Fantasy RPG Forum - Standing Trials

Cage, the Blackberry of Sweetwine spoke and they listened. Then, they were each one of them offered a different berry from their fairy guide. Was it strange that they all ate? Perhaps. But then, what reason could they have for not doing so?

Except, of course, some of them had met fairies before. Some of them had even eaten fairy food.

Oram was one such - and he had his reservations. Yet, he still ate the chokecherry berries. For a moment, nothing happened. Or at least, nothing happened to him - because around him? Around him was chaos.

Meanwhile, eating the berries was something of a dramatic and traumatic experience for Winston . Nevertheless he did. Maybe it was the after effects of the almost-choking near-death-experience he'd just had - but once he'd eaten the huckleberries, he started to hiccup. The first hiccup was a loud one. Really, far too loud for such a small handy-ferret. But then, the second hiccup lifted him off his feet. Within moments, Winston had a case of the hiccups which had to be seen to be believed. They weren't uncomfortable or painful, but they were loud - and the other thing they were? They were the kind of hiccups which literally lifted Winston off his feet. With each one, the small ferret bounced about a foot in the air.

Now, this was difficult. It might cause attention.

Other than the fact that, in the same moment, Areia ate the bear berries. Now, a hiccupping ferret is unusual, it's true. But a were-bear? Well. As Areia grew to about seven foot tall, and grew fur and ... well, looked for all the world like a bear. But not the sort of bear that is seen in the wild. No, this was the sort of bear seen on children's beds, clutched in small hands to provide comfort and familiarity. Areia was a large, perambulating, teddy bear. She felt no different (other than taller) but she looked very different indeed.

Now, if these things hadn't been happening at the same moment, many of them might have not eaten the berries. But it all started happening after everyone had eaten the berries. So, Balthazar ate his berry. He seemed, at first, to stay the same. He might notice the others before he realised that he was looking at his nose. Precisely, down his snout. Eater of the wolfberry, the transformation into wolf didn't hurt him but, within a few moments, Balthazar Black was an on-four-legs wolf. He could still talk (though the physics of that was just weird) - but his hands were now his paws, etc. He was, physically, a wolf.

Kisaik noticed that Balthazar was a wolf, as it happened, and he might have been quite taken by surprise. Of course, what might also surprise him was the fact that he (who had eaten bluberries) was turning blue. But he was more than turning blue (although he was doing that. Tip of his toes to the top of his head. Bright, vibrant, blue). When he spoke, blue blossoms and blue butterflies and blue bubbles came out of his mouth. When he moved his hand, a trail of blue glitter followed him. And, from atop his head where he could grow plants and such? A cascade of blue flowers fell - slowly at first and then more and more.

When Yina at her berries, she was already sorry for having chucked up on Elisabeth. However, soon enough she'd have more to worry about. Bufalloberries were what Yina ingested and she, like Balthazar, transformed. This transformation was also into a four-legged creature - a specific type of water bufallo . Of course, the issue was that she (nor Balthazar) actually changed size. That didn't matter to Balth - but it meant that there was a very small bufallo. Again, she could talk just fine, she had the horns etc - but no hands.

Perhaps Elisabeth was watching all this with amazement. Her eyes may have widened at what was happening around her. And, of course, it was surprising that everyone seemed to be so much .. bigger than they were usually. Things too. Then, perhaps, she looked down at how close the floor was and maybe Elisabeth realised what those who could see her would see clearly. She was a child. Maybe two or three arcs old. Just out of toddler stage, but still very little. She was completely herself, mentally - but physically she was in a three-arc-old's body. Youngberries, huh? And - just because someone will ask - she was wearing a pretty white dress with big red poppies on it.

Nir'wei of course, had the opposite problem. He too might not notice immediately, but then the arthritis in his hand flared up and he got a nasty twinge in his hip. Of course, his sight wasn't what it had once been and yet he could see those around him changing. The elderberry had worked its magic and Nir'wei was old. Really, really, old. If he had a lifespan of a hundred, he was aged like he was ninety nine and a half. With all the physical joys that age brings - but mentally, he was who he was.

Finally, there was Zoro. There was no physical transformation for Zoro. No coughing up of cherries or changes to his age. Zoro, in fact, floated along quite happily until, maybe, he realised that he was doing just that. Floating. He floated and, unless he grabbed on to something (there was plenty to grab on to) then he would find that, having eaten the cloudberry, he was in fact floating away. Anyone who happened to help him would find that Zoro Astrian was now weightless.

And then, finally, Oram - first to eat, last to experience it - coughed. Just once. But as he coughed, he brought up a cherry. A whole cherry. It didn't hurt, it wasn't even uncomfortable - to him it felt like he just coughed.

But when he coughed - out popped a cherry.

And now, it seemed, Oram had a persistant, niggly cough. Mid sentence. Mid thought. Cough. Cough. Cough.

And the fairies watched with interest. Then, a chant started up.



"Excellent!" Cage declared and the fairies (including their guides) cheered. Those who had fairy diris from the Forging would feel no sense of concern. Indeed, far from it - and from most it was deeply amusing. "You have eaten our food and, briefly, you will walk in your world and ours. So come now, and let me show you!" he said.

More and more faces filled the Sweetwine woods, some familiar but one which stood out among the rest... well two. The first was the face of Nir'wei and it brought a mixture of feelings to the forefront of the mage's mind. He didn't dislike the man explicitly but he had come to believe Nir'wei could not be relied on. He could be trusted to act as he had twice now, in Balthazar's experience, but not much more. The mage took the presence of Nir'wei in the Sweetwine as a bad omen. Twice they had gone on an adventure together and twice Nir'wei's actions destroyed a long standing structure and trapped Balthazar inside. Balthazar didn't see any clear ruins for Nir'wei to try and trap him in this time, but if it happened a third time Balthazar was not going to allow a fourth. Two strikes was more than he gave most people, but Nir'wei was not most people. They'd worked together successfully in the past. Stopped a necromancer... there had to be some value to that... or maybe Balthazar was making excuses for one he should have considered an enemy.

The other face, the face that made Balthazar forget the first one he'd seen, belonged to a beautiful woman. A woman who could not be matched by any other Balthazar had ever met. For whatever faults they had and fights they had, it was her wellbeing that let him sleep at night despite everything else in his life. Elisabeth. She was here. He was here. Neither of them were in Haven. He certainly hoped she hadn't asked the guards to go and tell him she'd be away for a bit. "March, do you want to meet my wife?" Balthazar ask the fairy on his shoulder. She looked around the area but didn't seem to find what she was looking for and after a few trills she whispered,

"Okay." In a somewhat timid, perhaps even jealous voice. The two of them moved together to meet Elisabeth and her fairy half way. Elisabeth called Balthazar 'Mister Black' which prompted an odd look from him. She didn't do that often. Then she immediately confirmed what he had been worried about. She sent Silk to look for him. Oops.

"Silk is going to be mad at you when we get back." Balthazar pointed out with a small smirk. "Elisabeth, this is March. March, Elisabeth." Balthazar said with a gesture between the fairy on his shoulder and his wife. Not a moment later, Elisabeth tripped and Balthazar's smirk grew into a smile as he helped her stay upright. March was shaken by the sudden movement though and lifted off of Balthazar's shoulder a few inches so his movement wouldn't impact her. "March, Elisabeth seems to have a reoccurring balance problem."

"Thats okay, I'm sure I'd trip a lot if I didn't have wings." March offered in her quiet voice. The next moment, someone very small threw up on Elisabeth's shoes. He could smell it before he saw it given the many fairies moving around and obstructing his view. He thought about rinsing her shoes quickly with a manifested steam of water but didn't. Who knew how these fairies would feel about his magic? Elisabeth checked to ensure the Tunawa was alright so Balthazar did not. It would do little good to crowd the small fellow and there was a dragon fairy to listen to now.

While it happened, March whispered something into Balthazar's ear. "She is pretty." March said before asking, "Am I pretty?" Balthazar's brow furrowed and he turned his head to look at the little fairy. There was only one polite answer but there were many better answers.

"If we are judging on pretty, yes, you are." Balthazar whispered back, "But I think beautiful is a word that better describes you both." With that said and March growing a few shades more red, Balthazar focused on what Cage was saying. The events proceeded as normal, the berries were brought to the helpers, and Balthazar ate his berry along with everyone else.

He should have known that the berries would do something. He had a feeling there was more to what was happening than a simple berry-party but he was not expecting the chaos that occurred as soon as everyone ate their berries. He was not the first one to be hit with the impact of his decisions but he was hit hard with them.

Note to self, just because it isn't poison, doesn't mean it won't do weird things to you.

While others began to hiccup berries, float, turn into tiny water buffalos, age extremely, de-age extremely, and hiccup incredibly loudly, Balthazar turned into a wolf. A wolf with a fairy named March sitting on its head. A fluffy, black wolf. He didn't like his snout in his vision. He didn't like being on all fours. He had never been interested in Becoming because he did not want to be an animal in any sense other than the metaphorical one. It certainly could have been worse but the sudden shift was alarming. Could he still talk? He didn't know. His mind was his own but could he lift a sword? Probably if he used his mouth. Could fight? Well... something about being a wolf made him feel he could.

He heard Winston calling out that he had turned into a dog and without realizing it, Balthazar let out a low growl which was immediately silenced by another realization. He had a tail. A tail! How odd? His head snapped around, looking towards Elisabeth who'd reduced to an appearance of a child. It was a little strange seeing his wife as a child but no stranger than the chanting which the fairies began shortly after everyone had been transformed. One of us? Way to sound like the Quacia blood god cult, fairies. Cage declared that the food would allow them to walk briefly in both the world of mortal and fay which Balthazar didn't quite understand. Why did he have to be a wolf to do that? Could he still cast spells? He looked down at his paws. Probably not from them. Maybe he could fling lightning and fireballs from his tail? He could try to utilize his breath to cast but he was unsure of how that would go. Attunement would be different. He didn't need hands for that. He didn't use them for that. Alas, a problem for when it became relevant.

Before it did become relevant though, Nir'wei got a little too close and stole one of Balthazar's uneaten wolf berries. The black wolf felt compelled to bite at the boney hand as it reached for his berries but he didn't. "We should have switched." Balthazar grumbled before surprising himself. He could talk still! He meant for that thought to stay in his head. He wouldn't have been bothered being old and weak. At least he would still have thumbs.

Then the question of how magic would work became relevant.

Balthazar thought that he was a violent person and it hadn't occurred to him to lunge at the Blackberry in an attempt for a two-bite snack. It occurred to the little one who had turned into what seemed to be a stuffed bear though. It occurred quite quickly to her in fact. Quite quickly, but not faster than Balthazar could process the attack. Others might have moved in defense of the fairies. They might have moved to protect the Merl bug or to protect the Blackberry but Balthazar had always believed the best way to protect something was to eliminate the threats it was facing. The only thread the fairies faced for the moment was the giant, probably flammable, teddy bear.

Balthazar was going to attack but when Nir'wei presumed to take command of him and force him to attack, everything changed. Strike three. At the sound of the word a strong urge to lash out filled the wolf-mind. It wanted to obey just as much as Balthazar wanted to defy the order because it had come from Nir'wei. Nir'wei, who Balthazar knew had other means of attacking, had instead presumed to put the blood on Balthazar's hands. Balthazar growled without knowing it and took a tentative step forward with his front right paw before stopping. He lived with four sparks influencing him at all times. He could resist Nir'wei for a few trills but the problem was he didn't want to. He did want to attack he just didn't want to kill and as a wolf he saw few ways to do that.

Nir'wei might not have hesitated in his commands but his commands were exactly why Balthazar hesitated. He wanted to attack will full control of his mind rather than let the animalistic urges take charge. Nir'wei was lucky that the elements hadn't considered him enough of a threat to attack him on their own... but at this rate it was likely a guardian would emerge. It was the audacity that offended them both.

In the end Balthazar did what he was going to do from the start, only now it was unclear if he chose violence because he wanted to or because Nir'wei had compelled him to. Unswayed by the many attempting to restore peace, Balthazar tried to fire a bolt of lightning with a black core and a red outline from the tip of his snout towards the large white bear with a motion somewhat like a sneeze.