Fantasy The Grand Coven: The Grounds

[Kobe Nathan Wade]

Sprawling the grounds around the hotel are vast gardens and lengthy fields. Off of the parking lot, to the right, is a small woodland park area. This is where the combat tournament is set to be held, and the registration tent is directly outside of it. It is large and purple, with a bored-looking viking handing out numbers to competitors. Next to him, a witch doing her nails. She was dressed in black leather armor and various straps from head to toe, pretty much as one might expect a warrior-enchantress to dress. She did not seem the least bit interested in anyone who was registering for the fights. The viking's form shimmered every once in a while, denoting that he was not of this earthly plane but in fact a conjured spirit.

The hotel sits on a cliff overlooking a large lake, beside which on the far side is the stable in which particularly large familiars or pets are cared for.

 

[Kobe Nathan Wade]

Fred Colon (Our characters have now arrived on The outer Grounds by the lake. We cannot see the fighting tournament tent from where we are, and the air is cold and misty despite the midday sun being overhead. Please continue our conversation where we left off in the previous thread.)

 

[Fred Colon]

Polly had never heard of a Chaos mage before. Chaos magic, yes, but those who tried it out tended to end up spectacularly dead, teleported somewhere it was best they didn't go, or trapped in a block of concrete, or simply gone. But the boy was young, he had time, she was sure.

"Vell, I don't know much about relationships, but if you can do as you promised it's no slime off of my hide either way. As to making something throw up? That is extremely easy."

Her eyes lit up as they approached the lake. She'd never admit it to Jeremiah or he'd be unbearably smug for the rest of the day, but she wanted a little time in the water, too. She missed her swamp, and the air was damp and cold, just like back home. It was lovely. Just her type of weather.

She removed her gloves, and put them through the loop of her belt. Her long fingers enjoying their freedom.

Jeremiah was enjoying himself too. His skin had looked a little dry, but the damp here was quickly rectifying the problem. She saw he was eyeing a large beetle gamely crawling up the stalk of a stunted tree. Jeremiah got low to the ground, creeping up on it as if he were some sort of predator, and as if the beetle could ever be fast enough to escape. Polly cocked and eyebrow, and her tongue lashed out from her mouth, a second before Jeremiah's did. Her tongue stuck to the beetle and quick as a whip, retracted.

Polly crunched the beetle in between her teeth as Jeremiah let out an indignant croak.
"Sho." Polly said, mouth full. "Vhat are ve doing now." She swallowed. The beetles here tasted quite different from back home. She didn't know if she liked the taste yet. "Can you catch him? I know how unruly familiars can be. Fortunately mine is slow and fat. A concussed snail could catch him, so long as he didn't eat it first, of course."

 

[Kobe Nathan Wade]

The Chaos Wizard nearly gagged at Polly's long tongue, but the physical modification was not exactly uncommon here, and he quickly stifled the reaction so as not to seem rude. Jason walked, listening to the steady plod and slopping sounds of Jeremiah behind he and Polly which resembled a wet mop. He lead them to the side of the lake a couple yards away from the entrance of the stables, out of which came the cries of many species of birds, the growls and howls of big cats and canines alike, whinnies of horses, and the roar of even dragons could be heard if one was familiar with the sound. Jason peered into the thicket of cat tails and duckweed in front of them, the surface of the still water covered in a film of green algae and lily pads. When it became apparent he would not find what he was looking for, he let out a whistle which sounded a bit like a bird or vaguely like a cricket. After a moment or two, the head of a large Alligator emerged from the green, blending into it well. It's eyes scanned over the figures on the bank, before slowly climbing out of the water. When it noticed the gigantic bullfrog behind Polly and it's master, it hissed quietly and picked up it's pace slightly. As it came out, polly would notice it's legs were much longer and built for running, unlike a regular alligator. Before it could reach her familiar, however, Jason spoke out sternly.

"NO! BAD GUY JACK!" He said, bending over and swatting the thing on it's nose with an open hand. It recoiled and whimpered in a reptile sort of way. "SIT!" The thing obeyed immediately, and opened it's mouth. If it's tongue could reach out of it's mouth, one could imagine it panting like a dog. "Good guy," Said Jason, rubbing it's head between it's lifeless yellow eyes. "Sorry, I actually feed him frogs rather often. I should have realized. He'll be good now, though. Do you have that potion ready?" He asked with a nervous smile, hoping Polly wouldn't mind her familiar nearly being ripped to shreds by a mutant alligator thought form.

Fred Colon (good show, adding that.)

 

[Fred Colon]

Polly almost leapt several feet into the air when the alligator thing hopped out of the water, headed towards Jeremiah. She was Jason had stopped it, she didn't want to waste one of her potions saving that useless lump of frog.

"Just give me a moment. Vomit potions aren't exactly high in demand, so I'll have to throw one together. I don't keep one on me. But it'll only take a hop and a skip of a second." She extricated an empty vial from her bag, and then opened a second pouch, grabbing a number of herbs and pastes. She could have used pure cinnamon as a base, to make something that tasted halfway decent before it made you vomit, but the creature looked like it immediatly saw Jeremiah as a meal, which means it probably ate frogs. Polly didn't particularly like that, so she used, as a base, Ipecac syrup mixed in with bitterleaf. The bitterleaf wasn't necessary, but it would leave a lasting, terrible taste on the creatures tongue for a while.

"Vhat is it?" Polly asked, as she handed Jason the completed potion. "Just toss that in. It'll be a little ugly, but anything in it's belly vill come right up."

With a creature like that, Polly wouldnt have been surprised if it had eaten the boys girlfriend. They'd find out in a moment, she supposed.

 

[Kobe Nathan Wade]

Jason waited patiently, watching Polly work and petting his familiar absent mindedly. It came up about to his elbow while sitting on it's hind legs as it was. When she handed him the vile, he perked up. "That's it, thanks!" He said, tilting the reptilian being's chin up to face him. "Sorry about this buddy. Open up." He poured the mixture into the thing's mouth, and stepped back. At first the Tulpa did nothing, and then a stream of projectile vomit spewed forth between Polly and Jason, barely missing them both. Some might cover Jeremiah, but his natural mucus would likely protect him from the stomach acid. On the ground near him when the disgusting fountain ceased was the woman's plastic hair brush, slightly melted from the time it spent in the reptile's stomach. It had clumps of hair matted in it's bristles, wet with bile. Jason bent down and retrieved a dripping strand. "Ah... I won't make you touch this... Sorry little Jerry..." He said to the over sized amphibian. Jack Jack seemed not to mind the events which had just transpired, going back to panting indifferently. "Where should I put it?"

Fred Colon

 

[Fred Colon]

"Vell, this is the 'custom' part." Polly said, putting her gloves back on. She held her hand out for the brush. She had handled much worse, and with her gloves there wasn't a danger. "Sadly it's not as easy as just tossing some herbs in a vial. I'll need my cauldron, my book of shadows and some time. Potion making isn't exactly like spell casting. It's like the difference between cooking and baking. Vun is a science, the other is an art. Being good at vun isn't the same as being good at the other, and potion making tends to take a lot more time."

 

[Kobe Nathan Wade]

Jason lay the brush into the girl's gloved hand, and a bit of vomit oozed out of it's hair which had sponged it up. He nearly vomited himself upon depositing it, and stepped back a few feet from the pile at his feet. He stepped into the shallows of the lake to wash off his boots by splashing them around a bit. He noticed Jack Jack was also sitting in the puddle, so he snapped and whistled at him. The thing plodded over and lay down so that only his top half was visible out of the water. Jason splashed water onto him with a cupped hand and made sure he was clean before turning back to the alchemist. He sighed before he spoke.

"Well, I suppose beggars can't be choosers. Where is all that? Back at the ballroom? Or your hotel room? I might take another lap around and talk to the vendors, or maybe I'll go see the council. Can you come find me when you're done? I promise I won't leave there until I hear from you. You... probably don't have a phone do you? I can tell you're a little... out of your element. What's the deal? Suspended animation? Time travel?" Jason made conversation casually, not entirely sold on his own ideas. He wasn't looking forward to being told off by more grumpy vendors when they realized he was after information and not a deal on a magic talisman. "By the way, what's your price? I can maybe pop over somewhere before we link up."

Fred Colon

 

[Fred Colon]

"You think I'd just leave my cauldron amongst all those strangers?" Polly said, horrified by the very thought. "It's in my room, of course. I never leave my things unguarded. She turned to Jeremiah.

"You vant to stay and svim?" She asked.

Jeremiah eyed the crocodile... Thing... And did not make a move toward the water.

"Suit yourself." She said, and then turned back to Jason again.

"Nothing as interesting as all that. I'm just... Vhat is the vord those pretentious fools from the German Vitch's association used in english. Ah, yes, 'territorial'." She snorted. "I don't like people on my property. Vhen Germany unified, and then those stupid vars happened, I just got so tired of people I packed up, vent deeper into my svamp and didn't come out for about seventy years. Even before then I wasn't terribly social. I'm just here to get a little up to speed in modern vitch craft before I return to my svamp. Maybe I'll come out again in another fifty years, to see how things are going, and to collect more music, which is about the only thing I like from this day and age. Quite the variety. Much more than when I was a girl, vhen you had to hope someone you knew could sing, or vait for some traveling musician to come to town." She shrugged. "Anyvay. I'll go and start vorking. As for my payment, vell, I've always vanted to test vater from the river Styx. But underworld gods tend to recognize someone whose been cheating them, so I haven't risked it. A few gallons of vater from there should suffice. I'd accept the never melting ice from Hellheim, or a Lily from the bhuddist hell, Naraka, or anything interesting from an underworld that I couldn't get anywhere else.

Kobe Nathan Wade

 

[Kobe Nathan Wade]

“Ahhhhh an immortality potion. I should have guessed. Hey, I get you on the whole property thing. I hate when my roommates drink all my milk. I like milk! So I buy a whole jug just for me! And those bastards don’t give a fuck. That’s why I moved out. Which... I guess isn’t quite the same thing as retreating into your swamp to get away from the Nazis when they took control of Germany... but hey we’ve all got our lives to live.” Said Jason, laughing a low chuckle befitting someone who had amused themselves. “I like you Polly, I can get you a couple milk jugs of river styx water in a couple hours, it’s a done deal. I’ll see ya later, and Ima getchu somethin’ special too. Have you ever heard of the Beatles?”

Fred Colon

 

[Fred Colon]

"If anyone took something that vas mine, milk or anything else, I vould turn them into a frog and then feed themto Jeremiah to make sure they did not repeat the mistake." She said, completely serious. "I agree completely with your moving out."

Polly's heart lifted at the younger man's admission that he liked her. See? She was still cool! And River Styx water thrown into the bargain? Today was turning out pretty good! Hopefully the boy and his girl turned out well. Vanishing lovers rarely turned out well.

"Ah! Yes. I've heard of the Beatles, and I am very excited to get to them. But I am currently working my way through the popular music of the ages chronologically. At the moment I am trying to work through 1950's rock and roll."