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(RP) The Woods

Jepeth

Seasoned Veteran
UNLEASHED
Jepeth lay recovering from his injuries in the Britain Healers. While his wounds were mostly superficial his shield arm suffered a deep shock that the healers were having trouble correcting.

“The flesh is affected,” they whispered sagely to one another, “by an infection in the spirit!”

***

Meanwhile, Tejnik the (self-styled) Marvelous was attempting to fulfill Jepeth’s previous orders concerning the mysterious comet. In the previous week he tried to run down every moldy document, every drunken rumor, every shred of evidence possible to help his Governor understand the threat to Skara Brae.

Thus far every path was cold.

He had finally found what he perceived to be a credible source at the Britain Public Library, sent word to Jepeth, and then moved on to his next lead. And so that evening while Jepeth was dragged into the healer’s bleeding out after his fight with the Green Knight, Tejnik found himself wandering around in the Spiritwood of Yew.

This idea, thought Tejnik, was truly mad even for one like himself who regularly conjured dangerous elemental demons to both fight magical battles and occasionally house-sit his small stone tower. He walked with no set direction or intention, weaving in and out of the trees and underbrush. The forest was dense and still. Night fell and yet he continued to walk further away from safety. Any hungry or ill-tempered forest dwelling creature would have loved to make a meal of the tall, sturdy mage. There were, allegedly, Lich in these woods, too.

Despite these dangers it was the perfect night for this. Neither moons were up and there was a low layer of clouds just above the trees. In this pitch black he kept walking, and looking, and waiting.

Finally, he saw one.

There, weaving in and out of the trees, was a brilliant blue orb of light. It pulsed and glimmered, its iridescent light creating dramatic shadows in every direction. If there was any evil in the area, there was no way it wouldn’t shirk from this burning glow.

A Wisp.

Tejnik smiled. His patience had paid off, but now he needed to be careful. Wisps weren’t dangerous unless provoked but they were flighty and ephemeral. Normally Tejnik would put on a bit of a magical show whenever meeting a new mystical creature or mage counterpart. (Why be a mage if you can’t, occasionally, light something on fire?)

Instead, he went the respectful route. He sat straight down on the ground, twenty feet away from where the Wisp hovered.

“Hello dear Wisp,” said Tejnik.

The Wisp continued to hover. If it heard him it didn’t show it.

“Hail, Wisp!” he said a little louder. “Lend me some of your glow?”

The Wisp produced a noise. It sounded something like a wind-chime falling to the ground. Was it a greeting? A warning? Tejnik didn’t know. He did feel a little pleased that the Wisp had done something and not simply hovered away or disappeared.

“May we speak, gentle Wisp?” said Tejnik.

It was well known that the Wisps enjoyed a bit of flattery. Why, exactly, no one knew for sure. But for those that were able to converse openly with such magical, ancient, and mysterious beings observed that a little bit of puffery went a long way.

The Wisp drifted over to Tejnik, who remained sitting on the ground with his blue robes and cloak folded under him. It stopped a foot away, hovering above him.

Tejnik waited.

“QxZlyk?” said the Wisp.

Tejnik beamed. His smile stretched ear to ear but then he quickly recovered his composure. In the previous research he conducted at the Lycaeum in Moonglow he knew what protocol dictated next and didn’t want to err after progress was made so quickly.

He held out his left hand with his palm closed. He closed his eyes and whispered “In Mani Ylem” to himself. Suddenly a wedge of cheese appeared as if growing right out of his palm and he opened his hand offering the food to the Wisp.

Granted, he had no idea if “QxZlyk” even meant ‘food’ in Wispish, but in the past other mage’s recognized that the Wisps appreciated this gesture.

"Cheese?" said Tejnik. "Freshly conjured gouda!"

Having no mouth or digestive system or even hands to grasp the Wisp didn’t take any of the food and continued to hover in place. Tejnik set the cheese down on the forest ground a few feet away from him.

“I work for the Crown,” said Tejnik.

“YxxZYl. Kyz.”

Tejnik had no idea what that had meant. While Wisps were generally understood to comprehend the native language of Britannians no one knew if they understood the language but simply chose not to respond in kind. There were plenty of examples in history of a Wisp communicating if it was of utmost importance, though. The story of how the Armageddon Spell was learned from the Wisps was required reading in the Council of Mages.

“Yes? For Governor Jepeth and King Blackthorn,” said Tejnik.

“Hyyzm.”

“I seek information, oh wise Wisp of the wonderful woods,” said Tejnik, trying a little alliteration.

The Wisp neither moved nor responded in any way Tejnik could understand.

“Your brilliance of mind must match your brilliant glow,” said Tejnik with a little more transparent flattery.

“Kyzzyl.”

Tejnik sighed. This didn’t seem to be working. Did the Wisp not recognize a fellow magical being? He was ‘marvelous,’ after all. Maybe if he magically blew up a tree or a deer the Wisp would…

At that moment, the Wisp moved. It floated over towards Tejnik and began to circle him. It hovered in a long arc around his head, tracing a halo around him.

Tejnik, for his part, had no clue what this meant. For a split second he wondered if this was the opening move of an attack.

“Comet,” said the Wisp as it continued to circle him. “ZyyXLy. Comet.”
 
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NANOC

Lore Master
Stratics Veteran
Stratics Legend
Hail Tejnik the Marvelous,
I am not a mage, just a curious Paladin. I have often sat at what I call the Wisp Pillars SE of what is now the Blighted Grove.
You mentioned this and I recall ancient lore that by paying respect to the Wisp's, they may actually speak to you. Lost in time the actual words...
I remember an old mage saying that the words where "Hail Wisp, How art thee"
I have never gotten a response....hope you do.
 
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