Fantasy Cursed Island

[Deadwood Deer]

Eventually, by the time Shuffle and Fia woke up form their naps and everyone had finished eating, the four searching for pools had found a pair that was in close enough proximity to each other that if one group needed the other for something, say something came up out of the water to attack, if that were a possibility, the other group would be able to hear and quickly get over to help out. Aside from that, they'd have to lay something down for a path to those pools and back up to the camp, in addition to constructing the walls, but they'd found a nice pair of ideal pools. They'd even taken Niudisa into accound and found one with a "shelf" halfway up the terrace next to it for the women that had a mini-pool of appropriate size that the fairy wouldn't have to worry about being hurt by the others.

"How's the puzzle going?", Jerry asked Shuffle when she reappeared, not interrogating Fia about the change in her appearance yet.

 

[Fangs9090]

Shuffle looked at Jerry before pulling out the puzzle cube. "I think it's harder this time. Feels like it's taking longer. Maybe I'm just eager to see Nyah again."

 

[Deadwood Deer]

"Mind if I take a look?", Jerry offered, "I'm pretty good with puzzles." It was weird how many dead people guarded their tombs with just puzzles.

 

[Fangs9090]

Shuffle nodded and handed the puzzle box over. "Can you leave the last piece to me? I don't want Nyah to know I couldn't do it myself this time..."

 

[Deadwood Deer]

"Of course," Jerry smiled and turned the puzzle over, getting a good look at all the pieces. She almost laughed, this seemed an incredibly easy puzzle to herself, but not everyone had Jerry's experience with weirdly complicated barriers. She started manipulating pieces, turning the thing around and about so she could see what she was working on at a given moment. After a bit, she handed the puzzle back to Shuffle. "All you have to do is move this piece here." She smiled as she pointed at the piece and its destination.

 

[Fangs9090]

Shuffle blinked as Jerry handed the puzzle back, looking it over. "Wha.... That looked so easy..." She looked at Jerry. "How'd you do that?"

 

[Deadwood Deer]

Jerry smiled and gave some jazz hands. "Magic!"

 

[Fangs9090]

“I wanna learn magic...” Shuffle muttered to herself before looking down to move the last piece into place.

 

[Deadwood Deer]

"It's not actually magic," Jerry shook her head, "I'm just really good at what I do." The puzzle clicked and hissed as the piece was moved into place, Nyah's blue smoke pouring out of it and coalescing back into her familiar appearance.

"Took you long enough," she chided, poking Shuffle's nose.

 

[Fangs9090]

Shuffle blinked at Nyah’s poke, putting her ears back as she smiled. “I’m apparently not good at puzzles.”

 

[Deadwood Deer]

"That's okay," Nyah smiled and stretched, "As long as you eventually solve it, preferably within a few days, I'll be there."

 

[Fangs9090]

Shuffle nodded before looking over as Fia called out from the food table. "Shuffle! Come and eat, before it's gone!" Shuffle nodded and quickly put the box away before going over to the table.

 

[Deadwood Deer]

Speaking of Fia, "Nyah, Fia's started growing really quickly, we're not sure why, but," Jerry gestured to Fia's adolescent form, "She was still a small child this morning."

"That's..." Nyah looked really confused, vanishing into smoke and reappearing at the table near the two, looking Fia over, "How have you grown so quickly?

 

[Fangs9090]

Fia looked at Nyah. “It’s the healing water. It’s filled with the power of life, so it lets me grow back to full power a lot faster than normal. I could’ve been growing all this time by drinking the healing water like everyone else, but I haven’t since I’m immune to corruption and didn’t think it would help.”

 

[Deadwood Deer]

Nyah blinked. That was weird. She glanced at Shuffle, "Do you have this property as well?"

 

[Fangs9090]

Shuffle shook her head. “Nope. I’ve been drinking the water this whole time and haven’t gotten any bigger.”

Fia spoke up again. “It’s because I’m a Phoenix. We’re symbols of life, and the healing water has the power of life.”

Niudisa spoke up as well. “Shuffle might get something like it if she drank Phoenix blood.”

 

[Deadwood Deer]

At the mention of someone drinking phoenix blood, the phoenix in the circle Beri was watching tensed up and looked over at Shuffle, scooting as far back as his circle would allow.

"We've got enough problems keeping Shuffle out of trouble when she doesn't already turn into a small child when she gets shot," Jerry shook her head, "And she's already got fire, flight, and regeneration, so nothing a phoenix has could benefit her."

 

[Fangs9090]

Niudisa nodded. “Honestly, she could probably get shot and walk it off, but-“

“I took a ballista through my gut once.”

“...as I said. But if she had rebirth as well, then when she finally does get in over her head, she at least won’t be completely lost.”

 

[Deadwood Deer]

"And how much more childish do you think Shuffle's going to be once she's reborn as a toddler?", Jerry challenged.

 

[Fangs9090]

“A fair point, but I wouldn’t be the one keeping after her. I suspect that would be when the leash comes in handy.”

 

[Deadwood Deer]

Jerry shook her head, "Shuffle, would you like to be a tiny child if you ever get really, really hurt?"

 

[Fangs9090]

Shuffle tilted her head. “Like Fia? Hm....” She considered that for a bit. Being smaller would make her harder to hit, and maybe faster, too. She’d probably be cuter, which could be useful, somehow. But her horns would be smaller. “No.” She shook her head.

Niudisa chipped in. “It would be an alternative to dying.”

“Oh.” Shuffle stopped to reevaluate.

 

[Deadwood Deer]

"But we'd have to put resources into taking care of you until you grew up, and you'd probably continually get hurt during that time," Jerry added, "And baby horns are nonexistent."

 

[Fangs9090]

Shuffle grimaced at that.

Fia spoke up. “But healing water makes it happen faster. It would normally take about a decade for me to grow as much as I have.”

 

[Deadwood Deer]

"But we'd need to get you safe in order for you to drink healing water, if you got hurt like that in a fight that could be hours where you'd be completely helpless before we could help you."