Melanie Alexandra Feathermoon's page

Sorry for being gone - I had a death in the family and it meant driving to the middle of nowhere. No mental bandwidth left for internet things. I'll be back friday, but feel free to continue to bot me in the interim.

Magic.

Melanie whispers, then shakes her head sharply, looking at the dwarf.

Not here friend dwarf. We'll need some privacy later I think.

1d20 ⇒ 18

Melanie dodges backward, then mumbles an apology and a spell of detection.

detect magic

"Best get those somewhere safe lass, no need to advertise our friend's generosity. Enjoy the festival!"

Melanie smiles encouragingly at the girl.

"Interesting things at least!"

She follows along, still smiling at the jokes.

Just a quick activity check to make sure everyone's still around?

"No harm, no need to foul him. I'm trying to cut back on random acts of violence."

Melanie jests then scowls at the jester.

Melanie leans forward interested at the mention of Lions.

"Kulgan wanted me to learn to conjure cats, he could summon these great glowing tigers. All I got was a kitten. Still, the projection isn't the same as the real thing. Lovable, but ephemeral. It disappeared overnight."

"I'm learning to be a wizard, but I'm not very good at it. Magic is confusing. Kulgan says it will make sense eventually, and he's been good to me. This is supposed to be my break, a bit of a trip to see more of the world before I build my own tower. So far the world is almost as confusing as magic."

She grins, then looks at the stage, her voice growing somber.

"Ever have that feeling that something big was waiting for you, watching? Kulgan says everyone gets it from time to time. I've been living with it for so long that I don't even notice it anymore, but you and I and Pasie are connected somehow. The dwarf and the smith too. Strange days ahead. It's good to know you can handle yourself. We might need it."

"Oh good, they haven't started yet. Why do you work so hard to become strong, anyways?"

Melanie looks at Kearra curiously.

"Me? I don't dance. My friend does though."

She grins at Pasie, then drags kearra towards the stands.

"Let's get good seats. This should be great!"

Melanie grins as the contest winds down, then moves over to congratulate Kearra.

"You'd have had the old man in another round. Ah well, nicely done! Sorry, we didn't get to talk much at the bar. I'm Melanie. Ready to see the dance competition? The men are wearing kilts and tights."

"Sisterhood and Strength!"

Melanie grins as Kearra pushes through to the finals, and sidles towards the other onlookers.

She grimaces, then nods at pasie.

"As you will. Best of luck in your dancing, if children are allowed to join."

She looks across the fair, and watches the strength competition.

Melanie finds a tree to lean against with a good view of the stage, and smiles wistfully as she watches the dancers.

"I could never be so graceful. They look like they're floating together, don't they?"

She grins at Pasie and pushie as they arrive then speaks more quietly.

"We all have our secrets, and I'll keep yours if you'll let me. No more ale, however. You play the child's role, but that's not who you are. I am Melanie, recently of Kulgan's service. My gifts are odd, but they are mine, and I claim them."

"I would still know what to name you, and perhaps, we might become friends? Magic can be lonely. If you prefer to be unrecognized, I will respect your choice, of course."

She stops talking, perhaps having gone too far.

Melanie smiles, then drags Pasie along to the dancing.

"Come see the dancing lass. It'll do your heart good, and your grandfather's as well. It can't all be scrounging and hope. There is room for beauty and mystery too. The games will remain when we're done."

Melanie waves to any who followed her from the tavern.

"Oh good we haven't missed the dance competition! Hurry, this way!

"Soup please, as long as it's hot."

She smiles and hands over the silver, then tastes the soup and nods in appreciation at the barkeep as he hands her the dried herbs. A quick look at the leafs and she adds them to the soup.

"Perfect. My thanks. Hopefully this acts quickly enough not to miss the dancing."

She finishes her soup in a determined fashion, then looks back at the group, smiling as she sees Pasie returning.

"Fresh enough to see some mock fighting? I was told there would be thews, and after the dancing something called a cat anna?"

She shrugs, then heads toward the carnival.

Melanie doesn't correct the half-orc.

"Thank you sir dwarf. I heard you talking of the carnival, and I must say I enjoyed the illusionist. The fortune teller was kind if confusing. I was going to get something to eat, then watch the dancers. Later there's going to be a sword dance, I think. I've never seen one."

She looks at the bartender, then considers a moment, glancing over the alcohol before shaking her head and wincing at the headache.

"Do you have any fenwhistle, and perhaps a cup of stew if it's mostly broth?"

"Not a sorcerer, wizard. Different thing entirely. Ugh, my head is killing me, I wish I had some fenwhistle.

Melanie wanders over to the stool, the notices the passed out halfling.

" Oh, you meant the girl. Lightweight, get her hydrated when she wakes up, no problem. See?"

She seems unconcerned, then startles when she sits on pushies stool.

"Huh, ectomorphic residue suggests a summons, heat a large one, and recent. You're not serving summoned ale are you?"

Melanie looks at the bartender dubiously and gestures at lotar.

"To a dwarf? Don't you remember the summer taproom war?"

Accent is fine as long as you don't mind clarifying anything too broken ooc for the rest of us.

It adds flavor to the character.

"I thank you."

Melanie bows deeply to the woman, then departs.

I think. Still, it is always best not to offend.

Looking over the tents of the circus, and the food stalls, Melanie's stomach growls again. After the fortune teller's tent, however, the light is too bright, and strange. She walks away, not even realizing where her feet are wandering until she bumps into the dubiously attached door of Hare's Shanty. Stopping a moment only, she enters the bar.

Hopefully it'll be quieter in here, and this headache will pass.

Looking over the room, her eye finds an empty booth near the end of the bar, and she sits, taking in the rest of the room, the headache pounding behind her eyes.

perception, low-light vision: 1d20 + 4 ⇒ (3) + 4 = 7

Seeing nothing too strange, she lowers her head to the table.

Is the Fortune Teller tent right next door to the bar?

"I guess, I'll listen then. No harm ever came from knowledge, but only from actions in ill-considered reaction to it, or so says Master Kulgan. He was right about the fire."

She seems to have talked herself into it, and looks at the fortune teller intently. After a moment, her stomach gurgles, and she grimaces at the dour expression on the mystic's face, before resuming her study.

"I'm sorry. I should have eaten before I came in. Please continue."

"I...guess so."

Melanie seems mildy worried by the forboding speech.

"I don't think master kulgan would mind."

I hope.

He didn't have a deck that I saw, and the apprentice's first duty is cleaning and organization. I've seen things."

She shudders, then wipes her hands briskly remembering some failed experiment, and peers at the cards curious now.

"No, I have not, or at least I think."

She drifts off, fingering an old scarf, then answers slowly.

"My oma might have, but I would have been just a babe. Is that significant? I've studied some of the lesser divination, but harrowing was never Kulgan's gift and he wouldn't touch the cards or let me examine them."

She sighs.

"I could ask, when next I see him. He might even answer, but that is a journey of weeks, and while we made no plans for my return, it was assumed I'd be gone more than a few weeks. He had experiments to run, and medicinal brews to finish"

She grimaces at some memory of smell, her nose scrunching.

"I'm sorry, I ramble. No, I do not think I've been harrowed."

She thinks, then speaks slowly.

"Crystal only gives me a migraine, and my palms are already cut by other things, bones speak to the dead and I am of the living. Tea or cards."

She pauses, licking her lips, then glances at the table and continues.

"Tea is for drinking, but would not be amiss. Cards, then. They remind me of my Oma and she never seemed uncertain."

She smiles in memory, touching some necklace hidden by her tunic.

"I don't know, honestly. Or rather I know a lot of things, but I don't understand them. Kulgan says there is a difference, but it's all mixed up in my head. He's teaching me, but I don't know if I'm much of a student."

She trails off her eyes on her feet. She glances around the tent unsure, avoiding eye contact, then abruptly sits with her pack in her lap. She fusses a bit, then sets it down, and finally looks at the woman directly.

"I'm Melanie."

Her eyes are shadowed despite her youth, remembered magics and other strange sights haunting them. She blinks, then settles into the chair and smiles. As she does the warmth slowly chases the cold of winter from her expression.

"What do you do?"

She steps closer to the curtain, her eyes darting between the girl and the others, then turns away reluctantly.

"I suppose I shall have to ask later. I thank you, young miss, for your humor and insight. I don't suppose I could offer you a view above the crowd? I'm tall enough for both of us, if you're willing to ride."

She grins, offering the child a chance to ride on her shoulders.

"Of course. Perhaps another time then."

She looks with curiosity at the child.

"How can I help you, lass?"

"No I probably won't ever be as talented an illusionist as you are lady, but I would still value any advice you could offer. Anything at all. I just can't seem to make them make sound. How do you do it?"

Melanie looks harried, but focused as she questions an older woman near the illusionists show. Her manner is polite, although she's making no effort to be discrete.

Steal the mockers from feists krondor. It's just business, not evil. LN thieves guild.

Dotting in but I'll have to copy over the details and polish the alias when I get home.

I'm still trying to figure out what to do to get a spell/formula book without being a wizard.
GM can I VMC wizard and get one that way or is that not enough wizard to understand spell books?