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Aramek remembers his spider form folding up into itself and passing out. He wakes up, looking like a grubby kid with a stick, lying on a floor. The room is inhabited; there are two statues nearby. They look like flesh, but aren't moving. One of them looks like Zack, he's not sure about the other. He's too weak to get up and the pain is still there, so after calling "Zack?" and receiving no response, he goes back to sleep.
Aramek wakes up again, in a papoose on Auricle's back. He's shaped as really little kid, so young that he might not be toilet trained. Zack is flying a kite, which looks like a signal for people named Arielle, Logan, and Sir Erik. It's a cross between a kite and a banner, and it's supported by helium balloons. Malachai is in the front of the group.
Aramek pulls Auricle's hair, and the hair just lengthens in his grip. Auricle's head turns to look, then spins completely around and looks again. "You woke up!" ... "He woke up!" Aramek: "Who are you talking to?"
Aramek is hungry and bloodthirsty. He tries to wriggle out of the papoose, and Auricle facilitates his release. Aramek rides a lock of hair to the ground, which is then reabsorbed by Auricle. Aramek starts crawling off into the woods in search of food. Slowly. Zack heads after him.
Aramek: "What's that castle?"
Zack: "Home. Place with lots of food."
Aramek: "Well, I was planning on hunting, but..."
A mouse runs in front of Aramek. He grabs it, plays with it, tortures it, then eats it while it is still alive. Zack conjures a dead, unplucked chicken, Aramek eats it, including most of the feathers. Aramek is now naked, and covered in dirt, chicken, and mouse bits.
The mob heads towards Castle Amber. Aramek tries to climb up Zack's back. "No ride until you wash", Zack says, handing over a wetnap. Aramek washes Zack's pant leg, then climbs up. Zack pulls out a super soaker filled w/ soapy water, then sprays Aramek. Aramek climbs up onto Zack's back, where Zack keeps an eye on him. Malachai remains ready to kill Aramek if he starts eating Zack.
Introductions between Malachai and Aramek. "Hi, I'm Malachai. You?" "I'm not sure." They chat, and decide to call Aramek Fred.
Aramek: "And that's Amber. You all live there?"
Zack: "Sometimes"
Malachai: "From time to time"
Auricle: "Not really"
Logan, chasing a squrrel through the branches, spots the kite, and scrambles down the tree to tell Arielle. They head towards the kite, spot the mob, and catch up.
Malachai hears a rustle, made by something that doesn't belong here and draws his sword. A scruffy brown furry thing drops to the ground in front of him. "Hello, Logan". Aramek drops to the ground.
Arielle senses pain and heads over to Aramek. Aramek: "Mama?" Arielle tries to fix... and the pain goes away. "Mama!" Aramek actually feels good for the first time that he can remember, and now he can remember all of the way back to a sphere. Aramek thanks her, and she comforts him.
Arielle comments, "I think you need a better conveyance for your baby."
Zack: "He didn't fall, he dropped. He's a lot tougher than he looks - he
used to be a 50-foot spider."
They wait for Sir Erik to arrive.
A poorly played trumpet sounds, and out of the bush comes a beautiful white horse, being chased by a donkey. On the back of the donkey is Sir Erik, yelling, "No! Don't eat the horse!"
Malachai laughs. Sir Erik: "Zack! You've returned!" Sir Erik claims to have found a few gem mines.
Malachai and Zack discuss their travel plans, and decide to try to drop off Arielle and Logan first, then take Tazik on a vacation.
They leave Johann in charge. He's trying to learn courtly lingo, and it flops. He's basing his courtly behavior off a book written by Julian. They tell him that Julian was an idiot, and chat. Johann touches the crystal thing, and gets zotted.
Malachai: "Is Ingold your full brother, or half brother?"
Johann: "I don't know - he never told me."
Malachai: "He's older than you?"
Johann: "Significantly."
Zack asks for some elaboration, and Johann starts in on a long tale. Zack interrupts, saying that he should get Arielle and Logan home.
Johann says, "I wouldn't want to delay a beautiful lady and her... pet". Logan's claws *snick* out and he walks over to Johann. Johann replies, "Oh, neat. Do those curl?" *Bend* Logan's eyes bulge. "Oh, I'll put that back." *Bend* Logan retracts his claws and walks over to Arielle, who hands him a stiff drink.
The GM lies like a mangy dog.
Malachai trumps Serena to tell her that he will be travelling through shadow with Zack. She says out loud that she's taunting an ambassador who is trying to take some of their trading rights but will join Malachai in his travels briefly. She insults the ambassador some more, then asks Malachai to pull her through.
Serena twits Malachai about acquiring a baby of her own, and Zack tosses her a doll. Serena says that she'll save it for her firstborn, giving Malachai a significant look.
Malachai introduces Serena to "Fred". He stares at her. Malachai then introduces Serena as "his lady" to Auricle, Logan, and then finally Arielle.
They acquire horses when they pass the next ranger station. Auricle says that she prefers to ride with someone, remembering a pleasant time riding with someone in the past. Zack volunteers, and Auricle settles down in front of him and shifts into a very pleasant female. Arielle is carrying Aramek and riding with Logan. They ride off into the shadow-sunset. Aramek and Auricle pay close attention to the shifting of shadow.
More mandrake silliness.
They return to the line and continue onward. They find a warlike area, where a lone guy is battling an army magically. He's doing a good job. His stick is insulting the army. Blaze does something, and the sorcerer swivels, says, "I'll be right with you", and returns to wasting the army. The stick says, "Awh, what the heck." *whoosh* and the opposing army goes up in flames. The sorcerer starts yelling at the stick, claiming that if it does all of the work he won't learn anything.
They approach the guy, He introduces himself as "The Great Marag", and the stick, after some prompting, gives a brassy trumpet. He looks to be about 18, and his beard is stuck on with spirit gum. Beau asks is he can find lost people. The sorcerer starts looking up the prices in a book, and says that he can only find younger siblings - there isn't a price for finding elder siblings.
Beau: "Can't you just extrapolate a new price?"
Kid: "I've never made up a price before, this is my dad's... this is my
book!"
Beau: "Where's your dad?"
Kid: "He's dead, I mean, he's in the stick."
"You're not supposed to say that, son!", says the stick. The stick sighs, and says, "We might as well do this right." It hops over to Beau, and says, "What is it that you want?" Beau asks whom he has the honor of adressing, and it responds, "Johann the elder". Beau introduces him to the group, and they chat. The reason the stick is in a stick is because he died. The stick recognizes Cobalt, and says that he can use their spiral. They offer to try to un-stick him as payment for his help.
They say that they're looking for three lost relatives, plus Prince Benedict of Amber, plus a cure for a particularly nasty poison. The stick says it can't deal with the last two, and asks for things of the missing relatives. They hand over a lock of Chance's hair, and a glove that belonged to Brandy.
The stick says the kid's name is Frank.
The stick says to the kid that you don't charge this family - they're powerful. If you're nice to them and you're good, they might let you use their spiral. They point out that that the last time they saw Brandy, she was going in the direction of the line that they've been following.
The kid grabs the stick, and the stick drags the kid off. They arrive at a cave with big iron door, kid raises his arms, and a little door in the big door opens. Beau asks about the local wars, and Stick tells him to look at a book titled, "War", and it will list any local wars. Beau grabs the book, turns to the end, and the last couple of pages are charred and melted. The stick is indignant about the condition of the book.
The stick arranges matters for the magical ritual, ordering them around, and ordering the mandrake pack and Carlton out of the room.
He performs a big magical working, very powerful, using the glove. It's even beyond Beau's skills. Maria is left with a dark/light blue marble that doesn't rotate. The stick says that the dark blue side will point to the one who owned the glove.
There is an even bigger magical working with the hair. They're left with a picture of Chance, and it pulls. It's currently pulling in the same direction as the marble, and both are pulling in the direction of the line. They ask, and the stick says that they will last outside this "sphere". The stick asks them to look for a tutor for his son - he's getting frustrated. "He seemed to be doing okay against the army" "He was supposed to be doing that well three years ago." "These things take time" "I know - my master wasn't satisfied until I was one hundred." "He's still a kid!" "He's one hundred and fifteen!"
The stick tells them to make themselves at home - my home is your home. No, wait, my son't home is your home. "I'm dead, I can't own property, I hate that!"
They chat briefly about the kid and his capabilities - he's quite good by their scale.
The stick pulls Cyndia aside to ask her if she can do something about his form. She tries to modify it, and after a bit of effort, discovers that she can't really do it - it keeps trying to revert. She shows the stick a way to hang a change via his spellcasting which will last for a while.
The kid pulls Damia aside. "Yes?" "You look like a nice person." "Thank you" "Can I tell you a secret" "If you want to" "Would you tell anyone else?" ... "I won't tell" "I want to be a farmer" "Have you ever told your father that?" "Once, and he didn't talk to me for sixteen years" "That's pretty harsh" "I think I shocked him out of speech. He died in the middle of it." They chat, Damia angsts. It took his elder brother 300 years to finish his apprenticeship. He was a bit slow - he turned half of his brain into a frog, and that could be why he finished.
The stick has chosen a wood-golemesque form for itself. The mandrake roots are amusing themselves; the birds are off hunting. They rest.
They're heading out of Arden. Zack is leading, shadow-shifting using the trump of Omega as a destination. Every now and then they have a few people gang up and try the trump to open a gate. There's still nothing, but they draw closer and closer.
Malachai periodically checks the stick. He notices a pattern in it's humming.
Arielle has to go to the bathroom. "Umm... is there a rest stop?" Zack shifts for a nice, clean porta-potty up ahead
Arielle passes the baby off to Serena.
Auricle's gargoyle reminds her that she works best of she empties herself occasionally. "Wry? How go I get off of this?" Zack tells her how to dismount.
Zack trumps Benedict, he's in the middle of battle. "Call back later" "Okay".
Serena joins Auricle in line for the bathroom.
Zack pulls out Stormy's trump, and Serena says, "Put it away - it gives me a headache."
Arielle exits the bathroom and takes the baby back, then Serena enters the portapotty. It disappears. Much confusion ensues. Malachai trumps Serena. She's in a very large necessary. says, "I'm sorry. You just disappeared" "I didn't realize it was this big on the inside" She finishes her business, then Malachai pulls her back through.
Zack conjures an inflatable acme portapotty.
Zack pulls Stormy's trump back out, and it looks like a card - the magical properties are gone.
Auricle leaves the bathroom, and it starts deflating behind her. Zack slaps a stamp on it, and says that someone will be by to pick it up.
They continue. Arielle falls asleep on top of Aramek, but Logan and Serena seem fine.
After many hours, Zack looks for a good campsite with lots of animals.
They hear tardis noises, and a restaurant appears. An odd-looking purplly-dressed person sticks his head out, and says, "Logan! Arielle! You'll be late for class!" It's Percy. He chats with them frantically, and drags the mob into the restaurant.
Serena drags Malachai out of the restaurant, and whispers naughty nothings to him. They are pleasantly occupied for a while.
Percy tells the Amberites that they can't come back - that would be invading the campus, and then they would be stuck. Introductions happen.
Questions about the baby...
Arielle: "Does it have a parent?"
Zack: "We aren't even sure what species it it."
Auricle: "We met it as a giant spider."
Minmae: "Oh, good. You're all here."
Minmae shows up with a tray of food; the baby grabs a rack of lamb and starts eating it, bone and all.
Zack sees his father over there in a corner. Arielle goes over to greet Julian, and he hugs her. Zack wanders over to chat.
After resting, they leave, following the pull of the newly acquired homing devices. Maria carries the devices. They are arboreal. Most are riding the birds, Cyndia is flapping. Beau isn't on a bird he's riding Zephyr.
They travel, rest break happens. Amusing conversations that take far too long are virtualled, people sleep around. Travel again. The devices start diverging, and they decide to follow Chance. The devices continue to diverge. Three more rest stops happen. At their next stop, locusts plague them. They twitch-shift, and lots of birds start helping their birds eat the locusts. Other strange birds appear, eat the bugs, eat the new birds, and start in on the rooks. They continue, pull the rooks in close, and shoot the birds that come in close. Everything goes with them, blood, locusts, birds, and electricity starts crackling around them. Stormy looks for influence behind this - it's magically caused.
They cause is three...two...one shadow behind them.
They keep going, preparing, then stop suddenly. Shadow rips open in front of them, revealing a number of mages. Beau: "Get them!"
They're pretty good.
Natasha starts a grease fire, Beau preps a spell trap to catch an extinguisher spell, and one of the mages immolates.
Natasha and Beau attack with bows. Beau is pissed. These are part of the group that's after him. "Kill them. Kill them all. Kill them extremely. Kill them a lot."
They might be overmatched there are 15-16 opponents, all mages, and they only have 2 mages.
The mandrakes call out to Damia, "Hey - let us see!" "Can you help?" They stole a rock from the mage back there. They bring it out - it's a brilliant, flashing gem. She gives it to Blaze, whose spells get a lot more efficient.
The mirror spell is reflecting well, the Eat That spells are doing well, and bow shots are doing well. The mages don't have any physical defenses up, so Cyndi and the rooks are doing quite well against them. The ornithalls are having difficulties getting close, though.
Beau is not in good shape, having been hit with a few spells. He's mixing it up with two spiked flails.
Much mass destruction. They've won. "Blaze!" Blaze is unconscious on the ground somewhere. They land.
Beau unracks his healing spell on himself.
Natasha puts out the locusts, blood, electricity, and mechanical birds.
Theresa tries to get Beau to stay put long enough for her to sew up the big wounds left over after the healing spell.
Damia has a few small wounds, and is brewing a healing tea. Blaze is not responding.
Beau puts the gem back into Blaze's hands - the gem is smoking somewhat, Blaze is quite out, and remains out.
Carlton is missing, but his ornithall is present. The ornithalls and rooks didn't see anything.
Note: the mages weren't behind the party, they were on an intercept course.
There are only 14 dead mages.
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