Fantasy Cursed Island

[Deadwood Deer]

"They should be more understanding than Roy's," Jalin smirked a bit, "If not..."


"Do you have your maker's journal?"

 

[Fangs9090]

"My parents are fairly lenient, yeah."


"Mm, Roy told me you eat books..."

 

[Deadwood Deer]

"Yes, I eat books," Sinach nodded as the others discussed making calls. "But I'm not hungry."

 

[Fangs9090]

"Mmmm, alright. But if you do anything to it, I'll have to burn you." Shuffle reached into her satchel before pulling out the journal. She'd allowed it to latch like it was meant to once Jerry no longer took an interest in it, so once again only Shuffle could open it. The journal was clearly old, but it was also clear Shuffle did try to take care of it.

 

[Deadwood Deer]

"I won't eat your journal," Sinach shook his head as Shuffle opened the ancient journal. The book was almost thirty years since its last entry by Shuffle's maker, and it showed. The paper looked dry and brittle in places, the ink smelled musty and dead. Even if Sinach were starving, eating this ancient book would do little but clog the pipes. Aged books were nice, but like wine or cheese they had to age properly or they'd turn foul, as far as Sinach was concerned.

The contents, however, were more interesting, "Oh," the paper drake raised an eyebrow at the neat handwriting and elaborate diagrams. "Your maker was dedicated!"

 

[Fangs9090]

Shuffle nodded as she flipped through the pages. "She worked hard to make me." Shuffle herself couldn't quite read much of the journal. The writing was neat, but it was also shorthand, so anyone but the maker herself would have to decode the thing.

 

[Deadwood Deer]

"Clearly." If they took the time to decipher the thing, they'd probably find all manner of arcane secrets in the thing. The paper drake looked up at the others, still chatting at the bar, then at the book, "I wonder what you're actually made of..." The few things he could piece together from the blueprint sure weren't native to anywhere Sinach was familiar with!

 

[Fangs9090]

"Hm..." Shuffle looked at her arm for a few moments. "...meat." That was the best answer she could come up with.

 

[Deadwood Deer]

Sinach chuckled and fluttered off to go perch on Emilia.

Eventually, when resources had been marshalled, a worker came to get the group so they could show the way back.

 

[Fangs9090]

Shuffle kept looking through her maker's journal until they were called, at which point she latched it and put it away to follow the others.

Kiri was waiting outside alongside a sizable workforce and a few wagons, each fully loaded with materials.

 

[Deadwood Deer]

"Wagons," Jalin sounded like he'd just been reminded of someone he despised. "Of course."

"Get over it," Sinach chuckled as they got to the wagon for them to direct, "It's just some travel!"

 

[Fangs9090]

Emilia smiled. "At least we'll be passing through a route that we've been through before. You might recognize something."

 

[Deadwood Deer]

"I can't sense outside the cart," Jalin groaned as they loaded up, latching onto somebody so he at least had an anchor to the world around him.

 

[Fangs9090]

Emilia quietly volunteered herself again as the anchor. She and Roy loaded up with Jalin, but Shuffle looked ready to just run alongside the wagon. Roy looked over at her. “Shuffle, you have to ride this time.”

Shuffle looked over, ears flicking. She looked like she wanted to argue, but riding was fun as well, so she climbed onto the stuff in the back.

Once everyone was set and ready, they headed off.

—————

Meanwhile, Nidia finally caught up with the others.

 

[Deadwood Deer]

Siege and Turac had begun to find their way up the stairs to the other floors. There were three in this building. The ground floor, the second story, and an attic. Much of the builing was scarily rotten. "Think Jalin can do something about the pests?", Siege asked. She figured a blood mage would be able to... well... mess up the bug's blood and kill them like that, reanimate them and walk them into a fire!

The sound of footsteps making their way up the stair drew the two Chimers' attention before Turac could answer that question. "Nidia?", Turac called.

"Careful on the stairs!"

 

[Fangs9090]

"I know. This place is dangerous. Can this be fixed or will it have to be rebuilt from scratch?" Nidia carefully picked her way up as she spoke, testing each step before putting any significant weight on it.

 

[Deadwood Deer]

"Ah..." Turac put his weight on a board and watched it crumble, a piece falling down and bouncing off of Katsuo's helm on the floor below as bugs writhed within. "All of the above?"

"Gods!"

 

[Fangs9090]

Katsuo didn't much respond to the wood falling on him, just pausing a moment before he glanced up.

Nidia shook her head. "Yeesh... Anyway, I called the others, and they managed to secure some aid. They should be back in a few days. Also, Roy said he doesn't want to call your mom in public, so he said either you can do it, or it'll wait until he gets back here."

 

[Deadwood Deer]

"Then it'll wait!", Siege dismissed the idea out of hand. She sure as hell wasn't going to face her mom's wrath!

Turac facepalmed, "I'll do it, but not in here."

 

[Fangs9090]

Nidia nodded. “Good luck with that. I need to call my own parents, too, so let me know when you’ll need the mirror.”

 

[Deadwood Deer]

"Sure thing," Turac looked back around the room and just shook his head, "This is gonna be a mess to rebuild."

 

[Fangs9090]

Nidia nodded. "Yeah. I hope they're bringing a lot of materials with them..."

 

[Deadwood Deer]

Siege shook her head and started back down the stairs, "Well, we've got three other houses to look through, and plenty of time."

 

[Fangs9090]

Nidia started back down as well. "I'm gonna go ahead and call my parents."

 

[Deadwood Deer]

"Have fun," Turac waved Nidia off as he and Siege made their way downstairs, "Let's go check the other buildings."