Previously...
Bujilli and Leeja watch a quickly escalating squabble between three Jub-Jub Birds from atop a gronking undulating dune-wave-beast-thing...
Blood spattered upwards in a glistening slow-motion arc. Two of the Jub-Jub Birds squawked angrily as they drew back from their one-time compatriot who waved a glass knife about in its left-claw. One of them attempted to calm down their friend only to get slashed superficially. The knife-wielding bird screamed hoarsely. Jabbed wildly. The other two withdrew some more.
"Look." Leeja pointed to the crazed Jub-Jub Bird.
Satisfied at the distance they'd driven-off its fellows, the bird pulled some sort of necklace over its head. Slim yellow-metal chain-links connected to a lozenge-like pectoral of some sort of blackish metal. A large, flat, square-cut ruby smoldered malevolently at the center of the thing.
Bujilli felt the gem notice him. It was like being punched in the middle of his brain.
It reminded him of the
Gem of Muktra...that lying, conniving gemstone that held some sort of spirit or synthetic mentality that had manipulated him and tried to get him to carry out its schemes and plans. He'd discovered the Gem as a child. he'd abandoned it long ago and far away.
He looked to Leeja; "Did you feel--"
She stared at him. Blood ran down from her nose.
"That 'trinket' is a Vooric thing." She pulled out her serrated short sword and hand-gonne.
Bujilli looked back to the birds. Two of them were hopping, skipping and running toward the gronking-undulant-thing. towards Bujilli and Leeja. The mad bird with the glass knife shook itself in rage then began to pursue them, emitting a blood-curdling warbling-gabbling series of clucks punctuated by vicious snaps of its sharp beak.
"They're coming this way."
Meanwhile...
Joy stopped at the side of the little bridge. Little ripples shivered across the cold water below. Minnows nibbling at weeds. It was a beautiful day, despite the rain clouds and intermittent artillery off in the distance. She had reached the pasture without further incident. The cave wasn't far from here...
One Jub-Jub Bird seized upon the other and used them to vault up onto the gronking-thing. Its long, spindly legs sent it high into the gloom as it frantically flapped its much too small wings to give it as much lift as possible.
Grimly determined, Leeja stalked toward the ruby-wearing bird with the glass knife.
The Bird landed twenty feet or so behind Bujilli and Leeja with a squawk.
The fallen bird, that its friend had used to launch itself to safety, reared up out of the murk and low-hanging fog in a flurry of feathers and imprecations.
The glass knife erupted from its throat in a sizzling cloud of blood and acid.
Bujilli grabbed Leeja by the shoulder. She hissed in anger but held her place, but only just barely. He stepped in front of her and cast
Wrathful Facade. Normally it took more time to implement, but he sacrificed some of his vitality to quick-cast the spell.
Greenish tendrils of shimmering light swirled into place, molding the features of some sort of malign entity dredged from the deepest, darkest fears of the Jub-Jub Bird. For a moment Bujilli regretted not being able to clearly discern the face he now wore, but only for a passing second. Then he cast
Confusion on the bird.
The ruby flared and sputtered with violent red sparks of rage. Bujilli held forth his hand and made a gesture of dismissal, one of the Tsannic gestures he'd seen in one of his father's Little Brown Journals. It wasn't a spell, but it worked; the Gem sputtered and faltered, which was enough for the
Confusion spell to affect it as well as its host.
Screaming madly, the Jub-Jub Bird plunged headlong and heedless into the murksome mess surrounding them, quickly becoming a faint red glimmer that was lost.
"Well done sir." Chortled the surviving Jub-Jub Bird.
Bujilli turned towards the bird. He still wore the
Wrathful Facade.
Leeja still held her weapons ready and glared at the bird.
"Urk...erm..." It spluttered and fouled itself. "Per-Perhaps we might come to some sort of accommodation?"
"I'm not sure I'd trust someone who leap-frogged over their friend like you did."
"I wasn't thinking. I panicked. I didn't mean to--"
"Your friend is dead. Killed by your other friend, who is now the thrall of a Vooric-thing. what were you three doing with such a thing?"
"We found it."
"You found it. Where?"
"A hole in the ground...of sorts."
Leeja raised her blade with a wicked grin.
"There!" the bird gesticulated wildly towards a point off to the right; "Over there! Between those tree-things, where the squiggly-grass writhes and the Hollow Girl hangs in her cage."
Bujilli let go of his spell. The green-lit mask roared as it ripped itself free then fluttered off into the gloom spouting gibberish and abuse in a ridiculous mish-mash of fragments from dozens of obscure languages.
"Was it supposed to do that?" Leeja followed the cacophonous mask as it escaped, ready to shoot if Bujilli gave her the word.
"No. It is not supposed to do that. Not under any circumstances--"
The Jub-Jub Bird lunged forward driving it's clawed foot dead-center into Bujilli's chest.
Buk-CHOOM!
The bird fell over backwards, missing half its head.
Leeja re-holstered her firearm and knelt down to check on Bujilli.
He sat up, unhurt, except for his pride.
"Ungrateful--"
"It sacrificed its friend to escape, maybe it felt like it had best attack you while we were both distracted. In any case the dirty thing is dead and we're done with it."
"Yeah. Thanks." He got back onto his feet. Off in the distance he could see a shimmering orange shape. Tall. Clean edged. Rectangular. Growing brighter as he watched. A mirror-entry was opening up in the distance off to their left.
What should they do next?
You Decide!
Synchronocitor Status: Fully Recharged.
Roll for Initiative!
Someone please roll 1d6 for 1) Bujilli, 2) Leeja, 3) The three Cameleopards and Blue Emu that are approaching the newly-opening mirror from behind the undulating wave-dunes. [They are coming out of the murk with the mirror between them and Bujilli & Leeja.]
Right, Left, Forward or Elsewise?
Should they go left and investigate the place where the Jub-Jub Bird claimed to have discovered the malevolent trinket? would you prefer that they went to the right and investigated the newly-opening mirror-aperture? Or should they just sit quietly and ride the gronking-beast on to wherever it is headed? Or do you have another suggestion? Let's hear your thoughts! You decide!
Roll for Possible Observation.
Please roll 1d6 and let me know the result. If you get a 1, there is a bonus Random Encounter brought about by the brief tussle with the Jub-Jub Birds. If you get a 6, then someone or something up above might be inclined to investigate.
Optional Spot Mirror Roll. (1d30)
We'll also need another d30 roll to determine if Bujilli or Leeja spot yet another mirror in the distance. A result of 10 means maybe/it isn't clear, a result of 20 means that there seems to be a mirror in a random direction, but it looks closed/shuttered; and a result of 30 means that they spot a mirror in the distance that might be open and accessible...or at least whatever they are seeing appears that way from a distance. A result of 1 means something else mirror-related happens and we'll have a new table for that sort of thing shortly.
Which Way To Go? What Should They Do Next?
You Decide!
