A forest that was not there yesterday

[unprophesied_of_ages]

The Lord Ruler is in his palace, when he sees a sight he hasn't seen in centuries. Trees, sunlight...is he hallucinating? The fact that there's a forest in his living room isn't the surprising part. The fact that there's a forest on his planet is. As soon as he walks through the door to where his living room isn't, it's definitely not a hallucination.

His stores of Allomantic metals abruptly disappear. They're still physically there, but the power is completely gone. He immediately turns to go back, only to see more forest.

At least his Feruchemy still works—he can tell because he's still alive—but that won't last him forever. He only has so much stored youth, and without both sets of abilities he can't replenish it. He hasn't been in so much danger since the beheading that one time. Returning to Scadrial is the highest and currently only priority. If spontaneous forests are a thing, he needs to find someone who can explain them and more importantly how to get back.

The next few hours are spent walking in an essentially randomly chosen direction, with the sun to his right. He's quite certain that suns are supposed to be moving across the sky, but that's not a pressing emergency. He already knew he wasn't on his own planet when he saw proper trees and plants instead of ash-covered monstrosities. Whenever he calls out, nobody responds. If it's an empty spontaneous forest, he's probably doomed.

After some time, he hears his stomach growl. He hasn't seen much that looks edible, but possibly that's just because he's not used to real plants. Berries. Berries used to exist. Those berries look tasty, and if they're poisonous it's not like he needs to worry about it. As always, he has a truly ridiculous amount of stored health in his gold jewelry. Tapping gold just in case, he eats a handful.

Comments

[alicornucopia]

"She knows the territory, so almost anything. Set you on fire, maybe."

[unprophesied_of_ages]

"Is directly attacking me the kind of thing a sorcerer is likely to think to do?"

[alicornucopia]

"Yes."

[unprophesied_of_ages]

"Excellent. Looks like I have a few hours to wait, then."
He doesn't bother continuing to interrogate. He'll have a more knowledgeable vassal soon.

He can skip over the boring period by filling a zincmind; he does that for most of the relevant time and then returns to the cave to wait for Verve. This shows a complete lack of regard for the fairies under a "take no new action" order, but he'll come back for them eventually.

[alicornucopia]

The fairies, of course, wait.

Verve turns out to be about four feet high, with wings that look like they're made of metallic lace but still let her fly. Assuming that's Verve, anyway, landing where the little fairy was working and frowning.

[unprophesied_of_ages]

Frowning does seem to be a likely activity of someone who noticed a kidnapping while "making rounds." If it isn't her, well, extra useless vassal.

The Lord Ruler makes himself faster than he's had reason to be in a long time. He's confident a human wouldn't have time to so much as blink, but it's best to be on the safe side. He doesn't see Verve's atium ghost doing anything that looks magical, or the real Verve for that matter, so he rushes her and claps a hand over her mouth. While dragging her back toward the cave, he tries to keep her disoriented enough that she'll have less of a chance to cast something.

[alicornucopia]

Something catches fire in the process, but it's not him. Verve suddenly gets very heavy, but not enough to hinder somebody as hopped up on magic as Alendi is.

[unprophesied_of_ages]

He increases his strength to compensate. Once she's in the unfamiliar surroundings of his basement she should be less able to resist. Hopefully that fire wasn't a signal; he doesn't have the time to spare to put it out.

Once he's back on Scadrial, he summons some powdered pewter (useful in combat, hence its presence) and starts maneuvering it down Verve's throat with magic.

[alicornucopia]

Verve struggles. Her hair catches fire. She beats her wings crazily and kicks Alendi. But eventually he will be able to get her mouth open and pewter down her throat.

She promptly vomits.

[unprophesied_of_ages]

Does that make it not count? Alendi has no idea. But he can test it. "Stop resisting." And does it again whether she stops or not, because obedience could be a trick.

[alicornucopia]

Apparently her vomiting was not fully effective. She stops resisting. More pewter. Yum.

[unprophesied_of_ages]

Pewter is pretty unsavory and also potentially harmful. He doesn't care.
"Take no new action except for saying true things in response to my questions. Give complete answers and do not leave out any information relevant to one of my questions that you think I'd want to know. Got that?"

[alicornucopia]

"Yes, master."

[unprophesied_of_ages]

"First question: Do you want to keep working for Thorn? I've heard he's pretty terrible to his minions."

[alicornucopia]

"I prefer working for him to any alternative I have considered recently," says Verve.

[unprophesied_of_ages]

"I'm not going to bother with a recruitment pitch when I have you and he doesn't, but I'm pretty sure I'm less sadistic. Anyway, I plan to capture him. What sorcerous defenses does he have that might prevent me from getting to him?"

[alicornucopia]

"His court structures and the routes between them are all but impassable to anyone he has not had expressly written in as an exception. Sorcerers are hidden in several places and will attack unauthorized passers-by. There are automatic traps in and around the buildings that will injure or in your case kill anyone who doesn't know how to bypass them. He will heal automatically from any harm you do and can pass through solid objects at will, including your hands, if cornered."

[unprophesied_of_ages]

Alendi can only approve of this level of paranoia.
"Which of those defenses can you neutralize?"

[alicornucopia]

"I know how to go around the traps in the nearest court and the northwest court. I can enter the buildings and passages myself but can't let you in. Sorcerers might not attack if it looked to them like I had captured you."

[unprophesied_of_ages]

"How impassable is 'all but' impassable?
If you can't stop the intangibility thing, are there other sorcerers who can? Or, if I put some food inside an intangible fairy, would that count as feeding him?"

[alicornucopia]

"I know that a sorcerer has managed to get through the wards before but I don't know how. Blossom could probably prevent Thorn from going through things if she tried. Intangibility is not the same as going through things, but if he managed to make your food pass through him I don't think it would count."

[unprophesied_of_ages]

"Okay, where can I find Blossom?
And what do these wards do that takes a sorcerer to get past?"

[alicornucopia]

"Blossom is always near Thorn. There are several layers of wards; the layer I've helped with makes a barrier around the physical walls of the structures."

[unprophesied_of_ages]

"Is that 'near' as in I can't possibly grab her without being seen? Is there anyone else who could get past that?"

[alicornucopia]

"Sometimes they aren't in the same room. Someone else like Rainfall or Twirl might be able to undo some of his protections but they're much less likely than Blossom."