Katrina wrote:"Sigrid, I feel Icky. Can you fix? Or do you have to not know first?"
I fly over to 'Trina. "Give Sigrid a few minutes to get her senses back. She doesn't mean to be rude. She just got some really good news, and she's surprised out of her mind."
"Did the demon touch you, to make you feel icky?" I fly in a circle around 'Trina's head. "The Unknowable hasn't given Sigrid access to the spell to heal you, 'Trina." I scratch my
I glow brighter. I fly over to the marid, and land in front of him. I dim my flames as much as I can, and I kowtow.
"Mighty Duke of the waters, I approach in peace. As much as my essence will allow, I banish the flames that are hurtful to you, as a sign of this peace and my respect. I am the bound familiar of that one. I apologize for her, since she is struck dumb. Often, she has told me of a staff that the priests of her order used to carry. They were carried with pride by the clerics of the Unknowable. I know she would ask for one of those, if you had one."
"And, she could use it to make 'Trina not feel Icky."
The bard listens to each of her friends requests, smiling as their personality shines forth through them. An idea is formulating in her mind, but she chooses to wait to see how Akhrim fulfills those already requested before she gives voice to her thoughts.
~Close your eyes girl
Look inside girl
Let the sound take you away...~
Sorchat wrote: "The Unknowable hasn't given Sigrid access to the spell to heal you, 'Trina." i
"The first demon looked at me and it made me feel icky. If Sigrid got good news why is she all blushy and red faced when she's looking at Anna but looks away when Anna looks at her?"
Pausing reflecting on the familiar's words, she continues
"The what she doesn't know won't give her something to know to unicky me? How will she know if she doesn't know it? What doesn't she know? Why would she ask something she doesn't know for something she wants, how does she know it knows what she wants if she doesn't know it?"
The genie says, "I have such a staff, it is yours."
Turning to Led. "Wemic.....ah, yes. Very well, so you shall become!"
A green and red swirling mass of light descends upon Led..slowly, his silhouette within it changes..flowing....growing...stretching....and fading out, leaving a face easily recognizable as Led Pighp, but atop a vastly different body.
He turns now to Laurel, "And for you, mistress of song and spell? I would hear your desires that I may grant your boon, and not return to this place....it has unpleasant memories, to say the least."
Laurel's eyes widen at the results of Led's wish, but he had discussed such desires with her before. "May you find joy in the fulfillment of what you wanted," she whispers under her breath towards Led.
As Akhrim addresses her, and knowing he awaited hearing her request before leaving to retrieve the requested items, the bard slowly approaches and again bows before him. Straightening, she looks upon him, and using all of her Performance training, makes her case for her request.
"Your Grace, when I entered my training as a bard, the ability to influence and manipulate others beyond appreciation and natural emotional response to my performance was available to me. I have always found such manipulation distasteful, so when I learned of the Healing Hymn, I gladly exchanged my ability to manipulate others in such a way for the ability to heal those who need it beyond the typical ability of a bard.
"Oh, I still have a spell available to me which I can use to suggest things to someone more powerfully than through mere conversation or performance. But I must choose to use it instead of an equally powerful spell, rather than drawing upon my music to do so.
"This I have done gladly, and do not wish to change.
"However, as I have traveled, I realize there is much more in the world to heal than wounds and injuries and I find I do not have access to learning how to treat these other ailments. I wish to be able to help others against such things as poison, curses, disabilities. The loss of Marrik to us earlier...I wished with all my heart I had a means of returning him to us."
Her eyes sliding over to Sigrid briefly, Laurel returns her attention to the generous marid as her hand reaches up and caresses her amulet with the pair of dangling dice. "I have worshipped The Wild Bitch ever since I came to an age where I understood the differences between the deities. I have no wish to become her Divine servant such as a cleric; I believe my place in her service remains as a composer and performer of tales and songs. Yet, if there is anyway to make it possible to increase my ability to heal beyond what is available to me as a bard, that is my request."
With a second bow, Laurel drops the performance from her request, and finishes with the humble appeal of the farm girl she will always carry within her. "If such is restricted from being granted to me, I accept that with gratitude for your willingness to listen. And please accept my sincere thanks for gifting our party as much as you have."
~Close your eyes girl
Look inside girl
Let the sound take you away...~
Eyes widening slightly at such a generous wish, "Such a request, so selfless, is a rare thing indeed." he bows, "and I am glad to be able to grant this."
A brief stagger as new awareness floods through her, Laurel beams at Akhrim as the golden glow fades from her being. But then disappointment enters her eyes, as she looks at 'trina with regret.
"I understand, your Grace. What is needed now is still unavailable to me, at least for the moment. I am saddened to think that our time together is ending, but if what Sorchat requested for Sigrid can help Katrina, I beg you to return to your home to retrieve the items requested before the staff you will bring back for her is too late to be of use to Katrina now.
"Farewell, kind Duke. May your people rejoice at your return from your long absence."
~Close your eyes girl
Look inside girl
Let the sound take you away...~
Throwing herself into Led, she pets, cuddles, hugs, kisses, buries her face into his fur, scratches behind his ears, and bats at his tail. Simultaneously.
Katrina wrote:"But if its Good then it wouldn't keep things that are Good from EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE"
Laurel prepares to explain how it is not that things are being kept away from those who desire them, but that one needs to grow into the wisdom and responsibility to wield those things before they can be attained, when 'trina's speech breaks off into the screech.
Worried some harm from the "ickyness" expressed earlier was manifesting itself, the bard focuses her attention more intently upon her.
[Kali just looks more distinctly like her old self. What kind of lame-ass wish is that? "I want to be like myself, only moreso!" I can be just like myself without spending a wish.]
Led looks around at his new self, moving sinuously just for the feel of it. "Oh yessss. Darethon is the right god for this form. I feel like attacking everything that moves, just out of playfulness. I feel..."
"I feel a strange girl petting me with clawed hands. And hugging me, and..." He looks at Laurel, and holds up his hands, "It's not me. I didn't do anything to encourage this, honest."
"Though, it's surprising how good the petting feels. I didn't realize I'd enjoy this form for other reasons."
"Your Grace, this is far more than I expected, and certainly more than I deserve. If I can be of service to you in the future, you have but to ask. I feel as though I am in your debt."
Led twists his human torso around, a maneuver he wasn't previously limber enough to have done, so he canface Katrina. "Little 'Trina, calm down. I'll stay this way forever. There's no rush."
Anna chuckles at Trina's reaction, and smiles even wider at Sigrid's.
She bows gracefully to the Marid, trying to replicate the bows she'd seen in her father's court. "Your Grace, my request is for a greater Cloak of Displacement, if you can."
Akhrim gestures, and the pool is instantly filled with clear, pure water. "I will send an elemental to this pool bearing your boons from my vaults. I thank you once again for your assistance." With an elaborate ritual bow, he disappears in a puff of mist.
A few minutes later, a huge elemental appears in the pool, bearing a staff, a cloak, and a throwing axe. The axe has a note affixed to it, describing its properties...."Enchanted to fly farther, to return to you, to land vitriolic blows, and twice to strike true."
It hands the cloak to Annelysei, the staff to Sigrid, and the axe to Skyseeker. It then dissipates with a great splash, returning to its native Plane.
Led Pighp wrote:
Led looks around at his new self, moving sinuously just for the feel of it. "Oh yessss. Darethon is the right god for this form. I feel like attacking everything that moves, just out of playfulness. I feel..."
"I feel a strange girl petting me with clawed hands. And hugging me, and..." He looks at Laurel, and holds up his hands, "It's not me. I didn't do anything to encourage this, honest."
"Though, it's surprising how good the petting feels. I didn't realize I'd enjoy this form for other reasons."
Led twists his human torso around, a maneuver he wasn't previously limber enough to have done, so he canface Katrina. "Little 'Trina, calm down. I'll stay this way forever. There's no rush."
Meanwhile:
What Katrina heard wrote:
"Oh yessss. .... I feel .....playfulness."
"I feel a ... girl petting me And hugging me, and..." ...
"Though, it's good the petting.... I ...enjoy this ...."
Led twists his human torso around, a maneuver he wasn't previously limber enough to have done, so he canface Katrina. "Little 'Trina...stay this way forever...."
Continue petting and snuggling and scratching behind Led's ears.
Marrik is manfully fighting back laughter, tears visible in his eyes....Skyseeker is less a model of decorum, and falls to the ground, laughing hysterically.
Anna lets out a surprisingly girly squeal and twirls around in a circle, cloak flaring behind her. It's dark blue, and a pattern of lighter ripples that remind her of sunlight on the bottom of a deep pool of water undulate across its surface. It has an amazing camouflaging effect, and should help protect her from hits as they fight.
