The common room of the Ruby Hearth is packed this evening, and your merry band of seafarers and Adventurers are the knot at the very center of it, so getting past the crowd takes some doing. If your hunch is right...

It wounds your dignity to do so, but you even duck between the legs of one particularly implacable drunkard, too deep in his cups to recognize your urgency, too stubborn to care even if he could. But after what seems like an eternity pressed up against the drunkest, noisiest, and smelliest that Selinus has to offer, you finally make your way past the throng and find...

Nothing. The woman you saw is nowhere to be seen. Your head whips around, ears flapping with gentle plaps against your head, and you see it. Bright, burnished copper, in big, generous curls, turning the corner as the front door closes. Without a thought, you rush to the door, nearly knocking a barmaid over in your haste, and mumbling a perfunctory apology as you do.

Opening the door, the first thing that hits you is a wave of cool air. The namesake of the Ruby Hearth has a good fire stoked most nights, and this is no exception. The night air is bracing after such warmth. The second thing that strikes you is the low, throaty chuckle of the woman with the red hair and wise blue eyes. She is leaning casually against the outer wall that contains the gardens, several paces from the entrance gate. When she sees your recognition, she raises her stein again in salute, but this time does not depart, instead simply waiting for your approach.
This message was last edited by the GM at 21:55, Tue 16 Jan.

Boorgrub prided himself on being alert, aware, and focused. It was the cornerstone of his success so far, and yet as he all but ran into the barmaid and stumbled a little catching his feet before he went out the door, he felt like a buffoon. Clumsy, inattentive, utterly distracted by the tangle of copper hair ahead of him. The promise of... What exactly?

The cool air of evening was bracing, bringing the swashbuckler back to his senses a bit and clearing his mind. It didn't stop him from standing there agog as the redhead saluted him again; it just reminded him of the weight of the silver tankard in his right hand. Somehow he returned the gesture, dumbly waving the vessel in her direction.

"Pull yourself together Grubby! Act like you're the Baron again for five bloody minutes! It's important."

Oh, how he wished Iddy's statement were true, but the chiding from his familiar did finally break the spell she had over him, and Boorgrub stepped down off the landing into the garden, approaching the woman to a respectful distance and bowing low enough the tips of his ears brushed the ground. "You honor me beyond all words with your presence. How may I be of service?"
This message was last edited by the player at 22:36, Tue 16 Jan.

Her voice, a throaty, raspy murmur, caresses your ears and brings you back to your full, unbowed height. "Oh, stop all that bullshit, Boorgrub. It belittles both of us. I am simply a resident of the humble continent of Ralan Gul, speaking to another like myself." She drinks deeply of the stein in her hand, and tosses it behind her to the ground.

She steps forward, and her stature shrinks as she does so, until she is your exact height when standing only a few feet in front of you. "But it is good to see you," her voice purrs into your ears. "At least, it is good to let you see me. I have been watching your progress with rapt attention. Did you finish the book I sent your way?" Enigmatic and indirect, she avoids your question. Iddy, quite boldly, hops from your own shoulder to hers, and you can hear him speaking to her, but for the first time since you have met him, you cannot understand his words.

Boorgrub could feel his ears getting warm as the woman approached him, the purr of her voice caressing parts of his body much lower than his ears. He tried to force a nonchalant smile onto his face, but the swashbuckler felt fourteen again, clumsy, imbalanced, totally besotted by the presence of the woman in front of him. "I could use a great many words to describe you, my lady. "Bewitching, Enchanting... Divine." He chuckled. "But 'simple' would not number among them."

His eyes widened fractionally at the revelation. "You sent the book?" The cool rush of realization brought him back to himself. "You are... Are you?" Boorgrub couldn't bring himself to utter the name, but the question was there on his lips. "I have finished it. A fascinating story it told, but one that needs a proper ending." His body ached to take a step forward, close the last distance between them, but if she was... One did not touch god without invitation.

Unless, of course, you were Iddy, in which case you simply hopped onto her shoulder. The swashbuckler's eyes widened even more, crimson orbs stark against his face as panic started to well in his breast. He'd always been able to understand the thrush, been able to feel and talk with his best friend any time and now he couldn't!

The redhead smiles at what Iddy apparently said, and nods, but with a hand up, indicating patience. "I cannot take full credit for the book. There are other citizens with a stake in this endeavor, some allies, and some enemies. All are focused on the results of this journey, and eager for the outcome. Your service is simple, then: Continue. See this through. It is time for change, time to reopen that which was closed off. My fellow citizens of Ralan Gul are desperate to return to old haunts, and your crew is the key."

She turns, copper tresses brushing the tip of your nose as she walks away, towards the gate. In her wake, you are painfully aware of the answers she provided, and the questions she avoided. With one final flourish, as she walks away, she takes Iddy in one hand and tosses him skyward. In the suddenness of her act, you lose sight of your constant companion for just a moment, but what a difference once you do look up to spot your familiar.

In the air, spiraling and flipping with joy, is a tiny woman, probably a foot tall, wearing a colorful and flowing gown and holding a minuscule dice cup. From her back flows 2 glorious white butterfly wings, with long swallowtail trailers. On each wing are several black circles, looking strikingly like the pips of dice. Interestingly, they are not symmetrical, with 6 pips on the right wing, and just one on the left. As this being flutters down to eye level, you spot the last wisps of red hair disappearing around the edge of the gate, and the woman's voice rings out a final time. "Keep the cup, too."

A more familiar voice speaks next, but with a different quality that you can't quite place at first. It takes a second, but you spot her mouth moving, so you can't help but believe it. Your familiar is now this tiny woman.

"Oh, Boorgrub, I can't tell you how free I feel in my own skin again. Feathers are nice, but that body is so cramped. Hi, this is the real me!"

It was perhaps fortunate that Iddy had lost his, no her feathers, for you could have knocked Boorgrub over with one of them. His nose was tingling as if struck by lightning where a spare lock of red hair had brushed past it nonchalantly, and the goblin's mind was filled with wonder, and an almost fearful longing for her to touch him deliberately, even as she floated away laughter in her wake.

It took a moment for him to stop blinking and staring, only to be confronted with yet another wonder; the sight and sensation of Iddy returned to him, but in no form the thrush had ever worn before.

"Iddy?" His voice was filled with awe, and he couldn't deny the presence in his mind. He extended a hand for her to alight on, a warm smile spreading across his face. "If this is the real you, then well met for the first time. I see your grace finally matches your wit, and deservedly so..." His voice trailed off and the smile fell away for a moment.

"I missed you... It may only have been a moment, but the place in my soul you occupy is vast Iddy." He ducked his head bashfully. "Thank you for coming back to me, my sister. I'm not sure I can do this without you."
This message was last edited by the player at 02:36, Thu 18 Jan.

Iddy laughs, a weightier sound than expected. It takes a couple of seconds before you place that the sound it reminds you of is heavy dice bouncing across a felted wooden surface. "Oh, Boorgrub, I would never leave you. But her aura, even diminished, overwrote our normal communication ability in my thrush form. I can still take that form, by the way, but you will have to sweet talk me pretty heavily to convince me."

The transformed Iddy gives a saucy little wink from your extended hand before she continues. "Also, just for the record, I assume you have a suspicion of who that was. Because she chose to not properly introduce herself, I cannot confirm or deny your suspicions."

The smile on his face spread into a face-splitting grin as Iddy laughed, the sound so different and yet so familiar to the swashbuckler. He couldn't help but join in, his body shaking with joy. He wanted more than anything to hug the delicate little woman in his palm, but even in his overwhelmed state, the goblin could see that her wings would make that complicated, and possibly uncomfortable for her.

Her wings! Boorgrub raised his hand a little, head swiveling this way and that as he looked at his companion. "Lucky seven..." He half-whispered, utterly gobsmacked by these developments. He brought his attention back to her face, the dopey grin still plastered across his face. "Why should we hide who you are from the world, except to keep you safe little sister? If you wish to wear your truth and your skin, then you shall have no objection from me! You are simply stunning dear Iddy..."

He winked at the tiny woman, "Sweet enough?" he cackled softly, a very goblinish sense of mischief in it. "I jest Iddy, but as long as it is safe for you, I see no reason why you should not be you."

Joyous as the moment was, Boorgrub grew a little serious again. "Yes, I have my suspicions as to who she was, but I am not at all surprised she is playing her cards close to her vest." There was still a hint of the smile there. "Good gamblers always do. I'm just relieved she bet on us, my friend."

Scooping up the half-forgotten tankard, Boorgrub made space on his shoulder for his old/new familiar to take a seat. "Come on Iddy, it seems we have even more to celebrate tonight than I thought already, and The Ruby Hearth has a fantastic honey mead you can finally enjoy!"

"Good, getting drunk as a thrush sucks, haha!" Iddy, in higher spirits than you think you have ever seen your friend, hovers nearby as you walk back, her wings sounding like well warn cards sliding against each other in a shuffle as she does.