No, actually. Yes. A common household spider!
<< Continued from here.
Origins of the Plot
In the previous thread, winston was brought a number of animals all the wrong size and he found a Sizestone in them (a new well document here).
This thread is inspired by both the following Rebirth Events that follow:
Finally, I checked with Peg for permission to have the Size wells found inside the creatures.
This thread is inspired by both the following Rebirth Events that follow:
- Size Matters: Size matters right? Well when you try to ride your poney to find it the size of a mouse, YES! Minor fractures appear in random locations across Scalvaris as creature begin changing size, small becomes big and big becomes small. For whatever reason, nothing already 'big' become bigger, or small becomes smaller, but for a single trial there are reports of the shocking phenomenon for all walks of life.
- Spiders: Throughout Ashan spiders become more prevalent across Scalvoris. People in houses notice more of the eight-legged critters and by mid-afternoon on the 8th it becomes apparent that there are lots more spiders and many more of the non-house / unusual variety everywhere. This is great news for those who collect silk, but not so fun for arachnophobes. Also, prevalence of spider-bites increase and there's a shortage of antidotes by mid-Ashan unless some enterprising soul does something.
Finally, I checked with Peg for permission to have the Size wells found inside the creatures.
Starr
set about co-ordinating with the other hunters as the Encoceller set about his work."What's the plan?" Asked
Cho
, the ferret's churiouse apprentice as he handed him the bits and bobs requested of him as he proceeded to refine the Moonglass well from its raw and unstable form into something he could use."Me gonna use dis 'ere well tuh negate de Sizestone's affects." He said with a distracted glance at the boy. He looked down at his
book of things
and concentrated as he summoned fourth some details about the refinement process for the well before them. Carefully applying his knowledge of the well, ensorcelling and the book's hidden wisdom, they began their work. At some point, he might put the well into an item, but for now, it should simply be sufficient to just stabilize it and charge it with a little ethar."This is a big well right?" Asked the boy, his voice edged with caution.
The ferret paused, its paw holding a tool an inch from the ground around the well. "Starr?..." He began with a casual tone.
The hunter looked over from the conversation she was holding with one of the other hunters. "Yes?"
"Ef dis goes badly, me might blow meselfe tuh smithereens, alange wid dis 'ole clearing..."
The huntress' eye's bulged slightly as she got the point. "Good to know..." With which, she turned and started ushuring the bystanders away. "...over there it is then."
"Tanks. Me will let yuh know when et's safe again." Nodding, the woman started establishing a safe distance from the ferret and his apprentice. "Cho, yuh shud go wid Starr."
The young man, having seen the kinds of messes his master regularly got himself into frowned. "What happens if this explodes?"
"Maybe we die... Maybe we become chickens." The reply was flippent in tone, but the boy knew all to well that Winston was being entirely serious.
"So fifty-fifty I can fly?"
Winston suppressed a giggle and raised an eyebrow to encourage the boy to leave.
"Are you more or less likely to succeed without my help?" The boy asked with mild accusation in his tone.
"Less." Replied the ferret master.
"And if we don't solve this, is Sweetsong in danger?"
The ferret made a squeaky 'Hmmmmmm' noise that suggested he was both confident that they were probably safe, due to the nature of how strong their fighters were... but still, if this was an epidemic that got worse tomorrow, they might well be in trouble. "Perhaps." He replied, reluctantly.
"Then either I get to tell mum I stayed and helped save everyone, or we die and telling mum you got me killed is not a thing I have to deal with anyway." The apprentice concluded pragmatically.
Shaking his head gently, Winston turned back to his work on the stabilization glyphs with a smile. "Don't count an yuh mum nat dragging yuh soul back fram de beyand, jost tuh tell yuh aff."
Cho pulled a 'fair point' face as the two of them got back to work.
Several breaks passed as Winston refined the well. This was a very far stretch from what Cho was capable of and so aside from passing him what he needed, he was kept well out of the process whether he objected or not. Instead,
Smokie
provided a masterful second pair of hands.The process was taxing and not performed in a rush.
Wells of this level were never safe to tinker with, regardless of your ability and Winston treated it with the respect it deserved. As such, he worked the well to focus it's power into it's offensive application, to allow them, he hoped, to stop the sizestones from working... It would be a useful thing to have around in general as it happened, but for now, he focused only on the goals at hand.As he concluded the process, the well sat before them, shining in the light of the trial.
Taking a deep breath and sitting back to take a drink of water, he nodded at Cho. "Oh-key, dat's de 'ard part done." He said with a smile. The boy helped tidy up as the ferret took up the Well, carefully checking it for any imperfections.
"Staaaaarr?! Tis safe naw!" He called out once he was sure the well was stable.
He wandered over to the tiny animals, in their makeshift pen as they continued to give off cute little noises.
The huntress approached, alone for now, not taking anything for granted as Winston set himself a safe distance from the unusual herd. "What's going to happen? When you turn it on?" Asked Cho, curiouse wonder in his voice as he spoke.
Not in his wildest dreams had he ever imagined he'd be in the presence of such things, let alone involved in doing them. He was not even sure there was another Ensorceler of the calabre of this here ferret on the whole of Scalvaris and to have a well of this power in their grasp to boot... He was living the tales that get told, that much he was certain of and as his master approached the pen full of diminutive creatures, he found himself holding his breath.
"Oh-key... Time tuh see wat yuh gat..." Winston channelled a little energy into the well, focusing carefully on maintaining a steady, even and above all controlled stream of ether into the well he held. Having managed to get this far, it would be a crying shame to explode now.
...
Nothing happened.
He frowned and picked up his
Holo-com
from his belt and tried to activate it, but nothing happened... "Seems tuh be workin'." He observed and carefully put a ltitle more ether into the well, avoiding pushing it any further then would be needed to definitely effect the animals only ten feet from where he stood."Cho, take dis an wanda off ova dere and let me know wen et starts tuh work will yuh?" he instructed, handing his apprentice the device and waiting as he walked off.
The boy kept walking... and walking... and walking... until eventually the Holo-com sprang into life. "It's working!" He called, waving his hand, just in case the call was not enough.
Winston discretely pulled an 'oops' face as he realised just how far that had already reached. "Yikes. Dat's a littal furdda den me expected..." He said, under his breath.
Over the next few bits, the pair tested the capabilities of the well, lowering and increasing the power into the well and observing the effect it had, but nothing they did returned the animals to their original size
.Finally admitting defeat, he brought Cho back, collected his Holo-com and deactivated the well, tucking it into his pack for later.
"What now?" Asked the boy, under no illusion that this was the end.
"Well, ef de wells are nat causing de issue, den dem most be a RESAUL af de issue. Soh naw, we go look at where dis all started." He said with a chirpy tone and a nod.
"But where IS that?"
The ferret wandered over to Starr before answering. "Cun yuh show meh where dis es?" He asked the woman, who nodded and gestured for the others with her to approach.
"Yes. We have managed to isolate an area of the farmed land that has been overrun with the giant spiders. It's been surrounded and most of the danger is gone now, thanks to the hunters, but I'd not consider it SAFE." Her words of warning didn't fall on deaf ears.... however they might have been a little hard of hearing.
"Gotcha, giant magic spiders, be careful, don't die. Anything else?" He replied with a disarming smile.
"DON'T die though, yeah? Vega will categorically NOT forgive me if you die on my watch." She replied, with no jest in her voice whatsoever.
The ferret chuckled as he went about equipping himself with garb more fitting the excursion. "Nah. She knows betta den tuh blame odda peopal far my shenanigans." He replied with a wink, though Starr was far from convinced.
"Don't worry. Me will be careful." He reiterated, a little more seriously this time, much to Starr's satisfaction. "Cho, dis time, yuh gat tuh stay 'ere. Dis field trip es nat far yuh, Oh-kay? Please make shar dese animals don't get last, please."
Reluctantly, the boy nodded as he set about collecting the remaining creatures as his master set off to explore the fields.
Continued here >>
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