NOVEL FROG (Vol 5) Chapter 26: Everyone Agrees
Dick raised an eyebrow and shrugged, puffing on a cigarette. “You always were a firecracker trying to shoot to the top, Dame of Dames. I’m in. But there’s a lot more book learnin’ to do on this kind of occult business, unless you want to end up awakening an ancient devil, an ancient mummy, or worse — an ancient tax collector. Who knows? Best to go in as prepared as possible because this real estate is a bit of a fixer-upper, to say the least.”
Azure was right there, putting a hand on Sammy’s shoulder and leaning down, face cast with stern insistence. “You are not going to go running in alone on this one, Samantha Elizabeth Reine. We will raid this island together. We will raid it in force, and with all preparation and knowledge exhausted first.”
Sammy gazed up into those luminous purple eyes ready to flare up into a firestorm and winced. “Wow, bringing out the Full Name Big Guns, huh? Very mommy- er, mom-like. Hehe.”
Azure quirked an eyebrow and straightened, crossing her arms and maintaining her glare. “I want a promise that we will do this our way. As in, the way the entire realm agrees such things should be done.”
“Oh, come on, I wouldn’t say the entire-”
Like a chorus, the entire realm of Servitors resounded through Heavenpeak with, “We all agree with Azure.”
All those present in the realm appeared arrayed behind Azure, arms crossed in mimicry of her, and even those materialized on Calrenazzod soon flashed into existence, projecting just to show their insistent solidarity. Forms in mirrors, dragons, angels, and felines were there en masse. The likes of Orswyth and Tashome even sounded off their agreement into her mind, having caught the general gist.
The only exception was Dart, who was caught with a finger up and his mouth open. His eyes shifted to Athos at his left and Michael to his right, and he dropped his finger surreptitiously, mouth closing.
Sammy groaned and did a slow facepalm. “Uggh… fine! I promise we’ll do it Azure’s way. Happy?”
Despite her bitter and ironic emphasis, everyone nodded in various varieties of ‘curtly’ and went back to their business.
While Sammy was still glowering, Azure put on a small smile and moved to sit in Sammy’s lap, throwing her arms around her lover and kissing her on the cheek. “Thank you.”
“It’s not like that situation is going to happen again,” Sammy muttered, still a bit sullen, though Azure in her lap and kissing her was difficult to hold in contempt.
How dare she attack me at my weakness to cuteness and affection.
Smiling grandly, Azure booped Sammy on the nose with a finger and said, “Exactly, Chestnut. You’ll have to deal with many varied threats instead of concentrated insanity in a weird realm, so all will be much safer with a posse to dilute. Like with the trolls. Like with Mr. Smile. So on.”
Sighing, Sammy regarded her girlfriend for a moment. “You planned that.”
“Planned what?” A face of pure innocence.
“You know what! Th-that orchestrated stand of defiance! You had it in your back pocket ready to go.”
Azure inspected her fingernails in bored nonchalance. Breathed on and then buffed them on her blouse. “I haven’t the foggiest idea what you mean.”
Sammy just shook her head, fighting off a grin at how adorable Azure was. I have to stay annoyed, damn it! “You know, I could demand my Servitors tell me one way or the other.”
“I have nothing to hide, Light of My Life, but you could. However… it is not in your nature to force compliance without dire need, nor would it be in the spirit of our Pantheon.”
Sammy opened her mouth… and then closed it. “Damn it…”
Azure smiled with just a hint of smugness.
“Anyway,” Sammy said with another grand sigh, “speaking of trolls, I need to check on that whole matter. Tashome has been on it, right?”
“Among others,” Azure answered. “Uriel.”
Sammy closed her eyes and reached out to Tashome and Uriel mentally. “How goes things with Bikrit? Er, his head, that is.”
Uriel answered first. “Very well, Goddess! The regeneration was stimulated after cutting away the cauterized portion of the neck. The speed was rapid only for a few inches of the neck, then slowed to a crawl. It has indeed sped up in the presence of mana sources.”
Tashome added, “We’re keeping it slow and contained.” An image was sent from Tashome’s mind, of the giant, gray-skinned head of Bikrit held up by a strange steel frame studded with small mana stones, all of it in the center of a magical circle that formed something of a faintly glowing containment bubble.
The troll’s neck was mostly regenerated, and a network of moist flesh was extending down as some upper internal organ she did not recognize. It was rather bloody, saturated with thick, green ichor that nonetheless did not spill.
Eugh! Gross.
Tashome continued clinically, “According to the literature from Traesh, from the head only, the unusual anatomy of the troll will regenerate the neck, the ‘small heart,’ and then a temporary, primitive lung for respiration, creating a contained means for the restoration of consciousness in the presence of mana. The troll head can then use its long, powerful tongue to somewhat move around, hopefully to find food or a better mana source.
“Without a stomach, food is dissolved in the mouth more slowly to be absorbed and utilized for more regenerative function. Next, it will regenerate a voice box, and then begin preliminary bone and muscle structure in the shoulders and arms. These will form into primitive, usable, nubby proto-arms, to aid locomotion further.”
On her throne, Sammy was grimacing sourly at the details. “Gee, thanks for that, Tashome, but-”
Tashome interrupted her smoothly. “Fortunately, damaging the brain’s conscious centers does not stop a troll’s regeneration. It will make use of whatever of the brain is available, and even temporarily create new means of subconscious control in undamaged sectors. In the case of a damaged brain, conscious thought is sacrificed for subconscious survivalistic impulses to move and acquire food.”
“Hmm. So… can you isolate a heart eventually that produces blood or not?”
“I don’t know. Not by default, but perhaps it is possible. The process would be easier if we simply kept the conscious part of the brain damaged and-”
“No, Tash. If you can’t isolate a completely unthinking organ, forget it. There’s no way to know for sure if we’re causing some measure of endless suffering, and I want to send this soul on. Not only that, but someone tried this before, right? For this research to exist. And what happened?”
“Well, it got away, it seems…”
“Exactly! I knew it without even knowing it. That nubby-armed, long-tongued Super Troll was still fucking dangerous. Let’s just do the extra work — whatever it takes — and eliminate the risk. If anyone can do it, you can.”
Uriel interjected. “And me! Don’t forget about Uriel!”
Tashome seemed rather amused with Sammy. “It’s just rather odd for you to call rank for ethical concerns when you’re attempting to harvest a living being’s organ for gain. Not that I’m objecting either way, mind you. This one owes a lot back.”
Sammy sighed. “Look, it's fair to question me for it, but a brainless, happily pumping troll heart will be entirely soulless and ultimately like a small medical revolution for the common man. It makes healing trivial and resurrection way easier. If you put it in a box, it’s just a machine, albeit a living one. I don’t see it as any different than harvesting living components for spells normally. In fact, there’s less death and violence this way, since that often requires killing shit.”
“True, though acquiring the first dose was killing many birds with one stone, in Bikrit’s case. An extra motive to take out such problem entities is probably a good thing.”
“Be that as it may, this is what I want. With enough preponderance of technology, we can stop them. It’s not like they’re getting more advanced compared to us. Will they be able to attack villages protected by steel golems and magitech cannons? Get past quality arcane-divine shielding with contingency protocols? The Sammyverse will always be about Progress over the status quo!”
“I suppose I should’ve expected that sort of answer. Very well, Madam. I’ll — we’ll — do our best. We’ll be damaging the brain for now to avoid the horrors of consciousness… though I wonder if trolls find it so bad in the first place. Regardless, we’ll get a heart fully grown, extract it, and see what we can do from there.”
“Sounds good. When we have a functioning system, we’ll go from there. Thank you and carry on, you two!” She disconnected to let them go about their business.
I need to visit the other one, too. Personally.
Her realm had extracted a bit of information from Icebite already. Geography he knew in the mountains, entities he was aware of, the state of communities. Useful tidbits if they needed any of it. Underground routes were perhaps the highest value — normally, even Traeshans could not obtain this information as it was quite secretive.
Information about the icy preservation spell was fairly minimal. It was a basic shamanistic spell for those serving/receiving aid from ice spirits, or even elementalists, though these were rare on the main continent. For them, it was level four, which probably meant higher would be required for a [Wizard] spell.
On the other hand, I can probably make a custom spell with a contribution from the [Pneuma] domain to reduce requirements. Not going to be able to sling it out as a level 2, though. Not a chance, there.
In inspecting the spell details provided, the biggest thing was the long duration — 24 hours but for each multiplier of the casting cost and additional components, the duration doubled, limited by caster level. So, for six times the cost, it preserved something for a whole month. Icebite could do up to seven times, or 64 days.
Her realm had already been utilizing the unique talent to preserve things. Icebite remained cooperative and even obsequious. He apparently found fish almost as appetizing as humans, and seemed legitimately content with an arrangement involving eating them, according to multiple judiciously-observing parties.
Her Traeshan experts confirmed the troll likely saw this as a trade arrangement, and with food scarce for the appetites of trolls in the mountains (and otherwise a brutal existence in general), possibly better than his previous life, even confined.
There was also some information on Icebite’s remaining spirits. The one that had made a wall and had an attitude was still fine being drawn on. His name was Deep Ice Rising Crawling, or Deepy for short, and was well-distributed as possessing ice in caverns under the ‘southern’ mountains. The existence of the ice itself and the MP sacrifice from shamanistic spells preserved him rather than worship.
So that’s how it works. And probably harder for the Dominion to track down compared to FE use and worshippers, considering how many utilize mana. Shamans also require talent, so aren’t exactly going to explode like a religion can.
Deepy was an exceptionally neutral entity despite typically demonic overtures, but had a fierce hatred of the Dominion. Icebite indicated the spirit knew her organization was opposed to the Dominion and approved. He extended an invitation that any who served her and had shamanistic talent could serve him, but would need to make a pilgrimage to the caverns and obtain an icy talisman.
Another spirit was a very simplistic one based around darkness, one Icebite called Silent Underneath. This was the most elemental, neutral entity imaginable, and was dead silent. Its only limitation was that it preferred introverts, hermits, outcasts, or ‘those who tolerated the void.’
Huh. Okay, whatever.
Icebite’s more ‘cold’ conceptualized spirit as opposed to ‘ice’ was a being of distant Shadowset called Secret Breeze Blowing From High, or Bree Zee for short. In addition to the cold, it liked secrets, both those kept and those shared. Icebite said it was very capricious and would abandon support based on its own whims, but apparently it was very happy lately.
Ugh. I don’t like that. Don’t like that at all. Maybe I should tell Icebite to fuck that one off. But it could be a resource, too.
Out of nowhere, a frantic feminine voice shot through Heavenpeak audibly. “Maker of Divine [Light]! Uh! Purifier? Please, are you there?”
A shiver ran through Sammy — down to her core — at the sound of that voice.
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Nice.