In a particular room of the Black Tower of Eckledun...
Scott is quite glad to see Francine like this.
"Why hello, it is so nice to meet again in so short a time! I must remark that I am impressed about your size and that you seem to have a healthy glow about you!"
"Thanks!" she says.
"... so when are you due?" he wonders immediately.
"Very soon, as it happens," she replies. "You might be right on time, in fact."
A moment of silence.
"Maybe in five minutes or so, give or take a few."
Her glow pulses a moment, then starts to rise in intensity.
On the glorious outside...
Sigmund decides to scale up his efforts a notch, and what better way to do it than to grab a much bigger pebble? So he grabs the largest nearby pebble he can find (well, maybe it's technically not a pebble anymore - they're all pebbles to Sigmund's power, anyway), then prepares to drop it upon himself from a great height.
[Sigmund's magic roll: 6]
[Sigmund's endurance roll: 3]
Well, okay, maybe he gives it a little push on top of that, testing that whole launching idea in the same fell swoop. And maybe he did also pick something that would better be described a boulder. And maybe this one ton boulder just slammed on top of him at a ludicrous speed. These are all factors he couldn't have possibly foreseen when he elected to drop a rock on himself in the name of freedom, and he sees no reason in having any regrets now that his magical focus chest has been entirely shattered and a lot of its contents have either been mashed to a paste underneath or fortuitously squirted along with a lot of blood every which way.
You know, he can't help but feel a little surprised this didn't hurt way more. Right now it feels almost worth it, as his entirely animate gibs can now feel the cool ground, the colder wind, and a rather splendid sensation of freedom, both from the foul tyranny of the gnomes down below and from the more subtle tyranny of having bones and skin keeping all of his innards in strict confinement.
Also, if that fragment of Sigmund's skull isn't missing its mark, he thinks that the platform he used to be on might be a little bit unstable now, not that he'd exactly be able to tell in any way other than wiggling the shattered, mutilated remnants of whatever happened to be in the middle of that chest.
In the Black Tower of Eckledun...
Morton, after making a mental note to seek out the more polite members of the whip man's entourage, keeps the conversation going without fear of any sort, as he has an infinite patience for all things related to the gathering of information and really has no better engagements at the moment.
"I must admit you have quite piqued my interest about your aunt though, good mage Susanne. I might have well heard of her, in a prior life I was a purveyor and pursuer of many a story and account, you see. While such a profession is now sadly behind me, I still feel its call to investigate that which intrigues. If you don't mind sharing, I'd love to hear."
"Ah, wonderful. Now, where to begin? My aunt is quite the extraordinary woman, after all. A master of many arts, not least of which is the art of diplomacy, and a sheer prodigy in terms of-" her voice suddenly cuts off, though her mouth keeps moving. It takes her a moment to realize she's not making any sound, at which point she shrugs and sighs soundlessly, retrieving a notebook and writing a message on it. She stops, then soundlessly sighs again.
Many apologies, but it seems my aunt does not like me talking about her in public like this. Alas, I must respect her wish to not relate any of her exploits, such as the famous affair of the writing starts out calligraphically, cutting off abruptly at the end.
In the clutches of tiny cute little spiders, relatively speaking...
Kevin, not sure if things are going his way at all here, attempts one more burst of scattershot spider persuasion. He squeaks wildly at them, and they seem to respond very happily, and soon he's absolutely covered in the things, as well as considerably smaller spiders. For the next few minutes, he doesn't exactly feel much, which indicates he's probably been bitten in a whole lot of places by the things. At one point, the largest spider thing Kevin's ever heard approaches, and pokes his prone body for a bit. This time, it's not Kevin who squeaks - rather, the squeaks seem to come from other spots in his body, and some of them feel like they're coming from, well, the inside, as strange as it may seem. But he guesses that's good, since the larger one retreats, immediately losing interest.
At the resting place of the Crown of Flowers...
"A solution for what?" Darren inquires, not sure what this fellow's on about.
"For this whole bloody mess!" the ghost replies, mouth opening unnaturally wide. "Bet that smug bastard was really happy he did this, and now he thinks I'm just going to let someone waltz in and take the Crown! I'm not going to beg for death, I hope you realize. The idea has never once crossed my mind in these three centuries. So you can bugger off, like I said, or I'm going to set you on all kinds of fire. You don't want to be set on fire, do you?"
Darren's eye is drawn to the nearby pedestal of the Crown as he considers the question.
On the precipice of the Mystery Forge...
Niklas is torn between his sense of restraint and his sense of adventure, which probably means that he's gone far enough with this that even the former sense is getting rather stretched.
"Well, this is a very interesting state of affairs! I think I'll consult you two, however: do you think I should go further and keep doing whatever it is I'm doing to myself with this forge?" he asks of the two people observing him.
"No! You should not!" the maid says.
"Do it! Embrace the mysteries!" the smith advises, obviously very excited at the prospect. Hm. That's not much of a resolution, even if he'd rather listen to that ruggedly handsome man whose very voice makes something very deep inside of him absolutely melt with adoration.
~Also, I'll ask you, Helsvar, Torkel, and Tree Guy. D'you think I should keep going?~ he asks of his other friends.
"Absolutely, dad!"
"Absolutely, my love!"
"Absolutely, you fool!"
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Topic: Life Begins At Death - Epilogue: We Live And Live Again (Read 563939 times)