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A Sword Without a Hilt: A Song of Ice and Fire/D&D 3.5 Crossover

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Interlude CDLXIX: Life's Ways
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    • Life's Ways​

    Seventeenth Day of the Ninth Month 293 AC

    In a tower of clouds there lived twelves wise sorcerers older than the realms of men who spent their days observing the vistas of the Endless Sky, pondering mysteries that no mortal mind had ever plumbed, working wonders undreamt in the service of their lords, fel and mighty as they. It sounded like a bedside tale told by a kindly aunt, one without the heart of frighten a child with tales of gremlins and ghouls, Rina thought as she strode upon the steps of that very same tower, taking them two at a time and yet even that did not encompass the sheer bubbling strangeness of this place. Strange mists flowed under the ceilings and pooled in the corners, newborn spirits of wind toyed with the curtains and randomly shifted small things about when you were not looking. It should have been absolute pandemonium where nothing ever got done... but somehow it just wasn't.

    The custodians of the tower, Twelve Zephyrs, had always been on time to any appointments they made and she had never left such a meeting without some insight into either her power or herself, but by far the realization that had brought her the most joy had been the one she had the very moment she first stepped into the tower, no one and nothing here from the mages to their familiars to their servants feared her. Maybe they should have, maybe the breakfast table should have stood still instead of walking around offering seconds. 'Should' did not seem to hold much power here.

    For all the strangeness she had seen Rina could not contain a slow blink and a shake of her head as she entered the study of Janir Bin Lasir, the Mage of Metamorphosis. It was not the arcane instruments puffing a cloud of many-colored smoke into the air, nor even the dozens of maps that seemed alive with some strange scribbling hand strewn on the walls. It was the trio of creatures rising in ponderous startled flight at her entrance. They leapt like cats, for as a cat was their body, but the faces that turned to her in what might have been an attempt of intimidation were those of rabbits with antlers like a dear growing from their brows, sometimes snagging a feather from their large grey wings.


    Rina did not even try to stop herself from giggling, some things were just beyond her power, first impressions or no.

    "They do look rather silly, don't they?" a soft voice drew her attention to her host, a woman of the Djinn-kindred who like many she had seen in the tower but not elsewhere looked old, older at least than the prime that most of their people Rina had seen elsewhere had. The mage's hair was caught in a bun sporting two silvered needles that lay slightly askew. "You should not say it too loudly around them though,they think they are the very fiercest things to ever fly."

    "I'm assuming they aren't that?" the young woman asked. Her days spent beyond the borders of the world had taught her that assumptions could be very foolish things.

    "Goodness no, but they are rather fascinating in regards to what they teach us about life," the elder sorceress replied as she settled the beasts down. "Cat, rabbit, stag, and swan, none of these really should go together should they and yet they do. These little chimeras are either wholly natural or the product of magical experimentation so old it has fallen out of even our knowledge, yet they live happy healthy lives, they are quick breeders... too quick in some cases, that's the rabbit part, but they are harmless. Some families even strike bargains with them to hunt mice or other pests."

    "Bargains? They are intelligent?" Rina asked, blushing slightly at having thought of them as beasts. She should have known better by now.

    If the Djinn mage noticed her reaction she did not say. "Yes, and the cause of that intelligence has always been a bit of a mystery. None of the beings who form their base have any great wit..."

    "Not even cats?" Rina interjected with a smile, feeling at ease enough for a light jest.

    "No, not even them," came the whispered reply, as though afraid a passing cat might hear. "But the reason I have three of them in my office is that your coming has solved at least in some part the mystery of their origin. The horn you carried, the one that belonged to the monster you called a Heart-Eater had a faint affinity with them, not much, about as much as an eagle has a griffin, but it was there and we were able to prove line of descent from one to the other."

    "Those are..." Rina began shocked.

    "Entirely happy productive little things whose worst crime has been stealing table scraps," the elder mage reminder her. "It's interesting that we should find such living signs of Their power here when they are so very opposed to the very concept, wouldn't you say?"

    The young sorceress only nodded silently, her eyes now fixed upon the rabbit-dear-cat-swan... they probably had a shorter name.

    "Now, what I want from you is to see if you can make any sense of our anatomical and historical notes on them, see if anything jogs your memory."

    Rina sat at the proffered chair still wondering at how comforting she could now find the beings that had seemed so outlandish a moment ago.

    OOC: This may be the only update of today. It does not add much to the plot, though at least it adds more depth to Rina and some world-building.
     
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    • I didn't know it before now, but Rina is meant to have a Wolpertinger buddy.

    It must happen!
     
    Apropos of nothing, can anyone point me to a 3.5 version of the Incanter? I have something I want to try to write involving one but since this is a 3.5 quest, I should use that version of it if possible.
     
    I'm really getting the urge to do some writing, either on my Worm omake series or finally getting around to my Garin stranded in Shadowrun idea, but I'm stuck at work and will be all day tomorrow, too. :(
     
    Goldfish said:
    I'm really getting the urge to do some writing, either on my Worm omake series or finally getting around to my Garin stranded in Shadowrun idea, but I'm stuck at work and will be all day tomorrow, too. :(
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    With things settling, I'm feeling up for writing some HT again. So if all goes well, you'll have a chapter of that tonight. Best of luck with your own work - more of either would be great.
     
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    DragonParadox said:
    Do you want to use it for something specific?
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    The Shadow Plane is so very, very big, and we've only heard about the biggest player there. I had an idea for one of the smaller fishes. Someone cut off from everywhere else for long enough that he uses magic in a way we don't see elsewhere. Mostly I just want to try to write -something- and picked a character I already have to do it with.
     
    DragonParadox said:
    "Count of Draconys under Governor Yrael...?" the knight glances at the luminous figure of the Archon. "A man couldn't ask for a more honorable direct liege that, but I'm not certain I would be up to dealing with all the magic and monsters thereabouts.
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    DP, there's a word missing here here. Surely you mean "than that" and not just "that" ?

    And to everyone in the thread, I suggest going back to an old fun/slice-of-life moment as a palate cleanser.
     
    Absylon Quilby said:
    The Shadow Plane is so very, very big, and we've only heard about the biggest player there. I had an idea for one of the smaller fishes. Someone cut off from everywhere else for long enough that he uses magic in a way we don't see elsewhere. Mostly I just want to try to write -something- and picked a character I already have to do it with.
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    OK then, wait a bit. I have some details on the shadow plane you might be interested in. I think I'll do and informational post.
     
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