Samen shakes his head at the reflexive subterfuge of Abnaki's mind. "Stop it, Abnaki. You're deflective and deceiving. Your life is not a set of blank pages, nor is your memory. Come now, you who are made of stories. Show me your true story."
The weeping faces of those lost memories slowly bleed into the pages, stark red on white parchment. You can see the names and profiles of Abnaki's loved ones. While you are in his mind, he will be able to compose these last letters his yearns to write.
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As they leave Kallik retreats into Qizz's mind. Mad? Only at myself for delaying that conversation. Hopefully not our last but I was being a coward and I should be better. Hugging themselves as a way to hug the grumpy ghost.
Things are quiet during the walk and Kallik is lost in memories so there is nothing to occupy Qizzlvutz beyond walking around. Most of their time is spent trying to mimic the walking styles of Abnaki, Samen, and Gabriel.
Once they start to make camp though Qizz sits silently and starts to draw on the sheets of their malleable flesh. Drawing Kallik hugging Umik, Gabriel changing, Samen looming above everything with strings in his hand, Abnaki playing jump rope with those stings, the strange snake people next to a fire, and piles of cookies.
Learningto smiles at Qizzl's antics, happy that the young myco can still find joy in small things.
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"Dear Ms. Cheme,
I do not know the exact nature of the relationship that we once had. I can suspect, or infer, but considering the delicateness of my own mind right now... well best left unsaid.
What I do know is that something about you is distracting to myself. I strain to remember something, anything, and yet I still end with nothing. The Abnaki that you knew is gone. Dead really. I am but a figment of an insane mind, dreaming that it is sane. Once these letters are written, I suspect I shall wink out entirely. I beg of you, stay clear of the thing that wears my name. It is far more capricious than I ever was, and far more likely to bend minds for it's own gain or amusement.
From what I have re-gathered, you are a formidable warrior and thinker in your own right. I suspect that this warning will only serve to irritate. Please do not bring yourself to this trickster's notice, at least overtly. The me that is not quite me can be very persuasive and insidious. It has already carved out a kingdom for itself in the fey, and seeks to do the same in the land of dreams. Once I wished to do the same. I suspect I would have liked to bring you with me. Do NOT go with me if I invite you.
Please take care of yourself. Samen and Ozna told me you were good people. Stay that way if you can.
Sincerely,
--
A dream of a ghost. Abnaki v'Cardi"
"Dearest Mother and Father,
If this note should find you, I have unfortunately passed away. I wrote this letter before Moonfall occurred so that I might speak with you one more time. I have a plan to rescue a good many Els from the clutches of Moon, but it will take a lot out of me. Thank you for always being there for me, encouraging me to learn magic, encouraging my stories as a child. They have brought countless others peace in this unending war. We will walk together again someday, in a place where no troubles will come to us. Tell Rost v'Dtrani that I thought of him.
Love, your son,
--
Abnaki"
"Samen,
You are perhaps my closest and only friend at this point. You who have gone through as many and as dramatic of changes as I have. Yours have been for the better however, whereas I am afraid many of mine have been for the worse.
I am losing myself, and plan on surrendering. Being a distraction in the back of my own mind only slows me down in crucial situations, and I suspect I can still provide a good bit of assistance before... well I'll get to that, but I can still be of aid to the team. To help, I need to be at top form, and to be at top form I need to let myself go. Thank you for everything you have done for me my friend. I am sorry to put this on you, but I have a last few favors to ask of you.
If you see Ozna again, tell him what became of me. That is first and least important. The second is that if I ever stop being more helpful than harmful you have to put me down. As I lose Elenity, I can see the viewpoint of Moon looming in my own horizon. People are not just useful tools, minds should not be violated just for fun. If- when I go down that path, please put my soul to rest. I know you can do it.
Thank you again for everything my friend. I was always proud to serve beside you. You were always too hard on your old self, try to take care of your new self.
--
The Conscience of Abnaki v'Cardi."
Samen opens his eyes first. The three letters are there, missives from the mind of an el who tried to do the right thing. You stow the ribboned letters without a word, wondering who will be looking out when Abnaki opens his own eyes.
**
Abnaki blinks blearily joyously, not a wrinkle of worry upon his brow. It is good to be Fey.
The teakettle Sunlord gives his daily bellow,
How irritating.
Your shadow wonders if we are going to try the transformation again today. He has ideas.
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Samen cries quietly as he reads his letter. You're a fool, Abnaki. A damned cowardly fool. I'll miss you.
He jumps, though no quite as much as yesterday. Groggily, "You know you're just a Sunlord, right? Not Sun itself? Maybe when Sun finally shows up you'll get the glory you think you deserve, but I don't genuflect before coffee."
"Pah. Humans."
Kessh-Amon looks interested in the heat issuing from the teakettle, but says nothing. It watches with unblinking eyes of lurid lantern yellow.
Slowly extending each limb from the ball that they had slept as and looking to the noisy snake. Ignore them. They are not divine. True power does not have to scream about it like a child." Nodding an continuing to look around. Things seem much more somber this morning.
Rolling slowly over to Samen and looking up at him, "Coffee?" New cookie?
"Hmm? Oh, sometimes it's served with cookies. It's a drink they have back in Hearth. Bitter and smoky. It's lovely for Ifrits. I'm not sure how it would go down for Human or Myco, though. I'll check, but I doubt we have any in the camp. If I find some, I'll bring you a cup."
And so, as they venture toward peril and glory at Uluru, Samen gets his priorities correct and takes the time to see if anyone in camp has some coffee.
Abnaki rises out of the earth. He sleeps in it now, armed with his ring of air-bubble and his ability to slide through it, he finds being encased in such a perfectly fitting bed to be well suited to his new body. "Perhaps some delightful tea, instead of coffee my dear Samen?" he inquires.
Hroof Hroofa and the other myco warriors follow Abnaki in fascination, without uttering a word.
Learningto subtly keeps the influence of this Speaking creature away from Qizzlvutz. The elder myco does not flinch at the cost of some of her few remaining years, though the sudden feeling of exhaustion is most unwelcome. The child must be kept safe. She smiles wanly at cavorting Qizzlvutz, happy to know that what matters is what lives on.
Gabe gives his shadow's question some thought. I had intended to do so. It seems Samen and Abnaki had some emotional trauma of some kind last night. I'm not sure now is the right time to ask for more favors.... Anyway, what thoughts did you have? Maybe today is the day for discussion and planning rather than action. Though I'd be happy to try again if I've misread the situation.
As the camp awakes from slumber, Gabe observes his companions, attempting to piece together the mood. Abnaki rising from the ground gives him a start but he keeps the surprise under control. As Samen starts to search the camp for coffee, Gabe tags along. "So what do we make of this Abnaki that sleeps in the ground? It seems transformation is a theme we embrace but not all if that is good necessarily."
I need to be somewhere more stable this time. When you change, I can't hold on to your back or your shoulders anymore. You're slippery.
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Branches and leaves glisten after the recent rains, small drops falling from a thousand tiny places and making a soft, green tempo as you march. Thick boots and strong magicks (depending on one's preference) keep out the damp grass, but slogging through a wet Forest is still a taxing chore. The mycos try to glide as effortlessly as Abnaki, but often get caught on undergrowth and brambles. The snakes seem content to wind their way around most obstacles, while stopping to consume a fallen log now and then.
To entertain himself, Abnaki narrates much of what the party sees, though he changes it where it suits him. He makes leaves into perwinkle and goldenrod, making the colors true by stating them as fact. One would have a strange view from above, a faint trail of wildly colorful mutations.
**
Gabriel ranges ahead. No one sees him, much less his shadow.
**
Qizzlvutz sees many things! The strangest of which as small wisps; pieces of cloud, or fluff, that seem hazy even in your sharp vision.
**
You can feel something 'off' in the flow of magical energies today. Divine and arcane alike are swirled in chaotic eddies that feel unnatural against your skin. Over the course of the day, the sensation grows - Uluru is the source of the disturbance.
Samen quietly answers Gabe's question with a dour countenance. "Abnaki is dead, Gabriel. What remains is an elemental using his body as a puppet, very similar to what Abby had done. He sacrificed too many parts of himself at too many junctures, and eventually gave in to being a dead vessel. He used his last strength to say goodbye to those he loved last night. His journey is complete, and, I believe, irrevocable. That which prances on the path ahead of us is no more to be trusted than Kessh-Amon. Perhaps less, since the Salamander's motives are at least more scrutable."
Some ways ahead, Kessh-Amon roars in savage triumph, dominating a deer into dashing its own head upon a rocky outcropping. The salamander's two heads can barely share amongst themselves, and the carcass is stripped to bones before Ssuh-Luhss or any other can even approach.
"Fire and meat and blood. We cherish thiss plane."
"Hmmm, all we can hope for is that it stays on our side then... And be prepared for when he inevitably oversteps and needs to be reigned in. I'm not sure we would be able to carry out this assault without him."
Gabriel looks around and notes, "These are some... interesting... allies we have acquired. We will need to have more discussions later about my own transformation. The extra powers might be necessary in case we are left with just the two of us. I'm loath to put these myco beings against our own, even if one is... haunted(?) by the spirit of Kallik."
Thinking for a moment, he comments, "I don't want to have to drain a portion of your power every day though." Gabe steels himself before his next statement, "We may have to have a chat with the thing in the teapot..."
Abnaki turns his head suddenly to face Gabriel and Samen, almost as if he heard their conversation. But he was too far away, and the smile on his face is nothing but genuine.
"Your Salamander friends need to learn some manners I think. I know you've always said an elemental can't change their nature, but we learned from Abby that they can be swayed into suppressing it. Do you want me to have a little chat with them, or would you prefer to do it?"
Sitting quietly and watching the camp get ready while munching on a hidden cookie. The weird one sleeps in the ground now! digging into their bag to quickly sketch the strange elen halfway out of the ground. Arms thrown into the air in a overly dramatic yawn. Cartoonishly grumpy snakes glaring in the background. The pink elen, Samen, drinking from a cup that billows smoke while a shadow of Gabrile fades away. Kallik sitting and holding the axe on their back.
Eventually everyone is ready and its the quiet that gets Qizz to stop their doodling. Quietly following along as everyone starts the days long walk. Kallik is quiet and angry in their mind. All these elen have emotions that are too big.
Stopping and staring at the cloudy haze. Narrowing their eyes and focusing on trying to look like that. Their edges getting thin but not hazy. Growling in a mimicry of their grumpy phantom with brown gas bubbling up. Doing a much better job at being hazy.
Samen begins to answer Gabriel as Abnaki interrupts. Instead, he settles for, "We'll talk more later. Maybe you can hold the teapot as the next bright approaches?"
"You may attempt such a thing if you wish, Abnaki." Merely addressing him by his elen name stabs Samen briefly in the heart. "But there isn't much to be gained by the effort. They must hunt, and eat, and live with honor and dignity as much as any of us. Rather than attempt to alter their nature, an inclination I'm sure comes naturally, instead attempt to modify your own to find the patience to allow them to be who they are. They are not currently threatening anything except the local wildlife, and they need not be corrected for merely being themselves."
"What? Oh, I was merely referring to them not offering to share. We feed and water them out of our own supplies, I suspect there are a good many of our people who would like some fresh venison next time they catch a deer." Once again, it is unclear if Abnaki always meant to raise that issue, or if he had changed his mind after Samen's rebuke. Whatever the case, it is crystal clear that he now believes that this was his intention all along.
More of the hazy specks dance around in the air. They are not motes, or clouds, or fog, or anything physical; they are unaffected by wind, and cannot be touched. Instead, the hazy spots seem like heat shimmering from a hot surface, but with no heat. The little wriggling nothings drift in and out of view, like a cloud of gnats.
Samen begins to craft a response to Abnaki, but thinks better of it. Trying to argue with him in this state would be like trying to nail soup to the wall. And he's just as likely as anything to turn the wall into some crusty bread to go with the soup.
Instead, he simply shrugs. "If you wish to convince the naturally greedy to be generous, I wouldn't deny you the sport. If any could do it, I'm sure it's you."
Heap is a natural place to learn about things, and the tunnels gave excellent lessons on keeping one's sense of direction. This Forest seems almost absurdly simple to navigate after memorizing the thousands of tunnels around Heap.
You hear the deep grunting of a predator, somewhere in the woods. A touch of pain and violence is in the sound. Falling trees, snapping branches, announce the beast is getting closer.
For those with an ear for such things, all these sounds are slightly distorted, like a lute string stretched out of tune. In just a few seconds, your ears are filled with a symphony of instruments, all cacophonous and clamoring.
What breaks through the underbrush is...blurry, but anyone who has ever read a sylphan storybook can identify it - an owlbear.
The shaggy, feathered thing easily tops ten feet in height, even on all fours. Like looking through a bad lens, however, all its edges are blurry, and the face is just a smear of beaked yellows and glaring-eye reds.
It grunt-hoots as it paws the ground, which sounds more like glass breaking in the distorted air.
Abnaki turns his head suddenly to face Gabriel and Samen, almost as if he heard their conversation. But he was too far away, and the smile on his face is nothing but genuine.
"Your Salamander friends need to learn some manners I think. I know you've always said an elemental can't change their nature, but we learned from Abby that they can be swayed into suppressing it. Do you want me to have a little chat with them, or would you prefer to do it?"
Yellow-eyed Kessh-Amon hardly notices the other members of the party, except to bellow and complain.
Ssuh-Luhss, on the other tail, watches everyone. Both green-eyed heads watch. Abnaki is never far from their sight. Whether this is fascination or caution is anyone's guess.
***
**
Abnaki, something about your crumbling, vague shape draws the beast's attention, as if it can see you more clearly than the others. Sensing this, you become a more solid, defined version of yourself, and the owlbear looks away.
**
Your shadow should stay away from this thing. The many blurry afterimages it is leaving behind seem to be made of the same quasi-real stuff as your shadow, and could attack it directly.
**
This thing is completely foreign to Great Forest. The Forest you know is filled with earthen animals of all kinds, but nothing like this, a meaty creature of fur and feathers. You cannot understand what it is doing here. It should not be real.
**
----The blurs seem to be quasi-real illusions, which allow the owlbear to be simultaneously moving in many places at once. (it's going to get a lot of attacks, and be moving around the battlefield)
----It's mind and body are "blurry" right now, and any physical or mental spells will have a 50% of failure (no damage, no effect, etc)
(only above 40, so just a hint) : It feels like there should be a way to make it less blurry...but it eludes you for the moment.
Samen isn't quite sure how this thing came to be the way it is, but figures it must have something to do with a giant lens on the top of a near-ish tower. Either that, or new elemental aspects were infecting the local fauna.
Only one way to find out.
With a rush of invisible brain waves from Samen's energetic mind, the owlbear is now completely in focus, looking suddenly mundane and befuddled.
"*Ahem*" Abnaki clears his throat. "Go nuts."
He seems somewhat disinterested in engaging himself, far more interested in letting the others handle the actual fighting part for him. That being said, it was hard to argue with the results.
Probably not worth a spell, he muses to himself.
The owlbear falls prone, and becomes visibly less mobile in the wave of Abnaki's will, which take a quaking and slowing form of magic today.
As Abnaki's supernatural magicks batter against the beast, it becomes slightly blurry once more.
Trusting his shadow to not to get into trouble, Gabe runs towards the insubstantial bear. Focusing on his strike, he attempts to keep the thing from reacting. After he strikes, Gabe dissappear from sight.
You've cracked it - magical attacks and spells are making it blurry again. After you cast your next Dispel, the rest of the party should turn off their weapon/fist enhancements and attack with non-magical attacks. (Abnaki's song will be ok, because that's more enhancing their morale and their minds, but everything in terms of magical attacks and weapons enhancements should be turned off)
The owlbear reels in pain from the solid strike, and is nearly back to its original blurry malice.
Retaining most of the bulky strength of its form, the beast shakes off Gabe's stunning effect.
Misting and curling about the battlefield, the owlbear seems to be in many places at once, clawing and biting at Samen while thirty feet away its huge legs buck at Abnaki.
Samen, you are reminded unpleasantly of how fragile your pink skin is. The bear claw and bird beak feel very real as they tear into you.
**
Abnaki, it is with a curious detachment that you take some light damage to your body of dreaming soils and singing flowers, and suddenly see yourself sailing backward through the air. A most interesting point of view. You land gently cradled in the earth, taking no damage from the landing itself.
The mycos are not cowards, but have no idea how to approach this situation. What attacks will work correctly? They await instruction from a leader.
The salamanders are cowards, and choose to twine unobtrusively around trees at the edge of the clearing. Does magic have no effect against this monster of clouds?
He winces in fleshy pain. Another price of freedom. "Drat and blast, it's like the dead road all over again. Non-magical attacks only! Disable your magic weapons and cast no spells upon it!"
Samen immediately breaks his own advice and attempts to disenchant it again.
"Get it my friends! Your bravery, my voice! Together we shall weave a tale of courage and blood!" Abnaki continues his performance. He'll move back towards the clearing. He'd cast a spell to help, but memory of the Dead Road was unpleasant, and he'd rather not repeat nor think of it.
Why shouldn't he cast a spell? It seemed like the right thing to do, but... something Samen had said. Samen was a smart creature, a friend. He'd trust Samen, and not think about the sharp thoughts that hurt any longer. No need.
"And you two!" he roars, turning towards the Salamanders, "Get in there with your teeth!"
Samen's dispel proves effective again, and the owlbear is once again focused and normal-looking (for an a storybook owlbear).
Gabriel ducks and dodges as the bear-thing lashes out at his companions. Cursing his short-sighted ness at leaving his companions open to attack, he becomes visible again next to the creature his fist already most of the way attempting to strike the thing. A flurry of fists and feet follow shorty behind, ending with Gabe leaping into the air bringing a heel towards the head of the owlbear.
Now that Gabe's unmagicked fists and kicks are dealing the blows, they seem extremely effective. The owlbear bellows in anger and pain at the bone-breaking assault.
The salamanders slither (quicker than one would think possible) over to the wounded owlbear as it collapses to its knees to catch its breath. The snakes give the beast no such chance, and instead clamp down on its arms and legs with their teeth, while wrapping their bodies around neck and torso.
The owlbear, already mostly dead, stands no chance against the sharp (but mundane) teeth of the snakes.
"We have heard your puling complaints. Share this stinking bird with us, if you wish. It should cook nicely over a spit."