As Liisa concentrates, Johnny see's a brief flicker of green from her forehead... and in her clenched fist he see's a wooden bow flicker for a moment.
"Aight. I'm on the right way then ..."
She closes her eyes and tries to concentrate even harder!
Liisa concentrates harder, and again, Johnny sees the flicker of a bow in her hand, but it doesn't do much more than flicker.
The effort seems to tire Liisa tremendously though, and she nearly passes out from the third attempt.
The two end up passing the day with her trying to recover. They can tell the day is passing because the light from the quartz crystals slowly moves along the floor.
As the light begins to fade, moss on the roof of the cave system begins to glow as the crystals begin to fail, turning the lighting from bright white to a faded red that casts the caverns in a more sinister light.
The skeletons and corpses scattered around aren't in the same positions they were a few minutes ago...
"Uhm..." Liisa looks up. "Did you move the bodies?..."
Why would he do that? Why ... Feeling an uncomfortable feeling slither up her spine, she clutched her fists and tried once more. And this time it worked! An armour of bone and leather surrounded her, conjured out of thin air in a similar fashion as Johnnys robe. Sweet! I sorta look like Conan! she chuckled and leapt to her feet, placing her hand on the bar as quick as she could.
"Let's get the heck out of here!"
Liisa ends up having to press her forehead to the stone, but then the oval begins to glow. As she reaches out the palm of her hand, she realizes there's a bow in her hand, which makes it harder to touch the palm anyway.
Even as Johnny and Liisa scramble out of the opening as the two last stone bars slide into the roof and floor, the bodies of the dead behind them begin to stir, pulling themselves up and coming toward them with rusty weapons and clawed skeletal hands.
And then, they are out of the lurid red light from the moss, and into a large cavern lit by torches. A burbling pool of crystal clear water is opposite them.
Also in the cavern is a woman in leather armor, another woman in full plate armor, and a man in armor with a jingly sword.
"Pew ... that was in the nick of time ..."
Liisa dashes inside the next room/cave/opening, panting. She hadn't run much these last few years, but the crawling dead was certainly a good motivator! She stopped with a start as she noticed the other people. With a quick fluid motion (that she didn't know she was even capable of!) she nocks an arrow on her bow and raises it half-way. While seeing other people was nice - fact remained that she and Johnny had been trapped inside some sort of cage and these folk where just outside it. Coincidence? I think not! And they were armed. Agitated, she called out -
"Hey! Are ---"
She coughted up her words as she saw 'police' written across the platemail of one of the women. Whaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaat the actual flying fuuuuuuuuuuck?? Confusion was written all over her and she almost shot her arrow into the ground infront of her.
Description: Liisa looks about thirty-years something. She has (dyed) red hair cut into something between a pixie and a page cut. Her eyecolour is hazel and she has a pair of rings in her left eyebrow. Her lips look a bit dry, since she has a bad habit of sucking on them while thinking.
Right now, she is wearing a laminar armour out of horn and leather - but 'underneath' it she wears a thin black jacket with a red shirt, jeans and a pair of off-brand converse. Her socks does not match.
A shiver goes down Johnny's spine. "I didn't touch them. But they definitely moved..." He could feel his heart rate start to spike. You've got ta be f*cking kidding me! I knew this was Hell. They give us false hope only to rip us apart in some f*cking horror flick.
Johnny starts to pray harder than he's ever prayed before. Which isn't really all that hard given he could probably count the number of times outside of Sunday school he's tried on one hand. But once again, someone up there seems to be listening as Liisa's clothes start to change. I hope we were right about that...
And suddenly he's also holding a sword. He stares blankly at it as Liisa manages to trigger the door opening. "What the..." His voices raises to an angry, confused yell at the unknown spectators. "I ain't no bloody gladiator! What the hell am I supposed ta do with this damnabled thing?" Although a small part in his head whispers Well, it's better than nothing.
Luckily, he doesn't seem to need the sword as the way in front of them clears. He starts running, but he could swear it's in slow motion. Please let this be a nightmare....
Johnny skids to a stop outside when he notices more people. More people in armor. What the hell was up with all the medieval sh*t? The burbling spring tries to call to him, but he pushes down his thirst and tugs Liisa lightly, jerking his head to the side of the cavern while glancing between where they had just come and the newcomers.
He then moves to avoid being flanked by the skeletons and the newcomers. "Who are you? Those your buddies back there?" He nods back the way they came.
"Oh. Hey. Looks like you guys did significantly better than us. I didn't get my armor til I lit my Volcano." Neri supplied as he looked over. "Well. That probably sounded weird. Okay, so. Your relief that you took the gem out of had a location, an armor, and a weapon. You've got two of the three. The location is also important as it has people or things of value. Mine is a thick breastplate, a broadsword, and a volcano." He takes a moment to think, knocking his lead colored hair out of his blue eyes. He's not actually wearing breastplate, but instead something like the sleuth, and isn't carrying the sword, but instead a whip.
"Right, I'm being stupid. My name's Neri, this is Lina, and this is Luna." he motioned. "and this, as far as I can tell, is not Hell. Though there is a village named Hell nearby. Ironically. It's still not -that- bad."
"Uhm ... *Hi!*"
Liisa managed to mumble out a greeting, while following Johnny to the side. With his sword, they *might* have a chance, but she didn't fancy their odds. Her mind was racing with thoughts and questions and confusion, but she did her best to keep up with the stream of new information. She wasn't sure if knowing that one of them had a volcano was supposed to reassure her or not, but at least they were talking and not stabbing ...
"I'm Liisa. This is ...-"
She bit her tongue again, letting Johnny introduce himself if he wanted. He was some sort of private eye. Maybe he has any idea of what to do ?
'Lit my volcano'? Is that a euph-- Oh, I guess he's being literal. Better watch my tongue with these guys; don't want to go gettin' inta a fight needlessly. In the back of his head, he files away the fact that yes, his companion's name was indeed Liisa. Under different circumstances, he'd be happy to have avoided that little faux pas.
"Name's Johnny. Johnny Slade. Neri." He nods his greeting to the man. "Ma'ams." He goes to tip his hat to the ladies. Only to remember that it's no longer there.
He quickly thinks back to what he and Liisa had thus far said. He was pretty sure they hadn't mentioned Hell at all. "What makes you say this isn't Hell, Neri?" He keeps his tone light and friendly as he glances back to look for pursuing skeletons, slowly edging his way away from where they'd emerge while trying to keep Liisa close. He also didn't answer my question, which ain't a good sign. Best case, we can pit them against each other and try ta escape in the chaos. Worst case, they're already in cahoots, and we're as dead as two foxes inna pit of starving hounds. Or...y'know...re-dead or whatever.
The skeletons and bodies are apparently unable to step out of the lurid red light, so they just shuffle there, waiting for someone to step into the light.
Neri points over Johnny's shoulder. "Mostly that. A few of us thought it was Hell when we got here, but I thought I'd been kidnapped by some psycho in North Carolina to star in some terrible horror flick equivalent of what he felt was normal. That and the intense burning pain that happened when I pulled Id out of the wall. The shambling corpses didn't help." He shrugs, nonchalantly. "I was an acrobat back home, you?" He motions to the water. "Drinking that healed us, and there were berries this way." he thumbs over his shoulder towards another cave.
'How about now, Id? Or still can't talk til the zombies go back to sleep? Anything against me going in and torching them all?
"Oh, and if you've been -that- banal, magic is real." he said as he sent a wave of magic up to brighten his hair to an icy blue.
Johnny seems glad that the monsters seemed to be stuck in the cave. Worst case odds are now 3 to 2. "I did this'n' that. Whatever it took to get enough money ta pay rent and buy some food."
He looks again at the appealing spring. It didn't look poisoned. And the man didn't seem to be lying. They'd have to drink something eventually. He hesitantly moves towards the water, giving Liisa a "stay here" gesture. When nothing horrible happens, he motions that it's ok and stands to guard Liisa if she chooses to drink.
Banal? Johnny wasn't really sure what that meant, but from Neri's tone of voice, he guessed it was a bad thing. Great, another one of those intellectual types that're always lookin' down on me. At least it generally means I get underestimated.
It took a moment for the magic comment to sink in. Johnny felt like he should be more surprised. But hey, with randomly changing clothes and zombies, magic wasn't too much of a leap. 'Course, there was a good chance he was going stark ravin' mad, but who was he to question what crazy curve balls he was thrown. And who really cared if crazy hair changing was due to magic or some fancy illusion anyway? It didn't change nothin'.
If you want, they'll be back at dawn. The voice is subdued. A little reminder of our sins...
The cold water is cool and refreshing, and seems to make the various aches and pains ease as it slides down the throat.
Neri nods almost imperceptibly.
"We can clear out the undead in there if we like. It shouldn't be too hard between bombs and other stuff. But... the bodies will just come back."
'People like us that didn't get out? Or worse?'
You... first ever intended to get out...
'Oh. Wow. Alright. Thanks, Id.'
Neri's face shifts from the happy and friendly he had been to a little more perturbed. "You'll want to eat, drink, and rest. It'll probably take a day to get to the 'compounds'. What 'location' was shown in your reliefs?"
If Luna sees John is skeptic about drinking from the water she would walk over and drink from it first same with the berries if he continued to do so.
"There see, It's fine. Get ready to move out and when we get to the compounds I'll explain what I can, this isn't hell but it's pretty close I'd likely call it purgatory.
"Ehm ... I was a magician ..."
Liisa mumbles and stares at Neri's hair. After a while she lets go of the bow with one hand and ... taps it into her armour. Dammit ... I was going for my cards. Where are they *now*?
After Johnny secured the pool, Liisa follows him and takes a sip herself.
Purgatory eh? So Johnny *was* right! The thought didn't really cheer her up much.
"My 'location' was a big freakin tree. Huge."
Johnny frowns as he tries to remember. To be honest, he hadn't been looking much at the background of the image. "It had a wagon with goods on it. And some enclosed living area. And a dog. He looked like a travelin' merchant. All Oregon Trail-like. 'Cept he was Chinese." He indicates his Asian-style clothing.
Johnny shrugs and prepares to follow these new people. Still don't know if we can trust 'em. But they seem friendly 'nuff. And where else am I gonna go? This ain't exactly the Big Apple no more.
As Liisa thinks about her belongings, she suddenly realizes they are in her belt pouch, on her hip.
Oh, there they are! She didn't really question *how* she knew they were in her pouch, she just knew. Somehow. From her belt pouch Liisa retrieves a thick set of cads - it looks to be a few more then a typical 52/54 deck. With practice ease she flips the cards around in her hand, makes them disappear and other quick parlour tricks.
"Ah, neat! I used to be able to do stuff like that... but no where near that well." he said as he watched the various tricks. "I dabbled with everything involved in the circus... but I've pared down what I do significantly, and just kept what I have a knack for, and the opportunity to practice." he says as he hops backwards onto his hands, and takes a few steps that way, before lithely finishing it off. "So, the foresty compound, and the broken-down wagon. We can show you the way, but I think its generally best we leave you to yourself once we get there. Like... my Volcano erupted with me in it. I don't think that'd have gone as well for other people. But by fixing your place, you'll probably learn the tricks of your particular trade. My place supplies metal and let's me scry on the earth. I'm... honestly not sure what theirs does." he looks to Luna and Lina in turn, "At least not anything exceptionally good."
"Right, that's enough," the tall woman in armor says coldly. "You'll soon learn some better tricks, I suspect. But let's clear a few things up."
"First, the bad news is, you might be dead, or something similar. The good news is, you get a second chance. Welcome to our bull-shit pulp novel fantasy world. It's pretty standard sword-and-sorcery, we're fated heroes, there's a whole evil empire out to get us led by three corrupt gods."
"If you go far enough underground, there's a secret rebel city full of lizard men. Also, we each get some sort of castle. Yours might be lame, I do not know. Try not to die."
"Anyway, each of us has our area of expertise. Luna knows the lore, Neri studies geography and chemistry. I'm Länsgeneral Lina Passgard," If new recruits are coming in, she might as well give herself a title—Drang would probably approve, "And my specialty is helping you defend yourself."
"You'll find knowledge of weapons, fighting, and magic downloaded into your brain soon enough. Think The Matrix, only with crystals instead of microchip. Once you've gotten a chance to practice fighting a bit, visit my castle—I can get you any spare bows, extra weapons, exploding arrows, titanium shields, all that. I was never one for Tolkien, but it turns out Mithral is pretty handy. We've got some nice magic trinkets, too, though we're still trying to figure out how to make magic weapons and armor other than the ones you got from your crystals."
Neri stood slackjawed watching Lina's spiel.
"I don't understand a lot of those references. But you probably get the gist. Aside from the people in charge outside our gated community being in a bad way, I don't think it's really as bad as these two are making it out to be. Also..." he motioned to Lina, "That was a much better data dump than I could manage. I just... didn't want to scare you from the get-go. The raptors are awesome, though. More bird than lizard... kind of."
"I never said there was anything bad about it, Neri," Lina replies, smiling. "Then again, if you want to teach these two a few things by example, I've never actually fought a zombie before."
"Oh, and it might be helpful if you told us your names, and any past-world expertise you've got that you think might be useful. Speaking for us, Luna's trained as a thief, Neri used to be an acrobat, and I did in horseback riding and law enforcement. Speaking of which, if you think you know how to ride a horse, you're wrong—the horses here are all but lions with hooves—but if you want to learn to ride one safely, I've got a few extra stabled in the village."
So the police is Swedish. And dislikes Tolkien. *Great* ... Other then that, things where great. Corrupt gods, raptors & lion-horses? And don't forget the zombies! But despite all that, these people at-least sounded a bit helpful. Pocketing (pouching? This was going to be hard to get used to ...) her deck of cards, Liisa tears her eyes away from Neri's haircut. I suppose they want my *full* name.
"Liisa Nemi Lampinen. I've ... hmm. Well, most of my income comes - came - form smoke and mirror style tricks. You know, shell games and all that. The sort you people are so fuzzy about. And if fiction is the basis for how things work here, I might finally have a repository of useful knowledge at the back of my mind!"
Someone seems rather hard of hearin'. Or maybe her English ain't up ta par? Certainly has a foreign name.
This time he speaks slowly and carefully as he gives his name. "I'm. Johnny. Slade. Good at gettin' info outta people."
He wasn't sure quite what to make of all this new intel. Everybody seemed sincere enough. This "downloading" thing sounded cool. Although obviously too good to be true. Probably wanted his soul or somethin' in return. Supposin' that hadn't already been handed over ta some demon. Sounded worth lookin' into anyway.
"Time ta head out then?" Johnny wasn't exactly eager to spend more time than necessary hanging out with a bunch of zombies. Although they weren't moanin' 'bout 'brains,' which was nice.
Unless anyone wants to hang out in the cave, she can take them down to the village.
Not wanting to chance the waterfall slicked stone face of the mountainside in the dark of night, everyone sleeps in the sleeping room. A large room off the cavern with the pool is full of small grotto's filled with soft furs from various animals to sleep on. In the center is a plant with red berries on it, a single one of which fills up a person for a day.
In the morning, the trio lead the newcomers out of the mountain side's face.
The cave exits next to a waterfall that falls a thousand feet... before it reaches the cave entrance. Then it falls another thousand or so feet to the valley below.
Far in the distance, the newcomers can see what looks like a glittering shimmery wall of light that covers the horizon. Closer, about halfway to that curtain, is a large clearing in the forest below, with a large lake centered in it.
It takes most of a day to get down the mountainside.
Once down, the forest takes on a most odd aspect. Bears can be seen stripping leaves and bark from trees, while rabbits can be seen ripping the throats out of wolves, with a dozen rabbits tearing at the wolf's carcass.
Eventually, after several days of travel, the group returns to the central clearing.
The furs hadn't exactly been comfortable. But hell, Johnny had slept on worse. And after the day he had had, he was quickly out like a light. Despite all he had seen thus far, his dreams were fairly peaceful. Far more calming than the next day anyway.
As they climb down the mountain, Johnny asks, "What's with the shimmery light thin'? Force field?" People were always lumpin' sci-fi and fantasy together. There had ta be a reason for that, right?
Once down Johnny frowns at the bears. Huh, didn't know they did that. Sure makes 'em less ferocious-like than those stories of bear attacks you hear about. But he stops dead when he sees the rabbits. "Holy sh*t! What the f*ck is wrong with those rabbits?" God I hope they don't still give 'em as pets ta kids here.
"Its a wall. Like a gated community. The folks that want us dead mostly can't get in... as far as I can tell. Also, don't try to bring the church's stuff through." He commented.
"The rabbits aren't that bad. The squirrels are like tree piranhas, though. Omnivores don't seem as affected."
As the group approaches, if I remember right... the volcano is one of the first compounds to be easily visible. It is legitimately a giant cone of heat and stone and smoke. But at the same time, there are a half dozen kids, and a half dozen adults moving about, working at what could best be described as modern art sculptures of various materials. "They're not very good at sculpting... but I figure it's better than what they would have, otherwise. When we first arrived, we left the wall and found a town. I told their peacekeeper what happened, that we were from behind the wall... And the priest made the entire village attack us. We managed to bring him down... but he did something that nearly killed them. We marked as many as we could... they had runes on their forehead, and one of my spells makes runes... hurt like Hell, but... most didn't die. Most also wouldn't come with us, after... And died in the town when the church came to murder them. These are the ones that died with my mark..."
After a moment, seemingly to no one in particular, he said, "And this is my sin."
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A giant pit in the ground with bits of blasted wood are all that remain of this compound.
A round fort made of black stone. Black iron cages hang from the battlements, skeletal remains slumped in the cages. There is a swirled pattern on the door.
Trees and bushes surround this bone white tower made of stone. The tower is round, and about 200 ft high. The trees and brush around it are wild and overgrown.
This Compound looks like an inn of some type. It's rather easy to recognize it as such as there is a broken sign hanging over the door, the paint long weathered off, and there is a large stable behind it. The porch holds dozens of chairs that are all but destroyed by age.
A square stone fortress has been built here. The main doors look to be made of iron, freshly oiled and well maintained. The sounds of men working on anvils, and the sounds of people fighting and horses pounding turf sounds from within.
A round grey tower juts up out of the ground, it's top easily 300 ft in the air. It looks smooth and weathered, with many windows that have long since been knocked out. The remains of flags whip in the steady wind.
This Compound holds small fruit trees and bushes, while a giant oak several hundred feet tall grows in the center, it's central trunk nearly 50 ft across.
A half acre hole in the ground with bits of metal seems to have been blown in the ground where the compound once stood.
This Compound is a large roundish pond filled with salt water. Dark fins split the surface regularly. In the center of the pond is a sprawling edifice made of purplish black rock that looks vaguely like coral.
This Compound seems to have a volcano rising up out of it. Two-thirds up the side of the 200 ft volcano resides an entrance to a cave that's been carved into a facade for a building entrance. The volcano smokes and lava rolls down the side in streams that seem to vanish at the edge of the compound. People who apparently are immune to the fire work on trying to make scupltures out of stone and lava.
A series of simple wooden buildings has a small pond in the center, with a sandy rock garden next to it. The buildings are all disheveled, with doors that look to have once been rice paper paned blown out to expose the interior to the weather.
A simple stone building, three floors high, and a hundred feet long by sixty feet wide sits in the center of this compound.
A fortress with simple gray stones and a tower on each corner sits here. There is a moat all the way around, with a wooden drawbridge that's up.
Scattered trees surround a large wooden ramshackle shack. The remains of dried skins and animal bones are scattered around the shack. Human skulls also dot the shack's sides and porch.
A simple wooden building, four stories high, 50 ft long, and 40 ft wide, sits in the middle of this compound. Smoke rises from several chimneys, and windows shutters show curtains in the windows.
This Compound has a dozen wagons circled around a camp site. The wagons are missing their cloth coverings for those who had them, the solid wood roofed wagons have broken out windows.
A tall tower with flowing architecture is here, it's bricks are each a different color, no two of the same color touching. Fluting spires rise up off the tower at odd angles. It's several hundred feet high.
A simple looking home sits here, looking nothing so much as like a cottage house... except for the fact that instead of being made of wood, it's made of bone. Where wood logs would be are the bones of some giant animal. Where a wooden picket fence would be are human thighbones lined up and tied together with black ribbons. The roof is made of human skulls laid in series. It appears to be in somewhat better repair than most of the compounds.
A pit in the ground, a good 30 feet deep, with cracked marble stones scattered around.
Steal from the church? Things had been rough sometimes, but he'd never had it bad enough for that.
Johnny speaks slowly. "So...people are alive on the other side of the wall, but they come here when they die? Like us? Where is the other side? Africa?" He had never heard of some kind of large glowy wall before. But there was supposed to be all sorts of crazy stuff in Africa, right? And they probably had lots of missionaries visiting them. And doubtless some would wind up preyin' upon the locals' superstitions to make them their own personal armies. In the name of God 'n' country 'n' all that other bull.
As for all that stuff with runes...well, Johnny wasn't really sure what to make of it. Sounded a lot like slavery brandin' ta him. But the guy seemed upset by their fates. And who hadn't messed up royally in their time? Glass houses an' stones an' all that.
"Kind of. I think they only came here because of the mark. They were fairly certain they were going to be tormented for decades when they died... So I guess this is significantly better. There are a few survivors still nearby. Also... the craters are directly involved with other people like us that died."
"Well... I'm hoping that one of you may be able to find some magic to fight death. Our crystals were never overly concerned with healing."
"Meanwhile, we're nothing like Africa, John. Totally new world here. New rules. Afterlife in this world is... well, people turn into ghosts, or something. We are the best afterlife we can offer them—the rest, well, I'm not sure, but it's not pleasant. Lore isn't my thing."
"My castle... I'm the god of the afterlife, of sorts, for smiths, builders, brigands and mercenaries. Kind of a low-key Valhalla. Used to be skeletons and torture racks, but I cleared 'em out, made the place more pleasant. Trying to reform the brigands—we run constant training drills, but I'm teaching them codes of chivalry, the simplest I can put together. The smiths practice forging and reforging weapons, filling up armories, and occasionally assembling catapults. I'm researching magic crafting in the hopes of finding a way to let them interact properly with the world, but for now they're happy with their purpose."
"The smiths weren't mine—used to just have the brigands—but when the builder died, I took his powers, responsibilities, and souls."
"I'm not really sure what people do in Neri's afterlife—I think they read books, or something. I'm guessing you two will get a chance to create afterlives, maybe for travelers and gardeners, something like that."
"We've no way to be sure the compounds had to do with the others deaths or that other things won't trigger them I'd advise staying away as much as possible but they do supply food and water for now.
To start off with an explanation, we were pulled here just like you were so we don't have all the answers but I can promise you that you are dead, your body is anyway which is why I look so much different now; sorry about hitting you by the way I was running out of time. The gems have some kind of power attached to them that will occupationally speak to us but you can only hear your own gem they also grant you abilities. For now we really have no goal, I've spent most of my time trying to get back to our world but now everything I've done here and there is a complete waste. Any other questions?
"Gardeners? I could barely keep my potted plant alive ..."
Then again, if I'm supposed to be surrounded by them, I might pick up a thing or two! Well, things were looking brighter now. It seemed it there was something good of their stay here, that they could save the people 'beyond the wall'. And the small 'village?' felt safer - at least much better then the forest around it. And the gem can speak to us? Mine has been silent...
Figuring there was only one way to find out - she thought really hard on the above sentence. Maybe her gem would 'hear' it. Maybe not. Maybe she just hit her head really hard on the way out of the bar ...
But for now, this seemed awfully real. She tried to follow all the explanations as best as she could. A brave new world indeed.
"You were the creepy woman that came up to us in the bar?" Liisa looks at Luna in wonder. She didn't look at all like that one, but ... she knew stuff. "You know what happened to that kid? I hope she didn't *die*..."
After they have been given their initial tour, Liisa walks up to the giant tree. Huge huge freakin tree ... She takes a few minutes to just stare at it before gathering enough courage to approach it and look around.
Liisa get's no response to her thought.
However, as she walks up to her tree, she realizes that it's horribly maintained. None of the plants are well maintained. Normally, the animals and insects should be enough, but somethings blighted this little patch.
She reaches into her pouch and pulls out some sheers she had in there, and begins to snip here and there, pulling off dead limbs and branches, which are currently taking sap away from the rest of the tree. She also begins making a mulch pile out of the limbs she cuts off.
Those outside Liisa's compound suddenly see Liisa's form blur as she begins to move around the compound, almost like a character on a TV show sped up to 100 times normal movement speed. The effect is so pronounced, that it looks like she's in 20 or 30 places at once.
After Liisa's done with trimming all the dead limbs from the trees and bushes, she moves on to distributing insects and lizards and small animals throughout the area to help with the health of the trees and bushes. Ladybugs, spiders, bees, junebugs, all get placed where they will do the most good.
Finally, she returns to the mulch pile, which has now degenerated into a fine steaming pile of fertilizer. That is then moved around from tree to bush, with each drinking in the new source of food.
When she's done, Liisa moves to the giant oak (which is a good 60 ft in diameter) and presses a hand against a certain spot on the base. WHen she does, the tree splits around her hand, allowing her to step into the tree itself.
From the outside, her blurry form begins to stabilize, and then she simply steps into the Oak tree, vanishing from sight. The compound is now a thriving green forest, with fruit trees, nut trees, the oak, bushes with things like tomatoes and cucumbers, and small animals scampering about. Real squirrels, not pirhana squirrels, look down from the limbs of the oak tree. Foxes watch from the bushes. Large lizards the size of a german sheperd patrol the compound, long tongues flickering out as they eye the others
Within the tree are a series of rooms that seem too large to fit within the tree, but Liisa pays no mind to this anomaly. She instead finds a nice room with a bed made of fresh growing boughs, liberally stuffed with moss, and lays down on it gratefully.
In the morning, when she awakens, her armor and bow are hanging on the wall next to the bed, and she's fully and completely rested. Her civilian clothes are clean, and in a pile next to the bed.
Small animals and lizards scurry around cheerfully, leaving fruit and nuts on plates for her to eat.
Johnny listens to this new information in silence, a frown on his face. He didn't quite follow all of it. And he definitely wasn't sure he believed what he did follow. What did seem apparent was that this was going to be his new home. Or rather...he guessed where ever that wagon was would be his new home. So when everybody had finished explaining things for now, he wandered off to go find it, his head buzzing unpleasantly with all their words trying to fit together.
When he finally found the circle of wagons he felt...kind of disappointed. They were a wreck. And he wasn't really sure why he had so many. I guess it was to make up for not having a castle or a big ol' tower like some of the other compounds seemed to have?
Hoping to find something to do to distract him for a while, Johnny starts to look through the wagons, trying to find something to repair them with.
Johnny digs through the rubble, and finds an old bucket of rusty nails, and a hammer with rust on it. He starts prying out things that are broken, and replacing broken boards with others from a pile in the center.
As he keeps working, he realizes that things are taking too long, and instead of using the hammer directly, he just points to where it needs to go. The wind picks up, and boards begin to whirl around the Compound, along with Nails, bits of cloth, and other bits of trash and detritus.
To those outside the compound, Johnny stands in the center with his silk armor, arms a blur as he motions and waves at things, and a tornado of debris flies around the circled wagons.
Hammers dance, saws fly, boards zip, nails zing, a concert of arcane energy dancing between them as Johnny pushes at the surrounding area to do what he wants it to.
After what seems forever, the whirling wind begins to die down. The wagons, repaired and sitting ready, remain intact and repaired as if new. In the center, the old firepit roars and bursts into a 40 ft pillar of fire, which then drops down to a nice cheery blaze.
Johnny, exhausted, climbs the steps into the largest wagon, which looks like an old gypsy wagon.
When he gets up, and looks in the mirror, he finds a semi-stranger looking back. His face, but with his hair long in the back, near mid back. His body still retains the definition it had before, but it's as if someone had toned him up while he slept. Smooth body, no hair from the neck down. Like a classical statue come to life.
As Neri watches the druidess work, he tilts his head slightly. "Well, that is really cool. I don't think I did any of that high speed stuff. I just wound up exploded. How about you two?" He asks as he slumps down onto the ground. "and why so many lizards, I wonder."
Johnny feels a bit confused by the conflicting information his eyes send him. His hair suggests that he's been asleep a while. But his lack of beard says otherwise. Finally he shrugs, chalking it up to yet another side effect of this weird place.
Finally, he goes to decide what kind of clothes to wear. He would prefer his old clothes. But his new ones seem better fitted for dealing with, what had Neri called them? Piranha squirrels? Or killer bunnies. With huge fangs. With a sad sigh, he puts on the silken robe and armor and straps his sword to his back. He briefly considers topping off the ensemble with his fedora, but the vain part of him protests too much that it would clash.
He heads out, looking for some place that is likely to have food. Maybe Liisa would have food. With her big-ass tree.