GLoG 94: Good place to grow up

[bc56]

Cavorting With Witches
"Sort of, uh, yes." Sekhmet has no doctorate and no formal training, but a lot of natural talent and a bit of practice working the craft in high-stakes scenarios. So she mostly qualifies. She's never failed yet, at any rate. "I think I can help you get this place under control, uh, at least. This is your mind, you're, uh, practically omnipotent here as long as you're, uh, lucid. I'm, uh, talking to a friend outside to see about options for getting you back into the real world in the meantime."

[Deathkeeper]

Cavorting with Witches
"Yes. There is always hope," Sekhmet has many names. One of them is Strel Hof, the Hopeful Star. Of course she thinks there's always hope. "You're not alone, the, uh, other girls have been told, and I was, uh, brought in to help. I'm an expert in working with minds and souls." Honestly Sekhmet is surprised Mary hasn't made a connection between her appearance, her presence in this psychic realm, and what she actually is. Maybe she just doesn't expect demons to be pregnant.

We already know she's a witch, but, uh, we want to help her, right? I'm worried that if she stays trapped in here, she might, uh, drive herself crazy again," Sekhmet really doesn't want anything bad to happen to Mary. So much terrible stuff has happened to her already. Is there any way to get her out safely?

Cavorting with Witches

Yes, Miss. Zebes restrains himself from screaming that yes, they want to help young girls from spending eternity as despair monsters, what kind of question is that?
Miss, Khannie talked to you because we have NO IDEA how any of this works. I'm just a sorcerer's familiar who watched an anime. We went off the rails of the rules of Kyubey's world ages ago and I'm not the soul doctor here. We are in uncharted territory. From where I'm sitting her best bet is to have a vessel to be put in instead of just shoving her into empty air.

[Morty]

[That Cabin Wormwood Cabin]

Sophie raises her head to her forehead, in a way that just so happens to show off the wedding-ring on her finger. Not that she expects it to stop Braon, who is clearly doing it to make her uncomfortable.

"I'll see you later in my office," she simply says as she departs.

[Lakeside Hole Digging]

Tuskfang feels a little bad about scaring the possum. Especially when it plays dead. But he doesn't let it deter him and scurries over to grab the key. Then he returns to Khannie and Lapis, holding it triumphantly.

[Main Office]

"Let me show you to a cabin, then. We have an open room in a recently refurbished one, where another new resident has just moved in..." Reelshka pauses. Sophie's assessment of the new resident is somewhat concerning. But she assured Reelshka that she's keeping a close eye on her. "If you'll just follow me."

[Ironsmith]

[Wormwood Cabin]

Yeah, that's happening.

Braon gives Sophie a dismissive little wave as she leaves, but waits until the therapist is actually outside before removing the rest of her armor. She lets out a little groan of relief as it comes off, rubbing at the spots near her joints where it had chafed; normally, even a light set like this would come with basic underclothes, but they've long since worn away and Braon has had little opportunity to replace them.

But that's all beside the point now.

That point being: bed.

A nice, soft, warm bed. And nobody around to disturb her sleep.

Thank Adea.

Braon crawls under the quilts and sheets, rolling over onto her stomach (that's not a luxury she expects to have for long) and tugging the covers up to her shoulders, letting out a quiet sigh as she finally settles into a comfortable warmth.

Ten minutes later, the cabin is filled with the heavy, hoarse sound of her snoring.

[Beans]

[Main Office]

Too tired to notice---or perhaps, to care---Nefila nods and readies herself to follow. "Recently refurbished sounds nice. Even an awkwardly-shaped bed will be so, so good." She smiles, gently bouncing her swaddled larva. As she rises to follow Reelshka, she once again fairly towers over the goblin woman.

[Rebonack]

[Cavorting With Witches]

Sort of is definitely better than not at all.

Mary wrinkles her nose. "I don't know if this is my mind, really, it's-"

A parallel space manifested by a Witch's power and mirroring their fragmented mind, their pain, their grief, the nature of their wish, and the madness that pushed them over the edge. Sometimes the Labyrenth can cause a huge overlapping area of the physical world. Sometimes it can be quite contained in an impossibly tiny space. Like right now? It is wholly within the grief seed. But if the Witch Maria were to gather enough power to manifest again her reach would extend.

The Witches all have German names for some reason.

It's probably just to make them more exotic considering where the cartoon was created.

Probably best not to think on it too deeply.

"-something else," Mary reasons.

A quasi-physical manifestation of the Witch's shattered soul?

Probably.

But Mary isn't the most educated girl. She really doesn't have the words to describe what she's experienced.

"But if you can teach me to make it less ugly, ma'am, that would be some pumpkins!"

Victorian slang for 'really great', that.


[Lakeside Hole Digging]

Tuskfang has acquired one maybe magical key! It's a really pretty thing, looking like polished gold with a sky blue gem set into the handle at the end. It feels WAY too light to be gold, though. And weirdly it feel really warm, too. One would think a key sitting in a hollow log during the winter would be cold. Even if there was a possum sitting on it. After all, possums have a pretty low body temperature.

"Yay you got it now when we find the next box we'll have something to open it with!" Lapis says before turning and-

"The springs are over here," Khannie reminds the half-drow girl again before moving off in the indicated direction. "It isn't much further, just up here behind the bushes."

Sure enough, a little frozen spring is running over the ground and is nearly invisible under the snow. A ways up the hill a steep rock overhang from the looming mountains has done a good job of keeping the snow off the springs here. During the spring and summer the water flows freely, but now the spring has been reduced to some frozen cracks in the rock face waiting patiently to thaw.

"Okay, a place where springs are hard as stone," Khannie says, eyeing the area. "Now I think we need to see if we can find that tipping tree with the boulder rolled up against it."

She slaps the cliff face a few times with a mitten.

"It's definitely rocky enough here for boulders."

Khannie is busy looking to the left and right of the spring, but she isn't seeing anything. Where else might this marker tree be?

[bc56]

Cavorting With Witches
Sekhmet has no reason to believe it's not Mary's mind. She came in psychically, not physically, and her body is outside in the real world holding the seed/gem.

You know more about what she was made into than I do. I don't know if bringing her outside would do something horrible, like kill every living thing nearby or something, so I have to ask. Sekhmet knows what a familiar is (it's weird that a dragon would be a familiar but the Nexus is weird), but the comment about watching an anime means nothing to her. I don't know if I could make a proper vessel. Maybe with some of the resources from my kingdom I could, but growing an entire body from scratch is a, uh, thing I haven't needed to do before."

Inside, Sekhmet is calm and collected, and not showing the fact that she's thinking through the idea of building a body for this pour tormented soul from fiendish essence and human genetic material. "Here, uh, let's sit down." For the first time, Sekhmet demonstrates her own considerable psychic power to Mary by conjuring a pair of comfy recliners from the ether (they're copies of her memory of her favorite chair in her cabin). It's not her mindspace, but she's strong enough to do this anyway.

[Morty]

[Lakeside Hole Digging]

Tuskfang opts to try climbing onto the spring to take a look from up above. Maybe it'll be easier to see the tree and the boulder this way.

[Wormwood Cabin - Reelshka]

Reelshka leads Nefila there. As she pushes open the door, the woman will find that the cabin does seem fairly new. Some furnishings are still missing, but all the essentials are here. Braon might hear someone enter the main area from her room.

[Wormwood Cabin - Fayyaad]

For the first time, Fayyaad has visited GLoG. He has never had a reason to do it before. But now he's heard, more or less by accident, that a woman matching Braon's description is staying here. He still remembers what happened during the raid in Inside and feels like he has to hear her version. Was it all just a ruse when she pleaded with him? He's quickly directed to her cabin and knocks on the door.

[Earl of Purple]

Wormwood Cabin, Braon's Dreams

It's not going to be a pleasant dream tonight, unfortunately for Braon. It looks like GLoG, but... it's not GLoG as Braon's seen it. The lake is blood, there's only piles of burnt wood and ash instead of the cabins, and marking where the doors were are steel spikes, heads mounted on them. Sophie's head is there, staring accusingly at Braon; so is Fayyaad's, and other heads with other faces, anyone she likes or has any positive impressions of. Fayyaad's head is closest, eyes locked on Braon, and his lips are moving slightly. "You. You did this, you killed us all. You brought this upon me, I hate you. I hope you die slow and painful, over a thousand years, hating every second."

Lurking in the background, trying to stay unnoticed but unable to hide itself, is a tall, gaunt humanoid with pale blue skin stretched tight over a skeleton that has unpleasant-looking twists, with spikes and hooks emerging from its ribs, hips, humerus and femur. The long bones of arm and leg seem to twist, with ridges spiralling along the outside, looking vaguely like a helter-skelter. Its elongated head is almost all mouth, with no eyes or nose, and teeth grow from its head in place of hair. Six eyes peer asymmetrically from between its ribs, no two matching and all shockingly human. It has six long tentacles on each hand in place of finger and thumb, and its legs end in barbed points, yet it has no difficulty balancing. Its sole garment is a bandoleer made from human skin, from which hangs a crude serrated dagger of black iron.

[Beans]

[Wormwood Cabin - Reelshka]

Behind the goblin enters a figure over six feet in height. Wrapped in a tattered cloak, the grey-skinned, noseless young lady walks on four arthropoid legs. In her arms, she holds a swaddled bundle. She looks tired, but wildly relieved.

Nefila looks around the room with interest. "Oh, this looks lovely. I feel better already." Her eyes go to the bed. It'll be a little bit of an awkward fit, but hell if she cares.

[Ironsmith]

[Wormwood Cabin - Reelshka]

Reelshka leads Nefila there. As she pushes open the door, the woman will find that the cabin does seem fairly new. Some furnishings are still missing, but all the essentials are here. Braon might hear someone enter the main area from her room.

[Wormwood Cabin - Reelshka]

Behind the goblin enters a figure over six feet in height. Wrapped in a tattered cloak, the grey-skinned, noseless young lady walks on four arthropoid legs. In her arms, she holds a swaddled bundle. She looks tired, but wildly relieved.

Nefila looks around the room with interest. "Oh, this looks lovely. I feel better already." Her eyes go to the bed. It'll be a little bit of an awkward fit, but hell if she cares.

[Wormwood Cabin - New Roommates]

Of course Braon hears them coming in. The sudden entry of new people is, as she knows, the bane of people desperately needing sleep everywhere. Fortunately, she's developed a three-step counter-process that should assist her in her continued quest to return to dreamland.

The first step is a loud, annoyed groan, of the variety that can only be achieved by a tired, hormonal pregnant woman. This should let them both know they've entered her territory and are not welcome.

The second step is to pull her pillow over her head and resume trying to sleep. Whether this is successful or not will depend heavily on whether Reelshka and Nefila come into her room.

The third step is a last resort, which will only apply if they come in to check on her. Less of a preventative measure and more of a parting shot, it involves questioning the legitimacy of the intruders' parentage, insinuating the presence of canines in their family trees, comparing them to fecal matter, and the use of an obscene hand gesture.

[Wormwood Cabin - Fayyaad]

For the first time, Fayyaad has visited GLoG. He has never had a reason to do it before. But now he's heard, more or less by accident, that a woman matching Braon's description is staying here. He still remembers what happened during the raid in Inside and feels like he has to hear her version. Was it all just a ruse when she pleaded with him? He's quickly directed to her cabin and knocks on the door.

[Wormwood Cabin - Fayyaad]

"Damn it, Sophie, we already did a session today! I swear to Adea, if you think you're getting another one out of me-"

The door is yanked open from the other side, revealing Braon, clad in a thick cotton dress and scarf, with a wooden ladle clutched in her hand. The borderline murderous scowl on her face disappears when she sees that her visitor is not, in fact, Sophie.

"Lovers above..." Braon drops the ladle and surges forward, attempting to pull the pyromancer into a hug. "Fayyaad! Haha! You son of a bitch, where have you been?!" She squeals happily, accompanying the question with an affectionate squeeze if he permits it.

Finally, someone she wanted to see!

Wormwood Cabin, Braon's Dreams

It's not going to be a pleasant dream tonight, unfortunately for Braon. It looks like GLoG, but... it's not GLoG as Braon's seen it. The lake is blood, there's only piles of burnt wood and ash instead of the cabins, and marking where the doors were are steel spikes, heads mounted on them. Sophie's head is there, staring accusingly at Braon; so is Fayyaad's, and other heads with other faces, anyone she likes or has any positive impressions of. Fayyaad's head is closest, eyes locked on Braon, and his lips are moving slightly. "You. You did this, you killed us all. You brought this upon me, I hate you. I hope you die slow and painful, over a thousand years, hating every second."

Lurking in the background, trying to stay unnoticed but unable to hide itself, is a tall, gaunt humanoid with pale blue skin stretched tight over a skeleton that has unpleasant-looking twists, with spikes and hooks emerging from its ribs, hips, humerus and femur. The long bones of arm and leg seem to twist, with ridges spiralling along the outside, looking vaguely like a helter-skelter. Its elongated head is almost all mouth, with no eyes or nose, and teeth grow from its head in place of hair. Six eyes peer asymmetrically from between its ribs, no two matching and all shockingly human. It has six long tentacles on each hand in place of finger and thumb, and its legs end in barbed points, yet it has no difficulty balancing. Its sole garment is a bandoleer made from human skin, from which hangs a crude serrated dagger of black iron.

[Braon's Nightmare]

If the demon is limiting itself to people Braon likes, it's going to find a short list to work with; Fayyaad, Zee, her father, and a teenage boy whose face she's nearly forgotten. Fortunately, the number of people Braon would be distressed to cause the death of, even accidentally, is much higher. Wandering through what was clearly the grounds of a massive slaughter, even if it's mostly of people she doesn't care about, is still... rather disconcerting, all told.

Despite seeing no transition from the waking world, Braon can't help but feel somehow responsible for this. Fayyaad's words were nothing she hadn't heard in her dreams before, but tonight... tonight they were made a little more real.

She didn't cause this directly, of course. She'd remember if she did. And even her nightmare-powered counterpart rather provably couldn't cause this kind of devastation. No, if she's responsible, it's indirectly. She caused this by knocking down the first domino in a chain. Something she's done, or failed to do, resulted in everyone dying.

[Rebonack]

[Lakeside Hole Digging]

Getting a grip on the icy stone is definitely tough.

But!

Tuskfang has an advantage here!

Khannie moves over and cups her fingers together to offer the wobling some solid footing to boost him up.

One of the major upsides to tall people around the campground, right?

You never know when their tallness attribute might come in handy!

With Khannie offering the boost it'll be easy for him to scramble up onto the snowy shelf above and get a bird's eye view of the surrounding area.

And from his perch he spots it.

Not to far away, hidden away in a little hollow, is a leaning tree and boulder just like the one on the map.

"What do you see up there, Tuskfang?" Khannie calls up to him.

[bc56]

Braon's Nightmare
Things are about to get worse. The lake of blood begins to bubble and boil and something begins to rise from it.
First head and shoulders, then the rest of her, wrapped in a dripping gown of liquid blood, Sekhmet appears in all her fiendish glory.

But not exactly. This projection of her has entered Braon's mind, even if she hasn't realized it yet. As such, her appearance is determined by Braon's subconscious mental image of Sekhmet.

Still thinking she's in her own dream and not realizing her mind has wandered, Sekhmet seems unaware of the horrors around her for the moment.

[Deathkeeper]

Cavorting with Witches

My knowledge of what's going on comes from a fictional television show that may or may not be an accurate to what we were experiencing, along with having fought a few. Moreover, no one has ever managed to communicate with a witch after turning that we know of. I have no idea what would happen bringing her outside because what we have started doing is already impossible by what we were led to believe.

We could try making a golem of some kind? Artificial bodies aren't so bad.

[Rebonack]

[Cavorting with Witches]

And so Sekhmet uses her PHENOMENAL COSMIC POWER! to conjure some comfy chairs.

Mary looks at them a bit uncertainly for a few moments before cautiously sitting down, as if she were expecting it to vanish at any moment.

It is worth noting that Mary's soul is still in chaos.

The hope that Sekhmet gave her is still holding off the tide of absolutely despair, but it's a fragile thing. If it breaks, Mary would descend back into madness again. And with that power that she has gained just from interacting with Sekhmet there's a pretty good chance that the Maria, the Witch of Despondency, would be able to manifest and begin producing familiars to ensnare people again.

Which would be bad.

Maria wasn't a terribly powerful Witch when Khannie defeated her.

But since she's been getting used to cleanse Soul Gems if she manifests again she will be significantly more powerful and dangerous.

The wards on GLoG would without question prevent such a malignant spirit from taking hold there, but if the grief seed were removed from GLoG grounds things would go poorly.

Which means!

Help Mary overcome her grief. Build the hope brighter.

Mary fidgets a bit in her chair, unsure of what to do next.

[bc56]

Cavorting With Witches
That could work. I, uh, know someone who might be able to make one. Otherwise, I have the, uh, equipment in my kingdom to grow a, uh, somewhat living body, but I haven't ever used it before, I, uh, don't exactly know how to work it."

"Uh, try to relax. Clear your mind. You are like a goddess in this domain. You, uh, painted walls before. In here, you could paint worlds. But first, you, uh, must learn to control your thoughts. Start by, uh, relaxing and emptying your mind."

[Morty]

[Lakeside Hole Digging]

"I think I see our tree!" Tuskfang squeaks excitedly. He's beaming with pride over his accomplishment. He was the one to see the treasure spot! That makes him a real treasure hunter. "We gotta go- um." He looks down uncertainly. "Can you help me get down, Khannie?"

[Wormwood Cabin - New Roommates]

"As I've said, there is one person living here already... but she might be asleep? It can wait just in case." Of course, that's still Reelshka talking in the corridor. "It's all a little sparse, but you're free to add your own touches. Including... what you've mentioned. We're trying to balance convenience and comfort."

[Wormwood Cabin - Fayyaad]

Seems Braon was expecting someone else, much less agreeable than Fayyaad. The tiefling doesn't fend her off, instead hugging her back. She seems... better than the last time he saw her, though that's not saying much.

"I've been doing fine. When I heard you were here, I wanted to check on you," he says.

[Ironsmith]

[Wormwood Cabin - Fayyaad]

Seems Braon was expecting someone else, much less agreeable than Fayyaad. The tiefling doesn't fend her off, instead hugging her back. She seems... better than the last time he saw her, though that's not saying much.

"I've been doing fine. When I heard you were here, I wanted to check on you," he says.

[Wormwood Cabin - Fayyaad]

It's a good thing Braon's face is behind his right now, because otherwise, he might see the profuse blushing taking place there. That had to be, unironically, the sweetest thing anyone's said to her since she got here. She knew she was right to like him.

"Well, I'm... I'm glad you did." Braon says finally, pulling away to a respectful distance. "These people have got to be borderline impossible, and the kids running around everywhere are a constant source of headaches, and-" She stops and holds up a hand to cut herself off. She doesn't want to vent at him too much right away; that's a terrific method for scaring him off. "Why don't you come in? I've got a pot of soup on, we can sit down and have a proper conversation."

[Beans]

[Wormwood Cabin - New Roommates]

Nefila hears that groan and nods, lowering her voice a little. "That'd be her, I figure? And I don't mind sparse---just means there's some room for me to make the space more my own."

She steps into what is now her room. She takes off her cloak and hangs it, revealing a simple and rather threadbare sort of dress beneath. "Do you know anything about the other person in this cabin?"

[Rebonack]

[Lakeside Hole Digging]

"Really? Is it nearby?" Khannie asks from down below. Lapis, meanwhile, is sitting on a snow covered log and watching. She seems to be having a lot of fun observing the other kids.

There's a reason for that.

See, Lapis wants to learn how to be a regular kid, too.

But to do that she needs to watch other regular kids doing regular kid things.

Like!

"Umm... yeah, hang on," Khannie says as she laces her fingers together and holds them up above her head whilst leaning against the icy rock face. "Okay! Lay down a bit and start scooting backwards, I'll get my hands under your foot. Don't worry you don't weight that much I can handle it."

Khannie has none of her magical girl strength while a regular girl.

What she does have is regular girl that exercises regularly strength.

Thankfully most of her friends are pretty tiny which gives her a significant advantage whenever she needs to boost them up somewhere high.

Or help them down, for that matter.

[Earl of Purple]

Wormwood Cabin- Braon's Nightmare

As Sekhmet rises from the lake, the boiling blood steams. More blood starts to fall from the sky, hot and wet and fresh. Fayyaad's head sticks its tongue out as far as it can, trying to catch droplets of blood rain. "Dry... throat's so dry... You killed us all." The head doesn't notice the contradiction of having no neck and having a dry throat.

Near the lake, one of the heads is no longer that cute barista that gave Braon a coffee two days ago, instead altering to Prumathe's visage. Its mouth hangs slack, however, not moving and talking like Fayyaad's.

The demon in the background stalks back amongst the trees, though Braon and Sekhmet might be able to sense its presence anyway, as another mind not native to this space.

[Ironsmith]

[Wormwood Cabin - New Roommates]

"As I've said, there is one person living here already... but she might be asleep? It can wait just in case." Of course, that's still Reelshka talking in the corridor. "It's all a little sparse, but you're free to add your own touches. Including... what you've mentioned. We're trying to balance convenience and comfort."

[Wormwood Cabin - New Roommates]

Nefila hears that groan and nods, lowering her voice a little. "That'd be her, I figure? And I don't mind sparse---just means there's some room for me to make the space more my own."

She steps into what is now her room. She takes off her cloak and hangs it, revealing a simple and rather threadbare sort of dress beneath. "Do you know anything about the other person in this cabin?"

[Wormwood Cabin - New Roommates]

"I'm trying to sleep! Pipe down!" Comes the rather discourteous reply from the other room. Braon's hearing might not be the best in the world, but she doesn't need to be able to make put what Nefila is saying to be kept up by it.

Of course, if the conversation continues, like it undoubtedly will, Braon will wander into the room to lecture them personally. She's of a sort of middling height, with weathered-but-still-pale skin, a short pair of ebony horns growing out of her forehead, tangled brown hair, needle-like teeth, and violet-tinted eyes that are only half-open at the moment, which she rubs at clumsily with her wrist. She's got a sheet wrapped around her, tucked loosely around her bustline and further held in place with her other hand; apart from that, there doesn't look to be a shred of cloth on her.

"What's a lady got to do to get forty straight winks around here?" The fiendling grumbles groggily.

Braon's Nightmare
Things are about to get worse. The lake of blood begins to bubble and boil and something begins to rise from it.
First head and shoulders, then the rest of her, wrapped in a dripping gown of liquid blood, Sekhmet appears in all her fiendish glory.

But not exactly. This projection of her has entered Braon's mind, even if she hasn't realized it yet. As such, her appearance is determined by Braon's subconscious mental image of Sekhmet.

Still thinking she's in her own dream and not realizing her mind has wandered, Sekhmet seems unaware of the horrors around her for the moment.

Wormwood Cabin- Braon's Nightmare

As Sekhmet rises from the lake, the boiling blood steams. More blood starts to fall from the sky, hot and wet and fresh. Fayyaad's head sticks its tongue out as far as it can, trying to catch droplets of blood rain. "Dry... throat's so dry... You killed us all." The head doesn't notice the contradiction of having no neck and having a dry throat.

Near the lake, one of the heads is no longer that cute barista that gave Braon a coffee two days ago, instead altering to Prumathe's visage. Its mouth hangs slack, however, not moving and talking like Fayyaad's.

The demon in the background stalks back amongst the trees, though Braon and Sekhmet might be able to sense its presence anyway, as another mind not native to this space.

[Braon's Nightmare]

If Sekhmet cares to check her reflection in the blood-pool (once it settles), she's going to find her appearance to be simultaneously flattering and horrifying. From the neck down, she looks unchanged, more or less; a few of her features have been exaggerated, and the skirt of her gown is cut a little higher than she may be comfortable with, but that seems to be the extent of the major differences. But even in the reflection of the pond, she's going to look absolutely stunning. Not physically much different, but the light seems to hit her just right whenever she looks, and the air seems to take on a rosy tint whenever she sees herself.

...But her face is another story. Braon's subconscious seems to be playing up the demonic aspect to a thousandfold degree; if Sekhmet didn't know for a fact that she's not wearing a mask, she'd probably assume so now. Her skin is an unnatural porcelain, particularly around the eyes, which are lidless and wide open, looking back at Sekhmet as twin points of crystalized hellfire. Cracks run up and down her visage, concentrated again around her eyes and weaving unnatural patterns down her cheeks, up her forehead, and across her lips. Her nose is missing entirely, with no replacement, leaving a conspicuous emptiness between her eyes and mouth. Her lips have been painted blood red, little driplets rolling down the corners of her mouth and along the cracks in her mask-face. Her horns poke through the top of her head, each forming a hole in her "skin", hinting at the no-doubt horrible being underneath.

Meanwhile, Braon kneels next to the severed head, shielding herself from the deluge of blood with her hand. "What is it? What did I do?" She asks frantically, looking into Fayyaad's head's eyes.

Then she has a realization about where the blood is coming from, turns her head, and sees Sekhmet.

And she screams.

"NO! GET AWAY!" She scrabbles quickly over the ground in search of something to throw at the demoness; a rock in most circumstances, but probably a disembodied organ in her nightmare. "YOU STAY AWAY FROM ME! I'M NOT GOING BACK! I'D RATHER DIE! GET BACK!"

[bc56]

Braon's Nightmare
Sekhmet fortunately does not look in her reflection. Nor is she broken free enough of her dreaming state to notice that her clothing and proportions are weird. She does what feels most natural at the moment, which is to advance menacingly at Braon. "YOU DID THIS!?" she screeches. It's hard to say whether that's a question or a statement, but Sekhmet can see all these dead people, and Braon, so the connection is pretty clear.

[Morty]

[Lakeside Hole Digging]

Tuskfang is, indeed, pretty small. He might grow up later, but for now his half-goblin heritage is affecting his size and weight. He lies down and starts scooting back, as instructed, then jumps up and down triumphantly when he reaches the ground.

"Thanks, Khannie! Now let's go get that tree!" He doesn't waste any time rushing off in that direction.

[Wormwood Cabin - New Roommates]

"Well, she's..." Reelshka isn't sure how much she should really say about Braon behind her back. Fortunately, her dilemma is solved when Braon herself appears. "Oh. Well, here she is. This is Braon Hexenborne, another recent arrival. Braon, this is Nefila. She'll be living here too now. Sorry for waking you up."

[Wormwood Cabin - Fayyaad]

"Gladly." It's only now that Fayyaad notices that Braon appears to be... well, pregnant. But it's really not something he's going to ask about. Iron Queen knows he's got enough awkward questions to ask her. He does step in, since those questions will wait until they're seated.

[Beans]

[Wormwood Cabin - New Roommates]

Nefila gives Braon an apologetic smile. "Guess sound carries easier in here than I thought---I'll keep that in mind. Good thing Sujo's pretty quiet."

The swaddled larval babe in her arms peers at Braon with glittering black eyes and makes a sort of little gurgling chitter.

"I'm about to conk out myself, so don't worry about being kept up. Apologies for the noise in the first place, though."

[Ironsmith]

[Wormwood Cabin - Fayyaad]

"Gladly." It's only now that Fayyaad notices that Braon appears to be... well, pregnant. But it's really not something he's going to ask about. Iron Queen knows he's got enough awkward questions to ask her. He does step in, since those questions will wait until they're seated.

[Wormwood Cabin - Fayyaad]

She does seem to be coming along strangely quickly. Here, only a few weeks at most since she's shown up, she's already got a visible (and for that matter, tangible) bump on her belly indicating her condition.

Even so, she does her best to try to make Fayyaad comfortable. She'll pull out the chair for him, let him have the first few ladles of soup (in the good, not-cracked bowl, and after quickly cleaning off the ladle of any dirt it might have accumulated on the floor), and she'll even let him have the spot closer to the fire, despite that meaning she'll be uncomfortably chilly herself.

The soup is... unappealing. It looks like muddied water, with little bits of bark and chopped roots and mushrooms floating around in it. It smells bitter and tangy, with only a slight hint of a more hazelnut-like earthiness to it if he turns his head away for a moment.

That doesn't seem to be stopping Braon, though. She quietly sips up spoonfuls of the broth, as though reassuring him that it is, indeed, edible. "So..." She prompts, cradling the bowl in her arm. "...Is there, um... is there something on your mind?"

Stupid question. Of course there is. He didn't come here to point and laugh.

[Deathkeeper]

Cavorting With Witches
That could work. I, uh, know someone who might be able to make one. Otherwise, I have the, uh, equipment in my kingdom to grow a, uh, somewhat living body, but I haven't ever used it before, I, uh, don't exactly know how to work it."

"Uh, try to relax. Clear your mind. You are like a goddess in this domain. You, uh, painted walls before. In here, you could paint worlds. But first, you, uh, must learn to control your thoughts. Start by, uh, relaxing and emptying your mind."

Um. Is there a way to make that happen without making her demonic? No offense but it would probably be best if we avoided putting her under the influence of other powers as soon as we fix this problem.
Zebes doesn't want to offend her but it does warrant asking.

[Rebonack]

[Cavorting With Witches]

Mary isn't sure if that's true.

Witches didn't have complete control over their Labyrinths did they?

They always seemed like dreams to Mary. Dreams that didn't really make any sense at all, but dreams the Witch had very little control over.

Which is what dreams are normally like, in her experience.

None the less, she nods, closes her eyes, and tries to do what Sekhmet told her to do.

Just...

Don't think about anything.

It isn't long before her doubts and pain and insecurity begins bubbling up in her mind, the surroundings growing darker and more ominous.


[Lakeside Hole Digging]

And as soon as Khannie sets Tuskfang down he's off like a shot.

Pchoooo!

"Hey wait up I weigh more than you and sink into the snow a bunch!" Khannie calls after him, trudging through some of the deeper drifts.

Lapis is, of course, just walking along the top of the snow as if she weighs nothing.

"Cheater," Khannie says, sticking her tongue out at the half-elf girl.

Just down into the little draw, somehow shielded for the most part from the snow, is what they're looking for. A great big boulder that looks like it rolled down the cliff face and a smallish pine tree growing at an angle thanks to the presence of the boulder right on top of it. This is the place!

But...

The treasure isn't anywhere to be seen!

It must be hidden somewhere nearby, but where?

There's some space below the boulder where a chest could be stuffed. And the top of the boulder is covered in snow, maybe it's up there and buried? Or maybe, just maybe, the location of the treasure has something to do with that great big X of mushrooms growing nearby? Couldn't be that last one. That would be silly.

[bc56]

Cavorting With Witches
No more demonic than I am, Sekhmet sounds indignant now. She's proof that demons don't have to be evil. I'd donate the essence myself! I can spare it. She'd be no more inclined to evil than I am." Despite meaning no offense, Zebes has touched a nerve in the demon queen.

Meanwhile, the projection of Sekhmet inside the soul gem gets increasingly nervous as the darkness closes in. "You're doing great. You can, uh, stop clearing your mind now. Uh, focus on something, something you like. Imagine it as hard as you can, until you can see it so clearly you could almost touch it." Maybe if she focused on an object, Mary's mind would stray into darkness less.

[Morty]

[Lakeside Hole Digging]

Tuskfang is, like many kids his age, rather focused on what's in front of him when he's excited. So for now he pokes around, looks under the boulder and sweeps the snow form the top. Really, to him the process of looking for treasure is much more fun than actually finding it.

[Wormwood Cabin - Fayyaad]

"It's... well." This is awkward. Doubly so because of the soup. He's not exactly a stellar cook either, though, so he doesn't really have the grounds for criticizing. "Last time we saw each other, it was in Inside. And surrounded by vines and goblins. I'm glad you survived that, but I'd still like to know what actually happened."