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Chapter Three: Vardadraug and the Cosmic Ore

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Before Luna can reply however, Wolf moves in front of her, cutting off what she was about to say, if she had anything at all. He stands tall before Skaagenrackner but with his head slightly bowed in respect, chancing a look here and there upwards at him as he delivers his explanation.


"Great Elder, forgive me for delaying the full story until now, out of fear of your just wrath. Prior to your awakening I was led here by Vardadraug and encountered the minotaurs who tried their earnest to kill us both. Luna and the rest of my friends arrived to help, and it was their passionate struggle to help me that accidentally set these woods ablaze. Luna may be the most direct cause of the fire... But she wouldn't have even been here if it wasn't for me. Thus I cannot allow the full consequence to befall her alone."
 
Luna tries to choke back the words, but they just slip out, "No! No, Wolf! I caused the fire, no need for you to bear the brunt of my punishment." She feels that her plea to her fellow Wanderer has fallen on deaf ears. "Oh, Great Rock Lord, it is true that I am the one that cast the spell. I never meant to harm the forrest, but when I saw Wolf in danger, along with Vardadraug, I couldn't stop myself and I struck at two of the minotaurs you see with my magic. Please, don't hurt him! I will accept what is coming to me to save his life!" By this time, tears are running down Luna's face freely, and it is not caused by the smoke of the fire. Sparkle, you may want to move. Tell my father that I love him and that I'm sorry.
 
Wolf takes his gaze off the earth elemental and turns to Luna.


"Luna..." is all he says, but his eyes tell a myriad other things as they peer into hers. His face shows both weakness and strength at the same time, somehow; both are for her sake. In a single, slow gesture he moves his right hand to gently wipe the tears from the girl's face. Speechless, he does his best to convey the sense of hope and affection through the eyes alone.
 


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    Bria unconsciously leans into Otiorin. She listens to his every word, struggling to hear them over the hurricane of emotions whirling inside of her, for she trusts him.


    That's what friends do,     says her voice inside.


    She rests against him, clearly weakened by her ordeal, and takes solace in his comforting words. Then she realizes that she is leaning on someone. It dawns on her as he turns her face to his. Her soft brown eyes well up yet again.


    "Otiorin! Omigosh! There you are!" She examines him from head to toe and pauses on each injury whether it is visible to the naked eye or not. Then her eyes drift to back to his. Effortlessly, she moves her hand across and about her fellow Wanderer as she speaks about the minotaur. Her tone is casual as if she has done this all of her life.


    Bria looks to the corpse. "Otiorin, he was so close! So close to realizing! I believed him - Asteallo! - when he said no one had ever cared for him. Evil only thinks of itself, but not you - Asteallo verris! - you're perceptive and sweet, Otiorin." She smiles faintly. "I believe every person's soul is worth caring for. Each is a star in the sky. Oh, and now I'm rambling... Oh, and I missed a spot. Kysis!"





    With three passes, trails of peaceful blue light follow her fingertips. With them, the wordless shrieks of pain that wrench and clutch inside the half-elf's body quiet and cease to be as if they never were. In one moment, Otiorin's body wants to fall down, cave in, and sleep for a week - in the next, his body is ready to party right there in the forest.


    But his partying partner is already up on her feet. "Powerpaw! Don't move!" Bria runs to the unconscious feline until she can see him clearly. "Oh, you big fuzzy goof! You're out cold..."


    Otiorin and the rest of the Wanderers know full well that clerics of your experience can heal only when touching their patients. With Bria, this is simply not so. Gracefully, Bria's hands extend into the air as if she is reaching out for a big hug.


    And from there, she calls upon her gifts to provide life to Powerpaw in much the same manner that she provided it to Otiorin...


    Skaagenrackner shakes his humongous head. "Again, Luna Kaftan, what makes you believe his life is in danger? He is a forest-friend after all. You are the one that set fire to my friends and our wood!"


    He lifts a foot and stomps it into the earth. Branches, leaves, and people for some distance tremble as Skaagenrackner grinds his rocky teeth in rage. "Civilized creatures always bringing their destruction into the green of the forest! What do they care? When trees burn down to their roots, they just say 'plant new ones! They are all the same!' But have they considered the forest's side?


    Skaagenrackner looks down at each of you. "Happy are the parents that join and make a son and a daughter together! But when tragedy, however avoidable, strikes them both dead, can they simply join again and make the same two beings come back to life? No! These battles across the forest... avoidable tragedies all! Curse those who fall to such selfish foolery! Curse the Bloodlands and the Black Fang! May their lack of compassion make their rotted hearts as stone..."


    "And what of you, Luna Kaftan? If I wanted your life, I would take it. But..."


    He drags one great finger across his stony chin. He ponders, and when he is finished, his words come slowly and thoughtfully. "The fire is out. The cause of the fire is found." His voice becomes something close to gentle again. "Is there... something you would do to right your wrong, little furnace? Something... that might perhaps benefit the forest and all that live in it, though you yourself do not stand to gain?"


    "Oh," he adds to Wolf with a serious grin. "And no interruptions from you this time."


 
Luna looks up at the great rock elemental. "I can only offer my oath that I have and will continue to stand up for those that don't have the strength to do so themselves, to keep the forces of evil at bay, and to be a shining light in a otherwise dark and foreboding world. I cannot undo the damage that I have done, but it was caused to save the lives of others from those that do not value such things. If that is not enough for you to spare my life, then I will face my fate with my head held high." She turns to face her fellow Wanderer. With a gentle touch, she caresses Wolf's scruffy face. Then, with a sudden impulse, she leans up on her tiptoes and plants a kiss on his lips. For a long time, she stays that way, her arms up on his shoulders to hold herself steady. Then, she lowers herself back down. "Well! I have been wanting to do that for a long time. I just wish that I had the courage to show you how I feel before now."


She looks at his eyes and says the most secret thought she has been holding close, "I love you."
 
Wolf is thus rendered unable to interrupt, but it has nothing to do with Skaagenrackner's words which vaporize from his mind as soon as Luna does her thing.


Luna.


What she just did... Even stunned as he was, when her lips brushed his reflexively he held her and returned the kiss. His eyes fell shut on their own. Without asking how or why, he gave in to his one secret desire. She was sweet and soft, and tasted not of fire but of something else, something for which Wolf could find no word at present. When it was over, the moment that felt like eternity seemed like the shortest thing ever.


And then she says the words and whatever else he might have wanted to say or do was swept aside. He half-whispered his reply in a way that made it seem like he just realized it, even when it was not so. "I love you too."
 
Kitrin, with her wondrous fighter perception bonus (and being sort of on the periphery of the action to begin with), has missed most of what's going on, though being doused with dirt and such does get her attention! She's about to make an indignant comment on her dustbath when she notices Bria and Otiorin not far away from her, and runs over to them. "Oti! Are you okay? What a big boom that was, huh? Oh, Bria's got you all healed up. Good on you, Bria..." The little fighter's voice trails off as she follows the pair's gaze up into the trees. "Oh noes! How're we gonna get him back down from there?"
 
"An oath, you say!"


Skaagenrackner peers down to tiny Vardadraug and nods as if liking what he hears. Without hurrying, he repeats it in his own way. "An oath to defend those who lack the strength to defend themselves, to stop evil when able, and to be a light in blackest darkness. A light in the dark... Where have I heard it before? No matter. Allow me to see if the forest can make good use of such a promising oath..."


The great protector of the forest looks down at his right foot. You notice it is seeping into the earth as green grass, mold, and dirt seem to hug the elemental. Serenely, Skaagenrackner closes his eyes. He seems to listen to words the rest of you cannot hear, save Wolf. Wolf somehow hears tiny female voices crying out piteously, shrieking and scared. Three of them. It is as if their hope to live is being taken from them this very moment...


Vardadraug pads up Skaagenrackner's massive foot. He paws at it, glances to Wolf, and for a moment, the two of you share a recognition of sorts - you know you both hear those voices. What he hears causes him to growl. He springs up, tail high, teeth bared, ready to take action. The wolf looks up into the face of the ancient defender waiting for those evergreen eyes to open yet again. In time they do.


"By the ring of ancient mountains! Three for three! Creatures too small to defend themselves have been evilly plucked from their springs and stems! Devil-hearted creatures who walk much like you do and wield similar tools descend into darkness. They take the little girls with them. It appears they move... out of the forest for their own foul purposes..." His great hands shake with greater rage. The earth and trees around you tremble as if in fear. "Again, civilized creatures come to take what is not theirs! If only I could get there in time! Exalted Wolf, you know the tunnels I mean!"


Vardadraug barks loudly in reply. In the language of animals, he says, "Aye! There is a wellspring there, and with it, another of my incarnations!"


Hearing this, Skaagenrackner groans and gazes directly at Luna. "You! I release you to go about your own free will. You have a chance to save the girls and prove your oath, but you must leave now and after them, or not at all, for I will not get there in time." The "Old Stone" crosses his arms and watches you closely.


"What will your decision be, Luna Kaftan?"


Skaagenrackner pauses then, perhaps expecting a party-wide discussion. It is as if he has seen such things befall forests and people before. He seems to wonder what history will impart this time around.
 
Freed from the iron chains of his wounds, Otiorin leaves Powerpaw to Bria's sweet ministrations as he worked his way back to the bush he'd hidden his bundle beneath.He came out slowly, watching the interaction between the Elemental and the other Wayfarers. This could turn ugly at any moment, his mind kept muttering to him, encouraging him to keep moving with an eye to escaping at a moment's notice.


Then Skaagenrackner spoke of 'save the girls', to which the Half-Elf came bounding into the midst.


"We must go forth this instant and do this great deed of duty!", he said, loudly, "After all, it is what the Wayfarers are about, helping others, vanquishing evil and other good deeds!"


He deposited the bundle on the ground and said, "But, first, loot!"
 
As Skaagenrackner's words start to sink in, it becomes clear that she has gotten a reprieve from the expected death sentence she was facing. A shiver of relief washes over her, and the only thing keeping her from falling to her knees is her death grip on Wolf's arm. Then, the great rock speaks of others that have some girls, and Luna recalls that there was one of the minotaurs with a horn, and they were trying to warn a wizard about them. "Tell me, great one, who or what are these girls you speak of? I have made my oath to help others and to defend the weak; what must I do?"


As one part of her mind is occupied with this, another voice is screaming in the back of her head. You kissed Wolf, and he kissed you back! Then, you told him that you love him! Ohmygod! What am I going to do? Wait a minute . . . didn't he say . . . that he . . . loves . . . me too?





Then, Otiorin comes up with his bag. A good distraction. Luna looks over at him. "What 'loot' do you have there, my friend?"
 
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