Phos-Chek [https://files.catbox.moe/94lm9h.jpg]
Jihe rotated his head towards the Oaken hollow behind him and silently cursed that double-dealing dream catcher.
As Pifore-Titu had reported, the arrival of another being through this portal was preceded by a surge of energy from below the Earth. Rising Chi all around them flowed towards the roots of the Oak tree, and the iridescent film over the mouth of the hollow… popped. There was a great sucking sound, which got louder and louder as air billowed out from the tree only to abruptly stop. As the hole was plugged by something.
Wood creaked and cracked as the head of a sand-colored wolf emerged from the side of the tree like a macabre carving. Her red eyes were wild and bloodshot, bulging, and her long tongue was protruding shamefully to one side of her mouth. She sounded like someone trying to play the bagpipes underwater.
It appeared the Young Mistress was choking.
*SNAP* Thought Jihe as he added the mental image to his collection. He would enjoy remembering these moments with a Raw Pu’erh later.
Was he the only one who considered which memories and topics of meditation paired best with each tea?
After savoring his schadenfreude for perhaps a moment too long, Jihe flitted over and tapped a Chi-infused talon on the wood around the young wolf’s neck, causing it to unravel like soft dough.
The spirit beast crumpled to the forest floor and Jihe considered this new complication as she took time to catch her breath. The wolf had disrupted the Chi vortex inside the Oak node with her bumpy arrival, and the whirlpool in reality closed behind her with a "thoom" as a wave of low pressure air seemed to pull all things towards where the portal had just been for a few moments before the forest was still once again.
Jihe had just gained a huge liability instead of an ally, and lost their only route of escape.
Foolish Whelp, Jihe thought to himself as he assessed her new body’s condition.
Although Raella Shenlahaafsah was a capable Medicine Woman on the Lower Planes, she had never incarnated on the Physical Plane before this night. Raella should have known, and Jihe understood, that her gross body would lack most of her power and intelligence unless she had made developing it a focus of her cultivation. As one of her tutors, Jihe knew that it was not. It would never even appear in her curriculum, as such things were rarely necessary, or allowed. Jihe could correctly assume that her gross-body had no foundation because it was created seconds ago.
With his spiritual sight, Jihe peered into the center of Shri Raella where he could see a newly formed beast core {divine} shining like a small star. It was weak, but exceedingly beautiful. The core appeared in Jihe’s third eye like a round ruby with a myriad of small angular facets, glowing with an inner golden fire. It was very well formed.
This was another foolish oversight by the Young Mistress. Shri Raella had created this core with all of her Chi. It seemed to Jihe that Weeps Over Reeds must have helped her along by giving some of its own Chi during the plane-shifting process as well. Jihe did not enjoy the thought of the Young Mistress being indebted to that thing.
Even more concerning; her new body was inexplicably wearing thin tribal garments adorned with feathers, beads, and bones that were so telling he did not have to ask to know the tailor.
“Now I have to complete a dangerous stealth mission while babysitting a level 1 VIP with no Chi reserves and the intelligence of a dog!” Thought Jihe aloud.
“Who’re you calling dog, Ratbreath?!” Raella snapped.
Jihe flopped to the ground and kowtowed respectfully. Greater Wolves were always touchy about the “D” word, so it was best to play it safe with this new version of her. He had to remember that the wolf standing before him was not exactly the same Young Mistress he knew from home–but rather a more feral, less intelligent, level 1 version of her, driven mostly by bestial instincts.
Jihe guessed he could just think of this new wolf as ‘The Mistress after indulging in rice wine.’
“I meant no offence Young Mistress! Congratulations on your successful incarnation. I am relieved you are able to communicate with this one telepathically. To use such an ability in your weakened form is incredible.”
“Not me. Clothes do the talking” said Raella using telepathy.
They certainly made a statement, Jihe thought, as he consciously kept his inner monologue to himself.
It took him a beat to parse her words, then he understood. Weeps Over Reeds had actually made this …slutty halloween costume that the Young Mistress was wearing into a magic item set.
Jihe immediately wasted his last Scroll of Lesser Identify on it just to see everything the abomination did. A blue box appeared in the air before him:
cast lesser identify “Raella” target = armor (all)
!~casting lesser identify
target: Raella
source: scroll
chant: n/a
gesture: n/a
focus: n/a
>Scanning…
>Decrypting…
>Identifying…
>Parsing output…
>Printing:
{
Raella’s Tribal Wolf Raiment of the Made You Look, Owl
Description:
A gift lovingly crafted for Raella Shenlahaafsah to celebrate her first incarnation into Middle World. <3
Magical Armor set:
Raella’s Tribal Tiara of the Made you Look, Owl
Raella’s Tribal Harness of the Made you Look, Owl
Raella’s Tribal Earrings of the Made you Look, Owl
Raella’s Tribal Collar of the Made you Look, Owl
Raella’s Tribal Bangles of the Made you Look, Owl
Set bonus:
Aura effect: Creates the passive state telepathic link between the wearer and nearby owls. (Range - 50 meters)
If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, it's taken without the author's consent. Report it.
All pieces must be worn for this set bonus to take effect. This set may possess additional unrevealed characteristics if examined by a higher tier spell.
Rarity: Unique
Can be upgraded.
}
/cast
>exit? y / n
Jihe took a deep breath and held it for a few seconds before imagining the anger as a red mist and exhaling it slowly, letting go.
He couldn’t even take the indecent things off her without them losing the ability to communicate! And the lack of a Durability and Quality rating in the printout meant the items are both hard to break, and that there is certainly more unrevealed data hidden in the description that his weak scroll could not identify.
Jihe understood he was arguing in favor of stripping the Young Mistress, but things were always different for animal forms. As an animal, a little bit of clothing was often worse than no clothing at all. And this clothing was definitely worse. Still though, the dream catcher had been very helpful by giving them the ability to speak with each other on this plane. He would make full use of that advantage to get them out of this unprecedented situation. While Weeps Over Reeds didn’t have the ability (or desire) to stop Raella from chasing after Jihe, earning its blessing had given her a better chance of survival on the other side. Jihe would do better in the future to think of the lecherous dream catcher as an ally.
How one of those things could be lecherous, he didn’t know. It must have seeped in somehow through Master Shen’s filthy hands. Realizing he had been glaring at the blue window for far too long, Jihe dismissed the lesser identify spell with a y and turned his attention back to Raella.
“What did the dream catcher want from you?” asked Jihe, using telepathy.
“Said blessing was six feathers.”
“And you had that many?”
“No. Just five, but Raella see other five feathers on altar and used those to help pay. Gave ten!”
Jihe’s eye twitched.
“It let you use things that were already on its altar to pay it?” he questioned, dumbfounded.
“Yes. Then it use all feathers Raella have left to make talking clothes! Don’t they look good!?” she said as she wagged her tail like a D-word.
Shamefulness aside… of course the set looked good, it was decorated with his feathers! Weeps Over Reeds didn’t just use the feather spirit owl (4) left over from his bridge toll of (6) to make this; spread out amongst the (5) set pieces, Jihe noted that all (10) feathers it had extorted from them during this crisis had gone into the crafting of this ridiculous “Raiment.
“They are not to my taste, mistress, but I am thankful you have them.” Jihe answered tactfully, flying up and resuming his higher perch.
Raella stood up on her four Canine legs on the Physical Plane for the first time. It appeared to Jihe for a moment that Raella would instinctively shake, but stopped herself and began to stalk imperiously around the clearing instead, no doubt getting a feel for her new body.
The wind was beginning to pick up now, and it flowed through her fur in waves as the feathers and bells of her raiment danced with each graceful step Raella took. The color of her coat was like an alloy of gold and bronze that blended all the way to creamy white at the tips of her nose, ears, tail, and feet. She was not very large, about the size of a German Shepherd. Yet while Jihe was in the disguise of a Barn Owl, there was no way for anyone to mistake Shri Raella for a normal animal.
Her fur was too perfect, the colors were too deep, and her eyes… Her eyes were ruby red mixed with inclusions of gold, much like her core. They seemed to glow like the coals of a dying fire. Anyone that saw her would know she was a creature from another Plane.
Jihe had to admit she was stunningly beautiful, standing in the wind beneath the light of the moon.
*SNAP* Thought Jihe to himself.
He would have to remember this image as well. Perhaps he would render it in watercolor. And the tea that went with it would be the best they had, because they will need divine intervention to see the sunrise without something bad happening tonight.
“Wind smell like fire. North and West.” said Raella.
“Speak of the Devil.” said Jihe.
“Who speaks to Devils?”
“Nevermind, I’ll tell Pifore-Titu.”
“You mean scardey cat over there?”
"Yes, she is the local Realm Guardian. Since you cannot speak to her, I will introduce you formally. Once that is out of the way, we can be gone from this place and find Master Shen!" said Jihe, his wings flapping with impatience.
The Puma was mostly where Jihe had left her–head lowered to the ground but no doubt hearing everything… Wait, she couldn’t hear anything because they had been using telepathy! That was good, but it also meant that the Realm Guardian had just been ignored while a Barn Owl and a Divine Wolf just stared at each other in silence for 10 minutes.
Small marks on the ground indicated that Pifore-Titu had been trying to crawl away towards the bushes and escape while they had been talking, but she was too slow.
“Realm Guardian!” Jihe Screeched.
The big cat jumped as if she had just seen a cucumber behind her.
“Yes Elder!!” the poor Puma cried.
Jihe directed a wing towards Raella.
“This one is; Divine Spirit Wolf, Shri Ray-El-Ah Shen-La-Haaf-Sah, Princess of Clan Shenlahaafsah, and daughter of Shri Kaekatouzen Shenlahaafsah. She is not important, and you did not see her tonight.
What is important, is that she can smell fire on the wind, and you need to prepare to organize possible evacuations while I finally fly away from this blasted tree and find out what the hell is even going on!” shouted Jihe.
And with that, Jihe disappeared towards the Northwest.
Raella ran behind him.