Tiding 10: Strael

## Content Warnings

Horror, gore including detail, dead bodies, possession

*"Vilte arrived in Ninut on a crisp spring morning. It is said that the wildflowers that characterised the region were in full bloom: a sign of hope that was quickly quashed.
 She went seeking allies, local people that could help to track the awakening threat and stop it. Instead, she found a community that was fractured, hurting from a war against the Tenders to defend their very Remnant; and still building from a migration from forty years previous. The village was struggling to find its identity. Beneath the surface of community, everything lay taut, like two vines entwined, each waiting for the other to snap."*

 *Show more/less*

 *Call it naivete, call it single-mindedness; but Vilte failed to notice these tensions until things were much too late. Her request, her plea, pushed the community fighting over the value of its own traditions too far.
 A group led by a stonemason named Aya seized control of the village's council. They wanted to restore what they saw as the community's traditional values, and turned Vilte away. This second part failed. Vilte found protection in other members of the village, led by a storyteller named Jeddah and a young girl named Challa. Heed that name, for it will come up many times later.
 The traditionalists responded by plotting to poison Vilte, hoping to remove her from the picture. Now recognising the wounds that she caused upon the community, hearing of the plot, Vilte decided to strike the first and final blow. It is said she walked into the tent where the toxin was being prepared and drank it willingly. By doing so she hoped to restore the community's bonds, to give her followers, the Parish, the chance to do her work later. This, as we now know, did not work. Vilte fell into a deep sleep, and by the time she awoke Corpus had already stirred under Carn Veskl, and her dark prophecy would already be coming true.*"

―Avyn Fiir Vorunt, The Counterfeit God: A History of Corpus

## Summary

After Challa’s attempts to stop Corpus fail, the caravan are trapped in Carn Veskl. There they must fight for their lives. Bris attempts to guide people to relative safety, while Belka desperately hunts for another way out of the caves.
Venz flees a bear, Belka rows a boat, Challa welcomes a storm and Bris, well… Bris makes some choices.

## Synopsis

Strael is in the cavern system, icy wind whipping around; Challa, standing near the entrance by Cast and Kallan, can feel snow forming on her cheek. Cast is shooting at plants with his rifle: when hit, parts of the plant mass fade and drop off. Kallan is stabbing the plants with his spear, but both are losing ground. Voices cry out down the corridor, and the swirling motes cast strange light. The mass is writhing around, reaching and trying to beat back the motes. Bris is clutching Korrin tightly, urging everyone to get out of here quickly. She grabs Korrin's hand and starts running towards Cast and Kallan at the entrance. Korrin, however, slips from her grasp and starts to run the other way to try and help the people shouting further down the corridor.

Challa retreats in fear to Kallan, who takes her back to the corridor. He asks if she's OK and points her in the direction on Belka and safety, before asking if the shouts he can hear are the others.

Bris runs after Korrin and reaches a fork in the tunnel: one way leads to the entrance to the cavern system and the other leads to the ledge that Belka fell from earlier. The plant mass is slowly filling the entire tunnel with a horrible tearing sound. She reaches Korrin, who is starting down the tunnel to the exit, and can see further down that tunnel the people of Ninut. Ri has a thin curved sword and is fighting against some advancing tendrils; Jeddah is carrying baby Lef and is pulling Vassan along. Other community members are around them. The wind and snow are pushing people further along the caves, and the plant mass is filling the space, making it almost impossible to cut a route for the villagers to reach somewhere safe. Verask is buffeted over by a gust of wind and the yellow mass starts to wrap around him; he looks to Bris and screams out for help.

Bris hesitates for only a second, then picks up Korrin and turns her back on the villagers, carrying him back down the corridor to the only safe place she can now reach. Ri, fighting her way to Verask, looks at Bris with utter disgust. Korrin, too, is struggling against Bris' decision, kicking and screaming that she can't leave the others, can't leave them like she left Korrin's family. Bris reaches Cast and Kallan, covered in bruises and lashes from the tendrils. Kallan asks if she saw the others, but Bris doesn't answer and hands Korrin to him, then shouts that she's going back. Kallan follows her instead as she yells that they need to make a fire. Kallan shouts back, but it can't be heard over the storm.

Belka is with Madi and Lief, looking for another way out- an underground river. They move through several tunnels, and Belka sees kitchens, dining and gathering spots, and more barricaded corridors. It strikes Belka that there are things missing from the living areas down here- the Underpeople generally seem happy to leave things lying around, but down here that isn't so much the case. Ahead, the tunnel splits. Madi says that that tunnel goes deeper into the caves and that there's a way out that way- but that it's also the direction she and Kalyn fled from. The left fork leads to the river and lake, and the party heads that way. The lake is in a very large room, larger than the rest of the living caverns. There is a small shore of blue rock; and the lake water is clear, reflecting the surrounding lights. In the middle is an island, connected to the shore by bridges decorated with paint and pieces of fabric. On the island grows a beautiful stand of plants and flowers, all waving in the wind. Small alcoves in the walls of the cavern contain boats. Madi indicates that many of the ways out are under the water. Madi isn't confident of a definite way out, but she knows people have come and gone this way in the past.

Belka, Lief, and Madi get into a boat and start to move around the lake edge looking for possible exits. To Belka it seems that the yellow mass is all around, and has spread further than anyone has realised. It seems like it is the thing that Vilte prophesied and travelled to the area with The Parish to try and stop; the thing that she had tried to convince the people of Ninut to help her investigate and fight; the thing that the Jackals had predicted but failed to correctly target.

Looking again for a way out, Belka thinks back to the lack of clutter down here- it's as if somebody has gathered up items and left. Eventually the party finds a low cave around 1 m (3 ft) above the water level where the water is flowing to. The ceiling appears to slope down, and is covered in markings that Madi explains are navigational marks for traders to follow. This seems like their best shot, so they head back to fetch the others.

Venz arrives at Carn Veskl. Deep snow covers the mountainside, and all of the wind seems to be howling directly into the cave. He finds five carts left where Venz had left the kite. The wind has blown some of them around and contents have spilled. It looks like the villagers have collected what they could carry before heading into the caves. The pair prepare to cross the chasm, Shu going first. He crosses his fingers and places them to his heart- a traditional sign to Sharrow- before starting very slowly across the rope bridge in the wind. Venz follows slowly and painfully, scared to use magic to ease the situation. Shu reaches his bow out to help pull Venz across the last bit- but as he does so, Venz sees a large, bear-sized shape materialise behind Shu and calls out. It charges, and Shu rolls out of the way- but Venz loses his grip on the bow. The bear-sized figure seems to swirl as it charges, limbs forming and re-forming. Venz jumps the last part of the chasm, but he is caught by one of the figure's sharp limbs and receives a gash in his side. Venz, terrified, runs for the caves without looking back.

Back in the upper caves, Bris is back fighting the yellow mass by her fellow villagers. Some villagers and Parish members (Aachen carrying Vilte, Iene, and a heavily-wounded Verask have broken free and retreat into the shrine space. Bris helps support Verask and hands him over to Kalyn, before re-entering the fray and trying to find Ri. Kallan is running in and pulling people out before running back in again; Bris decides to try and push further in to bring help to those less able to escape. As she heads down the corridor pointing people to safety, the wind gets stronger and it's hard to see what she's doing. She notices that all the corrupted plant matter that is being pulled from the walls by the wind is swirling together with the snow, and where the plant matter meets the snow, the snow starts to change colour to a yellow. Strael and Corpus are fighting, and Strael is losing.

When Bris reaches the back, she finds Ri impaled against a wall by two sharp, grey tusks of plant driven through her chest. She is slumped and her sword has fallen to the floor, as corrupted plants crawl over her. Bris retrieves the sword, then tries to recover her body- but the plant has grown through her back and she is attached to the wall. Bris keeps pulling and manages to recover the majority of her body, although some parts do tear off. As Bris is carrying Ri's remains through the corridor at the back of the group, Venz runs in, bleeding, followed by Shu. Shu immediately sets about helping others further ahead.

Bris is trying to help herd people to safety but is in shock and hampered by poor visibility, so misses some survivors. Bris, Venz and Shu get to the fork again. Ahead is the shrine, and to the left is one of the corridors from which the mass has been coming from. It has completely blocked the corridor and tendrils are starting to block the shrine too.

Challa is in the gathering room, trying to find Belka. The storm is whipping up around her specifically, and upturning furniture and abandoned possessions. She's feeling frustrated because things aren't going the way she had planned, unlike (to her) her other plans. Moreover, it feels like it's her fault, since she invited Strael in. She slumps in a chair and starts crying. Strael brushes against her cheek and the tear freezes; Challa gets a sense of regret from Strael. The storm shrinks, and becomes more corporeal as it still contains snow. Challa reaches out and touches it, and the feeling of regret intensifies and changes, and Challa feels it become one with her. Challa doesn't resist- the sensation is both surprising and familiar, and the two beings are sad and resigned together, with no impetus to move.

Eventually Korrin arrives and leads her quietly towards the lake. Belka is helping to get the injured people into the boats with Iene, Madi, Kalyn and Nilkat. Bris, Venz, Kallan, Aachen, Vilte and Shu are all still notably absent. Belka sets out to find them, and takes Lief to help. It strikes them that there are fewer people than there should be by the lake. Belka passes Cast in the sports area, who is fighting a retreat, and Lief greets him. Cast nods at Belka and points them in the direction of more survivors. In the shrine, now dark and completely overtaken by corrupted plants, is an untouched space still inhabited by the glowing motes. In this space is Vilte laid out on the ground, with Aachen over her, begging her to wake up. Belka starts to help to move her.

Bris, on the other side of the mass, is with Venz and Shu and Ri's body, and is trying to cut through the plants. Bris' sword, which she took as a prize from the Jackals, seems to do extra damage against the mass, which sizzles and shrinks back. As a hole is cut in the plants, Bris starts to hear the faint jingling of Belka's bells on the other side and breaks out into a manic grin. The plants see Bris is the target and lash at her, causing more wounds. When they get through into the shrine, they see Belka, Lief, Cast and Aachen around Vilte. There is a look of concentration on Vilte's face, and it's clear that the uncorrupted space around Vilte is also being maintained by her.

Belka and Aachen pick up Vilte and remove her, as the others try and fight their way through. Venz sees Cast and is shocked, but buries it for later. Venz tries to weave a spell to help get Bris out of the tangle. Since Venz is casting in Issiah's domain, the spell has a soporific effect on the plants. Unfortunately the effect is also felt by the people in the room, who all start stumbling and slumping into a sleep. Venz is the last to fall asleep, satisfied that people are safe.

For the first time in months, Vilte's eyes open.

## Quotes

**Bris**: "Oh- What the *hell* are you doing here?"
**Venz**: "Coming to help you lot! You've got to get these people inside!"
**Bris**: "Ye- no- no shit."

―*Venz arrives on the scene, injured and missing key information*
## Game Mechanics

* Bris rolls 6 in Scared with Guardian to get Korrin to follow her to safety. Fail (mark XP)
* Challa uses Bond move Still A Kid and gains a bond on Kallan.
* Bris rolls 7 in Scared with Tempt Fate. Success with a cost
* Bris rolls 8 in Powerful with Lead People Through a Dangerous Situation to get Korrin to safety. Two holds: *nothing is left behind*, *you don't end up in another dangerous situation*. Bris takes 2 Harm.
* Belka rolls 11 in Peaceful with Pay Attention to the World Around You to find exits to the cavern system via the lake. Three holds: *What is my best way out? What, if anything appears out of place?*
* Venz rolls 9 in Scared with Lead People Through A Dangerous Situation to cross the rope bridge. *You don't suffer harm, nothing is left behind*
* Venz rolls 9 in Scared with Tempt Fate to jump the gap. Success with a cost.
* Venz takes 2 Harm from the bear-figure.
* Venz rolls 8 in Scared with Steel Yourself
* Venz spikes out in Scared
* Bris rolls 6 in Peaceful with Tempt Fate to push further through the mass and save more people. Fail (mark XP)
* Bris rolls 3 in Sad with Lead People Through A Dangerous Situation to get everyone in the tunnel to relative safety. Fail (mark XP)
* Bris rolls 8 in Peaceful with Use Force to hack through the tendrils. Pick one: *Create an opportunity*. Bris takes 2 Harm
* Venz rolls 8 in Scared with to beat Corpus back so the others can escape. Costs 2 Spirit & unravels. Call dangerous attention to yourself and advance.
* Corpus gains a Bond on Venz

## Plot Notes

This is the final episode of Tiding’s first arc.
**Warning! There may be spoilers ahead!**

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