Chapter 29
(Kitty balls?)
Suhry held the portal open as the other three members of the party rushed through. With a quick glance backward, she nodded to the strange Gnoll named Jarow before jumping through the portal herself. There was truly nothing else they could do for him now. 'At least we got some nice magical items out of the babysitting gig,' she thought to herself as she left the cavern in which they had spent the last few days, fighting against all manner of monsters.
She had directed the portal she had hastily created to take them back to the same town from which they had come, since she still had its coordinates stored in the forefront of her spell list. Also, she knew her magic could span the distance without extra strain, since it was with her portal they had arrived here through, making it the best endpoint for this quick transport. Creating a teleport portal rapidly was never an enjoyable process; the best way to make portals took planning, time, meditation, and concentration. Something as rushed as this one not only left her drained but would cause side effects like a not-so-small migraine amongst other unpleasant ailments.
Subsequently, as soon as she found herself on the other side of the portal, Suhry collapsed from exhaustion. Luckily, her dear wife was there to catch her as she fell. That was the last thing she remembered before the world went dark, and she passed out.
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“Suhry!” Isilandra yelled and rushed to her wife. Her hands took on the familiar silver glow of her magic, and the silvery liquid-light quickly entered Suhry's body. Isilandra could see where the healing was directed to. Her Lunar Mystic class gave her a second sight that allowed her to view the internals of anyone she was in contact with.
It had taken a long time for her to figure out how to direct her attention with the multiple layered visual stimuli she had while using her abilities, but she had mastered it now and had no problems discerning where someone's injuries were located and how best to direct her healing magic.
In this instance, the liquid-like healing magic moved directly to Suhry's brain. There was no loss of HP or actual injury that Isilandra could see, but this location was obviously the source of her wife’s trauma. The silvery glow spread out, covering Suhry's brain. Within moments, the healer could tell Suhry’s pain had lessened, both by being able to see through her healing vision, but also because she could feel her lover's body ease in her arms.
Being a tiefling, Suhry had a racial bonus to spatial magic, but even with that bonus, traveling through a portal she had created that quickly was difficult. Most portal casters required a minimum of one day before even attempting to open a portal like the one they had just used. If she didn’t have her race's particular fortitude involving spatial magics, Isilandra wasn't sure if she would even be alive.
Portals were strange things. The people who traveled through them generally had no ill side effects. Of course, there were occasional cases of motion sickness or headaches, but in general, most people had no physical issues.
The caster, on the other hand, was the person who bore the negative aspects of portal travel, often becoming a victim to potentially crippling pain. The stress of bending space-time in a way to transport people safely through it took a major toll on a person's mind and magical reserves and came at a price paid by the caster. This is why preparation and forethought were so important, and also why mages specializing in spatial magics were so valuable. The fact that Suhry was part of this team, as well as being a powerful Ice Magus, lent to the team's high ranking within the Adventurers society.
Mediv and Grolluk were also concerned when they saw Suhry pass out and both rushed over to offer their assistance. However, neither had any experience with portal travel, other than going through them, so they didn’t understand what had happened to their teammate. Confused about Suhry's condition, they turned to Isilandra for an explanation.
“She pushed herself too hard when making that portal. She is fine, but will be out for a day or maybe two,” she reassured them. The elven woman then requested their assistance in securing a comfortable place for all of them to rest.
They secured rooms at the same inn they had been staying at before, the one where they had met Jarow and begun this adventure. Suhry spent the rest of the day, the night, as well as the following day resting and staying isolated in the darkened room she and Isilandra occupied, focusing on recovering from the traumatic portal experience and taking meals in her room.
Meanwhile, to occupy their time, the boys acquired a quest from the adventurers guild to defeat a swamp dragon harassing a nearby village. They departed on their own, knowing their ability to defeat a swamp dragon was more than enough and that neither healer nor mage would be required.
With the menfolk gone on their small adventure, the girls were left to their own devices. Though still in need of rest, Isilandra diagnosed Suhry as healthy enough for some gentle exercise. So, while the bed in their shared room wasn’t the softest they’d shared, they found other, more stimulating, ways to entertain themselves while remaining isolated in their room.
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Two days later, once Isilandra gave her the go-ahead, Suhry emerged from her isolation and began setting up the proper wards and components to summon a portal the correct way. This was how she had spent her time the day prior to Jarow’s arrival, preparing for the travel she had been told of in her messages about their ward arriving.
The party wasn’t sure where they should go next, though. They had all received the system message that they had completed the quest they had been tasked with involving Jarow seeking an item of great power. Upon completion, they all received an astonishing amount of XP and gold for their success.
Congratulations on completing your quest! Reward: 4500 XP + 1500 Gold
Because they received the message about the quest's completion several hours after they had returned, they all felt that Jarow must have been able to find whatever it was he was sent to retrieve. Yet, they had no idea if or how he had escaped the abysmal cavern, or anything about the cryptic messages he had left them with; hints he had dropped about his possible return.
“I am telling you, he said he would have a new body,” Mediv repeated as the party continued to discuss their last mission and Jarow’s last words.
The townsfolk here had been curious about how a human had left and a feline-looking man with the same name and mannerisms had returned in his place. Some of the townsfolk called him a Cathan in whispers. Mediv, with his now extra-sensitive feline ears, caught the term but was not sure if it was derogatory or simply the name of a species he had not encountered before, one with feline aspects like he now had. Either way, he decided he liked it and resolved to use it from now on when asked about his species.
Having heard Mediv’s argument before and not really caring to rehash the subject, Grolluk changed the topic. He wanted to talk about what they were going to do now; he had gained levels, fought hard, and now wanted to enjoy some good food, ale, and a lot of fun with the ladies. To him, this was much more important at the moment. “I say we go back to Drallup. There were pretty girls all over the place, and the food was good too.”
“Drallup was so dingy, and the smell was disgusting,” Mediv said, holding his nose and elbowing Grolluk on the side jokingly. “But what can you expect from a Goblin city?”
Suhry rolled her eyes. “We wouldn’t get anything done in Drallup anyway. The monsters there are too low level for us now. I’m level nineteen after that insane quest we just finished. Giant scorpions and sand worms aren’t going to be a challenge. I say we head to Friznakt.
“None of us but you are going to be comfortable there, my love,” Isilandra answered. “I know you’ve always wanted to visit your home plane, but the temperatures and lack of oxygen are really bad for us.”
This debate had lasted for hours, and Mediv was about to put in his two cents about where he wanted to go when a system message appeared in his vision.
New quest available: Congratulations on surviving your last journey with your new companion, Wanna do it again? - [ Yes ] - [ No ]
They all took a moment to read the message, then looked at each other to verify that all of them had received the same message.
“Yes, I got it too,” Isilandra said in response to Suhry’s poignant stare.
“Yup,” added Grolluk with a sigh.
“I did as well,” Mediv replied.
“So, are we going to choose yes or no?” Suhry asked.
They looked around at each other in turn and smiled.
“It was really good XP,” Isilandra said.
“I did get lots of gold, I guess the ladies can wait,” Grolluk added with a disappointed tone.
“I, for one, want to see Jarow’s new body,” Mediv added, grinning widely. “I hope he comes back as a Cathan.”
They all shook their heads at the absurdity of the statement.
“I liked Jarow,” said Isilandra. “I say yes.”
She nodded to each one in turn. They all nodded back, then turned to the message in their vision and selected “yes.”
Excellent choice! Jarow will arrive tomorrow morning, similar to how he did last time. Get what you need ready; you set off at mid-morning the day after tomorrow.
Oh, and don’t be surprised if your new party member looks a little different. He’s been going through some changes lately.
They all closed the strange message announcing Jarow’s arrival as Mediv said, “I told you so,” with a smug look on his feline face.
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Jarow awoke to a somewhat familiar wooden ceiling. Morning sunlight streamed in from the thinly veiled window adjacent to the small bed he was lying on. Motes of dust floated through the light, lazily making their way to destinations unknown.
“Am I just a piece of dust? Is my life just spinning, floating wherever I’m directed by this unknown someone, or maybe, rather than being a some-'one', it’s a some-'thing'. Whoever is directing the air currents, and whatever is determining what happens to me next, has to be on another scale completely. I mean, does the dust mote know or understand who or what caused the wind to send it flying away?” Jarow thought as he opened his eyes and saw the dust floating around him.
With an exhalation of breath, Jarow blew upward and watched the dust spin out of control. “All it takes is one breath, one light breeze, and the dust is sent on a new path altogether. I think my life really is the same; I just don’t know who is blowing me around because my world is so small compared to whoever is making the breeze.”
Jarow was unsure why his mind was waxing so poetic this time as he awakened from dying. He usually woke up screaming, but this time he took a moment to just lie there and think about how his life had changed since he woke up that first time in the cell of the Liminal Divide.
As if to remind him he had a life before that moment, a vision of his parents came into his mind. He could see them as if in a picture, holding each other but facing him, smiling and happy. He couldn’t remember much more than that about his previous life yet, but still clung to and cherished the single memory he had of his parents. He studied them, afraid their image would fade over time, and that he would be unable to recall their faces.
He felt a hot tear slide down the side of his face where it got lost in the hair on his pillow. “Hair on the pillow?” Jarow thought and brought a hand up to his chest to see if his suspicion was correct. It was, and he felt two supple, well-rounded masses there. “Ahh... I’m a girl again,” she thought to herself as if this occurrence were commonplace now, and opened her character sheet to get the details.
Jarow Holloman Catalystic Converger
Level [- 16 -]
Race [- Halfling -]
XP [- 15,897 -]
HP [- 434 -]
MP [- 574 -]
SP [- 434 -]
Physical
Power 18 [ -2 ] Racial Disadvantage
Durability 20
Mobility 15
Mental
Perception 22
Willpower 20
Judgment 20
Unquantifiable
Charisma 5
Luck 8 [ +2 ] Racial Bonus
Powers
Molecular Fusion
Essence Transposition
Spatial Exchange
Temporal Inversion
Aural Armor
She read over her character sheet and learned that she was now a halfling. A brief description of the race entered her mind in a new window, populating as she focused on the race. The text in the window told a story about an invisibility ring, an old wizard, and a dragon before explaining anything useful. She found the story engaging yet unusual for a description window, but with the details that followed the story, she learned that while she would be short, she wouldn’t have only a small hit to her Power attribute; other than that, she would basically be a smaller version of an atypical human.
"I could use a little normal; being half-snake and then mostly-canine was a little strange, not that I am complaining, but..." she said aloud to hear her new voice.
Her voice, for once, sounded normal as well. A little higher pitched than she was used to, but a normal humanoid voice. No growl or hiss, it wasn’t gruff or elvenly melodic. Just a nice, normal voice.
The next thing that caught her attention as she continued to study her character sheet was that she had apparently leveled again. She had five attribute points to distribute. There weren't any new skills or anything that she could see, but a flashing yellow triangle at the bottom of the page begged for her to acknowledge it.
She mentally touched the indicator, and a small note appeared.
After achieving level 15, powers are only gained every five levels. Upon reaching the in-between levels, your powers may undergo strengthening and may often display new properties.
She thought of Xinpo, who had experienced a similar occurrence. He had stopped gaining abilities at level ten, but then his abilities had grown stronger and changed.
Thinking of Xinpo triggered her recent memories to return to her like a slap to the face. She instantly realized that she had merged her companion with the glowing staff she had been quested to find and tucked the now two merged weapons into her inventory. She hadn't received the error about living things not being able to enter her inventory as she had before, and fear washed over her as her mind processed the meaning of that. She quickly opened her inventory screen to find out what was going on.
There she found the glowing staff exactly where she had left it, occupying the same four slots as before. However, there was no description accompanying it when she focused on it. She knew she would have to withdraw the staff and use Identify to fully ascertain its nature, so she didn't know if it had simply remained the same or changed, and somehow kept Xinpo alive inside. Her heart skipped a beat, then thudded hard in her chest as she contemplated the situation.
She desperately wanted to remove the staff and ensure Xinpo was okay, but her fear caused her to pause. Imaginings of how she might have inadvertently harmed her companion in her desperate act to keep the object safe and in her inventory before dying raced through her mind. The very real thought that Xinpo might no longer be with her stayed her hand from reaching into her inventory to remove the staff. He had been her sole companion for a long time, all throughout the Liminal Divide; he was the only other person who remembered Noruff and the Oonja.
She moved her focus momentarily to the body of Noruff still in her inventory, the grief of his passing and the reminder of her desire to find him a proper final resting place compounding her fear and anxiety.
Then another frightening thought occurred to her: "Did I destroy Orro’s seed as well?"
She found her mind chiding her, telling her that she had done harm to all of her friends now, that no one was truly safe around her. “You don’t die, but everyone around you still does, and sometimes, by your own hands.”
More hot tears joined the first, her cheeks wet with moisture, and the pillow below was becoming damp. Dark thoughts of how she was cursed rather than blessed with her Metempsychosis deepened her sadness and anxiety, keeping her from learning the truth, unable to face the real possibility that she was indeed the bringer of death to all around her.
For several long minutes, she did nothing but weep. The crying helped, but the voices in her head continued to whittle down her defenses. She kept her inventory window open, looking from the staff to the dead Quigza and renewed her crying repeatedly until words manifested in her mind. “Remember, we play with ALL of our heart, and that means it can sometimes break, but you can always pick up those pieces and put your heart back together.”
The voice was not hers, or at least not the voice that normally spoke in her head. It was familiar though, having a quality almost akin to the voice she had as a dwarf, but different as well, less rocky. Then it came to her, that was the voice of her father. These were words he had spoken to her, or him in that life, when he had been depressed.
She hunted her memories, but couldn’t bring up anything else about her father. She couldn’t remember what had happened to put her in such heartbreak, but the words themselves were what made her able to move on.
She recalled the words her father had spoken repeatedly, playing them over and over in her mind. The meaning, the voice, the sentiment behind the words all screamed at her to pick herself up and throw off the fetters holding her back. She wasn’t a curse to her friends; she didn’t bring death to those around her. She was involved in things far beyond what she was equipped to handle, fighting huge tentacled heads and battling hordes of monsters while wielding cosmic abilities she had no clue how she had gotten. Not to mention the fact that she seemingly had no control over her life.
Danger and death were part of the equation, an awful, unbearable part, but a possibility she would have to contend with as long as her life was floating on the breeze like the motes of dust drifting through the light of the morning sun above her. She wasn’t the bringer of death; it was whoever was guiding her existence that she should be angry with.
Finally, Jarow knew she had to find out what had happened with the staff and Xinpo, regardless of the outcome. She had acted on what she believed was necessary in the moment and needed to know the consequences. Xinpo had been the one to guide her as they fell. He had indicated that there was something else that needed to be done, and Jarow had done the only thing that had come to her in those brief moments. One last tear traced the well-worn path down her cheek as she steeled herself.
With a profound sense of anxiety still enveloping her, she opened her inventory and summoned the staff from the void-filled rip in reality, which was her inventory. Gripping it in her right hand, the first thing she noticed was that the extreme weight it had previously possessed was gone. It felt familiar, reminiscent of the way Xinpo felt in his staff form. Simultaneously, she cast Identify on the staff while mentally reaching out in an attempt to communicate with her companion.
Dimensional Staff of Eternal Binding: This staff has been modified from its original form. It can now be treated as a [ Magical Weapon ] as well as (^)@*@%$! %(#$)) $Y#U#@(_%%)#^ @&@$()! Dimensional Staff of Eternal Binding also has additional abilities available for its wielder.*
Unauthorized reproduction: this story has been taken without approval. Report sightings.
Jarow quickly scanned through the brief description, the middle section of the new description was written in a language she couldn't decipher and looked as though it had been scratched out, but at that moment, she didn't care much about it. Instead, she called out desperately for Xinpo.
Yet, there was only silence in her mind. Xinpo's familiar voice did not respond. The silence was like an anchor on her heart dragging down into the depths of a sea of depression and her tears once again began to flow freely down her cheeks as she grappled with her apparent loss.
The weight of his non-response, the absence of his presence within her mind, crashed down heavily on her with each passing second of silence. Noruff's death had left a void in her heart, an emptiness somewhat alleviated by the companionship of her teammates in the cavern. However, that wouldn’t be the case with Xinpo; there would never be anyone who could truly replace the deep connection she shared with him. The absence of Noruff hurt, but paled in comparison to the soul-wrenching wound left by Xinpo's absence.
Xinpo had been by her side since the very beginning, more than just a voice in her head or a friend to talk to. He was almost like her other half. Compounding the anxiety she was feeling, Xinpo’s demise weighed even more heavily on her because unlike Noruff, whose fate was beyond her control, Xinpo's death was a direct result of her own choices and the powers she had employed. The realization that she had been the instrument of her partner's death sickened her to the core.
Jarow lost herself to her despair, weeping and replaying the events of combining the two weapons over in her mind as if on a loop, the memory ending in the pain she felt upon death, only to have the memory restart with her falling once again.
She had faced this same type of mental looping while dealing with Noruff’s death. The thought of it brought those memories to her mind, and they began to replay, interspersed in her mind’s eye as well, further complicating her emotions and pulling her farther into the pit in which she was drowning.
In this state of shock and depression, Jarow lost track of time, lost track of herself, and was inconsolable; her mournful tears spilling until there were none left, only to begin again moments later. Her promise to herself that she was finished crying seemed laughable now.
That’s why, when she heard a light knock on the door to her room, she was startled to remember that she was actually in a familiar place and that she had only recently reawakened from her death. She was in a new body and had no idea what was going to happen to her now. Then a familiar voice echoed through the door, "Jarow? Are you really in there?" And at the sound of the familiar voice, Jarow’s heart skipped a beat.
The voice belonged to Isilandra, and the thought of actually being able to see her new friends again brought her some much-needed hope. She knew the reunion, if it were truly them, couldn't fill the void of losing Xinpo, but it gave her a reason to stop crying and focus on the here and now. Jarow had highly doubted she’d be able to meet up with the same team once more, but it seemed at least, that the Elven healer was here and just hearing her amazing voice helped clear her head.
"I… I’m here. You can come in," Jarow managed to say as she quickly wiped her face and sat up. Her sobs were still threatening to overtake her, but she managed to push them just under the surface for now. She remembered how beautiful she had thought Isilandra was and looked forward to seeing her again.
The door opened slowly, the hinges squeaking as the wooden panel shifted position, and the elven woman peeked inside the room. "Hello? Jarow, is that you?" Her voice was light and reminded Jarow of leaves whistling through trees on a warm summer breeze, the way Elven voices always evoked such comforting and natural feelings.
"Isilandra," Jarow said, her voice thick with emotion, only just holding back the sobs which had wracked her moments earlier. "Come in, please. I'm so glad you're here."
The elven woman looked directly at her but didn’t seem to understand what was going on or even acknowledge Jarow’s presence until she managed to wave her small hand and beckon the woman forward. Her feet dangled from the mattress, not quite long enough to touch the ground as she sat and tried to smile to mask her true emotional turmoil.
“Jarow? Is… Is that really you?” Isilandra asked again, her almond-shaped eyes looking even larger as they opened wide in shock.
Jarow understood how shock could be a common response to encountering someone a person knew in one body but now inhabiting a completely different body. She hadn't had the opportunity to explain her previous transformations to the others during her time as a Gnoll, but she hoped that whoever was responsible for delivering the more personalized system messages to them had at least hinted that she might return in a different form.
"It's me," Jarow said, mustering a half-smile. She spread her arms and added, "No more fur. I guess I'm a halfling now... Surprise?"
Isilandra's eyes widened even further if possible, a clear sign of her confusion in this situation. She stood frozen, her mind seemingly struggling to reconcile the unusual situation before her.
Jarow hadn’t really thought about this part, not anticipating reuniting with her teammates. She had only had to explain her metempsychosis once before, to Noruff, so she quickly thought about their previous interactions in search of a way to alleviate Isilandra’s confusion.
"Your lover, or is it; wife? Iiis Suhry. You have a glowing moon spell that you can cast, which gives everyone a boost to regen. You are a healer, but you have an awesome attack spell that is a giant silver hammer. I… I gave you that ring!" she said, floundering until finally spotting the ring on the elf’s finger.
Slowly, Isilandra moved completely into the room, her mind still working on believing what she was seeing and hearing. She said in a contemplative way, “The system messages said you might not look the same, but we thought maybe you’d be beat up, lost a limb, or something like that.”
She slowly moved closer to the bed. “I never imagined you’d be someone completely new though,” the Elf said as she tentatively sat upon the bed next to Jarow. She gently took one of Jarow’s tiny feminine hands in hers. Jarow could see that this woman was piecing together the way Jarow had returned. “Is this some kind of reincarnation?” she asked as she looked into Jarow’s eyes, searching for answers to help her understand the situation.
Jarow wasn’t quite sure what to tell her. Not only had she never really been told herself, but this beautiful Elven woman, the woman Jarow had a secret crush on, was touching her hand and looking into her eyes. Her mind was still dealing with her loss, and now adding this distraction to the mess only complicated and slowed her thought process.
“Metempsychosis,” Jarow said unconsciously, still lost within the silvery eyes of the Elven woman in front of her. “At least that’s what Shayri called it.”
There was a silence as they stared into each other’s eyes. Jarow lost in fantasies, Isilandra peering past the irises, past the surface of Jarow’s physical form, to try and see something more, something she was unsure would be there, to peer beyond the physical and grasp the truth of this person on a deeper level. The word ‘Metempsychosis’ hung in the air, a statement to knowledge yet unknown.
Several moments passed until Isilandra finally pulled her eyes away, seeing the truth there, determining that this was indeed Jarow, the same person she knew as a Gnoll when he was last in her company.
She then said, “Ahh… that’s not a term I have heard often, but it has a similar definition to reincarnation if I am not mistaken. Who is Shayri?”
“She helped me go to the class system. I was a doll there,” Jarow stammered, still in a trance-like state as she begrudgingly lost sight of Isilandra’s enchanting eyes. “She had floating hair like she was underwater.”
Isilandra chuckled. “That’s because she was underwater, silly. So were you.”
It took Jarow a moment to register the meaning of what Isilandra had said. The spell she was under from looking into Isilandra’s eyes finally broke. Jarow shook her head and asked, “I… I was underwater? And, you… You had to go through the same thing, right?”
“Yes,” Isilandra said with a light chuckle, which reminded Jarow of the tinkling of small bells. “All of us adventurers did. It’s our way of redeeming ourselves.”
Jarow remembered what Shayri had said about the people who went through the class change. They had been found guilty of some crime, and they had been given a choice of punishment or the opportunity for redemption, but with the caveat of having to fight for this side of the war. Shayri hadn't been clear about what the punishment would have been, nor exactly which side he was supposedly now a part of, but then again, Jarow had been forced into this class and been pulled away unexpectedly, so there was a lot that she probably missed.
Jarow didn’t think it’d be polite to ask what Isilandra may have done, and wasn’t sure she’d know even if he did ask. It could be that everyone’s memory was wiped like hers was. Instead, she tried to bring things back to the moment, back to the more relevant information. “So you believe me, then? That I am the same person?”
The woman chuckled once more, the bells in her voice growing louder with the additional mirth. She squeezed Jarow’s hand. “Yes, of course. I can see it in your eyes. Granted, these eyes are less feral looking than your last, but I can see that the same soul lies behind them.”
Jarow smiled. She wondered if being held by the elf’s eyes was an actual entrancement or spell-like ability, but didn’t care. She then remembered how she had been able to see the minute details within everything she had looked at while she had been an elf, and wondered if that was some kind of racial ability she simply hadn’t fully understood or hadn’t unlocked at the time. That body had been extremely young in Elven years, so it was possible greater sight came with greater age.
“I’m glad, but will the others be so easily convinced?” Jarow asked. She was glad it had been so easy to convince Isilandra, but wasn’t sure it would be so easy with the others.
“They will once I tell them. Suhry may want to double-check, but the other two know very well that I know what I’m talking about.” Her expression left no doubt in her statement, even though she said it through the large smile she now wore. “Speaking of others, where’s Xinpo?”
The simple question crashed down on Jarow, who had been able to almost forget his loss for a little while while conversing with Isilandra. She dropped her head in remorse. Her hand moved from Isilandra’s gentle grip and moved to the staff lying in between them.
“He’s no longer with me,” Jarow said softly and sniffling. Her tears now threatened to return once more
Isilandra moved her hand back to Jarow’s and squeezed it gently. She now knew why the small woman had been crying. The signs were obvious: the puffy cheeks and bags under her eyes, the redness in the sclera, and the wetness in her hair. Isilandra had hesitated in asking outright what was wrong, but had hoped the conversation would wander to the source of the problem. Now that she knew for certain this was Jarow, she wanted to offer her any comfort or assistance she could.
Isilandra’s gaze fell upon the staff. It looked similar to the one that Xinpo could morph into, one she had seen multiple times during their battle within the cavern, but she could also see that there were slight differences. It no longer resembled metal. Its material was more intricate and soft. She could see a great deal of power within it, but even her eyes couldn’t discern what it was made out of.
It also lacked the beautiful rainbow wood along its shaft. She had noticed it before, and had been told it was a seed of an Oonja tree. She had never seen nor heard of an Oonja before, but she could tell that it was a rare and precious wood. The rainbow colors sewn through it had been a wondrous sight to behold, and she felt sorry for the loss of the wood, but for the loss of Jarow’s companion even more.
Isilandra hesitated before suggesting they join the others downstairs, but knew that being around others would help Jarow with the grieving process. She wanted to know the story, to find out what had happened, but felt it would be best to let Jarow tell everyone at once and only when she was ready, so she passed on the opportunity to ask further questions.
“Let’s go downstairs. I know the others are going to want to see who you are now, and they will have their own questions.” Isilandra withdrew her hand to move it around Jarow’s back and lay it on her opposite shoulder, then she gave Jarow a tight side hug.
The hug felt good, and helped Jarow to understand that she needed to get moving, that continued crying would serve no purpose, so she nodded and gave Isilandra a slight smile. She then slid off the side of the bed, but as she did, she caught a glimpse of her reflection in the dresser mirror.
Jarow hadn’t taken the time to get to know herself yet and wanted to at least see how bad all her crying had left her face. “One second, please,” she said and moved over to the dresser. She had to pull the chair out and climb on top of it in order to fully see herself in the mirror. Once she was properly positioned, she examined her new body.
Jarow's new body had long golden blond hair which fell to one side of her face. Her face itself was soft, with high cheekbones and larger than normal cerulean blue eyes. She wore a tight but comfortable pair of leggings under an ordinary-looking tunic, both made of velvety supple leather in a dark brown, almost black hue. Her skin was tan, but not dark, and she noticed no wrinkles or laugh lines, suggesting a relatively young age, even though her character sheet no longer listed an age for some unknown reason.
She had a moderate build, muscular but not overly so. Climbing onto the chair, she found her joints felt limber and she moved easily. Her fingers were small, both in length and girth, and as she wiggled them experimentally, they nimbly danced in the air.
Her feet were bare and looked almost too large for her slight frame. An image of large, hair-covered feet popped into her mind, associating itself with the typical halfling. Luckily, there was no hair growing on top of hers, for which she was grateful. Though they were calloused and tough-looking, they were suitable for walking barefoot, something she had actually enjoyed while being a Gnoll.
Jarow nodded at her reflection, happy with the woman looking back at her. She definitely looked like she had been crying, but the signs weren’t as obvious as she had been worried about. This body wasn't the most unique she had occupied, but it felt comfortable. A bit shorter than she preferred, but manageable. She jumped down from the chair and grabbed the staff from the dresser where she had leaned it.
As she grabbed the staff this time, a new thought struck her: the length of the staff had shrunk from when it was in the cavern. In her gnoll body, the staff had been almost six feet long, but now it was less than four.
The size change made her curious, and something tickled at the back of her mind, suggesting she should know what was going on, but she couldn’t quite remember at the moment.
Isilandra stood near the door, watching her patiently. Jarow shrugged her shoulders and pushed the thought aside for later reflection. The curious thought was just another of those strange things about her reality that she would ponder when she had the time.
----------------------------------------
Isilandra led Jarow downstairs, her smile widening as she drew near the rest of the party members. This time as she neared the bottom stair Jarow leapt over it instead of placing a foot down. Falling the first time had been embarrassing, at this shortened stature, the broken stair could cause serious damage.
She felt nervous about introducing herself to her companions in this new body. This was a strange feeling, one she had never really encountered before. Even with the odd path her lives had taken her on, the feeling of social anxiety was new to her.
She had been overly confident to the point of being cocky when meeting Noruff in her Orc body. This situation was completely new and foreign to her though, and she secretly wished for a little of that confidence to return.
Isilandra led the anxious Jarow to the table where the others sat, the same table they had occupied when she had first met them. She smiled broadly, as if enjoying a secret joke, then flourished her arm over Jarow’s head and said, "This, my friends, is the new and improved Jarow. She has changed a bit more than we had anticipated, as I am sure you can see, but I have checked, and she is definitely the real article, just with better plumbing," Isilandra said gaily.
The three party members all looked at Jarow's new form. Grolluk's eyebrow raised, and an awkward smile formed on his lips. Suhry had a similar eyebrow raised, but her expression grew more inquisitive than excited. She glanced up at Isilandra for confirmation. The Elven woman nodded as she caught Suhry’s gaze, and the Tiefling redirected her eyes once more to look at the new and improved Jarow.
Mediv had the most unusual expression of the three. Not only did his feline facial expressions seem somewhat alien to Jarow, but his raised brows and smile, now filled with pointed teeth, looked almost sinister. "Or perhaps hungry," she thought. Jarow got the distinct impression she was being sized up for dinner more than being recognized as a former friend.
It was Mediv who spoke first to her, though. "You weren't kidding about a new body," he said, his toothy grin growing larger and the feral look lessening. "You could have told me you were coming back as a beautiful woman."
All eyes blinked rapidly and turned towards Mediv. He glanced back and forth, his eyes darting from one party member to another. He noticed even the other patrons were staring at him. His posture slackened, and he tried to melt into the back of his chair. His face flushed, and he could feel the blood rushing to his cheeks.
Jarow had taken the look of hunger in the completely wrong direction. It wasn’t that he wanted her for dinner; he wanted to make her dessert. Jarow reddened and smiled back at Mediv, not knowing how to properly take the... compliment?
"What? You all were thinking the same thing," Mediv said, casting his glance around the table. "I just have the kitty balls to say it," he added, sitting up straighter in his chair now that he had taken ownership for his words.
Chuckles could be heard from the bartender and a few of the customers as they watched the strange scene play out.Not to mention the deep rumbly chuckles coming from Grolluk.
Jarow looked down at her body once again. She had seen herself in the mirror and hadn't found herself ugly, but she hadn't been extremely attracted to herself either. She looked at Isilandra, whose cheeks looked somewhat pink with embarrassment for her party member’s remark, but she wore a smile which told her that Mediv had not been wrong.
"Was I attractive?" Jarow wondered. "What did that mean? She had always been attracted to females, she thought, but if she is female also, would that make her gay, or would this body be attracted to males now?"
Up until now, she hadn't had to worry about the whole sexual aspect of her different bodies much. She wasn't attracted to Noruff in any of her previous bodies, but now she was in an environment with other people and social interactions. Would sex be an outcome or at least a possibility as she moved through her lives? Was she a virgin, or at least had she been before ending up caught in this existence?
Jarow's thoughts were interrupted by Isilandra, who reached out and touched her arm. "You're beautiful," Isilandra said. "No matter what body you're in."
"Thanks," Jarow replied in a squeaky voice filled with anxiety and still thinking over the implications. She wasn't sure if Isilandra meant that she preferred her last body or if she liked this one now. Her head was spinning even more now that she had to worry about being attractive.
Isilandra directed her to take a seat. Jarow mindlessly followed and jumped up into the proffered chair, thanking the elven woman who had pulled it out for her. The feeling around the table was awkward for several moments while they were all caught up thinking of what to say next or how to properly interact with Jarow and her new body.
All except for Grolluk. He had quickly recovered from the initial shock and was now chugging his cup of ale. With a large belch and a bang on the table from the cup, he broke the awkward silence.
"I need another one, and where's breakfast?" he bellowed, seeming to have forgotten the entire experience already and moving on to his desire to fill his belly.
"Do you still have your shiny cleaning spell? That one's odor has become toxic," Suhry said loud enough for the entire table to hear, not even attempting to hide her intentions from Grolluk.
That got a chuckle from Mediv and Isilandra who nodded in agreement. The Orc just lifted an arm and sniffed himself deeply. “I don’t smell nothin.’”
Jarow actually didn't know if she had the power anymore or not. The ability was actually Xinpo's. The thought of her companion not being here brought back the sadness she had been dealing with earlier, and remorse hit her once again, combining with the awkwardness.
She looked at where the activation buttons, with Xinpo’s powers, had been placed in her interface, and they were all still present and lit up as if ready to use.
"Yeah, looks like I do," she said in a deceptively calm voice, not wanting to lose herself again and begin the waterworks.
She didn't fool anyone, though, especially Suhry, who hadn't taken her eyes off of the new iteration of Jarow.
“Something’s wrong. Where is your talking sword anyway?” Suhry bluntly asked. She was more curious than concerned yet her voice somehow held neither emotion, sounding monotone as always.
This is the question Jarow had been dreading. She knew she needed to say it out loud. Until she did she wouldn't really have faced the loss of her longest known companion. Her heart pounded loud and she felt like she was about to burst into tears again, but she inhaled deeply, her breath shuttering as it entered her lungs, and tried to steady her nerves.
“I can do this. I can be strong. I will always remember my friend, but I need to let these new friends in now,” she thought, speaking the mantra to herself as she closed her eyes and prepared to begin her tale.
She opened her eyes again and opened her mouth to speak.
“I am here. Sorry for my delay. Have I missed much?” A voice, similar to Xinpo’s but with a new, almost reverberative quality to it, entered Jarow’s mind. At the same time, the others at the table took on a similarly startled look: and Jarow could tell that the same voice was projected to the others as well.
“You’re alive?” Jarow blurted out as she looked at the staff, picking it up from where it leaned against the table at her side.
“Yes, suzerain. I am sorry for the delay. The spell combining me and the staff acted as a level up from my absorption skill, so I was unable to communicate for a time.”
Jarow was both astonished and embarrassed at the same time. She quickly opened up her character sheet and tabbed to Xinpo’s information. There she saw what Xinpo had been talking about.
Xinpo
Dimensional Blade
Level [- 19 -]
Absorption [- 1877 -]
Damage [- 75 -] (amplified)
Forms
Dagger
Quarterstaff
Sword
Abilities
Passe-partout (Upgraded)
Complete Cleanse
Frozen moment
Telepathy
Dispel
Energy Shield
Weightlessness
Elemental Strike
Decrease Friction
Copy
He didn’t just gain one level; he had gained five. He had a new ability as well but seemed to have lost the Oonja seed. Xinpo greeted the others while Jarow looked over his character sheet and rejoiced that he was alive and alright.
“Level nineteen? You gained five levels from that?” Jarow asked, astonished.
“Yes, suzerain. Although the fighting and absorption from the monsters previous to then also contributed to my total gains,” Xinpo answered in his new voice. Jarow realized it was actually the same voice he had before, it just had a slight echo to it now, making him sound much more otherworldly.
“What happened to the Oonja seed and what is Copy?” Jarow asked next, her curiosity piqued.
“The Oonja seed chose that place to plant itself. I received a message while I was leveling that it had successfully taken root. As for Copy, it is a new ability that allows me to create a perfect copy of myself,” Xinpo explained.
Jarow was excited to hear about Xinpo’s new ability. She knew she could fight with a weapon in each hand, as she had while fighting the Thu’kri. Back then, she had used Noruff’s lovers sword, Shiarra. Now, she could have Xinpo copy himself and wield a blade in each hand once again.
As if Xinpo had read her mind, his form began to shift and shrink, taking the form of a short sword, or in her small hands, a large dagger. However, this new version was different from his previous iterations. Before, he had always maintained a guard resembling the teeth of a key and a circular ring-like pommel at the end, even when it had become adorned with the leaf emblem from the Oonja’s seed.
The sword Jarow now held was noticeably different. Its blade was divided into two contrasting sides: one a deep, mysterious black, and the other a radiant, dazzling white. A spiral pattern of silver and gold wound along the blade's center. The spiraling braid was both one with the blade but separate and split as it reached the end, growing into a distinct yet integrated guard just above the handle. The silver and gold twists protruded from each side, with the gold end extending forward and the silver curving back as they separated at the end.
The handle, once molded to fit her hand perfectly by the Oonja seed and its rainbow-swirled wood, had been replaced. Now, it was crafted from a soft yet firm marble-like stone. The stone's almost flesh-like texture ensured a secure grip, if no longer fully form-fitting, grip.
The pommel bore some resemblance to Xinpo's original sword, still circular but slightly larger and now solid rather than open, lacking the spinning leaf at its center. Adorned with the same opposing black and white combination, each side of the pommel broke into angular jagged spikes that pierced into the opposing color.
As Jarow examined the pommel, she noticed a symmetry in the intrusion of each color. Despite their jagged appearance, the angles and sizes of each side were symmetrical and equal, creating an intricate yet seamless pattern.
“That is so beautiful,” Isilandra said as Jarow studied Xinpo’s new form.
“I’ve never seen anything like that,” Mediv commented at the same time, his voice tinged with awe.
Jarow turned her eyes from the sword and back to her companions at the table. They all stared at her and the sword she now held. Not only had the transformation of the beautiful weapon caught the attention of her party members, but the entire tavern seemed glued to the shining sword in Jarow’s hands.
Then she realized there actually was a glow coming from the weapon. It was nothing like the light the staff had produced in the dark cavern while caged by the roots growing underneath the huge head-like monster, but it did have similar hues to it and felt like it gave off the same calming feeling.
A wave of pride over the weapon washed over Jarow, along with some embarrassment at being the center of everyone's attention. There was also a slight sense of danger, as if someone might covet the sword and try to take it from her. Her paranoia telling her to hide the beautiful sword.
Logically though, she wasn't actually afraid of that happening. She could easily cause anyone wishing her harm to turn into a statue, or revert to a baby. She could even teleport away instantly if she really felt threatened. Even so, she slid the large dagger-like sword into the sheath at her waist. Its presence apparently a gift of the person whose body she occupied.
As she woken in her last body, she had been clothed and had a sheath as well, now that Jarow thought about it. She had always woken up nude while in the Liminal Divide and wondered why that was. If the power to bring her back from death into a new body could make them clothed as they are now, why was she always forced to wear those stupid towel-like blankets before? The thought almost made her angry.
Thinking about the power to bring her back in a new body, made her think about her own powers. She had seen her party members here display some amazing abilities and use some amazing spells, but when it came right down to it, none of them had such versatility or ease of use as she had.
Shayri had said something about her class being a Legendary class, was that why her powers felt so different? She hadn't really thought about the class system and what the different levels truly meant until now. The half-turtle-half-jellyfish being had also said something about the people who made it through the LIminal Divide and gained a class were overpowered.
Jarow looked around at the other patrons in the tavern. She didn't know anything about them or what they did throughout their lives, but there was a sense that came over her when she looked at her party members. A sense that she didn't get when looking at these other, ordinary people.
She knew she still had the Extra Perception skill, so brought the perception filter into place. When she then looked at her companions, she could see their huge powerful auras surrounding them. Each one of their auras swirled with color and radiated out from them in a dazzling array.
The rest of the people here simply had nothing to see, or at least very little; their auras were dim and singularly colored, whereas the party members here at the table glowed vibrantly to her second sight, the power and complexity of their auras dwarfing anyone else in this place.
She could easily tell now what Shayri had meant. Ordinary people were just that, ordinary. Whereas the party members here with her were so much more. While she didn’t know if everyone ‘normal’ was so without power, she could clearly tell how she and the others were considered to be overpowered comparatively now.
She put her musings aside and closed her Extra Perception in preparation for what she planned on doing next. Suhry’s request was still something she intended to fulfill.
Suhry had asked about the Complete Cleanse spell earlier, and she could definitely smell Grolluk, even though he may not be able to smell himself, so she stood up and moved to the center of the room to more centralize the effect.
"Everyone, I'm going to cast a quick spell, but it’s bright, so please close your eyes for a moment," Jarow spoke loudly to the room. She was trying to channel the verbosity of her Orc body, but in her much smaller stature, her words didn’t seem to carry as much weight. She saw more eyebrows raised than eyes closed and heard whispers from people at other tables more than the rapt attention she had hoped for.
She smiled as she saw her party knowingly close their eyes, even Grolluk, knowing what was about to happen.
“This will encompass a larger area than usual, suzerain. My abilities have become upgraded as my levels have gone up,” Xinpo warned her.
“I don’t think the barkeep will mind a thorough cleaning. Go ahead and put all you can into it,” Jarow thought with a mental smile.
She closed her own eyes, then activated Complete Cleanse.
An immense light, so bright that it could be easily felt through her eyelids, shot out from where she stood. She had cast the spell often during her travels with this party and was very familiar with the radius and strength of the spell, but this was much different than back then.
Not only did the light carry a different hue now, but it also seemed to permeate every inch of Jarow's being, purging all taint and impurity from her cells, but leaving a feeling of being completely relaxed and limber as well, as though just waking from a long sleep on a cloud. After the light of the spell pulsed several times, it diminished and dimmed enough for Jarow to once again open her eyes. As she did, she observed the power's lingering effects throughout the area.
The air itself appeared to emit a faint glow, and every possible surface sparkled as though freshly polished. Even the patrons in the tavern seemed to radiate a new inner cleanliness, standing taller with clearer eyes and steadier hands as they gathered their wits about them, still blinking to remove the flares from their vision.
Jarow was also astonished to find that the spell had apparently cured ailments like arthritis and cirrhosis from the patrons. Their fingers no longer curled, and skin was pink rather than yellow. The visual cues to ailments removed were apparent. These were possibilities she hadn't known were possible from the power.
Jarow had estimated the spell's reach to encompass the radius of the room, but as Jarow turned to the now crystal clear window, she noticed that the glow had extended far beyond, covering the opposite side of the street and the nearby shops and bank as well.
Curious, she walked to the window and peered down the street where in the distance she could discern a faint line in the dirt, indicating the actual radius of the spell's far-reaching effects. As she gaped in awe, startled and curious voices erupted among the patrons and the barkeep.
"What on earth was that?"
"I can see clearly now!"
"My back pain's gone!"
"Did you do that on purpose?"
"You'd better not have messed with my beer!" the last voice obviously coming from the barkeep.
Amidst the blend of outrage and amazement, Jarow couldn't help but smile as she watched the awe-struck people outside. Most were rubbing their eyes to clear the after-glow from the spell, yet others gazed skyward with reverence as if her power had been some kind of miracle.
"Well, that was unexpected. At least the Orc doesn't smell anymore," remarked Mediv, joining Jarow by the window and placing his furry hand on Jarow’s shoulder. "Seems like the spell has become more potent, huh? Is that its range now?" he asked, pointing to the distant line.
"Yeah, I think so. I didn't expect it to be that big, though," Jarow replied.
"That's what she said," Mediv quipped with a mischievous grin and a wink as Jarow looked up at the tiger-faced man, eliciting a rapid blush from Jarow.