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Story Hour
Steel Dragon's "Tales of Orea"
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<blockquote data-quote="steeldragons" data-source="post: 5750923" data-attributes="member: 92511"><p><strong>Attack of the Pixies</strong></p><p></p><p><span style="font-family: 'Verdana'">“Pixies.” Fen said, not sure if he had heard right.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: 'Verdana'"></span></p><p><span style="font-family: 'Verdana'"></span> <span style="font-family: 'Verdana'">“Pixies?” Haelan said.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: 'Verdana'"></span></p><p><span style="font-family: 'Verdana'"></span> <span style="font-family: 'Verdana'">“Pixies!?” Duor blurted.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: 'Verdana'"></span></p><p><span style="font-family: 'Verdana'"></span> <span style="font-family: 'Verdana'">There was a momentary silence.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: 'Verdana'"></span></p><p><span style="font-family: 'Verdana'"></span> <span style="font-family: 'Verdana'">Then the whole party erupted in laughter, except for Festus. Duor was nearly rolling off the seat. Fen, Coerraine and Haelan let out belly-laughed. Alaria politely covered her mouth to cover her own uncontrollable giggle.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: 'Verdana'"></span></p><p><span style="font-family: 'Verdana'"></span> <span style="font-family: 'Verdana'">Even Erevan let out a very rare audible chuckle through grinning lips. Both of the elf’s eyebrows were high on his forehead in disbelief.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: 'Verdana'"></span></p><p><span style="font-family: 'Verdana'"></span> <span style="font-family: 'Verdana'">“SHHHHH!!!” implored Festus. “You’re goin’ to draw them here with all of that merriment. Laugh all you like, they are wicked little trouble makers. The bane of the wood!” the satyr attempted to stay his companions. This only resulted in more laughter.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: 'Verdana'"></span></p><p><span style="font-family: 'Verdana'"></span> <span style="font-family: 'Verdana'">“My good Ranger Festus,” Fen said as his laughter abated, “I would have thought satyrs and pixies would get along quite well…fellow brethren of the wood and all of that.”</span></p><p><span style="font-family: 'Verdana'"></span></p><p><span style="font-family: 'Verdana'"></span> <span style="font-family: 'Verdana'">“Pixies are NOT brethren of the satyrs.” Festus retorted with much indignation. “<em>We </em>[satyrs] are Children of the Lord of Beasts…like all of the Tauran races! The fayekin are born of the Green Lady. They are precoscious, wicked, cruel little things…though, admittedly, they are sometimes good for a laugh at party…But that’s neither here nor there! We must tread carefully. Duor, can’t this thing go any faster?! Farthing Cross is just over the next ridge. We should see it any moment.” </span></p><p><span style="font-family: 'Verdana'"></span></p><p><span style="font-family: 'Verdana'"></span> <span style="font-family: 'Verdana'">This sent the dwarf into another round of uncontrolled laughter. “Seems our stalwart Ranger Festus is afraid of lil’ fairies! BAHHHHAHAHAHA!” </span></p><p><span style="font-family: 'Verdana'"></span></p><p><span style="font-family: 'Verdana'"></span> <span style="font-family: 'Verdana'">Containing their lessening chuckles, the party continued on at their snail, or rather, ox’s pace.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: 'Verdana'"></span></p><p><span style="font-family: 'Verdana'"></span> <span style="font-family: 'Verdana'">“Ow!” said Erevan unexpectedly. His head cocked to the side as his hood fell off of his head.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: 'Verdana'"></span></p><p><span style="font-family: 'Verdana'"></span> <span style="font-family: 'Verdana'">This illicited several questioning looks.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: 'Verdana'"></span></p><p><span style="font-family: 'Verdana'"></span> <span style="font-family: 'Verdana'">“Something pulled my ear.” Erevan said in answer to the confused looks. He rubbed the side of his head.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: 'Verdana'"></span></p><p><span style="font-family: 'Verdana'"></span> <span style="font-family: 'Verdana'">Festus just ducked down further into the cart, as if it might protect him. “You see. It begins.”</span></p><p><span style="font-family: 'Verdana'"></span></p><p><span style="font-family: 'Verdana'"></span> <span style="font-family: 'Verdana'">In an instant, the small band was beset by a number of curious things.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: 'Verdana'"></span></p><p><span style="font-family: 'Verdana'"></span> <span style="font-family: 'Verdana'">Haelan, who had sat back down during his laughing, kicked up his feet and yelled. “GAH! Something’s in my foot-hairs!”</span></p><p><span style="font-family: 'Verdana'"></span></p><p><span style="font-family: 'Verdana'"></span> <span style="font-family: 'Verdana'">Coerraine watched in facinsation as the hair of his steed’s mane was woven into a kind of hammock or basket with alarming, surpernatural speed. The horse seemed not to care until some unseen force seemed to pluck down into the woven hair. It let out an alarmed whiny and shook its head, but due to the Redstar Knight’s control of the horse, did not bolt.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: 'Verdana'"></span></p><p><span style="font-family: 'Verdana'"></span> <span style="font-family: 'Verdana'">Duor’s beard mysteriously pulled out away from his chest and began being braided. </span></p><p><span style="font-family: 'Verdana'"></span></p><p><span style="font-family: 'Verdana'"></span> <span style="font-family: 'Verdana'">“Feorn’s beard!” the dwarf exclaimed. “Wut the…Get offa there!” He swatted repeatedly at his beard but every time it returned to his chest, it floated out again and continued braiding.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: 'Verdana'"></span></p><p><span style="font-family: 'Verdana'"></span> <span style="font-family: 'Verdana'">“AHHH! Get them off! Get them off me!!!” shriekd Festus in utter panic, swatting and kicking at some unseen assailant.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: 'Verdana'"></span></p><p><span style="font-family: 'Verdana'"></span> <span style="font-family: 'Verdana'">Alaria was suddenly aware of something tugging at her waist. She quickly slapped a hand onto the pouch holding the Ihs Repahl and felt something squirming around in the pouch. Then she felt the same thing in one of her spell component pouches on her other side.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: 'Verdana'"></span></p><p><span style="font-family: 'Verdana'"></span> <span style="font-family: 'Verdana'">“Fen, what?!” the wizardess said in alarm. She felt the squirming in the pouch with the crystal orb subside. Determining the “pixies” may, unbelievably, prove a real threat, Alaria began to cast her cantrip of magical sight. “<em>Arkan</em>…”</span></p><p><span style="font-family: 'Verdana'"></span></p><p><span style="font-family: 'Verdana'"></span> <span style="font-family: 'Verdana'">Fen placed a soft hand upon Alaria’s arm. “Allow me, Magess.” He smiled.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: 'Verdana'"></span></p><p><span style="font-family: 'Verdana'"></span> <span style="font-family: 'Verdana'">With an unheard enchantment and a wave of his arm, blue flames spread out before the druid and clung to various places around them. One, two, then more small shapes, no bigger than a foot long/tall, became ensconced in the flickering harmless fire.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: 'Verdana'"></span></p><p><span style="font-family: 'Verdana'"></span> <span style="font-family: 'Verdana'">One was in the mane of Coerraine’s horse. One flitted around Haelan, next to one at the tip of Duor’s beard (that again released the chin hair as Dur swatted at it again). One seemed to hover before Erevan’s face, though the elf had not complained of anything since his ear was first tugged. One was flitting wildly around Festus. The last stuck its head out of Alaria’s spell component pouch and let out a small sneeze. Six in all.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: 'Verdana'"></span></p><p><span style="font-family: 'Verdana'"></span> <span style="font-family: 'Verdana'">“No fun! No fair!” came a small voice before a foot-tall bright blue tiny humanoid of indistinct gender with a flowing puff of even brighter light blue hair and transluscent blue wings became visible just before Erevan’s face. It put its hands on its tiny hips and with amazing speed flitted over to hang in the air in front of Fen. “Ooooo. Green One.” The tiny blue fairy said in apparent awe, reaching forward tentatively to poke at the druid’s sun/crescent moon cloak clasp. </span></p><p><span style="font-family: 'Verdana'"></span></p><p><span style="font-family: 'Verdana'"></span> <span style="font-family: 'Verdana'">With the appearance of the blue pixie, the others appeared to have no qualms with also becoming visible. One bright red, harvest gold, an ivy-like green, lavender and a russet orange. Each had a bdy all one color, genders were nondescript on any of them. Their hair and wings each sparkled with some hue similar to their bodies.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: 'Verdana'"></span></p><p><span style="font-family: 'Verdana'"></span> <span style="font-family: 'Verdana'">“I found the First One!” shouted the golden pixie from its lounging place in Coerraine’s mount’s mane. “First Ones is better!”</span></p><p><span style="font-family: 'Verdana'"></span></p><p><span style="font-family: 'Verdana'"></span> <span style="font-family: 'Verdana'">“SHHK!” hushed the blue pixie at its companion. “I’s found a Green One. Green Ones is all picty-friends. Green Ones is better.”</span></p><p><span style="font-family: 'Verdana'"></span></p><p><span style="font-family: 'Verdana'"></span> <span style="font-family: 'Verdana'">As they flitted and moved around, trails of sparkling light seems to fall off of them and wink out of existence before hitting the ground.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: 'Verdana'"></span></p><p><span style="font-family: 'Verdana'"></span> <span style="font-family: 'Verdana'">The lavender one, which had been twirling around Festus brought itself to a landing upon the satyr’s head, gripping a horn in each hand and swaying to and fro. </span></p><p><span style="font-family: 'Verdana'"></span></p><p><span style="font-family: 'Verdana'"></span> <span style="font-family: 'Verdana'">“I found the Horny One.” The aple purple pixie said with great pride.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: 'Verdana'"></span></p><p><span style="font-family: 'Verdana'"></span> <span style="font-family: 'Verdana'">“Get offa me!” Festus protested, swatting at his head.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: 'Verdana'"></span></p><p><span style="font-family: 'Verdana'"></span> <span style="font-family: 'Verdana'">The lavender pixie took off, avoiding the swat, and placed its hands on its hips. “Bad Horny!” it said in attempt chastisement.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: 'Verdana'"></span></p><p><span style="font-family: 'Verdana'"></span> <span style="font-family: 'Verdana'">“What about the Witchy One? Pretty Witchy too!” Asked the orange one as it flitted itself out of Alaria’s component pouch. “Witchy Ones make us all burny!” the orange pixie said in disapproval as it looked at the blue flames that licked around their forms.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: 'Verdana'"></span></p><p><span style="font-family: 'Verdana'"></span> <span style="font-family: 'Verdana'">“Actually,” Fen interrupted, “that was me.”</span></p><p><span style="font-family: 'Verdana'"></span></p><p><span style="font-family: 'Verdana'"></span> <span style="font-family: 'Verdana'">“Not nice, Green One. Not nice. No fair!” the blue one wagged a tiny finger at the half-elf. Fen couldn’t help but smile. </span></p><p><span style="font-family: 'Verdana'"></span></p><p><span style="font-family: 'Verdana'"></span> <span style="font-family: 'Verdana'">“Fen…” Alaria questioned softly, as if the pixies wouldn’t hear her, “What do they want?”</span></p><p><span style="font-family: 'Verdana'"></span></p><p><span style="font-family: 'Verdana'"></span> <span style="font-family: 'Verdana'">“Want? We’s PICTIES!” the blue one began. The green and lavender and orange pixies joined the blue one, now hovering before Alaria. “We wants FUN!” they all said in unison, throwing their hands into the air. Sparkles the color of each pixie shot off their sudden gestures and all of the fairies giggled.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: 'Verdana'"></span></p><p><span style="font-family: 'Verdana'"></span> <span style="font-family: 'Verdana'">“But no more burnies!” the green pixie flitted back over to Fen and again wagged a finger at the druid. “Make go away!” the fairy waved its arm, as if to put out the flickering blue flames. It tried blowing with all of its might. Its cheeks became impossibly large and it appeared to get so thin as it exhaled to make Alaria question whether the things had any bones at all. It turned back to the druid when the blue flames continued to lick at its skin. “Make go away!”</span></p><p><span style="font-family: 'Verdana'"></span></p><p><span style="font-family: 'Verdana'"></span> <span style="font-family: 'Verdana'">“Oh come on.” Fen said with his charming smile. “Burnies no burn. If you promise to stay visible I’ll get rid of the faeriefire…er…burny.”</span></p><p><span style="font-family: 'Verdana'"></span></p><p><span style="font-family: 'Verdana'"></span> <span style="font-family: 'Verdana'">“Faerie Fire Faerie Fire ring around the Faerie Fire” all of the pixies, except the golden one who seemed to have fallen asleep in the horse mane hammock, joined hands in mid-air and chanted sing-songily as they circled.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: 'Verdana'"></span></p><p><span style="font-family: 'Verdana'"></span> <span style="font-family: 'Verdana'">Alaria could hardly believe this. She had met the occasional sprite. They were fairly common messengers and servants of the best magical houses. She’d even been introduced to one who accompanied a wizard as his personal scribe and apprentice. But pixies and other of the Fayekin she had only read about. What she was sure about was that they could not dally any longer. The light was quickly fading.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: 'Verdana'"></span></p><p><span style="font-family: 'Verdana'"></span> <span style="font-family: 'Verdana'">“I’ll tell you what,” the druid said, seemingly reading the wizard’s thoughts, “you can have as much fun as you want for the remainder of our journey. But we must continue on and you must remain visible and not cause us any harm. How’s that?” He finished flashing his best smile. </span></p><p><span style="font-family: 'Verdana'"></span></p><p><span style="font-family: 'Verdana'"></span> <span style="font-family: 'Verdana'">The other pixies all looked to the blue one. The blue one stared at Fen, one of its solid sky blue eyes squinted in a comical fashion. </span></p><p><span style="font-family: 'Verdana'"></span></p><p><span style="font-family: 'Verdana'"></span> <span style="font-family: 'Verdana'">“How’s that!” it finally said. Again, all of the pixies came together, joined hands and sang and flitted around in a circle in mid-air before the druid and wizard. “How’s That! How’s That! Ring around the How’s That!”</span></p><p><span style="font-family: 'Verdana'"></span></p><p><span style="font-family: 'Verdana'"></span> <span style="font-family: 'Verdana'">Haelan giggled at the fairies antics.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: 'Verdana'"></span></p><p><span style="font-family: 'Verdana'"></span> <span style="font-family: 'Verdana'">“Oy gods.” Duor grumbled.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: 'Verdana'"></span></p><p><span style="font-family: 'Verdana'"></span> <span style="font-family: 'Verdana'">“I told you…” Festus said in a hushed tone.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: 'Verdana'"></span></p><p><span style="font-family: 'Verdana'"></span> <span style="font-family: 'Verdana'">“I think we’re good.” Fen said in aside to Alaria.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: 'Verdana'"></span></p><p><span style="font-family: 'Verdana'"></span> <span style="font-family: 'Verdana'">Fen dismissed his spell and the pixies spread out to go about their “fun making.”</span></p><p><span style="font-family: 'Verdana'"></span></p><p><span style="font-family: 'Verdana'"></span> <span style="font-family: 'Verdana'">The better part of an hour later, Festus sat with his goateed chin in his palm, leaning against the side of the cart. He stared dully into the countryside as the cart rumbled by. His lower goat-quarters were a fluorescent pink. Two of the pixies were humming sweetly as they traced out white, daisy shaped polka-dots along his haunches. His normally wild chestnut hair had been woven into corn-rows and his horn twined with ivy vines and bright violet and yellow pansies.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: 'Verdana'"></span></p><p><span style="font-family: 'Verdana'"></span> <span style="font-family: 'Verdana'">Alaria had been granted a crown of brightly colored wildflowers with the occasional pixie flitting up to her state, over and over, ‘Pretty Witchy.”</span></p><p><span style="font-family: 'Verdana'"></span></p><p><span style="font-family: 'Verdana'"></span> <span style="font-family: 'Verdana'">Coerraine rode on, carrying himself with as much dignity as he could muster, while his golden locks levitated, straight up, from his head.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: 'Verdana'"></span></p><p><span style="font-family: 'Verdana'">The golden pixie had awoken when the faerie fire had been dismissed and taken to braiding and twisting Coerraine’s hair, untangling all of it and doing it over and over again in a variety of styles. It had gotten bored and left the paladin’s hair floating free while it took another doze in the mane-basket it, apparently, had crafted.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: 'Verdana'"></span></p><p><span style="font-family: 'Verdana'"></span> <span style="font-family: 'Verdana'">All of the horses’ manes and tails were adorned with braids and twists and clutches of flowers that were sorely out of season, yet bloomed as brightly as if it were the first day of spring. Occasionally two or three pixies would cluster around another’s work and affirm. “Pretty?” “Pretty.” “Yes pretty.” “Very PRITty!”</span></p><p><span style="font-family: 'Verdana'"></span></p><p><span style="font-family: 'Verdana'"></span> <span style="font-family: 'Verdana'">Erevan had been awarded a wreathe of ivy and holly leaves.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: 'Verdana'"></span></p><p><span style="font-family: 'Verdana'">“Crown for the First One!” exclaimed the green pixie with glee.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: 'Verdana'"></span></p><p><span style="font-family: 'Verdana'">The holly poked, uncomfortably into his scalp, but the elf did not complain, understanding as much as Fen that the best way to deal with the pixies was to just let them be. Besides, the elf reasoned, if he removed it, they would just do something else to him.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: 'Verdana'"></span></p><p><span style="font-family: 'Verdana'"></span> <span style="font-family: 'Verdana'">For his grumpiness and constant swatting at anything attempted on his person, the pixies had ringed around Duor’s head and caused his face to turn purple and his nose to grow to troll-like proportions. Fen calmed the dwarf, who initially refused to go “not one inch further”, that they would remove the spell before they left.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: 'Verdana'"></span></p><p><span style="font-family: 'Verdana'"></span> <span style="font-family: 'Verdana'">“Pixie magic is as fickle as the fairies themselves.” The druid mentioned. He smiled with mild regret when all of the pixies again joined hands and “danced” in mid-air chanting “Fickle Faerie! Fickle Faerie. Ring around the Fickle Faerie!” before bursting into giggles and going about their business.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: 'Verdana'"></span></p><p><span style="font-family: 'Verdana'"></span> <span style="font-family: 'Verdana'">Haelan actually played along with the fairies. He let them adorn his foot hair with berries and bright flowers. Change the hair color from one rainbow hue to another. All the while, the daelvar smiled and chuckled with the pixies, egging them on. “Yes, very nice. Oo, I like that one. Yes, very pretty!”</span></p><p><span style="font-family: 'Verdana'"></span></p><p><span style="font-family: 'Verdana'"></span> <span style="font-family: 'Verdana'">Duor resisted the repeated urge to smack the cleric off the cart.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: 'Verdana'"></span></p><p><span style="font-family: 'Verdana'"></span> <span style="font-family: 'Verdana'">The cart finally crested the ridge and the lights of Farthing Cross glowed into the deep twilight.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: 'Verdana'"></span></p><p><span style="font-family: 'Verdana'"></span> <span style="font-family: 'Verdana'">“OK! We’re here!” Duor and Festus said in unison.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: 'Verdana'"></span></p><p><span style="font-family: 'Verdana'"></span> <span style="font-family: 'Verdana'">“Not nice Snouty Ugly One! Not nice Horny One!” the pixies protested at first.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: 'Verdana'"></span></p><p><span style="font-family: 'Verdana'"></span> <span style="font-family: 'Verdana'">Before Fen could try to “reason” with the fairies, all of their heads jutted up and turned to the southwest.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: 'Verdana'"></span></p><p><span style="font-family: 'Verdana'"></span> <span style="font-family: 'Verdana'">“Dark Ones!” called the blue one.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: 'Verdana'"></span></p><p><span style="font-family: 'Verdana'"></span> <span style="font-family: 'Verdana'">Six pixies shot off from the party in six different directions. Six trails of sparkling pixiedust of colors to match their respective pixie streamed off behind them as first they, then the trail of sparkles all disappeared from view in a shimmer of the air.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: 'Verdana'"></span></p><p><span style="font-family: 'Verdana'"></span> <span style="font-family: 'Verdana'">Duor’s nose quickly shrank back to normal size and his skin color returned to normal. The dwarf felt his nose under furrowed brows. He turned to Haelan, “Is it fixed? Feels a bit big, still.”</span></p><p><span style="font-family: 'Verdana'"></span></p><p><span style="font-family: 'Verdana'"></span> <span style="font-family: 'Verdana'">“Uh…Dark Ones?” Alaria said with concern.</span></p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="steeldragons, post: 5750923, member: 92511"] [b]Attack of the Pixies[/b] [FONT=Verdana]“Pixies.” Fen said, not sure if he had heard right. [/FONT] [FONT=Verdana]“Pixies?” Haelan said. [/FONT] [FONT=Verdana]“Pixies!?” Duor blurted. [/FONT] [FONT=Verdana]There was a momentary silence. [/FONT] [FONT=Verdana]Then the whole party erupted in laughter, except for Festus. Duor was nearly rolling off the seat. Fen, Coerraine and Haelan let out belly-laughed. Alaria politely covered her mouth to cover her own uncontrollable giggle. [/FONT] [FONT=Verdana]Even Erevan let out a very rare audible chuckle through grinning lips. Both of the elf’s eyebrows were high on his forehead in disbelief. [/FONT] [FONT=Verdana]“SHHHHH!!!” implored Festus. “You’re goin’ to draw them here with all of that merriment. Laugh all you like, they are wicked little trouble makers. The bane of the wood!” the satyr attempted to stay his companions. This only resulted in more laughter. [/FONT] [FONT=Verdana]“My good Ranger Festus,” Fen said as his laughter abated, “I would have thought satyrs and pixies would get along quite well…fellow brethren of the wood and all of that.” [/FONT] [FONT=Verdana]“Pixies are NOT brethren of the satyrs.” Festus retorted with much indignation. “[I]We [/I][satyrs] are Children of the Lord of Beasts…like all of the Tauran races! The fayekin are born of the Green Lady. They are precoscious, wicked, cruel little things…though, admittedly, they are sometimes good for a laugh at party…But that’s neither here nor there! We must tread carefully. Duor, can’t this thing go any faster?! Farthing Cross is just over the next ridge. We should see it any moment.” [/FONT] [FONT=Verdana]This sent the dwarf into another round of uncontrolled laughter. “Seems our stalwart Ranger Festus is afraid of lil’ fairies! BAHHHHAHAHAHA!” [/FONT] [FONT=Verdana]Containing their lessening chuckles, the party continued on at their snail, or rather, ox’s pace. [/FONT] [FONT=Verdana]“Ow!” said Erevan unexpectedly. His head cocked to the side as his hood fell off of his head. [/FONT] [FONT=Verdana]This illicited several questioning looks. [/FONT] [FONT=Verdana]“Something pulled my ear.” Erevan said in answer to the confused looks. He rubbed the side of his head. [/FONT] [FONT=Verdana]Festus just ducked down further into the cart, as if it might protect him. “You see. It begins.” [/FONT] [FONT=Verdana]In an instant, the small band was beset by a number of curious things. [/FONT] [FONT=Verdana]Haelan, who had sat back down during his laughing, kicked up his feet and yelled. “GAH! Something’s in my foot-hairs!” [/FONT] [FONT=Verdana]Coerraine watched in facinsation as the hair of his steed’s mane was woven into a kind of hammock or basket with alarming, surpernatural speed. The horse seemed not to care until some unseen force seemed to pluck down into the woven hair. It let out an alarmed whiny and shook its head, but due to the Redstar Knight’s control of the horse, did not bolt. [/FONT] [FONT=Verdana]Duor’s beard mysteriously pulled out away from his chest and began being braided. [/FONT] [FONT=Verdana]“Feorn’s beard!” the dwarf exclaimed. “Wut the…Get offa there!” He swatted repeatedly at his beard but every time it returned to his chest, it floated out again and continued braiding. [/FONT] [FONT=Verdana]“AHHH! Get them off! Get them off me!!!” shriekd Festus in utter panic, swatting and kicking at some unseen assailant. [/FONT] [FONT=Verdana]Alaria was suddenly aware of something tugging at her waist. She quickly slapped a hand onto the pouch holding the Ihs Repahl and felt something squirming around in the pouch. Then she felt the same thing in one of her spell component pouches on her other side. [/FONT] [FONT=Verdana]“Fen, what?!” the wizardess said in alarm. She felt the squirming in the pouch with the crystal orb subside. Determining the “pixies” may, unbelievably, prove a real threat, Alaria began to cast her cantrip of magical sight. “[I]Arkan[/I]…” [/FONT] [FONT=Verdana]Fen placed a soft hand upon Alaria’s arm. “Allow me, Magess.” He smiled. [/FONT] [FONT=Verdana]With an unheard enchantment and a wave of his arm, blue flames spread out before the druid and clung to various places around them. One, two, then more small shapes, no bigger than a foot long/tall, became ensconced in the flickering harmless fire. [/FONT] [FONT=Verdana]One was in the mane of Coerraine’s horse. One flitted around Haelan, next to one at the tip of Duor’s beard (that again released the chin hair as Dur swatted at it again). One seemed to hover before Erevan’s face, though the elf had not complained of anything since his ear was first tugged. One was flitting wildly around Festus. The last stuck its head out of Alaria’s spell component pouch and let out a small sneeze. Six in all. [/FONT] [FONT=Verdana]“No fun! No fair!” came a small voice before a foot-tall bright blue tiny humanoid of indistinct gender with a flowing puff of even brighter light blue hair and transluscent blue wings became visible just before Erevan’s face. It put its hands on its tiny hips and with amazing speed flitted over to hang in the air in front of Fen. “Ooooo. Green One.” The tiny blue fairy said in apparent awe, reaching forward tentatively to poke at the druid’s sun/crescent moon cloak clasp. [/FONT] [FONT=Verdana]With the appearance of the blue pixie, the others appeared to have no qualms with also becoming visible. One bright red, harvest gold, an ivy-like green, lavender and a russet orange. Each had a bdy all one color, genders were nondescript on any of them. Their hair and wings each sparkled with some hue similar to their bodies. [/FONT] [FONT=Verdana]“I found the First One!” shouted the golden pixie from its lounging place in Coerraine’s mount’s mane. “First Ones is better!” [/FONT] [FONT=Verdana]“SHHK!” hushed the blue pixie at its companion. “I’s found a Green One. Green Ones is all picty-friends. Green Ones is better.” [/FONT] [FONT=Verdana]As they flitted and moved around, trails of sparkling light seems to fall off of them and wink out of existence before hitting the ground. [/FONT] [FONT=Verdana]The lavender one, which had been twirling around Festus brought itself to a landing upon the satyr’s head, gripping a horn in each hand and swaying to and fro. [/FONT] [FONT=Verdana]“I found the Horny One.” The aple purple pixie said with great pride. [/FONT] [FONT=Verdana]“Get offa me!” Festus protested, swatting at his head. [/FONT] [FONT=Verdana]The lavender pixie took off, avoiding the swat, and placed its hands on its hips. “Bad Horny!” it said in attempt chastisement. [/FONT] [FONT=Verdana]“What about the Witchy One? Pretty Witchy too!” Asked the orange one as it flitted itself out of Alaria’s component pouch. “Witchy Ones make us all burny!” the orange pixie said in disapproval as it looked at the blue flames that licked around their forms. [/FONT] [FONT=Verdana]“Actually,” Fen interrupted, “that was me.” [/FONT] [FONT=Verdana]“Not nice, Green One. Not nice. No fair!” the blue one wagged a tiny finger at the half-elf. Fen couldn’t help but smile. [/FONT] [FONT=Verdana]“Fen…” Alaria questioned softly, as if the pixies wouldn’t hear her, “What do they want?” [/FONT] [FONT=Verdana]“Want? We’s PICTIES!” the blue one began. The green and lavender and orange pixies joined the blue one, now hovering before Alaria. “We wants FUN!” they all said in unison, throwing their hands into the air. Sparkles the color of each pixie shot off their sudden gestures and all of the fairies giggled. [/FONT] [FONT=Verdana]“But no more burnies!” the green pixie flitted back over to Fen and again wagged a finger at the druid. “Make go away!” the fairy waved its arm, as if to put out the flickering blue flames. It tried blowing with all of its might. Its cheeks became impossibly large and it appeared to get so thin as it exhaled to make Alaria question whether the things had any bones at all. It turned back to the druid when the blue flames continued to lick at its skin. “Make go away!” [/FONT] [FONT=Verdana]“Oh come on.” Fen said with his charming smile. “Burnies no burn. If you promise to stay visible I’ll get rid of the faeriefire…er…burny.” [/FONT] [FONT=Verdana]“Faerie Fire Faerie Fire ring around the Faerie Fire” all of the pixies, except the golden one who seemed to have fallen asleep in the horse mane hammock, joined hands in mid-air and chanted sing-songily as they circled. [/FONT] [FONT=Verdana]Alaria could hardly believe this. She had met the occasional sprite. They were fairly common messengers and servants of the best magical houses. She’d even been introduced to one who accompanied a wizard as his personal scribe and apprentice. But pixies and other of the Fayekin she had only read about. What she was sure about was that they could not dally any longer. The light was quickly fading. [/FONT] [FONT=Verdana]“I’ll tell you what,” the druid said, seemingly reading the wizard’s thoughts, “you can have as much fun as you want for the remainder of our journey. But we must continue on and you must remain visible and not cause us any harm. How’s that?” He finished flashing his best smile. [/FONT] [FONT=Verdana]The other pixies all looked to the blue one. The blue one stared at Fen, one of its solid sky blue eyes squinted in a comical fashion. [/FONT] [FONT=Verdana]“How’s that!” it finally said. Again, all of the pixies came together, joined hands and sang and flitted around in a circle in mid-air before the druid and wizard. “How’s That! How’s That! Ring around the How’s That!” [/FONT] [FONT=Verdana]Haelan giggled at the fairies antics. [/FONT] [FONT=Verdana]“Oy gods.” Duor grumbled. [/FONT] [FONT=Verdana]“I told you…” Festus said in a hushed tone. [/FONT] [FONT=Verdana]“I think we’re good.” Fen said in aside to Alaria. [/FONT] [FONT=Verdana]Fen dismissed his spell and the pixies spread out to go about their “fun making.” [/FONT] [FONT=Verdana]The better part of an hour later, Festus sat with his goateed chin in his palm, leaning against the side of the cart. He stared dully into the countryside as the cart rumbled by. His lower goat-quarters were a fluorescent pink. Two of the pixies were humming sweetly as they traced out white, daisy shaped polka-dots along his haunches. His normally wild chestnut hair had been woven into corn-rows and his horn twined with ivy vines and bright violet and yellow pansies. [/FONT] [FONT=Verdana]Alaria had been granted a crown of brightly colored wildflowers with the occasional pixie flitting up to her state, over and over, ‘Pretty Witchy.” [/FONT] [FONT=Verdana]Coerraine rode on, carrying himself with as much dignity as he could muster, while his golden locks levitated, straight up, from his head. The golden pixie had awoken when the faerie fire had been dismissed and taken to braiding and twisting Coerraine’s hair, untangling all of it and doing it over and over again in a variety of styles. It had gotten bored and left the paladin’s hair floating free while it took another doze in the mane-basket it, apparently, had crafted. [/FONT] [FONT=Verdana]All of the horses’ manes and tails were adorned with braids and twists and clutches of flowers that were sorely out of season, yet bloomed as brightly as if it were the first day of spring. Occasionally two or three pixies would cluster around another’s work and affirm. “Pretty?” “Pretty.” “Yes pretty.” “Very PRITty!” [/FONT] [FONT=Verdana]Erevan had been awarded a wreathe of ivy and holly leaves. “Crown for the First One!” exclaimed the green pixie with glee. The holly poked, uncomfortably into his scalp, but the elf did not complain, understanding as much as Fen that the best way to deal with the pixies was to just let them be. Besides, the elf reasoned, if he removed it, they would just do something else to him. [/FONT] [FONT=Verdana]For his grumpiness and constant swatting at anything attempted on his person, the pixies had ringed around Duor’s head and caused his face to turn purple and his nose to grow to troll-like proportions. Fen calmed the dwarf, who initially refused to go “not one inch further”, that they would remove the spell before they left. [/FONT] [FONT=Verdana]“Pixie magic is as fickle as the fairies themselves.” The druid mentioned. He smiled with mild regret when all of the pixies again joined hands and “danced” in mid-air chanting “Fickle Faerie! Fickle Faerie. Ring around the Fickle Faerie!” before bursting into giggles and going about their business. [/FONT] [FONT=Verdana]Haelan actually played along with the fairies. He let them adorn his foot hair with berries and bright flowers. Change the hair color from one rainbow hue to another. All the while, the daelvar smiled and chuckled with the pixies, egging them on. “Yes, very nice. Oo, I like that one. Yes, very pretty!” [/FONT] [FONT=Verdana]Duor resisted the repeated urge to smack the cleric off the cart. [/FONT] [FONT=Verdana]The cart finally crested the ridge and the lights of Farthing Cross glowed into the deep twilight. [/FONT] [FONT=Verdana]“OK! We’re here!” Duor and Festus said in unison. [/FONT] [FONT=Verdana]“Not nice Snouty Ugly One! Not nice Horny One!” the pixies protested at first. [/FONT] [FONT=Verdana]Before Fen could try to “reason” with the fairies, all of their heads jutted up and turned to the southwest. [/FONT] [FONT=Verdana]“Dark Ones!” called the blue one. [/FONT] [FONT=Verdana]Six pixies shot off from the party in six different directions. Six trails of sparkling pixiedust of colors to match their respective pixie streamed off behind them as first they, then the trail of sparkles all disappeared from view in a shimmer of the air. [/FONT] [FONT=Verdana]Duor’s nose quickly shrank back to normal size and his skin color returned to normal. The dwarf felt his nose under furrowed brows. He turned to Haelan, “Is it fixed? Feels a bit big, still.” [/FONT] [FONT=Verdana]“Uh…Dark Ones?” Alaria said with concern.[/FONT] [/QUOTE]
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