[IC] New Crobuzon & the World Beyond

[Kubo]

Kubo will stop in his tracks and watch the stranger for a bit, trying to get a feel for if the stranger is likely to be hostile or welcoming.

[Crozar the Sunspot]

Crozar will stop next to Kubo watching the figure.  [[Crozar has Gather Information if that would apply in assessing whether that staff looks more like a broom, druid's crook or wizard's staff.  It is definitely some kind of magical thing.  I would also like to see if any of the gourds seem particularly unnatural.]]  It whispers to the dwarf, "If that isn't a druid or thaumaturge, I'll pluck my spines.  My own field of interest is the elemental expression of Torque, but the thought of drawing natural power from such a Torque infested environment is frightening in it's implications."

[Selina Parcellus]

Selina moves up next to her two newest companions and simply says "Be careful what you wish for..." as she joins them in watching the seemingly odd behavior.  Thus far, since falling (intentionally this time) from the flying vessel, the group had encountered a flock of adorable, friendly Furbees, an enormous two headed crocodile, mutated beam-spitting creatures from her own nightmares, a dwarf, a strange cactus-like person, that...that utterly terrifying mist, and an enormous walking tree that may or may not have once been a human.  Not all of those interactions were friendly, not all were hostile.  Now there was something, or someone, new to interact with.  To say Selina was on her guard would be understating facts in the extreme.

[Crozar the Sunspot]

"So do we feel anyone in particular is best to call greetings?  I am happy to do so.  If this person has good relations with our giant friend back there, they may be more inclined towards talking with another plant." Crozar suggests thoughtfully.  "Glad we don't have any Garuda with us given their obvious hatred of birds."

[Selina Parcellus]

Betimi just morosely shrugs, "I guess, I mean what possible difference does it make.  Better to die with company than to die alone I guess."

{OoC the group might look at Betimi askance, they know that such a defeatist attitude is not normal for the alien, utterly logical and pragmatic Betimi normally. Ever since she bound her new vestige today her mood has ranged from slightly depressed to seemingly suicidal depression. Even though she acknowledges that it is the influence of her pact, it is hard to separate whose emptions she is feeling.]

Crozar plucks a white flower from its shoulder and holds it out to the pale lady. It spoke slowly so as to be more easily understood.  "I don't know that I caught all that, Betimi," it says having picked up the name from Selina, "But I agree it is better to die together than alone. Hopefully we won't have to die at all though." This last was said with what was obviously meant to be a kind smile, although those prickly teeth undermined the effect.  It looked to Selina and asked, "I don't believe I caught your name madame."

[[I know this is going Wayyyy back into the thread, But I wanted to make sure everyone knows that Selina would have responded with her name, in the simplest way possible given her knowledge of Ragamoll is quite limited.  Things accelerated rather rapidly afterwards.]]

"So do we feel anyone in particular is best to call greetings?  I am happy to do so.  If this person has good relations with our giant friend back there, they may be more inclined towards talking with another plant." Crozar suggests thoughtfully.  "Glad we don't have any Garuda with us given their obvious hatred of birds."

Selina just nods.  "This is all very much over my head, so a local would definitely be far better off here than I."

[GM Marvel]

While you were walking toward the smoke Simon scratches his head and looks at Crozar and the others with confusion.  Finally he says, "Am I the only one who saw that?  The rabbit?  It nibbled on one of the prickly fruit attached to Crozar's heel, then it sparkled blue?  Seriously?  Is the Torque affecting my mind?"

[Selina Parcellus]

Selina turns and shrugs at Simon.  "I saw it.  Does it even mean anything?  Everything here is so chaotic I doubt the little creatures would not be affected either."

[Crozar the Sunspot]

Crozar looks concerned and says, "I saw the rabbit, but didn't notice the shine.  That is deeply concerning as I do not believe I have triggered any Torque reactions to my magic."

[GM Marvel]

Selina turns and shrugs at Simon.  "I saw it.  Does it even mean anything?  Everything here is so chaotic I doubt the little creatures would not be affected either."

"It touched Crozar and covered him with tiny flowers and prickly fruit.  While Cactacae do sprout flowers along the ridges of their hide during the Springtime, to my knowledge they don't produce fruit!  Then a rabbit nibbles on the fruit and there's a sparkle of blue light and suddenly the rabbit doesn't seem hungry any more. My training in spellcraft detected some type of magical effect.  It's not any spell I know of which might indicate it can control the Torque to produce certain magical effects.  I suspect the fruit have some kind of nourishing and possibly even healing properties."  

"A little bit off topic, but I also noted how the creature did not seem concerned about the Torque effects when casting spells.  It produced those stones, which seem to be some high powered magic, without any hesitation.  It's eyes are uncannily human-like and it has behaviours of a human by using that hole as a latrine.  I think I would like to come back here some time and examine the creature more closely." 

[Selina Parcellus]

Selina just shrugs "I see.  I'm certain you understand where I stand.  I wish to return to my plane.  I have protected you thus far and granted you the opportunity to study that which you wanted to study.  It would seem that this source you were seeking is, perhaps, Druidic in nature.  The vibrancy of Life is plainly evident here.  But I'm certain that the Stain is affecting it by manipulating it into something far more volatile.  Nangalu was turned into nothing more than a hand and began spawning small animals.  The giant tree-being we just met looked very similar to creatures we would call Treants on our plane, but it had a sentience all on its own.  Is there anything else or can we proceed with finding our way home?"

Selina would ordinarily not be so abrasive, but the truth was that she was exhausted.  Not physically, they had ample time to rest in relative safety.  Her fatigue was the homesick variety.  Since the moment the group had been distributed onto this plane in a sewer, she'd wanted to return.  And while she'd discovered something on this plane which gave her many thoughts about who she truly was, she wasn't ready to embrace this plane with all its oddities.