Dungeon Master Forum

In previous times Haynuus had used brute force to great effect to rouse unconscious companions. With the advice of the whispering circlet, he used all his naural lore about survival in the wild, and all his memories of tending wounds, to care for the dwarf. He could at least determine that there seemed to be no broken bones, snapped necks, nor anything else that would require a gentle hand with the dwarfs. Haynuus tries to breath on the dwarf, because he is sure this had been done in the past by human meerceneries, but his large tongue probved to be an issue.

Haynuus had no time to wonder if he was allowed to start slapping the dwarf now, when Petal came forward and started what looked like poking and prodding. Deephold's eyes did indeed react to light, showing he was merely unconscious. Petal then started gently slapping his face and applying water.

Luckily for Deephold, he slowly came to consciousness before Haynuus started 'helping'. Haynuus's blows could have led to further unconsciousness, and a full waterskin tipped over a person could have led to drowning on land.

Petal can still mention the healing, etc even as Deephold comes to if you like And despite appearances, opbviously it's Haynuus's 14 combined with a +2 for Petal checking the consciousness that's led to Deephod coming back quickly. Weeeee, the group's all right!


Deephold painfully lifted himself up, looking groggily left and right. "I...what? Oh, you!" Deephold then saw the half-orc, and after a brief inhale of shock, then settled his expression to one of happiness instead. "And you!" Deephold then looked passed them. "Larethian be priased! Ameena!" Deephold looked the murafu over. "Are you...is the stone...?" The question hung in the air.

Ameena perks up as Deephold awakens - she is relieved that everyone seems to be alright. When the dwarf addresses her she eagerly shows him her side, where all that can be seen is her usual fur, currently rather wet, of course.
"It's gone! It's alright!" she says happily. "And I'm glad you're alright too. And everyone else. Well, everyone who's here...I mean...I suppose we'd better...wait, perhaps, for Westian and Aurek to get back? But...I have lots of things to tell you. I remembered...everything. About...about everything. I mean...all the things that happened, what we have to do down here, and what will happen if we don't..."
She trails off, various snatches of imagery briefly flickering through her mind. Then the sensation of her fur being displaced in its wetness starts to get to her, and she settles back onto her haunches and begins a thorough grooming of herself.

Haynuus was pleased. Pleased that the dwarf was back, the pixie had returned to her tattered becloathed state, Ameena was back with her whiskers pointing upwards, and now Haynuus was actually alive.

"We're all good" he smiled back to the dwarf. He watches the murafu pruning and cleaning herself with great attention. So much time wasted. It's good to smell, he thought to himself... And his circlet once more injected a few alien ideas into his head.

Petal is overjoyed that her companions seem to be alright. Her stomach rumbles again as she realizes she is starving. A beaten soggy fish and an apple were not enough food to sustain her. She busily starts rummaging through her satchel and starts bringing food items out.

"A fire we should build, so food we can make." she tells everyone. "Some food I have, cooked some of it needs to be though. A rest I think we should have here, before go on we do. Safe enough this place seems, but a watch we should probably set."
She turns to the dwarf. "Deephold dwarf, your magic do you need to recover? Rest, and eat do you need to? If injured you are, a healing potion I have, do you need it? Drink it you can, but the flask please give me back."

Ameena glances up with slight apprehension at the mention of fire.
"Fire?" she asks. "Not a lot of fire, I hope? I mean, I don't...that is, we don't put our food in fire before we eat it - we just eat it. Umm...you know, being sort of...furry, we're...well, we don't really like to get too close to that particular Element. I have eaten food that's been in fire, but only when it's been put there by someone else. I wouldn't want to get close enough to fire to be able to put food in it, I don't think..."
She trails off and continues grooming, but keeps a wary eye out for any flickery burny stuff that might suddenly arise. She wonders whether it just happens that this cave contains personifications of Air and Water, or whether something in the cave causes the natural air and water to be able to speak and everything else. Because although she has as much respect for Fire as she does for the other Elements that are part of Life, she isn't entirely sure she wants to ever meet any.

Deephold seems relieved, and goes back to wincing and trying to get into a comfortable position.

At the mention of 'fire', there is a sudden cessation of noise. The waterfall beside them stops, the final torrent splatting into the lake with finality. The water elemental at the side of the lake looks to Petal for a moment unblinking...

The waterfall then slowly splashes back into life, and the water elemental nods to Petal. However, it stalks back to the lake, and submerged itself into the body of water, once more conspicuously away from the place the darkstone was banished. It gives all the companions a look and nod, and then disappears into the lake.

The air elementals have no such hesitation at the mention of fire, playful anyway and with an affinity for the element that water hates. The elementals whispered words and compliments ot the group, one or two raising winds to blow dry the skin, hair, fur or wings of the group members. The air elementals made especailly sure to blow on Ameena, due to her large amount of wet fur, and to make sure she was quite alright after her ordeal. The elementals also tried to knock the circlet off of Haynuus's head for fun, but the circlet was stuck on too well to the half-orcs bulbous head. The elementals instead contented themselves with speaking strange words to the sword hilt Haynuus carried. Worryingly, Haynuus thought he could hear something answer back!

The air elementals kept flicking the wings of Petal as she tried to make the fire, as if to encourage her to fly instead of being stuck on the ground. Haynuus had a flint and tinder to help make a fire, though at first the embers were blown out by the rambunctious elementals. However, one of the aparently more mature ones formed a humaoid if insubstancial body beside the fire. With a hand only seem by the shimmering movements, it seemed to gently command a slow moving air to blow and encourage the fire's spark to stay and expand. Before too long, a good camp fire was possible.

At the mention of setting at watch, the air elementals whispered that they wouldguard the air for the group. However, it seemed clear that the air elementals' nature did not allow them a great degree of concentration. Even though it was difficult to tell them apart, it did seem that no two elementals stood watch for long, similar voices heard by the lake side and then heard around the party not a moment later.

Deephold spoke to Petal as she worked. "I can raise healing magics, though if you can too then we should aid the party as best we can. I had a spare flask from...from a comrade. So I need none, but perhaps one of us can make a potion for emergencies." Deephold looked to the group. "Do you have spare flasks or other glasswear I can cast potions in to? We can prepare potions for you, lest something take us unaware later."

Deephold then held his holy symbol and thought for a moment. "Priase be to the High Lords who blessed this task." He looked to the pixie. "I must admit, I have heard and seen priest who dabble in the arts of mages once they become familiar with the power of runes and mana. However, I have never seen any as powerful in both paths so easily."

Deephold also seemed eager to talk to Ameena, both to ensure she was ok, but also to discover the cryptic meaning of her words earlier. Haynuus was also encouraged to take both the flask and armour of Umgold, and keep the greatsword - the half-orc's courage meaning it was a fitting passing on of such items.


Sorry, just wanted to set up your rest time a little incase I get too distracted later on! I assume that was sort of the plan, right? Anyway, carry on with the chit chat and stuff, you've earned it Assume you guys heal everything that needed healed over the course of the break. Tell me who is going on watch or looking around, and at what times. Don't worry about sudden attacks, but I won't rule out something driving you onwards after

Ameena looks up as the Air starts to blow her dry. She stands on all-fours and leans into it, closing her eyes and enjoying the feel of wind through her fur for the first time in...she has no idea how long, now. She turns around a little here and there to let the breeze ruffle through parts of her fur that might have been blocked by her legs being in the way.
"Thank you." she says happily to the Air as she continues to dry off.
As she alternates between grooming herself and putting her face to the breeze, Ameena looks around the group as they start to prepare a fire. Well, it looks like it's only going tobe a small fire. She supposes that it shouldn't be too bad as long as she doesn't get too close and that the Air doesn't decide to blow it toward her.
At Deephold's mention of flasks, she glances briefly in his direction.
"I have a potion which Westian made me earlier." she says. "He gave it to me here, before we parted ways and Haynuus and me came to look for you."
She also keeps an eye on Petal, the strange, humanish-looking creature with the water-dancer wings, and almost explodes with curiosity. Though she continues to groom herself, mostly, she keeps looking up and watching her newest friend with bright eyes.
"Can you tell me things about yourself?" she says, managing to restrain herself from diving in with the tumult of questions she'd like to be asking. "I mean...about what you are, and things. I've never seen a creature like you - you look similar to a young human, but you don't seem young, and of course humans don't have wings - I've seen wings like that on other creatures, but not on one who looked like you. I wonder what it's like to fly..."

Petal sets herself to roasting vegetables by digging them in little hollows next to the merrily burning fire. She listsnts to the murafu, but appears slightly offended when Ameena tells her she looks human (by the way her skin is very pale with an almost bluish tinge- think moon elf from Faerun, and her eye iris look like fire opals sort of, and are way bigger than a humans.).

"Human? Do not think, I, that as in an insult you meant. However, tolerate humans my people do, as trade they bring. But.... ignorant and greedy most humans to me seem." She seems at a loss to explain to the murafu her people, and a bit amused by the barrage of questions.
"Curiosity yours, is much like a young pixie. All pixies curious be, but more even the young ones. Questions, go ahead and ask, answer what I can, I will. What things to know do you?" she asks the murafu as she works, the orange and green flecks in her eyes catching and reflecting the light like sparkles.

She nods to Deephold as the dwarf comes up to the fire. The pixie looks at the symbol he holds, and motions to it. "Your High Lords a symbol that is of?" she asks him. In response to his question about the flask she nods and says "A flask I have, VI mana within it. Carry it, I will, but the Song within if needed, used by anyone can be."

She looks around and asks "Need to use it now, does anyone? If not, use it I will, then refill it."

She seems confused by the dwarf's talk of priests and mages. "A priest or mage I am not. Born with the ability to hear the Song, I was. A sorcerer I am, different than priest or mage." she tells him.

After the food is cooked, she distributes it to anyone who wants some and then settles down to watch over the camp and rest to regain her mana.

OOC - Hehe, bear in mind Ameena looks even less human than Petal does - to her, the pixie looks like a human .

BIC - "A pixie?" repeats Ameena. "Is that what you are? I've never heard of a pixie before. Some murafu might have met pixies but not had a chance to tell the rest of us yet, though. What's it like? Do you all live in one big group? Do you live in...trees? I mean, if you have wings I suppose you can live up high in places where other people can't go. Murafu can climb trees, of course, but I suppose we don't go around trying to climb every tree. Maybe we should - we might find more interesting things up there. Well, I haven't seen a tree for a while because I've been down here, but...when this is done, if what seems like everything in the world doesn't get destroyed like it did before, I suppose I'll be able to go out there again and find some more murafu and tell them about all this. If you ever meet any murafu, we're all sort of the same, in a way. I mean, humans and things always seem so different - you might meet one human and have them call you a demon and run at you with a large knife, but then you might meet another one who's happy to just sit around and talk with you about things. But we're not. Murafu, I mean. We'll run away from something if it seems like it's goign to try and hurt us, but otherwise we like to investigate everything - things smell interesting, and we can remember things more easily if we smell them. So suppose there was a whole big group of half-orcs, I could still find Haynuus if he was in the middle of them because even though he smells like half-orc, he smells like Haynuus too, and I know what that smells like, so I'd be able to find him."
She looks across at Haynuus as she mentions this, not wanting to seem as though she's just completely ignoring him, though she hasn't finished grooming herself yet, so does so in between licking herself and carefully rearranging her fur in paws and teeth.
"But I haven't properly smelt you yet." she continues, to Petal. "But I know lots of creatures don't seem to like other creatures getting too close to them. I tried to sleep next to a human I knew once, when he got onto his...bed, I think is the word, and covered himself up. He seemed very startled and told me I should never do that again. I've found out that species like his only seem to like to sleep next to each other if they're...well, I'm not sure how to put it, because we don't live in the same way they do, so I don't really understand it...but, it seems that species like humans live alone until they find one other member of their species that they seem to get on with better than anyone else. Except sometimes they don't, and they spend all their time arguing and things...but they seem to take this one person and live with them and mate and look afte their Young, all by themselves - other people they know will still come and speak to them, and things, but they live their lives as just themselves. It seems very strange. Murafu life isn't like that, so I don't understand much of what other creatures do."
She puts her head to one side for a moment, thinking, then looks across at Petal again.
"Your life sounds very interesting." she says. "You mention songs a lot. The Murafu like songs - we like music. Just sitting somewhere, where you can hear trees and grass and birds and...and other things...that's like hearing music too, if you just listen to it...but a lot of creatures don't. But you say the songs you hear are...magic? Can you hear magic? I didn't know it could make a sound. But I don't have magic myself. At least, I don't think I do. Not many murafu have magic, that we know of...although sometimes we think that maybe more murafu have magic, but that no-one can tell because they don't have enough of it to be able to do anything with it. And the ones that do know usually find out by accident when something bad happens."

OOC - Heh, conversation with a murafu is a bit difficult in a play-by-post, 'cause their conversations (amongst themselves) tend to consist of lots and lots of short phrases or sentences, constantly overriding each other as someone says something interesting and someone else interrupts them with a question, which the first murauf answers but then another will ask something else and so on - the conversation goes all over the place and probably off on just about every tangent you can imagine, but by the end of it the original story (or whatever the first murafu was trying to say/explain) has been told, and everyone involved has not only a greater knowledge brought about by all the other stuff that came up, but also a general feeling of satisfaction that it was a good chat well done, since socialising is, I think you may have noticed, something that's fairly important to the Murafu .

Haynuus sat for a while listening to the others. He was still getting used to the idea of being able to breath normally to be perfectly honest. He felt his chest heave with each cycle of inhaling and exhaling. He didn't interject much in the conversation because of two reasons. The first was habit. He just wasn't a conversationist and usually got into trouble when he did open his mouth. The second was the circlet. He realised that a kings job was more to listen, than to give an opinion. The circlet was perfectly suited to injecting a whispering alternative point of view or a suggestion without ever appearing to be in the foreground of his thoughts, nor stating itself a fact. He even noted that it would almost chastise him if he started talking to himself. It was a perfect gift for a ruler. He wasn't sure if it was suited to wear within his broken down mud adobe though.

It was when Ameena mentioned the humans though his mood sank somewhat. It was his own fault he supposed. "I think I'll go and collect some more flotsam or something for the fire. Won't be long." He tooled himself up, and wandered over by the water's edge. "If you hear screaming, I'll be testing to see if leeches are flammable or not." It was a joke for Ameena.

He did not stray far, and always within sight of the others.

He'd left his friends behind to think for a while. He looked back at what he was, what he had become and indeed where he was. Before all of this he had escaped from the trauma of being raised in the orcish tribes and leapt into the arms of the human civilization. It didn't occur to him that they didn't want him. That his life did not improve there. So time passed and he learnt the language, became a 'citizen' for a while on the edge of acceptability but it was all false. He was deeply disappointed, upset even, that he had such high hopes and wrong assumptions about a new life there. He was in the end looking for something to put his life to.

Then the opportunity came along to help Westian. He knew that it was ridiculous to accept the offer for practically free. Yet he had something to dedicate himself to now. The rewards were great, look at this fine armour, weapons and thingy stuck on his head. Fantastic! But also dangerous. He felt that they were on a turning point, and that the way 'out' beckons, albeit via hell.

He checked himself to remember to pick up some things to burn, as he was lost in his thoughts, but started to make his way back towards the others again at a slow pace. He could see their silhouettes dancing on the cavern wall behind. The shadows they cast were so different. Ameena was currently sitting and gave a monstrous pattern on the rock face while Petal carried no wings whom had grown to 8 feet tall! He wandered what the effects of their actions would have on the world around them.

Petal listens to the murafu, brow furrowed as she tries to sort through the fast paced speech in a little known language.

When Ameena asks about her home, she looks sad for a second before replying. "My village, up in the trees it was, yes. Platforms we have to land on, and rope ladders. For the landbounds, the ladders are for. Also for young pixies, whos first flight have not had."

"But do not build we do, like humans. Shape the trees, the sorcerers of a village do. With Song of YA and VI. The Market Quarter, was in my village made by elves. Or, build there they were allowed to their own style of building. But not chop down trees, they did. Deadfall they used instead. Chop down a living tree, the sylvan races would not. But, have heard I that humans in their own lands do . Human traders, there were some in my village. An 'inn' they had, run by a human it was. On the ground, it was build an elf building like. Inside, the Song of YA was weak. How live they could around a such weak song, know I not."

She falls silent then, apparently lost in painful memories.

Ameena looks up and gives a friendly whisker-twitch of acknowledgement at Haynuus, then pauses in her grooming as Petal describes her race's style of living, among the trees.
"Oooooh..." she says, intrigued. "I'd love to go to a place like that. Like where your kind live, I mean. In the trees...I think I'd like to see what it was like...and all this singing you speak of - it must be a very fun place to be. Murafu live in trees too, sometimes. Or under them. Or we dig burrows. Or find branches and things to make homes. We like to be inside somewhere, where we can be cosy and have shelter and so on. But we don't harm trees either. We have to gnaw things to stop our teeth from getting too long, although eating food does the job pretty well, but we like to just sit and work on a piece of wood when we feel like it. And we'll chew it into a shape - I've heard it called "carving", when you make something into the shape you want like that. We can make a piece of wood look like a little tree, or...or a fish, or...a murafu. Lots of things."
She ponders over Petal's mention of what humans do to trees.
"Humans aren't the only race who like to destroy things." she says. "I've seen others do it too. It does make for lots of nice hiding places, because...well, I'll speak of humans for now, because I think I've probably spent more time in their home-places than I have any other of those kind of races so far. Humans seem to build more than they actually need - I've found big rooms that are empty, with nothing in them and the doors all locked and things. Of course, there usually tends ot be some little crack I can squeeze through - humans seem to like forgetting things, so they never come to check the building they don't use, which means I've been able to stay in one place for a while. Once I arrived at some kind of empty store-house and found lots of other murafu already there. It's strange, though - humans don't use these places, yet if they find someone else using them, they get very angry and chase you away, or else try to kill you, or something. I think the only race I really understand is my own...but I suppose it's probably that way for everyone else as well, even those who don't realise it or who think otherwise."
She's almost finished grooming now, and is now working on her tail. She is aware that she had a good groom right before the removal of the Darkstone, but she's been soaked and bumped about slightly since then, and besides, grooming feels good.
"It will be good to get out of here," she says, "and go to find other murafu at last. Then I can tell them about what happened down here, and eventually all of us will know of it. It'll be a new story for us! What about your people? Do they like hearing about this sort of thing? Interesting things, I mean. About things that happen in the world."

Petal appears confused again at the murafu's mention of singing.

"Your people, the Song can hear? A race I have never met that can, besides pixies."

"You're the first pitxie that I've met." He smiled "And muhrafoo." Now he grinned.

"My experience with humans has not been much better, although there are good ones and bad ones, we have to remember. When they get themselves organised though they may well prove to be the dominating force... The orcs... They organise themselves with whoever wields the biggest stick. And even then allegiances change so often you can never tell what's going on. On the other hand I've seen humans throw themselves into battle shouting For the White Chicken! They are so different and perhaps this is their advantage."

"I'm glad the thing is gone from you now, Ameena. It must have been horrible. Deephold took a big risk helping you with removing it from you." He looks across the lake and unfocusses for a moment. "I wonder how Westian is doing..." he trails off.

Deephold looks uncomfortable at the comment and wavies it away. "You all took bigger risks than I. And Larethian - and the other High Lords of Good - were smiling on the endeavour. I wager that, know it or not, a High Lord smiles on your people, Ameena."

Of humans, Deephold has only a few opinions. "Larethian's order that I belong to has a firm base in the elves. They are deeply immerced in the world, and follow the flow of nature, or dig their heels to vehemently oppose it, as the evil priest we shall not name has done. We dwarves are the stuff of the bones of the world, our beliefs solid and a deep wellspring from times of old." Dephold pauses to collect his thoughts. "In all my studies of history and of religeon, humans seem remarkable in that they have no tie to the natural order to sway them. Their biggest weakness is that they can choose to inflict so many great evils with no deeper conscience. Their greatest strength is that, through no other mechanism than their own will, they can choose the side of good."


At the mention of Westian's name, the air elementals stir, and one whispers an apoology to Ameena.

-your companion, we have kept her busy with speech and play, we are sorry- comes the airy voice of the elementals.

Into the sight of all the party, the green butterfly that had stayed with Ameena returned to ger, hovering in the air with a few wheeling figures of eight, before settling on her shoulder, looking to the murafu.


Yeah, this was almost impossible to write. See you guys Tuesday!

Ameena puts her head to one side at Petal's comment, not entirely sure what the pixie means.
"I think I'm not sure if I understood you properly." she says. "Murafu like songs, and music. We make music and sing to it and run around and...dance, that's what it's called. We do that. It's very fun - we all just run around all over the place and stand upright and go back down again and turn in circles and hop over each other very quickly...but it's not magic. I've never heard magic sing - I thought it was just something that existed and which people could use, and some people are born with it inside them which is how they can do things with it. That's what happens with murafu, anyway - some of us have magic inside us and we use it to help each other."
At Haynuus's comments, and having finished grooming herself, she goes over to sit by him, though doesn't get too close to the fire.
"I'm not sure orcs would be very friendly to murafu." she says. "I think they might try to eat us. I've never got too close to one, but from what I've been told by other murafu I think they're very strong. And humans seem able to do so much - I think it's because they're really quite clever, even if they use that cleverness to do horrible things."
She looks up at the half-orc.
"And you're half-orc, and half-human." she says. "You're strong, but you're clever as well. I mean, from what I've heard, an orc probably wouldn't try to talk to a murafu, just squash them with a big stick, or step on them or something. But you didn't, when you met me...though I can somehow remember that happening twice, differently...and we've talked about lots of things and we're friends. I think it would be fun if you met more of us one day. Maybe you can - I can bring you to a place where murafu live, and you can meet more of us and see how we live."
She pauses for a moment, thinking.
"And if neither humans nor orcs decide they like you because they don't think you fit with either of them, you'll certainly fit with us, because all we care about is being friends with each other."
Deephold receives another slightly confused look as he suggests that a High Lord might be watching the Murafu.
"I've never seen a High Lord." she says. "Well, I suppose I wouldn't know what one looks like, but they must have very big eyes to be able to see all of us. Unless you don't mean they watch us all at the same time - I'm not sure how that would work. But...I think you would say that High Lords created all of everything. I thought it was the Elements - we're all made of them, after all. We're all made of all the Elements, but maybe some people just like a certain Element more than the others. I mean, it sounds like your people favour Earth, while Petal's probably prefer Air. I think I may do, too, even though I can't fly..."
As the Air then speaks to her, she looks up, again slightly confused, but suddenly happily excited as she sees the little green petal-dancer fluttering down to rejoin her.
"Oh! I thought you'd just disappeared or something!" she says. "I mean, I thought you were just made of Air and would rejoin it when you left me."
She then starts trying to turn her head in such a way that she can look more closely at the little green-winged creature on her shoulder.
"I'm happy that you want to stay with me." she says, then looks up to address the Air-proper.
"Thank you again." she says. "Do you know if Westian and Aurek are alright? Can you tell if they're on their way back here, or do you have any way to find out?"

OOC - That was a bit awkward, lol, typing replies to about four different characters all in the one post .

Petal stays silent at the mention of High Lords, not knowing anything beyond the Court of the Seelies her people follow, and honestly not caring much one way or the other. There was power in the Song, and in Mana. Not the fickle blessings of supposedly god-like beings. She always felt the Seelie Lords wanted their chosen race to support itself with their own four wings, and not calling for help all the time.

The pixie shakes her head at Ameena. "Oh, Now, understand you do I. No, In language Sylvan, the natural power is the Song, of sorcerer. Or that is translation. No word in this language fir it know I. Not music talk about, I do. Music, yes, had my people. But music is not the Song." She thinks about it for a minitue when everyone speaks of humans and Ameena mentions her people prefering air. "Yes, true it is. But not 'air'. It what we breathe, air. Air mana, OH it is called. So say, dwarf. People that live in ground are dwarves. So, mana of earth. YA, it is called.

And the pixie crouches down on the ground by everyone and draws two symbols in front of Ameena. God damn I actually have a dungeon master font, but I cant get it to type here, oh well
One of them looks like a box with a cross in the center, so the large box becomes four smaller ones. The other is 4 dots in a diamond shape. She points to the first and says "Is rune YA, Earth symbol it is. Rune OH is other. Is for air mana. OH rune, in pixie art is very popular, carving on wall of house and other places. There are more, if interested you are in learning, teach you I can."

She seems to have come out of the painful memories she drifted off in earlier, explaining her Art and Song to someone who is unaware of it.

Ameena looks down at the symbols Petal has drawn.
"I think I've seen those before." she says. "Other magic-users...well, use them. I suppose they must all learn them off each other. But murafu magic just...works. I suppose people use magic in different ways, and some people just need to draw these little rune things to...focus it, I suppose. Murafu magic just seems to work when the murafu really wants it to, even if they don't know that's what they want. I mean, for a murafu, it seems to happen when another murafu gets hurt, and the murafu tries to help the injured one and really wants them to get better, and then they feel a strange sort of...tingling, and when they touch the injured murafu, they get better. And after that, the healng murafu knows they have the magic, so knows how to call it whenever they want. But it's mainly used for healing. We don't use the magic that hurts people - we certainly would never try to summon Fire."
Ameena pauses, thinking of what else she knows of magic amongst the Murafu.
"We don't use flasks like the ones I've seen you use." she adds. "But at some point, a murafu found out about them. We don't have them, of course, because we can't make them, and they do seem to break rather easily. But at some point, some murafu somewhere found themselves living near one of those big fire-mountains, and there were rocks around which were shiny, like flasks, and when magic healing-water...potions, you call them...when they were created by magic, they would...stick to the shiny rocks, I think. And ways were found to craft these rocks into bowl-shapes, and things, so that healing murafu could carry one around with them and make healing potions inside it. Other murafu often carry one around too, of course, in case they happen to meet a magic-using murafu who doesn't have one."
She finds she is having to actively remember, more and more, to speak slowly rather than at the usual murafu rate of speech as she gets excited at finally being able to really talk about her own race with someone. She'd thought that maybe Petal would seem interesting to begin with, and so far she hasn't been wrong.
"So if you say magic is a Song," she says, "does that mean you sort of...hear it? I mean, do you get some kind of...music...in your head, when you use magic?"

"Not friendly? Most no. You are right. Especially if the orcs see you as weak. However if you have greater numbers they'll treat you with more respect." Again Haynuus realised that when thinking about the orcs and how they'll try to conquer whom they come in contact with. "To gain the trust of an orc, you have to get him to rely on you." It was then he realised that he relied on those around him as well.

No one had ever called him 'clever' before and he chuckled to himself. The circlet has having an effect on others as well, perhaps. "I've just travelled more..." and his voice trailed off about where he'd been and what he'd done in his short life. "That would be nice, to see a different people in a different place. I don't think I'm naturally a good murahrfoo though."

Finally he turned his attention to his new OH Sword. In the presence of the air elementals or Petal perhaps he could learn a bit more about it (1d20+2=21).

Ameena looks up at Haynuus as he mentions relying on others.
"Murafu rely on each other all the time." she says. "There's nothing wrong with that. It feels good to know you have people around who will help you when they can, while you help them in return. We can manage by ourselves, of course, but we don't like it too much. It's better when we all get together. We feel safer that way. I think that not too many predators would try to attack if there was a half-orc living among us."
She gives a friendly, almost mischievous whisker-twitch.
"They'd probably be quite surprised, I think, to find someone like you standing with us."

One of the air elementals stirs when Ameena makes the comment about the butterfly, and asks after Westian and Aurek.

-the little one fled to get help when you were in trouble. Two of your companions it found, but they would not come with it. Another it managed to scent, and drew that third companion out. It bonded the last with the first two, for the first two came eventually to where the little one was. However, those three did not heed its dance, and would again not be drawn back here, choosing to go another way-

The sing-song and in-and-out voice of the air elemental was both soothing and dizzying, as it relayed its long explanation.

-the little one cannot tell your companions apart, but I think your Westian and your Aurek must be two of the three it found, yes? -


I'll leave it there. Will resolve Haynuus's investigations...well, Tuesday, as with everything else. In the meatime, of course, Petal can aid if she realises what Haynuus is doing.

The pixie listens to Ameena's explanation of her people's magic. "See you, seems it does to me magic murafu are sorcerers. Old Master Alorthin explains that hear the magic flow with magic sorcerers do, gently shape. wizards the magic they control, force to move." She thinks for a second. "Meet a magic using murafu I would like to. Learn from each other, we could. No, i hear not music. 'Song' is closest word in Common."

Something attracts her attention and she turns to Haynuus. "To me, Sense I that you have something with mana. Let me see it you do, maybe hear its song I can." she tells him.

The half-orc delicately passes the OH sword over to Petal, afraid that she might accidentally set it off. He'd seen humans stab themselves in the foot with a spear before. "It's a good sword, a magical one. But perhaps it's true power lies not with an arm action..." (he unnecessarily demonstrates a vigorous thrusting action) "...but with that of a word or gesture." The truth was that he had used the most basic of weapons for so long that these amazing artefacts were still somewhat alien to him and made him a little uncomfortable to trust in them.

Ameena thinks on the Air's words.
"Well, I can see that you might have trouble telling my friends apart." she says. "Just from looking at them, I mean. If it helps, Westian was carrying that staff that he said had Nature-magic in it, and Aurek was wearing armour, only it wasn't that horrible black armour that the soldiers wear. What did the other person look like?"
She looks up at the Air, and at her small fluttery companion, mystified as to whom this last person might be. Then again, she supposes, it might not be anyone she's met yet.
"And what should I call you?" she adds, addressing the petal-dancer. "Do you have a name?"
She has gathered by now, of course, that the small one can't speak in any language she can hear or understand, but feels it would be rude not to address the creature when she wants to find out something about it...her?
To Petal, meanwhile, she adds...
"The Murafu would love to meet you too. Maybe I can take both you and Haynuus to meet some, someday."

Haynuus scratched his chin and pondered on what it was like to live with the Murafu. For the briefest of moments his circlet ceased whispering in his mind as well. It was a telling sign. "I feel very fortunate that you offer us to live with your kin." He suspected that normally neither people wanted to live with the Murafu, and the Murafu probably didn't offer to share their dwellings to others.

Ameena looks up at the half-oc, putting her head on one side in a questioning manner.
"Fortunate?" she asks. "Does that mean you think that there's nowhere better for you to live? Or did you think I wouldn't want anything more to do with you should we get out of here? Murafu will welcome anyone, as long as they don't try to eat us, or hurt us, or do anything else unpleasant. I've been in colonies of murafu which shared living space with other races, one way or another. I haven't seen many, but the world is a big enough place that I'll only ever see a tiny amount of it - there'll be many murafu I never met because we're scattered to widely over the world. I suppose that's the downside of being so curious about everything - we end up travelling so far that it's impossible for any murafu to meet every other murafu, because over time there are groups of us all over the place."

Petal gingerly takes the sword from the half-orc with both hands, holding ihe huge (to her) weapon akwardly before she sets it across her lap. She focuses her will on it, and the world fades away. Her companions continuing conversation becomes nothing but murmurs in the back of her mind. To her sight, see can see the web of mana within the sword, nets of energy running under the steel. She whispers a call to the mana in Sylvan, asking it to reveal its nature to her.

Burn a 0lv to determine the aspects of the sword

OOC - Actually, the Oh-Blade isn't made of steel - it doesn't even have a visible blade (at the moment). It used to be a falchion, but when Haynuus voluntarily decided to leave it behind, at the request of the elementals the last time the group was in the cave, they shattered it and then the air elementals imbued it with their own magic - when the sword is "activated" (by the will of the user, I think, or possibly just by the user thinking about the approach of combat), its blade forms - I don't think said blade is invisible, but is more of a shimmery thing - it's made of Air magic, after all .