”Yes, you jolly well you should have thought of us, you dolt! However you feel about what you have done, remember we have done the same. If you think you have sinned, then so have we. And you’re a bloody inconsiderate idiot not to think about how we would feel if you were to delete YOURSELF from our lives!” Greta looks as if she would like to give him a good slap, but since it’d do nothing anyway…she doesn’t.
”You know that I owe you a great debt, one which I will never be able to repay. And if you were to wipe yourself from existence, I’d never get a chance to do something for you, after all you’ve done for me.” Dimitri answers mournfully. ”Like I never got the chance to show you around Axis, nor build the cottage for you. I could still come here and do it of course, but you’d only be able to see it and not interact with it in any other manner.”
Einar holds the bag of holding open so that Greta can place the stacking doll inside. He holds it open long enough so Crummock can see that he doll is laying beside his corpse. Smiling a sad smile he shrugs. ”If you don’t mind her being in there, I don’t mind.” he then ties the bag shut and sits down on the comfortable furnishings.
’His story is so different than mine. But I can understand how he came to be who he is.’ Resisting the urge to get out the ceramic jug and pass it around, Einar sits and listens to Crummocks story, “e'en paid the debt that that fisherman” really? I was helping him. That was just a good investment and it would have motivated him to work harder. ‘ smiling slightly Einar just shook his head. It was almost easy to pretend that Crummock wasn’t dead and that he was still there with them.
When Crummock paused for a moment, Einar looks at him oddly, and asks. ”You said you might “forget these lessons” Couldn’t you write yourself a note? Are you saying you Can’t rejoin us or you don’t want to?”
Smiling a toothy smile. ”Keeping her out of Golarion, might be an option, but It won’t stop her from eating children elsewhere. Why don’t we just kill her?” ’What a legacy to be the war band that killed the great hag.’
He stands and stretches, ”If we can’t kill her outright, who says we have to finish the process after we kill her daughter. Who says we have to release her from her prison? I realize the spell on us becomes a problem, but we may be able to figure out how to beat it.”
Mr. Whiskers pinches the bridge of his nose a moment, then says "Given what happened with Rasputin, I suspect killing her would be even more difficult." Shaking his head, Mr. Whiskers says "I think the chances of us convincing her to just leave Golarian alone are much better." Partially because she probably needs to find a new way to keep her existence going. If she has to start over, that can be done just as easily somewhere else.
"She tore out the throats of the champions of the winter wolf packs many eons ago, and established her dominance over the packs." Greta comments. "It wouldn't be easy killing her. It may not be safe for me to join all of you in that - there are certain instincts deeply ingrained in the part of me that's wolf" She admits.
Dimitri on the other hand, agrees readily, "If you need a hand in killing Baba Yaga, I could always pitch in. The universe is better off without a monster like her."
"Magic...uh...I'll leave it to the experts."Dimitri looks at Mr Whiskers and Crummock's shifting form.
He turns to Mr Whiskers with his eyebrows furrowed, "Is there a way where Crummock could be brought back in a different body?"
Mr. Whiskers considers Dmitri's question for a moment.
"That is a good question. The problem isn't so much getting his spirit back into a body as getting it into a body and it having any recollection of his most recent existence."
He pauses a moment, looking to Crummock. "I don't know what preparations you took, but provided you didn't do something to trap your spirit here it should be possible to be reincarnated so that your spirit can have another turn at life. That normally involves forgetting the past life though."
Looking back to Dmitri, he then acknowledges "Reincarnation isn't what you probably meant though. I don't know if there is some way where he maintains his memories, but if there were a way to do what you want it would probably still leave him changed in some way."
Crummock then sighs.
"I fear, however, that if I was brought back in me previous form, I would forget these lessons, and would simply continue upon the same path as I was on before..."
"It wasn't what I wanted, it was what he requested." Dimitri replies. "But Crummock, would you rather exist as you are now, or to come back with us?" Dimitri asks.
"I would rather you came back with us, but I will respect your decision either way." He gestures at the place, "I mean this is a good place to spend the rest of your days, and as long as you're happy, I will find a way to live with your choice.And I will find a way to allow you to interact with your surroundings, should you decide to stay. I promise.
"Reincarnation... Don't we have a scroll of
Reincarnate somewhere?" Greta's face lights up as she thinks the thought out loud.
Crummock nods to Mr Whiskers.
"Aye. This Plane is stable, at its current extent at least. It be where I have been divertin' most o' me share o' the treasure for a while, and whilst it carried a significant cost in diamond dust, I think it was well worth it."
Crummock chews his lip thoughtfully.
"Death, and then utter powerlessness, trapped in limbo, aware, but unable to act, is a terrible punishment. However, certain things do deserve it..."
Crummock grins mirthlessly.
"Well, if she was better at housekeepin', she would have cleaned up the... leftovers... and I wouldnae been put in the middle o' the quandary that consumed me..."
"I be afraid that, once ensconced in me original mortal shell, I will fall back into me original ways o' thinkin', and be consumed by the thoughts o' me past... it is nae so much not being able to remember 'lessons learned', per se, and simply not bein' able to fathom their importance."
Crummock looks doubtful for a moment, but then as the means by which the spell works is explained, he starts to look thoughtful.
"Aye... that just might work. I would still be o' use to ye, but wouldnae have quite the same emotional baggage. To an extent, the man that I am would cease to exist. Aye. That could definitely work..."
"I wager its not so much of cleaning the leftovers, rather not seeing the reason for cleaning the left overs. I don't think she even comprehends that what she does is thought abhorrent by most cultures." Greta answers. She looks slightly ashamed. "And honestly before I saw it's effect on you, I thought it was another thing that Winter Witches do. Those who cause Winter Witches trouble often tend to dissappear mysteriously and are never heard from again."
"If we use the reincarnate scroll on Crummock, what will happen to him? He said the man he is would cease to exist."Dimitri asks Mr Whiskers, worried. "How much of himself would he lose? Would he forget all about us?"
'Bloody well right you would be of use.' Nodding his head as Crummock speaks, 'Comprehend that it's abhorrent?' He gives Greta a look, "Doesn't Comprehend? She comprehends everything too well, she just doesn't care. She has the power so she does what she wants."
Looking from Crummock to the bag and then the others, "So what do we do now?"
"Maybe you're right on that." Greta looks troubled.
"What do we do? Since Crummock's willing to come back, albeit in another body, we annoint his old body with the package of oils that came with the scroll of reincarnate, and get someone," She holds out a hand, "Don't look at me, I don't know how to activate scrolls, to activate the scroll," She pauses for a while, "Then we see what he comes back as."
At that, Beta pipes up:
"Well, if ye loan me Alpha's circlet, I be havin' a reasonable chance o' bein' able to activate it..."
'It sounds like were done with the private stuff.' Einar opens the bag and gingerly lifts Crummock's body out of the bag, setting it on the nearby table. "Here we are." Closing the bag with the stacking doll still inside.
He also takes a moment to pull the ceramic container and his new 'jack' out. "So it looks like were drinking to Crummock's restoration, instead of his burial." Tipping the 'jack toward his sword brother. "I like that better." He begins to say something to the container, then looks up at Crummock and asks. "I never did ask, which do you prefer sake or plum wine."
'So what happens to Geist.' thinking for a moment He nods toward the tiger, "Just out of curiosity, what happens with the one-ton-killing-machine? I assume he will recognize you, or does someone speak tiger so we can explain?"
Greta bends down and helps Einar remove Crummock's body from the bag of holding, as well as the scroll of Reincarnate and the oils.
"Okay, I studied the magical theory behind this, but I've never done the practical." Greta makes a face then mutters, "Let's hope I don't screw this up. I don't think Crummock would be too happy coming back as a gelatinous cube."
"It should be Mr Whiskers and not me doing this," Greta grumbles under her breath.
She removes Crummock's circlet from his old body and hands it over to Alpha, together with the scroll. "Dont use the scroll until we have a chance to annoint his body with the oils," She instructs Beta.
"You must as well make yourself useful, Einar." She hands half the oils to Einar, while opening the cap on the other oil bottles. "Rub it all over his body, like this," Then she demonstrates how to do it. "And don't miss spots."
"You can activate the scroll now." She directs Beta.
"Wait! Wait! Crummock's going to come back as a gela-what cube? Do both of you even know what you're doing? " Dimitri starts yelling.
Einar, jack in one hand, ceramic container in the other, gives Greta a dirty look. then looking around for someplace to sit the containers down, he adds. "Fine, we will save the drinking for later." He takes the oils and looks at the translucent Crummock. "but this don't mean were dating or anything." and starts to help Greta rub the oils on his dead friends body. Mumbling to Greta, "rubbing oils on Crummock, girl, You so owe me."
'a gelatinous cube, that's at least hard to kill.' Einar smiles a toothy smile at Dimitri as he rubs the oils on Crummocks corpse. "Relax Dimitri, what's the worst that can happen? He comes back a dragon and we can all ride him to where ever were going."
"How can you be so blase about things like that! That's our friend Crummock who's brought us back and you're happily joking on what he's going to come back as? " Dimitri looks at the pair, then turns to Mr Whiskers, hoping he'll do something.
"How can you be so blase about things like that! That's our friend Crummock who's brought us back and you're happily joking on what he's going to come back as? " Dimitri looks at the pair, then turns to Mr Whiskers, hoping he'll do something.
Einar smiles a toothy smile. "That's easy. When we came here we came to bury him because he had no desire to return. Now he has agreed to come back, albeit in another form. All that matters to me is he is returning and we once again have our war-band."
Mr. Whiskers looks somewhat disappointed by Crummock's answer. "I gather from that answer you still want to keep the two souls trapped in their gems then?"
I was hoping to finally release them. I know that I could just take Einar's approach -- right now it is doubtful he could stop me -- but given the situation that would be wrong.
---
Looking to Dmitri, Mr. Whiskers thinks a moment before responding. "The spell creates a new body from the material in the area. There is no way I know of to control what race that body is. On Golarian, the person usually comes back as an elf, human, gnome, hafling, or even a kobold."
Looking towards Crummock's spirit, he points out "We are not on Golarian, so I can not say what effect that will have on the likely bodies."
Looking back to Dmitri, he continues "As for memories, most of them are available to the new body." He stresses the word most. "Being put into a new body tends to affect the thought process. As an example, elves don't see the world with quite the same senses as a human or an orc."
Mr. Whiskers gets out of his char and goes over to help Greta. "Although I've read the theory, this is a little outside what I normally do as well." he points out as he opens one of the jars.
It doesn't take that long to set things up. Mr. Whiskers asks to see the scroll one more time and reads through it.
Looking to Crummock he asks "Are you sure you want Beta doing this rather than me? It isn't exactly the type of spell you normally cast."
Dimitri looks confused and slightly flustered at Mr Whiskers reply, "I have no idea what an elf, gnome, halfling or kobold is."
"And if you say most memories, then which memories are lost?"
|
Beta takes the scroll carefully, and starts to read from it...
...but stutters over some of the words, and has to begin from the beginning again.
The second time around, he is much more confident, and belts out the words of power. As his chanting reaches a crescendo, golden mist starts to rise from Crummock's old body, encircling his spirit, like a halo. Bits of dust, dirt, pieces of plant matter, and other unidentifiable things fly through the air to join the halo, forming an all-encircling cloud which gradually obscures Crummock from view.
As the last words of the spell fall from Beta's lips, there is a blinding flash of light, a sudden blast of wind, and bizarrely, the solemn pealing of a bell once, twice, thrice.
When the party's vision clears, they see Crummock's new form!
"Ah. An entirely new perspective. This will take some getting used to."
The form that the party see before them is indeed humanoid, but it is small, twisted, and pure white, like all of the color has been bleached out of it. Yet, despite all of this, its facial features are unmistakably familiar - if not precisely Crummock's, they bear a striking resemblance to those of his old face (apart from his nose, which is somewhat larger).
His eyes, however, are still the same, but the haunted look of pain is gone, replaced with calm serenity.
At this point, Beta hurriedly moves to get Crummock some clothes; although the robe that he provides is far too big, at least it grants him a modicum of decency.
Crummock nods to Beta.
"Thank-you."
He then turns to the others.
"I do remember all of you, and I do remember what has gone before... but it is like remembering the plot of a favored play, or the story of a treasured book; I retain the information, but there is not quite the same spark of recognition, the same emotional attachment, as for one who actually experienced the events. Logically, clinically, I acknowledge my debt to all of you, and I will honor it. Where that takes us from here, however, is anyone's guess."
Crummock then looks hard at the oversized, jewel-encrusted gauntlet, and then shrugs.
"I know this truly meant something to me once upon a time, but now? It has lost its context. I no longer feel the righteous indignation that I once did. I think that it has outlived its usefulness..."
He then slowly and deliberately crushes each of the gems, freeing the souls within.
"Given what they did in life, I do not believe their afterlife will be particularly pleasant... but that is not my concern."
Crummock then frowns.
"No, this won't do..."
He then concentrates, and his form shifts to a human form, with owl-like eyes, and faint traceries of feathers where its eyebrows should be.
"Better... but not a permanent solution."
Crummock then moves to pat Geist, but the tiger fluffs up, and hisses at him, causing Crummock to hurriedly withdraw his hand.
"Ah... I should have realised; this is an entirely new form, so he will not recognise it... A pity."
He then turns to Beta.
"Please look after him; he should respond to you more favorably. I would like him to live out the rest of his days here. He has done much, more than any tiger reasonably could be expected to. He has earned his rest."
Crummock then turns back to the party.
"However, right now, I think we need to bury my old body. Closure is, after all, a necessary thing..."
Greta is the first to recover and runs over to bear hug the gnome, nearly bowling him over in her enthusiasm. "Crummock! You're back!"Then gives him a bone-crushing squeeze. "Now you pigheaded, stubborn dolt, don't let your sense of honor get in the way of coming back to us!"
Dimitri, however is a bit puzzled. "You seem different now," He observes. "Somewhat more remote. Are you feeling all right?" He asks.
There are two sighs of relief as Crummock crushes the gems.
Crummock then directs Beta to get a granite slab from the wooden shed, and some leaf leshys to help carry the pick axes and shovels and chisels from the very same shed. He then directs Greta to pick up his old body, and leads the party to the grass verge between the beehives and the Vineyards.
"Here." He gestures at the ground. Beta and the leaf leshys then take up pick axes and shovels to dig an 8 feet long, 3 feet wide and 4 1/2 feet deep cavity in the ground. Greta gives him a questioning look, "So this is where you want your old body to be buried?"
Crummock nods, as Greta lays his body into the depression in the earth, and Beta and the leaf leshys shovel soil over it. Then Beta plants the granite slab as the tombstone, with the words, "Crummock-i-Phail", together with the letter "α" on it.
"If there is any ceremony you should wish to perform - do as you wish - to me it is just a disused soul vessel of no significance."He answers the party simply.
Mr. Whiskers watches and smiles as Crummock crushes the gems. He is right about where Pharasma is likely to send them. Still better than the prison they were held in, there is a chance of their soul getting reincarnated.
As everyone is leaving to bury the body, Mr. Whiskers walks alongside the gnome Crummock. "So, how is the new perspective?" While walking beside him, he tries to judge their relative heights.
When it comes to digging, he allows the tall folk to handle that chore.
When Crummock mentions ceremonies, Mr. Whiskers simply steps forth and says "To new beginnings."
"Everything's bigger, but more distant. Most things are not worth bothering about." Crummock answers.
Mr Whiskers realizes that Crummock, when he is a gnome, is even shorter then he is!
Well not so much now after he transformed into an owlwere.
"To new beginings." He echoes Mr Whiskers."Now I believe we had somewhere to be headed off to?" He asks Mr Whiskers.
Nodding, Mr. Whiskers gets out two tuning forks.
Handing one to Crummock, he says "I imagine you will want this one back now."
"Once everyone is ready, I can bring us back to the plane that the grove exists in. I will need people to once again join hands." He gestures around at the group.
"By the way, Crummock. This is a nice place. I can see why you would find it relaxing to come here. Just need to put a library in, the place is a little lacking in the way of reading material."
Einar watches as the reincarnation ritual takes place a blinding flash of light, a sudden blast of wind, and bizarrely, the solemn pealing of a bell once, twice, thrice. ’Ah an albino halfling of some sort, not as big as the original, but he did not rely size on and strength anyways. I am surprised the other body is left.’
’Good he can still take his owlwere form, a pity that Geisit doesn’t love him still, we will miss the tiger. But at least we have Crummocks magic and mind, if not his motives.’
Staying out of the way while Greta and Dimitri fuss at Crummock he assists with the burial as best he can. At the end of the funeral he echoes their statement. ”To new beginings.” then smiles a toothy smile, ”And settling old scores.”
As Mister Whiskers indicates the method of leaving, Einar, reaches toward Crummock, offering the bag of holding. ”Is there anything you need before we leave this place? Any gear or spell preparation? Once we get back to the pond we have no way of knowing how the others will respond, it may be easier to take what preparation we need to here.”
Looking back to the others shrugging his shoulders, ”It may be easier to let them assume Crummock is dead and we have acquired his associate, if we do that we will need to use a different name. “
"Now you pigheaded, stubborn dolt, don't let your sense of honor get in the way of coming back to us!"
Crummock nods.
"I will endeavor not to disappoint you in the future."
"You seem different now," He observes. "Somewhat more remote. Are you feeling all right?"
"As I said, things were lost in the transition; I retain the memories of my past life, but not the emotional baggage attached to them. That does not, however, mean that I cannot appreciate the importance of certain things; it has just allowed me to... let go."
Mr. Whiskers gets out two tuning forks.
Handing one to Crummock, he says "I imagine you will want this one back now."
Crummock nods gravely.
"Yes, I appreciate its return."
He then turns to Beta.
"As always, continue to look after this place for me. I will return when I can. Between you and the Seven, things should be taken care of; you have managed this place well thus far. However, if there are any problems, Call, and I will hear..."
Crummock then sits down on the ground, and is mobbed by seven of the cute little leaf leshies. He pats each of them affectionately, before becoming more serious.
"I called you into existence, so that this place would always be nurtured, and cared for. I am pleased to see that it was a wise decision to have made."
He then gets to his feet, donning his old equipment, casts a long, lingering look in Geist's direction, then moves over to the rest of the party.
"I suppose that we should be on our way..."
Crummock then frowns.
"Is there a rush, or do we have some time to take stock, and reprovision? My Eden is not dimensionally locked, so we should be able to do an equipment run..."
"The grotto is no longer dimensionally locked, and the longer we stay here the more likely it is someone will locate your haven. Given our enemies, you may want to avoid that." Mr. Whiskers explains.
"If you want to stay a while, that is fine. I need to go do some more preparations for our next battle. Do you have a tuning fork set for the grotto?" I'm not sure how he would have one, but might as well ask now before a mistake occurs.
"So formal, Crummock? After all we've been through together? Nonetheless, you're now back with us, and that's all that truly matters."Greta answers.
Then she takes out the silver raven Blackie to send a message to Zikvazaraat.
"It'll take some getting used to, but it's probably for the best. Back then, you looked like you were carrying the weight on your shoulders...and it seemed to much for you to bear." Dimitri replies.
Zikvazaraat surprisingly this time appears immediately when he is called. "Hey! Cool place!" He hails the party cheerfully. "You should call me here more often next time. Certainly a vast improvement over that inhospitable wasteland you were last in." He then shows the party his wares, which are more extensive then the last time.
"Would you like to visit Axis? If you could planeshift me there, I could apply for a permit for you, and we could go to Axis tomorrow. I promised I'd show you around!" Dimitri asks Crummock. "Would anyone want to come along as well? I need to know now, so I know how many permits I need to apply for."
"Urm yeah, I'd need a tuning fork to get back to the grotto and Eden here."Dimitri tells Mr Whiskers and Crummock. "If you don't mind?" Dimitri asks Crummock questioning.
Crummock nods to Zikvazaraat.
"I have a list of things that I wish to acquire..."
Once the transactions are complete, he nods to Einar.
"I am planning a shopping run to Armun Kelisk. If at all possible, I would prefer the company, since I can no longer count on Geist. Would you be willing? Otherwise, I will most likely Call an Angel to act as bodyguard..."
He shakes his head.
"There is no need. I will go directly to one of Axis' bureaucrats, and ask them."
'A run to Armun Kelisk." Einar nods his head in agreement with Crummock. "I would be happy to escort you. I was disappointed with the new swords inability to seriously damage the witches. I may have to rethink the choice. perchance buy some items while we are there."
I'll be willing to be your bodyguard for the trip to Armun Kelis. " Dimitri volunteers.
"So will I." Greta answers as well.
As Crummock planeshifts the party to the plane of air, the party finds themselves walking on air, and see the limestone spires of Armun Kelisk in the distance. However, they also hear a threatening voice, but don't see a speaker. "Drop all your valuables and we'll let you leave."
Crummock sighs wearily.
"I see three options, you try to kill us, we definitely kill you, or we leave in peace. I opt for the third option."
He then Plane Shifts back to Eden.
"Sorry about that - give me a couple of days, and I will have the targeting problem sorted out."
Crummock planeshifts the party back to Eden without any further problems, leaving the puzzled unseen speaker behind.
He then Plane Shifts back to Eden.