View Flat HTML
View Metadata
Search Post
Tumunzahar makes Menegroth look like a contract project. Which, the Dwarves assure her, it was. The stonework is astonishingly careful and beautiful, silky to the touch up close while from a distance it gives the impression of stretching on forever above, a sky of stone with crystals for stars. Vast natural cave systems are connected by dozens of perfectly smooth, gently sloped broad stone pathways from which the fall, if she fell, would be several miles down. There are handrails. "We use those to move materials carts," someone explains to her, "we're not going to be reckless."
There's an amphitheater, a place where a hundred of the stone walkways twine around to create space for a hundred thousand people to sit in close proximity, and someone is giving a lecture or a demonstration at the base of it, the seats closest to him filled with eager, tiny, bearded Dwarf-children.
And they spiral down, and down, and down, past waterfalls and egg-sized gemstones left half in the rock and halls of crystal. Everything grows gradually more ornate and more perfectly maintained and the clang of hammers fades behind them. "People say," her guide says, "that we only have a council instead of a single King because there were nine winners of the competition to design the throne so we couldn't just select one person to sit it." And they push open the doors to reveal, indeed, nine thrones so elaborate it would be hard to choose between them, and nine squat bearded people sitting them.
+ Show First Post
purposeful_glory
"By the way, this plan involves you turning into a bird too, assuming that works on Maiar, which it should as long as you're humanoid at the time. Swifts're faster than bats."
"And I can drop back if there's a fight. Yeah, that part's fine."
purposeful_glory
"Okay. So I'll go turn twenty five hundred people into birds and we will talk details on how close you're willing to get to the city."
"Sure. I can't help with that bit, I could turn people into birds but then they'd just be birds, with bird-sized brains, as far as I can think."
purposeful_glory
"Well, certainly don't do that. Just holler if there's a Maia gunning for us."
And Loki rounds up literally everybody and sleepskips them all and turns half of them into birds and puts all the Elves on osanwë-teaching-to-fly duty and all the nonbird Men on bird flinging duty.
And Loki rounds up literally everybody and sleepskips them all and turns half of them into birds and puts all the Elves on osanwë-teaching-to-fly duty and all the nonbird Men on bird flinging duty.
Thuringwethil does not holler. She heads back to the pond and skips rocks and watches the proceedings with amusement.
purposeful_glory
"Yes, yes, I know, swifts have a very undignified learning curve. I didn't pick the form for this purpose in particular." As soon as anyone gets the hang of flying she swaps them for another person; hopefully they can do this on rotation and not leave too many behind if they have to flee suddenly.
"Betcha I can do it on the first try."
purposeful_glory
"You already know how to fly with a different kinda wings, no bet."
"What'd you offer Elfboy to let him stash ten thousand useless noncombatants in his rather aggressively military-focused city?"
"Oh, right, he owes you a big one."
"You killed the one Sauron sent you. Why not that one?"
purposeful_glory
"That seems like a personal question and it doesn't sound like you're on personal questions terms with Maitimo to me."
"Just making conversation." She stands. "Want to bird me so I can confirm I can fly, confirm everything else still works fine while I do, and so forth?"
She can fly, everything works, no Maiar are immediately approaching.
purposeful_glory
Good, good.
Tedious bird flinging and shapechanging ensue. Thank goodness the usually-wolf werewolves are already out.
Once everybody has finally learned to fly and has picked up their luggage and is an invisible airborne bird - she's been encouraging everyone to be continually packed to go on minutes' notice if that - Okay, let's get out of here.
Double zoom go.
Tedious bird flinging and shapechanging ensue. Thank goodness the usually-wolf werewolves are already out.
Once everybody has finally learned to fly and has picked up their luggage and is an invisible airborne bird - she's been encouraging everyone to be continually packed to go on minutes' notice if that - Okay, let's get out of here.
Double zoom go.
No one near, Thuringwethil reports every once in a while. The song that works while flying is clever, the Elves give that to you?
You could sing yourself.
And they make good time across the desert and the mountains.
purposeful_glory
And when they approach the city, Maitimo, there's a price on my head to match your dad's, I brought everybody else in one big batch and got Thuringwethil to play escort Maiar-sensor. She doesn't have to come in but she can help me de-bird people at the gate if that's tolerable.