jewel. Not that her morals are bad, but rather there was no avoiding some amount of resentment even if she had the time and political ability to ake them under her wing. As gentle and kind as she may be, Jewel can't exactly help making enemies, both here and in the future.
Thinking about this chapter all together, hopefully Jewel realizes how much more helpful Adelyne can be to as an intermidiary between her and the populace of Kaeketeh rather than struggling to learn how to be a servant. It's either that or be forced to ask Fizzbunches for the same much needed guidence, and no one wants that except for maybe the cat himself.
As for the former guard, that would explain why they just look wrong to everyone save Jewel. Posessing features from every one of their victims, there is no way that would end up strange due to the varience in age. Also, seeing one of the guards' perspectives on the judgement, it really clears up how deserving some of the more oassively complicit are, but also that the job really attracts people with decidedly different morals from Jewel. Not that her morals are bad, but rather there was no avoiding some amount of resentment even if she had the time and political ability to ake them under her wing. As gentle and kind as she may be, Jewel can't exactly help making enemies, both here and in the future.
Thinking about this chapter all together, hopefully Jewel realizes how much more helpful Adelyne can be to as an intermidiary between her and the populace of Kaeketeh rather than struggling to learn how to be a servant. It's either that or be forced to ask Fizzbunches for the same much needed guidence, and no one wants that except for maybe the cat himself.
Note that jewel has already decreed that women should be considered the same as men for filling the now vacent positions in Kaeketeh's guard.
Last edited:
Mmm...I would argue, honestly, it would be closer to "justice" to let the crowd have them, but that could be my irritation at this Havel guy talking. I am unimpressed by your sniveling and your sobbing, Mr. Havel. I suspect the women you helped victimize would be even more unimpressed.
- Location
- PA
I'm of two minds.
Basically, yeah he was a jerk for not helping or doing the right thing, but I can see the 'trap', if you will, and how it can get a bunch of dudes in over their head…
Lack of economic opportunity sucks, as does ending up getting surprised by the whole 'do you want good pay for dooming innocent girls every so often?' ' Once you're already sworn in and arguably commited…
But yeah. He's only but so redeemable since that curse didn't hit those seven that actually did the deed!
Basically, yeah he was a jerk for not helping or doing the right thing, but I can see the 'trap', if you will, and how it can get a bunch of dudes in over their head…
Lack of economic opportunity sucks, as does ending up getting surprised by the whole 'do you want good pay for dooming innocent girls every so often?' ' Once you're already sworn in and arguably commited…
But yeah. He's only but so redeemable since that curse didn't hit those seven that actually did the deed!
I think it actually did though?
The phrasing of "Those in this room with you" includes the scapegoats from what I can tell. If they had planned the late countess' death since finding out about how the young women and girls stolen off the street are treated that would be one thing, but I don't think that was the case.
I realize that this opinion might be unpopular, but I think that this punishment is rather overkill. It's one thing to brand a criminal for life, it's another thing to permanently disfigure them in a manner that makes them not only physically repulsive and defenseless, but also prevents them from ever rejoining society.
You can't get a job as a misshapen toddler. There is no work that they can feasibly do that someone else couldn't do better, or anybody who would willing employ someone as ugly, crippled, and socially shunned as them.
This also makes them a significant burden to their innocent families and loved ones. Most likely, many of them had spouses or children of their own who depended on them financially.
Those innocents must now choose between abandoning their fathers, brothers, and husbands to starve in the streets, or being forced to share the social stigma the guards bear while struggling to feed, house, and clothe them without the income they used to provide.
From an economic perspective, this will also result in a massive influx of either invalids, or homeless vagabonds and beggars with the bodies of misshapen little girls plaguing Jewel's dominion, neither of which are good for the economy.
There's also the matter that losing seven hundred able-bodied men overnight is potentially devastating to a medieval society. Jewel's curse targeted not only active guardsmen, but also former guardsmen, including those who willingly chose to resign and do something else for a living.
Medieval agriculture requires massive amounts of manpower, and casualties during times of war or plague have historically compounded into increased civilian casualties due to starvation. This is especially bad for small villages, which are at severe risk of famine without enough able-bodied hands to work the fields.
You can't get a job as a misshapen toddler. There is no work that they can feasibly do that someone else couldn't do better, or anybody who would willing employ someone as ugly, crippled, and socially shunned as them.
This also makes them a significant burden to their innocent families and loved ones. Most likely, many of them had spouses or children of their own who depended on them financially.
Those innocents must now choose between abandoning their fathers, brothers, and husbands to starve in the streets, or being forced to share the social stigma the guards bear while struggling to feed, house, and clothe them without the income they used to provide.
From an economic perspective, this will also result in a massive influx of either invalids, or homeless vagabonds and beggars with the bodies of misshapen little girls plaguing Jewel's dominion, neither of which are good for the economy.
There's also the matter that losing seven hundred able-bodied men overnight is potentially devastating to a medieval society. Jewel's curse targeted not only active guardsmen, but also former guardsmen, including those who willingly chose to resign and do something else for a living.
Medieval agriculture requires massive amounts of manpower, and casualties during times of war or plague have historically compounded into increased civilian casualties due to starvation. This is especially bad for small villages, which are at severe risk of famine without enough able-bodied hands to work the fields.
Last edited:
I completely agree! I was focused on the implication of Tyrant Wyrms being able to do this. The most I thought about the implications were being reminded that this is xenofiction. This is a good point to reflect on. There's a point where you have to say 'just kill them and get it over with.' Whether or not you agree with the death penalty, it's something that people of Jewel's home agree with. Tsulogothulan has always been presented as alien and she was cheerful about the matter once her concern about Jewel was assuaged.
But I think that was intentional. Do you recall the foraging during the campaign? Jewel thought the peasants were being ungrateful for the nobility and thought that the... bathing offers were generous. She terrorized the villages to pacify their resistance against raping and pillaging by flying over them. She didn't understand it... but her father did and at best he condoned mass rape. Nighzmarquis commented how cruel foraging was in the SB thread I think. Jewel is supposed to be alien to human society, this punishment reminded us of her inhumanity. But this society a lot of modern society's (claimed) values.
I think that Jewel's perspective on what constitutes a just punishment here is skewed by her position of both social and physical power, and inherent privilege as a noble.
To those in the know, the Countess Bathory was a monarch known for sadistic cruelty and extreme violence, whom crossing would almost certainly result in a fate worse than death. We know that she was entirely willing to feed people to the feral caged vampires in her basement, because we saw her do that in an earlier chapter and Havel was terrified of that happening to him in that chapter.
There are only a small handful of moral decisions that you could have made as a guardsmen under her rule without facing such a gruesome demise:
Jewel's perspective is dictated by her position of power as a literal dragon, and she still didn't do anything to stop the Countess Bathory.
If anything, she's ten times more complicit than the Guardsmen, because she was in a position of extreme social and physical power and failed to act, whereas the guardsmen who put an end to the entire operation were ordinary men without the benefit of noble blood or being a dragon to protect them.
To those in the know, the Countess Bathory was a monarch known for sadistic cruelty and extreme violence, whom crossing would almost certainly result in a fate worse than death. We know that she was entirely willing to feed people to the feral caged vampires in her basement, because we saw her do that in an earlier chapter and Havel was terrified of that happening to him in that chapter.
There are only a small handful of moral decisions that you could have made as a guardsmen under her rule without facing such a gruesome demise:
- Resign immediately.
- Remain in the guard and intentionally allow women to escape.
- Plot the demise of Countess Bathory.
Jewel's perspective is dictated by her position of power as a literal dragon, and she still didn't do anything to stop the Countess Bathory.
If anything, she's ten times more complicit than the Guardsmen, because she was in a position of extreme social and physical power and failed to act, whereas the guardsmen who put an end to the entire operation were ordinary men without the benefit of noble blood or being a dragon to protect them.
I'm going to note that from the perspective of the guard, it very much does seem like each of the cursed is 'directly' guilty for specific assortments of victims, whom they had personally impacted.
And also that like... you know how people will say "oh I got pulled over for being black"? These guards seem to have engaged in "you're a pretty girl? must be guilty of SOMETHING(that way I can 'not'-rape you)". Maybe not all of them, but there's very much an implication there.
And also that like... you know how people will say "oh I got pulled over for being black"? These guards seem to have engaged in "you're a pretty girl? must be guilty of SOMETHING(that way I can 'not'-rape you)". Maybe not all of them, but there's very much an implication there.