Chapter 13: Minds Wander, Mush Rooms and Magical Meetings
Chapter 13: Minds Wander, Mush Rooms and Magical Meetings
Curling up on my hoard, with the intent to both sleep and remain awake, was a rather unusual one, but My life had turned such the last few days. A different world, a different culture, who seemed to know me, locally… where magic was mostly hidden. Still boggles me, how I got here.
Again there I go, chasing my tail about the How and the Why of my arrival here. I have more experimenting to do. With that reminder, I lay my head down, closing my eyes, trying to relax, while focusing my Mind upon the Coreheart thrumming nearby. Maybe some water features in my Lairhold would be good for such a meditative process.
I watch myself from outside of my body, yet within my other body, as it felt like. My domain, my lair. It was me, in a sense, as much as my wings or tail, Thanks to that Coreheart softly thrumming.
Time passes as I watch my kobolds sleep or work, taking shifts as they want to work on whatever crafts they desire, before I am distracted by hearing myself snore! I SNORE?! By Tiamat's tail, I am actually asleep, SNORING, yet, awake, to watch and hear myself snoring. And… I have to say I look really good.
My focus is harder to maintain upon my lair like this, but I can do it, it seems. I tap into the archives of the spells I got along with the Coreheart. They do not refer to it as such, but it is not a crystal orb, nor a pulsating dark organ that the tomes refer to here and there. The ritual used by the laboring summons seems to be a rather simple one, that I think my Kobolds would pick up on readily. It takes something bonded with my Mana, essentially stamping it into the ground where desired, adjacent to existing claims.
From there, I read up on other spells, while pondering my own long-earned magics, alchemic, arcane, and artifice. Then there were the runes, stable enchantments, that I could use for my old magic knowledge. Soo many possibilities unblocked with such again, that I feel a giggle, but I make no sound. My physical body still remains sleeping, if with a slight smile for a bit. It seems that my body and mind, are still fully linked, like this, A comforting thought, in all honesty.
I also ponder, aimlessly, what to do in this world, Do I run for Mayor? I could possibly manage it. Especially if I help out around the town a lot. Do I want it, though? Dragons are mighty beings, worthy of respect, Sure, and It is a dragon's place to Rule, with a just and fair claw. But Do I want to be responsible for the locals and the entire town? I don't know right now. But I dislike seeing things in disrepair. The library and museum, The Community center, those need work. That is without a doubt.
Then there are the Junimos that Rasmodius mentioned being around. Old forest spirits. Perhaps some would be on the edges of my territory. I woulder if they would speak with me.
Not much happens over the night, as I go over the spells, and feel the effects of my dreaming body.
I get to work on crafting some basic weaponry for my kobolds, as well as more tools, so that there are enough for them all, taking time to make them out of decent Iron that had been mined up locally, axes, picks, and blades. The axes I worked out some tricks from that knowledge I gained in the Quarry to convince the trees to yield more from them while either gathering or clearing them out. That took quite a while, Whereas using some servant imp spells from those tomes that landed on my head… Those seem to take quite well to runes on the mining Picks.
The ore smelted quite well in that smelter built by my Coreheart's magic, in the first place, making it nice and easy to work while hot. Using my natural magics to shape as I steamed the steel. A mending rune to each tool and weapon would help them regain their edges when worn down, over time.
I spend hours just working tool after tool, losing track of things, as I delve into the work, making better tools and weapons for my kobolds. With what I have available. Time spent with metal processing, shaping, and cooling, infusing it all with my steam breath, falling into a trance. Glimmers of ideas float in and out of my mind as I work.
I end up stopping when I run out of ore and ingot to work with for steel. I switch to smelting the other ores, Commer, Tin, Gold, and a small amount of a lustrous purple metal made from a blueish ore, my memories of this plane tell me is called Iridium.
When all that smelting and smithing is done, a glance through my Coreheart shows that it is already evening outside, this of course leads to my stomach announcing a bit of displeasure, to which I work on quieting it with some foodstuff. The tools I leave for now, to finish cooling down.
After a rather forgettable meal of basic food items stored away by the kobolds, I get to work reading more From my new tomes. Many spells and techniques, including some rather… interesting… descriptions of the typical users of said spells. I think that whatever land these times are from is in some pitched war between good and evil, based on the polarized descriptions within these tomes, I think they were made by someone from the darker side of that conflict.
Granted this is what I get from reading between the lines, as these tomes focus on the construction arrays my coreheart can produce, spells I or my servants can use, as well as my own usage… and traps that would defend my domain.
It was those buildings that told me the most as to what these keepers and underlords were likely aligned with… dark temples, necromantically charged graveyards, and prisons.
I have no desire for some of those structures in totality, others in their normal state. They will take reworking and alterations, but I can make use of these tools, at least.
As I let my mind dive into thinking of ways to rework these darker aspects to more something Iwould prefer to use, time passes by as it normally does. My kobolds tend the crops, digging out new caverns, bringing in some rich soil from the quarry that keeps 'bubbling' up, to scatter upon some empty caverns for fungal farms. The various mushrooms in the valley should do quite well, along with additions of some fertilization.
A thought crosses my mind, of using some aspects from the prison array, along with some other elements, along with magic from home, to break down waste material into rich loam-filled ebonsoil, in quick order.
I end up losing a few hours to a focus on such, within my mind. Some kobolds were fishing in the waterways on my farm, prompting a smile, as my kobolds were all enjoying themselves in the tasks they do. Rahk was overseeing some expansions of his own planning to the domain for me, and my claim spread steadily on its own within what was mine. Giving them light to see best by, even though we all could see without lights, to a degree, It did prevent us from seeing colors, and only even to a limit in distance.
One of the things that Rahk was having the kobolds do, was setting up fortifications around the gateway entrance of the lair itself, and organizing some others to develop defenses, using paper that was provided by the magic in the archives/library. A place of magical studies, from those tomes, and quite useful. The new tools were already being put to good use, as trenches with arrow slits were being made in the entry hall, rapidly.
While I felt the world here, was much calmer in terms of overall violence, based on my memories, IT was of a world that had forgotten most of the non-human or magical elements… there were still the Shadow beings, and Dwarves, of an ancient war, the Junimo, the forest spirits, and a plethora of still-potent magic and magical beings. There were still adventurer guilds, including in this town, after all.
So I felt it smart to do some preparations in the lair, anyway. Guards on shift, but not with a massive urgency at least. My kobolds were already doing something similar to what I might desire at this time. There was even looking over the spellfire cannons by at least one kobold as well. I had some ideas on how to enhance that myself. Runes come to mind, infused with different spell types perhaps. The first I would try for would be a disabling rather than lethal variation, to where they could affect either need.
Meanwhile, another group of kobolds were going about in the storehouse section of the lair and building better accessibility for them, to be useful for me. Such dedicated and clever kobolds. Wooden catwalks and platforms for them to scurry about as they needed to, on those plentiful shelves.
I take a breath and focus through my Coreheart, and resources and mana drain from within my domain, as the newly dug and claimed fungal farm chamber, gets formed via magic, as soil spreads, and waste organic matter gets dropped in and breaks down quickly. Uneaten leftovers, leaves, or scraps of plant material leftover from projects too small to be of use, or too weak, added in. That was just the start, but I knew I could control how this could be fed, as I designed the spellwork that way. With a mental toggle with a nudge of my presence, it stops filling on its own, while mushrooms slowly start to sprout from the ground, after some 'samples' had also vanished to start things up. Useful.
Time marches on still, however, as I stand and stretch, heading out of the lair to go for a visit in town. To see if anything else of interest was going on. My wings beat and I almost hit a crow flying overhead, causing it to squawk in a startle and perhaps disgruntlement at encountering a Dragon.
Flying into town leads me to encounter Lewis outside the old community center/Townhall building. This of course piques curiosity, leading to a landing, once again startling the poor elderly human.
"YARGH!" he exclaimed, with a quick twist around mixing with a jump of surprise. Of course, I duck my head with a tilt, as my earfins droop a bit in embarrassment.
"Sorry, Lewis. I was just flying into town and spotted you outside the center." I asked in a friendly manner.
"Oh it's fine… Morodai. Just.. gotta get my heart out from between my ears is all." he says with a bit of a weak chuckle, before catching his breath. "Anyway… I was just looking at this old community center… wool-gathering about how it used to be the pride and joy of the town… bustling with activity… but now. Just look at it. It's just shameful." he sighs. "These days, young folk would rather sit in front of TV's… rather than interact with the community." I give a thoughtful noise, indicating that I was listening, as I look at him. The newcomer, Allan also seemed to show up, curious about my presence.
LEwis notices him after I do, turning around to smile at the young human. "Oh, well, since both of you are here…" he sighs, while Allan waves a bit. "This community center, as you might have heard, was important, but now… the Joja Corporation has been hounding me to sell them the land so that they can tear it down and turn it into a warehouse of theirs." he looks up a bit into the sky a little. "Pelican town could use the money, but, Something keeps me from selling it… Perhaps old-timers like me, just get too attached to old relics of the past... "
Lewis takes a moment to continue with a slightly bitter tone. "If anyone else ends up buying a Joja corp membership, I think I might just sell it anyway.." he shrugs a bit. "I was going to go inside, and looks around… why not join me?" he asks, to which, I nod, Allan's response was a simple, but friendly 'Sure.'
He unlocks the door with an old key, and heads inside, while Allan and myself go inside afterward. The inside was rather rough and broken, floorboards ripped up to expose the earth below the building, holes in the walls, and some wooden hut in the corner
With leaves for a rooftop. Lewis spots all this, and sighs. "Hrm? What's? Heh… I guess Vincent and Jas must've been playing in here… But this place looks even worse than I remember…"
As he says this, a stout little green thing pops into visibility, startling Allan, I recognize it in my memories of this world, a Junimo. Allan's reaction startles Lewis, making him look around, as the Junimo vanishes with a slight 'poff' of mist. Shy little things. IT was perhaps strange that they show themself with Allan being able to see them. Lewis asked what he was talking about as he stammers about something was by the fireplace. Lewis huffed, commenting something about rats, while I try to sense where the Junimo was, earfins alert, head slightly angled down, with eyes closed.
I was focusing on my blindsenses when the junimo pops up beside me, behind Lewis again, when he was facing the back wall, startling Allan again. Poor guy was a bit jumpy, it seems.
"I'll leave this place unlocked, maybe either of you could help catch those rats huh? If you have extra time." he shrugs and heads out, mumbling about 'better times' it seemed. I turn to Allan, with an eye-roll, as I Look at him. "Yes, you saw something. I saw it too. Small, green, with small little limbs." he had his mouth open as if to ask before it closes with a click.
"What was it?" he asks, a little shakily. I smile softly. "You know that I'm a dragon, a supposedly mythical, magical creature… That was a nature spirit. A Junimo. And it seemed to like you, to let you see it." a slight smirk crosses my muzzle. "And they seem to know I'm no harm to them, as well. They don't speak English, but something called the 'Elemental' language. It's something few know about Nowadays, though I think the wizard to the south of your farm, might be able to help you with that."
And then a junimo came out, with a golden colored parchment, and on it, was the Junimo's written language, which I was able to read, but Allan was not… yet it puts it at his feet, and then talks to me with its little chirps. "Thank you for guiding this one. He has a special future here. Maybe you too. We can help." and then it vanishes, again.
This was going to get... Interesting.
Curling up on my hoard, with the intent to both sleep and remain awake, was a rather unusual one, but My life had turned such the last few days. A different world, a different culture, who seemed to know me, locally… where magic was mostly hidden. Still boggles me, how I got here.
Again there I go, chasing my tail about the How and the Why of my arrival here. I have more experimenting to do. With that reminder, I lay my head down, closing my eyes, trying to relax, while focusing my Mind upon the Coreheart thrumming nearby. Maybe some water features in my Lairhold would be good for such a meditative process.
I watch myself from outside of my body, yet within my other body, as it felt like. My domain, my lair. It was me, in a sense, as much as my wings or tail, Thanks to that Coreheart softly thrumming.
Time passes as I watch my kobolds sleep or work, taking shifts as they want to work on whatever crafts they desire, before I am distracted by hearing myself snore! I SNORE?! By Tiamat's tail, I am actually asleep, SNORING, yet, awake, to watch and hear myself snoring. And… I have to say I look really good.
My focus is harder to maintain upon my lair like this, but I can do it, it seems. I tap into the archives of the spells I got along with the Coreheart. They do not refer to it as such, but it is not a crystal orb, nor a pulsating dark organ that the tomes refer to here and there. The ritual used by the laboring summons seems to be a rather simple one, that I think my Kobolds would pick up on readily. It takes something bonded with my Mana, essentially stamping it into the ground where desired, adjacent to existing claims.
From there, I read up on other spells, while pondering my own long-earned magics, alchemic, arcane, and artifice. Then there were the runes, stable enchantments, that I could use for my old magic knowledge. Soo many possibilities unblocked with such again, that I feel a giggle, but I make no sound. My physical body still remains sleeping, if with a slight smile for a bit. It seems that my body and mind, are still fully linked, like this, A comforting thought, in all honesty.
I also ponder, aimlessly, what to do in this world, Do I run for Mayor? I could possibly manage it. Especially if I help out around the town a lot. Do I want it, though? Dragons are mighty beings, worthy of respect, Sure, and It is a dragon's place to Rule, with a just and fair claw. But Do I want to be responsible for the locals and the entire town? I don't know right now. But I dislike seeing things in disrepair. The library and museum, The Community center, those need work. That is without a doubt.
Then there are the Junimos that Rasmodius mentioned being around. Old forest spirits. Perhaps some would be on the edges of my territory. I woulder if they would speak with me.
Not much happens over the night, as I go over the spells, and feel the effects of my dreaming body.
I get to work on crafting some basic weaponry for my kobolds, as well as more tools, so that there are enough for them all, taking time to make them out of decent Iron that had been mined up locally, axes, picks, and blades. The axes I worked out some tricks from that knowledge I gained in the Quarry to convince the trees to yield more from them while either gathering or clearing them out. That took quite a while, Whereas using some servant imp spells from those tomes that landed on my head… Those seem to take quite well to runes on the mining Picks.
The ore smelted quite well in that smelter built by my Coreheart's magic, in the first place, making it nice and easy to work while hot. Using my natural magics to shape as I steamed the steel. A mending rune to each tool and weapon would help them regain their edges when worn down, over time.
I spend hours just working tool after tool, losing track of things, as I delve into the work, making better tools and weapons for my kobolds. With what I have available. Time spent with metal processing, shaping, and cooling, infusing it all with my steam breath, falling into a trance. Glimmers of ideas float in and out of my mind as I work.
I end up stopping when I run out of ore and ingot to work with for steel. I switch to smelting the other ores, Commer, Tin, Gold, and a small amount of a lustrous purple metal made from a blueish ore, my memories of this plane tell me is called Iridium.
When all that smelting and smithing is done, a glance through my Coreheart shows that it is already evening outside, this of course leads to my stomach announcing a bit of displeasure, to which I work on quieting it with some foodstuff. The tools I leave for now, to finish cooling down.
After a rather forgettable meal of basic food items stored away by the kobolds, I get to work reading more From my new tomes. Many spells and techniques, including some rather… interesting… descriptions of the typical users of said spells. I think that whatever land these times are from is in some pitched war between good and evil, based on the polarized descriptions within these tomes, I think they were made by someone from the darker side of that conflict.
Granted this is what I get from reading between the lines, as these tomes focus on the construction arrays my coreheart can produce, spells I or my servants can use, as well as my own usage… and traps that would defend my domain.
It was those buildings that told me the most as to what these keepers and underlords were likely aligned with… dark temples, necromantically charged graveyards, and prisons.
I have no desire for some of those structures in totality, others in their normal state. They will take reworking and alterations, but I can make use of these tools, at least.
As I let my mind dive into thinking of ways to rework these darker aspects to more something Iwould prefer to use, time passes by as it normally does. My kobolds tend the crops, digging out new caverns, bringing in some rich soil from the quarry that keeps 'bubbling' up, to scatter upon some empty caverns for fungal farms. The various mushrooms in the valley should do quite well, along with additions of some fertilization.
A thought crosses my mind, of using some aspects from the prison array, along with some other elements, along with magic from home, to break down waste material into rich loam-filled ebonsoil, in quick order.
I end up losing a few hours to a focus on such, within my mind. Some kobolds were fishing in the waterways on my farm, prompting a smile, as my kobolds were all enjoying themselves in the tasks they do. Rahk was overseeing some expansions of his own planning to the domain for me, and my claim spread steadily on its own within what was mine. Giving them light to see best by, even though we all could see without lights, to a degree, It did prevent us from seeing colors, and only even to a limit in distance.
One of the things that Rahk was having the kobolds do, was setting up fortifications around the gateway entrance of the lair itself, and organizing some others to develop defenses, using paper that was provided by the magic in the archives/library. A place of magical studies, from those tomes, and quite useful. The new tools were already being put to good use, as trenches with arrow slits were being made in the entry hall, rapidly.
While I felt the world here, was much calmer in terms of overall violence, based on my memories, IT was of a world that had forgotten most of the non-human or magical elements… there were still the Shadow beings, and Dwarves, of an ancient war, the Junimo, the forest spirits, and a plethora of still-potent magic and magical beings. There were still adventurer guilds, including in this town, after all.
So I felt it smart to do some preparations in the lair, anyway. Guards on shift, but not with a massive urgency at least. My kobolds were already doing something similar to what I might desire at this time. There was even looking over the spellfire cannons by at least one kobold as well. I had some ideas on how to enhance that myself. Runes come to mind, infused with different spell types perhaps. The first I would try for would be a disabling rather than lethal variation, to where they could affect either need.
Meanwhile, another group of kobolds were going about in the storehouse section of the lair and building better accessibility for them, to be useful for me. Such dedicated and clever kobolds. Wooden catwalks and platforms for them to scurry about as they needed to, on those plentiful shelves.
I take a breath and focus through my Coreheart, and resources and mana drain from within my domain, as the newly dug and claimed fungal farm chamber, gets formed via magic, as soil spreads, and waste organic matter gets dropped in and breaks down quickly. Uneaten leftovers, leaves, or scraps of plant material leftover from projects too small to be of use, or too weak, added in. That was just the start, but I knew I could control how this could be fed, as I designed the spellwork that way. With a mental toggle with a nudge of my presence, it stops filling on its own, while mushrooms slowly start to sprout from the ground, after some 'samples' had also vanished to start things up. Useful.
Time marches on still, however, as I stand and stretch, heading out of the lair to go for a visit in town. To see if anything else of interest was going on. My wings beat and I almost hit a crow flying overhead, causing it to squawk in a startle and perhaps disgruntlement at encountering a Dragon.
Flying into town leads me to encounter Lewis outside the old community center/Townhall building. This of course piques curiosity, leading to a landing, once again startling the poor elderly human.
"YARGH!" he exclaimed, with a quick twist around mixing with a jump of surprise. Of course, I duck my head with a tilt, as my earfins droop a bit in embarrassment.
"Sorry, Lewis. I was just flying into town and spotted you outside the center." I asked in a friendly manner.
"Oh it's fine… Morodai. Just.. gotta get my heart out from between my ears is all." he says with a bit of a weak chuckle, before catching his breath. "Anyway… I was just looking at this old community center… wool-gathering about how it used to be the pride and joy of the town… bustling with activity… but now. Just look at it. It's just shameful." he sighs. "These days, young folk would rather sit in front of TV's… rather than interact with the community." I give a thoughtful noise, indicating that I was listening, as I look at him. The newcomer, Allan also seemed to show up, curious about my presence.
LEwis notices him after I do, turning around to smile at the young human. "Oh, well, since both of you are here…" he sighs, while Allan waves a bit. "This community center, as you might have heard, was important, but now… the Joja Corporation has been hounding me to sell them the land so that they can tear it down and turn it into a warehouse of theirs." he looks up a bit into the sky a little. "Pelican town could use the money, but, Something keeps me from selling it… Perhaps old-timers like me, just get too attached to old relics of the past... "
Lewis takes a moment to continue with a slightly bitter tone. "If anyone else ends up buying a Joja corp membership, I think I might just sell it anyway.." he shrugs a bit. "I was going to go inside, and looks around… why not join me?" he asks, to which, I nod, Allan's response was a simple, but friendly 'Sure.'
He unlocks the door with an old key, and heads inside, while Allan and myself go inside afterward. The inside was rather rough and broken, floorboards ripped up to expose the earth below the building, holes in the walls, and some wooden hut in the corner
With leaves for a rooftop. Lewis spots all this, and sighs. "Hrm? What's? Heh… I guess Vincent and Jas must've been playing in here… But this place looks even worse than I remember…"
As he says this, a stout little green thing pops into visibility, startling Allan, I recognize it in my memories of this world, a Junimo. Allan's reaction startles Lewis, making him look around, as the Junimo vanishes with a slight 'poff' of mist. Shy little things. IT was perhaps strange that they show themself with Allan being able to see them. Lewis asked what he was talking about as he stammers about something was by the fireplace. Lewis huffed, commenting something about rats, while I try to sense where the Junimo was, earfins alert, head slightly angled down, with eyes closed.
I was focusing on my blindsenses when the junimo pops up beside me, behind Lewis again, when he was facing the back wall, startling Allan again. Poor guy was a bit jumpy, it seems.
"I'll leave this place unlocked, maybe either of you could help catch those rats huh? If you have extra time." he shrugs and heads out, mumbling about 'better times' it seemed. I turn to Allan, with an eye-roll, as I Look at him. "Yes, you saw something. I saw it too. Small, green, with small little limbs." he had his mouth open as if to ask before it closes with a click.
"What was it?" he asks, a little shakily. I smile softly. "You know that I'm a dragon, a supposedly mythical, magical creature… That was a nature spirit. A Junimo. And it seemed to like you, to let you see it." a slight smirk crosses my muzzle. "And they seem to know I'm no harm to them, as well. They don't speak English, but something called the 'Elemental' language. It's something few know about Nowadays, though I think the wizard to the south of your farm, might be able to help you with that."
And then a junimo came out, with a golden colored parchment, and on it, was the Junimo's written language, which I was able to read, but Allan was not… yet it puts it at his feet, and then talks to me with its little chirps. "Thank you for guiding this one. He has a special future here. Maybe you too. We can help." and then it vanishes, again.
This was going to get... Interesting.
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