Hey all, Fumushu here!
I get to introduce this one because I am no longer allowed to drive. Sorry if the audio is bad… no time to get a good recording on the run. Juju was supposed to comment on this one while I drove, but she is not in the mood. The articles and stuff are uhh… pretty painful to see. These last few days have been rough on all of us.
Anyhoo, as we run away, so does grandma! She might be better at it, though. Take a look
8th of Yorn, 128
More days to run, more days to think. Think and run. Run and think. I made the decision to flee from the cave while the rain still poured down. I think it was a good one. A mile, maybe two, and I was out of the storm.
It made me realize. I have been focusing on the wrong thing, while it is arguable that I carry some responsibility for what happened at the capital. There is no reason to project that out to the rest of my worries. My children are fine, and I will make it home to them. This thing is a small set-back, I have been freed from my contract and can continue my search for a way home.
Just more names to remember. More people who died for me. I regret most that I must leave Alvetica’s grave alone, her memorial tucked away and hidden. She deserves better, they all do. Curse that Grey Wolf.
9th of Yorn, 128
I risked a connection to the ENT network today. I need to know where I am. So I found a map, running with the carriage through old roads and empty grasslands can only get me so far. If I want to make it home, I will need to get away from human lands. I’ll make for the Elvish forests.
If human records contain no knowledge of dimensional travel, then the elves, and their long history, must. I wish I could remember more of the tome I studied at the fort. I wish I knew more about the elves. I hope they are not as horrible as the rest of the peoples I have meet here.
I am hungry again, the pains of an empty belly remind me of that time. I wish what occurred there would haunt me less. I have been studying the Weave to distract myself.
There are many patterns of weaving to study, but every resource on the topic suggest a mage choose a single one to specialize in. They split patterns into two schools of magic, the physical, and the conceptual. Physical patterns affect the world in solid and real ways; things like creating and manipulating elements, barriers, and enchantments. Conceptual patterns affect the unseen, the nebulous concept is highly ill-defined in what I’ve read, but the complexity and specificity of mental weaving is unmatched.
Due to circumstance, I have chosen a hybrid of the two disciplines: the pattern of illusion. It seems the ability to hide is what I need more than anything else. It is a shame that it precludes me from other studies. Who would not want to learn to throw a ball of fire?
Illusion has quite a few perks, however. The pattern lets me chain together a patchwork quilt of woven squares, some mental to fool the senses, some physical to bend light and sound. The longer and larger the weave, the better the illusion. Most squares are the base or simplified weaves of proper spells from other schools. The same woven squares in miniature, a fool's copy of the real thing, I suppose it still brings me closer to learning a bit of all magic.
10th of Yorn, 128
I have become quite proficient at a few illusions. I can conceal the sound of my carriage's movement and, when still, turn a small area into a passable hill to hide my position in the open. These weavings take too much effort to keep up for more than a few hours, but they have already saved me more than once.
Connecting to the ENT network was much more risky than I thought. The Empire quickly honed in on my position. The first warning was the rain returning. Then, as I practiced traveling while holding my silent illusion, I saw a patrol pass by on the road. If I hadn’t been silent and a good few feet into the forest, I would have been caught.
Thank goodness for the carriage wheels and the illusion of silence. The two have let me travel in places the Empire clearly does not expect. Not using the carriage’s hovering has slowed me down, but today only confirmed my cautious approach. Even if I am spotted, it will take them time to follow me into the forest.
I have sheltered in the back of another large cave for now, odd how easy these are to find on Elentier. If any patrols come across my hide-away, I am experimenting with several different illusions to hide me and the carriage. The randomness of trees and nature make it difficult, a rock face has shown much easier to deal with. I hope I will not need to use them.
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I have been found! Worse than I thought! GOBLINS.
If last entry they kill me. Can’t write and illusion.
Oh no! Goblins! That’s not great, I hope Grandma will be ok. I mean, we know she will be, but what happens next? I think you all could use some suspense! Don’t worry, though, I’m not going to completely cliff everyone. I'll tell you what happens after this next bit.
You see, I need to pause here to shout out the discord again. First, Juju’s mods, you guys are killing it. Judy wants to apologize for all the extra work and media attention. She also wants to thank you for keeping the server running– despite all the crazies who’ve been showing up. When this all is over, she will have to find a way to give back to you guys for being so awesome. Having some people who are on her side has been doing loads to help.
The other person who needs a shoutout from the discord is one LordWaffles. Who somehow, I dunno how, has been translating goblin. The Jujubees on the discord are a crazy hivemind. It’s not perfect or even very good yet, but the fact someone even realized it's possible blows my mind!
So take a look at this video and learn a bit more about goblins. Then we’ll see what grandma does with the goblins in her cave.
VIDEO BEGINS TRANSCRIBING — — —
The video begins inside the previously active and playful courtyard in Greenstone Keep. The gray sky is back, and it is either drizzling or incredibly foggy. There isn’t any rain yet, but the camera-goblin occasionally has to wipe drops of water from the lens.
The goblin children are huddled together, not in the corners of the courtyard where a small stone veranda and a few trees offer shelter from the rain, but instead in the center of the area. The larger and older goblins sit in the middle with the younger ones around them, watching closely. Only the camera-goblin stands apart, watching them all.
As the goblins sit still, text appears at the bottom of the screen.
Hewo LordWaffles here! This is how the subtitles are gonna go! If you see this … … … That means there’s bunches of words we don't know! If I use this ____ It means we skipped one or possibly two words! Translation is suuuper scuffed rn so pls be patient! ^owo^7
The text fades, and the goblins sit in silence for a while longer. The rain isn’t loud enough to fill the claustrophobic silence, and the whispers of the wind are too sporadic to calm the tension of the bunch.
Then one of the older goblins collapses, his eyes snapping shut, letting out a gasp that echos through the quiet courtyard. He falls out towards the outer ring. The younger goblins catch him and hold him down. He begins violently seizing. The rest of the goblins watch the tension thickening and the rain beginning to fall more heavily.
Two more goblins fall.
After a while, the first goblin stops violently shaking and is let go. He lies there on the ground, his eyes closed, twitching and whimpering. As if he was caught in a nightmare.
This story is posted elsewhere by the author. Help them out by reading the authentic version.
A fourth goblin goes down.
As they do, the camera-goblin has finally had enough. He marches up to the tallest goblin in the inner circle, pushing past the younger goblins with little care. This goblin has two pieces of loot, a shining helm with small wings to either side, far too big on his head. And a broadsword, also too big for him.
The sword is almost as tall as he is. It sits upright, its point lodged in a gap of the smooth flagstones at his feet. He stands there like a knight legs spread wid, a confident stance, if he were tall enough to properly rest his hands on his sword he might look like a king. Instead, he has to reach up slightly to hold the hilt. In the end, sword slightly tilted toward him and helm loose on his head, he looks like a child playing pretend.
The camera-goblin jabs a finger at the most recent goblin to fall, convulsing on the ground right next to the two of them. He shrieks at the taller goblin in front of him,
___ we… … We not ___! … … … … why let ____ go?… … … memories alive? Weak! [1]
The knight goblin looks down on the camera goblin. Through his helmet, we can see his face, his sharp teeth are clenched together, his irises split his gaze searching through his peripherals. The looted helmet blocking most of that sight. The second pair of irises however are laser focused on the camera goblin. He looks determined, determined but afraid.
No! … … … Go where?___ stay, ____ risk memories! [2]
This only makes the camera-goblin angrier, the frame whips around wildly as he throws his hands up. He makes the loudest shriek yet.
Angry shriek???? [3]
The knight goblin winces and looks away, another goblin falls. He looks at the fallen goblin for a second,
Fine, go. I go… … … die___ die.… … … I not ______. We ____ Memories _____ first.
As he says this, he levers his sword off of the ground and on to his shoulder. Despite its disproportionately large size to his frame, he swings the sword with a practiced ease. He nods down at the camera-goblin and gestures for him to lead. The goblin turns around and begins to describe his plan,
We go up ... … … Then down … … … I know ____ way, ___ loose wall. We go … … … wall on enemy___. No ____ Memories. Stay ____ stay ___. [4]
The camera goblin is halfway out of the square by the time he finishes speaking. The knight goblin has to run to try and keep up. Though, as he passes by to take the lead, he gives the goblin an odd look.
They walk for a while, passing in and out of darkness, focused on moving quickly and quietly. Then the goblin knight falls back and whispers at the smaller goblin,
___ you afraid of ____? ___ that why___?
The camera-goblin doesn’t respond, just walks faster, eventually stopping and seting the camera down on a slanted stone. In the half light of the halfway, he walks over to a wall and crouches half in and half out of the circle skylight. He seems to be rummaging around in a pile of debris for something.
He finally responds also clicking quietly,
No, yes– _____. I … … … We take ____ give enemy … … … they run.
He stands up and hands what he found to the goblin knight, It's hard to see what it is with the slant of the camera and the darkness. Then the camera is lifted again and the two continue.
That is the last bit of light we see for a while. The black screen leaving a viewer with only the soft breathing of the camera goblin and the scuff of feet on stone.
Then, in the dark, the camera begins to pick up other noises. Screams. As the goblins keep moving, the noises of battle only get louder.
Once the sound is overwhelming, the goblins come to a new source of light. It streams through gaps in the large stones that make up a wall. While the camera picks those lines of light up, it is hardly enough to see anything else by. The camera goblin speaks again, careful not to be too loud.
Stand here. Get that on. Ready? [5]
Ready.
At the knight's confirmation, the camera-goblin presses his camera to the largest gap in the wall, pushing the lens through to the other side. It takes some time to wiggle the view around, but eventually the goblin swings what he’s looking for into frame.
The hall he pans over is decently large, wide enough for four men to walk shoulder to shoulder. Every five feet or so, a pillar stretches up to support a sharp arch in the ceiling. Between the arches, empty windows hold the twisted metal frames of what had once been stained-glass. It feels as if the halfway should be richly adorned, the now barren stone making the hall look eerie like a skeleton’s rib cage.
Two groups of goblins are fighting. One group has the same shabby and familiar clothes from the pyre video. The other goblins look physically similar, but wear nothing but intricate patterns painted across their bodies.
The fight isn’t going so well for the familiar group. They are being pushed back down the hall towards the section of wall that our two goblins crouch behind. Once the fighting goblins have retreated far enough, and close in on their position, the camera is pulled back through the wall.
The camera-goblin sets down his camera farther back in the dark hallway, framing the light streaming through the loose stones of the wall and silhouetting the two in front of that.
Now
The hallway lights up, the ghostly Weave appearing around the camera-goblin, reflecting off the knight goblins helmet. Slowly but steadily, as the sound of fighting gets louder and louder, the camera-goblin twists the weave.
This is not the frantic pulling seen from the goblins before, but instead an intentioned mess. The tangle makes no more sense than the earlier goblins magic, but the tangles and knots this goblin makes are obviously calculated and purposeful.
The Woven net solidifies its shine, going from the ethereal strings the camera-goblin can conjure to bright threads of energy. The Weave’s brightness shines enough to overwhelm the camera, then disappears. Beyond the two goblins, the stone wall begins to shake.
The young goblin knight steps forward, dashing a hand against his metal helmet, whatever he was holding sparks as it hits the steel. The thing he wears on top of his helmet ignites, giving him a crown of fire. Over those few seconds, the shaking of the stones in the wall has gotten much worse. The stones seem to press in and audibly grind against one another. The knight goblin hefts his sword and gives the shaking wall a poke with his blade.
The wall explodes outwards.
The knight goblin is now bathed in light, a crown of fire on his head— looking as if he collapsed a five-foot section of the wall with a swing of his sword. The camera-goblins timing was good, many of the patterned goblins were caught in the collapse.
Those goblins stare at the knight, littering the hallway dazed and injured, the most unfortunate goblins crushed under blocks of stone. As he takes a threatening steep forward, the ones that can turn and run.
Few would want to face a warrior that could fight a wall and win.
The camera is grabbed, and the two emerge fully into the light, victorious, their enemies fleeing down the hallway. The knight goblin, his fire crown sputtering out, raises his sword to the tribe in victory.
None of them look at him.
Instead, they are staring at another goblin, half crushed under a larger stone from the wall. He, too, has a helmet and a greatsword.
The camera drops, spinning through the air to land upside down on the ground, still pointed at the tribe.
The camera-goblin runs to the crushed goblins side, shrieking and wailing.
… … … [6]
The old knight breathes his last.
The young knight collapses, convulsing.
[1] You might be surprised that we’ve nailed down a tricky word like memories, but for some reason, goblins talk about it a lot! It's got a whole bunch of different meanings too, at least we think! More on that later! ^owo^7
[2] See more memory!
[3] What? It matches no other syntax or structures, dude’s just frustrated *shrug*
[4] Nope I don’t know what he’s talking about! Current guess is a battle plan, there are a few too many proper nouns in this, we think, proper nouns are frustrating, sorry! ^uwu^
[5] First full translation YAY!!! |^UwU^|
[6] Nobody can figure out what he says here, and I’m not ruining the moment with a bad guess.
END TRANSCRIPTION — — —
That was pretty sad but I think we learnd something important. It seems spectacle is a big thing for goblins.
PRESENTATION! Right?
Well, let's hope that's true. Here’s what grandmas got planned.
11th of Yorn, 128
I have linked the illusion to the power source of the carriage, I am afraid I may have broken the enchantments on it in the process. It is hard to think and hold a weave simultaneously. The goblins still hide in my cave. I spent enough time studying the critters to have a few ideas. I believe with a clever illusion I can get them to run away from me, or better, to respect me. I could use the help.
The problem is what kind of illusion to use, I can dampen sounds and create fake rock faces and hills. I will have to weave a new illusion from scratch. I must pray they do not stumble through my fake wall before I am ready. I wish I had a weapon.