The Oasis

[greatcleavage]

What the heck was he doing here?

Beneath the shade of the palm fronds, Roy stared out at the desert that stretched out in every direction. Somehow he'd found himself here, against all logic. A weird sidequest? A dream? Maybe he was dead again and his spirit had been hijacked.

Well, what could he do but wait and see what came along? The oasis showed signs of being used by travelers, so he wouldn't be stuck here forever anyway...

Comments

So... is that a no? LOL.

[najaran]

"Which part wasn't the happiest ending? Where I almost became dinner for the Lord of Flies? Having to work for Mistress Grubbel? Or the part where the Master was really angry that I ate his favorite cake?"

All bad endings to her mind, all which had happened, sadly.

[greatcleavage]

"Where you ended up here in the middle of nowhere." Possibly literally, though Roy still held out hope for a caravan. Still, it sounded like she'd had a good journey that should have ended there instead of pushing her on to more trouble like this.

[najaran]

"Oh." She shrugged. "But we got to meet you," she said considering. "So it can't be all bad. And besides, you came from somewhere other than where we did. So.... if we go the way you came and you go the way we came, we both wind up somewhere new. Or we take another direction together," she said with a shrug, "and team up until we find some place with real beds and decent food."

There are moments when she is almost mature and reasonable.

[greatcleavage]

"Well, I just ended up here, so there's nowhere to go where I came from." He didn't think expanding on it as plane-shifting or teleporting would really add to the dialogue here... "And teaming up would probably be the wisest decision in any case."

From what she said, she didn't NEED help -- no matter how she acted -- but two heads were better than one as a rule.

[najaran]

"Well, then we'll just pick any direction that isn't the way I came from. there has to be a city or village somewhere, right?"


She was the cheerful sort.

[greatcleavage]

Clearly. And he was used to that sort. "That's true, but the question is whether we can reach that city or village traveling blind and with limited supplies. Honestly, I think we're better off staying here until some sort of caravan shows up. There's water, and food from the trees."

[najaran]

"the food is still limited here," she pointed out. "And we run the risk of dying of boredom. And if we eat all the food here... what will the next people who arrive eat?"

[greatcleavage]

"One of us runs the risk of dying from boredom," Roy countered. "And even then, it looks like a fair amount of traffic comes through here, if you checked the tracks and signs."

Yeah, he knows she didn't.

[najaran]

"The tracks and signs?" she looked around, bewildered. Then she looked back at him. "And I really don't want you to die of boredom...."

[greatcleavage]

"Don't worry about me. I've been dead before, it was terrific." Roy took a few steps to the side, pointing at some faint ruts and prints at the side of the oasis.

[najaran]

"You've been dead before?" she asked, startled. "And... and you came back? How? Are you some sort of Zombie?" Was he a card after all?

She frowned, looking to where he was pointing. "That's sand... not a sign."

[greatcleavage]

"No, I was raised. Do I look like a zombie?" Seriously, what kind of question was that?

...Well, a question answered by her next comment. A dumb one. "It isn't the sand itself, so much as the impressions left in it."

[najaran]

"Well... no,,, less stringy and gross, but I haven't seen every possible kind of zombie, I'm sure. Master Horowitz keeps saying that there is always more to see and to learn. But... what does your height have to do with anything?"

Gooligan drooped, but was leaving the headache for Roy.

[greatcleavage]

"Resurrected," Roy said immediately, with the patience only someone used to Elan could show.

[najaran]

"Resser....? Is that some kind of place to get food or something?"

[greatcleavage]

"Brought back to life." Roy was learning a great deal about the capabilities and limits of her particular magic. At only the cost of his sanity. Which went pretty cheap these days.

[najaran]

"WHOA! You can do that? For real? How?"

[greatcleavage]

"You're not familiar with clerics?" Imagining a world where the gods didn't intervene through their mortal representatives was extremely difficult to comprehend, but... "Or maybe what clerical power should have existed on your world was subsumed into those cards..."

[najaran]

"Clerics?" she asked. What were clerics? Were they yummy?

"Brining the dead back to life sounds like a rather dark use of magic," Gooligan said, carefully, watching him. "Whoever managed that must be extremely dangerous. We should be cautious."

[greatcleavage]

"I -- what? No. It's just another spell!"

Dangerous?! Well, sure, a cleric of the level to cast Resurrection was by definition 'dangerous', but there's a difference between potential and actuality!

[najaran]

"Wait, that's a spell card?" Najaran asked, excited.

"Which is dangerous in your hands, Najaran! You are forbidden spell cards for a reason!"

[greatcleavage]

"No, it's not a spell 'card'. The magic I'm used to relies on discrete patterns of invocation with variable energy sources. In this case, the energy comes from the cleric's god."

[najaran]

"So.... a God card....?"

Reason one hundred and seven to never introduce her to Elan.

[greatcleavage]

Okay. Okay. He can handle this. Calm breath.

"I feel I should clarify that where I come from, cards are in no way involved with the greater cosmology or any uses of magic, equipment, or skills."

[najaran]

"Then how does anyone get anything done?" she asked, perplexed.

"Most people aren't Cepters, Naja!!!!"