"Right you are, kid," Horatio murmurs, standing, stretching, and starting to pace the campsite. "Get some sleep, alright? It's a long walk back tomorrow."
Horatio wakes carefully, cracking open first one eye, then the other, as if not daring to believe he's waking up from a restful sleep rather than a nightmare. With a sigh of relief, he sets about getting ready for the trip back, helping where he can, in considerably lighter spirits than he's been for some time.
Seeing Orik, he keeps one hand near his rapier, watching him closely. "We are not wholly without hearts," he says calmly. "Tell me, where will you go from here?"
There are certain difficulties to transporting a prisoner that you have to keep gagged and blindfolded. For her part, Pavanna had Lyrie and Nualia both helped up onto Coffee’s back so she could lead the mare by the reins on foot — of all their horses, she was the one so clearly devoted to her new mistress that she’d be unlikely to obey heel-commands from unknown riders.
“I’m surprised he’s not half-way to Korvosa already,” she adds to Horatio’s remark, lowering her voice only a little. She raises it again to address the mercenary directly, then drops it again for an aside to the team. “I keep my oaths, Vancaskerkin. «Но так как он все еще здесь, мы могли бы использовать его. Его показания были бы полезны в суде для этих двух.»”
Noro walks along keeping quiet. she tries to give Horatio some room. when she sees Orik. She listens to Pavanna's suggestion, Yeah, good idea, going over to Orik, We could use your help clearing up this whole mess back at Sandpoint. hopefully your... girlfriend... can get a reprieve as well.
Noro stumbles over the word girlfriend. she finishes her thought and starts to move on.
"I... well, I was hopin' to take Lyrie off your hands," Orik says at Pavanna's and Horatio's words. "I figured we could make for Kaer Maga and start over."
Nualia remains calm, almost seems to be chuckling.
Lyrie, on the other hand, flies into a murderous fury as she screams at Orik through her gag. She thrashes enough to make Coffee uneasy, and only stops when she falls off the horse.
"Or not," Orik says with a sigh. "I'll come, I guess. For all the good it'll do."
Olivius stoops down and hauls the mage up to her feet via her hands. It's a bit rough, to be sure, but doesn't break anything.
Asuriel rises, feeling rested. Her eyes close she bats away Ping and Noro and realizes it's likely time for her watch. "Time already? Ok. Give me just a moment please." Stretching and yawning she is about to take a drink of water when she catches the hot pink skin on her hands. And arms. And legs.
A shrill siren-likes cream blares from the oracle's mouth as she collapses to the ground. Her hands tremble slightly and she shouts,
Ping can't help but laugh at Asuriel's reaction. It wasn't long before she's clutching her sides.
Ting and Fling walk up to the priestess and look her over under the dancing lights they summoned.
"I wouldn't worry," Ting said with a smile. "It's just a trick."
"Although I see Ping's sense of color hasn't improved," Fling adds before snapping her fingers and attempting to change the colors to shades of icy-blue.
Olivius sighs and chuckles. Good news, Asuriel, the gnomes like you.
Asuriel continues her screaming and rapid breathing while she absorbs the comments and laughs around her. She sits up on the ground and glares at Ping. She leaps to her feet and screams, "I'M GONNA-!" as she swipes her hands out and snatches up the gnome trickster. She holds her out at arms length, her face contorted in anger and her words loud and sharp. "I'M GONNA-!"
The pink oracle's features soften and a smirk emerges from behind the thin line that graced her lips previously, "Tickle you to death! Prepare for your punishment!" Asuriel falls to the ground on top of Ping and begins to relentless dig her fingers into her side while torturing her.
Ping tries to get away, but Asuriel is upon her and tickling the gnome before she can take two steps. Her sisters, seeing the attack, hop onto the priestess and begin their own tickle attack.
"For Whistledown and the Ibbletings!" The battle cry rings out with howls of laughter as the last watch begins.
Despite being out of character, Asuriel relents into the silliness of it all and enjoys the company of the gnomes. She realizes they came close to losing some friends recently and you never know for how long you have this time together. There would be time to return to business, but for now it's time to play.
The pink Sarenite screams in laughter as she rolls around on the ground with the three tricksters. She pleads for help from her party, "HELP! I'm being assaulted by a miniature horde of sorcerers!", but assumes none is forthcoming. She threatens, "I'm going to hold you upside down and tickle your feet until You turn pink you little rascals!"
"Horde?"
"Don't you know a group of sorcerers is called a glamour?"
"Besides, we aren't sorcerers. All of us are female."
The three gnomes continued the tickling, laughing all the while.
The next few days are tense as preparations are made for Nualia's trial. Half the town is unable to believe that the adopted daughter of Father Tobyn could do what she had done. The other half is furious about it, and it's all Sheriff Hemlock can do to keep the peace.
The following week is even less pleasant. All of you, Orik, Lyrie, and Nualia are called to testify. Nualia is sentenced to a life of hard labor, Lyrie is given twenty years, and Orik is banished from Sandpoint. The stoic man headed out for Kaer Maga soon after the trial ended, and both Lyrie and Nualia were sent to Magnimar to serve their sentences.
Not all was bad during this time, though. Sheriff Hemlock returned with both mercenaries and a contingent of Iomedaeans lead by Quinta Alazario, who promptly abandons all decorum to wrap her daughter in a tight bear hug when she sees Pavanna. Pleasantly, when the group goes back to Thistletop, they find it abandoned and a minor hoard of treasure within. The Heroes, now accompanied by Quinta and Shalelu, also find the mutilated body of Lucian Gionni, Pavanna's father. On a happier note, they find Luca's father's warhammer among the gear and supplies left behind.
Two weeks after the final battle with Nualia, things are returning to normal. There's a nip in the air as autumn settles fully on the lost coast. As the excitement from the festival and the goblin raids die down, the Rusty Dragon seems positively deserted most days.
And that is where the Heroes of Sandpoint find themselves this day...
===
Ameiko gathers all of you around a long table and the strange coffer on it. Ting and Fling, being as curious as their sister, crowd next to Ping to look at it. Lou is standing in the kitchen door, looking at what's going on in the common area of the inn while keeping an eye on lunch. Luca, Quinta, and Rosaline sit at a nearby table playing a complex dwarven card game. The wooden coffer is polished to a fine shine and on its lid is the delicate script of Tian Xia. The simple container has no visible latch, or hinges even, but refuses to open.
"I thought you might be able to help me out with this," Ameiko tells you. "I have no idea what it is, and Lonjiku didn't leave any notes. I just happened to find it while going through the house that's mine now, I guess. All I know is that it has some minor enchantment on it."
She looks at the coffer with a rare expression of confusion on her face.
The words on the coffer's lid say, "Know thy friends."
There's a faint aura of Abjuration magic on the coffer.
There is no reason for this box to be closed right now.
All of you are instantly blinded by a flash of light. When you can see again, you notice that something's amiss. For one thing, you're most definitely not in the spot you were sitting in. For another, you don't remember putting on the clothes you are now wearing, and those are most definitely not your hands.
In the weeks prior, Noro kept mostly to herself the first couple of days. then she seemed to have disappeared from the dragon.
Noro went back to where she felt the most at home, the fighting arena. Noro tries to get back into the ring. hoping to work out much of her frustrations of late by beating the piss out of people and getting paid to do it.
many nights that she took a few poundings herself were the nights she would not return to the Dragon. and some nights she was too drunk to want to go back.
Noro had just come back to the Dragon after disappearing for the past 4 days. she seemed pretty sober but was sporting a few bruises but nothing serious.
She ordered some food, and was about to enjoy Lou's cooking when Amieko came with the box.
Noro lets the others take a look, but tries to get a look at the writing. It doesn't take any effort at all for Noro to mutter the words written, even if she didn't intend to.
There is a flash, and all that Noro can say, (in Asuriel's voice) what the f****?
Olivius spends the month doing what he did in the months leading up to the goblin attack. He spends a good amount of time in the local pubs, especially the Dragon, and goes on short caravan runs. His recent heroics along side the others of the party have made him something of a desired commodity, and he is able to charge much more for his services. He also trains with the odd repeater crossbow that he bought, but he's having trouble getting the thing to work like he knows it can.
There is a flash and Olivius has be blink a few times to clear his vision. Asuriel curses so hard he involuntarily stares at her... and she is HUGE. Everyone and everything is suddenly several times larger than they should be. Wait... Sprig says. Olivisprig stops suddenly and touches his (her?) throat. Then looks down. His mind spins wildly trying to process what just happened and whether or not this was a dream or magic trick of some kind.
"Huh?"
Sprig looks around, everything seems smaller now and she rubs her eyes, only to stop at the sound of her voice coming from her shoulder. She looks at herself sitting on her shoulder and nearly jumps out of her skin.
"Why is there a mini-me on--" she begins, only to stop and begin feeling at the features of her face. The nose, the eyebrows, the facial hair. She looks at herself and gives a yelp.
"Why am I a dwarf?!"
In an uncannily similar manner, Horatio, Saroune, and Ameiko rub their eyes and slap their cheeks. Looking about, identical looks of confusion cross their faces. Then their eyes fall on the three gnomes, Ping, Ting, and Fling.
"AGGGHHH! Why am I over there," they all cry out in unison, only to look at each other. "You too?!" The three of them seem to be in perfect sync as they begin to examine themselves.
Horatio looks the most concerned, feeling at his hips, rear, and chest before crying out in disbelief.
"I'm a guy?!"
"I think you're in Horatio's body."
"Oh this is just great! Horatio, couldn't you have used the bathroom before sitting down?"
At that, Saroune and Ameiko nearly fall over laughing.
Sprig-Olivius jumps when the body he's standing on moves! But instead of falling there is a slight wind that envelops his body and keeps him aloft. He yells and gasps as his mind catches up to the fact that he's... flying!
Wow! I'm flying ok... This is new.
Generally it takes him a moment to realize who he is.
I'm Sprig! I'm a Pixie! I'm Female! This is weird Noro! What in the Hells did you do!
"SPRITE! SPRITE! NOT A PIXIE!" Thirzin, or rather Spring in Thirzin's body, bellows.
Oh whatever! Olivius yells back and little dancing lights spring from him to hit "Thirzin" in the face!
Olivius is shocked again. What was that?
Saroune's perspective quickly shifts to a place much lower, the effect dizzying. She looks at her hands, small things, hardly the long, graceful fingers to which she was accustomed. Quickly, she reaches up and feels her face and hair before seeing that she was staring up at herself.
"What in the seven hells happened?" the wizard asks. "Am I a gnome? Which one am I?"
Everything was happening too quickly. A flash. Asuriel cursing aloud except-I didn't say anything!
Asuriel looks into one of those distortion mirrors and gazes upon a larger form herself. Something is wrong though, she is moving and talking and the oracle is doing none of those things.
She speaks aloud, "What has-" and gasps when the voice comes out as Ting. She covers her mouth, eyes going wide. She moves quickly to Noro and grabs her thigh and shakes her, "What did you do! What did you! I'm. I'm. I'm."
"Fling," Horatio, Saroune, and Ameiko all answer in unison at Saroune's question. Ameiko helpfully tells Asuriel she's now Ting.
"Which makes me Ping, I guess," the last gnome says. "Alright, which one of you munchkins got my body?"
Luca and Rosaline look up from their game, suddenly very curious about what's going on in the center fo the tavern.
"Horatio? What happened," Rosaline asked.
"Aye, what happened, and why is Thirzin wonderin' why he's a dwarf," Luca adds.
Thrizin shakes his head, coming out from the dazing effects of Sprig's magic. "I dunno. One second I'm me, and the next I'm Thirzin and someone's calling me a pixie and dazing me."
Daze. Like the spell Daze? Sprig asks. When she gets confirmation that she just did magic she gets the stupidest grin on her mother face and goes flying about the room at incredible speeds. I can do MAGIC!!!
Totally confused by this whole mess, Noro (aka Asuriel) start looking at everyone else. she soon settles on ... well... herself.
What kind of magic crap is this? she yells, but Asuriel trying to be tough is way funnier than Noro making insults with a lisp.
Going to "herself" Where is the box, you still have it?
Looking to her left she sees herself, or Asuriel, standing next to Noro. She looks at Asuriel and then Fling moves over to Noro and grab's her midsection and shakes her. "Noro! What've you done? Put us back! Put me back!"
Noro (in Asuriel's body) grabs the box from Thirzin (in Noro's body) [b]the answer must be in here somewhere.
she then opens the box
Saroune bites her tongue before she says something rude about fey magic to Olivius-Sprig.
"Only a little bit," Sprig-Thirzin says to Olivius-Sprig.
You find a piece of origami art, a crane, that unfolds in your hand. On it is written a note in Tien.
May you and your friends become closer by spending some time in each other's shoes.
Also on the note is a beautiful watercolor painting of a grinning woman with a fox's tail.
"Are you going to let me see or do I need to go fetch a stool," Ameiko-Ping says with a wry grin.
Meanwhile two of the Ibbleting sisters are having a quiet conversation while the other is furiously thinking of a way to phrase a rather delicate question.
"Hey, whoever got Ting, Fling, and Ping, see if you can cast a spell," Fling-Ameiko says over the murmur of the pandemonium.
"Yeah, try to give me the worst dye job you can think of," Ting-Saroune says with a crooked grin as she flings her arms wide.
Ping-Horatio, mumbles under his breath, "Yeah, then maybe someone can tell me how the plumbing works."
Luca and Rosaline look at each other, worried expressions on their faces as they see everyone acting out of sorts.
"Ye know, this is like one o' them bad stories ye hear in taverns told by worse bards," Luca says as she turns back to the group.
"There are stories like this," Rosaline asks dubiously.
Noro-Asuriel shares the note with everyone. I think this is fey magic, and I have an idea who may be behind this.
Horatio blinks slowly, wondering why nothing seems quite as sharp as before, and when he groans in disorientation, the sound is lower, rougher, more guttural than he expects.
He looks down at his hands, and they're clumsy, rough, with squared nails and - was that thumbnail chewed??
"Oh, balls," he groans, rubbing his forehead. "I'm Olives, aren't I?"
"Ah, I'm going to guess that's Horatio now," comes Horatio's normal voice, "Mind explaining why you didn't relieve yourself yet? My eyeballs are floating here!"
Fling-Asuriel crosses her arms and pouts. "This is simply unacceptable. I'm sure Ping is behind this somehow. Fix it someone, PLEASE!"
"How can this be my fault? I don't even know what kind of magic we just got hit with," Ping-Horatio protests.
"She's right," Fling-Ameiko says, backing up her sister.
Besides, do you think we'd have gotten ourselves caught in our own prank? We're not amateurs,"" Ting-Saroune chimes in.
"Yeah, and should we really be casting spells when none of us really knows how we do it," Ameiko-Ping asks.
"Well, it could be worse," Luca says looking at the paper over Noro's arm.
In Asuriel's nearly perfect voice, Noro shows the paper form the box to everyone. It seems by this, that the effect is not permanent. it was meant for us to learn a little more about each other. I suggest we spend the day doing what the person you inhabit would be doing. I hope that will break the spell.
Olivius-sprig looks around. So I should ride in Thrizin's hat... Ok. Whatever.
"Oh, no." At the thought of Ping spending a day in his body, the colour drains from Horatio-Olivius' face. "Okay, well, I suppose I can spend a day-" He pauses, realizing that he's never spent enough downtime with Olivius to know what he actually does. "-As Olivius. Ping, though..." He sighs, shaking his-Olivius' head. "Ping, let's just say you're in for a wild day." He pushes himself back from the table, standing clumsily, not used to the new, shorter, heavier body he finds himself inhabiting, not used to the way the larger, more developed muscles move. "You're sure about this, then?" he asks Noro - or, rather, Noro in Asuriel's body. This is going to take a lot of getting used to, he thinks.
Asuriel disagrees with her body snatcher. "Absolutely unacceptable."
She shakes her head no several times while digging her arms firmly across on her chest. "I demand we resolve this catastrophe immediately. Surely someone in town can help us resolve this debacle? Perhaps Sandpoint's resident wizard can shed some light on the matter?"
Saroune-Fling points at Ting-Saroune. "Be careful with that body. Especially the hands. I need them."
"Oh relax," Ting-Saroune says as she waves one of the hands in question flippantly, "I'm not going to do anything. Besides, haven't you ever wanted to see how others see the world?"
Noro-Asuriel glares at the "real" Asuriel, or better yet, maybe someone at the Cathedral can help, and since this body is the best equipped to inquire about it, I'll go ask. Noro says. as she gets up to head out.