"WWwwooohaarrrraaaaa!" the giant moans. It's right outside the gate, standing at eye-level with the elevated cabin. The eyes are just pits, with eldritch red flames burning in them, and also the mouth. It's all made of bones of course. Normal sized ones. So far it hasn't gotten past the fence or tried to collect the bones from the golems that got carried inside the ward earlier.
Aviri can't help but stare at the thing, one hand pinning his ears to the back of his head in an attempt to ward off the groans, the rabbit still shaking slightly from his climb.
Lin peeks up over the edge of the window to get a look at the giant then ducks back down. "Do- Do you think that came for Waddles too?" She hisses to the others.
"It's come for our bones," Trilup wails. "What would it want with a trunk? To store skin in or something?? BONES!"
The mention of bones makes Aviri's eyes flick down to the gate, though only briefly. "M-maybe it came for those bones."
"Shhh!" Lin hisses at Trilup, "Who knows if it's atracted to noises an' yer catterwauling isn't helping!" She scurries back to where Trilup is and sits next to her. We oughta be safe in here anyways. Lets just try not to provoke it any more and maybe it'll go away."
Aviri keeps looking between giant and pile of bones on the ground. "Maybe should sacrifice the chest," he says in what might be considered a joking tone. "How long's the rope?"
"About fifty feet." Lin replies and gestures at the heaped rope next to the door. "Why?"
"You can't give it Waddles," Trilup argues. "I mean, really.. how would you do it?"
"Toss it out the window," Aviri mutters with a smirk.
"WooooAAAAAHHHHH!" the giant golem yells again.
"It won't move without someone holding the key," Trilup helpfully points out.
"Said to toss it," Aviri counters. "Anyway, if it wants bones, maybe it'll be happy with those down there. Won't get any sleep with it bellowing like that anyway. Lemme have the end of that rope."
"You're gonna go up to the gate and toss the bones over?" Trilup squeaks. "They're like.. right next to it.."
"Or we could just ask it what it wants." Lin offers.
Aviri gives Trilup an approving look. "Don't think it can cross the fence," he says. "At least, without collapsing. In case I'm wrong, the rope." He starts tying the end around his waist.
Trilup furrows her brows. "Uh.. collapsing.. if it reached for you, wouldn't it collapse on top of you then?" she asks.
Supressing a shudder, Aviri shrugs. "Hence the rope," he says.
"We have to pull you back then?" Trilup asks. "We should have Waddles do it!"
Seeing Aviri trying to tie the rope, Lin gets up, swats his hands away, and ties it so it won't cinch down if they have to pull him back. "Snug but not strangling. If you can't feel your legs after getting hauled up, it's not tied right." Then she goes up to the window and waves at the giant. "Hey! WhhhooooOOOooh aaaaree yooOOooou?" Lin shouts at the monster.
"WHAAAAAAAAAAAAAARRRG!" the giant replies. Or doesn't.. It could just be screaming for its own reasons.
"Apparently," Aviri says pointedly at Lin, "Demonbox can't move unless it's going toward someone with the key or something. Magic..." He shudders again, and looks back at the window. "At the very least, if I'm buried, you'll be able to find me."
"If you break anything, you'll have to ride on Waddles you know," Trilup points out. "So be careful! Don't feed it by hand!"
"If I break anything, you can pick up my bones on the way back," Aviri says with a smirk. "Best tie that other end onto something, just in case." He tests the knot Lin tied and then heads back toward the front door.
The sturdiest thing in the cabin is the firepit, since it's made of heavy bricks.
"Oh, make sure the house doesn't eat you too!" Trilup advises.
Somewhere near the ceiling, Silv floats. "Not much I can do to help. But if you get killed Aviri, I'll be sure to show your ghost a good time!" she offers.
Lin turns around with her eyes open wide and her head pulled back as far as it'll go. "Well, now we're getting somewhere. Its name is Warg. Ain't that nice." She goes and ties the other end of the rope around the firepit. She gives it a few sharp tugs then shrugs. "Dunno if it'll hold against a giant , but the rope or the fireplace will break before the knot does. "How's about I distract it by yelling while you sneak over and throw the bones out of the yard?"
And as the lapi is heading for the door, he suddenly finds himself face to face with a translucent, glowing, reptile head sticking out of his chest, twisted around, and staring him right in the face. "Which one of you has been messing with necromancy?" the glowing reptile demands in a huff of Aviri, then of the others when it sticks itself through the lapi's head to glare at the two otters. Hey look, two-headed lapi.
"Wwwwagh!" Trilup gasps and points. "It's the lecherous lizard!"
Lin blinks then shrugs, apparently unphased. "I don't think I did any necromancy, but we've certainly been around lots of it lately. Does that help?"
The Lapi rolls his eyes up at the ceiling. "Appreciate the thought, Silv. And do whatever you must, Lin. Just be ready to pull me back if something goes wrong." He's about to open the door when the Lizard bursts from his chest. He shrieks, stumbles, then catches himself. "Y-you!" he cries, accusingly. "Have you been with us this whole time?!"
"Woooooooo-HAAAAAAAAA!" the giant moans.
The reptile crawls through Aviri's head, then perches on top of it. It feels rather like having dunked his head into a cold bucket of water. "The amulet has been with you the entire time," it points out ... literally by gesturing to the one the lapi is wearing. "The one you were given for safety, if you recall. And this place is making enough noise in the ambient flow of spirit magic that even an acolyte could feel it. Please tell me you didn't sacrifice the sixth born of a sixth born or something foolish like that."
"We just stopped here for the night, and the house stood up, and the monster showed up," Trilup claims. "It isn't after Waddles! I'm sure it isn't!"
"Should've known she wouldn't send me alone," Aviri mutters. "And no, none of this is our doing. Didn't sacrifice anything. Or even kill anything!" He thinks. "Well, except maybe those bone-things, which I was about to give back to the ... thing." He gestures out the door.
"You have seen this huge bone gollem, right?" Lin points out the window at the screaming mess of bones. "Know any spells for getting rid of these?"
"Well, go stick your head out the window so I can see," the reptile requests.
Aviri does one better by just opening the door, making sure to not fall off the edge.
"WWWWWWAAAAAAAAAAGH!" the glowing mouth of the giant bellows, thirty feet away.
"Whaaaaat doooo yooOoouu waaAAaant?" Lin shouts back.
"BlaaAAAaa!" it shouts in reply.
"Just.. make.. it.. stop.. howling!" Trilup begs, holding her hands over her ears.
The spectral lizard tilts its head this way and that. "Curious. It looks like a siege golem," it notes, seemingly unconcerned. "Particularly powerful necromancers could use the dead of the fallen to create such things to assault fortresses. Except ... not in this case. It's different in that I don't see a personal signature to it ... it's more of a gestalt creation, small magic from many things to create one really big effect. Hmmm. Could be ... " The last bit sounds a bit distant; lost in thought.
"Linyala's demon-chest," Aviri explains, "collected a bunch of bone-creatures, which fell apart after crossing that gate. I think the giants mad, or wants the bones back or something."
"It's not a demon chest!" Lin retorts, "What is your problem with enchanted chests?" She glares out the window at the loud giant instead of at Aviri.
"You did what?" the reptile asks, breaking from its train of thought. "Of all the ... tell me, would you want a finger back if someone yanked it off?"
"Eww, no, that'd be gross," Trilup says. "I'd have to wear it on cord around my neck or something.."
"Depends on how long ago the finger came off," Aviri muses. "So I'll just give the bones back, then," he says louder. "And I guess you're coming with me, since I'm not leaving the necklace behind."
"Just do not feed yourself to it. Stay well within the ward-wall," the reptile advises.
"I bet Igor could put it back on. He looks like a... Thing that knows his way around severed body parts." Lin offers then remembers the gollem and heads back to the window to shout at it some more. "Gooooo AwaaaaAAAAy. Weeee aaaareee tryyying to sleeeeEEEep heeeEEeere!"
"GRrattlerattlerattle.." It's a sound one might make if they gargled with finger bones.
"Was planning on doing that anyway," Aviri says. He sits down at the edge, dropping the spare rope off until what's in his hand is taut against the fireplace. He pauses there a moment, trying to think of some fitting last words or something. When he can't think of any, he just slides off and starts climbing down the rope.
"You should wear gloves when climbing down a rope," the spectre atop his head advises. "If you slip and slide it will take all the skin and fluff off of them."
"We should go with him," Trilup tells Lin. "But.. nobody would be here to pull us up then.." she adds, deflating.
"Noted," Aviri says. "Didn't expect to have to climb ropes when delivering a box to a duchess." As he nears the ground, he finally can't hold back a question any more. "Wouldn't Natasha be missing you?"
"Maybe we could use Waddles to haul us back so one of us could go down too?" Lin suggests, "Here, try holding onto waddles and see if he can drag you behind him." She stands on one side of the chest.
"Why not? You normally wear formal attire when meeting with the nobility. White zolk gloves are considered proper etiquette for such occasions," the spirit advises.
The sky (dark as it is) gets blotted out over Aviri as the cabin steps forward to loom over him. It shakes up those inside a bit as well, since it isn't that graceful at walking. It also starts folding its legs as if it's going to sit on the Lapi.
Aviri squeaks and tries to run out from under the house.
"It is also advisable to not look like an egg to houses with bird legs," the spectre says helpfully.
Lin pitches over Waddles and rolls around breifly before regaining her footing. "Silv, how do we turn this thing off?" She yelps as Waddles slides up against her feet.
"I don't know how you turned it on!" the ghost-raccoon notes.
The house staggers about, chasing after Aviri. It's supposed to protect travelers, after all.
Aviri dashes toward the pile of bones and begins scooping them up by the armful and tossing them as hard as he can back over the fence.
As soon as a bone is outside the ward.. is flies up into the giant.
"Aviri!" Trilup calls. "Don't make the house trip! It might fall on the fence!"
"No no, you need to put more wrist into it. Flick at the end," the reptile spectre comments like a demented turban. For a reptile, it looks rather amused.
"You're not helping!" Aviri cries as he throws bones, paying more attention to the house that's attempting to sit on him than to what happens to the bones once they're on the other side.
Lin peers over the edge of the door frame and calls out, "It looks like it's working! Or it's doing something at least!"
The house staggers close to the gate.. it can't get too far from Aviri while he's tied to it after all. The bones keep fitting into the giant, which at least stops howling.
"Screaming usually doesn't help either," the spectre comments.
Eventually Aviri opts to just shove the bones under the gate with a foot, as throwing them is taking too long.
Lin reels in the rope until there isn't any slack left then gives it a light tug. "I'm ready to pull you up if we need to." She waves Trilup over so she can help if need be.
One of the cabin's scaly wooden feet comes down disturbingly close to Aviri, and grabs up a big clod of dirt as if it's trying to figure out how to grab things.
Not bothering to reply to the lizard-thing, possibly not even hearing it, Aviri kicks the last few bones out of the clearing and immediately backs away from the gate. "Gogo!"
The spectral lizard hops off of Aviri's head. Through an odd, loping gait, it makes its way to the fence and peers around it curiously. "Aha, I thought so," it declares. "Crude blood-based wards on the fence. Simple to cast, long lasting, and effective," it calls back as if anyone cared more about the wards than about a giant grabby house.
The last bone is outside the ward finally, and the giant remains quiet.. until it bellows, "... TAKE ALL FOOD AND GARBAGE WITH YOU, ESPECIALLY FRUIT, NUTS OR SEEDS. DO NOT WANDER THE TULGEY WOODS AT NIGHT. KEEP OFF THE WABE. DO NOT TAUNT THE JABBERWOCK. DO NOT FEED THE BANDERSNATCHES.."
Trilup grabs the rope with Lin and starts hauling.
Lin looks up at the giant in confusion, "What are those things? I mean, the fruit and stuff I get, but wabe, bandersnatches, and jaberwocks?" She pulls on the rope as well and, together, they pull Aviri back up to the cabin.
Once Aviri is off the ground, the cabin steps back to the center of the clearing.. which causes Aviri to swing around wildly of course.
And the familiar ... is actually loping outside of the fence and heading to the forest!
".. VIOLATORS WILL BE TREED. ONLY YOU CAN PREVENT ZOMBIE OUTBREAKS!" the giant continues, and then goes quiet again before turning and wandering off back along the path.
"The lizard ran off!" Trilup notices. "Is that bad?"
Although swining like a mad pendulum, Aviri manages to calm his nerves somewhat and take ahold of the rope to steady himself. He looks up at Trilup, then back down at the departing lizard. "Hey!" he calls. "Where're you going?"
"Better than having the scaly jerk here." Lin notes and waves at the departing giant. "Bye!" She calls after it.
"Oooo, it'll be back, and asking us to collect magical pinecones or something," Trilup says, and flattens to the floor to reach out a hand to Aviri.
Aviri takes Trilup's proffered hand and crawls back into the house. "Thanks," He says, and looks back over the edge, trying to find the familiar. He pulls the necklace out of his shirt, and frowns.
The only sign of the familiar is a faint blue light flitting about amongst the shadows of the trees in the distance.
"Maybe its gone to eat ghosts of bugs?" Lin guesses, "This is a weird necromantically charged forest afterall. Whatever, I'm going to bed. See you goofs in the morning." She flops on her bunk and blows out the lantern on Waddles once the chest returns to its position of bedside table.
"Well, that wasn't so bad," Silv offers. "Just don't forget any of the rules the giant told you, or you get turned into a tree it sounds like.."
"Or chased up one," Aviri says. He puts the necklace away and looks around the cabin, for the first time that nothing strange was happening, beyond them still being 20 feet above the ground. "But turned into one is more likely, considering everything," he ammends.
"And it wasn't kidding," the voice of the familiar says ... right before its head pops out where Aviri put the amulet. "There is some clever magic at work in that forest. Very powerful earth magic combined with spirit. I can guess who did it."
"What's it all for though?" Trilup asks the familiar.
"And is it Necromancy?" Lin adds, rolling over and propping herself up on her elbows.
"Oh, welcome back," Aviri says with a bit of relief. "Seems like ... some kinda park or zoo or something. Who did it?"
"It is likely the work of Phelix Kurai," the familiar notes as it slithers its way completely out so that it can go inspect 'Waddles'. "It's a fence of a sort. Nothing undead could pass through that forest; it would be absorbed and become part of the guardian golem. That's the spirit part. The earth part is that the very trees are part of the weave of the spell; as they grow and live, so does it. It outlasts its caster."
"So we're going towards the scary side, right? 'Cause there didn't seem to be a whole bunch of undead stuff in Blackshire. Some, but not a lot." Lin asks, "And were those little gollems that liked Waddles dangerous to us at all or were they more like escort things?"
"Waddles?" the reptile asks. "Do you mean Corpse Eater?" It gestures towards the chest.
Aviri frowns at the familiar's words. "That's nifty. Helpful, too. Think it was part of the wars? A haven away from necromantic ...." He freezes. "Corpse Eater?!"
"They must be what the giant breaks up into during the day.. what?" Trilup says, and looks to the animated trunk.
"You know each other?" Lin peers quizically from Waddles to the familiar.
"Do you mean normal corpses, or lively corpses?" Trilup asks through her fists, which are pressed up against her mouth.
"Well, I am guessing that is what this is," the reptile notes as it sticks his head through the side of the chest, presumably to look inside. "Not many chests around that were fashioned from bits of one of the necromancy sarcophagi. Especially one that has consumed enough necromancers and their creations to develop its own will. I always figured that particular tale was ... well ... just a tale."
"Now can we get rid of it?" Aviri asks. "Definitely seems a bad idea to keep something like that around!"
"We found it under Blackshire castle, with a talking sword and other stuff," Trilup says. "It's not dangerous is it?"
"Are you undead?" the reptile asks.
"You mean it's the best chest ever!" Lin exclaims, "It's an anti-undead stuff chest that doubles as a bath, keeps my clothes smelling nice, cleans old swords, and follows me everywhere! I'm never taking this key off again!"
"It floats too, and.. why does it attract the bone golems?" Trilup asks the familiar.
"They like to sleep on top of it... if they sleep," the otter girl adds.
"Oh, I think I get it!" Lin chirps, "They're made from the same magic as the chest. Maybe Kurai made it too!"
"Because it's sort of a golem itself. Plus it's made from material enchanted to devour the undead and be appealing to them. Wouldn't you want to sleep on top of, or inside, the softest and warmest bed you ever saw?" the reptile points out. "Anyway, it's inviting to such things. Presumably. Natasha can only see so much through me after all."
"But weren't those bone gollems not undead as much as animated by earth magic?" Lin asks the familiar.
"But you said it's got a will of it's own," Aviri says. "Couldn't it decide to start devouring regular people?"
Waddles ominously does nothing at the suggestion. It just sits there. Chestlike. Watching.
"Oh, come off it, Aviri." Lin chides, "It didn't eat me now, did it?"
"It's a mix. Magic does not have as hard of lines between the aspects as some may claim," the familiar claims. To Aviri it can only shrug, and comment, "That is like asking if a book will start reading itself out loud. Wait, bad analogy, that is possible. Anyway, it is unlikely. Items crafted for a purpose retain that purpose unless someone makes effort to change it."
"Yet," Aviri says to Lin pointedly. "Things with their own will can change over time, after all."
"People," the familiar corrects. "Such is rare to impossible for spirits. Sirits tend to reflect their creator or their owner. Spirits are echoes of memory."
"It takes directed effort to change the essence of a formed spirit," it adds.
"I ain't never changin'!" Silv agrees. "Once you've achieved perfection, there's no need to."
The familiar's assurance seems to make Aviri relax, but only slightly. 'Unlikely' is nowhere near 'impossible'. "So where do you fall?" Aviri asks the lizard. "Natasha said you're a ghost, but ... you don't seem to be like Silv."
Lin patts Waddles' lid affectionately. "It's been around for ages, long enough to kill enough undead things to become what it is now. I'm not worried an', if it does change in the way that lizzard face says it will over time, it'll just get more awesome!"
"Natasha created me as a student. A 'practical' test, I suppose. I grew with her," the familiar notes. "Until she dispersed me for ... a while. As for the chest, the owner of its control focus will be the primary enforcer of any change it may take on."
"So.. it'll start to think more like Linyala?" Trilup asks, her face a mask of horror!
Aviri shares Trilups reaction. "Wonder how quickly I'd be able to leave Stonebarrow, if Corpse Eater stays with her."
"Right, so don't eat Aviri unless I say so, okay?" Lin instructs Waddles then mock frowns at Trilup, "Hey!"
"Oh, be like that." Lin huffs and tries to go to sleep.
Aviri smirks at Lin, then turns back to the familiar. "Okay. So, you're still connected to her? You said she can see through you?"
The familiar looks off into the distance. "Ah, I will tell them," it remarks. Looking back to the others, it says, "You might want to look out of the window. Natasha has tried to work something from the distance through the rune marks I made when I was out there."
"All the way from Stonebarrow?" Trilup asks, heading towards the window. "That's like a thousand miles away! At least it feels it is!"
Lin rolls her eyes to herself and gets up again. She scoots over to the window and looks.
"Well, it does help to have a local focus," the familiar points out.
Aviri shudders again, but does go up to the window.
It starts with a single tree, tendrils of light flow up along it line vines. They sprawl and unfurl out to its branches, then to the leaves with ripple and glow in a mixture of greens and blues. For each tree near it that touches it, the effect flows outward, branches coming alive in rippling light and tracing down each trunk into its roots. The effect continues to spread until it seems like the entire forest is glowing beneath the dark sky; a canopy of cool color and gentle whispers of leaves. "You're looking at life itself," the familiar says as it stands nearby. "All Natasha did was make visible for a brief time the magic that was already there by spirit-lighting the flow. You're seeing the real forest and the life there. You're seeing the legacy of a mage who saved this land; saw the beauty in it in spite of those who tried to ravage it. She thought you might find it pretty ... and feel a little safer seeing it as it is."
"Ooooooo!" is Trilup's comment. "Fairy light!"
Aviri just watches silently, staring out at it with a determined intensity.
Lin's fingers clench and unclench on the window sill and she nods ever so slightly. "Huh."
"See, magic isn't always scary," Trilup tells Aviri.
"Every living thing creates a spirit and affects magic around it. Even the lapi here," the familiar explains, "Those that weld magic just ... know how to influence it more directly. Anyway, this looks more impressive than it is in terms of what she did. This was just acting upon what was there; not crafting the whole effect remotely. No living magic wielder could likely accomplish such without days of ritual."
"So... can you get me resurrected maybe?" Silv asks the familiar, while stroking its tail.
Aviri doesn't immediately reply to Trilup, the Lapi just watching for now.
"We do know where your corpse is." Lin chirps then her tail droops, "Though the ship did sink so we'll have to hope the fish haven't nibbled yet."
And the familiar looks upwards at Silv. "And particularly larger than life people tend to leave behind echoes," it points out, then frowns. ""Ressurection ... is impossible. At least not in the sense you likely mean. You would need a living body, yet devoid of soul and mind ... and your echo might be able to be imprinted upon it. Such magic is ... extremely difficult and dangerous. I would not walk those roads, such lead to the wars that savaged this land."
"Though, to be fair, I know a couple bodies just like that." Lin says and knocks on her head, "They're alive, sure, but there's no mind to speak of."
To Aviri's sharp ears, the lapi could almost swear the glowing forest is singing.
"Maybe I should get a gig as a familiar then," Silv grouses. "An overly-familiar!"
Aviri leans forward, his ears lifting up off his head to catch the sounds.
"Not ... quite what I mean. I doubt you know what a Srinala is," the familiar says, sounding a bit sad. "And if you do not, you are better for it."
"Hey, don't fall out the window," Trilup says, grabbing onto the back of Aviri's pants for safety.
It's ... maddening. There is and isn't a song. It comes and goes in impressions ... and each one seems fainter than the last. In fact, the whole forest is losing its shimmer.
"If I learned magic, you could be my familiar!" Lin offers, "We could take the world by stealth! Err, how would I learn magic?"
"Shh!" Aviri snaps at the others quickly, straining to catch the last of the sound before it goes away.
"Well, there is a school dedicated to teaching magic ... but you have to have the talent for it," the familiar notes. "Or the 'unofficial' route is to apprentice to a witch in these lands."
The lights fade along with the song. The lapi cannot help but feel if he had a few more minutes he could have heard enough to have understood it ... somehow. Darkness has returned to the forest.
"And how do you know if you have the talent for it?" Lin asks, not paying attention to the forest anymore now that its glow has faded.
"Well ... two ways. You accidentally do some and are lucky enough to avoid the mob with pitchforks ... or you have to be tested for it," the reptile explains.
"Does the test involve hanging upside down?" Trilup asks.
"Not generally, no," comes the answer.
Aviri sighs and scowls at the others who were making so much noise during the display. His ears fall back and he sits down beneath the window. "Might be different if I understood it more," he finally says to Trilup. "Understand the necklace well enough. Or did." He glances at the familiar and bites his lip. "Are you the reason this thing wards off undead?"
"If it did, every aquavi half as old as us would be able to do it." Lin remarks. "What does it involve, who does the test on us, and where do you have to go to get it done?"
"No. That was a ritual imbue cast by Natasha. It can also create a 'null zone', an area devoid of any spirit magic were it destroyed. It would kill creatures such as myself, and her," the familiar notes and gestures upward at Silv. "If killing is even a term that applies to us."
"The test varies by the tester," the familiar says. "Anyone skilled in magic can test another for the ability."
"So you've just been along for the ride, then," Aviri says. "Not that I mind. I'll be sure it doesn't get destroyed, though."
"What were you listening too, Aviri?" Trilup asks a bit quietly.
Lin goes wide-eyed at the amulet's second ability. "What's the range on that if it breaks and what would it take to break it?" She asks, holding her hat protectively.
"Actually I have not. Natasha felt the surge from the golem through it and sent me to check on all of you. It's a focus, she can use it to shortcut a few spells," the familiar admits. "It was also a way to make sure you stay reasonably safe and alive ... at least from magical threats. If any of you had ... died, she would have known as well."
The question startles Aviri. "I was trying to listen to the forest," he says pointedly. He takes a breath, calming himself from remembered frustration. "'t was making ... music, or something. Faint." He sighs again at his loss.
"The forest back home doesn't do that then?" Trilup asks.
"Shattering it on the ground would do it. As for range ... a few hundred feet in diameter, spherical," the familiar answers. "It's a defensive spell for dealing with undead and dangerous spirits; very destructive to all spirit-based magic. She cast it once in Stonebarrow, you know. Back when the necromancer attacked at the Dam."
"There was a necromancer AND a dam?" Silv asks. "You miss all the good stuff being dead."
"Not to the degree it did here," Aviri says. "It was actual music. Wish I'd heard more. Maybe Natasha can make our forest do that." He smiles a bit. "That'd be nice."
"Whoof." Lin shakes her head, and raises her eyebrows, "Alright! So lets not do that any time soon! Do you think Natasha could test me?" She clasps her hands and sits on the edge of waddles, looking at the familiar.
"Could, or would?" the familiar asks. "They are different questions."
"Both." Lin says with a nod.
"But you'd have to go to Granny first, wouldn'tcha?" Trilup asks Lin. "The gypsies aren't gonna be next to the swamp f'rever."
"Then the answers are 'Yes' and 'Maybe'," the familiar says. "The latter is ... difficult as it could be considered trespass on Isolde Nightshade's purview. You would need her approval first."
"And you gotta catch a bog fairy," Trilup claims, crossing her arms over her chest. "I'm pretty sure o' that part."
"No you don't," the familiar counters.
"Okay," Lin chirps, "I'll talk to Granny and Isolde first. Seems like a worthwhile thing to do if Silver wants to stick around. Asside from that, I'd be a better scout with magic. I could really be invisible!" She wriggles in anticipation and grins.
The familiar starts to say something, then stops. It may not want to disillusion the otter.
"Is that true? Magic can make you invisible?" Trilup asks. "Isn't that what they said in Blackshire, that folks from Stonebarrow can turn invisible and kill people?"
"I thought ..." Aviri says. "I thought Silv would be released or something when we deliver the artifact."
"Depends," Silv says. "I'm really attached to my hat.. need to make sure it's bein' used proper.. and because I feel like I gotta hang around a bit more, 'cuz Lin will need my help."
"You have more important things to worry about than magic lessons," the familiar notes, "And Natasha wishes to sleep, which means my link to the focus will drop soon."
Aviri shrugs at that. "Thanks for showing up," he says to the familiar. "Nice to know we've got some kind of help."
"Well, that many people are probably wrong. I haven't heard anythin' exactly like that in Stonebarrow itself an' you know as well as I how fast an' how weird rumours spread." Lin notes then nods quickly. "Alright. we'll talk magic later. We've got adventure an' sleep to do right now. Say thanks to Natasha for the lights for me, will ya?"
"G'night mister lizard," Trilup says.
"Already done," the familiar agrees. "Do try to stay out of trouble. She can help only so much over distance."
Trilup also climbs into the lower bunk that Lin was using.
The reptile blows apart in a swirl of dancing lights. They whirl in a spiral, draw to a point, and sink into the spot Aviri stashed the amulet.
Lin gives a little wave at the vanishing lizard and sets her hat on Waddles before getting into the bunk too. "Shuffle over." She chirps as she settles in.
Trilup moves, and notes, "If you become a witch, you'll have to wear a pointy hat instead of the pirate hat.."
Aviri bits his lip again, and seems about to say something when the familiar dissolves and retreats. He stands up, looks out the window again, frowning, before deciding that the top bunk is safest place away from Corpse Eater.
"They'll have to make an exception." Lin retorts and closes her eyes.
The night is very, very quiet, since nothing lives in the forest other than the trees.. and they've sung their piece for the night..