Wood or Lead?

Joan 2

"Oh shit!" I hear Exotica gasp, and the others are saying much the same.

I don't, but then again I'm thinking it so as to make no never mind. However, there is a reason why beyond just seeing the one named Hannah having transformed and teleport away right at the very moment we're arriving. It is a reason that both I and Fertal share which could be related, in a fashion, to a little bit of background on things we did before here and now. Not sure, but....

No, first thing first.... Sorry, that blasted clicking from the detector wand was so loud that we are still hearing the echoes after Hannah had faded from view! Distracting.

Before we proceed forward I feel we should step back for a moment. I and my husband (goodness, wanted to be able to say that for the longest time!) had just gotten done with our honeymoon when Jarlath's group had returned from that last validation Quest. Had been one hellacious trip, but all in all they had prevailed. Even brought along some new friends, which was good . . . considering what had happened! Oh, in time the meddling that that evil dragoness, Moreau shall wear off and so the native Sigin and native Synizn could if they wish, return. However, being that they would be the only non-fox Manimals on the planet (if by that time the neo-lycanthropy had neutralized itself by then) . . . .

No, cannot fault them for wanting to move. Being the last of your own species would be incredibly lonely...

Accomidations had been in the process of being made, to welcome the newest immigrants to their new home. The dragons were getting rationed a Hoard from replicators, so if/when their old Hoard back on their homeworld should get compromised the poor dears wouldn't be hard up. Least we could do for the still disoriented dragons!

As for the centauress named Ravenmane (rather lovely name), almost all of Jarlath's group wanted to go along with her whilst Dragon Synizn's friends from the East (the Eastern Dragons) studied her condition, seeing if her altered memories could be set to right.

....

Initial prognosis, however, didn't sound encouraging. Perhaps in the first few minutes, the alterations could be undone easily (IF an adequate mage lab was available). Now?

God only knows....

....

Hey, Joan, keep your chin up! Just hope for the best and know that the rest of the Clan shall do everything in their power to make our newest member of the family at home. Do rather like her, my newest sister and IF she never regains her true, old memories, I and the others shall do our utmost to create new memories along with her as a family! Living as a family does....

We're like that.

Only reason (or a BIG reason) why Fertal and Artizza hadn't stayed behind to play cheerleader along with Jarlath's group was it was strongly hinted by the Agent who'd be sending us that at least two more members were needed to make this next Quest viable. Before, we'd just had myself, Cuthbert, and Synizn 2 playing chaperon for the new Champion, Exotica. Straws were drawn and before it was fully done, Artizza pulled one of the two short straws. Being that Fertal does NOT go anywhere without Artizza (a common feature of elfin couples, inseparability) , the two were chosen. As for Exotica, she understood the reasons why lots were drawn so wasn't insulted by all of Jarlath's group wanting to do with Ravenmane rather than with her. Family's family...

Just hope that poor Fertal gets not distracted from things, worrying about his newest sister's mental state.

Then again, what had happened just a few seconds ago and what's happening NOW is MORE than adequate for focussing his attention!

Sure did for me!!

Belboz, I fear, feels that we are the cause for what has befallen Hannah!

Now, to be fair the people we'd just dropped in on her might NOT be named Hannah and Belboz. Just is they LOOK like the Hannah (our unicorn lass of the Clan) and the native (ghost) Belboz of Terra Prime. Spitting image of them...

Well, Hannah had been before....she shrank and changed.... Into some kind of nature spirit, if I am to guess.... Maybe a nymph or dryad, but not a kind I'm familiar with . . . .

But whatever the case, I feel a faint stirring within my heart when my eyes had locked with her's, nymph or not. It's a faint echo of the doppleganger reaction I felt just recently when meeting Ravenmane! Do believe that somehow (unlike "my" Hannah back on Terra Prime) that she and I are analogs! But, so faint!

That's going to be one of a dozen questions to be answered after Belboz wakes up!

See, despite him having been able to cast a spell (which only caused a momentary tingling through all of us) nothing had happened. The lack of results had stunned Belboz for the few seconds I needed in order to apply my favorite weapon (the staff) to his jaw, knocking him out cold! That and....

That and breaking more than a few of his teeth!

....

Look. Ever since the Belboz of my world (okay....technically I'd only come into existence after that incident with the Red Pyramid, re: 14984) cast that spell upon me (re: 8642 & 9570) I've been a touch leery around other Belbozes. Oh, I'm good friends now with Belinda and Phylicia (analogs of THIS Belboz who'd become female) soon upon them becoming Champions. Nice people, actually; nothing at all like what the bards make necromancers out to be in their tales. However, after what I've been through (like being a beautiful woman now, but "my" Belboz hadn't done it out of kindness) I've got a right to be leery!

Beats what my husband would have done. If he'd only been a hair quicker (slowed down only by having to dig through the pack he'd hidden his guns....he's just gotten those Gunslinger Irons from his father and THAT is nothing to sneeze at) it would have been bullet in his forehead instead of a piece of wood across the chops!

Later, we'll find out that the spell cast upon us was a transformation spell, a Matrix transformation spell! Turn us into creatures or something else to lessen the danger to him....

How in the name of Heaven is a non-Atlantian mage....

.....

Right, mirror worlds mean differences in history. Lost knowledge in one world isn't lost in another....

But that's jumping ahead of things.

1. After we'd bound the arms of Belboz (to prevent spell casting) and gagging him (and shoving some kind of potion down his throat), Synizn 2 is thumbing through this odd Red Book when the necromancer groans and wakes up....

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