On the deck of the Second Shank...
The arrival of the pumpkin slightly changes the dynamic on deck - a feeling of unease settles on the people assembled.
"What the fuck is that?" asks Kevin, sliding off Morton and slowly edging toward the thing.
"What in the world...? Good jester Kevin, were we followed?" Morton asks, looking curiously at the four-legged pumpkin.
Niklas, meanwhile, feels that this lull in people wantonly altering him for fun and profit offers him several good chances, chief among which is the chance to escape! He emits a bewildering squeak as he starts to gallop off the ship, and has left the ship within half a minute.
"What a highly interesting group of individuals. Do you know any of them?"
Back in more distressing circumstances, Sigmund begins to slowly, but surely flip out.
"Oh, for Almiria's sake, Niklas, what have you done to yo-" he begins, but then Niklas runs away, causing Sigmund to finally pay attention to what Kevin was indicating. "Damn, damn, damn!"
Luckily, he knows how to deal with these things - run away! After a splendid bit of retreat, he shouts back to the gathered individuals.
"Each single time where we have dealt with magic from someone who doesn't belong to our group hasn't ended well. And the fact that it is glittering doesn't help. Yeah, it is going to explode at any moment, I know," he explains loudly. The pumpkin turns to Sigmund. How it does that is difficult to explain, but you can definitely see it. Morton takes a few cautionary desk-steps back.
"O-oh dear, maybe its... Maybe its nice and peaceful? Just curious about our ship perhaps?"
Kevin finds it unlikely, that much is plain.
"RUN FOR YOUR LIIIIVEEESSSS!" he shouts, rolling toward the stairs rapidly and tumbling down in a noisy fashion. The rolling sounds continue for a while, but then fade as the jester grows too distant to hear.
The pumpkin looks distinctly unimpressed. It taps one leg against the deck, making an impatient-sounding noise.
"It looks familiar to me for some reason. Like I've seen it before."
"Yeah, I think I'm gonna trust the bomb guy over ya on this. Better chance o' survival that way. To the cargo hold!" Erin says, also vacating the premises.
In Art's room...
Scott interjects into the gentlemanly conversation.
"Talking of shell changes, I have learnt today I neither need a brain to think or eyes to see, due to the magic and spiritual natures of undeath. It's all based on the belief and will of the occupant of the shell. I am curious if it can work in a similar way for strong magically inclined living beings. Are either of you able to offer any insight?"
Art turns to Scott. He looks quite happy, as if he has been waiting for somebody to ask him this very question.
"Ah! Glad you asked! I actually did a thesis back in UM on this. Pretty interesting stuff. See, the thing about it is, the soul is a very cool thing. It keeps information in store, pretty much. Who you are, what you did, what your life was like, that sort of thing. Usually, you wouldn't be able to tell or anything, as normal people have their souls tied to their vital processes. But it's when you start studying the undead or other constructs, that's when stuff gets real interesting. Take a skeleton, for instance. They haven't got ears, eyes or even skin, but they can hear, see and feel pretty much as well as a human being can, if not sometimes better. This doesn't always work, and sometimes they can only smell, but can't see or hear, which is rare, or they can only see and not hear - it all depends on the soul you put in there. I tested this with a whole bunch of souls in one skeletal host - it was totally awesome, by the way. Had to do chants all the time to pull it off, but I digress. Anyhow, the soul can fill in certain physical blanks under certain circumstances. Some can do it better, some can do it worse. For instance, a deaf guy's soul put in a skeleton will probably give you a deaf skeleton from what I could see, same principle applies to a blind guy's soul. Even if it's the same skeleton they're put inside of! Cool, huh?"
Art looks like he's about to continue, but something rolls past the door, distracting him for a moment. Immediately afterwards, there are footsteps that pass by as well.
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Topic: Life Begins At Death - Epilogue: We Live And Live Again (Read 562393 times)