"But I like unicorns..."
"Hey, why don't you dream of unicorns again? Things are gonna be tough real soon." Vai says, ignoring Keme totally. She wasn't in the mood for any more joking. Then she spots Phaezeriel as he walks in. "We'll have you back to normal in no time Nas'. Don't even worry." With that, Vai's wings sprout and she flutters over to him. "Phaeze?! I heard you were sick... what happenned?"
Phaezeriel's eyes widen at the sight of Vai's wings, and he grins, and though his wickedly sharp teeth show broadly, the smile is not as sinister as it once was.
Vai. It is good to see you as well. I was not sick. Not exactly. I will tell you both the tale at a later time; Lady Ryleh indicated there was rather serious business afoot.
To Vai, ::Nice wings, by the way.::
::Wow. That's even more dramatic than what we go through with molting. No wonder you haven't been around lately.::
::What you see is the least of it.::
::Don't say anything about what we're about to do out loud. Remember that Khoda can use Nasima's ears to hear anything we say.::
::Don't say anything about what we're about to do out loud. Remember that Khoda can use Nasima's ears to hear anything we say.::
::As you say. Shall I link everyone into a group conversation?::
::Yes, that would be very helpful, Phaeze. Thanks. That'll make it much easier to coordinate things.::
Phaezeriel speaks telepathically to everyone except Nasima, ::I will be linking our minds into a common bond. This allows only communication, but makes distance immaterial. Fear not that you can be influenced in any way other than words in this manner.::
With that, and a brief focus of will, he Mindlink's everyone together.
::There. Now you may all speak to each other as if you yourself were as telepathic as I.::
"Just what would the heroes be doing?" Lysander asks in reply to his small cousin's request. The bedtime stories were making a real impression if the three of them wanting to imitate the made-up heroes.
"We're gonna go save a bunch of people! Maybe. There's an ol' monster like a shadow catching them and keeping 'em all locked up!"
"Well, you be careful, okay? Shadow monsters can be tricky, especially the old ones. They wouldn't get that old otherwise, would they?"
"We'll be careful!" They three promise as they scamper off, in Lysander's mind, to the gardens or an unused gym room. They knew better than to make a mess after that incident with the bubble machine.
"Matthias, we found a map." Gwenne rolls the big piece of paper out in front of them. Better than any index system, the twins had found it quickly among the library's many shelves. "You're the best at reading Common. Where's Jegareth?"
"Uh..." The eldest says as he scans the map. He wasn't quite sure what he was supposed to be looking for. There were so many names... which ones were stars and which were planets? "Oh, there is is. Can you two find him when we get there?"
"Yep!" Taal says eagerly. "Let's go!"
The three hold hands and, with a burst of harmless energy, vanish from the library.
@Fei: Chen gazes at you serenely. "You have studied Deep Meditation. Today, I need you to find the Clear Place Within; your core, your center. I will do the same." She places a small, plain stone between them, in appearance no different from any of the other pebbles lying about the room that she uses in the simplest of meditation exercises. "This stone will aid us in our efforts. Today we travel the astral plane. You will lose nothing of yourself, if you remain focused on your self. Those we seek to...hinder are most quickly reached and fought in this manner. Now. Breathe."
Chen's eyes close, soft as falling leaves.
'Sima lays there for a moment, still. "I don't think I can sleep. This is all too weird, you guys, and scary. But I'm glad you're here, Vai. I-I wish I knew what was happening..."
"Sorry, Peach, you just need to relax. As best you can, okay?" Percy re-shapes his hands into slim, flat discs with slightly pebbled surfaces. He slides these under Nasima's shoulders and the small of her back, and warmth radiates out from under her. She gives a slight gasp, then visibly relaxes, almost melting.
"Oh! Well that...that...ssssssure...helllllpssssszzzzzzzzzzz" 'Sima dozes off quickly.
Tyrrin wanders throughout the library, looking for any information she can find concerning the scaled creatures she had seen in her dreams. Exhausted though she is, eventually she finds a book on large winged magical lizards, though she had barely started to read when she dips her head to the book and falls asleep once again.
While making his rounds Morgan comes across the exhausted Tyrrin. Shaking his head he uses telekinesis to carefully lift her up enough to remove the book from under her and replces it with a cushion from one of the other chairs. Well at least they were usually quiet when they were like this.
Continuing through the aisles, Morgan watches as the Headmasters children unroll their map and vanish. Walking over to the table he looks over what they had pulled out and begins to cordon off the area around it.
"While interesting, I really would prefer if they asked for help finding things like this." he thinks to himself.
Checking on the locations of the other sentients on his mental map he approaches Jaiye.
"Miss Jaiye. I believe we have had the discussion about food in the library before, have we not? Hand it over. You may have it back when you leave."
Jaiye grumbled and handed over the chocolate bar. She'd learned better than to think she was going to win this fight.
Keme places a small silver charm on Nasima's forehead and it seems to form some sort of circuit with the one that is stored in her locket.
::It's a monitoring spell,:: he explained to Percy before the fire elemental decided to roast him. ::It's meant to give her a jolt if Khoda tries to trick her in her dreams again. Since I'm gonna be kinda busy and not able to be here to take care of that. Again. She's disturbingly gullible when she's asleep.::
He turned away from Nasima, looking for where Vai wandered off to. ::You ready for this?:: he asked her.
::Enre, I don't remember...do you have any way to fly? We can arrange it if you don't. You definitely need to be on the team going to the plane of storms.::
::No, not really. We didn't have any practice time. I don't know if I can hold my dragon form for longer than 5 minutes...:: Vai replies telepathically. Her nervousness comes across pretty clearly.
::Thank you Phaeze. I'm glad you are healthy. We'll have to talk more after this, though.::
Vai begins her preparations, casting Resist Energy (Electricity) on anyone who doesn't have a natural resistance to lightning.
Keme handed Vai a charm. ::It literally runs on the power of positive thinking. Believe you can do this and you can.::
::Alot easier said than done.:: Vai says. Although... it was literally Hope. Maybe she could do it. ::Alright. Do you need anything from me?::
::Just keep reminding yourself that you've got this. I'll be right there to help. Since we're working together on this it's important to be able to rely on each other....for the next few minutes only. Once this is over it's back to my usual irresponsibility.::
::If no one will object, I would like to make a stronger bond between us. I can then facilitate healing and protection between us. I am not sure, but I may be able to do this across planar boundaries. Lady Ryleh, if you have any devices that can store psychic power it would be helpful in maintaining this link across the planes; I suspect that if I can do this, it will be rather taxing, but I will be able to monitor and restore the health of both groups simultaneously.::
Ryleh shifted her arm slightly and a swarm of psicrystals flew out of her sleeve.
::You mean like these?::
Phaezeriel catches one in his palm and extends his mind towards it.
::I... okay. I can't fail, Nasima is counting on us. I expect you to be ready to joke after this though. This seriousness doesn't suit you.:: Vai smiles slightly, the first she'd smiled since arriving.
"Wings or just flight?" Enre answers to Fieri question.
He projects a wave of pleasure at the prospect of new friends towards the crystal swarm.
His mental voice tinged with a considerable amount of awe, ::These will work well, Lady. Let me prepare for the link.::
As Phaezeriel turns away, both Ryleh and Ephebe, and anyone else who is a psychic, can feel Phaezeriel's presence magnify dramatically. The feel of it is not unlike removing the hood from a lantern in a dark room. He moves over to his workbench, untouched for several days, and removes the seven, nearly priceless gems he had been preparing and begins arranging them in an apparently haphazard pattern in a clear space on the floor. Those with the ability to see psionic energy at work will see that they are connected and resonate psychically. Three of them rise into the air forming an intricate web around him as he sits cross legged on the floor. With a gentle request from Phaezeriel, the psicrystal swarm fits into the web and becomes part of it.
::I am ready. I cannot accompany you like this, but our adversary cannot stop me from aiding you, nor can he disrupt me. I will form the collective just before you leave.::
"Wings or just flight?" Enre answers to Fieri question.
::Either or. Some way to navigate while in the plane of storms. We can arrange something if you need, but if you already have it covered no sense doing something you don't need.::
::That is quite impressive, Phaezeriel. You have been learning a great deal,:: she said with approval.
::Thank you Lady Ryleh. A side effect of my compromise, and gods willing, my salvation.::
@Fei: Chen gazes at you serenely. "You have studied Deep Meditation. Today, I need you to find the Clear Place Within; your core, your center. I will do the same." She places a small, plain stone between them, in appearance no different from any of the other pebbles lying about the room that she uses in the simplest of meditation exercises. "This stone will aid us in our efforts. Today we travel the astral plane. You will lose nothing of yourself, if you remain focused on your self. Those we seek to...hinder are most quickly reached and fought in this manner. Now. Breathe."
Chen's eyes close, soft as falling leaves.
Fei nods, takes a centering breath, and - after one final look around the 'classroom' - closes his eyes and begins his meditation.
He lets all of his physical senses drift to the periphery of his consciousness as he brings himself inward to his spiritual center.
Enre just nods.
Enre gets a mental slap upside the head from Aananda.
::You want to just tell the lightning god we're on our way while you're at it? Once again, anything Nasima hears, he can hear too. I'm planning on living through this experience. That's a lot easier if we don't hand him information ahead of time.::
::How many are going to the plane of storms?::
::How many are going to the plane of storms?::
::Myself, Enre, James, Fieri, Krays. Keme and Vai are also going, but they have a separate mission. Jim, Aananda, Ephebe, Percy, Genosuke, and now yourself will be staying.::
::Perfect, for I have only seven gems prepared. Admittedly, I was preparing them for another purpose, but they will serve this as well.::
Ephebe blushed and smiled.
::Oh, I'm quite certain our little sparks will be a handful and then some. Thank you. It's nice to know I'm not just imagining things when I think that I can sense emotion from them.::
"Hey, there's something odd about this part of the wall," he said, reaching out to examine it more closely.
Reaching out seems to activate some ancient mechanism, and with much rumbling and stone-scraping, a large portion of the “odd part” of the wall moves away and to the side, revealing a hallway practically clogged with cobwebs.
“That seemed too easy, but at this point, I'm willing to think who ever had the book last expected anyone to get past the guardians.”
Jeran nodded and shifted into wolf form as he sniffed along the passage to see if he could detect any signs of anything (including giant spiders) passing this way recently.