Unexpected turns

Artizza

But just then we hear the heavy footsteps of someone climbing the stairs. From the sound of it, the footsteps' owner sounds rather angry. Whatever the case, they are followed up by the owner.... But for some difference in clothing, he's Dragon Synizn's twin.

To be expected, but I'll be safe to say that our presence within this house wasn't at all expected by the owner! Shock is definitely written all over this Synizn's heavily bearded face. Definitely the native Synizn has been stunned enough indeed (that and the sudden sense of affection that is the lot in life of the analog kind of doppelganger) to at least listen to "our" Synizn.

"Who are you?" he says in an uncharacteristically (I'm sure) unsteady voice.

If nothing else....

Annafrid

In a low, comforting voice Dragon Synizn slowly approaches his twin. Assurances of comfort and no harm are spoken just long enough to do what he does next....

A snarl is beginning to form on the other's face, apparently his werebear nature regaining ascendancy...

Which is when Dragon Synizn is near enough to cold cock the werebear with a quick "kia" and a karate chop....

And down goes the native Synizn, unconscious! Looking VERY startled right before his eyes roll back into his head and he goes down!

"See," Dragon Synizn breaths a little bit heavily in reaction as he retrieves the Crystallic from the unconscious. "Told you I was the best one for handling the situation."

He then sighs and mutters something along the lines of "...so much for not using force."

....

Yep. Being that he probably knows the ends and outs of werebear lycanthropy (and all it's banes), he had known that the temporary lucidity (or whatever) the native was able to experience for the moment would be fleeting!

As an aside, from what I have been taught about lycanthropy (that is, the type found upon Terra Prime still as opposed to the kind induced by some kind of plant on alternate Terras) is that it hales from Atlantis and....had never intended to be released in the first place! It was created, from what fragmentary archeological (as well as ancient draconian spy sheets), as a threat against insurgents within the kingdom of Atlantis. Insurgents who, I'm told, wanted a piece "of the action" with the power that the Crystallic represented! Well, the insurgents failed to listen, believing that the curse was an empty bluff.

It wasn't.

So, it was released, but was more virulent/successful in some ways (and less in others) than it's creator anticipated and spread much further than planned.

It works this way, that curse. It spreads like a venereal disease, through exchanges of body fluids (mostly the saliva into the blood from bites but we all know by now that other forms of exchange work). The first victim's bodies, when changed into animal form, reflect the animal type most closely resembling their personalities. It then goes one further and accentuates those personality traites to such a degree that large scale cooperation needed for continued effective resistance to the Atlantian rule was not possible. The later victims of the initial ones, no matter what their actually personalities type, take on the forms of those who infected them. Whatever the case, the later day victims had the same behavioral problems as those who infected them.

Get it? Release the disease and watch the enemy fall apart, that's what the lord of Atlantis wanted. But it got out of hand and spread amongst those still loyal, enough to where the kingdom of Atlantis was going to collapse no matter what! That....kind of upset the ruler of Atlantis, I guess, and threw a fit! Used his powerful magic to actually SINK the capital island.

Kind of petty, and I'm sure that there was more to it than that but....that's all I and the others know about it. And the only person who could shed more light on this subject that one "good guy" Zerm has made himself impossible to find.

Not that we WANT to find him! Guy is creepy!! Creepy and very much likely more than a bit dangerously insane!

The thing that our little curse that didn't work (not until some of the various Minestuses managed) was the "Babylon" part of the curse. Meaning that those accursed were still able to speak their native languages instead of an artificial "racial" tongue that nobody else spoke. Meaning that Lord Tesla's the ruler of Atlantis (whichever reality you spoke of) enemies weren't quiet as doomed as they could of been (but that wasn't much of a bright spot, folks).

Then some Minestuses, with his "souped up" versions of neo- lycanthropy were activate that part of it (thus the reason why various demifoxes had to have translator rings and such.....that curse prevented them speaking their old tongues). Not that that curse was too hard for a decent mage to break, but that's by the by....

.....

Well, thing here is that the native Synizn is, from what Dragon Synizn will say later, so far under the curse's influence he'll be VERY hostile. Sometimes great shocks (like death of old friends and meeting his own analog) could break through and release the victim enough so some kind of friendly (non-hostile/non-paranoid) behavior could occur. This Synizn's lucid moment passed VERY quickly.

Frankly, I'm amazed that he was even able to function well enough to hire his servants (and God only knows what kind of terms of working conditions those servants work under for this guy)!

....

Oh, another thing. Did I fail to mention despite all the banes that lycanthropy has, that it does have a few perks? Things like regeneration and such? Like what's allowing our knocked out were-bear to be groaning, coming out of being knocked out only a few seconds ago by his analog?

Synizn

I feel the growl form within my throat as the anger arises as my master.....

"Let's take care of this problem first," that twin mutters right before....

The room seems to whirl about my body as I nearly find myself throwing up and I....

Find myself on my stomach, feeling the cold floor on my scaley belly and tail, anger suddenly evaporated like the morning mist.

?

.....

Wha... Wait.

That burning anger and bitterness has been part of me ever since.....

!

Scaley belly and tail?!

I open my eyes and look....down at me and...

Dragon Synizn

"MEEP!" the black scaled baby dragon cries, patting his own body up and down in shock and then looking up at the others, looking confused.

1. Yes, our native Synizn is VERY surprised at this turn of events!

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