Chapter Eighteen: In the Shadow of the Maiden of Pain!

[jaydude]

Bria of the Ko bounces in place as she hears this talk. "Ohhh, Miss Alisa! That's just the beginning! Oscar was the cuuutest little red panda! They don't even have red pandas on Averlund that I know of! Reincarnating Oscar into one is one of the biggest joys of my life. He's so smart, he reads whole books to himself!" Bria brightens at the memories. "Mister Bren and I know Oscar from waaay before that," the Ko monk says referring to Brendoran Killaneson (OOC: Kaerri's former Wayward Wanderer - see Characters). "Oscar is so brave that we found him off to go try and save Highwind all by himself! We had an adventure together where we all had to polymorph into little animals so we could sneak around? Bren was a puppy dog, I was a really soft kitty, and Oscar? Oh my. He turned into this thing I'd never heard of. It was like a duck but it wasn't. I think he called it... a platypus?" Bria proceeds to dig into her pouch for her journal.

Alisa would eagerly join Bria in looking at her journal, though truth be told, she was still stuck on what a red panda was. It was as the monk of Ko had said; they were very much non-native to this land, and even the times she'd gotten involved with the Adventurer's Guild hadn't provided circumstances in which she could encounter one.

 

[Purr]

Spoiler: Arai Akino

Japanese mood music. "凍る砂" by Arai Akino (the voice of Record of Lodoss War's famous Adesso e Fortuna).

Bria's journal proves to a piece of hardy artwork, thick enough to hold at least 300 sturdy pages yet its outer covering is soft enough to perhaps use as a pillow, at least for after-reading naps underneath leafy trees that shield from sunny skies. Bria unlocks and unclasps the volume that is filled with silken bookmarks each the color of a new rainbow. Bria, noticing Alisa's interest, lets out a girlish giggle and steps to Alisa's side, eager to share its contents as if Alisa were some purely-trusted true friend of ages past.

Bria's handwriting is scribe-like and pleasing to the eye. However, the letters are all in Celestial (a language many truly evil creatures cannot bear to listen to much less learn to read), a tongue not (yet?) known to Paladin Alisa. Bria, engrossed in finding, fails to notice as her pretty fingers flips through page after page, map after map, drawing after drawing, curiosity after curiosity, until finally, her fingertips pause upon one in particular.

"Here's everyone's favorite sage! See?"

Sure enough, there is a drawing by hand that resembles this enough for Alisa to get her first look... at a red panda!

Spoiler: Red Panda

(Image credit: WallpapersWide.com)

 

[jaydude]

"So that was Oscar in his previous form, huh?" Alisa asked, giving the drawing a fond smile. So far she hadn't had the heart to tell Bria that she didn't understand Celestial. "Hmm. He looks like someone managed to combine a fox and a raccoon."

 

[Purr]

jaydude

"No, no," Bria cannot help but stifle a giggle. ""This is his current form, not the one he had previous to his death in Highwind! Before, he was simply a nice-looking older man with a balding head and the kindest eyes I've ever seen on a sage." Bria happily taps her drawing and smiles to Alisa while waving Otiorin and everyone else who might have an interest over to see.

Bria puts one finger to the side of her cheek as she continues to tell Alisa. "Such was the power of the magic that slew him that he could not be Raised or even Resurrected! All of the clerics in the city had given up! They even held his funeral. But..." her voice becomes low and a little shy, "... Healers like me? We can Reincarnate - to bring the willing dead back to life but in an entirely different body! How dear Oscar wound up a red panda still boggles me! Ko monks like me? Of course we know about red pandas! But would he have become a little grizzly bear or something if a Druidess of Mielikki had Reincarnated him?" Bria looks up to Mamapaw who can only grin back in equal wonder.

Oh, Alisa!" Bria giggles again as another thought touches her, "He used to be so very tall!" She looks up as if staring up to someone well over 6 feet in height. "Now he's the size of really big housecat. I bet he had to change his entire home to make way for his new body! How does he reach all of those books on his high bookshelves now? No one would believe it was him except he can still speak like a human and with his old voice. When you talk to him, there is no doubt. That's Oscar of Highwind all right!" Bria gazes at her drawing of him with great fondness.

 

[Kaerri]

Having gotten her own answers, Kaerri just watches Bria and Alisa interact. Bria is doing a much better job of describing current-Oscar than the shadowdancer herself might, having been present (and crucial, apparently) to the sage's reincarnation.

But would he have become a little grizzly bear or something if a Druidess of Mielikki had Reincarnated him?" Bria looks up to Mamapaw who can only grin back in equal wonder.

Kaerri also looks up at Mamapaw. "If it was our druidess of Mielikki, he might even have ended up a Felane," she grins. "Or does it have to be an animal? Maybe he would have been a camel!" That made her outright laugh, remembering her first sight of those strange beasts (and her friend Ragnar's first and rather offended comment at that time: "That is not a horse!!").

"Maybe they've got special red-panda-sized ladders installed now? If he really needs to physically read the books. I think he's got a fair bit of them learned by heart. I remember once watching him 'look up' something in a book he'd memorized; looked like he was reading it in his imagination!"

 

[Purr]

Captain Hesperus Kaerri jaydude Psychie Sherwood Silanon
It's fun time again!

Kaerri also looks up at Mamapaw. "If it was our druidess of Mielikki, he might even have ended up a Felane," she grins. "Or does it have to be an animal? Maybe he would have been a camel!" That made her outright laugh, remembering her first sight of those strange beasts (and her friend Ragnar's first and rather offended comment at that time: "That is not a horse!!").

Mamapaw cups her big paws over her chest and hugs herself at the idea. "Oooh!" she beams. "What a nice thought that is! Another Felane among us! Only with Beautiful Bastet's approval, of course!" To answer Kaerri, she pauses, her feline features going through a number of expressions. "Reincarnation often transforms one into an animal form, but it is the whim of the gods! If they wish the returned into a different form, it is their will! But a camel? Aie! How I would miss a number of things!" she glances at her own paws and claws appreciatively.

Now that the orb is responding to her will, Luna returns to the grand pool room with a satisfied look on her face. "I have gotten the crystal ball working, so let's see if we can contact Oscar!"

Sitting back down at her chosen spot, Luna looks at the orb and says, "Dear Oscar, this is Luna Callen of the Wayward Wanderers. Can you hear me? We have need of your wisdom and we are hoping you can aid us."

As Luna returns to the Grand Pool and activates Oscar's Crystal Ball, a hush falls over most of the kobolds until even the rolling waters from its blue surface can be heard easily. It is not every day one gets to see a Wizard doing her thing - best to be silent and show respect! Especially if you feel you are just a lowly kobold in the presence of honored hosts who are protecting both you and your tribe. =)

It takes longer than it should for anything to occur. Luna finds herself staring at her own reflection for minutes instead of moments. It appears something has gone wrong. That is... until a strange brownness falls away from the crystal ball revealing bits of orange firelight accompanied by many voices none of you can place. This goes on for several moments. By now, Bria, Powerpaw, Mamapaw, and Luna's familiar, Sparkle, are all peering at the ball in various stages of fascination.

Then, finally, a voice some of you do recognize is heard from the ball though the vision be cloudy. "Finally! Now perhaps I can-- Er--" calls out a male's deep bass voice. It very much sounds like Oscar of Highwind if you know what he sounds like. It is a clearly-enunciated voice that could well belong to someone who was once half a foot over six feet and scholarly. But right now the owner sounds like they are in mild trouble!

"Hello there! You should be able to see me?" Except what you see is a furry creature of red, white, and black...

Spoiler: This.

Except that the view is strangely distorted.

Spoiler: Like this.

"Fishbowl and New breed of cats." by Mugumogu and, of course, Maru. =)

"Ooof! Wayward-- Are you able to hear--" Before your eyes, the light gleaming about Oscar's Crystal Ball begins to twirl about as if there is some kind of unexpected motion happening to the crystal ball you have attempted to contact.

"You see, I have been renovating my eighth study in order to accommodate my new form. This crystal ball has been in a box on this chair since the move. In my old life, reaching it was easy. But now that I am about the size of a common housecat... I had trouble reaching it..

Spoiler: This!

With the box containing his crystal ball being the doorknob here.

Suddenly, there is a loud thump!

"Uh oh..." There are rapid sounds. "Ah..." Sounds of clawed, padded feet swiftly crossing a wooden floor. Perhaps... chasing something.
"Hmm. I doubt this would have occurred had I not sent my servants home early, but they had worked so hard already. Now.. if this ball keeps rolling in that direction, I daresay... I had better keep up with it now."

Spoiler: Something like this.

Now those looking at Oscar's Crystal Ball see a rolling face (like someone has taped a smartphone to the inside of a side-facing clothes washer and turned the washer on. Yeah. Like that)!

"... well, surely I can stop it safely in time before it reaches the street outside. But how?" he says keeping his cool while running alongside the rolling heavy crystal ball. "Did-- Ah.. was-- May I help you with something?"

How would the Wayward Wanderers and friends like to... respond? =)

 

[jaydude]

"No, no," Bria cannot help but stifle a giggle. ""This is his current form, not the one he had previous to his death in Highwind! Before, he was simply a nice-looking older man with a balding head and the kindest eyes I've ever seen on a sage." Bria happily taps her drawing and smiles to Alisa while waving Otiorin and everyone else who might have an interest over to see.

"Ah, forgive me. I must have missed your earlier explanation that he was reincarnated as opposed to being transformed." Alisa admitted.

Present moment...
As mildly amusing as it was to watch Oscar struggle with both his new form and his crystal ball, Alisa was much too polite to show it. For now, she decided to stay quiet and let the others handle things. They were the ones who actually knew Oscar, after all.

 

[Sherwood]

Luna stares at the image in the rolling crystal ball with more than a bit of amusement tinged with vertigo. Trying not to laugh or get dizzy, she says, "Um, friend Oscar, can you lend us your knowledge regarding a small problem we have? We were able to rescue a tribe of kobolds from the tyranny and degradation of a bunch of evil storm giants, but now the tribe has nowhere to call home. Plus we just learned that Highwind has laws preventing these poor guys from entering the city. We have to help them; we promised."

 

[Purr]

Captain Hesperus Kaerri jaydude Psychie Sherwood Silanon

Oscar's little black eyes blink and blink in thought as his four furry paws help him swiftly cross the floor and keep up with the rolling crystal ball. Then, with a single hop, he is up on top of the crystal ball, facing opposite the way the ball is traveling, his paws moving with the ball. But little by little, he uses his little paws to alter the crystal ball's momentum by slowly padding in the direction he wants to go.

While this is happening, everyone watching gets a brief but very clear look at something beyond Oscar - it is a seated robed figure with handsome elven male features with his nose in a book while his hands are rubbing some kind of oil along a staff-length piece of glimmering wood. Those who have met him recognize Shalin the Sorcerer.

Spoiler: Special note for Silanon.

Aldrin the Seer, however, feels an odd but highly familiar sensation - the feeling that he would gain from paying attention to both elf and the partially-crafted staff that the elf has buried his attention to.

When Aldrin has received "little pushes" like this, he has done well to listen to them or he has had serious reason for woe when he hasn't. It isn't like the powers at be are saying, "Do this or suffer," but instead a far more compassionate, "Look at this to aid you; there is something here that will help you avoid pain/strife/emotional harm, etc."

Most of all, these feelings have never been wrong. But that does not make them easy to follow along to. In this particular instance, the choice - observe or don't observe - could not be easier. In past instances, Aldrin has had to build up the faith in these feelings from unseen sources. Faith over pride (which nearly all creatures have) or faith over what appear to be facts (which, in all cases of these feelings-from-afar, the "facts" turn out to be something other).

The choice to follow or not these guiding feelings are his and his alone. Which does Aldrin choose? To simply watch the happenings or to observe?

And then the scene is gone as Oscar regains control of the crystal ball, and with care and focus, he begins to guide the ball to wherever it is he is taking it.

All the while he has been listening to (Chaotic Good) Luna explain how the (Good-aligned) Wayward Wanderers have made a promise to "poor" (Lawful Evil-aligned) kobolds to enter the war-struck city of (Lawful Neutral Good) Highwind. His first question - a very logical one, you might agree, given his perspective - is:

"Miss Callen, are you certain you and the rest of the Wayward Wanderers have not been Charmed or otherwise magically coerced?"

OOC: We continue this in Chapter Nineteen: The Fate of the Tribe of the Kobolds of the Silver Sun!