Stone Man Pass

[Graybeard]

[OOC: OK, back from a week out of contact...]

<"I was wondering if you knew, or know of anyone who knows, a spell that would allow another creature to view my dreams while I sleep. I have some information I wish to convey to Harker, and that would be the easiest way.">

Sister Rose blinked, and if it was possible to blink mentally, she'd have done that too. Now I've heard everything. An elf asking me for help with spellcraft? And to communicate with Harker?

She started to frame a negative reply that would have had equal parts astonishment and indignation behind it, but then she stopped to think. Might there be something to the way the Orthodox people, ahem, "summoned" Luminosita that might meet Drusia's needs? She didn't really understand the process all that well, since it wasn't really of much interest to the Reformed Church. But maybe ...

"Let me think about that," she answered. "And I must say that you're full of surprises."

[OOC: Will get going again in earnest tomorrow.]

[Graybeard]

[OOC: Where did everybody go?]

Kim looked uncomfortable, but she stayed with the wagon as Sister Rose inched it carefully down from the pass ... and Brad looked uncomfortable too.

The dynamic is getting weird here, Rose thought. Kim reminds my cousin so much of his ex-wife that he tenses up when she's in sight. I don't need magical empathy to sense that; Lillith sees it too. Well, he's going to have to deal with it.

A man was coming up the road astride a horse. For a moment, Rose herself tensed up; would this be another of the weird monks? Or the odd poet, whom Rose had come to think, for reasons she couldn't articulate, that they didn't want to see again? No, she noted with relief that it was neither, just a farmer off on some errand. She hailed the man. "Hello. Is this the road to Gervasiel?" She was pretty sure of the answer -- it was the only road over the mountains anywhere near here, after all -- but the question seemed safe enough, and it might not be a bad idea to play dumb.

The man's eyes got big for a moment, then he answered. "It be. But I be thinkin' you'll not be wantin' to be goin' there."

[Drusia]

"Let me think about that," she answered. "And I must say that you're full of surprises."

"Thank you," I reply, smiling enigmatically.

I turn towards Maudin, letting my smile go a little more casual and familiar. <"Maudin,"> I think at him, <"If you're not busy, I was wondering if you knew a spell that would allow another creature to view my dreams while I sleep. Or, more specifically, a spell to allow another to view the dream produced by a Felicitious spell. I have some information I wish to convey to Harker, and that would be the easiest way.">

There. My two best bets, both placed and hedged. Hopefully someone will have an idea.

-- Drusia

[Porcelain Fish]

Maduin blinked as Druisa's thoughts danced into his mind, slightly startled. The brush stilled for a moment, and then picked up once more, long even strokes down Kim's hair, making the pale blonde locks shine. So. Telepathy. That explained the vague sense of unspoken whispers he'd felt floating around them since Drusia had arrived. That was good to know.

<Allowing another to view your dreams while you sleep isn't too much of a difficulty, provided the viewer has the requisite skill, or you have someone willing to act as an intermediary.> Maduin glanced briefly at the elf, raising his right eyebrow slightly. <I'm assuming the "Felicitous" spell is the psychosomatic pleasure evocation I showed you the other day. Forgive me, but that's not something I'd care to . . . participate in.> He turned his attention back to Kim's hair, setting the brush down and working the long blonde hair into a quick crown twist that held it back from her face, sending it cascading straight down her back in a gleaming waterfall instead. <As for allowing Harker to view your dreams, wouldn't the simplest and easiest way be through use of an illusion projection of your memory?>

"It be. But I be thinkin' you'll not be wantin' to be goin' there."

Maduin felt Kim tense at the man's words. She really was such a fractious thing. He supposed he couldn't blame her for her insecurity in light of her origins though. Hopefully a good steady routine would settle her down some.

"Kim, dear," he said, reaching into his luggage for a jar of moisturizer. "I'm going to put a little of this on your face. It's moisturizer for your skin. It'll help it stay soft."

[Sareth]

[OOC]Sorry about me scarcity. It's the final couple of weeks of the semester so I'm in the usual Oh-God-I-Have-To-Get-This-Done panic, even though it's not fully warrented...[/OOC]

Lillith turned from where she was watching Brad comb Kim's hair. The comment by the traveler had caught her attention. "Why wouldn't we?" She smiled gently. "Is something wrong?"

[Graybeard]

[OOC:

Lillith turned from where she was watching Brad comb Kim's hair.

Actually, it's Maduin who's combing Kim's hair, as usual; Brad would continue to give Kim a wide berth. We understand you're distracted. We'll limp along until the term is done ... /OOC:]

"I ... ma'am ... missy ..." The farmer's eyes darted from Sister Rose to Lillith, back to Rose. Apparently the idea of two women questioning him at the same time was causing a brain lockup. Eventually he settled on Rose; she was wearing her nun's robes, which made her enough of an authority figure in the man's eyes to retain his attention.

"Ma'am, I just be thinkin', mebbe with you bein' a servant of Our Lord Luminosity, it be not your kind of place," the man said. "There be all manner of heathen infidel in G'vasiel. Some of them be the big brains that be tamperin' with things a man be not meant t'know." He shuddered and made the Sign of Luminosita.

[Sareth]

[OOC]Well, when you spend the day reading Habermas, it's easy to confuse Maduin and Brad...[/OOC]

At the man's words Lillith didn't quite snicker. "Oh, she got heathens aplenty right here." Fortunately, Lillith had the grace to keep her voice low enough to not quite be understood outside of the wagon.

[OOC]Sorry... I couldn't resist the opportunity. 5 cents to anyone that gets the quote.*[/OOC]

*You pay the shipping and handling.

[Graybeard]

[OOC: Well done, I get it, albeit with some help...]

It was all Sister Rose could do to keep from laughing at Lillith's sotto voce comment, but this seemed like one of those times when churchly dignity was called for. "Not to worry, my son," she said. Why do I keep using 'my son' in conversations with men at least ten years older than I am? "Luminosita's Truths stand against any and all falsehoods; that's in our scriptures, you know." Of course, there's room for discussion of what 'Luminosita's Truth' is ... but if this guy wants to consider me Orthodox, let him. "I'm curious, though: what kind of 'tampering with things' is happening there that concerns you?"

"Oh, I not be knowin', ma'am," the man answered. "There be a bunch of big-brain scholars who be diggin' into things in the ruins outside town, that be all. I don't know what they be findin', but it just be unnatural-like, as I be figurin' it." He shuddered again.

[Drusia]

<Forgive me, but that's not something I'd care to . . . participate in. As for allowing Harker to view your dreams, wouldn't the simplest and easiest way be through use of an illusion projection of your memory?>

I sigh. <"It would be. The trouble is, I'm not very good with illusions. I can bend light to hide myself, and muffle the sound of my movement, but that's more of an anti-illusion - I've never had any skill at making images. I was thinking that, since you're talented with mental spells, that you might be able to teach me to... I dunno, transmit my dream to Harker. And how to avoid transmiting it to everyone else within a ten mile radius. Of course, I have no idea if such a thing is even possible; magic isn't my forte'."> Well, apart from the few, very specific spells I studied for centuries. And teleportation, which is the only sort of magic that seems to come naturally to me.

<"I suppose I could... try... a direct illusion,"> I add doubtfully. <"I at least know how illusions work, even if I'm not particularly skilled. But... well, I guess I wanted Harker to be able to feel how I felt. I thought, if he experienced it just as I did, that he might be able to capture... more than just an image."> I sigh. There's a difference between seeing a picture and experiencing the event itself. If Harker is as good as Argus says, then it could be the difference between a nice carving and a truly beautiful one.

-- Drusia

OOC: Heathens aplenty, hm? What, are you all going to start calling me "Ambassador?" Or maybe just for the pilot? ^^

[Drannin]

(OOC: Please excuse the lack of posting. I'm having major writer's block here. And, sadly, no good excuse like Sareth.)

Big-brain scholars? Argus idly wondered how he would fall into this man's reckoning, and then decided it would be better to leave that a mystery. Still, he wondered what exactly was being researched there... and who was doing the researching.