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When The Bough Breaks

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Reality Fault

Realms: Bough Logs

Seventh Movement, First Verse

Neuschwabenland has a creepy sort of half-still, half-energized feeling to it now; on the one hand the town -- city? Country? -- is dead and clearly has been for some time. On the other hand, as the Black Bell still reverberates from the seventh toll there is an anticipation in the air, a tension like something being pulled taut. Those reverberations have an additional effect, as well; in addition to the weird light being cast upon the city, Mikal, standing at the opening in the belfry, thinks that she sees... shapes of vibration and shadow in the street on the side of the belfry with the open window. They are undefined as of yet. It's that 'as of yet' that troubles Mikal.

Norris for his part has found what may be a way to stop the bell tolling. The bell has a number of handholds or purchases along it's rim that one could hold on to and turn the bell; in turn, it looks like the bell is made fast to the crossbar it is mounted on, but just below that is a thin slit that looks like it is where the bell turns in place; this, and the very small markings on there, with a helpful arrow, seem to indicate that one 'turns off' the bell by taking hold of the handholds, putting your back into it, and giving it a quarter-turn on it's mounting.

Mikal glances around hastily, doing a bit of math, then says grimly, "Five rings to go. All right, we're going to have to experiment really quickly then." She frowns thoughtfully, then looks at Norris, "Can you block this one window slot? We'll wait through one ring then, see what happens. If nothing, we'll try the reverse -- opening all the window slots, all right?"

Norris uhs. "Block it how? With my body?"

Mikal tilts her head and smiles at Norris, "Use your abilities, Hephaestus: seal the stone with your will." She glances back out, squinting slightly as she tries to perceive -- maybe just imagine -- what the strangely vibratory, shadowy shapes might be. Do they want those shapes to manifest, in the hopes helpful entities will appear? Or... does letting anything manifest here just feel incredibly wrong?

Norris is momentarily leery about that proposition: they have not tried dreamweaving in the Wyld yet, and one wonders what, if anything, would happen. But he's used to doing what Mikal says, even if he doesn't understand, or has reservations...and as she points out, they're under a clock. So he puts his hand to the wall, and tries to will the stone to reshape over the slot.

Mikal thinks she can sort of make out the shapes -- they all appear to be human -- but it's the way they move that differentiates some of them. Most appear to walk normally, the typical kind of walk that one does when going from place to place. But a few seem to carry themselves straighter, more purposeful. More... arrogant. Threatening. She sees this right before the whitewashed stone of the belfry seems to ripple briefly light water, and flow together. A moment later it's as if the belfry never had had a slot in that wall.

Mikal nods firmly to Norris, then turns and examines the other blocked window slots, checking to see if they can be easily re-opened. After that she puts her back to the wall, calling Raphael over to her. She murmurs quietly to Norris, "Be braced, Norr! This one may be a doozie, with the sound having nowhere to go."

Norris huhs. That was easier than usual. "Things are more fluid here." he muses, before what Mikal says registers.

Mikal reaches to cover Raphael's ears firmly with both hands, pressing one of her ears against his thick ruff. She wants to be able to hear a bit, though, so she just hunches up her other shoulder, partially covering her left ear.

Norris turns to face the bell, and takes a cue from Mikal, protecting his ears.

A quick glance shows that the blocked window slots could be easilly opened with a few good blows, or about a half-minute's worth with something solid like a crowbar. Even so, they are well-placed and seem unable to pass light. A few layers of paint around the edges of the panels have seen to that.

And then it rings.

Without the slot to escape from, the toll is utterly deafening and hits like a solid wave, out and inward again from the bell to the walls and back. But it's visually worse. The room turns inverse, a painful twist that seems to ignore closed eyes. The invert effect lasts for a full ten seconds. It is extremely uncomfortable, though it does pass and does not seem to leave any lingering side-effects.

Mikal staggers to her feet after several seconds, weaving slightly... then snaps, "Screw this! Stop the bell, Norris!"

Norris holds his ground against the torrent of sound...even he is momentarily disoriented, if not by the sound, then by the visual effects, making him shut his eyes. But at Mikal's insistence, he reaches out and grabs the earlier spotted handhold before the bell swings back the other way.

Mikal shakes her head, blinking a few times, then moves to the other side of the bell to try and help.

Norris braces his feet, once he's got a good grip...and then tries to twist it, hoping he understood the marking's correctly. "This way!"

Mikal nods and grabs hold grimly, yanking hard to help Norris.

The bell resists for several moments, then with a metal-on-metal grinding sound, it begins to turn. That's when Mikal can distinctly hear the echoes of footsetps -- not the actual footsteps, though -- of people entering the building far below, and the ghostly echos of voices raised and speaking German.

[They're knights or soldiers,] Raphael said, a low growl in his throat. [They're considering who to send up: soldiers or technicians. They know something is wrong.]

And then the bell rings, a ninth time. Being in contact with the bell when it rings is painful, as the vibration lashes through the skin and feels like the limb has briefly gone to sleep in a wretched pins-and-needles sensation. Worse yet, the inverted vision lasts for longer, and it feels like one is pressing, however briefly, against a membrane of nettles, as if there is another world or reality that is close, so close, to breaking through with each toll. And paradoxically, with the toll of the bell, the voices below become less ephemeral and more real.

Norris makes a strangled noise, not expecting the pain that comes with the disorientation...but he endures. It's what he is, in this life or any other. "Keep at it?!" he gasps, sucking air into his lungs.

Mikal snarls with effort as she yanks furiously on the bell, snapping to Raphael, [Don't let them come up! They must not be able to see the mounts and gryphkits yet, but they may manifest more strongly up here. If you see them, stop them, big brother!] She gasps to Norris, "Hurry! We have to stop the other entities from manifesting!"

Norris nods, and sets his jaw, putting all his strength into it...letting Hepheastus fully into him in the hope that it might help as he pulls with all his might to try and unhinge the bell...

Norris can feel the bell spinning up -- spinning up? -- for the tenth toll, the buildup of energies within it. The bell is not quite halfway turned to where it needs to be, and this next one is going to hit them all full force again. Plus there's the Nazis -- what the hell is a 'nazi?' -- coming up the stairs. They'll certainly be here before he and Mikal can get the bell fully turned 'off.' Raphael stands at the head of the narrow staircase that leads down. Mikal hears his panicked mental voice: [They are sending soldiers up! They have been told something is wrong and to attended to the Black Bell immediately. I don't know how I can stop something that is little more than a shadow, unless I wait for the bell to toll....]

Mikal snaps fiercely, "Bite them, shove them off the side, whatever -- howl at them, I don't know! Fight, Raph, don't whine!" She blinks, then looks at Norris, still yanking at the bell, "Do you think opening all the window slots would help disperse it somewhat?"

She thinks again, then adds softly, "Or... could we drop the bell, maybe? You molded stone... why not... um... whatever is holding it up?" She grins fiercely as she adds, "Bet it won't ring so well after a several story fall!"

Jareth blinks, staggering a little under the sound and looking around in perplexity. He catches Mikal asking about trying to stop the bell ringing.

Norris has seconds to decide...the bell is being far too recalcitrant. He's not going to be able to break the crossbar in one blow, but he could try reshaping it...or at the very least, breaking the things the crossbar itself is anchored to.

Mikal brightens as she spots Jareth, "Jareth! Come help pull, lover, please?" She grins at Norris again, adding, "Melt the bar, Hephaestus -- it's just metal! That's your element, after all!"

Jareth nods and moves to help at Mikal's request. He wants this noise to stop. Badly. He opens his mouth and cries out as if he's trying to drown out the horrible sound.

Norris does it. "Molten." he rumbles, focusing the hot blood - lava - in his veins, trying to warp and melt the crossbar...

Mikal gives Jareth a startled glance, but then focuses on Norris's words. She nods enthusiastically, pulling with all her might.

The tenth ring strikes then, vibrating through their hands painfully and almost rocking them to their feet... but something is ameliorating the harshness of the sound, a counter-harmony. It is not enough to completely suppress the dreadful sound, but it is enough to mitigate it somewhat so it doesn't feel so painful. The light doesn't invert quite so much, or perhaps this time not enough. There is enough time to see two figures come to the top of the stairs when the bell tolls: wickedly handsome, athletic in frame and arrogant in demeanour, wearing uniforms of some uncomfortably familiar type with weapons out. They stare agape at what they see for one second before an eighth-of-a-ton of raptor-wolf collides with one, and all three disappear down the stairs.

And then the metal bar turns bright, white-hot, and with the snap of singing metal the bell, still rumbling, drops from its mounting, and singing a horrifying cadence as it tumbles, goes through the thin floor and drops several stories.

Norris lets go at the last second, pulling Mikal free so the massive bell doesn't take her with it..

Norris grins fiercely at her. "Good plan." he rumbles, all blonde-bearded and intense as he pulls his mace free, prepared to help Raph and Mikal with the soldiers...

Mikal laughs delightedly, giving Norris a quick hug, "Eek, thanks, big brother!" as he pulls her safely back, then turning and hugging Jareth as well in relief, "You sang at it, didn't you, pretty chat? Thank you too!" She glances downwards, then grins again, her eyes bright and fierce, "C'mon! Raph might need our help!" She patters swiftly down the stairs, calling, "We're coming, Raph -- hold on, big brother!"

Jareth shakes his head as if trying to clear out the residual rining and grins at Mikal. The sort of shocked "What just happened" grin that happens when you get thrown into an unknown situation. "I... sort of?" He moves to follow, glancing back over his shoulder.

Norris charges after Mikal, determined to put bodies between the soldier and Jareth. "Trouble." he explains shortly. "Stay in back."

Mikal giggles, looking back and calling again, "C'mon, hurry!" She doesn't pull her short sword as she runs down the stairs -- she doesn't want to impale herself accidentally -- but she does call mentally, [Raph? What's up? How many are there, and where, please?]

Raphael doesn't answer right away, and shortly it appears why. Going down the stairs is a study in devastation. The bell has fallen through the high vaulted cieling and impacted right onto the Black Sun symbol in the floor. It is broken open, but the mechanism is dead, smashed -- no alien energies coruscate upon the internal workings of the black bell. More than that, it is silent and still; no vibratory shadows seem to move when one is looking at them only out of the corner of one's eye. One of the horses seems to have toppled over from the impact of the bell, and it is not immediately apparent if they've been hurt. Raphael is also at the base of the stairs, lying not quite still but not comfortably, either. [I was riding one of them down the stairs,] he says, his mental voice weak, [when the bell broke, and suddenly they were not there anymore, and I fell the rest of the way.]

Jareth rushes to Raphael, eyes wide.

Mikal sighs with affectionate amusement at Raphael, running down to kneel next to him, "Oh, sweetie... don't worry, Jareth and I can help. The important thing is you stopped them, and we'll have you on your feet in no time!" She strokes his head gently, checking him over cautiously before she tries anything. She explains to the others what Raphael told her, pride in him clear in her voice.

Norris smiles and lets Mikal and Jareth tend to Raph...he sees to the fallen horse, checking for serious injuries. He thumbs up to Raph, grinning boyishly.

Jareth kneels next to Raphael and reaches out to lay a hand on his side gently, "You did a wonderful job, Raph."

Norris checks on the felled horse; fortunately no bones appear broken, though it has been severely bruised. Raphael likewise is more bruised than anything.

What is of possibly greater concern is that it is quiet and still; the weather is still snowy and cold, but the odd light that suffused the city is gone; all that remains is what weak light comes from the small lampposts or from lights on the buildings, which is much more meager.

Mikal sighs in relief, smiling as she gently hugs Raphael and helps him to her feet, then beaming up at Jareth, "Thank you, lover!"

Norris grimaces. "I hope that was the right thing to do.." he notes, as he realizes what has changed. "The soldiers were likely bad news, but this place's despairing aura has not abated. If anything, it is darker and more forboding."

Jareth breathes a sigh of relief and pushes to his feet, "It was truly the least I could do."

Mikal hugs Jareth, then looks around thoughtfully, "Well... I don't know what to do to fix this place yet, but I'm not sure that's our job, Norris. We have a True Name fragment to find. That's it, you know?"

Mikal adds quietly, "I'm not sure it's really more foreboding now, either. The dark is not evil. It is the birthplace of creativity. Fear of the dark, turned to cruelty -- that is evil, to me."

Norris tilts his head as he's getting out the limiment to rub down the wounded horse's legs. "I never thought of it like that."

Mikal smiles affectionately at Norris, "Visit the Underworld sometime when Persephone is Queen. You'll see what I mean, dear." She leans her head against Jareth and sighs in relief, "I'm just glad we stopped those soldiers. They felt just... well... wrong. Did anyone recognize their uniforms?"

Norris shakes his head. "I was focusing on the crossbar, I didn't get a good look."

Jareth's mouth opens and the words come out before he's truly aware of them, "Nazis." The word makes him shiver and there's a strange feeling of being in a very dark room and watching images flash before him made of light.

Mikal blinks at Jareth, then thinks a moment... then nods, "The bogeymen of their age, yes. I think Raphael and I missed that time."

Norris uhs? He thinks...that word is familiar. Like something he read about once, in a past life. Yes, the smith that worked for Oppenheimer, he learned about them.

Jareth takes a deep breath, "They sort of... embodied..." He shivers a little, "They embodied the worse of what the Architect is trying to do. They believed that one type of people were perfect and chosen. And that others were evil, by their birth, and... there were a lot of deaths."

Mikal thinks a bit, then glances around the room. When a gryphkit peeks cautiously out from under her cloak on a nearby table, the small girl grins, "Hey, cute stuff! You can all come out now!" She hugs Jareth comfortingly, murmuring, "We stopped them breaking through into here -- all of us! Now all we have to do is find the True Name fragment." She puts her hands on her hips, staring resolutely at the bell as she adds, "And you know what I think? I think it was part of what caused the sickness in that bell -- let's search the inside of it for the inscription!"

Mikal grins and patters over to peer into the shattered, silent remains of the bell. Her voice is soft as she murmurs mischievously, "Heeeere, True Name-y, Name-y, Name!"

Norris stares at Mikal in bemusement, before laughing. "Are we hoping the Name is etched on a gryphkit?" he queries, finally finishing his work with the horse. He finally comes over to study the fallen bell with Mikal in interest.

Mikal give Norris a confused grin, "Noo... which is why I'm studying the bell, not the kits!" Her voice echoes slightly as she turns to continue searching in the bell, "I just thought reassurance would be good for them!"

Norris shakes his head, eyes sparkling. "Not on ours, I mean, like you were trying to coax a Neushwabenland gryphkit out...nevermind. It was funnier in my head."

Mikal giggles at Norris, continuing to search.

The little gryphkits managed to escape the wreckage of the falling bell and one by one are coming out of hiding -- Ferro had managed to get himself into an urn off to the side, and is squeezing his way out now that the chaos is over.

To Norris's practiced eye, there are elements to the bell that remind him uncomfortably of his Waking work with Oppie on the physicist's 'metal egg.' But there are a lot of other differences. There appears to have been some sort of coil mechanism and some kind of induction apparatus. But beyond that, the workings of the Black Bell are beyond him.

He does find one thing while picking through the wreckage. The largest of the coils has what at first glance are meaningless squiggles that seem as much a part of the seemingly random (but disturbingly non-random) patterns of wires and plates that make up the coils. But once he gets a better look, it's like the syllables of the old Gods' Tongue leaps out at him. It is, without a doubt, the True Name of an aethyr.

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