In Search of a Potion for Yew

[James Bunny-Man]

A potion to make the crops grow? Oh sure, James knew a few cantrips to help crops grow. But a potion using alcohol that heals the land so crops can grow? James hadn't heard of that...which is frustrating because that sounds like exactly the sort of thing he would know about! His family had helped mortals with crops for thousands of years (which, granted, as pookas go is only a few generations), and James himself does enjoy alcohol. This bares looking into, he did have a few old cronies from six or seven centuries ago, other pookas who happened to share an interest in agriculture and alcohol (and frequently mixed the two).

But where to find them?

Well not Sosaria, that was his first hint, he would have seen them about. So gathering a few jars of his special poitín and his second favorite traveling cloak, he went to Faerie itself, the land of dreams that Fae come from.

First he went to the place the mortals call the shrine of Compassion, he went up to the old trod, the magic faded with time, the enchantment showing the slightest sign of crumble...it had been a few years sense it saw use.
The slightest touch of his magic restored the gateway to it's full glory, as the spell opened, becoming a portal to another universe.

After getting past the giant dragon on the other side (yes, there is weak point in reality where a huge immortal dragon just on the other side, but don't worry about it, it is not central to this story), into Faerie proper, which today looked like a great forest, always green in an eternal summer, ancient and primordial, walking along an out-of-place looking silver road through the forest, until turning off of it, onto the same road, continuing down this strait path in a new direction.

He travelled this way on to the pooka city he is currently claiming to be called Pondia. A great city part of the forest, a great wall surrounding it, the stones almost seemed to grow out of the ground of the forest it is currently in, trees everywhere, some actually acting as homes, it seems more like a city-sized town than a city. And after trading a few jars and an apple for directions made his way to the other pooka's home, after introductions (as both had changed their names several times in the intervening centuries, the pooka now called James sat with a fellow rabbity pooka whom is now called Nancy.

An offering of James's moonshine was given to Nancy as a thank you for hosting and as payment for information. Which led to this excerpt of conversation, and translated here from lies and gibberish to more or less the truth:

James asked something that translates along the lines of, "Well I heard of a potion with alcohol, it restores the land so crops can grow. It seemed like something I'd know, but don't. Have you heard of it?"
"Yes of course I had, and you know about it too" Nancy responded matter-of-factly.
"I do?" he asked genuinely surprised.
"Yes, Two gave it to us! You drink yours, remember?"
"No, I don't remember that, why would I drink it?"
"It was that week you decided to see which mushrooms were edible by trying them all."
"Well that sounds useful at least. Did anyone keep a list of which ones did what?"
"No, you tried them all at once to save time."
"That does sound like it would save time."
"It saved a lot of time, it was very successful in that regard, but you still drank the potion."
"Do...you still have yours?"

There followed some negotiation for some of her potion, that went rather well and Nancy ended up giving some of her potion to James, pouring a bit into a shot glass so he could have some, which would be better than none.

Unfortunately, James drank the potion, as it was in a shot glass, which made sense at the time sense he didn't remember how it tasted.
Bad. It tasted bad.


Though Nancy found this hilarious, she was unwilling to share more and left James with one way to look into this further among his kinsmen: tracking down Two, whom neither Nancy nor he had seen for about half a millennia and have no idea where he is or what he's called now.

In the meantime, best return to Sosaria before too much time had passed.

 

[James Bunny-Man]

After the governor meeting, and a stopoff in Johlem to undo the curse-that was really meant more of a small joke if anything, and could not be proven to be his handiwork and therefore isn't (at least that would be his claim). James was left thinking the best possible way to find more about this potion was to track down Two!

But how to find Two was the question. Was Two even still around? They could have reincarnated by now for all James knows.

When all you have is a hammer, the world looks like a nail.
And as the second best tool in James's belt is pyromancy!
The best being the Art of Metamorphosis, but turning folks into other things wouldn't too helpful in this case.

No, fire is definitely the solution!

But this will take care, forethought, and possibly tequila.

 

[James Bunny-Man]

The tequila was a bit of a bust, Piper wasn't the one who had it, who was it then? Oh well, time to move on!

The mead was easy to get, so it'll have to do, it just requires a bit more of a walk, some more danger, and unfortunately a goat.

The enchantment that opens the door still shining like new, it opened with ease, and once more getting past the dragon into Faerie proper, doorway into the primordial forest gone, replaced with a tunnel that was always there, going into the ground, taking care to stay on the silver path as it leads through a labyrinthine tunnels (made less so by the clear path...well if you ignore the fake paths) deeper and deeper until he reached the surface, and endless plane, the silver path still there, it's not silver, but made of stones, though it looks and feels different it is comfortably still the silver path.


Walking along the endless way, until reaching a landmark, recognizing the shape he had not seen before the pooka left the safety of the path to trek along the endless way.

More walking happened, but it was easier, after all he was leaving the familiar and going deeper into the great dream.

Going deeper into dreams takes a bit of concentration, someone can spend so much time being oneself, but going deeper like this you risk becoming just another pooka.

Everything that makes you a pooka becomes stronger, the little differences that makes you a unique individual falling away.
Sure 'you' have a rabbit totem, rabbity shapes come naturally to you, they're more comfortable...but why be so limited?

Change.


And James changed, growing larger, bigger, his shape changing becoming a giant. A huge primordial giant that no longer exist, but live on in stories.

There was no point not to? Was the way not dangerous? The distance fell shorter and it was safer. You can't trust others, a pookish paranoia told him, and it was so much easier to listen to it here.

The voice asking if he should really trust his allies? As he walked deeper. Can you really trust your friends? Deeper.

Can you trust any but yourse--the voice is cut off, shoved into the back where it belongs as he reached an island of 'sanity'.

A small house, half buried in the ground, grass growing on the roof, reminding him a bit of the houses Aedon had showed him west of Bree. But a bit boxier, definitely a different builder, also a bit larger in scale, James knocked on the door.

The pooka that answered was old, very very old, even by pooka standards, a goat with impossibly long and twisted horns, and doesn't look so pleased to see a visitor, and especially not this one.

"Go away, Danny" The goat said before slamming the door in the visitors' face.

James knocked again, this time with the bottle of mead in his hands.


....


The meeting did not go well, the goat was not so happy to see James again.

But James isn't too glad to see him either.

The fee was paid though (in mushrooms this time), and information bought. James knew where Two was now, new names exchanged, and an attempt was made to mend bridges.
It went very poorly, quickly falling into a shouting match about times long sense over and slights few but them remember.

Also, "Santa", came up, a sore subject for them both but neither can leave it alone when together, the old goat still loyal and James stubbornly refusing to abide by it.

But the information was gained before the pooka, be he called James or Danny was thrown out of the island.

And short work told him how to find the silver path again.
Though the voice in his mind telling him he could not -really- trust those he would find back in Yew, but he still has a job to do there with those he serves, and loyalty is very important.

James grew large, a mountain-sized dragon this time, and began the trek back to Sosaria, holding that form until he was to close to reality, but by then was too much himself to want to keep it anyway.