GLoG

[Earl of Purple]

Voices of the Past

Natalie smiles as Khannie disappears, and breathes deep before closing her eyes and concentrating. This isn't something she's done before; usually she pulls her summons from oceans or wetlands. The idea of summoning a facsimile of a person didn't... quite sit well with her. But she's got permission, and it's an interesting thing to try, so here goes.

Red symbols- the card suits repeated again- float in the air and coalesce around... a not-Khannie. The summon looks to be a fifteen-year-old girl, with pale green skin, black hair tied back, and green eyes. She's wearing what is recognisably a PREP uniform, the skirt and shirt under a blazer and topped with a non-uniform but matching beret on her head, pushed to one side. Belted around her waist is a belt, with a five-ball spadroon hanging from it opposite a plastic water flask.

"I... don't think it quite worked? I don't know where the uniform came from, I don't recognise it." Unless Khannie regularly wears hers at GLoG, anyway. "Or the sword, for that matter, Why do you have a sword, miss?" Natalie addresses her summon with the second question, and receives a... rather bizarre answer.
"What the Home? Beans!" The girl looks around, looking a little confused, before turning back to Natalie.

[Rebonack]

[Voices from the Past]

When the girl appears and Natalie makes her questioning comment about the uniform a peal of ethereal laughter begins rising from the shadows. Because Khannie thinks this is absolutely hilarious.

"Oh my gosh! Hahhaa!"

Wow she's laughing really hard.

"I'm pretty, haha, I gotta say my sides would hurt right now if I had any," the shadows snort. "You *snrk* you summoned a generic PREP student. That's the school I go to and that's the uniform. Haha this is amazing. I think I recognize, like, at least four different girls I know sorta? So instead of a generic Fugitive Wizard you gotta PREP Heroine."

Or at least that's how Khannie is interpreting it.

"She's basically a magical construct, right?" Khannie asks as the darkness begins pooling again and from the shadow climbs forth a unicorn. "Like the idea of a person insteada some specific person?"

[Earl of Purple]

Voices from the Past

"Yeah, she is. She's... not entirely real, and she'll do what I ask or otherwise try to protect and help me." As Khannie rematerializes, the Heroic Student turns to look in her direction, dropping into a combat-ready stance and pulling the sword free. The spadroon doesn't glow, but it does catch the light and gleam. "I think her sword's magic."
"Are you coming to practice tonight?" The summoned construct remarks.

[Rebonack]

[Voices From the Past]

"I dunno if we've gotta worry about anything dangerous in the caves here but maybe having a body-guard isn't a terrible idea?" the unicorn reasons as she eyes the bared steel cautiously. Her stance is one of a person casually comfortable with combat, gauging how quickly she'll need to react if the construct lunges.

"Not gunna be able to make it to practice tonight I'm gunna have a whole pile of new texts to translate," Khannie replies to the summoned creature, not totally sure what practice it's referring to. If it's even referring to anything as opposed to just parroting things PREP students say.

Then?

There comes a quiet chime from the stele! Or more specifically, from the shadows ON the stele.

They've arranged themselves into shadowy letters that super-impose over the text that Khannie CAN read. Oddly several of the words are... fuzzy. Like there are a number of different possibilities all jittering there at once.

Khannie perks up immediately.

"Oh sweet! They're done!" she says, trotting over to examine the stele. "Okay, let's see-

I looked and saw
My eyes have seen it
The ashes? snow? have filled the valley
The trees are weeping, their sap? blood? boils
This is where I struck the Ash? Snow? Bird to the earth
My mighty men are broken
My life ebbs, so I write so that you may remember
Our bones will rest in our sleep? death? tomb?
Our spirits? ghosts? words? will ever hold vigil
So the Ash? Snow? Bird will never rise again
I am Varsooth Ash? Snow? Bird Slayer
I have conquered Sleep? Death? Tomb?

..."

Khannie is silent for a moment, reading over the stele again.

"Holy heck it's a battle monument. There was a battle here and it sounds like the ghosts were sworn to stay? Maybe that's why the campsite traps spirits? You can definitely see the camp and the lake really well from up here."

[Meowmai]

[Birds and Babs- Treasure Hunt]

Perhaps surprisingly, the two woblins also sniff at Silver. Then they giggle.

"He smells so weird!"

"Like dad or us but not!"

They then try to give Silver pets and scratches, predictably enough. Reelshka beams at her children having fun before turning to Kes. She seems to pick up on the birdgirl's confusion.

"I'm Reelshka Trollfinger, the senior caretaker here. These two darlings are my twins, Balthuk and Maltrika." She points to the blond-furred child and then the brown one. "I've been looking for someone to keep an eye on them. I'm a bit busy and they insist on having a treasure hunt."

[Birds and Babs- Treasure Hunt]

Silver similarly seems quite confused by the scent of the woblin kids, but any apprehension he has as a result is wiped away as they begin to pile pets upon him. His tail wagged furiously- this sort of thing had been happening a lot since Kestrel had started working at GLoG. She had wondered more than once if it was possible for a wolf to wag its tail so hard it flew off.

When Reelshka gave her name, a look of sheepish recognition dawned on Kestrel's face. Sakura had pointed her out to her before. "They seem lovely," she nods, before brightening up. "A treasure hunt? Well, I can always help! It seems I'm pretty free today, and besides, with all the attention they're giving him it's going to be hard to convince Silver to leave your kids sides for a while." She giggles.

[Earl of Purple]

Voices from the Past

"Oh, beans." The Prepared Student (I prefer this name) sheathes her spadroon, and wanders a short distance. With Natalie unconcerned by Khannie's appearance, the summon is content that she's not a threat and instead pulls a plastic fidget spinner out of her pocket and starts watching it spin.

"Yeah, you can. Wow, that's a good view. Might have to come up here again, in the evening maybe, watch the sunset." Or possibly morning to watch the sunrise. Earl isn't sure which direction they're staring in. "If your generic self does have a magic sword, that might be useful. Binding spirits to keep an eye on a potential ash or snow phoenix buried nearby means that the cave could contain its body- and more vigilant guardians." The ones at GLoG mostly seem to have forgotten what they're there for, and just wander around watching.

[Rebonack]

[Voices From the Past]

Khannie isn't paying a great deal of attention to the Prepared Student at this point, having been VERY well distracted by the stele and its implications. "I mean, it IS called Phoenix Lake, right? I dunno if anyone ever tried to figure out why. And this monument is pretty outta the way so it makes sense that no one has ever really noticed it before. If i hadn't tripped over that rock-"

A beat.

"Wait, something SHOVED me to make me trip over the rock. It felt like one of the ghosts. Maybe they wanted us to find this thing?" Khannie speculates. This is all coming together pretty nicely. And it all points to-

The unicorn turns to peer into the darkness of The Cave.

"Could be both. Could be the dead but not really bird AND the spirits keeping watch. Someone definitely whacked me to get my attention. Maybe they need someone living to check in and fix something?" Khannie wonders aloud.

[Morty]

[Birds and Babs- Treasure Hunt]

"He does seem to be very popular with the kids. Not that it should surprise anyone. My children did see wolves when we visited my family in Underside, but from a distance. And not cubs." Reelshka produces a folded sheet of paper from her pocket. "Treasure hunts are a bit of a family tradition. Their older brother loves them and they picked it up from him. Their cousins and their friend often draw maps for them. This one is simple but you might still have to help them."

The twins will be preoccupied doting on Silver and playing with him for a while.

[Morty]

[Summer Water Balloon Party]

The woblin twins' frustration over their defeat quickly evaporates in face of a cool and shiny reward.

"Woow."

"It's like the cool rocks we got from grandpa and grandma!"

Reelshka, meanwhile, goes up to Khannie.

"I must say, Khannie, you handled this event quite well."

[Ironsmith]

[Playdate]

"Should we sit down somewhere we can keep an eye on them? I hope Bertin and Cain don't get too rough..."

Predictably enough, Sophie is a worrier.

[Playdate]

"They're fine, love," Trick says, kissing Sophie on the forehead, "As long as they don't start eating mud or something, they can be fine with exploring each other a little."

The little horn stubs don't do any of that, but Bertin does start swaying, laughing to himself as he pulls gently this way and that, and perhaps that's as fun as anything else would have been!

[Playdate]

"...Right." Braon gives Trick a look between incredulity and loathing. "So, in what version of reality do we make sure they don't start eating mud without keeping an eye on them? Unless one of you is also an enchantress, I don't see that happening."

She offhandedly flicks her hand back behind her, a set of flat stones breaking through the ground there to form a bench. "Besides, what else are the three of us meant to do? Exchange knitting patterns? Paint each other's nails? Discuss uncomfortably intimate information while the kids are still too young to repeat anything we say?" The fiendling crosses her arms and sighs, leaning back on the new bench. She glances between the two of them, the mob of small children nearby, and finally the fussy girl still in her arm, as she waits for an answer.

Cain doesn't seem overly impressed by the other boy... doing absolutely nothing when his horns are messed with, but apparently the horn nubs are sensorily interesting enough to not let go. The infant lets out a delighted giggle as play continues, but the sound is quickly muted by him testing the horn's properties the best way a very young child knows how:

num-num-num-num~

Meanwhile, Ciara is still hugging up against Janos, to the point where it might be hard for the infant tiefling to move around while her brothers get back to chasing one another; he's not joining in, she's too busy trying to show him the merits of being a cuddlebug!

[Earl of Purple]

Voices of the Past

"That's true. Can you see in the dark? I've got these glasses." Natalie flicks her hand out and there's a red flash and now she's holding aviator sunglasses. "They're magic, so I can see in the dark. How about you, Student? Can you see in the dark?" Natalie calls out to the summon, who looks up and smiles.
"My dragon ate my homework." She says, as the fake person pulls a smartphone out of her pocket and shows Natalie a torch app. Presumably, that's a no.

[Rebonack]

[Voices From the Past]

"About as well as a human can when I've got human eyes, anyway," Khannie replies with a laugh. Then? She begins selectively easing back on her illusion. This is a trick she's actually been working on when she's expecting to have to deal with potential danger. See, if she only maintains PARTS she can sorta make the best of both worlds.

Her back hooves, legs, haunches, and tail emerge, as do her unicorn ears and horn. But she keeps her human upper body more or less intact. So she's got enhanced hearing and easy access to her unicorn magic along with her grippy hooves and stronger leg muscles. BUT she maintains her human hands and vocal chords.

"But I've got other ways of dealing with the dark, c'mon," Khannie says as she heads into the cave, her hooves silent on the stone. As she walks a subtle glow of shadowy purple and midnight indigo begins swirling around her horn as darkness begins flowing into it like water down a drain. It's definitely strange to watch since it isn't often that darkness seems to act more like a physical thing rather than a mere lack of light. And where Khannie drains away the darkness a soft, gentle luminescence is left behind.

Khannie's reach on her umberphagey is relatively limited, so Natalie's glasses will probably still come in pretty handy.

Walking into the cave, it's quite clear that it has been carved. Surfaces were chiseled flat and engravings of what appear to be an army fighting a huge bird decorate the walls. Most of them have been obscured, though. Flowing water has carried minerals out of the cave and smothered the carvings with natural cave formations. Nearing the back of the shallow cave they'll find a metal slab roughly five feet wide and eight feet tall. Unlike everything else its surface is completely smooth. In front of it is a soapstone pedestal with a square depression in it and a hole at the middle of the depression. It looks like something could be stuck in there.

Khannie knocks on the door.

"I think it's lead? This thing has gotta weight a couple tons, easy," she muses. "This look like some sorta puzzle. Probably have to stick a key in the hole or something."

Surrounding the door are four little cells, each with a skeleton reclined on a cot. The skeletons have been decorated with various treasures. One of silver, one of gold, one of copper that has tarnished green, and one of soap stone.

[Morty]

[Playdate]

Time to couch Braon in having a normal conversation, it seems. Has Sophie ever witness her have one of those? Their encounters outside their office usually turn into therapy sessions anyway. Braon seems to be in constant attack mode with others as well.

"You can talk shop, for one. You're both magic-users in your own ways. And I admit I don't know a lot about how your magic works myself. I've just witnessed its effects."

[Earl of Purple]

Voices of the Past

Natalie looks around, and nods at Khannie's suggestion of the door's material. "I think so. I... might be able to teleport it out the way, but... That might damage it, and it won't be easy." The boulder wasn't so heavy and that was tiring. And she was able to see where she wanted it to go, too. Not so here, as it's too large to go anywhere in this chamber without getting in the way.

"Could you grab the soapstone key thing, please?" Natalie asks her conjured servant, who nods.
"Every day's a day for violence." The Prepared Student will walk over and pick up the soapstone object, before turning around to carry it back. She's liable to set off any traps, though she's also expendable. If she does set off a trap, that's one that Natalie didn't set off herself.

[Rebonack]

[Voices From the Past]

The Prepared Student will find a soap-stone base that looks like it could fit into the square depression on the pedestal. Like the pedestal, it has a hole running through it that would line up. From the way it's shaped, another component could pretty clearly fit on top of it.

While the student is up to that, Khannie is checking out one of the other alcoves. "I've got a... bird head over here? Made outta gold with a rod sticking outta the bottom."

Clearly our heroes will have to monkey around until they figure out how to assemble the statue atop its shrine.

[Murkus]

[Summer Water Balloon Party]
Woblins and Dryadeer

"Holy cow! Thank you Khannie!" Malachi's parents are always reminding him to say please and thank you, and adults and older folks seem to like it when he does. Plus it feels nice. Win-win-win. His eyes are huge and throw back wisps of prismatic light as he examines their prize. He feels the stone, running his little hands over the smooth faces. It almost seems like too much for picking up trash!

"...We should go on adventures for treasure." That seems only wise.

[Rebonack]

[Summer Water Balloon Party]

It turns out that cool rocks are almost always appreciated prizes for small children. If either of the woblin children peek through the hole in the stone they'll see a funny little ocean spirit peering right back at them. Exactly what it looks like is hard to say. It IS a spirit, after all. But is sure looks ocean-y! The twins might even find themselves disagreeing on the details since their interpretation of an ocean spirit might be a little different. After all, what they see is a symbol that represents the spirit. Not actually the spirit because spirits are spirits.

The faceted stone is definitely pretty but also definitely not magical. But it might SEEM pretty magical! Opals tend to be that way. Super neat rocks.

Khannie smiles over at Malachi. "You should ask Tuskfang to come along on his next treasure hunt."

But then!

Encouragement!

"Thanks, Reelshka! I learned a lot about wrangling the littles here and over at Inari's too," Khannie replies. After all, the foxes are nearly as numerous as the goblins. "It's a tonna fun, I love seeing 'em running around and having a good time."

[Earl of Purple]

Voices of the Past

"The Student has a soapstone base it might slot into. That's the bottom, I think. We gotta assemble it the rest of the way." Natalie goes to take the copper thing- confident there's no traps as the Student remains unharmed- as the Prepared Student goes to take the silver piece. The soapstone starter is left near the pedestal, so Khannie can potentially slot her piece in and then the copper and silver bits can be added later.

[Rebonack]

[Voices from the Past]

Our heroes will be left with four pieces. The soap stone base, the feet of copper, the body of silver, and the head of gold. Since our heroes aren't complete doofs who can't figure out that a bird's butt doesn't go on top of its body assembling this statue really isn't that difficult. Stone on the bottom, copper on the stone, silver on the copper, gold on top. Khannie shoves down on the head and there comes a CLICK! as the statue sinks down into the pedestal slightly. This is followed by a low grinding noise from the slab and the feeling of air flowing out from under it.

Khannie's ears immediately perk up.

"I think that did it."

Door unlocked!

She also takes a picture of assembled shrine, followed by making a tiny hand-held illusion of it before dismissing it. Khannie doesn't need to remember the things she makes illusions of perfectly; her shadow spirits do that for her. Then it's just a matter of conjuring up the images she's made previously. Being able to create three dimensional models of places she's visited is REALLY handy when it comes to doing ACTION! Archeology.


[It's Beginning to Look a Lot Like Thanksmas]

The past week or so has been BUSY!

Spooktober decorations coming down and Thanksmas decorations in the making. It's a whole lotta work, but as far as Khannie is concerned it's worth it. The kids love this stuff and frankly she does too. Aside from the fancier store-bought decorations Khannie has had some fun craft projects for the littles! Paper snowflakes, festively colored paper garlands, and of course snowmen made of cotton balls and glued to craft paper. Twisted pipe-cleaner candy canes and stars made of popscicle sticks and aluminum foil.

And since all the decorations are finished being crafted?

Now's the time to hang them up. And that means Khannie will need some help from her official Thanksmas Decorating Helpers!

Of late Khannie has been using only a partial human illusion, mostly consisting of her upper body so she's got human hands for handling and a human squak-box for talking. While her front hooves are actually not bad at gripping large objects anything that requires finer dexterity like tying strings is still better tackled with fingers. This mean she's got her unicorn hind legs and tail out. And her ears and horn, too. She's wearing a pair of jeans with a slot and button-strap on the back for her tail and a blue Thanksmas sweater decorated with silver snowflakes and stars. Her Official Glog Business cap adorns her head, the bill flipped up to accommodate her horn.

Khannie is standing up on a step ladder right now, tying some snowflakes to the rafters of the main cabin.

"Okay! I got this one up. I think we'll need some Thanksmas stars next," she informs her helpers.

[Murkus]

[It's Beginning to Look a Lot Like Thanksmas]

Blue dutifully grabs a big armful - they made quite a pile - and scurries over to stand beside Khannie's stepladder. Paper stars leak from between her arms and waft in long arcs to the ground. "Here you go, Khannie!"

[Rebonack]

[It's Beginning to Look a Lot Like Thanksmas]

Well, Glog DOES have a large number of children and you may as well put kids to work on fun craft projects. The kids love it. Their parents love it. Everyone loves it! And thus there are many great stars to hang up! Only some of which are a little misshapen. But even misshapen stars are great because the kids had fun making them.

Khannie takes a few steps down, leaning over to one side while swinging her tail out the other way. Honestly the extra limb for balancing is pretty handy! Even if it isn't a hand. Khannie has allowed the children to tie a GREAT BIG red and gold bow onto her tail to help really nail home the Thanksmas spirit.

"Thanks, Blue, good job! While I'm getting these hung up do you wanna start putting the candy canes and candles on all the tables? Remember not to use too many of the real candy canes otherwise we're gunna run out and not have any for the tree," Khannie says as she lights her horn, looping her magic in a wide basket-shape around the heap of stars so she can keep her hands free for tying them in place.

[Gullara]

[Summer Water Balloon Party]

The woblin twins' frustration over their defeat quickly evaporates in face of a cool and shiny reward.

"Woow."

"It's like the cool rocks we got from grandpa and grandma!"

Reelshka, meanwhile, goes up to Khannie.

"I must say, Khannie, you handled this event quite well."

[Summer Water Balloon Party]
Woblins and Dryadeer

"Holy cow! Thank you Khannie!" Malachi's parents are always reminding him to say please and thank you, and adults and older folks seem to like it when he does. Plus it feels nice. Win-win-win. His eyes are huge and throw back wisps of prismatic light as he examines their prize. He feels the stone, running his little hands over the smooth faces. It almost seems like too much for picking up trash!

"...We should go on adventures for treasure." That seems only wise.

[Summer Water Balloon Party]

It turns out that cool rocks are almost always appreciated prizes for small children. If either of the woblin children peek through the hole in the stone they'll see a funny little ocean spirit peering right back at them. Exactly what it looks like is hard to say. It IS a spirit, after all. But is sure looks ocean-y! The twins might even find themselves disagreeing on the details since their interpretation of an ocean spirit might be a little different. After all, what they see is a symbol that represents the spirit. Not actually the spirit because spirits are spirits.

The faceted stone is definitely pretty but also definitely not magical. But it might SEEM pretty magical! Opals tend to be that way. Super neat rocks.

Khannie smiles over at Malachi. "You should ask Tuskfang to come along on his next treasure hunt."

But then!

Encouragement!

"Thanks, Reelshka! I learned a lot about wrangling the littles here and over at Inari's too," Khannie replies. After all, the foxes are nearly as numerous as the goblins. "It's a tonna fun, I love seeing 'em running around and having a good time."

[Summer Water Balloon Party]
Woblins and Dryadeer

"Yeah thanks Khannie!" Kissa adds, being reminded of her manners. She turns her attention back to the gem. There's a downside to there just being one to share, since now she's trying to turn it in Malachi's hands. These two are usually in sync at least.

Meanwhile Sakura's come over with Reelshka now that it seems the activity is winding down. She gives Khannie a smile, then leans over, hand on her knees, to see her children. "How about you show me what you got?" She prompts.

[Morty]

[Summer Water Balloon Party]
Woblins and Dryadeer

"Yeah! Tuskfang is the best treasure hunter!" Balthuk's tail wags excitedly. Maltrika is busy staring into the hole.

"Hi!"

"Yes, I think the little foxes from the temple came here once. Got on immediately with the young goblins. It took me a while to have my own children, but living in a goblin colony always gets you used to them. You visited Underside with Brinika and Cheasadh, didn't you?"

[Earl of Purple]

Voices of the Past

Earl hadn't realised the pieces had been described; he was assuming they were all identical and it was a choice of the right one amidst the decoys, not assembling the key from parts. "It's amazing it's still working so well. Everything looks really old, and things tend to fall apart without maintenance." Which as the person who does a lot of maintenance, Natalie knows quite well.

The Prepared Student heads in first, without even asking Natalie. She's got far more curiosity than she has caution; something Khannie might recognise from quite a few people. She's not able to see in the dark, but she does have a flashlight app on her phone, which is kinda awkward but working nonetheless.

[Rebonack]

[Voices From the Past]

The lead slab can be pushed pretty easily, causing it to rotate without resistance in spite of how heavy it is. Beyond the door is a vast cavern stretching out before them, but mostly stretching down. Stairs lead into the darkness to a huge pool of water with an unearthly blue glow shining up out of it.

As soon as the door opens Khannie's horn lights up and she holds up an arm to prevent Natalie from following the prepared student past the lead door.

"Hold up I'm getting some hecking serious corruption vibes from in there. Purification might be my thing but I dunno if jumping straight in's a good idea," she says, leaning forward just enough to take a few pictures with her phone for reference. Something about that blue glow reminds her of something, but she isn't exactly sure what it is. She wants to check this out before jumping in headlong. "I'm gunna say we seal this back up for now and Imma try to find out some more info on it."

Being cautious strikes her as a good plan, especially with the campsite nearby.

[Halae]

[Playdate]

"...Right." Braon gives Trick a look between incredulity and loathing. "So, in what version of reality do we make sure they don't start eating mud without keeping an eye on them? Unless one of you is also an enchantress, I don't see that happening."

She offhandedly flicks her hand back behind her, a set of flat stones breaking through the ground there to form a bench. "Besides, what else are the three of us meant to do? Exchange knitting patterns? Paint each other's nails? Discuss uncomfortably intimate information while the kids are still too young to repeat anything we say?" The fiendling crosses her arms and sighs, leaning back on the new bench. She glances between the two of them, the mob of small children nearby, and finally the fussy girl still in her arm, as she waits for an answer.

Cain doesn't seem overly impressed by the other boy... doing absolutely nothing when his horns are messed with, but apparently the horn nubs are sensorily interesting enough to not let go. The infant lets out a delighted giggle as play continues, but the sound is quickly muted by him testing the horn's properties the best way a very young child knows how:

num-num-num-num~

Meanwhile, Ciara is still hugging up against Janos, to the point where it might be hard for the infant tiefling to move around while her brothers get back to chasing one another; he's not joining in, she's too busy trying to show him the merits of being a cuddlebug!

[Playdate]

Time to couch Braon in having a normal conversation, it seems. Has Sophie ever witness her have one of those? Their encounters outside their office usually turn into therapy sessions anyway. Braon seems to be in constant attack mode with others as well.

"You can talk shop, for one. You're both magic-users in your own ways. And I admit I don't know a lot about how your magic works myself. I've just witnessed its effects."

[Playdate]

"I was referring to Cain and Bertin not being too rough with each other, not regarding keeping an eye on them," Trick says bluntly, her tone flat in a way that suggests 'I am not fighting you over this; you were wrong and made a mistake, and this explanation is a correction'.

The tiefling shakes her head then, "But we can absolutely keep an eye on them from a distance. I have just the spell..." she mutters an incantation in Infernal, "Capy za py ehy ao zmy vypal darv vorv itz iw ph wuqmz."

And a small green eyeball, about the size of a golf ball, appears above her outstretched hand, "This is what's called an Arcane Eye. I work with soulstuff and planar energies; in this case that means creating an artificial entity to house the eye's magical structure, linked to my mind, which allows me to see through it. I can get into specific details, if you like."

Bertin lets out a long set of giggle as the other boy climbs all over him to gum at his horns. He's finding this absolutely novel! This isn't something mommy or mum ever do!

Janos, however, is feeling the sting of being constricted by someone while others are playing, and he starts trying to disentangle himself from Ciara's arms, which ends up being that he grabs her and starts pushing at her... which may end up starting a new game instead of actually getting her away!

[Earl of Purple]

Baccata's Yew

Baccata is helping somebody here. They're an odd looking person, with a body of rotting leaves and mud, held together with sticks and branches. Their face has been carved out of mud, and their head looks to be hollow, with something glowing an icy blue within visible through their eyes and when they open their mouth. They seem unused to bipedalism, and Baccata's showing them how to walk again.

Voices from the Past

The Prepared Student also spots the blue glow, and glances at her phone long enough to settle on a Geiger counter app, turning it on and waving her phone around. If there's radiation about, it might be able to pick it up.

Natalie nods at Khannie in agreement. "Hey! Come back, we're not going further." Not that Natalie's worried about the Prepared Student getting in trouble; she's worried about her alerting something deeper in, which is why she's stage-whispering her instruction.
"Bummer. This place is totally poggers." The green-skinned conjured minion nods as she speaks, and Natalie is utterly baffled by the language.

[Rebonack]

[Voices from the Past]

The student's phone begins clicking. There isn't enough radiation to be immediately dangerous, but you wouldn't want to stand there at the open cave mouth for a couple hours without any sort of protection.

Once the student is clear, Khannie will shove the lead slab back into place and then pick up the head of the statue. With a click the lock engages again and the door is once more immobile. Khannie then stows the head in her pack. Without it no one should be able to get into the cave even if they somehow manage to stumble upon it.

"I think I'm gunna tell Sophie about what we found up here. See if I can't figure out exactly what that glow was, too. It didn't... I mean, I don't think it was magic? Unicorn horns are basically magical sensory organs and it didn't feel like that. It just felt like... poison."

Poison sealed behind a lead slab.

"Once I've figured out what we're dealing with and how to ward against it THEN we can go down there and find out what the ghosts are worried about. Hopefully it's just fixing some wards to keep the dead chicken dead."

[Murkus]

[Summer Water Balloon Party]
Woblins and Dryadeer

Malachi certainly doesn't seem to mind sharing with his twin sister - it's all the other dumb older kids he knows are the real enemy of sharing. It's like they don't listen to anything mom and dad say!

"Look, mommy!" And now he wants to share with mommy, too. "We won! Can we keep it?" And put it somewhere special, probably. He asks because Dad doesn't let them keep too many rocks and sticks and bugs and things in the house. It's gotten out of hand before, bringing outside things inside.

[Rebonack]

[Summer Water Balloon Party]

Maltrika is watched by the spirit with the sort of cautious curiosity one would expect from most animals. This pretty clearly isn't the sort of spirit that can talk; it isn't nearly big enough for that. It's just a tiny little elemental, a mishmash of elements associated with tide pools.

The twins might be able to coax it out with an offering of some kind, but what would a tide pool spirit like?

That's a real mystery.

Khannie gives a nod to Reelshka. "Yeah it was pretty cool there. The riding beetles were great and the river was neat."

And there were a ton of kids everywhere. The goblins definitely put an emphasis on big families, just like the foxes do.

"I'm glad the kids are into neat rocks and stuff; it makes finding prizes really easy."

All the better to bribe the littles into doing work they might otherwise be opposed to.

As for the gem, it's just a bit of mostly common opal. A pretty white, faintly translucent color. But when the light hits it JUST right, there's some fire that dances in it.