[NEXUS] The Weald III

[Gullara]

[Weald - Pixie Camp]

Troy tilts his head. So weird. Before he can say something tactless, the Chieftess speaks up. "You should take Nadas to see Mirabelle before she decides to nap or something."

"Oh yeah. We can probably go whenever you're done eating or whatever." Troy says. He glances away for a second. Hopefully she's not sleeping now; she'll probably kill him if he wakes her up. =x

[Reinholdt]

[Weald - Pixie Camp]

"Certainly." Nadas says, finishing up and standing to follow Troy to his doom lover.

[Earl of Purple]

Clearing

At first, it's likely the Wizard is blinded by the magical aura surrounding the book. The aura is ever-changing, never consistent and briefly represents through colour every school of magic the Wizard knows and possibly a few he doesn't and at every possible strength. There's no pattern in which magic is represented and when, and its chaotic fluctuations may be headache-inducing (though that's a minor side-effect of constantly shifting clashing colours and flashing lights). Beyond that, and the Weald's own abnormally high levels of background magic, there is nothing to find in the clearing of any mystical value.

Depending on how well learned he is, the Wizard may have heard tell of the mystic 'D20 Artefacts', whose properties include having a different effect on every user and appear as that tome does when viewed with magical sight. Unfortunately, I usually refer to this one as the D20 Tome, so it's not a grimoire, at least in name. One of the possible titles is a grimoire, however.

[Gullara]

[Weald - Pixie Camp]

Troy takes off and leads Nadas away from the hubbub of the feasting pixies, leaving the Chieftess behind as well. They go a short ways through the trees. There's plenty of signs of habitation here, especially noticeable when the odd one is decorated with flowers as seen before. They thin out a bit before the pair reach their destination, however.

The pixie stops before a sort of cocoon like structure constructed largely from spider silk suspended between branches. It's quite large at several feet tall and fewer wide, at least compared to the other pixie homes. In the area are a number of more mundane webs, with the occasional wrapped up future meal.

"Here we are! My beautiful love bug made this place from scratch all by herself. She's so talented." Troy says as he spins around to face Nadas.

[Reinholdt]

[Weald - Pixie Camp]

Oh boy. More spiders. Nadas didn't have enough of that the first xx years of his life. Joy.

"It is well crafted." Nadas agrees.

[ThirdEmperor]

Clearing

"Blinded" is the wrong word I think. The Wizard's sense of magic isn't so much sight as a gut feeling of sorts. And right now, his gut feels as though seized by an unseen hand and twisted into a nauseating pretzel.

Or perhaps his player merely wished for a chance to us the phrase 'nauseating pretzel'. Alas, the world may never know.

But in either case the Wizard is quick to cut his inquiries short, pulling his hand away from the pendant and clutching at a nearby tree for support as he regains his bearings and the worst of the nausea passes. Reaching into the etheric realms was trying at best, without the added trials of such overpowering magics.

The cautious thing to do would be to leave now, having seen for himself the book's chaotic aura. But the Wizard is far more curious than he is cautious, so instead he creeps forward, into the clearing proper, pulling his coat-sleeve over his hand and reaching for the book.

[Gullara]

[Weald - Pixie Camp]

"Right, lemme just get her." Without further delay, Troy flits inside the house. It take a short while, but soon enough he reappears. Right behind him is a grig. She's a bit larger than a pixie proportionally, but not overly so. She has long, dark brown hair and her skin is brown. Her lower body is that of a spider with a smooth, brown carapace. She's not wearing much clothing aside from a sort of loin cloth around her waist and some sort of wrap around her chest, both made of spider silk. Her very large and obviously pregnant stomach is uncovered and painted with a swirling pattern of green paint.

"Nadas is it? My name is Mirabelle. Troy said you needed my help with something?" She asks. She seems a bit tired, but not so much so that she can't talk.

[Reinholdt]

[Weald - Pixie Camp]

"Salutations. I was informed that you may be able to render assistance with a problem that another grig forcibly inflicted upon me." Nadas says, rolling up his robe sleeve to reveal the chitin.

[Gullara]

[Weald - Pixie Camp]

"You might want to get closer. I'd come to you, but I'm not very mobile at the moment." The grig chuckles. Should Nadas do that, she'll take a closer look. "That's... not quite like anything I've ever seen." She pokes at his arm. "There's almost something familiar about it, though. You said another grig did this to you?"

[Reinholdt]

[Weald - Pixie Camp]

"Yes. A grig by the name of Vriveka who claimed to specialize in fleshcrafting." Nadas doesn't know why he has to get closer to show off clearly evident chitin, but he does it anyways.

[Earl of Purple]

Clearing

Sorry; most magic-detection seems to be through seeing different coloured auras and such like.

The book doesn't resist being touched by the Wizard's hand. The mutant skull remains upon its pillar.

[ThirdEmperor]

Clearing

That skull.

That friggin' skull.

You know it's gonna fly up and start blasting laser beams, but it doesn't. It waits. And you're waiting too, just waiting for the excrement to hit the fan, glaring back into those empty eyesockets. 'cause you know. You know what that skull's up to. No good. That's what it's up to.

But in the meantime, the Wizard's gonna take a look inside a book, see what eldritch secrets it holds.

[Earl of Purple]

Clearing

The book refuses to be opened to any page beyond the title. Result: 12. The book's title is Book of Anatomy. At this point, a subtle compulsion should hit the Wizard, urging him to read the book from cover to cover. Should he do so, it'll take far less time than it should do to read a book of it's size.

At this point, the mutant skull remains doing nothing, just playing upon the Wizard's paranoia further. It doesn't have magic; the only thing in this clearing with magic is the book and the clearing itself. It's harmless.

[ThirdEmperor]

Clearing

Hmm... Now that is different. The Wizard had half expected to be cursed or struck down on the spot by whatever strange magic fills this book. Anatomy? Medicine? Why would a book of medicine have such a strange aura? It merits investigation, at the very least.

Cracking the book open the rest of the way open, the Wizard takes a seat on the very same stump it was lying on and begins to read...

[Earl of Purple]

Clearing

Should the Wizard finish the entire book, he will discover that it may have granted him a new ability! Specifically, (result: 3) that he can identify how somebody died, even if there's only a partial or heavily rotten corpse to gain the information.

Also, if he has read the book from cover to cover, when he puts the book down it will slowly crumble into dust.

[ThirdEmperor]

Clearing

How odd. It takes the Wizard a moment to even see what the book's done, it's enchantments only apparent when he looks back and realizes how much he's read in so little time. A book that magically imparts knowledge then? Interesting. The knowledge itself is slightly unsettling, but still, interesting.

Instead of discarding the book, the Wizard tucks it into his coat and heads out, giving the skull one last distrustful glance as he leaves. Whether this will end in the book turning to ashes in his grasp or not, I've no clue. But if it matters at all, where he's taking the book, others will quite likely read it.

[Earl of Purple]

Clearing

In that case, the book will turn into dust inside the Wizard's clothing or wherever else he chooses to stash it. Some D20 Artefacts do stay with their owner; those tend to be jewellery.

Incidentally, when he glances at the skull, he discovers that its previous owner was devoured alive by hungry satyrs.

[ThirdEmperor]

Clearing

Oh dear. This is going to be more a curse than a blessing, isn't it? And ash all in his coat too. Clinging to the fabric and getting it all gray and scratchy. Ugh.

He's outta this place.

[Gullara]

[Weald - Pixie Camp]

"Yes. A grig by the name of Vriveka who claimed to specialize in fleshcrafting." Nadas doesn't know why he has to get closer to show off clearly evident chitin, but he does it anyways.

[Weald - Pixie Camp]

Mirabelle frowns a bit. "I've heard that name before. She has a bit of a bad reputation if I recall." The grig shakes her head. "I can't do anything about your condition I'm sorry to say."

[Reinholdt]

[Weald - Pixie Camp]

Nadas frowns.
"Are you familiar with someone who can?"

[Gullara]

[Weald - Pixie Camp]

"See, the problem is, this isn't really something that us grigs do as a rule. I know that no one in my family had this kind of power, nor do any other fey in general I personally know, let alone other grigs." Mirabelle finally turns her attention away from his arm. "Sorry, I can't help you." She says apologetically

[Reinholdt]

[Weald - Pixie Camp]

Well, it's not all bad news at least. It's not of fey origin, so he just needs to find a properly skilled wizard instead.

"Thank you for attempting." Nadas says, rolling the sleeve back into place.

[Gullara]

[Weald - Pixie Camp]

"It wasn't any trouble. I hope you find someone that can help you get rid of it." Mirabelle says.

"Hey, maybe if you can't get rid of it you'll get used to it. Having that instead of skin can be handy I bet." Troy says reassuringly, only to get a disapproving look from Mirabelle.

[Reinholdt]

[Weald - Pixie Camp]

"If you wish to discover the accuracy of that statement firsthand and report to me the results, I'll consider it." Nadas replies, about as deadpan as ever.

"Congratulations on your gestating spawn." He tells Mirabelle with a nod of respect.

[Gullara]

[Weald - Pixie Camp]

Troy rubs the back of his head awkwardly. Apparently that wasn't the smartest thing to say.

The grig smiles at Nadas' congratulations, despite the odd terminology. "Thank you. I'll probably feel more like it's worth being congratulated as soon as they're out of me, but thanks none the less." She says jokingly.

[Reinholdt]

[Weald - Pixie Camp]

Troy doesn't strike Nadas as the brightest around, having been caught and mated by a grig in the first place.

"What is the estimated length of time before that occurs?"

[Gullara]

[Weald - Pixie Camp]

"About two months, more or less. It's hard to guess because I'm not quite sure when I got pregnant, and there are only pixies around to compare to. I don't exactly know other grigs in the area either." Mirabelle replies.

"Most of the others don't want grigs around, but that's just because they're not usually as sweet as my dear Mirabelle." Troy looks lovingly at her. The grig looks faintly amused at his fawning over her, but there's definite affection behind it.

[Reinholdt]

[Weald - Pixie Camp]

"What made you decide to come to this area in the first place?" Nadas asks Mirabelle.

[Gullara]

[Weald - Pixie Camp]

Mirabelle shrugs. "Nothing in particular. Generally grigs don't live in big communities like pixies do. We spread out, have our own territory. I never really intended to have anything to do with the Bloodfangs before Troy got caught in my web."

[Reinholdt]

[Weald - Pixie Camp]

"I comprehend. Well, thanks again for the help." Nadas bows and turns to return to the larger group.