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[GiglameshDespair]

Wen-Tsu made an excited noise, and plunged into the discussion of So-So's new flame with breakneck speed. Eventually, the machine-gun chatter subsided, and Wen-Tsu was asked a question.
"He sounds really great, So-So, you lucky rabbit! As for me, I'm, er..." she chuckled slightly nervously. "You know. Just keeping my options open, so far, and all that. I'm waiting to find someone really dreamy! I thinking a cursed island with a bunch of heroic adventurers would be just the place for romance to bloom, right?"  To forestall the inevitable teasig about her lack of romantic prospects, she swiftly changed the subject.
"Anyway! So-So, you said there was also bad news?"

[Draignean]

Anders stared at the pair of moon rabbits with a queasy sort of fascination. The voice in his head had gone notably quiet. It wasn't silence, precisely, merely a sort of aghast shock found most often within the mind's of imperial torture-masters whose six year older daughter convinced them to take her dress shopping. The kind of heavy, vaguely disgusted, horribly fascinated, utterly astounded silence which was brought wherever the established bounds of eldritch reason and squamous intellect was subjected to the brutal unreasoning force of adorable squee.

It seemed that, whatever powers his Father had over earth and sea, the moon-rabbits were beyond his reach- and beyond the pale of Anders' comprehension.

With little else to add, Anders sat cross legged and began using his knife to flesh the monkeybee wings he'd picked up.




 

[Dwarmin]

"Anyway! So-So, you said there was also bad news?"

"Oh yeah, that! I guess the bad news is actually pretty bad. You can't really expect any uh, rescue, at least not right now. You know how they only open the Jar once every year? On account of it taking a lot of magical energy to run. Well, right now they have closed off all travel into...er..."

She looks over at the party.

" 'Down to' the Earth, right? Yeah, no going in or out...er, up or down...down or up. You know.

The reason they closed it off was because they have to use all the magic to power to fight the war. The reason they have to fight a war is because the Sun Rabbits declared war on us. They're trying to invade the moon! Well, they call it an invasion, but they're sort of hanging around in our gardens and setting things on fire, making snarky comments, and trying to steal our fellas. You know how they are. When we send so many of our own kind in...down to Earth, they get a lot bolder."

Predictably, Sun Rabbits are just like Moon Rabbits. Except on fire. This does nothing to improve their moods-they are passionate and fiercely competitive.

"Anyway, everyone up there is busy fighting...or not fighting. We don't really  fight like people in...er, down here, after all. I think things will turn out all right-Chi-Wen is planning to challenge the Sun-Rabbit Queen to a match of Four Dimensional Astral Croquet. Winner takes the Earth! If that doesn't work, she says she'll just pound her into Sun-mush. You know how Chi-Wen is!

Anyway, sorry, but there's not much help you can expect until the whole situation is solved. It's sort of ridiculous, and that's coming from me! I wish I could help you, but I don't know how! The Astral Paradox Blade only lets one person, travel one way...I'm no good at fighting...only catching butterflies...and snaring cute lawyers..."

She does seem genuinely upset she can't help you. But, maybe there is a way, if you can just remind her...

[Dwarmin]

"Anyway, I guess I'll leave now..." Wen-so says dejectedly. She begins doing the Astral Paradox dance to warp herself away, albeit in dispirited form. Up and left and Kick and twirl and spin and left and two and right and up and kick...

She raises her red, vaguely fish shaped knife enticingly!

[GiglameshDespair]

"Bleh! Sun Rabbits? More like Suck Rabbits, right?" She looked overly pleased with herself over the joke. "I wish they'd just accept we're better and find their own men."

Wen-Tsu thought for a moment.
"Perhaps, with the Astral Blade- ah, no. That wouldn't work. Poop."
Her friend began to disappear, and Wen-Tsu squeaked in alarm.
"Oh, oh! Wait, So-So, I have an idea! You're wearing camouflage armour! You're not going to need that when being all lovey-dovey with Mr Lawyer, are you?"
She looked down at her own clothing. It was nice looking, if slightly salt-stained from the ocean, and almost, but not quite, completely unprotective.

[Criptfeind]

Moubu eyes had glazed over early on during the rapid fire exchange of information that was both bafflingly alien and seemingly useless to their current situation. Contenting himself to stand back and leave the rabbits to their rabbit exchange as he busied himself in ripping a branch from a nearby jungle tree and methodically reducing it knuckle length splinters. Raising only slightly from this task when he was compared unfavorably to another, but by the time he had realized that he was mentioned the conversation was so far past that point he simply rocked back into his single minded occupation with destruction.

As the flow of the conversation came to a halt Moubu seemed to notice, checking back in and straightening his posture. Letting the shards of wood fall from his hands to scatter across the jungle floor, he nodded to himself as he took half a step forward after Wen-Tsu request. Opening his mouth for the first time since they met this strange creature, he asked a question "If you are from the sky." He said, jerking a thumb roughly upward. "Do you know anything about the thing on this island called the 'Star once fallen'? Stands to reason, sun and moon are from the sky, stars as well. Or maybe there's star rabbits that might know something?"

[Dwarmin]

Wen-So jumps three feet in the air as Moubu addresses her. Apparently you were really freaking her out! She seems to calm down after a few moments however, and pondering your question, a pretty blush spreads over her pretty face.

"Oh, you think I'm a Star-Rabbit?! Why...thank you, Mr. Orc! You're not so scary after all!" She says, jumping to quite a few semantic hurdles.

Apparently, there's alot of Rabbits in space. Star-Rabbits are rarer than either Sun-Rabbits or Moon-Rabbits, and considered (by themselves) to be even more beautiful than either of them...and, they'll never stop talking about it.

"...Also, you said something fell from the sky from the stars? ...Well, I've never heard of something like that. I could check some records from home, maybe ask around. It's sort of odd, though. If a Star fell down on an island, no more island-a big star falls, no more Earth. Though we'd never let that happen, for sure.

Are you sure it's a Star..?"

...

"Bleh! Sun Rabbits? More like Suck Rabbits, right?" She looked overly pleased with herself over the joke. "I wish they'd just accept we're better and find their own men."

Wen-Tsu thought for a moment.
"Perhaps, with the Astral Blade- ah, no. That wouldn't work. Poop."
Her friend began to disappear, and Wen-Tsu squeaked in alarm.
"Oh, oh! Wait, So-So, I have an idea! You're wearing camouflage armour! You're not going to need that when being all lovey-dovey with Mr Lawyer, are you?"
She looked down at her own clothing. It was nice looking, if slightly salt-stained from the ocean, and almost, but not quite, completely unprotective.

"Hey! That's why I brought it! I'm such a void-brain...I'll miss using this at parties, but I'm sure if you don't get it all tangled up in a monsters belly by being eaten, you'll probably be able to get it back to me." Wen-So comments.

She quickly shucks off her dress, but much to Jaos holy disapproval, she's wearing a utility leather armor and pants underneath.

=Mar-Aldi's* Strutting Around Suit=
Armor Type: Light
Magical Properties:
Passive Boon: Invisible
Power Level: 4 (Advantage 1 to hide, +1 to Guard against ranged and melee attacks, and -1 to Guard for target's that can't see you.)
Additional: Bonuses double if you stay still, but the suit can lose effectiveness if an enemy can track your movement or figure which direction your attacks are coming from.

Can be flipped inside out to reveal a stylish black/white zigzag pattern that subtly moves and hugs your curves while it's being watched, for parties when you want to be seen-the inventor considered this the actual innovation, with the invisibility being an unintended side effect.

The suit is sized to fit a woman, and a small one at that.

Mar-Aldi: A famous Moon-Rabbit with a penchant for amazing, terribly named technological inventions-she lived many hundreds of years ago, but since Moon-Rabbits are bubble brains, no one has been able to improve on her designs. She was one of the first Moon-Rabbits who tried to escape the moon, but before the invention of moon-rockets, she tried to use a catapult launched gliding contraption shaped like a Bird...needless to say, she lived forever.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maraldi_(lunar_crater)

...

"Hmm, I'm sure it looks better on me..." Wen-So tut tuts, giving Wen-Tsu the feminine once over. She leans closer. "Did you hear, Wheaties? He called me a Star-Rabbit? Squeeeeeeak!" ...She's never gonna shut about that now...

"Also, any other business to attend to?" She says, giving the party a cursory glance.

[Criptfeind]

Moubu blinks for a moment at her comments and question, considering before finally shaking his head. "No. We don't know it's a star. We were told that an evil star fell from the sky a decade ago. 12 miles across at least." Moubu said, continuing after a short moment. "But the woman who told us this seemed not very trustworthy." Moubu growled as his face took on a hard scowl "And we've seen some evidence that suggests it might have been here for longer. But, yes, but if you or the other spirits of the sky know something, the knowledge would be greatly appreciated and helpful to our task here." He finished.

[Dwarmin]

"A twelve mile star? That's ridiculous, Mr. Orc!" She says kindly, seeming greatly amused.

"I mean, it only took a six-mile star to nearly destroy all the Scalies who lived on Earth, a few million years ago. There was this big party, see, and all the Moon-Rabbits got so wasted...sorry, I'm rambling a bit! But, if a twelve-mile wide star hit the Earth, there wouldn't be any cute guys left today. Or cute anything!

...Ah, I don't suppose you have a sample of this 'Star is Fallen'...no...? I could tell alot about a space rock if I could study it, even a small piece. I don't think it really IS a Star, myself. Not everything that falls from the sky comes from the stars, don't you know, Mr. Silly?"

Moubu has been downgraded from Scary, to Mr. Orc, to Mr. Silly in the space of a few sentences.

"Anyway, I'll be sure to visit you all tomorrow, same time-different place. Maybe you'll have something for me to look at then? Don't worry, we can always find where Wen-Tsu is. You could say we have eyes in the sky, fufufufu..."

[GiglameshDespair]

"Please. It fits my hips way more!" She wiggled her hips to demonstrate, which was ultimately pointless because they were now invisible. "But thanks, So-So. If I find any big juicy bugs, I'll try to save them for you."

She leaned back in after Wen-So's talk with the orc, shaking her head.
_{"He wasn't calling you a star-rabbit, carrotbrain! He was just asking if they existed. Besides, he hasn't called me one, and I've not got a floppy ear! So there's no way he thinks you're a star rabbit!"}

She leaned back out.
"Now! You should get back to your lawyer. Go on, before you let all our secrets out! We're not meant to talk about what happened to the Scalies! The sun-rabbits would never let it go if they knew."

[Dwarmin]

She nods.

"Mmhmm, with pleasure! Be careful, Wen-Tsu. You still need to find a lawyer of your own one day!" She says.

*shake shake shake*

...

Wen-So finishes her paradox dance and portals away (cutting a hole in reality right in front of you, actually)-perhaps wondering, why the team didn't bother to ask her to bring them anything when she returned next time. Oh well.

...

The party, grateful to be free of this distraction, heads back on their original path through the jungle...in time, the sound of the river gets louder and louder, until they reach the muddy bank of the rivers edge. The river itself is so wide you can scarcely see the opposite bank through the morning mists, and it rumbles by threateningly-a churning brown stew that looks unhealthy, possibly fatal, to swim across.

A light rain has begun to fall, cleaning Moubu off a bit.

Grik reaches his pack and brings out another stone-this one vaguely looks like a piece of bread-it seems it is meant to be broken in two, and he prepares to do just that...then pauses.

"Grik can summon River-Lady! But, he is thinking. Before he always paid the price, because he had not a way to fight past the creatures of the Jungle. Now he has all of you to protect him! Do you all really wish to pay her price? She is not an evil being, but she is selfish. I have given up not only the things I found, but the feelings I had when I found them. Happiness, joy, fear. She leaves you with nothing. A price to pay for a life...I made notes of what I found, anyway, so it is something I can remember. But, she takes the most important part of it. In return, we will get where you want to go-no danger, very fast. She never breaks an Oath.

Do you wish for me to summon her, still?" He seems curious as to your answer.

[lawastooshort]

"Er, how mean is the Jungle? And how long would it take us to cross through it?"

[Dwarmin]

"Jungle is very mean. Monkeybees will be hunting after us! And, lots of other things too. Lots of nasty things trapped here by the Star Once Fallen...

Traveling take...maybe two days? Fights all along the way, though, many combat encounters!"

Jao thinks he may have mistranslated that last phrase.

[Draignean]

"I do think it would be better to gain experiences through hardship in the jungle, rather than to lose them for ease of travel," Anders said, still fleshing the Monkeybee wing. "If we endure, we become stronger and wiser for it, attaining new levels of mastery for ourselves. If we fail at traversing the jungle, well, then what chance did we ever have of truly mastering this place?"

[lawastooshort]

"Very true sir. And indeed, we may learn some rituals from this place, and perhaps rid it of these evil gibbonwasp things. Comrades, this Jungle needs us! We can free it from tyranny and benefit all around! Yes. Perhaps we could install some kind of representative ruling system too whilst we're at it?"