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[sythyry]

In which Vae is a Monster, Redux [24 Trandary 4262]

When I got to the grove of arken trees outside the Halflight Gate, I encountered a whole thorough greeting party. There was Vae, who looked particularly elegant wearing a caftan sort of thing composed largely of -- as far as I could tell -- dead pigeons which had been rendered flexible by some Mutoc Corpador, and squished flat, and stitched together at the edges, and adorned with some little glass bells I had given her a while ago.

There was also a perdithorne, which is one of the more hideous things I have seen. Start with a Sleeth. Snip off most of its tail: so far that's an improvement. Then flay off about half its flesh. This may also be considered an improvement in the case of many Sleeth I know (yes, Rhedwy said something caustic to me this morning, and no, I'm not thinking of Denaist). Not an even half, either, like the left side or something -- just, oh, half of one ear, and the left foreleg, and a big slice out of the abdomen, and so on. Where the flesh is missing, you see the bones. Actually the flesh isn't missing, it's invisible. And, for extra unnervingness, the parts that are invisible slither and move around. While I watched, the ear filled in, and the eye vanished. The thing was quite happy to stare at me out of an empty eye socket, though.

There was also a sparrow. Sitting on Vae's head. I didn't pay much attention to the sparrow at first.

Vae:"Hiio! Hiio, the Sythyry! I brought you a Gormoror!"

Me:"Hallo, Vae. Um ... it ... looks like a perdithorne, to me... Did you do something to him, Vae?"

Vae:"Not the Gormoror is this, but Tlurrrien! The introduction must be now -- Tlurrrien, you are happy to meet Sythyry, my friend and procurer! Sythyry, you are happy to meet Tlurrrien, my friend and confidante!"

We both acknowledged that we were, indeed, happy to meet each other, based largely on Vae's say-so. I was fairly sure that if I wasn't actually happy outright, Vae wouldn't modify my mind so that I would be, but I didn't want to test her manners. She was seeming awfully monstery. I'm not sure what the perdithorne's opinion on the topic was.

Tlurrrien:"Are you the expert in the confinement and maintenance of Gormoror, perchance?"

Me:"Um ... what has Vae been telling you about me?"

Tlurrrien:"The truth! Simply the truth!"

Me:"I wouldn't dispute that, not with the nendrai so close by. But, have I ever confined and maintained a Gormoror, Vae?"

Vae:"The you bought one from me once."

Me:"Right, I did, didn't I?"

Tlurrrien:"Vae says that you must rescue this one from me, or I will treat him as he deserves."

Well, perdithorne aren't that dangerous as monsters go, but I'm not very dangerous as adventurers go, and I'd rather not try to challenge one.

Me:"The sparrow used to be a Gormoror?"

Vae:"Not the sparrow! Oh, I've cursedly forgotten the other introduction, I thought you had already met Green-Leafed Quinn."

Me:"The sparrow is named Green-Leafed Quinn? What is it, a conlee?" Conlee are little songbird monsters. They're insanely dangerous. They trick you into giving them your vitality, or something.

Vae:"Not that!"

Me:"Vae? I have no idea what you're trying to say."

Vae:"The sparrow is an immara of Green-Leafed Quinn."

Me:"A what?"

The details took some explanation. The mara eleni is a sentient tree somewhere or other. Anyone that eats their berries is under their magical observation and influence forevermore. The sparrow had eaten one of Green-Leafed Quinn's berries, and was serving as its representative.

Monstrous Aside

Vae:[cheerful and excited]"The two of Quinn's children I sold into a slavery!"

Me:"You say that as if it were a good thing."

sparrow:"It was sweet of Vae to help disperse my seeds."

I do not understand monsters. I hope I never understand monsters.

Back to the Gormoror

Me:"So, um, about this Gormoror I have to rescue?"

Vae:"The Gormoror came..."

Tlurrien:[interrupting the nendrai!]"He came stomping over to my home and tried to kill me. Vae soon put a stop to that!"

Vae:"The Green-Leafed Quinn was watching him, and told me quickly!"

Me:"Well, I suppose murder isn't terribly civil..."

Vae:"The and I know you don't like me to kill Gormorors, so I brought him to you. Will you ransom him?"

And that is how I bought a Gormoror for some fancy glass beads and a loaf of mushroom-pumpernickle bread from Flooooooosh.

Comments

[tuftears.livejournal.com]

I wonder if Vae only thinks Sythyry doesn't want her to kill Gormorors, or if the courtesy applies to all Primes? Still, it's nice of her that some degree of lethality can be avoided when adventurers get in, ah, out of their depths.

[justicezero.livejournal.com]

Certainly such an arrangement is not unheard of. A parent may wish the best for their children, yet realize that their environment is simply too horrendous for the prospects to be good. They may be thankful for a way to send their children away to a somewhat limited, albeit safe, life somewhere far away which is much less terrible, in hopes that their situation, or their grandchildren's situation, will in time improve more still. Many monsters likely live in rather distressing places, not unlike the city you once visited with the streets of mud; likely considered a fine city by those who reside there. Territoriality can likely make matters more troublesome, particularly for beings who cannot walk, such as a tree. Certainly Vae might have wished to have a less troublesome territory.

I am sure Vae is in her own way making deals and arrangements just as mundane and reasonable as you yourself are. Many of the situations you encounter seem quite exotic to the monstrous among us.
You may wish to mention that you have all the Gormoror you can handle for the moment, though, at some point.

What you will -do- with a Gormoror might be a bit of a question. Particularly as it is a Gormoror, and I presume less likely to simply flee. Certainly if Vae encounters him again, she will likely be quite irate; she trusts you to deal with the problem, as you seem to have some thoughts on how such a problem should be dealt with.

Completely off the topic, for I am a bit the Rassimel on such a matter, did the walls of Vheshrame always encompass the area they do now? When the city was built, did the walls encompass large amounts of unused land which, as the city grew, were later turned into city? Or are the walls expanded outward periodically? And if they are, does that mean that there are pieces of city wall within the city which simply are not seen as worth the cost to tear down? Are there people within the city who make decisions on where roads and restaurants and flats should be built? Do buildings tend to be built to rather tall sizes in order to postpone a need to move things about? Do new cities have vast areas of farmland and parks inside their walls in hopes that they will be built into houses soon? Are strange Locador magics used to make an over-large city fit within the walls? Do new cities appear often?

[rowyn]

A parent may wish the best for their children, yet realize that their environment is simply too horrendous for the prospects to be good. They may be thankful for a way to send their children away to a somewhat limited, albeit safe, life somewhere far away which is much less terrible, in hopes that their situation, or their grandchildren's situation, will in time improve more still.

Uh ... all things considered, pretty sure that at least one of Green-Leafed Quinn's seeds would've been better off not being sold into slavery.

[sythyry.livejournal.com]

OOC -- the one who dies in the first chapter, y'mean? Probably you're right.

[kensan-oni.livejournal.com]

Wow! RANSOMING Prisioners! I haven't seen anything like that in ages! You're monsters are better behaved then most Adventuring parties! I would congratulate Vae, but the tree monster creeps me a bit.

[justicezero.livejournal.com]

...well... *Vae* is having the prisoner ransomed.. and I daresay there's not many who would go against one of Vae's suggestions.

oh hey!

[perlandria.livejournal.com]

Is it a sign of being insane or already being infected if I think being an immara sounds neat!

Re: oh hey!

[sythyry.livejournal.com]

If you want to find out more, you can volunteer to read and comment on The Wrath of Trees! (modest novel length: my first piece of non-World-Tree fiction.)

Re: oh hey!

[rowyn]

In fact, being an immara is neat in many ways, if creepy in others. :)