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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Jon Potter" data-source="post: 2047021" data-attributes="member: 2323">[PLAIN][Realms #303] Deciding Feln's Fate[/PLAIN]There was a pause as the import of the Great Oak's words sunk in. A toothy grin split Karak's beard and the dwarf waggled his eyebrows at the group."If it be Feln or gold," he said, "I'll take the gold."Vade shot him a hurt look and stepped toward the tree. "FELN!" he managed to shout before Ledare's hand clamped down over his mouth. Vade squirmed away and gave her a reproachful look."This is truly a great gift you offer us," Ledare said to the tree, ignoring the halfling entirely. "May we have time to properly consider your words?""Of course," Great Oak's voice whispered in their heads. "A place has been made for you. Nigoulickit will show you. Go. Rest. Decide. We will speak again on the 'morrow.""What's to consider?" Vade argued, tears welling up in his big eyes. "I want Feln back. None of you are nearly as much fun as he was... Unless, Mr. Fancy Pants, you like to get into trouble once in a while?"Bisayo shot him a wide-eyed look of surprise and opened his mouth to reply when Vade cut him off. "No! I want Feln back no matter what," he asserted, his lips pulled into a rictus of despair. "I will go get him myself if I have to!""Vade," Ledare soothed. "Calm down. We haven't decided anything, yet. We need time to talk and reach a decision as a group.""I've already made my decision!" the halfling cried. His face was a shade of red that verged on purple. "What is there to talk about?""Please, Vade," Ledare cajoled. "There is nothing lost by talking. We'll speak again with the Great Oak in the morning."The hedge behind them opened again and the younger gobliness was standing on the far side, beckoning them outward. "Come. Great Oak say I show you where you sleep," she growled and handed off the silvery baton to Gorguul. "Take followers of White Lady to see Great Oak," she instructed and the older goblin nodded.As the VQS was led away from the hedge across the grassy sward, they saw Daughter Betina and Sister Lenoire being led reluctantly in toward the Great Oak.Their quarters were in a smallish building from which most of the rubble had been cleared. There were no furnishing, but it had a working fireplace for warmth and six piles of leaves each covered with a coarse goblin blanket that served as beds. It was far inferior to their room at the Hard Cider Tavern, but everything was clean and free of vermin. It was barely a step up from sleeping outside on the ground."This is..." Bisayo said as he took in their housing, "...quaint.""Fine way to treat the returning heroes," Ixin grumbled, clutching her cloak tightly about her as if she feared it touching anything within the place."I've slept in worse places," Morier told them and slung his greatsword off his shoulder."As have I," Karak concurred. He poked at one of the 'beds' with his boot and harrumphed. "It do nae smell like gobbo at least.""What do you think Feln will come back as?" Vade asked suddenly. "I do not think he would want to come back as a dog or anything.... Although it would be very fun to have someone to play catch with. He was not much of a talker, anyway, but a real good listener."The silence in the room was deafening and nobody quite wanted to meet Vade's innocent, questioning gaze."What?" he asked as he lowered his bulging backpack to the hard earthen floor. "What's the matter?" Surprisingly, it was the tight-lipped Morier who answered first."Vade, I understand your desire to see Feln brought back, but is that what's best?" he asked. "In some way it seems... unnatural.""What? Havin' the orcblood come back from the dead as a badger or somethin'?" Karak snorted sarcastically. "What could be unnatural 'bout that?""Actually, I believe the reincarnated soul can only create another souled form in which to house itself," Bisayo offered. "That is to say, the new form must be of a type that possesses a soul normally. So no animals, or the like. He'll come back as a humanoid of some sort." "If we decide to bring him back," Ixin added. "That's not a foregone conclusion.""What?" Vade cried and tears began to spill from his eyes once more."But Feln was your ally was he not?" Bisayo asked. "A way has presented itself to return him from his untimely journey to the afterlife. Why wouldn't you take it?""Because I have a feeling that getting Feln back would backfire on us, that's why," Ixin told him. "Perhaps we would reincarnate part of that chaos demon, too. It's too risky in my mind and it seems like it upsets the natural order of things which would further feed Chaos." Bisayo shrugged."Well, I do not think it upsets the natural order. Many of my people's Wayshepard's have made use of this magic over the centuries," the elf argued. "Did you not describe this tree as a representative of nature itself? Would such a being offer to reincarnate your companion if it was against nature's will?""Bah!" Karak grumbled. "Nature can be bent to a being's will, but gold doesn't burn.""Karak! I thought you respected Feln. I guess it is true that dwarves are just short fat greedy humans with hearts of stone," Vade cried out in a disappointed tone. "I thought we were friends with a common cause. We never left Draelond or Ruze behind. Poor Ruze. I went out and tried to save them. We can't give up this opportunity to save our friend. He is a great fighter against Chaos!""This debate might be for naut, anyway," Bisayo said. "Reincarnation requires some portion of the original body in order to work. According to your recounting of the circumstances surrounding your companion's demise, there was no body left to recover. Did anyone recover a finger... or an ear..." He looked around and the others all shook their heads one by one."Wait!" Vade exclaimed and began rummaging through his pack. After a moment's search, he produced a bone comb that still had a few strands of reddish hair wound around the teeth. "This is Feln's hair. I borrowed his comb while he was sleeping and I must have forgotten to give it back!""That do nae change things, little one," Karak grumbled. "We need to ask the tree for gold or some sort o' magic weapon to fight Chaos ""But maybe he could be reincarnated as a dwarf, Karak," Vade offered. "Then you would like him better." Karak harrumphed at that."He'd still be an orcblood, to me," the dwarf growled and spat on the ground. He misjudged a bit, however and messily splattered Bisayo's deerskin boots. He scowled at this and muttered, "Uh... sorry there, fancy foot."Bisayo looked at his soiled foot in disgust and a touch of color brushed his high cheek bones. It was the only indication on his impassive face that he was angered by Karak's mistake. "So his orcish blood condemns him in your eyes?" the elf snapped. "There are others amongst you with more dubious lineages than that. And you associate freely with them." Bisayo looked pointedly at Morier as he said this and the albino laughed sardonically at the mage."I wondered how long it was going to take you to get around to me. I saw that you recognized me for what I am when we first met," the eldritch warrior said and sighed. "I didn't think you'd be able to keep quiet so long, although I'd wager you haven't slept too soundly with one of my blood so close at hand.""What are you talking about?" Ledare asked."I'm surprised you hadn't already gleaned it, Ledare. Feln figured it out pretty early on. Perhaps it was just him being more attuned to the plight of the outsider than any of you," Morier said. "As Bisayo will be quick to point out, I'm not what anyone would consider a 'normal' elf... and for that matter, it should also be pretty evident to the rest of you that Angwyn isn't my natural father. He adopted me... in a manner of speaking. The truth of the issue is that he found me on the edge of a cave clearing, having been left for dead by my parents. An albino in the world of the Drow is not exactly what anyone would consider a welcome addition to the family. Nobody seems to know how or why it happened, just that it isn't considered a fatal condition unless your parents are Drow.""Dark elves?" Karak growled, his lip curling unconsciously. The tunnel fighters of his delve had clashed more than once with the ebon-skinned elves of the underdark."Yes, Karak," Morier said sadly. "I have learned how to disguise my race from most I meet. But my surface cousins... I can't ever seem to fool them.""On my own world, there are some dragonkin who hide their natures from those around them," Ixin offered by way of support and she spread her wings slightly as she spoke. "I can not imagine feeling it necessary to hide what you are.""It was not always easy," the eldritch warrior went on. His hidden self had been contained behind a facade for so long that it felt good to let his story spill from his lips now that his lie had been revealed. "I was a severely restless child, and Angwyn seized the opportunity to send me to train in combat with Arwold Wyverneye. He claims that the 'spark' of electricity was in me then and couldn't be contained. So it was train under Wyverneye or end up living out my days away from others completely.""When I finished my training under Wyverneye, I wandered alone for a great while, occasionally meeting with a group of adventurers, but rarely toward any common end. Most plundered for money, or hunted bounty for riches and rewards of one kind or another," he explained. "I spent a great deal of time in taverns and inns, drinking mead and listening to the lies and boasts, and very little time pursuing actual action." "But it is in the very lifeblood of the eldritch warrior to adventure, so I continued to search for groups who would seek adventure with me," the albino sighed and then grinned thinly at the others. "It is only in encountering this group that I have found a number of souls with whom I feel a common bond. To work toward a greater good while discovering one's own inner being is the true essence of why I have travelled with you these many days."Ledare stepped forward and put a reassuring hand on Morier's shoulder. "You are welcome to stand beside us for as long as you wish," she said. "You have proven yourself a worthy comrade many times over and if Bisayo cannot accept your blood..." She let her voice trail off as she fixed the mage with an appraising eye.As on the occasion of their first meeting, Bisayo squirmed under her prolonged scrutiny. "I meant no disrespect.... But the dwarf..." he stammered before ultimately gathering his cloak around himself and heading for the door. "I need to get some air," he muttered as he went."So, does this mean we get to reincarnate Feln?" Vade asked after the elf had stepped out into the lengthening shadows of afternoon."I don't see how this changes anything, Vade," Ixin said. "My heart aches for the loss of our friend, but I think our cause would be better served by asking Great Oak for some other boon."A great wracking sob burst out of Vade's mouth at the drakeling's words. "How?" he sobbed. "How could you leave a comrade behind like this?""Vade..." Ledare began to say in a soothing tone, but Vade would have none of it. He stalked angrily away from her, his face a grim mask of fierce determination. "No!" he cried. "If you don't help Feln you can have your stinking crusade and kiss my tiny little butt good bye." He paused just long enough to throw his pin engraved with the VQS emblem out the door before he stomped off himself.</blockquote>

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