Journey Day 21 Heart Aftermath
As has been usual on their journey, Andie is up first thing in the morning, preparing even before dawn with meditations spent in communion with the sun itself and Neosodos, who is glowing quite a lot this morning. As a side benefit, however, she did prep a stew before starting those prayers and meditations, so by the time everyone else is getting up there is a warm and filling, sustaining breakfast ready to go.
After a bit to pray for her spells, Jyslin guides Honoria back into her tent to help her get undressed, palpate to identify the rib in question, isolate it, get it into the right place, and then heal it before securing a new and better bandage.
It's bone. It will need time to 'cure' to proper hardness and stability. Jyslin is not powerful enough for the likes of Marcus' Mending Touch.
The two women can and do then join everyone for breakfast. Andie explains her plan for the ritual, and accepts Syval's attention and assistance as she includes him in the ritual preparations as part of helping to teach him more about ritual magic. Between she and Neosodos, it's clear they know quite a bit, and they share unstintingly, while making it clear that witch rituals are a bit different than simple arcane rituals; the principles remain similar enough that it's more a case of more precision and rigidity. Witches tend to be a tad loose, moving more by instinct than rote, and filling the gaps with primordial essence and their patrons' blessings.
Later that afternoon, while Andie is resting Syval has a chance for more exercise with Jyslin and Honoria, and then Neosodos starts Syval on flight training by literally hoisting him up into the air some sixty feet - to start; Neosodos can go quite a bit higher with his magic - and dropping him. insisting that it is best he learn to glide effectively before trying to propel himself with his wings, not entirely unlike militia training on 'how to take a fall before how to fight'. Huh? (Type "help" for help.) <OOC> Syval says, "Oh goodness Neos! And I was thinking I'd just climb a tree and jump off it." <OOC> Syval is actually quite a good climber at that. He did it for fun in Delzimmer. <OOC> Jhiao Ting Li says, "But this way Neos can lift him up free of interference from tree canopy, in open air. Neos things that'll be easier for the ungainly green dragon form." <OOC> Syval says, "Uhm... hrm... Should I be rolling checks for this? Do you mean to focus in on the flying lesson or keep things at this same cursory level?" <OOC> Jhiao Ting Li says, "Neos does not have great faith in green dragon aerodynamics. He's prejudiced." <OOC> Syval laughs! <OOC> Jhiao Ting Li says, "I'm planning mostly cursory. Figure some things will go well, others not so well. But Syval should get enough practice that he should learn, over time and practice, how to glide, and then work up to flying." <OOC> Syval says, "Hey now in defense of my (partial) race, a humanoid with dragon features and wings is not a green dragon where aerodynamics are concerned. Judge not lest ye be judged, Poke-wyrm." <OOC> Jhiao Ting Li does not go into tiny magical sphere to be summoned at need. <OOC> Syval says, "You do a fine job hiding in Andie's robes. That counts just as well." <OOC> Jhiao Ting Li says, "He camouflages as her backpack. That's not in her robes. :)" <OOC> Syval says, "Not when she's wearing them. You can't tell me with how cattish he is at times he doesn't burrow into them when she takes them off sometimes." <OOC> Syval imagines a little copper mottled drake swan diving a basket of warm laundry.
In typical jealousy-inducing fashion, a night's rest has restored Syval to his normal self without any sign of the past day's wounds, damaged clothes, or (thankfully) troll smell on him come breakfast. The hulking wizard does eat a substantial helping even by his own standards though, and seems to take extra relish in the meal. With the trolls and hags behind them, it's a chance to relax in the Heart of the swamp suffused by a natural magic that tingles his scales. Leaving Jyslin to tend Honoria's wounds, the wizard moves between ritual work, to exercise, what camp chores he can benefit from, and... falling lessons. The young mage's spare times are spent studying his spellbooks as well as jotting studiously into his journal - with more than a couple curious questions snuck into conversations with the others that Syval seems to have been holding for a while. Downtime evidently means study mode for the apprentice mage.
That he's also taken to walking the woods and swamp around their camp more often than he had when the group was traveling could just as easily go unnoticed.
<OOC> Syval says, "First, I'd also ask Neos for help learning mindspeech, though if it's A or B I'll stick with learning flying first." <OOC> Jhiao Ting Li hmms. "I think Neosodos can do both. Simple rule: no yelling. He will push Syval to work up his own midspeech. If he wants to communicate while in mid-air, he'll just have to work through it. Or wait until he has crashed to the ground and walk over to say something. ^_- <OOC> Jhiao Ting Li says, "That'll teach the oversized hatchling to make fun of laundry diving." <OOC> Syval laughs. "For those flying lessons, a fall from 60ft is... what again in fall terms? 6d10 with DC something Acrobatics to ignore the bottom 10ft?" <OOC> Syval says, "Oh good grief and I forgot to ask about XP for the trolls and the hunnuli (mostly for Andie/Honoria) and the hags, etc." <OOC> Syval says, "Because somewhere in here it's possible I level up and need to switch sheets." <OOC> Syval says, "Ah right, nevermind my HP is enormous. It is definitely going to hurt even partially gliding from that height but I'll survive... my robes may be worse for wear again when I show up in the evening." <OOC> Syval says, "And we'll need healing breaks, which thankfully at 10hp/m won't be excessive. That's... actually kind of scary to think about how much HP I could feasible lose/heal in an afternoon doing that. Superhuman training montage, go." <OOC> Syval stops there for now. Spellbook Q&A comes after. <OOC> Jhiao Ting Li says, "It'd be 1d6+2d6+3d6+4d6+5d6+6d6=21d6. Without gliding and such, Acrobatics could reduce that by cutting off the last 10 feet; more with certain feats and such. So that'd bring it down to 15d6; down to 10d6 if it qualifies as jumping, I believe." <OOC> Syval says, "Oh right Shaar has old school exponential fall damage. That's... 21d6 in a worst-case roll takes Syval to -4 HP. Wow." <OOC> Syval says, "I'm astounded that isn't an auto-death and I hope Honoria doesn't catch sight of their training or she will freak." <OOC> Jhiao Ting Li chuckles. <OOC> Syval says, "Syval will either develop a fear of heights or a disregard for solid objects if he's a slow flying learner. I'm tempted to say with the practice he got ahead of this though that it's mostly been glide-falls for reduced damage and not too awful on the measure. Still, you know, lethal to a normal person, but just painful for him." <OOC> Syval is also pleased with himself for slipping in that 'walking in the woods' line. It deserved a passing subtle mention. <OOC> Syval says, "Anyway, your go again unless you want to dive into the spellbook stuff he's studying on the side. I'll hush up. :)" <OOC> Jhiao Ting Li might also advise bringing up the broken baraj and conversing with Andie about how to secure it against further degredation and discussing repair and restoration. Not that we'll get into huge details, but I think this would be the right time to ask some questions, as then Syval will know ICly some of the materials and skills or skilled artisans he needs to maximize his success. Most of the time none of the group bothers Syval on his walkabouts, though sometimes Jyslin will come within range to check on him if he is gone longer than usual. None of the group are concerned Syval cannot look out for himself, but they are a team, and some concern is only natural.
Within only a couple of days Neosodos has Syval gliding successfully from heights as high as one-hundred twenty feet and landing under pretty good control, with barely any damage to the dragonoid or the plants on the ground. It is at this point that they will shift their exercises to launching aloft with those wings; there will be lots of back-aches as muscles must accomplish feats never before attempted to heft that mass into the sky. And all of this assists Syval with perfecting his mindspeech talent, as Neosodos on no screaming; complaints must be done via mindspeech or wait until Syval has reached the ground and can walk over to join the Eldritch Wyrm, harsh taskmaster that he is proving to be.
Syval does manage to decypher several additional spells from the books with this time, and with the assistance of Andie and Neosodos he feels confident his progress will continue. Honoria seems to be working on something relating to her shield, but seems reluctant to explain just what right now. Jyslin is spending good swaths of time in meditation and prayer, and has taken to evening conversations with both Andie and Honoria regarding Selune's faith, history, and the history of her cult and church.
