On the shrieking ship of Shriekpot...
Sigmund, tired of being coerced into trying suspicious booze, decides to look into the whole book situation. However, he needs a sidekick first. Ergo, he requires to voice his desire to leave!
"How odd, Mark hasn't arrived yet, should we go looking after him at the bookstore?"
"Oh, yeah. I wonder why he isn't back. I hope he didn't pull any stupid shit."
"That's the motive that actually concerns me. I wonder what had he tried to do, I actually gave him a coin to buy a book, so, with a bit of common sense, which is something he lacks, he should be already back here."
Scott, rather dissatisfied at the attitude of these schmucks, complains about his trouble even as Art passes him, filling up another mug, then returning to his former position.
"Dammit, I spent money on trying to get you idiots to calm down, stay on the ship and actually do something constructive to the masters plans!"
Nobody cares what he thinks, though.
"Are we going to look for him?"
"I think that we should do so. I followed him once to see what he was up to and he ended diving treehead-first into a well. It was odd."
This does actually give him a thought.
"Are there any psychological side-effects of transmuting?"
"There's the rush o' power, the sensation of alterin' the basic nature of things, the godlike thrill of bein' a user o' really powerful magic and- wait, ya mean for the subject, right? In that case, it probably depends on who ya transmute and under what circumstances. If it's unexpected or worse, unwanted, well... good luck. And fundamental changes to yer body, particularly if ya find them to be a turn for the worse, can be difficult to handle, I hear. Wouldn't be surprisin' if someone goes loopy because of it."
Sigmund nods and thanks Erin.
"Let's go, then."
"Best of luck, good Sir Sigmund and good Jester Kevin."The desk wished his friends luck as they went off to find Mark.
Sigmund goes along with Kevin, and they head over to Brenwicke's Books together. When they go in, they notice that the pile of mushrooms has been removed from the ground. Aw. Kevin walks over to the bookseller.
"Excuse me, would you happen to know the whereabouts of a metallic, skeletal vagabond with a rather conspicuous tree for a head?"
"Filthy thief. My guard - my only competent guard," he says, giving the six-armed guard a dirty look, "caught the bastard singlehandedly after he tried to make off with my entire collection on the Sea of Death - that whole shelf was worth over eighteen gold, you know. Tried to throw a gold coin at my face for it, too. Hope he has a good time in jail, the prick."
Well, that explains a lot, Kevin and Sigmund both guess.
Back on the ship, Morton nearly launches into a glorious tale, but then remembers that such a thing was never asked of him. Oh well. Maybe next time.
"Hm, good Mage Erin, I have to ask what did I miss during my sojourn away from the ship? Anything interesting, or changed? I admit that this is the first time I've stayed for a good bit on the ship after it got changed."
"Aside from the Niklas debacle, nothin' much has been happening around here. To be honest, we're all kinda itchin' to leave, but the Artiste says we gotta let ya sort out yer own business first. I gotta ask, though, what is it with ya guys and getting lost and maimed somewhere all the time?"
Good question. Could it be that the world simply distracts them from their tasks at best and actively seeks their second deaths at worst? Or is it actually their fault all this has happened in some contrived way?
In a jail cell...
Mark, seeing little better to do in here, takes a stroll down memory lane.
Man, it's still funny to him how much he could mess up that guy - well, not really a guy later on - that died. Him/her dying was kind of a shame. They were murder-buddies and all. Then there was that time he did, like, all the awesome stuff in the universe. Too bad that wasn't real. Then he got, like, enslaved by this ultrademon. That was a bit of a bummer. And he got covered in mushrooms, too. Those were hard to get off. But he also met lots of weirdos. Like that guy in the weird store, he was kind of cool, though his stuff was expensive. And then there was the time he wandered around a graveyard a lot, that was pretty funny. It's like somebody just forgot to pick him up for a week or so. And then he worshipped a god and didn't die, that was cool.
In the den of the shrieking ship of Shriekpot...
Niklas, lacking any better outlets to exercise his odd feelings of the moment.
"I'm honestly not sure. I feel different, but I'm still a chair. What happened?"
"Maybe you're not actually a chair! Wouldn't that be cool?"
"Now, Torkel, he's still a chair. He said so himself. Look at him, even."
"Maybe he's a giant that looks like a chair!"
At Karina's home...
Darren realizes the true potential of this conversation.
"Well... we won't get anywhere talking about this here though."
He thinks a little.
"I could ask around in the village up there, but they won't know much... How do you mean the others are weird now?"
"You gotta see it to know what it is - they look at you differently, particularly when they think you're not looking. It creeps me out, really. It's like they are planning something, and they won't tell me what it is. I feel like I'm outside a particular circle, and that it's not the good kind of circle, like a knitting circle, but one of those dark muttering and animal sacrifice kinds of circles. Something's wrong with them, I can sense it."
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Topic: Life Begins At Death - Epilogue: We Live And Live Again (Read 556263 times)