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

[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!!!!"

[greatcleavage]

"Casters rely, generally as a rule, on verbal, somatic, material, and focus components to tap into the source of magic from which they derive their powers," Roy said, settling into patient-explanation mode.

[najaran]

"Wow...." she said, awed.

"You didn't follow any of that, did you, Najaran?"

"Nope, but it sounds impressive. Betcha Alta would get it though."

His mustache dropped and his eyes closed. "I weep for your future, Najaran..."

[greatcleavage]

"All right." Roy pressed a finger between his eyes, feeling a headache coming on. "Let's start with terms. Magic. What is magic?"

[najaran]

"Um.... are you teaching or am I?" she asked, confused.