Eirik casts about for a small trickle of water - stream, creek, even a plant whose roots might have tapped a water table closer to the surface - but to no avail. The Scarred One's ruination of this region of the mountains was once again nearing completion. All knew that when he moved on again, there would be not only the upland damages to the ecosystem, but everything downstream in the heart of their beloved country as well.
   Time was of the essence now....

   In his haste to get up the ravine and moving again, the barbarian had stowed the smaller valuables of Shaene in folds and pockets of his clothing, then tucked the wand unceremoniously into his belt. As he ascended the semi-sheer face of the stunted cliff, the wand began to work its way out of his belt; each time his leg came up to a foothold, his tunic bunched and the gem-studded magestick worked its way closer to a long drop.
   Catching this out of the corner of his eye, Eirik jabbed his hand down on the protruding base of the thing, still angry about his emotional display and bitter about the loss of Navarra, even if only temporarily.
   The move succeeded in stowing the wand more securely in his belt, but also dislodged one of the precious stones embedded in the magical shaft. He watched in stunned fascination as it *popped* loose and tumbled quickly back down the short distance to the ground, bouncing once off a hard stony outcropping, then off the corpse of the Thayan wizard before coming to rest in the dirt there.
   Certainly the gem, if not the wand itself, had been damaged by this action....

   Sure enough, a small flaw ~had~ been chipped into the gem as it fell. Now, as it sat upon the rocky ground like a semiprecious gem-seed, it began to emit a faintly colored smoke. All eyes watched as the gem dissolved and the smoke formed first the image of a hunched figure, and then solidified into the clothed body of a living person!
   The woman, seemingly dressed for travel in the wilderness, looks down upon the fallen form of the Red Wizard at her feet and gives a low chuckle...apparently she is no friend of the man either. Look upwards she spies Eirik perched some two dozen feet above her on the cliff-face, and a handful of additional people above him at the edge looking down.
   "I suppose I have you to thank for finishing what I started?" she says with a look of disdain at the corpse of Shaene. "And who do I have to charm to get some firewine around here? And where *is* here, anyway?" she looks around herself in the base of the cleft she is in.

"Oh, right, that's why we were out here." he recalled. By the gods, it had felt like years.

Eirik wiped off as much of the muck as he could, scraping his hands clean on nearby rocks, leaves and grasses. Not that he minded a little dirt, of course, but in his eyes it would leave him blind, and on his hands it would make his grip slippery. Either was bad for a warrior.

That taken care off, he set about the climb out of the ravine.



"Ah, damn it!" Eirik swore a stream, as he set about clambering down the cliff-face to retrieve the stone. Of all the bloody stupid things to do that could ruin everything.



He looked on, startled and surprised and open-mouthed as the woman took form. He stared, stunned, at her, with no idea how to respond. But he'd traveled far and wide on his dajemma, and heard all sorts of fantastical tales. A woman materialising from a gem sounded familiar. "Are you a genie?" he asked at last.
This message was last edited by the player at 13:54, Sat 19 Apr 2008.