| 2 people marked this as a favorite. |
Fearless begins to heat some water before ladling it into a bowl. Carrying it across the ship is more of a hassle than he expected as he spills quite a bit of it before getting just the right amount. Carefully Fearless sets each of Brother Butterfly's hands in a bowl of warm water.
Next he mixes together some of the Shapeshifter's paints and slowly begins to use them to connect his eyebrows into one single thick and angry looking brow. Stepping back he admires his work as he tries to think of a few more things to wake up to as he goes for a short rest to heal his body.
| 3 people marked this as a favorite. |
"The invisible thing killed more than sevenlegs - it killed one of our own. But it's tasted our steel and not going to return. You owe us a reward." the Mariner demands. "Brother here is really into feet and all kinds of kinky shit - you best satisfy him"
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
"Brother here is really into feet and all kinds of kinky s~+* - you best satisfy him"
Cats' eyes widen at the statement and his gaze goes down to be sure he is wearing his boots, and is suddenly relieved this isn't one of them 'you're naked' nightmares.
Cats' eyes widen at the statement and his gaze goes down to be sure he is wearing his boots, and is suddenly relieved this isn't one of them 'you're naked' nightmares.
The ghouls look at one another, stumped at the situation.
"Those creatures were rare." Catrenk, or Utrenk, or whatever, says. "We don't know where they came from, or when another may come. This is out of our control."
"You deserve some sort of reward, and we will abide by our agreement." Kharesto, or Catresto, or whatever, adds. "Wait here a moment."
The ghoul enters one of the nearby mausoleums and returns a short time later with some item in hand. "Take these. They are not what you were looking for, but they are valuable."
Treasure: a jade necklace of fireballs (type VI), and a silver bracelet of friends.
With the subject of your quest seemingly out of reach, and the one member of your party with the most knowledge of the Dreamlands smashed to dreampulp, it may be time to wake up...
|
Hmmm.... this is a roadblock. While we didn't get the feet, the two items that are given are impressive.
I say we head back to the ship.
He does thank Utrenk and the other ghoul leaders for upholding their end of the bargain. Brother concentrates on heading back to the land of the waking world.
adding a quick , I am *NOT* into kinky stuff. My fellow Watchmen assume that just because I'm worldly and know what a Blumpkin is, the uneducated always infer the worst.
| 2 people marked this as a favorite. |
because I'm worldly and know what a Blumpkin is, the uneducated always infer the worst. [/b]
Cats rolls his eyes behind Brother's back, aware of the untruths being uttered...unless he is wrong.
"Uhm, Catterfuly? Uh...didn't you diddle the investigator? And that siren with the mask? Are you *sure* you aren't into, you know, uh...unsavory cats on occasion? I think I've noticed that the fish stop swimming when you're nearby...you know...because reasons? I could be wrong...so sorry if I've given catfence. I just don't know." Cats looks down again to be sure his feet are clod, lest an unstoppable foot-lust hit some people.
"Also, what is a Catkin?"
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
The Mariner stands in silent meditation to leave the dream but peeks just before he winks out, "I am corrected Brother, you don't have a foot fetish - you have a boot fetish, and that you can't deny. I've seen you polishing yours for hours." ::yuck:: "-the boots I mean. "
Once awake, he'll check on Fearless, and waits for Cats and Brother SuckToes to join.
|
|
| 2 people marked this as a favorite. |
Brother listens, and he does wax some whimsy.
Yes. Inspector Cesadia.. or Cessy as I call her. She is lovely. I don't like smoking, but she has that alure when she's holding a cigarette in her lips and sucking.
Then there was SilverMask Seleen in Xer. I had to fight off whiskeydick pretty hard that night, but she was a sweet tasting of wine.
and I can't go on without mentioning the enchanting Lady Splinterbone. our attraction was held just to the dancefloor.
And Mariner is not wrong. I do have a fine affection for ten toed travel equipment. Those boots we found in the Asylum were from famed Angier’s. Good boots they were.
He gives a small shake of his head. Clearing out the blissful memories. A broad smile still on his face.
As for a Blumpkin, it’s something you can’t unlearn once you know. So if you really want to know, lean in and I’ll whisper to you what it is.
| 2 people marked this as a favorite. |
Cats realizes that he never really wanted to know what a blumpkin was (he was happy to assume it was a type of fey) and regrets even asking.
And like with most nightmares that just won’t end, he tries to wake up.
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
The Watchmen awake once more within the cabin of the Sellen Starling. Fearless sits nearby, a wide-eyed look of apprehension on his face mixed with something else... the look one has when their life has become the joke so long that they've decided to laugh along, or the look sometimes seen on the farmwife's face when the farmer has criticized her boiled mutton one too many times.
His uncomfortable stare is fixed upon Brother Butterfly, who has a strange look upon his face as well. Or rather, his face looks strange...
Brother Butterfly seems to have grown a unibrow!
... or, rather, a unibrow sems to have been painted on his face to connect his eyebrows.
The Mariner doesn't yawn, having rather simply opened his eyes and gone over to check on Fearless. After giving the halfling a once over, checking that he still had a half pulse. He looks around the room, pausing a long silent moment on brother's face, turns back quietly to Fearless, then gets up and leaves for the latrine.
Perception
Cats wakes up and quickly puts on his shoes, wanting them donned before Brother wakes up with any hardened natural reactions and whatnot.
Cats is out the door and back to the cats nest pretty early.
|
|
Jasper wakes and stretches his arms out wide.
{YAWN} Awwee. That was just about perfect. {makes lip smacking sounds}. Wow. Waking from the Dream world just isn't like waking from a normal sleep.
He crinks his neck. Slides his legs over the side of the bed and stands with more mechanics than needed. He swivels his hips a bit, like he's trying to loosen up the ball in the hip socket. Squeezing the area with his right hand.
His left hand running along his bald head, feeling the origins of some peachfuzz.
Welp. I think I'm getting some water heated by the galleycook, and get myself a good shave going. Can someone give Fearless an update on how we didn't get the red feet we needed, but grabbed some interesting items of magic. ..Anyone? Pinkie? Can you do it, everyone's left the Captain's cabin.
| 2 people marked this as a favorite. |
Fearless continues to rest his body and snooze loudly, flipping over in his hammock and let's loose a halfling fart that causes him to sway slightly. The smell startles him from his slumber as he sits up. Looking over he sees some of the others. "You're finally back!"
He slides out of the hammock. "Did you bring it?"
As a breeze blows across the bow and Brother screams from the cabin, the Mariner chuckles quietly topside.
Fearless chuckles and immediately heads topside for so witnesses fresh air. "I'll be back for the webbed foot, need some air."
|
|
| 2 people marked this as a favorite. |
Brother also looks down and thinks he may have pissed himself, takes a moment to root around the cabin for some of his garments to replace the yellow stained bedclothes.
*******
Brother Butterfly storms up to the main deck. Red in his face, which now makes the blackened Unibrow more pronounced against the red backdrop than it had against the bronze Osirion skin he normally has.
FEARLESS!! IF THIS IS YOUR IDEA OF A JOKE, YOU NEED TO RETHINK YOUR IDEAS OF HUMOR!
He huffs and puffs. He turns left, then right --looking for Fearless.
I am a man of class and elegance and couth. To be given this mockery of a morlockian eyebrow is tantamount to... tantamount to....
Flustered and not grasping a good analogy, BB just grunts in frustration.
AAUGH!! YOU BLOCKHEAD!
He breathes in and out. the wind in his sails starting to ebb.
That was probably to get back at me for turning the Doomsayer back on you. Yeah. I remember your little Doomsayer gambit and how I turned the tables. This little bit was payback for that.
| 2 people marked this as a favorite. |
Fearless feigns surprise, as he places a hand on his chest. Complete and utter shock on his face. "My word! What ever do you mean? Did something happen while you were in the Dreamrealm."
Fearless grabs ahold of Brother Butterfly's sleeve a he leads his back to the cabin. "I read in the books that this could be a possible side effect. I never imagined it would happen to one of us." Fearless dumps through the massive pile of books. "I myself saw a vision, one of me as an elf of all things. Maybe there is a fix in here for you, somewhere. It will take some time to find though I am afraid."
|
|
Brother stops cold. Fury draining from his body. Fearless should be cowering, looking for protectors. Instead, he meets BB eye to unibrowed eye. Brother is confounded. The real look of shock on Fearless's face looks.... real.
Um. No. Nothing really happened to us in the Dreamland. We were actually worried about you. I mean, I was worried too, until I looked in the mirror and thought you were the culprit.
He narrows his eyes. Re-engaging his concentration to try and detect a line of bullshit in Fearless.
I seriously doubt you read about something like *THIS*.... BB starts being led into the cabin.But then Fearless hits BB in a weakspot. Not his alcoholism, not his egotism, not in his OCD for cleanliness. He lays bare that Jasper is a lazy mother f&*~er, and Fearless knows it.
There's no need to regurgitate all the research I've sen you do for hours.. I mean days.. .just to try to disprove. BB looks for something. Anything.
Well, let me look at myself in the mirror and see what possibly happened.
He leaves, but turns and looks him in the eyes.
Fearless, I'm so very sorry I accused you of mauling my features. I'm sorry I accused you of revenge. That was wrong on many levels.
Cats listens from the Cat’s Nest, wondering how he got dragged into all this when all he wanted to do is not be an evil psychopath and have too many regrets.
He wonders if he should say anything, but decides in the end to say nothing and let them work it out on their own.
He keeps an eye out for danger, and more dangerous danger.
The Watchmen return to their posts, and eventually Brother Butterfly's enigmatic unibrow fades.. or rubs away. Like magic. Or makeup.
****
A few days later, late in the afternoon as dusk is setting, the Starling comes across a section of the river makes a gentle curve around a thick forest rising to the east. The sailors call casually to note a hazard - a sharp rock rising near the shore. Out for some fresh air, Brother Butterfly recognizes the location as the place from his dreams. Though he can't see it from the deck of the boat, he knows a trail exists among the trees, heading toward a clearing...
Cats waits to hear what others wants to do, but he's sure they are going to want to go on that trail. He's not looking forward to it, but will, of course, go with.
"Alright, Cats. Let's cat this."
He climbs down the cat's nest.
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
Fearless follows behind. "So where is this trail you were talking about Shapeshifter?" The disappointment is deep in his voice that he hadn't used a permanency spell on Brother Butterfly's body hair. Fearless looks left and right through the trees, eager to get lost.
|
|
Out there is part of my destiny. The Master of Dreams gave me such a vision. I need to go there, and I hope to have the rest of you there too.
Be on guard, there's creatures that will paint the forest with you.
Brother will say some prayers to Desna as he prepares.
There is an endless song, and it echoes in my soul. I hear the music as it sings. Though the storms may come, I will hold onto You as the rock that I cling.
I can call on you in the troubled times, I can call on you when I win. I can call your angels and guardians to come to me, and I bow my head knowing that you can take all that away.
I beseech you Desna. Don't take what you have given me away.
When done, he looks at the others and
This is what I recounted from my dream. Listen up if you are going. We are probably going to meet the Stardust Augurs
The Mariner calls for the Starling to stop and Skywin turns the wheel, veering the ship closer to shore where a couple sailors pull the lock on the chain to weigh anchor. The Watchmen row ashore and scale the embankment to reach the treeline. As they look for the trail Brother Butterfly knows exists a few glowing lights appear among the branches above, illuminating a rough path.
You soon find yourselves surrounded by the tall trees, the sounds of wildlife above and around a constant hum. If not for the glowing lights and Brother Butterfly's instincts you would be lost, for the paths have diverged more than once.
A short time later you emerge from the forest in a peaceful clearing carpeted with lush grass. A low hill rises in the center where a few old stones rise. Among the stones are a handful of people, many of whom are barefoot and dressed in tunics and soft casual robes with lengths of silk hanging from the sides. Two members stand out - one is a round woman with blonde messy hair. In her 50's, she has a mark on her forehead in the shape of a butterfly. Sitting on one of the stones in a position of prominence, she offers a welcoming smile and raises a hand in greeting. She begins to speak when another, more familiar person, laughs and calls out.
"Hello my fellow dream friends!" Nestor Bindlay exclaims. "Good to see you awake and kicking! Ashella said you'd come, and she's rarely wrong, particularly when she's stacking the deck with Desna's cards."
SENSE MOTIVE
You notice a woman among the group staring intently at Brother Butterfly. Small and petite, her dark curly hair almost obscures her blue eyes - eyes that have the look of someone who is fighting back tears, as if she's holding back great pain.
|
|
Hello! I *knew* it would be good to save your neck! I am glad you didn't unbalance that leaf you were tied to and fall to your death.
Did you ever track down that huntress Brix? We can tag team and help you out with that if she's still loose in the dreamworld. No one has ever claimed that Jasper wasn't one for adventure and helping out a friend!
That last part was a bit of an over the top lie meant for the curly haired girl. He wanted to drop his name, but also make himself sound really awesome.
BB doesn't make eye contact with the curly haired girl for the moment or address her. He is wanting to digest more information on her body language, posture, willingness to come forward.
"Oh, I think I forcat we were still in the Dreamlands, we're still in the Dreamlands, right? Or is this real cat?" Cats asks, confused. He looks around the forest, bow in hand.
"This is like that one place with the trees," Cats says of the forest.
"Catstor? Is that you?" Cats does approach, but cautiously. "What are you doing here?"
Fearless looks around confused. "Did we fall asleep again? Are we in the Dreamlands? How did she know we were coming?"
"You aren't asleep this time!" Nestor laughs and gives Fearless a light pinch in the arm. "Unless you didn't feel that.. then, well, maybe. Have you ever woken from a dream into a dream? It happens sometimes. And no, I have not found Brix yet, though in following her I was led back to you. Perhaps she has left the Dreamlands and will cross your paths in the waking world."
The round woman offers a guarded smile. "Only Desna knows where the Dreamlands end and reality begins. If reality truly exists at all." Sliding down from the stone upon which she sits, the woman bows to the Watchmen. "I am Ashella, high priestess of the Stardust Augers of Desna. To answer some of your questions, we knew you were coming because we have seen you in our dreams. Wandering the sandman's desert, and the forgotten caravansary. Lost within a stronghold of madness, chased by servants of the King in Yellow. Hunting among the stars and sailing down
misty rivers."
She looks to Brother Butterfly. [b]"Jasper.. or is it Brother Butterfly now?" Turning back to the others, she continues. "He has made great sacrifices, and he may be lucky not to recall them. He left his family, and cut himself off from the light of Desna to find and stop a reckless dreamer obsessed with the darkest seeds of forbidden knowledge. I can only assume that something went wrong in that you have returned here as you are."
Being received by smiling faces might have given a normal man in normal times no pause. But as the Mariner approaches the group and sees Nestor and soft tongued druids, unmistakable fear wells up in him. From the months spent with Butterfly's prayers, a verse must have struck permanent that he recalls - In the end of days, it will come to pass when good becomes evil, and evil becomes good, and you will not know the difference. He was not a normal man, and these are not normal times. He may as well be standing in front of a group of vampires by his stoic demeanor.
"Wait, you're real Catstor? Huh? I could have sworn that I dreamt you," Cats moves a bit closer and looks at the group with his cat's eyes.
"I think we have lots of questions, but mostly about everything," he continues assuming the group isn't radiating unholy evils. "Like, should we be doing what we're doing? Is it even worth it?"
|
|
Brother smiles his customary and almost trite "Baron Munchausen" like smile.
Maddam, I am overwhelmed to be here amongst the Stardust Augers.
Isn't it one of Desna's Aphorsism's to say - *Be Ready for Challenges and Unexpected Friends?!
He looks to see if he gets nods of understanding from the others in attendance.
I am here because I was drawn here by a divination at WoodsEdge. But I am also here leading "Unexpected Friends" in a quest to stop Count Haserton Lowls IV. Losing my memories and who I was previously was a cost that needed to be bared in order to save lives - like those at Briarwood and a town - like Thrushmoor.
But, I did not get cut off from Desna. I am Brother Butterfly as a moniker because SHE still guides me and grants me her boons when I pray to her.
| 2 people marked this as a favorite. |
Nestor pats Cats on the shoulder, "Oh, I'm real.. and you dreamt me!"
Cats narrows his eyes, but sees no evil among the group.
Ashella smiles at Brother Butterfly, a sense of relief hinted at in her eyes. "It brings me great joy to hear that Desna lives again in your heart. Your memories, and the hole that remains in the them, holds a tragic story that perhaps you are better off not recalling, for a time did come to pass when you turned from the Goddess and walked among waking nightmares to find the truth."
To the Watchmen, she adds, "The Startdust Augers have long studied dreams and the portents. In our dreams saw Count Lowls tugging at the threads of long-dormant nightmares. Our divinations revealed that he was seeking certain allies - the fallen, the devoted, the depraved, the fanatic, the fraud, and the innocent. We knew that we must send one of our own to prevent his foolish quest, and so Brother Jasper entered his service. And to prove himself, he performed a spell, raising from the dead a broken knight to serve Lowls."
With her words she turns to look upon Cats with compassion. "You suffered much in your previous life, and we are sorry to have caused you more pain in bringing you back, but we hope our visions are true, and that redemption will be yours."
Cats stares blankly back, trying to process what was just said.
Fearless' jaw drops. "Shapeshifter brought Cats back from the dead?!?"
Cats shakes his head after he recovers his wits. He look at Ashella and begs for a bit more.
"Can you re-cat that again? Using smaller cats? Uh...explain it to me like I am really not that cat, please," Cats requests of Ashella, truly confused.
"I was dead? Really?"
Cats stands dumbly, hoping for answers.
| 2 people marked this as a favorite. |
You can thank me.
"Cat you?" Cats looks angry...and astonished. "You want me to cat you?" Kast shakes his head. "Cat no! I ain't catting you! I am happy to not know all the things I've done in the past! I'm happy to have died if I should have died! Why would I thank you for bringing me cat into all of this...?" Kast raises his hand and points all around, at all the f@+*ery, at all the things that are wrong with the world.
"Why should I cat you for bringing me back into all this hurt and pain? Huh? HUH!?"
|
|
this hurt and pain? Huh? HUH!?"
Because...... Addicts are so dulled to life's vacillations. They are dulled to joy, to pain, to excitement and awe. They are sleepwalking through life... trying to use their addiction product to "cattle prod" them into feeling-- even if it's only pain the cattle prod induces.
*YOU* are here on this globe and feeling everything it offers - wins and losses - pleasures and pains - with the sensitivity of a raw nerve.
His philosophical moment certainly going over Cat's head. Cats doesn't know the addicts life, and can't understand how his outburst of passion was actually an amazing thing to have and hold and feel.
Yeah, You're Welcome.
Ashella watches the exchange between Brother Butterfly and Cats with a sorrowful expression.
”Yes. You were dead. Haserton Lowls arranged your death, then bargained with your soul to bring you back on the condition you become one of his sworn men. Jasper cast the spell, but the ritual of raising the dead is heresy when performed on a soul under duress and so Desna turned away from him.”
She looks to Brother Butterfly. ”It wasn’t quite the plan, but it was the only way Jasper could earn Lowl’s trust and join his inner circle.”
She sighs, ”And even with such sacrifice you fell victim to a betrayal that we could not see coming. He seemed almost a buffoon in his reckless pursuit of secrets, and we perhaps underestimated him, though I believe more is at stake than even he knows, for he is guided by powers incomprehensible to mortal minds.”
Ashella darts a subtle glance at the Mariner when she mentions Lowls’ had Cats killed.
"So not only is he a Shapeshifter but a necromancer as well." Fearless' eyes narrow at Brother Butterfly. "Spreading your necromantic seed all over this world." He tosses his hand over to Cats. "No wonder he is well out of his mind and keeps repeating shit about Cats! Next you'll tell me I am one of his illegitimate children."
|
|
Brother takes the verbal assault from Fearless like he's being showered in flower petals.
You have too much hair to be one of my children. If I were to even *have* children. Which is possible, I guess... since I have no memories of procreating. But, your name calling is like music to mine ears. Yet Kast's lack of a proper level of appreciation did grate on me.
turning to the woman.
Back to the real task at hand. Count Lowls wasn't the buffoon, but certainly played with lots of fire. The hired help he replaced us with was probably inches from backstabbing him. He got out of town at just the right time. They were also not very adept. But he managed to have a large head start and we admittedly know he's gone this way-- but we don't know what type of lead or how far ahead he is. Are there answers that we can glean here? At the Auger? Anything that separates the wheat from the chaff.
He then leans into Mariner and whispers in a singsong type voice.
I know a little secret about you....