Theoderic has split everyone up, so that their movements will not give their strategy away.  By varied routes, everyone will converge again at Mos Trajectum.

Eadoin, Scolo, and Melissa prepare to set off.  According to plans, they will take the road through Theoderic's land- a road Eadoin knows fairly well.  That will take them to Belgica, and then they will turn east to Mos Trajectum.  Along the way, or maybe a little ways off on a detour, Melissa wants to find a good place for Scolo's new home.

But if they had any thoughts about going on this trip by themselves... there are others with their own ideas here.

Phiraz leads a small group of Centaurs up to Eadoin as he is preparing for the trip.

“Thayer asked Theoderic, you know,” Phiraz says.  “But Theoderic thinks we've done enough and we shouldn't be asked to spill more blood on his behalf.  Perhaps we have.  But then, it's not just about Theoderic, is it?   It's also about you, and a lot of us believe in you, or at least that Epona is working through you, and whatever blood Epona needs from us is yours.”

Another Centaur speaks up.  “And when this whole thing is over, there would be nothing worse than if someone asks, 'were the Centaurs there?', and they say, no, no, they had better things to do.  We're going with you, Eadoin, come what may.”

There is a smaller voice, closer to the ground. “And a Hybsil, one, at least.  Got to have one of us at least, or they'll be asking that same question about us.  We're not about glory, but let it not be said that when we were needed, we weren't there.  Zizram, sir, here to do what I can.”

Melissa looks at the remainder of the party.  She and Scolo are the only ones with two legs.

“I'd never have thought it,” she says.  “We're traveling with a herd of Centaurs.”

“We're traveling with a strange pair of Humans,” Phiraz says.  “Shall we set out?”
This message was last edited by the GM at 00:46, Mon 13 May 2013.

It was easy to find Scolo, he had remained in the field for a forgotten ammount of time, but explosions were noted several times a day, usually at mealtimes and neighborhood kids had found him and played 'wizards and warriors with exploding firesticks during the night. Thank the powers no one was badly hurt. When Scolo wakes in the morning alone and surrounded by firesticks with burned out twigs in his beard he feels rather aweful.

He cleans himself and tests his sanity with the scales, but his remorse is enough to tell him what is going on ...

09:57, Today: Scolo rolled 20 using 1d20. Sanity.

With another explosion, somewhat muted and difficult Scolo harvests another pheasant deep fried to succulent perfection and is just preparing to welcome back any children and tell them not to play with explosive firesticks when Melissa arrives.

Scolo stands Good morning my dear! How ARE you? his head scrapes the tree branches.

He is obviously doing well but needs to gather back his things.

I'm sooo sorry about the other day - it was all a shock, and I really don't feel comfortable with non wizards from the academy.

While it may be that the king should have explained his intentions Scolo makes no excuses.

When they reach the Centaurs the wizard smiles genuinely. it's so good to see you again!
He shakes Eadoin's hand and puts his other hand on his shoulder in a somewhat too familiar fashion that might be awkward but seems to move in stride with the wizard.

He looks at the other creature and tries to remember what she is.
Oh yes, and a lovely Hybsil you are - hmmmm ... He thinks.
He looks at Melissa - I think we should get horses or we'll keep them back with our dropsy tripsy feet eh?

17:55, Today: Scolo rolled 27 using 1d20+7. Knowledge nature Hybsil.
I'm guessing Scolo knows about Hysilae but could you remind the player?


Edgar Squaks looking very birdlike today ... He says something to Scolo but it is quickly lost.
This message was last edited by the player at 02:59, Tue 14 May 2013.

Eadoin says his rather fond farewells, again, to his family.  While he enjoys the travels about, he feels each parting quite keenly.  His absence from Apple Blossom and the little ones is a huge gap in his happiness.  Still, he knows they're in good company making the return trip to Raviniacum.  In spite of his unhappiness, he knows the things he and others do open the way for others to come in the late spring: the young, the old, and those who care for them.

He's still a mite vague on exactly what he's supposed to do with Scolo other than help him find a safe place to live and to make sure he gets through to Mos Trajectum safely.  The roads they'll travel are mostly familiar, the land mostly level, cut by winding rivers.  Travel should be easily done.

When Phiraz and a little band of Centaurs approaches, Eadoin isn't overly surprised.  He'd asked for volunteers to come with him, even while everyone else goes home to make ready for spring.  The young Centaur smiles easily, tail whisking momentarily.  "Thank you, Phiraz.  It'll be fine to travel in the company of his folk for a time; it will definitely dull the edge of his absence from his family, to be with other members of his chosen band.  He welcomes Zizram, as well.  "No 'sir', please.  I'm just Eadoin.  It's grand to have you along."

The truth of things is that Eadoin has missed for the whispering of his goddess in the grasses outside the city so closely aligned with Arduinna.  Civitas Lucimburic is Her city, filled with Her people, in the middle of Her forest.  He's thankful for Her guidance and her sheltering trees, has set her amongst the Lares at the house in Ravinicum, along with Ceres and Epona.  He's reached his ætas adolescentis in the hospitality of a people She's claimed as her own.  Yet, the young Centaur has a longing for the voice that's spoken to him since his earliest childhood.  No accident then that Phiraz mentions Epona to again set his hooves to the open road.

---

Eadoin greets Scolo rather warmly.  "I think we'll be travelling together a while, sir, through Belgica to Mos Trajectum.  Also, I'm told we might be looking for a place you and your folk might settle, when they're brought from their village."

He's not really up on all the ins and outs of the politics of Aurelianorum, much less those of wizards.  He stays out of that conversation.  Rather than engage on the sticky topic, Eadoin introduces Phiraz, Zizram, and the other members of the small company.

He smiles a little, returning Scolo's handshake and gesture of a hand on his shoulder.  Awkward?  Maybe, likely more because Eadoin's shoulder is well above the six-foot mark these days, than from any undue familiarity.  While the young Centaur's not so large as the grown warriors of his folk, he's nearing seven feet.

"Good day to you, too, Edgar."  He looks about curiously.  "If you've mounts, I think we're assembled."

Scolo has learned many strange things in his life.  Not all because he’s a little strange himself.  Wizards are notorious for learning just about everything they can, and in the Academy, they actually promote that bizarre past time.  And… they have teachers, and classes, and books.

And once, years ago, Scolo recalls the classes on “rare and exotic races of Europa”…



As they head out, Melissa keeps an eye out... behind.

"There was a spy in Lucimburic, you know," she reminds.  "All the signs were there.  Not an assassin... maybe... sometimes an assassin is just a spy with a good opportunity.  And security was so tight, we never gave an opportunity.  But a spy.  I understand something of why Theoderic had us split up.  It will be very interesting to see who the spy decides is more worth following.  A wizard with an escort of Centaurs, or a king with a new wife."

Radish stand hmmm Zizram is it? That's lovely are you a magician then ... Like Scolo?

Scolo asks.

I would love to find a spy, love it you know. I wonder ... I'm sure I wouldn't follow us if I were a spy, but just in case ....

Scolo decides to create a little puzzle. He creates first a sphere of impenetrability in the trail. It will be obvious enough and near the ground as if the impenetrable ball had fallen out of his pocket. He also casts telepromptation on a small piece of quickiron and leaves it carelessly nearby before mounting his mule and riding off.

His genius plan is that the powerful aura of the ball will attract anyone with magic - it will slow them considerably as they hopefully investigate and confirm it's not a trap and has no scrying on it etc. they may try to move it or work it. Anyway in the process they will eventually find the quickiron and take that. Then Scolo will get a description of whatever takes the quickiron.
It's not exactly a foolproof plan, the last time Scolo tried this he ended up starting a dynasty of armored warrior rabbits that evolve over generations to master the use of quickiron. Terribly good at stealing vegetables these rabbits were, and practically immune to any attack.

But who knows?

“We have some magic in our blood,” the Hybsil says.  “All of us, part of our being.  But little spies of hiding and gathering, things we have for our life.  Grand magic... that is rare among us.  You won't find a Hybsil hurling fire, Wizard Scolo.”


They walk west through Theoderic's forest domain.

Melissa brings up a small issue she mentioned before, but Scolo overlooked.  She forgives him these things, knowing how easily distracted he is.

“Have you thought of a new home?” she asks him.  “Where it should be?  There are a lot of choices.  You don't really strike me as a forest wizard.”

“We have a new home,” Zizram says.  “It is different.  Where we were before,  it was forest.  No towns, no roads.  This is a place that is... well, there is much here.  It is a strange life.  Where I lived, we always knew all there was to know.  I don't think anyone can do that, here.”

Eadoin knows the villages they pass.  He's been here a few times, now.  They stop in Sedanensis, a place he knows as a home of carpenters and other craftsman.

New home?
The wizard turns quiet, brooding. He rubs his arms as if in memory of some ancient injury.

It is as if a flood of painful memories and thoughts occupy him, his sanity aches.

Yes, he says at last after a long time you're right, of course. But I don't want to start again. There is nothing left for me. I've lost my village - I shouldn't even be here.

He speaks quietly almost as if he is talking to himself.

Why would the Academy bring the people of Mestanon to me? You heard that woman - she hates me.

Theoderic was tricked and he should have told me the truth. They will be turned away, if they are found. Or brought back maybe with stories of all my failure and ...

He shakes at the thought of the things they'll be told.

Ill never get another tower like that one, and all my work is lost to be buried or exploited by the academy.

He looks at Melissa and speaks up finally.
Why do you say that? I love the woods, the fields of fey magic and the freedom. If I must languish as a vassal of the King, let me have a small plot on the edge of a fey forrest, it should be suitable for a garden, and dry enough for stone construction. It should be near enough to a town or road to be resupplied but not so near to attract visitors.

One thing is clear - a sane Scolo is far more melancholy than his normal self.

They've passed a line of villages, and eventually, reach one built around the remnants of an old fortress.  The fortress once had three large wings- now, the east wing is a grassy lawn surrounded by the remnants of wall, the west wing has been occupied by the log homes of the villagers, and the middle is still a passable fortress.

It is called Castricum, and Eadoin remembers it.

This is where the boys of the region are first taught the skills of the mounted warrior.  At Lucimburic, the Dwarves wanted to emulate Theoderic's cavalry, and Theoderic even assigned a few men to train some Dwarves.  But the truth is that the men who make up Theoderic's cavalry began to ride shortly after they began to walk, and were hurling spears from horses when they were ten years old.  Here.

They see a few boys engaged in a traditional Frankish sport: hurling a spear through a hanging ring, from a galloping horse.

Melissa puts in perspective of Scolo's apparent living preferences.

“Well, it's got that run down rustic ancient ruins theme,” she says.  “I'm sure there are Fey woods around.  But you probably want to be closer to a real city.  I remember this place.  We are still pretty far out in nowhere.”

Strangely, they are all but ignored.  The Centaurs and Hybsils are far more obvious novelty (although a novelty that is wearing off rapidly.)  And Melissa makes sure Edgar is not visible.

The group isn't large, so it's tough not to catch Scolo's mood, much less the wizard's muttering.  He doesn't know much about Scolo's old work, nor much about the Academy.  Still, he finds himself rather fond of the strange man, even distracted by things unseen as he seems.  The young Centaur does know the pain of missing one's kith and kin, though, so he just tries to be companionable.

---

As they pass through the string of villages, Eadoin greets those whom he's met before.  In Castricum, Eadoin suggests to Melissa they consider Belgica for settling.  "There are some…open places where there aren't many folks.  My folk want to range a bit, in their way.  We've some land there, between settled places where the Huns didn't go.  Anyway, you'd be not too far from other folks and well looked after, if you cared to be."

"Belgica?" Melissa asks.  "It's a good place.  It's been prosperous, if you like gray skies and cool weather.  And they say the food is good.  It's very... well... political.  It's the center of the whole mess, there wouldn't have been a war at all if the Dukes of Belgica hadn't snubbed the Emperor's Peace Treaty.  Theoderic wouldn't have been enough of a threat on his own.  And the Elves... the Emperor would have had the Ardennes encircled and he could attack at will from any direction.  They wouldn't have held out.  So it's really Belgica that was the key to it all along."

They camp for the night, and in the morning, continue along the road to Belgica.

Melissa rolls the idea around in her head.  "As long as the threat is past, Belgica isn't any more dangerous than anywhere else.  There's probably a lot a wizard could do for the people there.  Scolo... some powerful nobles are patrons of wizards and... well of course you would know that.  Have you ever considered being a court wizard?  You'd never have to worry about the basic necessities, at least."

For the first two Days, the wizard seems cool. He is unhappy about something but he says little. He frequently checks a flat stone he is carrying for any sign that anyone or anything has disturbed his quickiron or his orb.

When there is time he Speaks with Melissa and Eadoin at length and he seems to relish the conversation. During these times he is sane, and thoughtful. He writes often in his to do list and wonders at the world with the lovely Hyblis.

But he will invariably frown after a time and wander off away from the others. At these times he seems to be arguing with an invisible antagonizer. His sleep is restless and is mornings are slow.

When they reach the fort Scolo brightens.

Castricum, hmmmmm .... That fort is practically ....

He seems to be considering the possibilities as he looks the place over,

He almost dances looking at various stones and woodlands but after a time while tasting the soil he frowns

There are too many he motions distractedly. Little people about ... Boys are the worst - curious, risky and dumb, and the soil isn't magic .... Wormy but not magic.

He spits out some of the soil to make the point.

He does agree very much with Eadoin.
Open places yes, that is what I want. Perhaps an ancient open space, With a cave and a tower.
 
OOC: Freud is not around yet - wizards like caves and towers so stop smirking!


The next day Scolo's mood lightens. His attitude grows wild as well.

He starts the day well, making waffles. At first he makes waffles and starts throwing them to the birds, he even hits a few, then he makes waffles for all the members of the party with glittery cinnamon and berry syrup.
He sings Everyone a sunrise tune. Finally sticking waffles into any tree roots to feed the worms.

Hey riddle diddle in the mornin with a fiddle and a cats comb brush with a three dog tune.
My berrys got a piddle and ma baby's chubby middle sings a bean fed toot that would call the loons!
Oh the loons'll start ya giggle an they fly up from the middle with a piggy on their backs'll make the swine-herd swoon.

The verses get stranger, something about a dragon and a baby porcupine making friends with an apple and the sense of loss one feels when freezing earlobes under a honey tree.

Court wizard? hmmmmm ... And the thought of Belgica

Ooooh that would be nice, wouldn't it, Sir? Edgar does his best to manipulate the scene in hopes Scolo will consider higher society.

I like magical land.... Nobles are nice they have pretty houses, but no courts for me. I'ld likely blow it up or send it reeling to another realm ... It might be fun!. He giggles.
This message was last edited by the player at 17:12, Wed 29 May 2013.

In due time they reach Raviniacum.  Theoderic's little Meuse village, spread out on an almost-island formed where a river bend is so severe that it almost crosses back on itself.  Stopping here adds a little to the travel time, as the trail to Raviniacum follows the Meuse along its most twisted stretch.  But for Eadoin, it is almost necessary.  He cannot travel on again, without some time with his adopted family.

Apple Blossom's little farm is prospering, and she is training others in her methods.  Her parents worked out ways to squeeze agricultural production out of tiny urban plots- working the rich soil of the Meuse river basin is almost too easy by comparison.  It was a hard winter but a few Centaurs at least will eat well soon.

Melissa has been here before, in fact, during a summer festival.  But then, it was to track Theoderic, and maybe give him one last chance to ally with the Huns.  The Emperor was prepared to make a generous offer, back then.  (And why not?  The end of Theoderic's resistance would have led inevitably to the final destruction of the Elves!)

Raviniacum has one tavern, the Merry Meade House.  This is the only business in town that actually has a written sign.  It is a large, rustic looking meade hall where the menu is very limited:  the locally famous meade, home brewed ale, and whatever the owners happen to have around.   Melissa makes overnight arrangments for herself and Scolo, happy to have a night not on the road.

Scolo's footwear draws attention.  But not Human attention.  The Ardennes are rich in natural magic.  Where many predators are far more powerful than their non-magical relatives, many of the prey animals have adapted themselves.  People have remarked that hunting in a Unicorn's forest is always more difficult, but it's often not the Unicorn's fault.   Magic seeps into everything, eventually.

So it is that Scolo attracts the attention of Blink Bunnies.  Several appear at his feet, sniffing experimentally.


Thing the characters do not know about Blink Bunnies:

This innocent looking white rabbit has the ability to rapidly
teleport itself over short distances. More significant, though, is
its ability to teleport itself and any nearby Blink Bunnies to and
from a very special Demi-Plane, apparently crafted solely for the use
of Blink Bunnies. The Demi Plane of the Blink Bunnies is a rabbit
paradise with plenty of food, water, and sunshine, but time passes
there very rapidly. In seconds of subjective time, a month may pass
on this other plane. The Blink Bunny's response to an attack is
for several of them to teleport to this plane, and rapidly out-breed
whatever the threat is, sending more and more Blink Bunnies back to
the point of origin each round. Thus, frightening or stressing out
Blink Bunnies will cause them to start reproducing rapidly, their
numbers growing exponentially by the minute. When relaxed, they no
longer use this ability.

Scolo's bunny slippers animate like little puppets when his toes wiggle. They move their noses and and eyes and he does a little hokey pokey putting one then the other close to the real bunnys.
He giggles and blinks, well long door anyway twice using his slippers and playing with the bling bunnies.

OOC: This screams developing some sort of special summoning spell. Bunny Brood/Swarm. Powerful but takes time and well, they are bunnies so it would be more disruptive then anything else.

Eadoin has a short time to reunite with the other Centaurs.  That’s what it seems, these days- interludes of peace, between journeys and moments of excitement and danger.


Blink Bunnies are not the smartest of animals (they are about on par with ordinary, non magical rabbits) but they seem to manifest a sort of collective wisdom from time to time.  Much to Melissa’s dismay (she’s suspicious of anything that weird) the bunnies seem to like Scolo.  Perhaps it is because he amuses them.  With other people, they get fed, picked up, petted, talked to… but Scolo is the first person they’ve ever met who ever entertains them.  For that matter, he is the first person they ever met who even thought Blink Bunnies out to be entertained.  It is a new and novel experience.

Plus, there is something slightly “omnidimensional” about the Blink Bunnies.  On some instinctive lagomorphic level they recognize that the common world of matter and energy and physical laws as people know them is not the totality, and there are other places, other modes of being.. and somehow they sense Scolo has some knowledge of what they know.

Their affinity for him does not go unnoticed.

Theoderic’s mother, who generally acts as “manager” for the household and the entire village of Raviniacum, is a Half Elf woman somewhere in her fifties.  In between other tasks, she sees the bunnies frolic around Scolo.

“Would you like one?” she asks.  “They’re friendly, as long as they aren’t stressed.  If they start getting stressed… well, they come back with more bunnies.”

Finding himself unexpectedly in Raviniacum for a few days, Eadoin spends time with Apple Blossom in the garden, fishing with Orieus and Ocyrhoe, as well as with everyone a few miles down the river.  It's a time for family life and for reconnecting with the other members of this Meuse River band of his folk that's come together.  He's still rather unsure what it means to be a chief, when he's travelling so much, not present.  It's something that's been bothering him, but he's not found a mentor.  Zhoton is one, Titus another, the King yet another, but his role models are scattered far and wide; for the most part, they're not specifically familiar with the culture and mores of the Centaurs.

An evening, after the little ones have gone to sleep, he mentions his concerns to Apple Blossom.  At the core, he's worried about making sure the Centaurs come together as a family, given they're from six different tribes.  "They'll travel with the seasons, I expect, here and Belgica, but we're kind of settled here.  You've got a great garden here and I don't want to uproot us again so soon as we've settled, but I don't know how to change the way we live to meet the rest of our folk in the middle.  That's our family, a few miles down the river.  They've come and suffered with us because we asked."  He sighs out, baring himself to the one person in whom he has the deepest trust.  "What should we do?"

---

Blink Bunnies are well known to Eadoin.  He reached some detente with them in the prior spring, concerning their pilferage in Apple Blossom's garden.  Considering the abundance of summer greens and autumn vegetables, the discussion regarding supply and demand, as well as the promise of a periodic tribute of carrots, it seems like the truce has held.  In any case, he'll spend some time chatting with this bunny or that, to see if there's anything they need.  He can carry word to Lady Entherin should there be something.

When Eadoin is "home" he finds he does not have to be a chieftain.  Centaur society was never built around the kind of organization seen elsewhere.  Even the Elves have supremely structured societies by comparison.  The Centaurs have little need for leadership.  Disputes are generally resolved just be separating the disputing parties, and there never was much property to fight over.  Here he is chieftain of a very small band, mostly Apple Blossom and the kids... and it's no use telling Apple Blossom what to do, she attends to her farming with near religious zeal.

Centaurs do not push themselves on others.  It's not their way.  But Apple Blossom and Eadoin weren't really raised in a Centaur society, just a shadow of one.  Apple Blossom acts, in many ways, more Human than centaur.  She makes it clear- she would never tell Eadoin not to go.  She knows he must.  But she isn't happy about it.

Like one? Hmmmm ...
Scolo gets out his portal hats and plays with the bunnies trying to see if any of them are attracted to hopping through them. He'll also put a little quickiron out. Of course it would be a challenge if any of these bunnies are as bright as old Peter the armored hare.

Clever little rabbits? How is your tensing vectors eh? What do you make here snoogablooms?

Edgar - do we have any rabbit food?

Edgar sighs with mood so depressing he could inspire an entire genre of 1980s popular music.
I suppose, Master - some radishes but I won't be cleaning when the beast leaves poo in your pockets.

A glimmer of hope and a smile comes to Scolo as he gets the rabbits to jump through his hats. He begins to see that there may be a fun place to live around here he wonders at all the things blink bunnies are able to learn and what other wild creatures enjoy these woods.

 There is something remarkable about the Blink Bunnies... apart from their Blink ability that is.  Pulling rabbits from hats is old wizard cliché, and the portal hats were made for it, but... so were the Blink Bunnies.  They take to the portal hats like ducks take to water... more so.  Like magic ducks would take to magic water.  They hop in, out, in apparent glee and...

“Did you see that?” Melissa asks.

Scolo is not sure he did.  He's seen many strange things.  Not all of them actually existed at the time.  But... there... there, that's what Melissa was talking about, he's sure of it.

There is not a one-to-one equivalence between bunnies going into hats and bunnies going out of hats.  There always is when anything else goes into the hats, but not the Blink Bunnies.  Something is definitely off, here.  Of course, Scolo knows that with magic, strange things happen. There could be any number of causes to this peculiar phenomenon.  For example, it is possible that a Blink Bunny using a portal while blinking could cause a disruption of the entire universe, and when it reconstitutes itself, it's off by a Bunny or two.  Or it could be an even more bizarre effect.

Edgar looks worried.

But when the dust settles and the carrots are served, Scolo is certain of one thing:  The Bunnies have effectively colonized the portal hats.

Oh my! The wizard laughs and laughs actually sitting down with his bare knees sticking out of his frock rather than falling over himself, then he looks up like a man startled to find his teapot has turned into a cow.

Edgar moves into position, this is the idea look and he gets what little his minor brain can understand from his mental connection to the wizard, as if he is reading from a notecard Edgar says, Why haven't they completely populated the earth?
Yes, exactly ... The Juengen vectors dont even ...
Scolo begins writing frantically on an imaginary chalkboard complex arcane symbols come to life as he works and several times he scratches out some of his work sending it tinkling like spare coins on the ground. Eventually he produces some theoretical proposition he likes and furiously copies it into his notebook. He laughs some more and creates illusory music to complete his triumphant mood - clearly the bunnies are inspiring.

In a saner moment he explains all of this to Melissa.
 "You see, by all rights the entire universe should be made up of blink bunnies the way they reproduce and abuse space time, at the very least every garden would be destroyed, but they don't as many as come one day must go away the next yes?
And here is a clue in the hats, the hats you see, they take advantage of a tiny wrinkle in the fabric Of space and time a wrinkle that connects two spaces. But there is no space in the wrinkle ... See if I put my hand in one hat, it comes out the other, just like that! No empty space!

But the bunnies, they find space in there they colonized it they live there! That is where they go! I will always have bunnies in my hats now.  Not just my hats but other wrinkles and I think ... Yes - I think ... There must be wrinkles everywhere! Infinite wrinkles that we can never reach or perceive. "

This is just the thing for a graduate student to work on, there is something powerful in this revelation, Scolo is sure of it.

Eventually they may prepare to move on, Scolo will gather some bunny food for his friends. Until that time he remains in a state of wonder and imagination.

They remain in Raviniacum a couple of days, in no particular hurry to move on, resting and catching up on family and on news, while Scolo investigates blink bunnies.  He tries to work out just why Blink Bunnies aren’t everywhere… there seems no natural explanation for that, but then, there’s no natural explanation for Blink Bunnies.  Some things just are.

Melissa wanders around the little village… usually with someone watching her carefully.  It’s been a while.. when she was here for the summer festival, it was as a spy and ambassador of sorts for the Emperor.  One last try, to get Theoderic to come to terms.

He’s irrational, she decides.  And has always been so.  One can’t do impossible things unless one believes in advance that one can do impossible things, and so, in some small way, he’s like Scolo, who never cares for rationality.  But where Scolo’s madness is expressed through his magic, for Theoderic it is a general way of life.

At last it is time to move on.  They head west, for the village of Hiricio, the holding of Theoderic’s right hand man Gellas.  The Centaurs and a pair of Hybsils pack up for another journey with Scolo and Melissa.

But where Scolo goes, now… there will be Bunnies.

For days Scolo has been doing relatively well. He started out on this journey and for much of it he was quite healthy, witty thoughtful and of course brilliant with a sly and playful humor. But during those days there was always something gnawing at him, his magic when done was slow and sloppy he would be found silent, staring, writing and with sad or angry looks he would occasionally make mention of his own failures and reference a darker past and the fact that there was no place for him, not really.

Today was different - Scolo woke and walked nude as he measured and weighed bits of fluff taken from his clothes. Edgar had a hell of a time getting him to put on clothes. He managed to explain.

Oh this is a pretty book, says the floating purple multipod as he hovers over the to do list lying on a floor with other scattered possessions.
What's what chicken but ? Cries the lanky fellow with long appendages that seem to bend in ways they shouldn't as he strides his nakedness cleverly to take the book.
Mine! Mine!

Oh yes Sir, declares Edgar what do I hear?

The voice comes from a frock cast over a chair.
Ha ha! It's me the most wonderful garment ever worn - but no- I won't let any wizard take me!

The to do list blares in bright orange letters Go Frock Yourself! on it's page with a little cartoon on how to dress the wizard in a curious sense of experiment eventually follows the instructions giggling then forgets he did it.

Eventually with a few more tricks of ventriloquism Edgar is able to get Mr Scolo dressed and fed. After which time he leaps onto his mule and slides down sideways on the beast.  He does not get off or adjusted but remains riding nearly sideways or upside down the whole Way gleefully making bunny noises with the slippers on his hands. Or grunting painfully - he keeps his eyes on the creatures hooves as if there will be a special insight for looking at them this way. Magical sparkles and eddies come off of him wherever they go.


22:35, Today: Scolo rolled 4 using 1d20. San.
This message was last edited by the player at 11:25, Mon 17 June 2013.

They travel through the forest along the southern fringe of the great Ardennes.

On days like this, Melissa instinctively and automatically “covers” for Scolo, filling the roles of escort, guide, nurse, and occasional interpreter.

She finds his shoes, stows belongings he would otherwise leave behind, and makes sure he’s properly dressed.  When others stare at him, even if they are Centaurs, she’s testy and defensive.

“He’s  a wizard.”   She uses that several times, as if it explains everything.

She talks to Scolo to calm him, even though she knows he doesn’t “get” half of what anyone says on days like this.

“This isn’t the best day to lose it again.. maybe it is, out here .  And you know it won’t help anyone for you to be seen like this. Half these people… well, you know how it goes.  Simple people of the land, with simple attitudes towards magic, easily suspicious of what they don’t know.”

One of the Hybsils approaches Melissa, and talks about herbal remedies their folk know for conditions like his.

But of course there’s a catch.

“It will impede his magic?”  she says, after the Hybsil explains.  “I don’t know… I don’t know.  When he’s better, I’ll talk to him.”

They follow the forest trail, passing a small settlement in the woods- and Melissa keeps Scolo from having any tricky “interactions” with the locals.  By late afternoon, they are coming out of the forest, and the trail takes them across the farmland surrounding Hiricio, home of Theoderic’s right hand man, Gellas.

Eadoin knows this place well, of course.

...no use in yelling Apple Blossom what to do.

Entire volumes could be written about that seemingly innocuous statement.  Telling Apple Blossom to do this or not to do that wouldn't be particularly helpful, in any case.  She'll do what she does, ignore or listen to Eadoin as the mood takes her.  Frankly, the moods of his intended are quite bewildering to the young Centaur.  He'd have more success in predicting the weather.

He knows Apple Blossom's displeasure well enough, shares it.  He feels the separation acutely each time he goes, knows he's missing the little ones growing up...missing himself growing up.  There's work to be done, though, and not enough hands to do it.  "I'll miss you all very much," he says in parting.

He's beginning to feel like one doesn't "chieftain" Centaurs, but rather says something like, "I'm going that way."  Others will follow as suits them, though occasionally one has to metaphorically wrestle for it.  In this case, a handful of his folk have already self-selected to tag along.

---

Eadoin can't miss Scolo's attachment to the bunnies.  The little lapines are generally good judges of character, he's decided.  If they help to focus the wizard and to give themselves a sense of security, so much the better.  He offers, "If you want to ask them something, I can help, but...well, don't expect too much of them by way of conversation.  They're bunnies, so they pretty much think like bunnies."

Of Scolo's nakedness, it's only remarkable to Eadoin in that it's a Human without clothing.  Such is rather the rule when bathing than the exception.  His own folk largely do without through the warmer seasons.  Still, he can see how it might be surprising or distressing to others.

He listens curiously when Melissa and the Hybsil chat about herbal remedies to help manage the manifestations of Scolo's non-lucid moments.  He knows there are ways to alter mood and will by using the things one finds growing, but he's not the herbalist Apple Blossom is.  Still, he's curious what the Hybsils might have to say about it.

The young Centaur knows well enough how one can go walking the spirit world by eating certain plants, can talk to one's ancestors, and such.  Like any journey, though, it's a trip that as likely turns one inward as outward, or one that removes the boundaries between self and other.  That, Eadoin imagines, is where Scolo really lives.

Quietly, Eadoin approaches Melissa and the Hybsil.  He's a bit fey himself, at times, so he can relate to the wizard's distractions.  "I can help some, I think."

---

It's been some time since he was in Hiricio, training at the bow, spear, and sword with Vagrenk.  He wonders whether anyone he remembers is here.

During the days playing with bunnies:


Scolo's eyes widen, Yes - yes - tell them I have a psychomorphic metal they can use that can be shaped and managed into virtually any technology, and that if we expose ourselves to the ambient warmth of the chaos event horizon in my backpack there is a small chance one of them could get smarter, or grow an extra set of genitalia, or get black teeth... Anyway. We can work together with the development of a telomere structure to the their spacetime wrinkles that will enable blinking for others and ... Well yes - I know your looking at me like "can't passing a multitude of psy states through a phex algorithm to the wrinkles without an evolutionary history put strain on both the psychostates of said entities and threaten the shape of normal spacetime." But really I don't think so, this stuff usually works out. Go ahead - tell them.

Oh and I really want to learn how to say things to them ... Like could I sa Kakaaalakaakaa and they know I've got food or maybe Kakaaalakaakaa taka and it means Fight a wolf is here?