Home 26: Rooms to let, fifty cents

[Earl of Purple]

Arron's Haunted Miri

Arron licks his lips as he looks the new Miri over; he was attracted to her before, and now she looks better. Healthier.

He doesn't know ghosts and spirits well enough to know if she's been taken over, unfortunately. The ghost didn't seem that hostile... But Arron knows little about ghosts, and the various forms of trace souls aren't covered in his beginner's guide to necromancy. "You're looking... Better. I was kinda hoping I could use those bones with Bitey, make him a proper familiar and reinforce him slightly." Technically Bitey's an it, as dead things don't need genders. And even if they did, Bitey was a girl drake in life; Arron doesn't know this, however, since his knowledge of reptilian anatomy is very poor.

[Beans]

[Vulpan Keep - Atrium]

Someone's glad as hell she kept a certain set of planar coordinates handy for HALO's teleport rings, because it's the reason she's arriving here. She hasn't been at the Keep much beyond a time or two. The dead-mom style of her hair and the glasses are new, but the amber eyes, fading scars, and shaggy vulture wings aren't. Caroline Andrews, effectively adopted daughter of Tobias Vulpan, has come home.

"... Gotta ask Dad for the wifi password."

[Recaiden]

Tsk tsk, have some subtlety, Arron.
"I feel better." she says with a knowing smirk.

"So many memories I can...fill in, at least. There was a good friend with me the night of the invasion, and it seems we both died eventually, but now I have another way to access so many events." All true, but 'Miri' is leaving some important things out.

"Anyway, there are some other bones here still. You can use those." The less reptilian ones were left behind. But bones are bones, right? "And you know, comparing these skeletons, it looks like Bitey was a 'she'." The ghost's knowledge of reptilian anatomy was very good. As you might expect from all these reptile skeletons in their haunt.

It seems Miri will have to wait for a better chance to get out from under the ghost's thumb. It was more of a jealous ghost than a vengeful one, so it didn't give itself away with overt hostility.

[Earl of Purple]

Arron's Haunted Miri

He isn't very subtle, unfortunately for him. The idea that the ghost may have usurped Miri's mind and will doesn't occur to him.

Arron gets to work collecting the smaller, non-reptilian bones, and gathers them up around Bitey, who is put on the floor. He pulls something sharp from his pocket, nabbed from Benedict's manse, and cuts himself with it to draw a circle around Bitey and the bones.
"Bitey, I ask your loyalty not to bend.
Bitey, I name you eternal friend.
Grow in strength and power,
And help yourself flower.
Bitey, take these bones as filler.
For I shall take you as my familiar."
The blood circle flares as Arron chants, purple light rising along Bitey's bones and reshaping them, along with the bones placed in the circle with the skeleton, and they seem to melt and flow. Bitey grows, from the size of a cockatoo to the size of a cat, then slightly bigger. Another pair of limbs are added, forelimbs growing from under Bitey's wings, its teeth sharpen and grow as the skull enlarges, and claws- not large, but notable- grow on the ends of its digits. The tail grows longer, and develops a vicious barb on the end, and some purple glyphs appear in the spaces between the phalanges of Bitey's wings, and another at the base of the skeletal drake's jaw. Arron slumps slightly, since that took a lot out of him, and the familiar spreads its wings, the glyphs staying where they are, and flaps them, flying up and landing on Arron's shoulder before opening its jaw and hissing, followed by a small flicker of purple-black flames.

[Recaiden]

Miri watches Arron go through the ritual.
In the meantime, she looks into what she can accomplish in this body with the ghosts's memories. It should be easy to clear out the rats herself - but her reach is not great, it will take walking around the house to cover it all. As the spirit mentioned to Arron, reabsorbed bones and living reptiles are good for different purposes.

"Look at that, a proper dragon!" Flying, spitting fire, everything.
She steps up and tries to put a hand on Arron's other shoulder, and does a bit of magic to help him recover from the ritual. Any mundane thing it took out of him, tiredness, weakness, distraction, hunger, should all fade away.
"What can Bitey do now as a familiar?" And she's definitely heard of practitioners other than necromancers having familiars; maybe some of this could be useful to her too.

[Earl of Purple]

Arron's Haunted Miri

It took a lot of his power, but Miri's spell helps the mundane effects. Although that's possibly not helpful, since the mundane effects encourage Arron to have a good night's sleep, which would refresh his magic. "I can feel Bitey, in the back of my mind. If I concentrate, I can... Ooh, yes, I can see through her eyes. It's odd, she doesn't see like I'm used to. Hard things are easier for her to see, looks like." Different hardness objects show up as different colours, and softer things are blurrier than hard ones. Sofas and bedding are almost like voids to Bitey's vision, all the soft hiding the hard surfaces she sees best. "I can also tell her to do things, if I need them done." Bitey's not ideal for a spy-familiar, however, a bit too big. Perhaps a scout. More abilities can be accessed by increased practice and opportunity, such as directing undead through Bitey.

[Gnrlshrimp]

[Felix's Tower]

Krayger goes to peer over the wizard's shoulder at the book. Luckily Krayger is very tall so this is easy.
"Alright, so how's the stabilization work? Runes on the ingredients, or the pot? Chanting, the usual sort of thing?" Krayger isn't being dismissive runes and chanting was entirely how they made the golem work.

[Felix's Tower]

"Ah! Haha, very clever, Krayger!" Felix remarks, positively beaming. "Now this isn't at all necessary for what we're doing. Any suitably sturdy cauldron would do, but-" He leans down and points a finger just under the rim of the cauldron, a brief spark of blue light illuminates a ring of runes around the outside. "A little magical reinforcement always helps."

He leans in and gives the cauldron another quick stir, and Krayger will be able to spot a telltale spark of magic going down the handle as he does so.

"Now in many ways this trickier than trying to cast a specific spell. There's no words, no gestures to use, you're not trying to make something specific happen, you're just trying to release energy in a controlled manner. Sounds difficult, doesn't it?"

[Recaiden]

Bitey is also a lot more distinctive than say, an ordinary-looking bird. But there's lots of situations where eyes in another place could help.
Miri tries to look at Arron's looking through Bitey's eyes, to get a sense of the hardness-viewing vision of the skeleton.

"Pretty impressive."

She turns and looks over the attic.
"Since the ghost was a friend after all, I'm going to go back to cleaning this place up."
And that might be the end of things for the moment.

[Deathkeeper]

[Felix's Tower]

Krayger looks down at the very normal handle that nevertheless just gave off a glow.
"It does sound very difficult. One false move and you could put too much in and soil the whole thing. Like accidentally dumping nutmeg into a saucepot." Yeah that's not something you want to be heavy-handed with.
Maybe Krayger's been hanging out with Sam? Or he just knows a tiny bit about spices.

[Earl of Purple]

Arron's Haunted Miri

"OK, Miri. I'll find a bedroom, I think I need a nap. You helped, so I'm not tired, but... I won't be able to use any magic until I've had a rest, anyway. That or killed someone to absorb the death energy." And Arron doesn't want to do the latter, since he likes everyone here. And going out to find someone to kill them is probably illegal.

[Gnrlshrimp]

[Felix's Tower]

"For a seasoned mage, familiar with the ways of alchemy, it's quite straightforward to add just the right amount of, ah, seasoning." Felix lets out a wry chuckle at his own terrible pun. "But there's no denying that I'm asking you to do something quite a bit more advanced than your experience. But I have two reasons for that."

He gets up and steps over to a cuboard, pulling out a long wooden box.

"Firstly, I have confidence in you. We both know by now that you're perfectly capable of magic, and you've got a careful and practical mindset that ought to lend well to this sort of task."

He sets the box down and opens it, revealing a long, thin, bone wand. It has a faintly spiraled design to it, a tapered tip, and an appropriately Krayger-sized wooden handle at the base. The whole piece seems to have been shaped from some singular piece of bone, though the work done on it makes it all but impossible to determine what bone in particular it was made from. There's no extravagant decoration to it, just an elegant design, and plenty of polish.

"And secondly, I have some training wheels of sorts, to help you. You'll be stirring with this wand."

[Rebonack]

[Jade's Lair]

Lambslaural steps out of the plum tree in the little garden not too far from Jade's warehouse and begins prancing off toward her friend's home, scarcely able to contain her excitement.

She has news!

Great news!

Maybe the best news!

She knocks on the door.

*thump thump thump!*

[bc56]

Jade's Lair

"Come in! It's unlocked!" Jade is there in the lab, tinkering with some gadgetry. She sets down her soldering iron and turns to Lambslaural. "What's up? You look like you have something to say." She holds up what she's working on. "Or are you here to help me with the camouflage projector?" They talked about that earlier, so it's possible.

[Rebonack]

[Jade's Lair]

"Oh, um, well, I can help you too, if you like," Lambslaural replies, fiddling with her hair a bit. Thankfully she's wearing a shirt. Jade remembered to stash a few out by the garden, right? "B-but I've got really good news! My friends from MAA found a cure for getting turned into a faerie!"

That is.

AMAZING news!

"B-but it doesn't sound like it's something easy. There are these things called e-empyreans and I g-guess they're enemies of the fae? There are these things they create that are like, hehe, I guess they're basically an adventure dungeon? Full of gross monsters and treasure. W-well at the top of them there are objects of power. And if y-you can get the right sort you can use it to m-make your human body for you again. Lydia said it's called an Icon of Hyle."

Lambslaural shudders a bit at the name.

It'll feel kind of gross to Jade, too.

"So we know what w-we need to find, we just d-don't know where to look. Umm..." she taps her fingers together anxiously. "S-sorry that maybe isn't as good of news as I thought it was. B-but I guess it's a start?"

[bc56]

Jade's Lair

"Seriously? That's it?" Jade grins at Lambslaural. "I know someone who at a minimum can tell us where to find one. At best, she might have some lying around." That word reminds her of Zee. There's got to be a connection there. "I'm not sure how she'll take to finding out I'm a kumiho though. She doesn't know yet." Jade thinks for a few moments. "I want to do something for all the people I ate before I change back though. I figured out how to raise them from the dead," Lambslaural probably remembers that from Jade's "incident" the other day, "But I need to get blanks to put their faces on, and I don't want to eat people to make them."

[Rebonack]

[Jade's Lair]

"Oh! M-maybe it is good news then!" Lambslaural replies brightly.

What sort of person would have objects of power like that just laying around?

That sounds... dangerous.

"If she knows what a kumiho is she m-might not believe you're really you," Lambslaural warns. "It... um... it might be a good idea if I'm there to vouch for you. If that's okay with you, I mean."

Good plan, Lambslaural. Good plan.

The gaiad shifts uncomfortably at the mention of blanks.

"Um... I think I know where you could find some," she says hesitantly. "But it isn't a nice place."

Not even a little bit.

[bc56]

Jade's Lair

"She's trustworthy, mostly. And I've been to some pretty bad places. I'm not especially worried. Tell me about it." This seems important. She can find some blanks, bring back Zippo and make Janine a real person, and Jason too, no wait, she is Jason. She didn't eat him. Right?

[Deathkeeper]

[Felix's Tower]

"For a seasoned mage, familiar with the ways of alchemy, it's quite straightforward to add just the right amount of, ah, seasoning." Felix lets out a wry chuckle at his own terrible pun. "But there's no denying that I'm asking you to do something quite a bit more advanced than your experience. But I have two reasons for that."

He gets up and steps over to a cuboard, pulling out a long wooden box.

"Firstly, I have confidence in you. We both know by now that you're perfectly capable of magic, and you've got a careful and practical mindset that ought to lend well to this sort of task."

He sets the box down and opens it, revealing a long, thin, bone wand. It has a faintly spiraled design to it, a tapered tip, and an appropriately Krayger-sized wooden handle at the base. The whole piece seems to have been shaped from some singular piece of bone, though the work done on it makes it all but impossible to determine what bone in particular it was made from. There's no extravagant decoration to it, just an elegant design, and plenty of polish.

"And secondly, I have some training wheels of sorts, to help you. You'll be stirring with this wand."

[Felix's Tower]

You know, you might not think that a bull-man in this thirties who is almost two meters tall and with a considerable amount of muscle could possibly mimic so exactly the energy of a teenage schoolboy as his teacher praises him and presents him with a gift of a fancy tool.
And yet there it is, right in front of Felix.
"Oh, Felix. I hope you didn't go too out of your way for this." Krayger might have assumed it was a loaner if the handle wasn't sized for someone clearly larger than an elderly human man. Of course he could have simply taken an old wand and glued a new handle onto it. Krayger wouldn't have thought twice about that, either.

[Rebonack]

[Jade's Lair]

The kumiho definitely ate Jason. Then the Mask got split by Libra's curse which made Jade.

That's without question what happened, she remembers it all in great detail.

"Okay... um... there are t-two places we could go," Lambslaural says. "There's a city in the Dreamlands called Tir Na Nog. The goblin city. It's... bad. They sell people there. Fae, mortals, names, souls, blanks, everything. It's dangerous and wicked."

Sounds like a happening place.

"...or... we c-could brave the Bottomless Pit. Blanks sink down into the Pit if they can't find a new Name. Once they're down... um... I guess they turn into mares. Like that tar monster you told me about w-with the locket."

Oh.

That place. Also fun!

[bc56]

Jade's Lair

"I'd prefer the pit. I bet the other place would be way worse than just spooky oily pits. Plus then I can return the locket." Jade still feels guilty about how she stole the locket from the mare, when it was the only reminder of its past life. She didn't know! If she had known, she would have returned it immediately. "I know this is the kumiho in me talking, but I'll miss some of these powers. And being a little fox."

[Rebonack]

[Jade's Lair]

"You will be harder to pet," Lambslaural admits with a giggle. "If y-you want, I can use the big threshold tree to take us there. J-just bring the pendant with you. It'll... um... it'll make it easier to fine who we're looking for."

Then?

A thought occurs to Lambslaural.

"Oh... um... I should h-have mentioned? The Icon, it only works for one person. Even if we find one... only one person will be put right. Then we would h-have to find another," Lambslaural says. "There's... um... me and my sisters. And our friend Heather. And y-you."

She taps her fingers together anxiously.

"I... um... I think maybe you being cured first would be best? S-since you're the only one who eats people."

An excellent point.

[bc56]

Jade's Lair

"Sure, we can go, just let me get the locket." Then she stops. "What? No! I can deal with this. I'm not going to hog the cure. Someone else can take it if it's so hard to get. I've gone without eating for years, remember?" That was fake kumiho memories, Jade. You know it's actually harder than that.

[Rebonack]

[Jade's Lair]

Lambslaural winces at the yelling, closing in on herself a little.

"O-oh. Um... that's fine. It d-doesn't have to be you first if you d-don't want to..." she replies.

Geeze Lambsy.

Why do you have to be such a doormat?

Why are you so useless without your siblings?

Come on! Stand up for yourself a bit! You know Jade is the one who really needs that cure the most.

"I g-guess... I guess I can take it first. S-so I can be a guy again..."

Lame. You're the lamest, Lambsy. How could anyone like someone as spineless as you?

[bc56]

Jade's Lair

Because you're cute and funny and insightful and really care about people, Lambsy, that's why.

"Yeah. I'll be fine until we find more of them." Jade thinks about some stuff. "If you and your sisters were one person, what happens when you get cured? Do they go back to being one person? That's kinda awkward. Jade's not sure she wants to date all three of them at once. She certainly isn't interested in Dandelion or Snapdragon in the same way.

[Rebonack]

[Jade's Lair]

Lambslaural would definitely like it if someone told her those things out loud. Unfortunately her anxiety and self doubt are rarely verbalized for others to experience. Her sisters help her through it, though.

"O-okay. If you're sure. I trust you, Jade," Lambslaural says, reaching out to give Jade's hand a squeeze. "If you b-believe in yourself, then you can do it. I'm sure of it."

Once Jade has the pendant Lambslaural will begin leading her to the nearby Thimble Park. Time for another little adventure.

"Oh, umm... well... when we're Chimera we have one body and three heads," Lambslaural says. "But mostly we stay human. When we're human we're voices in the same mind. If... um... if that makes any sense."

Do note that she didn't say three minds in the same head. Tristan is three voices in the same mind. Three unique internal dialogs, but still ultimately the same person.

"We talk to each other. And... um... decide things together. S-support each other. But we can let one voice take... um... the 'steering wheel'. We change a little depending on which of us it is."

She gives Jade an apologetic look.

"I'm sorry we're so weird..."

[bc56]

Jade's Lair

"Don't worry about it. Friends, no matter what happens, remember?" Jade replies. "Besides, I have no shortage of weirdness either." And she's Jason now, with no warning. He grins and changes back into Jade. "Seriously, it's no big deal." She passes Lambslaural something. "Here, try this. I'm testing something I learned from some bird-related misadventures." It looks like a turquoise blue blanket with a bunch of glass plates sewn into it? That's odd. "Just slip your head into the ring." There is indeed a plastic ring in the center of the object, about the right size for a head.

[Rebonack]

[Jade's Lair ==> Thimble Park]

"Friends no matter what happens," Lambslaural repeats back.

She's really, really glad that Jade still feels that way.

And can't help but laugh when Jade is suddenly Jason.

"Hehe... we've both been through lots of strange things, haven't we?" Lambslaural says. "I haven't even t-told you that much about Chimera, have I? It's really strange."

Just two weird magnets hanging out, apparently.

"Umm... alright?" Lambslaural replies a little hesitantly as she slips the... whatever it is... on.

And then-!

Things happen! Probably?!

[bc56]

Thimble Park

The thing suddenly unfolds and abruptly wraps around Lambslaural into a tight-fitting suit of armor, not unlike what Jade normally uses. It's even designed to fit over her unusual build. A helmet snaps over her head and a heads-up display projects onto her vision."Haha, it works! Sorry if it was a little rough, I'm still calibrating it. Now slip your hands under the collar, there should be a catch on either side of your neck. Just squeeze those."

[Rebonack]

[Thimble Park]

Does it shock anyone that Lambslaural gives a surprised "EEP!" when the suit of armor snaps around her?

Of course it doesn't.

She's pretty easy to startle.

"Oh my goodness! Jade this is a-amazing!" Lambslaural gasps as she takes a few steps in the armor, glancing back to confirm that yes it covered her whole body. "Does it change when you change, too?"

Then, ask instructed, she'll reach up under the collar and presumably the armor will snap off again.

Once the armor is off (assuming that works) she'll hand it back to Jade.

"This seems, um, a little quicker than taking it off a piece at a time."

WAY faster.

Oh hey, Waystone time!

Off to [Plum Mountain Park]

[bc56]

Plum Mountain Park

Jade takes the armor back and slips it around her neck, quickly enveloping herself. "It should. Watch this!" She suddenly changes into a fox! The armor adjusts itself to fit so there's a little red fox wearing a turquoise suit of armor looking up at Lambslaural. "It's a bit pinchy around my tail. I'll have to adjust that. But yeah, this is incredible." The two of them head through the waystone to Plum Mountain.