Vignette - The Ring

The world pulsed to a beat. A simple truth that hid so many questions. What beat? Who’s beat? For what purpose.

Many questions, no answers...Yet.

Instead there was just the watcher.

Pulse.

Pulse.

Pulse.

Pulse.

Pulse.

Then it expanded. A move away from the discordant. From raw chaos into intent and form. Small forms perhaps. Mushrooms began to grow in a small clearing in the jungle.

Growing in a nearly perfect circle.

Hmmm. Not mushrooms. Toadstools.

Yes, this was worth the watchers time.

Chapter 38

“-and that's three successes! I drain the thug dry right?”

“Eventually, but it takes at least 2 more rounds.”

“Meh, that's fine. Was getting a bit low on vitae anyway and Donald has my back.”

“Come on mate, you gotta use the characters name, not mine!”

“Sorry, sorry. It’s been too long. I’m out of practice. Vigo has my back.”

“Ya, no issue there. Let's call it a day. Make sure you think about what you want to spend your xp on for next time.” Mike said, as he started to clean up the wooden plaques, map and hand carved figurines. “Thank you, Timothy. I’ve wanted to play for a while but just the three of us can get a bit stale. And it’s not really something we,” he gestured to his brothers, “can invite just anyone too. Mrs. Hubbard would have a coronary at the violation of Propriety.” He even pronounced it with a capital.

“Not sure I’m getting that. Why does it matter if you invite a few extra peeps to fill out the game?”

“Maintaining authority. It’s a big deal with her, and frankly it kept us alive in the early days so I’m not prepared to buck her on it.” He straightened his posture and his tone took on a much higher pitch, “A leader can not afford to appear undignified before those he leads.” He sighed and his posture collapsed back into a languid lounge. “Playing tabletop games would probably top the charts for undignified with her.”

“Bummer, well I’m not one of your followers. I don’t see why we can’t make this a regular thing.”

“Speaking of which, is it really ok to use your magic bowls to play VTM?” Rafe asked, sounding doubtful. “Don’t get me wrong, I really don’t want to wait for your next trip but… isn’t it a misuse of resources.”

“Na, it’ll be fine. I don’t have that many hobbies, no one is going to complain if I game once a week. It won’t cost me much to keep the bowls going for a couple hours.”

“Still, you made all that noise about no politics but now you are using it to play tabletop games?”

“Shhhh! Call it necessary stress relief! Or better yet don’t call it anything at all. Not like I can’t lock the doors to my tower before we start. Besides, if it gets out I’ll just point out that I made another enchantment, with my own coin, to play on. Hell, I’ll do that anyway just to avoid the issue.”

“Ah? Fair enough. If it’s that easy,” Donald asked with a twinkle in his eye, “can we purchase one for diplomacy as well?”

Timothy gave him the stink eye, “No. You may not.”

Donald laughed and his brothers joined him. “I really don’t understand why you are making such a big deal about it. If you didn’t care about politics at all, you would not be here! And we would not have a marvelous new bath house. Again, thank you for that! I especially enjoyed the show considering how quickly it went up.”

Timothy sighed, acknowledging the complement with a nod but moving on to speak at the other issue. “It’s not that I don’t care about politics. More of a backlash against social media.” He waved away the questioning looks, “Yes, I know we don’t have that anymore. But people who can respond really quickly to something often forget to think. They rush, rush, rush, to respond and end up going off half cocked. I like the delay required in sending a note once a week. Keeps the amount of bureaucratic crap down and gives everyone involved time to really think over their replies.”

Donald paused, tapping his lips in thought. “That is deeper than I’d given you credit for, my apologies.”

Timothy waved it away, he was used to being underestimated. Hell he deliberately invited it. It would be pretty asinine to get upset with someone for falling for his act.

Donald continued to speak, “That’s not to say I agree. A quick response time for emergencies could be pretty key to our survival.” He gave Timothy a hard look. “I think that trumps your issues with politics frankly.”

Timothy shrugged and took a sip of the local hooch, delaying a second as he organized his thoughts. “We each have opinions. I won’t say you are wrong, but you haven't convinced me to change my mind either. Unfortunately it’s not solely up to me. I’m sure you have been chatting with my brother by now. His Brotherhood links are ready and willing to allow you instant political communication.”

“With all the complications that brings.” Rafe muttered.

Timothy grinned to see agreement on all three brothers' faces. “Come now, you would not have offered me hospitality or asked for a bathhouse if you thought he was really plotting something. All you have to do is study those bonds for a while and you will put your worries to bed. It comes back to that handy concept of Loyalty. By its very nature it is safe. If one of your men, already tied by mundane loyalties to family and this town, joins the brotherhood he will be forced to hold all loyalty as sacrosanct. To act against your town would be to act against his source of power.”

Mike just shook his head. “So you have said, so Regi said. But on something like this, talk isn’t enough. We need proof.”

Timothy grinned even wider, it was nice when a conversation went the way he expected. Not that it did that often, but a man could hope. He stood up for a moment and walked over to open the door. Sticking his head through the opening he glanced at the outer room filled a bit overfull with bodyguards. “Sven, could you send in Brian and Karen?”

“Ahem” Grey hair from the initial meeting, Conrad he was called, grunted. He seemed to fill a position similar to Arthur's here at Bloodhaven. He paused for a moment.

“Go ahead Conrad,” Donald's voice flowed through the doorway.

“I would say trust me, but I realize how silly that is. How about trust in hospitality. The backlash on me from any bad behavior is not something I am willing to risk.” Timothy smiled with some sympathy. It was hard to tolerate guards pushing their way into his life. But it was also hard for those guards to allow their principles to see any risks. If something happened to the pathfinders, there was a good chance the entire community would die.

He sighed then stood up, waving the two Runehold guardians before him as he followed them into the gaming room.

Returning to his chair Timothy started to explain. “I talked it over with Regi before I left. This is Brian,” He pointed to the swarthy short man with brown hair and a muscular physique first then the tall slender beauty beside him, “And this is his wife Karen. I know, lucky dog right?” With a practiced movement he dodged her elbow, while Brian grinned and nodded emphatically behind her back. ”They volunteered to remain, with your permission of course. It’s pretty hard to observe the bond with only one end of it. With the two of them deliberately showing it off you should be able to get a good look. Even more so if they actively draw on those bonds.”

Rafe smiled slightly, “I have noticed that. Watching the magic as its cast is much easier to understand then trying to pick the residuals up from the effects.”

“Exactly!”

Donald glanced at his brothers, receiving a nod from each. “Welcome once again Brian, Karen. I look forward to working with you. Please see Mrs. Hubbard about housing and Conrad here about emergency plans.”

He stood up, “While they get that straightened out, care for a walk Timothy? Sunset can be quite spectacular around here.”

“Be happy too.” He stood up and followed Donald from the room, closely followed by the other two.

They trooped through hallways lit by tall extremely slender openings. More like arrow slits than traditional windows. Still they did the job. Light flickered through as well as a light breeze. That was a not unimportant factor considering the current temperature had to be over 90 degrees and the humidity had to be felt to be believed. Timothy was just as glad that he didn’t have the tools to measure either of those factors. It was hot enough already, confirming a specific number might have made it worse. The human brain was odd that way.

They walked to the end of the current hall and took a right turn up a flight of stairs, through a heavily fortified door to the roof. The roof was obviously designed with heavy rains in mind. A pyramid took up the center surrounded by a wide walkway then a waist high wall with frequent gutter holes.

The view from that height was spectacular, the hill plus five stories of tower allowed him to really see a large swath of jungle and an even wider swathe of plains. Glancing over the side at the bustling town below Timothy wondered once again. But this time he had the opportunity to ask. “How the hell did you manage to build stone apartment buildings without a visible quarry?”

Donald grinned, “So you don’t know everything hmm?”

“I never claimed I did!”

“Sure, sure, it isn’t actually stone.”

Timothy stared at him. He reached over and rubbed his fingers across the black rounded top of the half wall. It was cool to the touch as well as abrasive and porous. It certainly felt like stone. Something like pumice or even concrete. “Looks like stone, feels like stone. If it’s not stone then what the hell is it?”

Grinning even wider, Donald explained, “Its blood building.”

Timothy waited, “Is that supposed to tell me anything?”

“Maybe not, but it’s true nevertheless. Blood building is like saying an oak tree or an elm. The building is a living entity. A magical semi plant, semi animal that when fed blood and living material grew these walls and most of the furnishings you have been enjoying.”

Timothy stood still, taking that knowledge bomb in. “A living entity that grows stone walls?”

“Yep! Although they weren't stone when it first grew them. More like the wood we fed it. Over time the fresh woody growths ossify into what you see. Feed it wood, get walls and floors. Feed it a boar carcass and you get cushions and beds. It’s most of what you need for living in one convenient creature. Just make sure you keep it fed with enough blood essence and it will keep its occupants safe and comfortable.”

Timothy decided not to mention the ick factor of a blood eating house filled with people. If they weren’t going to mention it he certainly wasn’t going to. “You grew the entire town? What did you do, make a blood pool and dance around it while your men threw in wooden sacrifices?”

Rafe choked while Mike suddenly found the ceiling fascinating. Donald looked around for help then sighed. “There was no dancing involved.”

Mike muttered under his breath, now smiling “That would’ve been brilliant.”

Donald glared at him. “There, was, NO, dancing.” He sighed, “but you're not far wrong on the rest of it. We dug a pit and piled it with hog carcasses, then fed it tree chunks till this lady grew up proper. Bit crowded till her mates grew. But safe enough. The wall was an entire ’nother kettle of fish.”

“Right knackered the lot of us it did.” Rafe poked in, “But damn good thing we did. That first horde night would a’ been a doozy without it.”

Timothy raised an eyebrow, so they had faced their own beast wave. “Horde night? We’ve faced what we call a beast wave before. Never seen one come at night.”

“It came in the shine, my brother is just having you on.”

“Come off it, all we needed was a bright red moon to go with it. Sudden charge of otherwise ill tempered, but hardly that aggressive critters all at once? Should’ve been on the seventh day.”

“They’re not zombies, Rafe.” Timothy snickered. “Good thing too. I quite like the overabundance of bacon.”

“Amen to that!” Mike chimed in. “It worked out pretty well. We needed more blood and carcasses to feed the construction and here came a horde of it on the hoof. One thing led to another and our walls are thirty feet high and twenty thick, not to mention five full towers at five stories each.”

Donald grinned, “Life is funny that way. Almost a tragedy, but instead a real blessing.”

Timothy smiled, that was the entire world in a phrase. Tragedy if you were lazy, opportunity if you kept at it.