Reunions | Rebekah Bourg
General Summary
Darkness was still held at bay by glow globes and torches as Teju fluttered over late-night revelers in search of her friends. Several weeks at home on the Rayskel Kays had convinced her mother that Teju was safe and well and quite ready for another adventure, which was confirmed with big-sisterly reserve by a letter from Omalade, so she was allowed to return to the mainland on condition that she remain out of trouble with people she trusted. Knowing her friends far better than either her sister or mother did, Teju understood this to be more of an either/or command, and as adventuring with her friends was far more fun than staying out of trouble, upon landing in Ghan and hearing of the group’s quest to Ledon, she had swiftly transformed into a bird and flown thither with all haste. Now she flew above the crowds, searching for anyone she recognized.
A shout from a rooftop caught her attention.
“Justice for cabbages! They’re good souls.” Colonel Blaster bellowed, then amended his statement. “No, they’re not souls at all.” He wrenched his arm away from an unseen enemy and began kicking the air. Teju flew toward him, but then he threw a bottle which narrowly missed her, and she decided to wait until he had slept off whatever he had just drunk. The others must surely be nearby. Swooping back down, she saw Dorian emerge from the Hand Ax and Hawk Inn singing a bridal march.
“Dorian,” she called, and perched on his shoulder. “Where is everyone else?” “No Dorian here. Nothing to see here,” he slurred, waving her away. Disgusted, she left. This slobbering mess was not a state in which she had ever seen Lord Dorian Van Baelsar III, but it was reminiscent of Alitsar. She flew to the inn’s window and thought she saw Tala sitting by the fireplace, but people kept getting in her way, and then whoever it was left, so Teju flew on. She overheard mention of a parade, body swapping, a loud man being levitated, and Angulan Knights. She found an imposing compound, and flew around the building, peeking in at the windows until she found what looked to be Alitsar, who was acting more sober and civil than she had ever seen him. She darted through the grating of his second story window and settled on the bare desk. “What are you doing here, Dorian?” she asked. Her companion gasped and spun around, but calmed at the sight of her. “Teju?” He asked. “How did you know it was me?” She shrugged as well as she could in bird form, and replied, “You’re not drunk.” He quickly explained how the Xi Drake had bonded with him and the Angulan Knights were forcing him to join their ranks. “At least they’ll be looking for Alitsar once I break out of here and track him down so we can switch back. By the way, can you help me escape?” Teju suggested removing the finger to which the Xi Drake clung, and Dorian recoiled, placing a hand protectively over his new friend. “It’s not his fault. Don’t you dare hurt him.” They both hushed as the watchman below called out the hour. “We need to get away from here,” he said. “And don’t let anyone see you transform. The Angulan Knights would classify you as an abhuman and try to kill you.” After several minutes of whispered debate, Teju flew out, made sure no one was looking, and transformed into a capramag. Dorian shattered the metal door and window grating, pocketed the scrap, and leapt onto Teju’s back, Xi Drake safely in tow. They flew back to the inn and quickly spotted Alitsar, standing beside a caravan of aneens. Saiylar had been tailing Dorian long enough to realize that he was, in fact, Alitsar in Dorian’s body but with none of Dorian’s traits, such as the ability to haggle for the aneens that he was currently purchasing for far more than the going rate. Once the transaction was complete and before Alitsar could ride away, she moseyed up behind him and said, “Boo!” “What the heck!” Alitsar exclaimed, whirling around. “You’re not Dorian. He’s going to have a fit when he finds out you got him drunk. I guess I’ll have to protect him until he gets back.” Just then, Teju and Dorian alighted beside them and Teju transformed back into herself. Alitsar looked at his own body walking toward him and let out a bellow of laughter.
“Give me back my body,” Dorian demanded. “Not yet,” Alitsar responded. “I’m following a lead and I need your body for that. Trust me, it’ll be worth it.” “I don’t trust you,” Dorian replied flatly. “Now give me back my body, you scoundrel.” “Sorry Alitsar,” Saiylar said, “but you really aren’t trustworthy and your plans aren’t either. Need I remind you of a certain time when you put me in a giant stasis pod along with the entire Ghan army on the eve of battle. You guys have to swap back.” The negotiations which followed remained in this vein of distrust and determination, and Teju wandered away, distracted by the perplexing question of how to switch them back. As she entered the Hand Ax and Hawk Inn, a man with cybernetic eyes pounded an empty flagon on a table and shouted, “Drinks all around!” Teju slipped through the crowd to talk to the tippler. He introduced himself as Martin the Eridant and told her of how a man matching Dorian’s description had bribed him for information about the Convergence, how he was now rich, something about purple baubles, and an experiment across town was causing trouble. He was rapidly becoming less coherent, so Teju rose to leave, but then noticed a Varjellan sitting in the corner and toying with a glittering purple globe. She walked over and asked him about it and he said that he had acquired it at a joke shop in the noble district, but he felt really weird after he first touched it. Excitedly, she turned to leave and ran into Tala.
“Oof. Good morning, Teju. What brings you here?” Teju gave her a big hug, then dragged her back to the others, explaining how Dorian and Alitsar had switched bodies probably due to touching an experimental bauble. They arrived in time to witness a miracle: Dorian agreed with Alitsar that going to the City of Bridges was the best course of action. Teju blurted out what she had learned about the body swapping and Dorian recalled that Mayor Geribacus had given him a purple bauble just before he and Dorian switched bodies.
“Tell me you still have it,” he said to Alitsar. After fishing around in his pocket for a moment, Alitsar grinned, pulled out the bauble and threw it at Tala, who caught it telekinetically. Dorian touched it, but nothing happened. He asked Teju if she knew where it may have come from and she led them to the joke shop in the noble district. The shop was far from the Main Way and all around it was deserted. Dorian pulled out a small shard of metal and, after a few attempts, shaped it into a key that opened the door. Inside, the shop glistened with crates of purple and green baubles. Cautiously Dorian touched a green bauble, then let out a cry of delight as he reentered his own body. As everyone else, looked around the shop and Dorian pocketed a few baubles of each color, Alitsar lit the shop on fire.
“Time to leave,” he said calmly. Before any neighbors could notice the fire or raise an alarm, Tala opened a wormhole back to the aneen caravan on the Main Way, and they prepared rather noisily for their departure, so as to acquire witnesses to their presence far from the fire. Just then, Brute rejoined the group and announced that he had successfully succeeded at recruiting ten new members for the Order of the White Flame. Before boarding one of the carriages, Dorian wordlessly took the box containing the baby Xi Drake from Alitsar’s pocket and put in his own. Simultaneously, Alitsar took a rather heavy purse of shins from Dorian’s pocket. Humphrey, who had found his way to Alitsar earlier that night and was now in Dorian’s pocket, screamed to be given to Alitsar, threatening to haunt Dorian for the rest of his short life if he refused. Seeing Alitsar’s eagerness to reunite with his drinking buddy, Dorian demanded the return of his money bag. Alitsar responded by bending all his remaining scrap metal into a cage with which to trap Dorian, who dodged the attempt. The brawl was interrupted by a crash, and Colonel Blaster poked his head out of the window of the carriage he had just cannonballed into, and demanded to know if Alitsar was yeeting cabbages again. A mist danced about atop the demolished carriage, and Miffurblandishdon crowed “Yes! Yeet them all. Let them burst gloriously!”
Thus, the band of adventurers departed from Ledon with much haste and some infighting under cover of darkness, and journeyed back to the City of Bridges, tailed by three Angulan Knights. Upon arriving in the capital, Colonel Blaster set out for the market place, purchased a catapult, figgy pudding, a torch, and some rum, and proceeded to launch figgy pudding back at the mainland. Tala took the iotum from him before he left, and asked Teju to go with her to deliver it to Professor Crow, but Dorian pulled Teju aside, handed her a carefully wrapped purple bauble, and asked that she deliver it to Lady Phoenix. Everyone objected to this plan and the ensuing debate probably drew curious looks from passersby, but no one in the group minded. Dorian suggested that Tala would make a good fake Lady Phoenix, and Tala flatly refused. Tala asked Brute his opinion, and he explained that his Hungry Pennant was technically a sentient being and he had it under complete control, so they could switch Lady Phoenix with the Pennant. His proposal was accepted, and they all proceeded to the palace, where King Laird received them with pomp and splendor, proclaiming that a banquet would be held in their honor. The band struck up a spritely tune and Lady Phoenix and Count Everard led several dancers onto the floor. Overcome by nausea at the sight, Tala left to deliver the iotum to Professor Crow. The others spread out. Alitsar went straight to the dancefloor and asked the first lady he saw to dance. As Brute’s Pennant drifted overhead toward Phoenix, Teju slipped through the crowd, bauble in hand. On Dorian’s command, Alitsar metal-bent Everard’s belt buckle, lowing his pants and his public image, and the embarrassed count rushed from the floor. The Pennant swooped down. Teju threw the bauble, and Lady Phoenix switched bodies with the Pennant. Her body, now controlled by the mind of the Hungry Pennant, attempted to devour anyone around and took a bite out of Count Everard, who had returned for the next dance. He let out a yelp of surprise, then called for some guards to help him escort the ailing lady from the room. Dorian caught his eye on the way out and smiled smugly.
“Justice for cabbages! They’re good souls.” Colonel Blaster bellowed, then amended his statement. “No, they’re not souls at all.” He wrenched his arm away from an unseen enemy and began kicking the air. Teju flew toward him, but then he threw a bottle which narrowly missed her, and she decided to wait until he had slept off whatever he had just drunk. The others must surely be nearby. Swooping back down, she saw Dorian emerge from the Hand Ax and Hawk Inn singing a bridal march.
“Dorian,” she called, and perched on his shoulder. “Where is everyone else?” “No Dorian here. Nothing to see here,” he slurred, waving her away. Disgusted, she left. This slobbering mess was not a state in which she had ever seen Lord Dorian Van Baelsar III, but it was reminiscent of Alitsar. She flew to the inn’s window and thought she saw Tala sitting by the fireplace, but people kept getting in her way, and then whoever it was left, so Teju flew on. She overheard mention of a parade, body swapping, a loud man being levitated, and Angulan Knights. She found an imposing compound, and flew around the building, peeking in at the windows until she found what looked to be Alitsar, who was acting more sober and civil than she had ever seen him. She darted through the grating of his second story window and settled on the bare desk. “What are you doing here, Dorian?” she asked. Her companion gasped and spun around, but calmed at the sight of her. “Teju?” He asked. “How did you know it was me?” She shrugged as well as she could in bird form, and replied, “You’re not drunk.” He quickly explained how the Xi Drake had bonded with him and the Angulan Knights were forcing him to join their ranks. “At least they’ll be looking for Alitsar once I break out of here and track him down so we can switch back. By the way, can you help me escape?” Teju suggested removing the finger to which the Xi Drake clung, and Dorian recoiled, placing a hand protectively over his new friend. “It’s not his fault. Don’t you dare hurt him.” They both hushed as the watchman below called out the hour. “We need to get away from here,” he said. “And don’t let anyone see you transform. The Angulan Knights would classify you as an abhuman and try to kill you.” After several minutes of whispered debate, Teju flew out, made sure no one was looking, and transformed into a capramag. Dorian shattered the metal door and window grating, pocketed the scrap, and leapt onto Teju’s back, Xi Drake safely in tow. They flew back to the inn and quickly spotted Alitsar, standing beside a caravan of aneens. Saiylar had been tailing Dorian long enough to realize that he was, in fact, Alitsar in Dorian’s body but with none of Dorian’s traits, such as the ability to haggle for the aneens that he was currently purchasing for far more than the going rate. Once the transaction was complete and before Alitsar could ride away, she moseyed up behind him and said, “Boo!” “What the heck!” Alitsar exclaimed, whirling around. “You’re not Dorian. He’s going to have a fit when he finds out you got him drunk. I guess I’ll have to protect him until he gets back.” Just then, Teju and Dorian alighted beside them and Teju transformed back into herself. Alitsar looked at his own body walking toward him and let out a bellow of laughter.
“Give me back my body,” Dorian demanded. “Not yet,” Alitsar responded. “I’m following a lead and I need your body for that. Trust me, it’ll be worth it.” “I don’t trust you,” Dorian replied flatly. “Now give me back my body, you scoundrel.” “Sorry Alitsar,” Saiylar said, “but you really aren’t trustworthy and your plans aren’t either. Need I remind you of a certain time when you put me in a giant stasis pod along with the entire Ghan army on the eve of battle. You guys have to swap back.” The negotiations which followed remained in this vein of distrust and determination, and Teju wandered away, distracted by the perplexing question of how to switch them back. As she entered the Hand Ax and Hawk Inn, a man with cybernetic eyes pounded an empty flagon on a table and shouted, “Drinks all around!” Teju slipped through the crowd to talk to the tippler. He introduced himself as Martin the Eridant and told her of how a man matching Dorian’s description had bribed him for information about the Convergence, how he was now rich, something about purple baubles, and an experiment across town was causing trouble. He was rapidly becoming less coherent, so Teju rose to leave, but then noticed a Varjellan sitting in the corner and toying with a glittering purple globe. She walked over and asked him about it and he said that he had acquired it at a joke shop in the noble district, but he felt really weird after he first touched it. Excitedly, she turned to leave and ran into Tala.
“Oof. Good morning, Teju. What brings you here?” Teju gave her a big hug, then dragged her back to the others, explaining how Dorian and Alitsar had switched bodies probably due to touching an experimental bauble. They arrived in time to witness a miracle: Dorian agreed with Alitsar that going to the City of Bridges was the best course of action. Teju blurted out what she had learned about the body swapping and Dorian recalled that Mayor Geribacus had given him a purple bauble just before he and Dorian switched bodies.
“Tell me you still have it,” he said to Alitsar. After fishing around in his pocket for a moment, Alitsar grinned, pulled out the bauble and threw it at Tala, who caught it telekinetically. Dorian touched it, but nothing happened. He asked Teju if she knew where it may have come from and she led them to the joke shop in the noble district. The shop was far from the Main Way and all around it was deserted. Dorian pulled out a small shard of metal and, after a few attempts, shaped it into a key that opened the door. Inside, the shop glistened with crates of purple and green baubles. Cautiously Dorian touched a green bauble, then let out a cry of delight as he reentered his own body. As everyone else, looked around the shop and Dorian pocketed a few baubles of each color, Alitsar lit the shop on fire.
“Time to leave,” he said calmly. Before any neighbors could notice the fire or raise an alarm, Tala opened a wormhole back to the aneen caravan on the Main Way, and they prepared rather noisily for their departure, so as to acquire witnesses to their presence far from the fire. Just then, Brute rejoined the group and announced that he had successfully succeeded at recruiting ten new members for the Order of the White Flame. Before boarding one of the carriages, Dorian wordlessly took the box containing the baby Xi Drake from Alitsar’s pocket and put in his own. Simultaneously, Alitsar took a rather heavy purse of shins from Dorian’s pocket. Humphrey, who had found his way to Alitsar earlier that night and was now in Dorian’s pocket, screamed to be given to Alitsar, threatening to haunt Dorian for the rest of his short life if he refused. Seeing Alitsar’s eagerness to reunite with his drinking buddy, Dorian demanded the return of his money bag. Alitsar responded by bending all his remaining scrap metal into a cage with which to trap Dorian, who dodged the attempt. The brawl was interrupted by a crash, and Colonel Blaster poked his head out of the window of the carriage he had just cannonballed into, and demanded to know if Alitsar was yeeting cabbages again. A mist danced about atop the demolished carriage, and Miffurblandishdon crowed “Yes! Yeet them all. Let them burst gloriously!”
Thus, the band of adventurers departed from Ledon with much haste and some infighting under cover of darkness, and journeyed back to the City of Bridges, tailed by three Angulan Knights. Upon arriving in the capital, Colonel Blaster set out for the market place, purchased a catapult, figgy pudding, a torch, and some rum, and proceeded to launch figgy pudding back at the mainland. Tala took the iotum from him before he left, and asked Teju to go with her to deliver it to Professor Crow, but Dorian pulled Teju aside, handed her a carefully wrapped purple bauble, and asked that she deliver it to Lady Phoenix. Everyone objected to this plan and the ensuing debate probably drew curious looks from passersby, but no one in the group minded. Dorian suggested that Tala would make a good fake Lady Phoenix, and Tala flatly refused. Tala asked Brute his opinion, and he explained that his Hungry Pennant was technically a sentient being and he had it under complete control, so they could switch Lady Phoenix with the Pennant. His proposal was accepted, and they all proceeded to the palace, where King Laird received them with pomp and splendor, proclaiming that a banquet would be held in their honor. The band struck up a spritely tune and Lady Phoenix and Count Everard led several dancers onto the floor. Overcome by nausea at the sight, Tala left to deliver the iotum to Professor Crow. The others spread out. Alitsar went straight to the dancefloor and asked the first lady he saw to dance. As Brute’s Pennant drifted overhead toward Phoenix, Teju slipped through the crowd, bauble in hand. On Dorian’s command, Alitsar metal-bent Everard’s belt buckle, lowing his pants and his public image, and the embarrassed count rushed from the floor. The Pennant swooped down. Teju threw the bauble, and Lady Phoenix switched bodies with the Pennant. Her body, now controlled by the mind of the Hungry Pennant, attempted to devour anyone around and took a bite out of Count Everard, who had returned for the next dance. He let out a yelp of surprise, then called for some guards to help him escort the ailing lady from the room. Dorian caught his eye on the way out and smiled smugly.
Report Date
26 Jul 2021