Vignette - Hovercroc

A fully grown hovercroc is almost pointless to use as an example. Like many ancient reptiles they continue growing throughout their life. Instead it is better to say that an average specimen falls between thirty and thirty five feet in length while weighing in at around five tons. This cold blooded reptile prefers swamps but has been found in lake shallows or slow flowing river areas. It is an ambush predator that will remain mostly submerged, resembling a sunken log before leaping out to attack. Its magical talents make this leap a thing of awe inspiring terror. It creates a cushion of repulsion around itself that both allows it to hover and removes any friction it might face from the water it is submerged in. Its long webbed feet reach beyond this cushion and small flicks will propel the reptile forward at dizzying speeds.

Unlike its old earth relatives it does not cache its prey for later eating, likely ther profusion of scavengers made this method untenable. Instead their hooked teeth and quick movements allow them to rip large chunks of meat from their prey to swallow. They often eat hugely then, like a snake, sleep for long periods while they digest.

This sleep eat schedule makes the beasts extremely dangerous. Do not assume a fallen log is safe because you walked by it earlier without being attacked. It might have just been sleeping off its last meal.

The only plus to these dangerous reptiles is that their hide is an excellent trade good. It is both extremely light and terrifyingly tough. The older it is the tougher it gets.

-Species Tablets at Runehold

Chapter 25

A true relationship is not built overnight. It can and did, take months. Fairly early on the council decided to send the Nellie on a round trip once a week. Growing closer required actually talking to them after all..

These once a week trips quickly ran through the stored motion and started something that Timothy considered flat out ironic. Regi and a hunting party started deliberately allowing a few boars to charge them. Sure they were careful about killing most of the passel first. But they were encouraging the hogs to charge! It was an effective way to fill a motion ward, but it seemed unnecessarily dangerous to Timothy. You could do the same thing with a log in the river. Using the current to create motion in the log. Either way the Nellie would have fuel for another trip.

He could not begrudge his brother the excursion though. It wasn’t just for motion fuel. It also cleared out the critters that could participate in the next attack. It also provided a different and much tastier kind of fuel. The kind that started with bacon and moved straight into BBQ.

This in turn spawned that most important of contests.

“The sun is now touching the western battlements!” Gareth called out, “contestants prepare to be judged!”

Two teams of volunteers, nearly twenty large men in each, approached each of the giant smokers and as a group lifted the full hog carcasses out and onto a low cart. A cart that by virtue of numbers could barely be called a ‘hand’ cart.

At the calls of their team captains they carefully pushed the carts just far enough to prevent the approaching crowd burning themselves. After chocking the wheels in place the contestants were handed up to begin butchering. Slipping on clean bags over their feet they stood on the carcasses to wield large cleavers.

With highly practiced motions succulent cuts of meat becan to drop down onto waiting plates. Let the competition begin!

Timothy smiled happily from a side table in the atrium as he watched the spectacle. A large portion of raw, but still succulent vegetables sat in front of him. He would even grab a bit of pork for himself later. He had to if he wanted to stay healthy. Jenney was quite clear on that matter. Vegetarian cuisine required a much larger variety of plants and plant products to be healthy. The specifics might be beyond any of them to remember, but magic had its ways. Jenney’s magic to be specific. Just as she could see the aspects of plants in order to make a healing potion, she could also study the aspects of food to see if it was enough for health.

Timothy grinned at the memory of her first bite of meat in at least fifteen years. Silver linings. To see her face and to regularly enjoy meat that he had prepared himself to go without. Being practical won out. Getting sickly and malnourished enough to have to activate his self rune early would set him back far more than a bit of pork with his meals.

“What are you grinning like an idiot about Brother mine?” Regi dropped into the seat next to him with a well piled plate.

“Just thinking about Jenney’s face when she had some of that pulled pork.” He smiled wide enough for it to hurt, but managed to hold in the laughter.

Regi did not even try, “Hahaha aha, ah. Ya, that was a golden moment. I wish I was a painter so I could save it. Why don’t you make us a camera while we are on the subject.”

“Hard pass.” Some things they were well rid of, if he had to see one more person interrupt a meal to get a picture… never mind. Deep breath in, deep breath out.

Regi raised an eyebrow but let it go. It wasn’t a hard choice to make, ask a question or stuff your face? A steaming chunk of pulled pork piled onto half of a bell pepper made for an impressive sandwich. They had plenty of peppers, gourds, tubers, berries and other unnamed leafy vegetables. Breads though? Those were a real luxury. The fields were outside the hold and could only be worked under heavy guard. The inside space had to be used more efficiently and vegetables provided far more food per square foot then grains.

They just didn’t store nearly as well. Thankfully with a tropical climate and a magic touch the vegetables were likely to keep on producing all year.

“Hooo, holy shit! Ahaa, huh.” Regi lunged for a large mug of berryaid. A pretty decent first fruit from the vintners if Timothy did say so. Somewhere between a Mike’s hard lemonade and a vodka blueberry mixer it was both wet and it poured. So of course it was an instant hit. Jenney had given them a hand with rapid fermenting the first batch to get it ready so quickly but all their careful work was wasted as Regi poured it down his throat like light beer at a frat party.

Reaching over Timothy grabbed a small piece of meat from his plate and sniffed it carefully. Nothing stood out, he didn't feel the need to sneeze and his eyes were dry. He tossed it into his mouth and chewed with relish. “I never knew you to be a bitch about heat, Regi. Damn that's a good one.”

Gasping, eyes watering and his nose doing some unsightly things, regi finally managed to get a few words out. “Fuck you brother, taste the ‘bell pepper’.” He tossed the other half of the red vegetable onto Timothy’s plate.

“Who put this on your plate Regi?” Timothy carefully held up the pepper to get a better look, “No, let me rephrase that. How did you piss off Jenney this time? This is a Rocoto pepper, not a red bell pepper. I remember seeing them on a cooking show once. You grind it up and use a VERY small amount to flavor other foods. You don’t eat it straight as a bread substitute. I think you better go ask her forgiveness and grab a healing potion.”

Timothy grinned, even as he made a quick note to check his food if he pissed off his sister in the future. Still, he did have compassion. He handed over a zucchini like gourd with a light pulpy interior. It killed the heat pretty well. A fact he was grateful for last week when one of the contestants went a bit to ham with the chilies.

He patted Regi on the shoulder, reaching up as far as he could, as his brother stood up and quickly rushed back into the crowd. “Waste not..” He muttered happily as he snagged a handful of pork from his brother's plate. Life was indeed good.

He carefully checked each piece before he ate it.

Another month went by in a mix of will training and study. Studies that more and more required him to explore the world outside rather than getting lost in his own head. It was a useful and productive time as he finished species runes for the most common problem beasts. Hogs, Cats, Snakes and Jaraptors.

The new alarm runes were extremely useful, but they were not a panacea. They took effort to maintain and the experience to do something about it when they went off. Experience and a steady nerve that not everyone had.

The obelisk was up to fifteen names, and each one would be bitterly missed. Looking at the stone filled Timothy with a combination of gratitude and guilt. They had been willing to risk, and lose, their lives so that the rest of the hold could live. He honored them for that sacrifice. But he also had that niggling voice in the back of his head that wondered if he might not have saved them if he had made something a little sooner, or just thought about it a bit deeper.

Despite their losses the population of Runehold was set to increase dramatically. Without outside sources of entertainment, and seeking a release from constant fear, there were now numerous buns in the oven. They could expect a bumper crop of little devils to enliven the keep in the not two distant future. A bit of life to remind them that it was not all blood and death.

It actually led to a rather embarrassing council meeting for Timothy.

“So many pregnant ladies at once. It's going to make prenatal care very difficult. I know it's a lot to ask but I wish we had a magic condom.” Jenney shared her fears, sitting around the map table in the scrying room.

Ma humphed but did not speak up to disagree. Her catholic upbringing fighting with a clear medical need. The rest of the council shifted their eyes to stare at Timothy. Confused, he could only ask, “What? Something on my face?”

“When someone says they want something they either go to your sister or to you. Since she was the one asking that leaves you Timothy.” Arthur pointed.

“Ok, I guess i’ll take that as a compliment. But why ask me Jenney. Can’t you whip up a morning after pill or some such?” he grinned for a moment, “Isn’t that what your occupation was first known for in the old world? Getting rid of unwanted pregnancies.”

“Are you calling me a witch brother dear?” Her voice was low and sweet. Timothy suddenly realized that he would have to watch his food for a bit. Not to mention the look his Ma had given him...

“Uhhum, not at all, forget I mentioned it. But why don’t you fix this?”

She sighed letting it go, “I tried, anything I do also comes with some unhealthy side effects. It would violate my ‘do no harm’ mandate.

Timothy smiled and nodded, but in his head he pictured Regi’s tongue after that pepper. Do no harm his ass. Still he wasn’t dumb enough to say that outloud. “Alright then sure, go for it. Just try to be safe about it.”

Everyone at the table looked at him oddly. “That did not make sense, Timothy. Care to try again?” Ma sighed and shook her head in exasperation. It was a very practiced gesture.

“Sure, umm, well the tools are already there, just use them wisely. Be pretty easy to mess it up and hurt someone.”

Jaws around the table dropped as Jenney’s eyes widened in shock and indignation. “EXCUSE ME?” She bellowed, “You have magical birth control and you didn’t say anything? What the hell Timothy!? You do realize that some of these women will die right? Childbirth is extremely dangerous without modern medicine” She was practically spitting by the end of it.

“Don’t you scream at me Jenney! This is the first time you have mentioned it, I am not a mind reader!”

“Enough!” Ma Patty voice echoed out with authority. She might not have been on the council officially, but anyone who didn’t think that Papa Joe’s vote was half hers was a fool. “Timothy, when did you make a new rune for birth control?” She sounded a bit torn, those catholic roots again.

“I didn’t, a specific material removal should do the trick. Just have the guy deposit some sperm in the check box and wave the wand at …. Well you get the idea. Make sure to actually do it correctly. A mistake and you cut the young lady in half after all…” Timothy hated silly safety arguments, but even to him this did not sound wise!

That got several more moments of shock until Arthur broke it with an incredulous question “You want to remove seman from a woman with a glorified shovel?”

“Ummm, when you put it like that it sounds horrifying. I can make a couple special versions and hide the runes if you want. Call them morning after rods. I’m learning that often people prefer not to know how things really work.” Looks of disbelief lingered around him, giving Timothy time to plow on.

“That does bring up a somewhat awkward bit. I tried the specific rune on dried blood once. It doesn’t work. Dried blood and live blood are not the same thing. So the seman would have to be fresh. I remember reading that it can take 5 or 6 days for a pregnancy to take. Not sure how much of a grace period that gives you. Best if the two lovebirds get to the med center as early as possible. Considering the dangers, I don’t think handing these out for personal use sounds very smart.”

Arguments for and against continued for a long time on that subject.

It did provide an opportunity however. Timothy could hardly claim it would work unless he tested it out himself! It was time to go enjoy the hot tub and the numerous attractive young ladies who frequented it.

For Science Magic!

It took him a couple of trips to the bath house during the adult only hour. But it did result in a very agreeable evening. Curvy Tina was still interested in having a bath in her house and not above adding a bit of sugar to make it happen.

It was good to be a wizard!

Even the morning after stick worked like a charm…He would have to stop using that particular phrase.

It was a nice distraction, but still a distraction from his obsession. An obsession that continued to intoxicate him. Each additional animal opened Timothy’s eyes to potential new runes. Like the shadow snake, its existence postulated the existence of other realities, other dimensions. He had no clue what that dimension was or how to get there, but he knew it existed. That would matter eventually.

Sometimes the inspiration came from what was not there rather than what was. Mosquitoes, for instance, did not use any magic. They still fed on blood but it supported their massively increased size. He had to guess that magic remained in the body in some fashion.

In comparison the pig’s ability to store and release impacts was a much more complicated spell.

Magic was based on willpower and to a lesser degree, intelligence. Perhaps this held true even for animals. A snake did not have the largest brain so it could not control its magic to any degree. It existed where it existed and only its poison allowed it to feed. A mosquito did not have much more than instincts which could explain its lack of active magic. A hog, on the other hand, was actually a fairly intelligent animal. It's complicated talent, that both absorbed impacts and released them on command, had to rely on this more active brain.

It made him reevaluate other spell effects he had observed as well. He had not attributed much in the way of brains to hovercrocs. A large cold blooded lizard did not appear to be very bright. The sophisticated repelling field they used disproved that theory. Lazy did not mean they were stupid.

It was something to think about. In the meantime every time he saw a croc his mind went to a flying car, rather than worrying about its intelligence. Practical had to have its place alongside theory. It was yet another line item on his list, a list that was already long enough that it would take years to clear. Even if he didn’t keep adding things to it every time he saw a new creature.

“We have a request from Paradise.” The council was sitting at the map table, enjoying the latest contestants' culinary explorations and relaxing with the second vintage from their proto brewery. Papa Joe continued after taking a sip of the fermented near-blueberries, “We have been allowed to explore the mesa and meet its people. They would like to send a group to do the same.“

“Wait, they named it Paradise? Arrogance or optimism do you think? When did they finally decide on a name?” Regi was clearly amused. It had not occurred to their western neighbors that a name was needed. That changed the first time the crew of the Nellie jokingly referred to their home as Massada. A contest with all citizens allowed to vote ensued.

And dragged on.

And on.

And on.

“Did you ever figure out where they are getting the salt?” Timothy asked rather guiltily, he had been a bit too engrossed in his work lately. Things had clearly advanced more than he was aware.

“Yes,” Ma Patty gave him ‘The look’ “we discussed it a week ago in fact. Apparently it put you right to sleep. Oscar is the second of three pathfinders that paradise has. Although he doesn't call himself that. He describes himself as a shaman. They use large scale rituals with dancing and singing to summon up or create spirits. A type of spirit that they seem to focus on has a focus on the earth. That's what dug out the approaches to their mesa. They also can retrieve underground minerals like metal and salt.”

“That sounds pretty cool, but how does it help them when the beast waves come? Throwing rocks at pigs doesn’t work.”

“Dust does, apparently. The approaches to the mesa have earth spirits waiting in large dust flats. Creatures that pass through get suffocated.” Arthur explained, “I watched it in the pool a couple times. It’s effective, and when the Paradisians throw bags of the dust into the air it does for buzzards as well.”

“We are getting off topic,” Papa Joe interjected “that request I mentioned? Any thoughts?”

“Go for it.” Jenney opined. “It’s only fair and it's not like we have anything to hide.”

“I’m not completely opposed,” Timothy broke in, “but I beg to differ on secrets. I don’t know if I want strangers to get a good look at my runes and considering they are spread all over this hold it makes me a bit nervous.”

“I’m for it. There is an old saying, something like ‘You can keep a secret between three people if two of them are dead’. That may be an exaggeration but as you said, there are runes all over this hold. You can’t expect them to stay a secret. Your tower is already off limits to anyone without a direct invitation. That’s good enough.” Regi said.

Timothy could not really disagree. So he simply nodded and stayed quiet. No use fighting a losing battle.

“Agreed.” Arthur kept it brief.

“I always enjoy a new audience.” Gareth agreed.

Da looked over at Ma, receiving a nod he knocked his knuckles on the table. “We are agreed then. Next time the Nellie makes a trip. Now about those subsidies-”