Inquiring Minds of Magic

Gohzrik kept to himself while in the dwarven bath, not starting any not joining any conversations. He sat alone stewing in body and mind as yesterday’s events danced through his mind. He shook his head in frustration trying to figure out what he could have done differently. As his frustration grew and his face turned red he left the comfort of the bath, wrapped himself in a towel and marched towards Eylylyn. He grabbed a stool and sat at the edge of the bath behind Eylylyn, facing away from her.

“I can’t stay this way.”

He sighed.

“Even if I swung my hammer harder, shot my arrows more accurately, sliced with my katana faster... I couldn’t have held a candle to Strahd. I need more options in my corner to keep up with everyone.”

He looked up.

“When we visited the Elven realm and I got those seeds I didn’t think much of them... but my archery changed. I was attuned with nature. It’s gotten us by so far... but I don’t m is what I can do to take the next step. If there is anyone I can ask about this it’s you. You may think the magic I am looking for is beneath you... but I have no problem looking up at you.”

Blood and sweat tingled down her back. The hood over her head kept her from seeing anything, but she could smell her companions next to her and the instructor behind them. Her wrists were tied above her head, and her ankles were secured to a weight to keep her from spinning as she hung in midair level with the others. The air was sour, but it always was down here. The whip cracked again, and again she gave no voice to her cry as she'd been taught. Instead she made a little walled off corner of her mind. Every time the pain came she sent it there and sealed it away. The whip cracked twice more, but no cries rose up. A rough growl of a voice cackled in approval. She could hear froth dripping from fangs as the instructor leaned in and whispered to her. His breath smelled of days old meat and the Deathmire grog favored by werewolves.

"Good! You stink of fear, but we will purge that soon enough. You control your pain and that is the first step. I will not suffer weak tools to serve in my Kargat. You are mine. Your will is mine. You have no desires, no ambition, nothing outside of what I say. You are nothing!"

Then she was back in the church, standing alone. Her right arm ached as corruption overtook it. She could feel the fell voice of her staff gnawing at her bones but she gave it no heed, blocking the pain off as she'd been taught. Standing before her was a nightmare in flesh, and she was all too aware of how ill-prepared she was for this and the frailty of the spell keeping him from Ireena.

"You will give to me what I desire, little scholar."

She looked at him, and cold terror crept up her spine. What was she doing? She couldn't fight this! Azilan couldn't fight this! Who was she to deny this lord his right anyway? Then almost as if she were watching someone else act with her own limbs, she drew forth her battered old oak staff and planted it before her, standing a little straighter as she looked up at the Lord of Borovia and with a voice that carried far more sureity than she felt she shook her head. She'd been here before, bound and helpless before one who would abuse her. She knew pain would come next. And she stood tall, defiant in the face of certain death.

I swear upon my name and power before Azilan himself, Ezra of the Mists and any other god real or imaginary who cares to bear witness, I will not yield!

"You cannot have her!"

The fury of his gaze was a blow in its self, and the Blackstaff laughed

"I can't stay this way."

Gohzrick's voice woke her with a start. The wizard lay propped up in a little nook of the hot tub having fallen asleep. She took a moment to take in her surroundings, catching her breath before looking over her bare shoulder to address him.

"You... you give me too much credit. I wasn't of any more use than you in the end back there. You had the right idea in killing her at least. I wish I'd had the courage to cut her throat back in Borovia and spare us all this heartache. I was only a mouse thinking I'd outsmarted the cat holding me by the tail."

She trails off, lost in thought for a moment.

"I do know something of the kind of magic you're talking about. Druids are, by some reckoning, the oldest magical tradition there is. Scholars or not, their arts gave rise to every other art and style of magic there is, and so there is some commonality between them. I don't know how much help I can be, but I'll try to help as I can.

Gohzrik listened intently as Lyn explained her thoughts on the fight and Ireena, speaking only when she had finished.

“Killing Ireena was always an option in my mind, just a last ditch option. As far as I could see and was concerned... killing her was the only way out of that mess alive at least for us...”

He held back a laugh as he smirked. And turned his head slightly to Eylylyn so she could see his face.

“We may be mice, and he may be a cat; but we starved him of one desire. A desire that he can never satisfy again. We have our lives, our minds, and our bodies. Strahd is the only one in the fight who lost in that church. We scraped by, only just. Much of that was do to your magic. Concealing Ireena, breaking Aspen, Mercurion; and myself from our stupor, the illusion of Ezra, the illusion of Azilan, send Malajai to save me and heal me. Your quick intellect kept us alive and Strahd distracted enough for myself and Mercurion to do what had to be done.”

He turned back around and stared at the floor.

“For what it’s worth... I’m glad her blood isn’t on your hands.”

He was silent for a minute before deciding to change the subject back to the new path he was looking to forge.

“Druids eh... oldest magical tradition... Can’t say we’ve run into any here so just maybe I can catch Strahd off guard. Even if it’s for just a moment it will all be worth it.”

He nods to himself.

“Do you think I should try meditating with the seeds, or maybe plant them in a pot and take them with us on our journey?”

The wizard rested her chin on her crossed arms, leaning on the edge of the pool while she continued to soak.

"You're kind. But I don't need to be spared from bloodshed. I killed for the first time long ago, and it's gotten easier since. It's always been easier to kill people than animals for me. People make the decisions that put themselves against you, or follow those that do. Animals are usually just hungry."

She brushes back a strand of pink behind an ear.

"I'm not sure what you should do. I've got a couple of books that might help, but I'm not bringing them into all this humidity. We can take a look when we make camp tonight. But I suspect doing whatever makes you feel closer to nature would help. From what I remember Druidism isn't about control or channeling huge power. It's about communion with the natural world."

She smiles a bit at the idea.

"I've always thought it a bit fanciful, and frankly I don't believe much of what I've read about their magic. But who knows? Maybe you'll prove me wrong."

Gohzrik smiled

“Even if I prove you wrong your ego won’t be damaged, you’ll just brag about the prodigy that you taught.” He laughed.

*Timeskip to dawn of the morning after Gohzrik spoke with Muamman Duathal in front of the party.*

Gohzrik woke at dawn per usual. He glanced around for any unknown observers and for any wildlife courageous enough to draw near to them while they slept. He stretched and donned his leather armor, weapons, and pack. He made his way towards Eylylyn who was tossing and turning recklessly.

“Oy, Oy! Time to wake up so you can get teaching before we hit the road.”

He beamed at the wizard before turning away to sit through his pack pulling out 3 small seeds.

“Also I think it would be best if you examined these. If you remember I got them from the Druid in the Elven realm we visited... one is missing. I don’t know whether it was stolen, or what happened. But normal things don’t just up and disappear so perhaps there is a bit of magic in them. I’m not too sure.”

She woke with a start. She had no memory of her dreams, and subconsciously magicked away the sweat that had formed on her brow before taking her face out of her Pillow and turning a sunny smile on Gohzrik.

"Good morning to you, too! I think our first lesson should be on the dangers of handling magic before one has had any coffee, but perhaps some of us are better suited to that hazard than others."

She Rose and stretched then rekindled the campfire, setting the filled percolator on the rack to start heating.

"Alright, before we get to the books and scrolls, let's take a look at what you've got there."

She took the seeds and closed her hands around them. The fire Continued crackling merilly, but after a few minutes it began to glow green. The same eerie green light shine out from between the wizards fingers. Then it faded and the light returned to a bright orange when she opened her eyes.

"Fascinating! I'm not sure exactly what these are! You say you got them from the druid in Elvenhome? And one of them is missing? Interesting..."

She considers for a long moment before proffering them up to the warrior.

"I'm sure these hold the key to mastering Druidism, but I honestly have no idea how they work or where they're from."

Gohzrik focused intently on Eylylyn as she studied the seeds before handing them back. He took them slowly and nodded at her explanation.

“Hmmmm. Ah! I think I get it. Because these seeds are an unknown we must experiment and discover this mystery for ourselves.”

He nodded at his own words and put two of the seeds away before quickly bringing the 3rd seed up to tongue which just emerged from his feathered beard. He licked the seed as daintily as a dwarf could.

“WHY?!?!?!?!?” In Orcish blasted into Gohzrik’s eardrums causing him to close his eyes and when he opened them Eylylyn was gone. He stood up quick and unsheathed his katana holding it at the ready. He began mumbling to himself as he looked around.

“That was Orcish. How odd. I don’t remember knowing Orcish.”

Seeing no one in sight Gohzrik headed towards the trees slowly.

“EYLYLYN? WHERE ARE YOU? MERCURION? RAHSAAN, ASPEN, ZAHRYS???”

No answer reached his ears.

“HELLOOOOOOO?????”

“yo.”

Gohzrik spun around and pointed his katana but saw nothing until he looked down. There at his feet were tiny fur boots from when he was five. Except with googly eyes and a mouth.

“quit makin’ a racket and come see everyone.”

Gohzrik slowly sheathed his katana as he recognized the wear and tear he personally applied to those boots. He nodded and followed like the boots requested. The boots noticed Gohzrik staring.

“yeah yeah. You literally wore me out. I forgive you though. I’m just a tender sole like that.”

Gohzrik laughed heartily.

“Sorry about the staring. Seeing you just has me feeling nostalgic what with being trapped in another realm.”

The boots led Gohzrik out of the trees and back to the fire where he saw two new figures. One was a well dressed man with more arms and faces than he could count. 1/2 the arms holding opera glasses up each to a different face and the other 1/2 writing continuously in one giant book. The other was shifting, translucent... thing. It became many different objects the only similarity being they were all purple. When he saw this figure he immediately dropped to a knee and bowed.

“Your majesty!”

The boots marched forward and stood in between the 2 others.

“you know I wouldn’t be in so bad of shape if you were on your knees more as a kid.”

"Wait, what?!"

The wizard had gone to add coffee to the percolator but quickly turned back in horror at the mention of experimentation. Too late, she could only watch in horror as the Dwarf smacked his lips after apparently tasting one of the seeds. It didn't take long for its potency to become apparent. His eyes dilated to the size of saucers, his jaw went slack and he almost immediately collapsed in a stupor, giggling and drooling like a mad man. He appeared to be trying to speak, but only garbled syllables came out as his tongue seemed to have gone numb.

Eylylyn quickly got up and ran over to him, checking him over. His pulse was fast, but steady. Breathing unobstructed. He seemed to have lost control of his tongue and lips, as slobber was starting to gather in his feathery beard, but there was no swelling and no sign of any real danger. She brushed a stray strand of purple hair out of her face to get a better look at his eyes. His eyes dimly settled on hers for a brief moment.

"Yer magsy!"

Sighing to herself more than anything she thumped him lightly on the forehead then rolled him onto his side as she mumbled to herself.

"See, this is why you don't go and stick things into your mouth like a child! Which any rational adult should know! Or failing that should know to ask the friendly local genius if it's a good idea at least! But no! Some people just have to go and lick whatever they find!"

She leans down and clenches his fist to remove the small brown lump he'd been clutching. She gave it a closer examination, nodding her head as she turned back to her catatonic would be pupil.

"What you have here, my addled friend, is none other than the seed of an Idler's Lotus. Known to induce a catatonic state, numbing of the extremities or exposed areas, and vivid hallucinations. It's often distilled into a powder which is smoked by those with more money than sense. I'm not sure what the others are, but I am sure I'll be watching them for now least we have more undue licking."

She gets up and gathers the rest of the seeds, stowing them in her pouch before pouring herself a steaming cup of coffee. She drinks down half of it with her eyes closed then lets out another sigh of pure relief.

"Ahh, much better. Perhaps if I'd had my coffee first I'd have realized that trying to trick you into getting closer to nature by nurturing the 'magical' seeds was not a good idea and could backfire easily. Perhaps I'd have instead told you the truth: they're perfectly normal non-magical seeds that some dirty vagrant apparently pawned off on you. Apparently with the intent of keeping the city guard from catching him with them. I really should get in the habit of making coffee first thing every morning."

She turns back to Gohzrik, now grasping at the nothing in front of his face with a wondrous expression on his face. The wizard shook her head again, draining the last of her cup.