THE COUNCIL OF ELROND ※ RIVENDELL ※ LOG 3

[wildermods]

THE COUNCIL OF ELROND
OOC POST
[After a long rest, the group is gathered up and brought into a Council. They're led down a long winding path to a circular area carved out of stone. The bubbling waters of the Bruinen can be heard rippling nearby and birds twitter from the boughs of the trees. With the birds nearby it's easy to see how the talking ravens that told them to go to Rivendell might have learned of the many councils held about their existence.]

[There are enough seats for all of them but also many other seats that have been filled by travelers from near and far. The dwarves have sent Gloin, one of the dwarves that stood with Thorin Oakenshield against the dragon Smaug. Faramir of Gondor has been sent by Aragorn to represent the race of Men. The Wizarding World has sent Kingsley Shacklebolt, once the Minister of Magic, now a wizard ambassador to other lands. Tiffany Aching, a twenty year-old witch sits in one chair, a representative of the witches of the great Ramtops Steading of the Disc, who are not a nation like the others, but are just really, really nosy when it comes to other people's business.]

[They are just some of many who stand before the squad, drawn to this place to speak to them because of many different prophecies uttered by many different sages and prophets.]

[And standing in the center of the circle, waiting for them are two very small individuals, no larger than hobbits. They look even more Elven and spritely than the Elves. These two are the prophets that the gathered people trust the wisdom of the most. The two Gelflings, Kira and Jen, watch the squad join the Council with sharp and knowing eyes.]

[To allow members of the group that are trapped in the Brugh to participate, members of the squad can magically enlarge and set up their magic mirrors so it's almost like the Brugh members have a magic window into the Council, where they can speak and listen.]

[After they are all settled, a clear bell rings out, a last call for the Council and a signal that it's about to start. The faces of everyone that turn to the squad are grave. Some are slightly concerned or pitying, because of what they've heard about the group. A weight is about to be placed on their shoulders.]

[Elrond stands and gestures to them all. He says:]

Strangers from distant lands, friends of old, you have been summoned here to offer counsel on matters that will affect every land that makes up the new world we have all been bound to. Thanks to the threat of Mordor and the Golden Nation, and the destructive nature of the Wilderlands itself, our lands stand upon the brink of destruction; none can escape it. Yet we have been told by many prophets and sages that one group, one band of individuals, might change our collective fate.

[He gestures to the squad now.]

Your fate has been tied to our own; your choices may lead to our doom - or they might save us all. For that reason, we have all gathered here today to offer our knowledge, guidance, and wisdom, and to tell you of the prophecies spoken of in our many lands that concern your place in the Wilderlands.

[Now he gestures to the Gelflings who stand in the center of the circle.]

Of all the prophets and great sages among our peoples, the Gelflings are the most gifted at foresight. They have spent their days dreaming under the stars, untangling the webs of destiny that bind us all. They, above all others, have divined the most complete visions that concern your fate, and so they will speak for us all. After they speak, the council will be open to all to discuss these matters.

[The male Gelfling steps forward, and gestures first to himself and then to his female companions.] I'm Jen and this is Kira. We've spent many nights dreaming, seeking the truth of what has happened to the world - what has happened to many worlds.

[Kira says:] We've seen the threads of fate that bind you and know who has ensnared you. This land once belonged to the spirits of the Green. A calamity befell it, one that's beyond even their understanding, causing other worlds to be drawn in to their realm. They wish to separate the worlds and unbind their realm from the other worlds that have intruded.

[Jen says:] They, too, have gifts of foresight, even greater than our own, and unlike us, they can see the past and future in many worlds. They've looked into your own worlds and have chosen you all because they believe the gifts and traits you possess fit into their visions of salvation.

[Jen spreads a hand and whispers words he learned from his masters, the wise UrRu, that are not exactly a spell - just a simple utterance of truth, something that washes away the illusions of normalcy over reality. This reveals something on every member of the group, a mystical mark on their bodies, etched into their souls by the Green in glowing lines of green entwined with gold. This mark is on all their foreheads, and is a symbol in the Green's own strange spirit language that marks them as the saviors of the natural world.]

[Kira says:] They've marked you as their own. But this choice isn't something handed down by a divine force or all-seeing being, it's based on their guesses. On their own predictions of possible futures. They are right in that you're capable of this, but have brought you here according to their will and bound you together, even changed some of you, hoping you'll serve them.

[Jen says:] And though some individual spirits of the Green are sympathetic to other life in the Wilderlands, many of these spirits don't care for the fate of anyone other than themselves. The Green has chosen you to save the Green alone.

[Kira says:] While the Green brought you here against your will, you still get to choose which paths to take. You have the ability to choose to unbind yourselves and save only yourselves, or to save only the Green so that you can go to your homes.

[Jen says:] Or you can choose the more difficult path to save us all, and to stop more worlds from being torn apart. To do that, you must empower the spirits of the Green that are willing to help save life beyond themselves: the Spirits of the Seasons, who each will place a task before you.

[Kira says:] You must also defeat the Dark Lord of the East, Sauron, and the Witch of the West, the Unfinished Princess. While many are fighting these enemies, you have the greatest chance of making sure that all those who resist them aren't fighting in vain.

[Jen says: And you must awaken the Childlike Empress, who sleeps in her Ivory Tower. To do all these tasks is to do the near-impossible, but only by walking all these paths can you save more than the Green.

[Kira says:] We wish we could give you more but our view of the future is imperfect. All we can do is place the truth before you: a great burden, especially since all the prophets of these lands can tell you of the roads you must follow, but few can tell you how to defeat all the evils you'll find on them, or even which ones you would face for sure.

[Jen says:] But this is all we can give you, A glimpse of what might be and the choices you must make. [Jen's expression is deeply sympathetic, almost sorrowful.] For what it's worth, I'm sorry. I was once...Chosen by a prophecy. Destined to end the reign of a great evil and heal my world. But the prophecy led to... [It's hard for him to say.] It led to the loss of our people; they were all killed to try to stop the prophecy from coming to pass. And now Kira and I are the last of our kind.

[Jen holds Kira's hand tightly in his and continues:] It hasn't been an easy path to walk and your path - I fear that yours will be much harsher. I hope I'm wrong.

[The two Gelflings share a look with each other that comes with their shared understanding. They are bound by what they are and bound by what they lost and it's clear they wouldn't wish that weight on anyone else.]

[Elrond beckons for them to step back and take a seat and they take seats in small chairs at his side, their hands still clasped tightly.]

[Elrond looks at the assembled squad, and says:] And so we ask - nay, we beg - that once you leave this Council, you try to walk these paths for the salvation of us all.

[He gestures with a hand to some of the assembled Elf servants and another bell rings, clear and bright.]

Now we must all speak of these matters, and will answer any questions you have about the state of the world, and what tidings others have had of prophetic visions about you that have been seen in their own lands.

---

NOTES
✦ Free-for-all Post: This event will be in "free-for-all" format, meaning that threadhopping is encouraged and that threading should be treated in the same conversational way as network posts with branching threads.

✦ Joint network Post. Due to the magic mirrors being widened and set to float, characters in the Brugh can participate in the conversation, even if they can't be there physically. When posting please note if your character is in the Brugh when started a thread by putting Brugh in the subject of one of the earliest posts.

✦ Post in bracketspam format. Plots and mod-run events in the game are meant to be in actionspam format to keep a brisk pace. Characters that are interacting via the mirrors are also technically doing it on the network.

✦ NPCing. The mods will handle all the fantasy npcs and some may show up that aren't specifically listed in this post. There are many people at the Council.

✦ It's okay if the conversation gets messy. It's a giant group that's going to be talking here. That means it's natural if side conversations happen, interruptions happen, or things get missed because people are talking over each other and switching conversational partners.

✦ A private discussion will happen later. A crossroads post and private conversation among the squad will happen after the Council so they can decide for themselves what to do next and how to handle what they've learned.

Comments

[unsealthecatbox]

[Ange asks the following as soon as possible. She hasn't read many fantasy stories, but she's aware this kind of thing generally has a deadline, a finite amount of days before everything is hopeless, so...]

How much time do we have to do what we're supposed to do?

[balladin]

Good question.

[ The powers that be – the Green, according to the Gelfings – have decided Robbie should be at this shindig. He was rudely ripped away from the Brugh and the Mirror of Erised in the night, but even he has to admit that decent sleep and a meal have made him mentally sharper and more amiable. ]

A reasonable quest is years, sometimes decades. It’s definitely more than a few weeks, because we’re still here. We’re supposed to go to the east, and the west, and everywhere else.

[wildernpcs]

It could take years for you to traverse these lands, if you were to undertake these tasks.

But your hand will be forced much sooner - all of our hands will be forced sooner. The Dark Lord and the Unfinished Princess have both set their sights on conquering this world, and already many nations and peoples have fallen to them.

The Elves stand with the Men of Gondor and Rohan. Even as we speak, Men and Elves are fighting closer to the heart of Mordor, but in time, I fear we will be overcome. In some places, those opposing these dark forces can offer resistance for another year or two longer - in others, they may succumb in mere months or weeks, allowing these tyrants to spread their control even farther.

The peoples of Middle-Earth have battled Sauron for thousands upon thousands of years, as they opposed his master before him, but even we cannot oppose him forever, and the battle lines that have been drawn against him in Middle-Earth are but one front. There are others that may fall sooner.

[If they undertake all this, it will take a long time and yes time is running out. The lands around them will start falling soon, one by one, to the different evil forces conquering this world.]

[easy_as_cake]

[Trance's expression is troubled, almost scared, moreso than anyone here in the wilderlands would have seen it.] A perfect possible future...

[The spirits of the Green don't sound terribly unlike her own kind, honestly. Most concerned only with themselves, their own survival, their own amusement, but then there are those few who can see beyond, that everything is connected, and it really is all or nothing in the end. She's a hypocrite in many ways, but she can't be in this one. She won't let herself be.

She turns to her nearest neighbors, expression deliberately clearing to a determined hopefulness.] It's just fighting a couple bad guys and waking someone up and doing some errands. That doesn't sound so bad, right?

[unsealthecatbox]

It's never as simple as that.

[Ange sure isn't feeling optimistic about this. It does sound simple, but...yeah. She's always waiting for the other shoe to drop -- even if there may not be any secret problems or anything to be wary of]

[awfulcer]

[Given that the last few times they've had group discussions, he's somehow made a fool of himself, he's trying to sit and quietly pay attention. He doesn't really listen the whole time, in spite of Jen and Kira's emotional presentation, because his attention span generally taps out at around two minutes, and that's when he's not being confronted with a bunch of new information and new people to get his bearings on. He figures he'll ask Trance or someone he gets along with for a summary later.

He takes a deep breath, squinting into air trying to wrap his head around what he did get.]

I thought Ivory Towers were metaphorical?

[wherenoonegoes]

[Hiccup raises an eyebrow. Honestly, real ivory towers seemed like strange thing to latch onto.]

We're in a world where stories are real, Dixon. The metaphorical becoming literal is probably not the weirdest thing we'll have to deal with.

[wildernpcs]

It's a figure of speech, true, but the Ivory Tower of Fantasia is real. I've seen it.

[The British wizard is dressed in a suit, which is possibly a strange sight to see when contrasted with all the Elves and such around him.]

But Fantasia is a little different from some of the rest of our worlds. Just like the parts of the Wilderlands drawn from the Discworld, Fantasia has a strange magic to it where stories and words have greater power. Sometimes the metaphorical there is literal.

[kickpunk]

( Sanji is no hero; not by a long shot. He's a selfish pirate, or at least he'd have you believe. His heart is good and moral, but ... all he really wants to do is further his own goals, and those of his crew back home. )

Sounds awfully heroic to me.

( He exhales, really craving a cigarette. If he has to do something, then he does it, and if people call it an act of good ... Well, so be it. It's all to make Luffy the Pirate King. )

If I do all this I can get home. I heard that, right?

[greyerrant]

We are here to fight. Regardless of our reasons, this seems a worthy goal. [ Booms an imposing figure, who looks like he should be wearing armor instead of a grey cloak, his face perhaps a bit more pale than it should be, but otherwise not showing the brutal wound that nearly killed him in his last conflict with Sauron's minions. ]

[wildernpcs]

The Green will say this, yes. It's what they will offer you to convince you to help them.

But none of us know for sure if it's true - and we don't know if there's an alternate way to unbind you, either.

[greyerrant]

[ Loken almost roars a rejoinder, after glaring at these strange xenos for so long. ]

I have no love for the Eldar, that much is true. But neither will I serve this Green blindly. There are humans out there I can save, and I have sworn to defend humankind in all things. If I save a few of you as well... I suppose that is not the worst thing I have done. If there is evil anywhere in this place, I would defy it. I have chosen defiance long ago, and death over kneeling to a corrupt master. I will find what knowledge and allies I need to win this battle, and prosecute it. Until the end.

[wildernpcs]

[Faramir's voice is firm but diplomatic, and calm, as if he has learned to weather barbs from ill tempers. He recognizes that this man seems to be trying to work past whatever views he has towards others. As a human, he feels the need to give him perspective, but also as encourage the courage he's showing.]

Helping those besides the race of Men will be far from the worst you have done. The Elves have fought nobly in the fields outside Minas Tirith and their dead lay side by side with our own, brothers in death as they were in battle. Even the Dwarves have desired to stand with us but their own lands have been plagued by orcs from the caves under the Misty Mountains. They've stood instead with the Men of Dale, who have said they have been steadfast and fearless.

I myself even owe my life to a Halfling. The hearts of the Little People are more stout than any could have imagined.

You have a noble heart, stranger, and if it calls to you to help all that you can, you should hearken to it. If you go forth in the hopes of protecting the good peoples of this world, you may find yourself surprised to find out how many forms they take.

[immaterium]

Like you would know anything about corrupt masters...

[Mita mutters under her breath, her entire body turned away from him, knowing full well his Astartes hearing would catch it.]

At least he is no fool about this Green. I hardly appreciate this brand on my head it calls a mark.

[therevanchist]

[Whatever Revan really feels (exasperation, mostly--why is this her life?) doesn't make it to her face or voice. Instead, she's still playing her self-imposed role as the perfect Jedi, unperturbed but appropriately grave. It's a better look than drinking straight out of the bottle around people who are being forced to trust this ragtag crew with their very existence.]

Do you know why some of us have been weakened so much? It seems counterproductive.

[secondnature]

... What do you mean by "weakened"? [That's the first he's heard of a thing, likely in part because of the individuals he's interacted with since he's arrived. Keith has a wolf by his side as he points his attention toward her. Both of his arms are crossed, and he looks unnecessarily tense.

But—well. Keith.]

[wildernpcs]

Our worlds have different Rules. In many of them, power always comes at a price.

[She's seen other people suffer consequences from not realizing that magic and power has more strings attached in the Wilderlands, due to some of the worlds in it having a different thaumatological makeup.]

You've all received gifts and power and boons, enough to be armed against whatever you may face, but not ones so powerful that you'll have to pay the toll.

[No karmic backlash from reality getting uppity about them having too much power.]

brugh

[googledox]

[Brainy's sitting in a chair in the Brugh, stooped forward slightly, fingers steepled, deep in thought.]

Precognition is unreliable on its best days and the metaphysics underlying the blending of various worlds means that if your visions were once reliable before, there is no guarantee they're any more predictable than the daily newslink horoscopes. New universe, new physics, new rules.

Therefore, our choices need to be made completely independently of any perceptions of predetermination or any other mystical ridiculousness.

[It's not that he discounts precognition entirely. He has a teammate who's a gifted precog. But he knows precognition is an imprecise science and that's in an ordered universe with consistent physical laws. This world is chock full of shifting magical nass.]

[This all probably sounds like the kind of argument someone would make right before trying to shirk their 'Chosen One' responsibility.]

[It's not.]

Sprock "destiny," let's focus on reason.

Fact: With prophetic information unreliable, the only things that are actually certain are the inexorable decimation and subjugation of all life in this world by various evil forces. Fact: modes of transportation to our home universes remain a total unknown and possibly an impossibility. Fact: if facing down certain doom at the hands of these villainous forces is inevitability, then we need to be the ones to set the conditions of these conflicts and that means pursuing the defeat of these enemies proactively.

For motivations both moral and practical, the most obvious course of action is to save this world from the greater threats that plague it and to uncover the mode of its creation.

[Now he lowers his hands and stands, hands folded behind his back.]

So perhaps we should then table all this magnanimous talk of prophecy and mystical responsibility and focus on the dissemination of facts and vital intelligence.

Re: brugh

[greyerrant]

The Xenos is correct.

[ It cost him so very, very much to say that. ]

Information is victory. And logistics sets the stage for it. We are woefully underequipped with both weapons and knowledge to face down our foes, as the retreat from weathertop clearly indicated.

[therevanchist]

[Revan chuckles, because Brainy just will not use three words when he could use 30, will he?]

For example, what about this other world some of us get drawn into?

[She gestures at the mirrors teleconferencing the Brugh delegation in.]

[balladin]

Fact. You're sucking all the joy out of this.

[ Brainy's not wrong. In fact, Robbie agrees with him that they need the details in bullet points... But he thinks they can take the time for some lovely alliteration and only somewhat extensive metaphors, too. Everybody leans differently. ]

You should love them. They're wordy, you're wordy.

[bravelyrunaway]

Oh for crying out loud, since everyone else is too busy with the rah rah sis koom bah nonsense, I'll be the one to say it:

If you think this grotesque bundle of disembodied parts that's been stitched together by what I can only assume is the magic spirit equivalent of a Frankenstein-level idiot collective - a group of disparate parts that, by the way, wound up nearly down and out from a handful of what I'm assuming were just a few hench-nightmares - if you think we can save more than a kitten in a tree, you've been hitting the pipeweed too hard.

[He stops being reflexively obstinate because he's trying a little harder now, so he aims a little further down the spectrum from straight up insulting to insultingly practical.]

These dark lords and ladies have whole armies that you can't beat with your whole armies, am I right? And all you've got for us is some song and dance about visions and destiny? Even if you do give us more intel, not all of us are buying what you're selling.

What chance do we have against something that big? I can handle an impossible quest against impossible odds at the helm of a warship, but we've got a grand total of two things in our favor right now: jack and squat.

[awfulcer]

[Dixon really had been intending to try and coexist with Harper. Befriend, get along with, anything with even the slightest whiff of positivity was a straight hell no, but he gave Trance his word that he'd try not to start anything, and he knows that the charitable forgiveness that people gave him over the last two explosions is going to wear thinner and thinner each time. As he figures that flipping his shit at people is something that he's bound to do, he's got to conserve as much goodwill as he can for those inevitable disasters.

But God, even Harper's voice is like a nail gun to the head. Dixon's whole body tenses up around him, like his blood is revving up looking to animate a limb into punching someone upside the head. The animosity is palpable.

Harper's not the main person Dixon blames for his phenomenal mirror network flameout - that would be himself - but he's a very close runner-up. Dixon figures he's been beating himself up enough that that counts as some form of penance. Harper has, as far as Dixon's lowest impulses are concerned, gotten off scot free.

So he can't risk shouting, probably a little too loudly:]

Hey, fucker, shut the hell up when grown folks are talking.

Brugh

[followingdawn]

[ So here's Sothe just chilling in front of the mirror and sharpening a knife, because you have to do something to make yourself feel like you're a cool badass too when you're thirteen goddamned years old.

But the big grand problems were never his style. He's going to start with the smaller ones. Like, for instance, the names he's heard dropped and hasn't got any context for yet. ]

When we were fighting those crazy mages, the ones who work for the Unfinished Princess - [ And he's still waiting for someone to tell them what, exactly, is unfinished, but that one can wait? ]

One of them mentioned some of her other servants, the "Sisters." Daughters of the Moon King. Does anyone here know anything about them?

[suckitblue]

If it's like what else is going on here, they might be part of a story.

[ Simmons isn't one to dwell on fictionality of things. It really, really obviously doesn't matter anymore. ]

I know I'm not the only one recognizing bits and pieces. Does that sound like a legend anyone knows?

Brugh

[loadme]

Wow, that's... a lot to take in!

But I appreciate that you're all being so open about this.