097: Out here in the fields, I fight for my meals

[Sierra]

<El-Cideon> After some travel over the treetops in the general direction indicated by your gnollish visitor, Gruk points ahead to a gap in the treeline outlined faintly in the moonlight. "Gruk think that probably it," he says. "Trees can't grow in river, mostly."
<El-Cideon> Rosemund pilots the ship forward. Rushing water can be heard below, and the thread of a river wending through the forest shines silver in the moonlight. "I suppose I can bring us down here," she says, lowering the ship to float just above the river and then peering around at the woods on either side. "Do we know any better what we are looking for?"
<Franceska> "A human to ask for better directions?"
<Julia> "I'm afraid I'm not very woodsy..." Julia says, looking a bit lost as she considers which way to go amidst all this nature. Not that she hates it or anything! She's just out of her element.
<El-Cideon> "Not many humans around," Gruk points out, adding, "except on boat. Maybe ask animal directions instead."
<Steph> "How big is this forest, anyway?"
<Franceska> "Infinite? I think?"
<El-Cideon> "Is it not the entire world?" Rosemund asks. Gruk nods. "If there end to forest, Gruk never find it. Gruk think this fine. Cities all full of noise and people. Gruk had enough of both." He seems to remember his actual company and adds, "But this not too many people here."
<Julia> "Yes, but a nice meadow or beach wouldn't go amiss," Julia says. At least if she gets lost in this forest she won't raise her hopes of ever getting out of it...
<El-Cideon> Rosemund guides the ship slowly downstream, scanning the shoreline for anyone or anything that looks like it might be in any position to provide guidance.
* Franceska keeps her sharp eyes out for humans! Feral or otherwise.
<El-Cideon> After some time, Franceska might just make out reflected light off a pair of golden eyes watching the ship from the treeline on the right bank.
<Franceska> "Hello!" Franceska calls out to the owner of those eyes, waving.
<El-Cideon> Something turns in a flash and scurries off through the undergrowth. "Maybe go find it on foot in forest," Gruk suggests. "They not used to ships here."
<Franceska> "Might as well," Franceska agrees, waiting for Rosemund to stop the ship before disembarking.
<El-Cideon> Rosemund sets the ship down on the shore and climbs down onto the muddy riverbank. Gruk hops down and investigates the undergrowth nearby. "Wolf," he concludes, kneeling by a pawprint. "Maybe want talk, maybe just want eat." He shrugs, sounding equally accustomed to either reaction.
<Julia> "I suppose they're not used to undead either..." Julia says, looking at the huge skeletons and zombies cluttering up the deck. "So do all the animals talk here or is it random? Do talking ones look different than others?"
<Franceska> "It would be a unique experience to talk to a wolf without magic, I suppose," Franceska muses.
<El-Cideon> Shandria flies off the ship and alights with some distaste just shy of the treeline. "I suppose I'd better accompany you?" she guesses. It's anyone's guess whether she's more uncomfortable with the forest or the idea of being left behind.
<El-Cideon> Gruk scratches his head. "Gruk think all can talk, but sometimes animals not want to talk at all. Sometimes they too hungry." He pushes aside the undergrowth and starts tracing the animal's course of flight into the woods.
<Julia> "You can stay with Friday and Maeandar if you really want to," Julia allows, if only because the three have a nice theme going broken only by Shandria's current fondness for breathing.
<El-Cideon> The erinyes glances back at the ship. "They are even worse for conversation than is our guide," she says. "Although I appreciate seeing their sort put to better use."
<Steph> Stephanie floats after Gruk, arms folded like a classical genie. "I wonder what they talk about?"
<Julia> "I think Friday doesn't like Maeandar... actually nobody likes Maeandar," Julia says, following after with big steps over the undergrowth. "Battersby and Scarlet might have a thing going, and Bedford tries to stay above it all."
<Franceska> "A thing? Those things can have a thing?"
<El-Cideon> "Huh!" Gruk says. One might interpret it as the gnollish equivalent of a humorless laugh. "Mostly just talk about who is leader of pack, is Gruk best guess. That and who to eat."
<Julia> "It's very subtle, you have to know what to look for," Julia assures Franceska.
<El-Cideon> Rosemund glances back over her should toward the boat as you start to tread through the undergrowth. "I thought they were just, ah, essentially controlled, not really aware of anything anymore?"
<Franceska> "Yes, we learn a horrifying new truth every day of travels."
<Steph> "Lacking a genuine source of housewife gossip, Julia has felt compelled to invent some. Wizards."
<Julia> "Spoil my fun why don't you..." Julia mutters. "One day I'll implant minds into them and then maybe that's how they'll act with each other."
<Steph> "Huh. Why not just have kids?"
<Franceska> "I think we're going over the daily quota of terrible things my ears can hear."
<El-Cideon> "Traditionally, most undead are mindless tools," Shandria says, adding with approval, "and that's what makes them such handy ones. It'd ruin everything, letting them ask questions and have hobbies."
<Julia> "Haven't met the right man..." she sighs now. "Haven't had time with all of this," she gestures expansively. "Not that I'm not having fun!" she's quick to reassure everyone.
<El-Cideon> "We have been very busy," Rosemund acknowledges, "and this makes it difficult to find time to look for a partner." She still sounds confident that it'll happen someday nonetheless.
<Franceska> "It helps when you're immortal and have all the time in the world," Franceska reassures Rosemund.
<Steph> "You, too, can be like an elf and date whimsically and freely!"
* Franceska twitches.
<El-Cideon> "Er, I do not think--" Rosemund seems to stumble through some existential quandary. "That is, but if Julia turned into, you know, what she is planning to turn into--I am not sure whether she still could--or whether anyone would want to--um." It's about this time that Rosemund seems to willfully shut her brain down.
<Franceska> "Julia can possess people, so it's not a problem?"
<Steph> "Wow, Franceska."
<Franceska> "She even pays them for their time."
<El-Cideon> "Oh," Rosemund says without intonation.
<Julia> "Well, if I were to have children I'd rather they were *my* children..." Julia says with a complicated expression, patting her belly. "So I suppose there is a deadline... but no more than for any woman!" she's quick to rally.
<El-Cideon> Shandria looks a bit intrigued and a bit condescending. "Ah yes, the perennial mortal scheme to dodge death forever. Of course, the trouble with that is that forever has a lot more experience with death than you do. What is your plan, anyway?"
<Franceska> "I think Stephanie and myself are covered, so it's up to Julia to catch up. And Rosemund is still thinking over her options, even though Astral is clearly the best one."
<Julia> "I'm aiming for lichdom," Julia says for Shandria's benefit. "My natural talent for necromancy gives me a leg-up there."
<El-Cideon> "I just think it sounds lonely," Rosemund says quietly with regard to Franceska's preference.
<Franceska> "On the contrary, it has the perfect ratio of people you care about versus other people."
<Steph> "Maybe you should take it for a test drive before you go ahead. You know, spend a whole year in astral and see how it goes."
<Franceska> "For a change, you make an excellent point. How about it, Rosemund?"
<El-Cideon> Jill speaks up for the first time since setting ashore. "The cost of lichdom is traditionally quite high," she points out uneasily, "and the trick is that usually someone else has to pay it."
<Julia> "Just make sure to eat very well the day before you leave," Julia says. "And have a comfortable bed handy on the other side."
<Franceska> "Oh yes, I studied it all," Franceska assures Julia.
<El-Cideon> "As soon as our mission is done, I mean to spend a very long time just staying at home!" Rosemund swears. "But maybe someday."
<Franceska> "A year here, a year there... it can work!"
<Julia> "Well, yes that's if you're going with the big sacrificial ceremony," Julia admits at Jill's comment. "I could do that right now if I wanted to, but I've taken a more gradual path. You all know about my allergy to positive energy? But my skin is unnaturally toughened, my organs less vulnerable, and my capacity to channel negative energy is already quite high. In effect I'm half-lich, if you
<Julia> look at it that way. It's just a case of staying the course."
<Franceska> "It's a matter of rejecting life strongly enough and long enough for it to give up without too much fuss?"
<Julia> "Rejecting death!" Julia clarifies quickly.
<Franceska> "Undeath rejects both equally, though, doesn't it?"
<Steph> "Undead things attract a lot of insectoid life!"
<El-Cideon> "History isn't replete with benevolent undead," Jill points out, then allowing, "but I suppose you're more amiable than most. Certainly moreso than any I've met. But how can you be sure that trading life for undeath won't fundamentally change who you are as well as what you are?"
* Franceska is curious to hear Julia answer that as well.
<Julia> "I'd say it rejects death a bit more than life. I mean, sacrifices have to be made - the kind that I pay myself, but when you still get to walk and talk and keep your own mind and soul, you're still closer to life than death." She pauses to absorb Jill's argument, thinking it over. "To be honest, I'm more worried about the crippling ennui of immortal life. I'll want to keep myself busy and
<Julia> distracted so I don't just go crazy or kill myself out of boredom. But that's a long way off.
<Steph> "It's a net win if you kill yourself, though. If life actually gets to that point, you might as well turn it off. I mean, for most people, it really is their one and only precious life, but if you cheat and live a bunch of lives..."
<Julia> "True, if it gets to that point it might even be a mercy," Julia allows. "I only hope I don't lack for things to do after the first century. I ought to get my money's worth, so to speak."
<El-Cideon> "I've a little experience with liches that had to keep themselves busy," Jill comments quietly, but lets the matter stand at that.
<Julia> "Hmm... well as to another topic," Julia says, figuring they've exhausted that mill. "What do you think of Shandria, Jill? As an elite devil trainer I mean, can you see her ever plowing through hordes of demons like an avenging... devil?"
<El-Cideon> "Anyone can be trained to kill," she says dismissively. "I think the trouble would be training her to do anything else."
<Franceska> "That set of abilities is best set for support, and checking for infiltrators," Franceska adds. "Just because anyone can hold a weapon doesn't mean everyone is suitable for it."
<Steph> "With that arrogance? D'worry, you can't get really strong without first acknowledging that you're weak to start. I bet most devils don't get much tougher overall, short of transforming. Also, she's like right here, guys."
<Julia> "I don't know, I mean we were infiltrators and she ended up befriending us."
<El-Cideon> "Friends? Is that what we are?" Shandria says dubiously. At the head of the line, Gruk pauses as three pairs of yellow eyes slip out from the shadowed undergrowth and resolve themselves into imposing grey wolves. "Ah, Gruk found them!" he announces. "Or they found Gruk." In a half growl, he announces to the lead wolf, "Gruk admit you could probably eat Gruk. But Gruk have more friends. Gruk's friends look for someone. You tell and we keep walking?"
<Franceska> "That's a matter of personality and training, not Shandria's particular skillset," Franceska muses while Gruk handles negotiations. "Luckily, we have little need for it so not having the training is not a mark against you," she tells the devil librarian.
<El-Cideon> The largest and most battlescarred of the wolves looks over the gang of humans. It sits on its haunches and waits tacitly for further questions from the crowd.
<Steph> "Nobody comes at us invisibly! And it's one of the easier spells, right?" wonders Stephanie, before peering at the wolves. "Hey, wolfie! Have you seen any humans around? Or wolf-humans?"
<El-Cideon> "A wolf that thinks it's a man, or a man that thinks it's a wolf," the alpha speaks in a guttural growl not made for human speech but somehow managing it passably enough. "We know of these two. Confused, but good hunter." It inclines its muzzle and peers curiously at Stephanie. "What do you wish of the man-beast?"
<Steph> "What we want..." Stephanie snaps her fingers. "We wanna make sure he's okay and take him home if he's not."
<El-Cideon> "Home?" There's a coarse rumble that might be lupine laughter. "Home already." It turns around and adds with an amused, rather jaunty air, "Follow us to Inaxia. She'll say whether you can take him 'home.""
<Steph> "Negotiations it is!"
<El-Cideon> The wolves navigate the tangled landscape with considerably more ease than their bipedal charges, occasionally pausing to allow the slower humans to get through some tangled bit of undergrowth. After an hour or so's walk, you emerge into a clearing where the fall of some ancient oak allows a circle of clean moonlight to illuminate the forest floor. A nest of sorts has been hollowed out of the mighty trunk, and before it a cadre of wild creatures finishes a grisly meal. A stag has been brought here, and sitting nearby its remains, quite sated, are a pair of massive tigers that even the wolves keep distance from. There are also two humanoids: one looks human, with matted brown hair and a beard unkempt for an age, naked and curled up in the hollow in a rather doglike sleeping position; the other is an elven woman, similarly unclothed and with no recent familiarity of shampoo or bathing, dirty blond hair falling in a tangle to her thighs. She is slender as a rail, but muscled in a lithe sort of way. She wipes a crust of blood off her lips with the back of her hand as she stands to meet you, perhaps somewhat worse off for grooming than are her feline companions. "Who are you?" she asks first, without any air of friendliness.
<Steph> Stephanie prods Jill in the side. Their quarry is her friend, after all.
<Franceska> Having the same idea as Stephanie, Franceska looks to Jill for answers.
<El-Cideon> "I think it'd be him," she acknowledges quietly, "were he cleaned up and in a better frame of mind." To the elven woman, she announces: "My name is Jill Cook. My traveling companions and I hail from the material plane, and we have come to bring this man, Raymun Cotter, back to his homeland."
<Franceska> "Franceska Durant," she introduces herself, following up on Jill's words. "And who might you be?"
<El-Cideon> "Inaxia Delistra, for whatever consequence names are in this land." Her tone suggests by inference their insignificance. "Is that his name?" she asks, peering down momentarily at the recumbent human form. "He has never shared it with us." She looks back to you. "Animals have little need of these labels we give ourselves."
<Franceska> "We received reliable information that Mister Cotter did not end up here of his own volition, and have come to investigate. We do not, however, intend to take him back by force if he were to choose to stay of his own free will."
<Steph> "So we'd like to interview him."
<El-Cideon> "I know not the means by which he was conferred here," she says. "I have never found him in any state to explain his past, nor have I found it useful to pry. Yet I think that those who make their living in this land are drawn to it by their nature. I should not expect you'd find a more natural place for him in one of your cities of brick and mortar. I suppose you may see for yourself what he has to say about your intentions." She squats down and coos softly at him: "Arise hunter, we require your counsel." Raymun blinks into awareness, with eyes of a shade and alertness more animal than human, stretches in a way reminiscent of a dog before a roaring hearth, and stands in an awkward crouch. He looks as inclined to rest on all fours as on two feet. He looks over the crowd with faint curiosity, but says nothing.
<Franceska> "There is the elf heaven as a compromise," Franceska mutters.
<El-Cideon> Jill steps forward, extends a hand. "Raymun? It's me, Jill. Do you recognize me?" Raymun shuffles forward, sniffs at Jill's hand. She almost pulls back from the awkwardness of this gesture coming from a human.
<Steph> "Dunno if that's an improvement," mutters Stephanie, before peering towards Raymun. "Sir Cotter? We are from Solata, here to see you!"
<Julia> "Well... he does seem to be in his element..." Julia mutters, hanging back.
<Franceska> "Was he like that from the first time you met?" Franceska asks Inaxia.
<El-Cideon> One could possibly read a smile of recognition in his expression, but he sits back and says nothing. Jill looks back to Inaxia. "What happened to him?" she adds to Franceska's question. "He was as ordinary a human as I ever knew twenty years ago. Comfortable in the woods, but not so at home that he'd forget what he was."
<Steph> "See if he's enchanted," Stephanie suggests.
* Franceska certainly makes the attempt.
<El-Cideon> Franceska detects no magic at work in the vicinity.
* Franceska shakes her head at Stephanie.
<El-Cideon> Inaxia says, "I would say he knows what he is and draws greater comfort from that truth than do most men. However, I am not in a position to speak of his past. He is now as he has been ever since I became aware of his presence." She appears to perform some brief calculation. "Twenty of your prime years would seem to account for about the span."
<Franceska> "However did you end up here? And still talking, despite no one to talk to?"
<Julia> "She's got the wolves, hasn't she?"
<Steph> "Toughest person around will probably end up chatting to all sorts as is. I bet we're not the first to drop in." Stephanie peers at Cotter with a frown. "Still, I don't buy that he just ended up here. Did he have anything on him? Where'd you find him?"
<El-Cideon> "Myself?" Inaxia says to Franceska, sounding surprised at the question. "This is the last haven for animals. I am only here to ensure it stays such. I remember the constraints and constructions of the Prime. Sometimes, enterprising hunters seek to impose such here. Not in the way of animals, that kill when they must to survive, but with that prideful waste of skinning and leaving the meat to spoil. I in turn hunt *them*." She adds, with some disarming relish, "Some of them talk, albeit never for long."
<El-Cideon> Inaxia shrugs at Stephanie. "He had clothing once, armor, some lethal implements. He discarded them long ago, I know not where."
<El-Cideon> Something seems to catch in Jill's memory: "Did he have a wolf with him?" Inaxia answers, with obvious and immediate reference, "There are many wolves here." But Jill shakes her head. "No. An animal trained, in the human way. Something you could bring into a city and trust not to eat anyone or simply flee in fright."
<Franceska> "We did hear about a wolf that thought he was a man. Perhaps the two of them switched, through whatever link they had?"
<El-Cideon> "I recall no such cringing cur accompanying him," Inaxia answers.
<El-Cideon> Jill looks around to the rest of the group. "He definitely had it with him when everyone else left, when I stayed behind in Ashpile."
<Franceska> "Where is the wolf that thinks he's a man?" Franceska asks the alpha wolf.
<Steph> "How would that not leave a magical trace?" mutters Stephanie, shaking her head. "So there might be a wolf somewhere that's actually Cotter? Or, uh, wait, do wolves even live that long?"
<Julia> "Oh, that's a good idea!" Julia blurts out to Franceska's suggestion. "It makes a lot of sense. What did the wolf look like?" she asks Jill.
<El-Cideon> The lead wolf simply barks at Raymun, who busies himself picking parasites from his scalp as everyone talks around him.
<Franceska> "And the man that thinks he's a wolf?" Franceska asks the alpha next, refusing to be defeated.
<El-Cideon> "An ordinary wolf," Jill answers. "Big, grey, golden eyes." She peers carefully at Raymun's, which aren't far from fitting the bill. "What happened to him after I parted ways with Galina's troupe?" she asks. "Did any of the others know?"
<El-Cideon> The wolf, with an air of amusement, again barks in Raymun's direction.
<Franceska> "So what, they merged into one being?"
<El-Cideon> This kind of speculation sounds beyond the wolf's thaumaturgical understanding. It gives Franceska a dull glare which could be interpreted as a shrug.
<Franceska> "Want to ask Marcus, Rosemund?"
<Steph> "He told us already. He got hit with a rainbow when fighting Tetrarchus."
<El-Cideon> Rosemund searches her memory. "I think that Marcus said that Raymun and his wolf were hit by a spell, and disappeared," she confirms.
<Julia> "A prismatic spray could banish them to another plane. Though sending both to the same plane does go against the odds a bit," Julia supplies.
<Steph> "Maybe they weren't, but the spell mixed them up?" mutters Stephanie. "Can that happen?"
<Franceska> "Anything can happen with magic, but if a spell that useful existed I'd sure like to know it."
<El-Cideon> "It's not precisely my area of expertise," Jill admits, "but I should think there might be some value in taking him to someone who could answer that. The wizards in Azure might be of use."
<Steph> "It might be easier to bring the wizards here..." Stephanie snaps her fingers. "What about pestering Marina? She's all woodsy, and she already likes us."
<El-Cideon> "What would make you think that he even wishes to leave?" Inaxia cuts in. "As a more recent and enduring acquaintance, I can tell you I've not seen sign of distress before. You *might* accomplish something with your exotic magics, but is he not content as it stands?"
<Julia> "It's practically next door for her anyway," Julia agrees cheerfully.
<Franceska> "There is no harm in asking," Franceska says, looking doubtful.
<Steph> Stephanie seems doubtful herself. "If I wound up with the mind of an animal and couldn't even talk, I'd bloody well hope someone fixed it even if I did seem all happy."
<El-Cideon> Rosemund nods. "We have a friend that lives in Arborea," she says to the elf woman. "That is not too different, is it? He could live in a different forest and we could still have a magician try to figure out if a spell could have, I suppose, put two spirits into one body?"
<El-Cideon> Jill nods in firm agreement with Stephanie. "I'd have to concur. Just because he doesn't have the capacity to ask for favors like that anymore doesn't mean he wouldn't rather have them granted if he were in the position to consider it rationally."
<Franceska> "You are upholding natural law here, but if our suspicions are correct then that very law was violated here," Franceska feels the need to point out to Inaxia.
<El-Cideon> "Reason is a human construction," Inaxia points out with some distaste. "In truth most men are of two minds, whether they realize it or not. I would suggest he's merely achieved a more sublime understanding of the animal side than most could contemplate. Yet I admit that Arborea is not such a worse fate, and that sharing one body is not the proper way that two should share one life." She peers down at Raymun, listening to everything in perfect incomprehension. "You'll promise to return him here if all your efforts fail," she demands.
<Franceska> "It's not like he could go anywhere else if all our efforts fail."
<Steph> "Your wolf seemed reasonable enough and I bet he was never human," retorts Stephanie, rolling her eyes.
<Julia> "I don't know, it's nice if reason is just for humans. Gives us one up on everyone else," Julia says with a little smile.
<El-Cideon> Inaxia ignores Stephanie's perfectly valid comment with all the skill and self control of the fanatically dedicated. "Stand, hunter," she says to Raymun. "You must run with another pack for a time, through different woods. Perhaps someday you'll return to us." She sounds as though she expects this. Raymun evidently has no objections to this plan in any event. He amiably shuffles to sit and wait for someone to lead him somewhere. The musk of a couple decades without proper bathing is powerful even at a distance.
<Franceska> Pulling Shandria off to the side, and coincidentally farther from the stench, Franceska asks her, "Any insights? Can you tell what sort of mind he has?"
<El-Cideon> "Come along, Raymun," Jill says, as gently as possible given the circumstances, and turns to lead the way back to the ship. Raymun lopes casually along after her.
<El-Cideon> "At a glance I wouldn't say much of one at all," Shandria says disdainfully. As you walk, she goes silent to reach out mentally to the confused ranger. This must have worked out in some manner, because he sidles over to peer curiously at his would-be interrogator, but Shandria shakes her head as she shrinks back in distaste. "No response. Obviously he hears and comprehends to some minor extent. There's something in there. I don't know if I could tell you for certain what, or how many."
* Franceska nods. "Worth taking a deeper look with magic, then."
<El-Cideon> Back at the ship, Gruk asks for a simple favor before you depart: "Drop Gruk off across river? Only, would rather not hunt in same woods as giant cats."
<Steph> "If Gruk likes, er, if you like. No desire to take on biggest game?"
<El-Cideon> He shakes his head. "Gruk not hunt for pride. Gruk hunt to not die."
<Franceska> "Besides, it's a naked feral elf. Anyone would be afraid."
<El-Cideon> "Wasn't she disgusting?!" Shandria finally feels safe to share with the group.
* Franceska feels that's a classification that's redundant when it comes to elves.
<Steph> "I think she was delusional, but whatever."
<El-Cideon> Rosemund ferries Gruk across the river and he sets off into the woods on the other side. "So, we are going to Arborea next?" Rosemund says for confirmation.
<Julia> "Sounds good," Julia says, making herself comfortable for the journey. Such as it'll be anyway.
<Franceska> "It's our best idea," Franceska asserts. "We can always invite Ione over for a consultation afterwards."
<Steph> "Looks like," replies Stephanie. "You'd better stay on the boat for this one, Shandy- I can call you Shandy, right?"
<El-Cideon> "You may not," Shandria says coldly.
<Franceska> "She kills people by accident," Franceska says casually. "It's that monstrous strength of hers. She just can't hold back enough."
<El-Cideon> Rosemund concentrates, and shifts the ship across worlds again--
* El-Cideon changes topic to 'Current planar traits: -2 to CHA-based checks for evil/lawful creatures, -4 for both | '
<Steph> "Shandi it is!" Stephanie decides. "Not that we'll be here long."
<El-Cideon> It's a bright, sunny morning on Arborea, which probably does little to alleviate the mood of those temperamentally unsuited to living there. It's obvious from her immediate wince upon arrival that Shandria feels at least the same degree of discomfort here that Franceska often complains of. Rosemund 'ports the ship in just over the lake outside Marina's house.
<Franceska> "Good morning!" Franceska calls out, hoping that this time around Marina will be spared the harassment of her familiar.
<El-Cideon> "We had better not be," Shandria says, in a voice which suggests that 'Shandi' will be a grudge to bear for a very long time.
<El-Cideon> "Oh my word!" someone calls out from below. "Is that Franceska up there?" A startled Marina peers up from the yard outside the house, shading her eyes against the sun; she appears to have been involved in sewing something. A slender, pale form out in the lake might be a nymph.
<El-Cideon> Rosemund brings the ship down to ground level so anyone wishing to do so might depart.
<Franceska> "Yes, it is I, Franceska!" she calls out, hopping off the ship while doing her best to ignore the way this plane hates her.
<Julia> "Hello!" Julia waves, hopping off the boat and approaching Marina.
<El-Cideon> Marina greets Franceska with an enthusiastic hug. Canterbury lands on her vacated seat and picks idly at loose ends of her work.
* Franceska returns the hug, before waving at the nymph down at the lake.
<El-Cideon> Marina steps back. "What brings you all to our corner of the woods today?" she asks.
<Franceska> "We found another one of Marcus's old friends and we wanted to see you. How about those two reasons?"
<Julia> "It has been a little while since we dropped by, and we were right next door in a manner of speaking," Julia adds.
<El-Cideon> "Well, either reason would be enough, but I admit I might be happier about one than the other," she acknowledges with a degree of personal satisfaction. "Come along inside, there's always fruit on the table." She saunters indoors, waving Canterbury away from his mischief as he passes. The naturally grown house is open, bright and airy as ever. "Your new friend forgot his clothes," Marina points out, in a voice that merely states observed fact and presumes no judgement.
<Julia> "And a lot more than that! But twenty years living in the woods probably changes a man," Julia says. "He's sort of half-man and half-wolf in his head I think."
<Franceska> "He also forgot how to bathe," Franceska says sadly.
<El-Cideon> "Happily, we have a handy lake just outside," Marina points out. She helps herself to some grapes and then continues. "However did he manage that condition?" Jill clears her throat. "Possibly a high-caliber spell," she suggests. "We think he might have merged with his animal sidekick, or something along those lines."
<Julia> Julia helps herself to an apple. "Certainly it must have been a very strange sequence of events," she says before taking a crisp bite out of it.
<Franceska> "Unlike us, where our familiars are intelligent enough to seek help in such a situation, in his case it would've happened with a trained but ordinary wolf," Franceska muses, going for the grapes herself.
<El-Cideon> "I've not heard of any such thing before, but I can certainly do my best to research the matter. It may take some time." She peers at Raymun a moment before continuing. "I suppose your business may take you elsewhere before I'm able to figure anything at all out. Will he behave himself if he has to stay here a while?"
<Steph> "He seems pretty domesticated for a feral wolf."
<Julia> "Well he was a trained wolf and a man, so even if he's adapted superbly to the Beastlands, he's still got that."
<Franceska> "If Julia tells him to follow you, I think that would do it?"
<Julia> She hasn't noticed him deferring to her much, but why not? "Raymun? I want you to follow the nice lady and do what she says, okay? She'll take care of you."
<El-Cideon> He sits down crosslegged behind her chair and then seems to drift off in a daze. "The first thing we'll try is arranging a proper bath," Marina says, as politely as possible. "Is there anything else I need to know?"
<Steph> "We're going to Acheron." Stephanie furrows her brow. "This could be it. Our last job."
<Julia> "Just have Canterbury keep an eye on him so he doesn't wander off and get lost?" Julia suggests. "He seems to be making himself at home, though."
<Franceska> "That's a great idea! You'll know where all the troublemakers are, because they're all together?"
<El-Cideon> Marina nods to Julia. To Stephanie, her response is a graver expression. "Oh my. Are you sure?"
<Julia> "We'll finally get Rosemund's mace back, and make the planes safe for natural spellcasters everywhere!" Julia affirms brightly.
<Steph> "Well..." Stephanie frowns. "No, I'm broke and this one has a dubious return. I might need to take another job. But it's probably our last job as a well-knit team."
<Franceska> "I'm broke as well, but that is merely a temporary state until more profits trickle in from our ventures," Franceska muses. "Yes, I rather think I will settle down for a while after this."
<El-Cideon> "Well I wish you'd given me more advance notice," Marina says with a mildly chastising air. "I would've prepared something more lavish to celebrate."
<Franceska> "We can stay a couple days?"
<Steph> "We can?"
<Franceska> "We can't?"
<Steph> "But I want to go our separate ways already! At a crossroads, ideally!"
<Steph> Stephanie pauses. "Even if we all do live in the same city and have the same friends and run the same business."
<El-Cideon> "I am not sure how much of a hurry we are in," Rosemund admits. "Our, ah, target has been preparing for a long time...which might mean that we have plenty of time to spare still or it might mean that we should not take chances at all."
<Julia> "Maybe we'll find that Polaris was only a patsy in a much larger scheme, forcing us to stick together to solve this new mystery?" Julia suggests.
<Franceska> "Stephanie might finally die this time so we could certainly take a day to celebrate?"
<El-Cideon> "The castle can move," Jill points out. "I shouldn't wait too long, while we still know where it is."
<El-Cideon> "But I expect we could spare a day," she admits.
<Steph> "If I die, you're not getting my stake."
<Franceska> "If it goes to Rosemund I am fine with that."
<El-Cideon> "It can just go to the church," Rosemund says offhand. "But it is not as though we are doing this for money in the first place, or even expecting to find any!" she points out.
<Steph> "It'd go to my dad, geez!"
<Franceska> "I was talking about our business."
<Franceska> "Ugh, fine."
<El-Cideon> ~