hardrockandblues: (5)
Zelgadis Graywords ([personal profile] hardrockandblues) wrote 2024-05-28 07:44 pm (UTC)

[ Zelgadis' first challenge is finding the best way to totally bar access to the spring. There are several paths that lead to it, and the makeshift barricades created by the healthy cannot always stand up to the resistance of infected townsfolk that are both ambulatory and sufficiently determined.

Utilizing earth magic to create an impenetrable barricade is Zelgadis' best idea, but complicated by the spring itself. Veins of water run beneath the town, too; carelessly disturbing the earth could create an even more catastrophic problem.

The barricade material is going to have to come from somewhere else. And the fastest way to move a great deal of stone and earth from one location to another is to have it move itself. A few miles out from the town, Zelgadis begins the task of constructing golems that can march their way back to Remedis and place themselves directly in the way of all routes to the spring.

It's not the most exhausting thing he's ever done, but it's a lot of effort for a problem that has nothing to do with him.

Except it does have something to do with him. It was his problem from the moment he entered the town and became aware of their plight.

"I was praying and praying that someone would come help us! Finally...!"

There's no other way this could have gone.

And how can he be sure that the problem is resolved, that Rezo doesn't forget where his priorities should lie, if he doesn't stick this through to the end?

The golems revert to mere inanimate stone once they each reach their destinations; it's all Zelgadis needs them to be to serve their purpose. When he's done, he briefly informs Rezo of his handling of the matter.

The two day interim sees Zelgadis making himself useful where he can. The town innkeeper has converted her business into a makeshift clinic; it's woefully inadequate for the level of crisis, but she has experience in caring for the ill, and Zelgadis defers to her judgment as he assists her. The actual town doctor, he learns from her, is himself one of the infected.

She nearly breaks down in tears when he tells her that the Red Priest himself is on his way to aid them.

A conflicted knot ties itself up tight in Zelgadis' chest. It's some kind of madness that Zelgadis, whose form reflects the very worst of Rezo, now summons his grandfather to be this town's savior; gives them hope by invoking his name.

The time passes quickly and slowly both, with mercifully nothing of note taking place, and Zelgadis is almost startled to receive Rezo's message.

He doesn't bother with replying, and Ray Wings himself to the town's entrance.

There in the flesh stands the Red Priest. ]


Rezo!

[ Zelgadis lands opposite Rezo. He's glad they can just get down to business and sidestep awkward small talk. ]

The worst cases are in the inn up ahead.

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