The "Best" RPG Ever-94

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---

"Okay, so: A 'troll' in that sense, is someone who says crazy things just to get a reaction out of the audience, regardless of how they really feel about a subject," Aria said. They were in the restaurant, waiting for the food to arrive.
Loren raised an eyebrow. "So, like you?"
"Sometimes, sure," she shrugged. "I think it comes from folklore about trolls being monsters who guard bridges and demand people pay tolls to cross...actually, I have no idea how that meaning relates to this one. Maybe it was something to do with fishing...?"

"At least I know what you meant, now." He hesitated to say something for a second, and then decided against it. Of course: Zack had also known what she meant immediately, and while it wasn't unreasonable to say she could've taught him that...every coincidence was another step toward suspicion.

Loren, fortunately, wasn't interested in investigating this matter. "What about yelling 'jinx'?" he asked instead.
"Oh. When two people say the same thing at the same time...it's, like a superstitious thing originally, I guess whoever says 'jinx' first dispels a fake curse. But these days it's mostly just a kids' joke that adults like me repeat 'cause we still think it's funny."

"And..adults like Zack don't. But at least it breaks the tension," Loren remarked. "I'll have to start using that one, if I ever get an opportunity."
"Heheh."

"..My turn, right?"

"If you want," he shrugged. "I wasn't aware we were taking turns."

"I'm just checking if I can start asking questions now."
"Any time." He put a hand forward, palm-up, for a second.
"So: In a couple of places, not me but the others encountered these animated armor things, patrolling around and attacking anyone in sight. They were powered by magic crystals with like, fire and lightning in them; I'm told they're called 'constructs'."

"I can almost see where this is going," Loren said.

"Yeah. I wanna know how you make something like that, how it thinks, how to tell it what to do. And can a person's mind be put into one?"

"Well..constructs are pretty old technology. Experts on them these days are few and far between, and..I'm certainly not one of them," he began. "You learn about them in history classes at any mage college, though. To make one, you need to build a body with 'channels' for the right kind of animating energetic magic to flow through. The easiest thing is to make a body modeled after a kind of person or animal, with channels similar to the way nerves are mapped, but it's possible to give them just about any physically functional shape. It's a tremendously delicate process, but there was a kingdom or two a long time ago that had secret techniques to practically mass-produce them. Their records were all lost, and today's experts are people who've partially reverse-engineered whatever those old kingdoms did. Generally there isn't much interest because it's so expensive to make just one these days that the resources are better spent elsewhere."

"But...how do they think? Which part governs that?"
"Er..." He scratched his head. "I don't really know. I suppose it must be distributed through the network somehow, or possibly a component of the animating enchantment. Either way, they tend to be pretty stupid, interpreting commands very literally and understanding less words than your common housecat."

"Mm-hm..and the other thing?"

He nodded. "There..have been records of people binding their souls into constructs more or less resembling their original bodies—presumably using their own will in place of the 'thinking' part of the animation. It takes someone truly desperate to do something like that...usually the mind can't cope, and goes mad not long after being placed inside, compelling someone else to destroy them. Even if that doesn't happen, again, very few know how constructs work, much less how to repair one. You don't feel pain normally to tell whether you've been hurt by something, and if you're the expert then not only are there are loads of things you can't fix on your own body, but maybe an injury loses you the ability to even tell someone else how to fix you. I can't even imagine how...why are you grinning?"

Aria did have the biggest grin on. "Oh, sorry. Not about the endlessly tortured existence thing, just...do you have any idea how hard it is, with that stuff I showed you before, to even make something slightly stupider than a newborn kitten?"

"Probably..very?"
She nodded. "We still haven't managed anything even close. If someone could marry a rudimentary 'animal' intelligence that can follow instructions given in words to some high-level programming, you could get something better than either of our worlds' best ever state-of-the-art. I mean: Natural language processing—trying to understand what a human is saying and talk back—takes loads of power and work back there to get working. To fit that into a package as small as a human body, say, and then give it some data to access and computing power to calculate with...well, I used to know people who'd dream of something half that good.

"I'm convinced: I've got to build a working computer in this world," she concluded. "That's the first step needed for anything like that to be a reality."
"I won't try to stop you, but you should probably expect to get a few funny looks," Loren said, "telling someone to imprint those diagrams from earlier."
"I'm used to that. I mean, I think people in this town are already aware I use a demon sword that constantly craves blood, so this should be nothing by comparison, right?"

"I suppose you're right..."

---

After buying the night's necessary livestock, Rayna and Katherine headed back toward the center of town, where they were to meet back up with the others before returning to the house, the psion pulling the cart with two small crates along behind them telekinetically. Eventually they ran into a familiar face.

"Katherine!" Jacob waved, walking up.

"Oh, hello," she said, smiling slightly more than usual. As he came closer, he noticed the boxes, and leaned over toward them for a second before working out what was in them.

"...Dare I ask what you require a pair of live chickens for?" he said.

Rayna and Katherine exchanged a brief glance. I think we can trust him, the psion said.

Up to you, the fox-girl shrugged.

Then, turning to him, she said, We have a witch on our team. Do I need to spell it out for you?

I suppose not. Jacob shook his head slightly. Well, if you trust her then I'll try not to worry about it.

He followed them as they kept going. "Did you manage to track down the source of that 'loud' thought?"

"Yeah. Zack's wolf personified himself. What I felt was Zack's shock, though; he got to watch."

"I see...perhaps the lack of chaotic magic in him the other day was related." He had a thoughtful look for a moment. "Do you think he would object to a brief scan?"
"She," Rayna corrected, "and I doubt it. She's a lot friendlier than before."

"Hm." Jacob nodded. "That's not unheard of, I suppose. Though I can't say such a drastic alteration is exactly common, self-personification does tend to result in a form reflecting the new person's desires."

"She wanted to 'fit in with the pack'," the catgirl said.

"I suppose that makes sense."

"Anyway," Rayna said, "we're supposed to meet up with them on the way back if you wanna come along and ask her yourself."

"All right."

After reaching their meeting place, they had to wait a short while for the others. Nora was wearing a bracelet on each hand with pieces of the crystal from the ogre set into them, suggesting that their mission had been successful. I suppose that's her? Jacob asked mentally, watching the shorter wolf-girl following Zack.

Right. Oh and, so you're not too surprised, she talks a little weird, the psion replied.

Once they were in conversational distance, Rayna said, "I suppose messing with magic gems does take longer than buying chickens, eh?"
"The Captain found us; already had those papers together to sign. You have to wait long?" Zack asked.
"Not too long, nah. We found an elf," she added, waving toward Jacob.

Lupa ran up to the 'new' person, stopping just slightly inside his personal space as he started to lean away from her out of fear she was just going to keep going and knock him over onto his back. "Hi! Hand-waver, right? This one knows the smell."
"Er, hello." He politely offered a hand to shake, awkward as that was at this distance. "My name is Jacob."

She stared at the hand for a second or two before appearing to realize something, and grabbing it to excitedly shake it. "Lupa!" After she let go, he was left rubbing his arm, grateful she hadn't really wanted to tear it off.

He cleared his throat and took a small step back. "I heard you had personified. There was..something I thought might be worth checking on, if you wouldn't mind me taking another look."
"Okay! This one can sit still," she said.

"Maybe we should head back to the house first," Katherine suggested.

On the way, the fox-girl came up next to Nora. "So, can you only do two elements at a time?"
"No?" The elf tilted her head slightly, then held up her right arm. Two more bracelets appeared on it, then the one that was on it disappeared. "I c-can swap them out quickly, or wear as m-many as I need at once." She returned to just one bracelet and dropped the arm. "It j-just feels a little strange, so I'm t-trying to get used to it."

"That's cool. It's just good to know our limitations before we get into another fight."

"Heyy!" Aria's voice came from nearby, and she ran up not long after, Loren following at a slower pace. "What have you guys been up to?"

"Just running a few last-minute errands," the fox-girl said. "You two have fun?"
"I don't like the way you phrased that," Aria frowned, putting her hands on her hips.

"Neither do I," said Loren, coming up next to her. "We were just about to split up, so...I guess I'll leave you to it."

"Yeah," she nodded. "See you again soon!"

Back at the house, Lupa stood in the center of the living room patiently while Jacob used a scanning spell similar to those he'd used before. Eventually he dropped his hand and took a small step back, his expression a mixture of concentrated thought with a touch of confusion.

"Well?" Zack said.

"I've..never seen anything quite like it," Jacob said.
"Like what?" asked Lupa.

"The..chaotic magic is swirling in toward you, as if you're drawing it in or—perhaps it's naturally attracted to you somehow. I saw a similar flow pattern around you two days ago, and around the beast-type monster today, but with a far lesser gradient—ahh, I mean, not nearly as extreme. Yet, once it actually reaches your body it's just—gone. There's less chaotic magic in you than in me; I'd even hazard a guess that there's none at all." Lupa nodded once or twice, watching him talk with keen interest, but only seemed to partially understand the explanation.

"So, where's it going then?" Zack asked, crossing his arms.

"Even chaotic magic d-doesn't just disappear, right?" Nora added.
"Usually not, unless it's being used up by a spell or other magical process," Jacob said. "Hmm...do you mind if I take one more look at something?" he asked the wolf-girl. "This should be quicker than the last one."
"Okay."

Jacob put a hand up to just above her head and briefly chanted a different spell, then dropped it off to his side again. "...Just what I thought," he nodded to himself. "It shouldn't be possible, but the numbers match perfectly, as far as I can tell. You appear to be somehow converting the chaotic magic into normal magic for your own use. I would guess this started happening while you were still a wolf, and was at least partly responsible for the buildup which allowed you to personify."

"..And she's passively using that magic to make herself stronger," Rayna said. "At least as far as I can tell. So, more chaotic magic would only make her more powerful?"
"Assuming there isn't some kind of limit to this ability. But even if it has a cost in terms of magic, it's apparently more than recouping it right now," he said, shaking his head.

"Is this...good?" Lupa asked.
"Well—it isn't bad news, at least," he said. "Given that you were a dire wolf before, I would otherwise be concerned about the chaotic flow having adverse effects...hurting you, I mean. But instead you're able to take advantage of it."

He turned his head up and to one side slightly, getting a sort of distant look. "Hm.."

"Getting ideas?" Katherine asked.
"You could say that. I have no idea if it'll work or not, but..I believe there is something else I should at least try," he said.

"Well, I appreciate you allowing me to take a look," he said to the small wolf-girl. "I think I should take my leave before I get involved in anything I can't plausibly deny knowledge of." This came with a slight sideways glance toward Mira, who just chuckled slightly in response. "Either way, I have much to think about tomorrow."
"Okay! Bye, Jacob," Lupa said, not appearing to understand most of the context.

By now, everyone had more or less gathered into the living room. "Well, the sun's down," the witch said. "If everyone's feeling rested and prepped, we could get on with the show."

"I need to get into my armor," Zack stated, starting toward the stairs. "Fine with me, after that." Everyone else had more or less the same sentiment—Katherine echoing the need to change into her own freshly-bought armor. Everyone who was already prepared sat down to wait on them. Lupa started to follow Zack upstairs, but thought better of it, and instead went and sat on the couch next to Lynn.

"..Hey, Lupa."
"Hmn?" she turned her head the archer's way.

"Don't take this the wrong way or anything, please, but..you do know you talk funny, right?"
"This one talks how this one talks," she said, but nodded. "Is bad?"
"No, but..I was sorta wondering the reason for it. Like, why 'this one' when 'I' takes less time to say?"
"'This one' is any of the pack except the alpha," Lupa said. "The pack is one; all are equal below the alpha, and only when all need to know which one, one says 'this one' to tell. Is usually bad to stand out differently from the rest of pack when there is no need."

"So it's...kind of a humility thing? You don't see any of us doing that, though."
Lupa nodded again. "Most of this pack is their own alpha, but Master is this one's alpha. So this one is 'this one'!"

"I..guess that makes sense," she shrugged. The explanation had a kind of sideways logic to it which she could tell made perfect, indisputable sense to Lupa, so it was a little hard to argue against it. It was a little like she imagined talking to an alien might be.

The stairwell door opened, and everyone who'd gone upstairs poured out before it shut. "Okay, everyone ready now?" Mira asked, standing up. After a general response of assent, she continued: "Right. Let's get this over with, then."

---

As a bit of "behind the scenes", back when this story was near its beginning and I wasn't even sure whether the setting was "real" or somehow "virtual", much less the "mundane tech level" of the world, one of the ideas I had for a member of the second party was going to be a "construct", a robot girl with sort of muted emotions and a monotone speech pattern. You can see a hint of it where Norrin's checking all the classes way back in part 6! 

Other ideas that didn't get used include one for a Felis "bard" who would impart buffs by singing and also somehow wield a microphone as a weapon, a dragoon wielding a spear, and the vague idea that what was "party 1" and "party 2" back then would be introduced to each other by some sort of arena battle against each other instigated by the Captain. It'd be wildly out of character for her now, of course, but I didn't exactly have everything nailed down about her back then.

I might as well also mention now that since this whole thing has been written sequentially, and many earlier parts before I was entirely sure of what was going on or even the precise details of what happened in the past, there are at least a few continuity snags. For example, Tsaron said something to Mira about the warlock killing "four" of his friends. That number should be two.

The "Best" RPG Ever-93

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---

A pen whirred across one piece of paper after another, each filled page shuffling itself to the back of the stack. The whole act floated in the air a couple of feet above Tsaron's kitchen table, with nobody else in that particular room to directly observe it. In his living room, he sat back on a chair with Ezra lying on her back with her head turned half-toward him on an armrest. "I do appreciate your taking care of this," the captain of the guard stated. "I've completely forgotten what the paperwork for this situation is supposed to look like."

"One advantage to complete control over one's mind," the elf said, tapping the side of his head. "Steel trap. Nothing just slips out without my say-so. That said...I am filling in a couple of gaps with guesswork. Even my version is a century or two out of date. Tea?" A filled cup floated close enough for Ezra to reach it.
"'Course." She reached out and sat up just enough to take a sip. "So long as it looks more or less right. Unlikely anyone will ever read it through other than me."

"Mira might, if she gets wind of it." In response to a questioning look: "Some sort of legal assistant in the other world. Meticulous if not slippery."

"That...may explain a thing or two of her responses to me. I wonder if this was intentional, too. Another part of the grand plan."
"If not, they must be celebrating it all the same."

The elf gave a characteristic pause too brief to become awkward, but just long enough to signal a change of subject. "Not to...accuse anyone of being a liar, but...are you aware of who's shown up in town lately?"

"Randall's here. You encountered him?"
"Knee-deep in drink. Didn't seem very happy to see me, either."

Ezra sighed, facing the ceiling. "He hasn't seen you since back then." Her voice slipped fully into an ancient, comfortable drawl: "I believe he is under the misapprehension that you are still possessed of the empathy to feel what can be called 'hate' toward another person."

"Heh. Harsh, but fair." Tsaron took a sip of his own cup. "There is only one I hate, and thankfully, he's quite dead."

She turned to almost-facing him again. "I assume the 'steel trap' remembers how you were, back then. Just after."

"Oh, of course. My beliefs haven't really changed, just my subtlety. If I don't care much to be a 'hero', it's because I'd prefer they were unnecessary.

"He said something about the gods employing nightmares to bring him here."
"The same thing to me," Ezra agreed. "He has no motivation to lie about it. Went on to volunteer the memory of his death to me."

"Well, it makes me glad I already came here of my own free will. At least—as far as I can tell, anyway. Did you ever get a sense you were being guided here?"

"Not at all. If anything, gathering everyone here feels like a response to my presence. Perhaps I am the one they talk to now, ever since Ceres..." her statement trailed off. "...but nonetheless, it's terribly rare and often unhelpfully vague. I know they can show up in person, in dreams or visions, and just say whatever it is they want said. But they have never been content to so much as grant me a secondhand account of such an audience. Just: 'Famine coming, warn the king.' 'Remember this face'—hired to kill me. Or: 'Here's a rain statue.' 'Okay, now there's a fire comin' from the east, take care of it would ya?'"

"Countless years, and we know no more of our supposed purpose than when we first got here," Tsaron said, nodding thoughtfully. "'Grow strong. Be ready.' The first a foolish command, and the second unachievable as a result of the first. Or are those commands for the new group, and our only job now to ensure they fulfill them?"

"We never did try Valorum's idea," Ezra said. "Just sit in a circle and refuse to do anything until they explain themselves to us."

"Too boring. Randall would never agree to it."

"I'm too busy anyway."

There was a noise of paper shuffling, and being tapped against the table a couple of times to straighten itself. Ezra sat up slightly. "I suppose it's finished."
"Indeed." The papers floated into the living room, and the captain of the guard pulled herself into an upright sitting position, chugging the last bit of the tea in her cup before receiving the papers and beginning to scan through them herself. "I hate to keep bringing this up, but it would be quicker and easier..."
"No thank you."
"Right. I'll quit distracting you, then."

---

Since Mira was helping with the cooking, it was up to Zack to answer the gentle knock on the door to town. He stood up, waving Lupa to stay put, and went to open it, finding Rose there. "Heeyy. I got sorta lost on the way back here..."

"You're still in time for supper, anyway," the knight said, stepping back and to the side slightly to let her in. "Before you go in any farther, there's something you should..." His attempted warning went unheeded, the dragon-girl barreling her way on into the living room as though she didn't even hear it. Zack sighed, throwing the door shut, and followed.

Rose gave a voiced gasp. "Who's this?" she said. Lupa, naturally, hopped to her feet to look up at her with a friendly expression.
"Big lizard! This one is Lupa," she said.

"The wolf turned into a person," Zack said, coming up behind the dragon-girl. "Her."
"Animals can do that!?" she said, astonished, toward him. Then looking back down at the smaller wolf-girl: "You're so pretty~!"

"Not..most of them..."

"Rayna said this one is stronger than Rose, too!" Lupa said proudly, wagging her tail and soaking up the attention. Again, Zack's response went practically unheard.

"Really? We should have a contest!" The dragon-girl leaned forward and reached out a hand and carefully rubbed the top of Lupa's head with its scaly palm—which was leaned into eagerly. "After food, though."
"After food!" she repeated happily.

"I guess I shouldn't be surprised you like her," Zack said, shaking his head slightly.
"Eh?" Rose popped upright to face him, confused by the remark.

"Never mind." He received a conveniently-timed mental communication from Katherine. "I think the food's about ready, and Mira's in the kitchen, so..."

"Oh yeah! Um, I sorta just left her outside Vae's house..." The dragon-girl started in that direction.

"Food!" Lupa cheered, following. Of course—she hadn't actually eaten in this form yet, so she was eager for the experience. And also probably just hungry to begin with. Zack shrugged and followed too. Did you teach her how to use utensils during that mind-meld thing?

Sort of, the psion replied. The motions are in her muscle memory but she'll need some help with the situational part. Back up: Did you say 'mind-meld'?

That's what it was, wasn't it?

I just didn't take you for any kind of Trekkie...

Zack mentally shrugged. It's just pop culture. Everyone knows about that stuff these days.

I wouldn't go that far.

After supper, everyone who planned on heading out into town gathered in the living room: Zack, Nora, Katherine and Rayna. Lupa was there too.

The psion said, "Alright, so...you two need to get to someone who can deal with elemental gems and enchanted stuff. We need to go buy some chickens. Those are both in the same direction from our town-door, at least at first, so we can just start off together." This suggestion was met with a brief word of agreement from everyone else.

"Look," Zack said, turning to Lupa, "You don't have to come with us this time. You could stick around here if you want..."
"This one wants to go with Master, though!" she said insistently.

"That's...fine, but you can't expect to follow me around everywhere, forever," he said, starting off toward the door (along with everyone else). "At some point you need to be an independent person. It wouldn't hurt to at least hang out with the others sometimes."
"Okay!" she agreed cheerfully—although possibly just so he'd drop the subject for now.

Then, seeming to at least take the idea of talking to the other members of the "pack" to heart, she moved over toward Rayna. "Fox! Is this one really stronger than Rose?"
"Well—let's see. By the objective, numerical definition of 'strength' that my Sight lets me see, certainly. On the other hand, there are lots of different meanings of 'strong'..."

As long as the three of us are together, we have something to discuss, Katherine said mentally—between herself, Zack, and Nora.

Is something wrong? the elf asked.

Well...

We realized earlier, the knight interjected, It won't be easy to keep...things, a secret with Lupa around. She knows about it, and probably wouldn't even understand why we wouldn't want her to talk about it.

I see...
It's still really embarrassing, but I'd just rather come clean about it on purpose than have it revealed by accident, Zack continued. But...not if you don't want to.

I think it should be all right.

It's different now anyway, Nora continued. The more we've gained memories of this world, and felt like people belonging to it...the less strange the behavior seems. If anything, beastfolk who don't want that kind of interaction with people they care for are unusual. I doubt there will be too much surprise or upset.

Are you okay with it, though? Katherine asked. I mean...you're an elf, so it seems like it'd be more embarrassing for you than either of us, even.

I don't mind. Nora gave a mental impression of shaking her head slightly. Over the past few days, I've realized I'm maybe not so...innocent in certain ways as I imagined I was. So it feels insincere not to admit to that, at least among friends. Anyway, I believe I understand the gesture the same way you do, as one of affection. So there should be no shame in it.

All right, the psion replied. Well, we'll work out the details later, but it's good to have your opinion on it, at least.

"Hey, are you guys having a mental conversation without me?" the fox-girl said teasingly, having finished her explanation to Lupa, leaving her with a thoughtful expression.

"It's nothing important," Zack said, maybe a little too quickly.
"You'll probably find out later anyway," the catgirl added.

"If you say so. I think this is about where we part ways, isn't it?"
"Right," Katherine nodded. She gave directions the rest of the way to where Zack and Nora were headed, both aloud and by mental communication, and then split off with Rayna to buy the sacrificial animals for the night. Lupa continued following Zack.

While she caught up next to Katherine, Rayna directed some thoughts the psion's way: Since I know better than to pry about whatever you three were talking about...

What?

Well, since we were on the subject of Lupa's strength I took another look at it. The numbers were a little different this time from my first glance a few hours ago, Rayna said. Naturally, I took a closer look. Seems like she's using her magic to passively buff her physical stats at all times.

I thought her class description...no, wait. Thinking back to it, the psion realized the same thing the illusionist already had.Weasel words. Incapable of casting spells. Not, mind you, incapable of using magic. I would guess that it's because her magic functions purely as a buff to her phyiscal ability that it can't function for spellcasting like most people's. It's worth noting her natural strength without that buff is still higher than Rose's, so..while she might be weaker than usual in case we encounter some sort of anti-magic field thing—because why would that not exist somewhere in this world—she'll still be way more capable than me or Aria or, say, Mira would.

Right, Katherine nodded. Good to know.

---

The dragon-girl was sufficiently distracted throughout supper by Lupa and the flow of conversation among everyone else, so Mira waited until afterward, while she was busy doing some dishes and Rose watching from a kitchen chair (obviously wanting to help out, but not feeling particularly competent at the task), to speak with her. "Soo...how'd your talk with Vae go?" she said.

"Oh! Um, it went great! I sorta lost track of time, and she had to point out it was starting to get dark. She taught me a bunch of words for plants I'd heard of before, and I got to see some of her rarer ones—oh, and I helped one or two of them get a little healthier!"

"That's good," the witch nodded. "I admit I'm pretty ignorant about this stuff, so I'm glad we found someone at your level you can actually share it with."

"Heheh," the dragon-girl chuckled nervously. "Oh! Before that though..umm.."

"Yes?" Mira paused in her work to tilt her head Rose's way.

"Uh..never mind. I'm not sure if it's supposed to be a secret or not. Maybe it isn't, but like, I didn't ask?"
"That's okay." They could both hear the door closing as the group headed back out to town left.

"I think Lupa went with them," the witch said. "Guess she forgot about the strength contest thing."

"Well, we just said 'after food', not right after," Rose shrugged. "Eeee, she's so cute. Like, all the 'normal' beastfolk seem like they're trying really hard to pretend to be human most of the time, but Lupa's totally happy acting like an adorable puppy!"

"I'm a little surprised at her eagerness to learn things," Mira said. "You noticed it too, right? Anytime she asked a question and someone answered, she'd go all wide-eyed and lean in like it was the most important thing to hear. Compared to the wolf she was, it's night and day."

"Uh-huh. I guess she really wants to fit in with the 'pack', and everyone's always talking about some stuff or other, soo...like, fitting in means being able to talk about that stuff too."

"..Ah, right," Mira said, remembering. "I'm thinking of summoning another demon to eat tonight."
"And you want help killing it again?" Rose asked. "Sure, I don't mind!"

"Heheh, I hadn't even asked you. But it would really be appreciated," she said. "I uh..admit I didn't think you'd say no, but Katherine wanted express approval from everyone before we went ahead with it, and I'm inclined to agree. They have been pretty dangerous lately, and I can't put together any kind of pattern except that each one's different from all the ones before it."
"Hmn. What were all the other ones?" Rose asked.

"Let's see...my first was a little..pumpkin thing," she said, counting on her fingers. "The second one was this floating fire that mostly just ran away from us. The third was our first real fight—an incubus, which..caused some problems. Then the ice dog you helped us out with."

"Did the pumpkin one give you plant powers?" the dragon-girl said.

"Well..not really? I can summon pumpkins, but I think they're not actually plants. More like—some sort of magical construct. If you smash one, it doesn't really stick around very long afterward, and...I'm not sure it's a good idea to try to eat demonic pumpkins, either. I can make them explode by combining that with the fire demon, or make them burst into the green supercold stuff from the ice dog."
"But pumpkins are usually on vines and stuff, right? If your magic makes fake pumpkins, why can't it fake that?"

"Huh." Mira put a finger to her chin. "I don't see any reason why it couldn't, per se. But I haven't stumbled on that aspect naturally. I guess you've given a pretty great demonstration of how useful vinelike things can be, too. I'll have to see what I can come up with later, I guess."

---

Ezra made her way back toward the guardhouse, planning to check whether any of the party had been sighted in town recently to avoid the need of this late a visit to their house if possible. Most people immediately made way for her when she put on a sufficiently stern, focused expression—immediately convinced she was involved in doing something important—so it tended to stick out when somebody didn't.

"Excuse me, Lady Ezra." About halfway through the intended trip, a tall, old Vulpin man in traditional Haestran garb hailed her attention in a mild tone of voice.
"Do you need something?" she said quickly, implying urgency with her present business while expressing a willingness to listen if it was, in fact, important. Now that her focus was on him, she knew this was Fazren: Priest from the same temple as Nora originally was. Ron had told her of the latter relation, while the news of a veteran Weaver had reached her ears quite naturally not long after his arrival.

He had a kind, if slightly mischieveous, grin. "I've been asked to relate the unhelpful advice that you should try to get a good night's sleep tonight, if possible."

"I see."

She crossed her arms, sizing him up further: He had used an honorary title, which suggested he knew something of her background. This was an observant person, and his continued presence in town would likely come from an interest in keeping an eye on Nora for a while, if only from afar. This presented a small opportunity. "Do you know whether Nora or her companions are in town?"
"I do," he said with a slight nod, and did not elaborate.

"Are they? I have some legal documentation that needs signing, today if possible," she said.

"Pardon me, I couldn't resist the joke," Fazren said with a further grin. "Indeed, I saw her and her curse-afflicted friend enter an enchanter's shop a couple of streets over, with an adorable Canis girl I didn't recognize in tow. I certainly hope that's convenient enough for you."

"I'd prefer if the more important matters were the convenient ones," she stated.

"Wouldn't we all?"

"Thank you."
"Of course," he nodded. "See you around, Lady Ezra."

In the store, Zack was sitting across from an old human man busy closely examining his gem of brightness in preparation to repair it, Lupa on a chair to one side. Nora was at a counter on the opposite end of the store, where another expert was just beginning to cut the giant gem along the intricately curved dividing lines between its contained elements. "Theere it is. I'll say, miss, I'm surprised a little crack like this even caught your eye," the man was saying while he got to work. "It's lucky, for sure. Attuning one o' these things to an adult is tricky business." The knight shook his head slightly, but didn't say anything. It generally wasn't worth correcting someone he was only going to interact with this one time. "And we don't even have any in stock! Someone'd have to be willing to ship one all the way through uninhabited Frontier territory..."

He trailed off while the shop door opened, and the captain of the guard stepped through, looking around briefly before approaching them. "I have the papers ready," she said once in conversational distance. "It's best we take care of them as soon as possible."
"Okay," Zack gestured toward the man working in front of him, while Lupa leaned forward enough to peek just past the knight toward her. "Do I need to come with you, or..?"
"We can do it here. Any space here free to write on?" she said, toward the cashier.
"Uh—we can uh, y-you can use my counter if you want," she stuttered, clearly intimidated. "Not..usin' it for anything, hahah."

Zack got up and followed the Captain to the front counter, Lupa popping up and coming along as well. Nora had turned to face them, but stayed where she was. Ezra produced a large stack of papers and set it on the counter. "I can summarize the contents if you want. Each section has to be signed by you, me, and a witness. You mind being a witness?" she added, turning toward the elf.
"Um, n-not at all."

"Good. Let's get this over with, then."

She clearly didn't enjoy filling out a lengthy legal form any more than Zack did. It was vaguely similar to what he imagined an adoption form would have, except that the condition for Lupa exiting guardianship and being counted legally independent were based on the judgement of "the representative of the government heresigned" (i.e., Ezra) along with a nebulously-described panel of "capable individuals" rather than her age. The knight's legal responsibility was similar to that of a child's parent: To ensure she was fed, taken care of, and not "taken advantage of" (a particular issue the forms seemed especially preoccupied with). Overall, it was an excessive overabundance of words to describe an extremely straightforward agreement. They only had to sign in four different places, a fair step down from the last employee contract Zack remembered signing back on Earth, so it wasn't too tedious in the end. Besides that, all of the work was finished by the time they were done.

The man working on Zack's gem and the person who'd been busy cutting the crystal for Nora came to the front counter while Ezra tapped the papers against it and stuffed them into a folder before putting it away, the latter bringing a small collection of steel bracelets set with the pieces of the crystal. "I'll take care of the bill," the Captain informed the cashier, who nodded right away.

"Um..w-we can afford to pay for them," Nora said nervously.

"I'm spending my own money, not the town's," she informed the elf curtly, before turning to leave.

"Oh. Um. T-thanks..."

Rainy Oaks III - Doctor & Patient

Yet another relation to an older caption can be found here. I think I went a little overboard on length, but insisted on making it a caption anyway...so, there's a text+images version below in case you're having difficulty reading it in pure-image form.

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Dr. Piers entered his patient's room, coming up to the bed the man lay on and examining his chart on the tablet. Of the few "homes" he'd worked, Rainy Oaks was probably among the more technologically advanced, although not by too much. Felix had only meant to pick up work at this place for a couple of months, but it must have been...a couple of years, at least, since he'd signed on. Every day felt exactly the same here, so it was difficult to keep track of time except by the calendar back at his house. It was just hard to let go when all these people needed him and they seemed to be having trouble attracting a worthy replacement...and the pay wasn't too bad for the work he was putting in. Really, the nurses knew what they were doing and it was only the more extreme patients he had to look in himself on with any real frequency. Such as this one...

"I'm going to take your temperature now, Clarence," he said calmly. The man on the bed made a wheezing sort of grunt that seemed to be acknowledgment. Mr. Oswell was anything but well. He was stable, and not exactly in pain, but he'd been bedridden for half a year, at least. The surgeries that might improve things were risky—in Felix's opinion, too much so for the relatively small benefit that would result from them. And he'd said as much to the man himself, as well as his family. They were still considering it—and it certainly wasn't his place to dissuade them from trying for a better quality of life.

The doctor leaned his head over the patient so he could look him in the eyes—which were, for the moment, open and aware. "Have you been feeling any better lately? Any worse?"

Clarence tried to clear his throat, and narrowly avoided another painful coughing fit. "Not much different, doc," he said a bit hoarsely. "The grandkids came by last night."

"Mm-hm." Dr. Piers leaned back out of view, recording some more things on his fancy handheld-computer thing. "You let me or one of the nurses know if anything does come to feel out of place," he said—the same thing he always did at this point of their conversation. By now it was like a well-rehearsed play, although with how many patients he must have, Clarence guessed the man wasn't even aware he was phrasing it almost the exact same way every time.

"Will do."

The afternoon checkup done, Felix was about to say goodbye to this patient and move on to the next one—when he was struck with an unusual thought. Would he take the chance to be young again, if he could? It was a silly thought, of course—an obvious question, if anything. It took a couple of decades of dedicated study to attain a Ph.D., and even though he was living the dream it was years he couldn't otherwise get back. It'd be nice if he could have skipped all that, and simply known everything he knew now as a kid...a ridiculous notion, of course.

Dr. Piers cleared his own throat slightly, suddenly aware of an unusual pause in the cadence of their conversation. Where did that thought even come from, he wondered? "Well, you should be all set for..." he started, but trailed off, feeling a little strange. Something was off that he couldn't exactly put his finger on. Maybe a kind of sudden-onset vertigo as the room seemed to be moving..only not spinning or whirling, and it didn't seem to be affecting his balance. He looked down at the floor, then back up again, waving his hand in front of his face. There it still was, however, and maybe getting worse—a sense of the room rising around him.

On the bed, Clarence closed his eyes briefly. If only he could be well again, he thought. Able to breathe normally, to get up and move around like he could when he was younger. If only he didn't need expensive, risky surgery just to laugh without a horrible coughing fit. That'd be nice, he thought. After this, he distantly heard the doctor starting to say something else, but he wasn't exactly listening. His arms and legs were tingling something fierce—almost, but not quite, itching—and he could swear he felt less rasp in each breath he took.

Was it just his imagination? Wishful thinking? He gave a test throat-clearing, and felt neither pain nor an urge to cough—an almost alien sensation to him, lately. He turned his head to one side, trying to see why Dr. Piers had fallen silent and—judging by the lack of footstep sounds—not yet left the room, either. As it turned out, he was quite visibly shrinking, and naturally looking extremely confused by this turn of events.

"What in the...?" Felix muttered, looking down once again as he felt his lab coat sliding across his skin a bit to see it was actually much looser than it was supposed to be. In fact, his pants, shirt, and underwear were all much the same story, as his body was not only decreasing in height but overall size, too. His shoulders were narrower than before, his waist and legs all clearly slimming down further as it continued. He grabbed at his coat before it could slip down off of a shoulder, and found his hands smaller and his arms no better off than his legs. By this point he could hardly do more than stare, his usual analytical mind locking up completely from the sheer impossibility of such a sudden, drastic alteration to his body's structure.

As Clarence's breathing became better, he could feel something like a weight lifting off of his body, and found with some experimental wiggling that his arms and legs and—everything else, really, could move easily now, just as though nothing was wrong. He dared to try and push himself a few degrees toward upright with his hands, and found his waist bent upward without a bit of pain or difficulty. No sooner had he lifted his head up this bit than he felt his hair suddenly crawling across his cheeks and forehead, and some of it brushing across the bed behind him as it grew out to just barely shy of his shoulders. That wasn't all, either—he could clearly see from some of his bangs that it had (mostly) taken on a light brown shade, a far cry from the dull gray it had been a second or two earlier. After this, he felt a gentle pushing, like a massage, all across his body, and slowly leaned his back down and closed his eyes, simply enjoying it too much to do anything else for the moment.

"Hmmmh..." he mumbled with his mouth closed, feeling his stomach flatten and his waist gently push inward, his arms and legs turning small and slender, even something like hands rubbing his face smaller, softer and rounder. A bit of the rubbing was on his ears, making them start to—stretch...? Which was a little odd, but it still felt rather nice.

As Felix shrank down, he felt his lower wear slipping entirely off of him, falling down across his legs into a little pile on the floor. His lab coat was nearly reaching down to his knees, and his shirt at least at the thighs, from how far his height had fallen by now, so this didn't expose much—only that his legs were now looking rather soft-skinned, hairless and smooth, and every bit as slim as the baggy leggings of his pants had suggested they were. "Wha..?" he mumbled, still unable to fully process what was happening—and heard a far higher-pitched, younger voice than he expected. "Whaa~a..?" he repeated slowly, and heard his voice rising in pitch mid-vocalization. His hair tickled his cheeks as it gently flowed out to near-shoulder-length, bangs falling out to where they threatened to cover his eyes but didn't quite. He felt vaguely tingly between the legs for just a second...and then didn't.

"Mm...mnh?" the doctor muttered, unable to fully process the odd sensation. Numbness...down there...? Or, no...it was just—a slight movement of the upper legs confirmed it—gone. Dr. Piers was no longer a man, and in fact not feeling too much like a woman, either. "Mmh!" Her body continued to get smaller, sinking below the height of any normal teenager, and her voice was faring no better—really starting to edge into the range of a little girl.

"Mmmmmnnn..." The man on the bed quietly hummed to himself, listening to the pitch of his voice slowly rise. He could feel his body pulling upward across the bed as he grew shorter and smaller. His hospital gown slid around on his body, shrinking closer to his upper body and pulling itself farther and farther up his legs. His ears tingled as they stretched out taller and taller, first forming fuzz all across them, then growing that fuzz out into a thick sea of soft hairs—fur, even. He squirmed his hips back and forth as the massage seemed to widen them and plump his bottom out a bit, and then let out a soft "Aa~aah" as a tail seemed to simply release itself from his back, already quite thick and covered in long, fluffy fur that felt very nice brushing across the bed below it and his legs above it. He could feel an unusual tugging, tingling, slipping sensation between those legs which seemed almost like the result of all that massaging, and felt a distinct heat in his cheeks as he found himself welcoming the change coming down there more and more.

Indeed, not long after Clarence's big, fuzzy ears picked up some high, girlish panicked noises from where the doctor had to be, he let out a low "Oh—Ooooo~ooohh" in a mature, womanly voice as his manhood melted away into its polar opposite, allowing a pair of soft panties which suddenly replaced her undergarments to pull snugly flat between the legs.

"W-wha..why..?" Felix managed to say, still clinging desperately to her lab coat as she began to feel it shrinking itself a little shorter and closer across her tiny form. She'd finally stopped getting shorter, but it was quite a long way down she'd fallen, and it felt impossible to get used to. But then she felt a sudden, sort of popping sensation from her right ear. "Waah!" she yelped in surprise, and then a similar "Yah!" at an identical feeling from the left one. Suddenly she could feel her ears twitching, her long, soft hair brushing across them as they did so. They were much big and very sensitive, it seemed, and covered in..hairs of some sort? One of her hands let go of her remaining garments to reach up and feel it, and discovered something not unlike an animal's ear, if a bit larger in size.

"I-I..what is..?" she started, only to be interrupted by her own traitorous mouth letting out a high, feline mew of surprise as something suddenly pushed itself out from her lower back all at once, brushing past her shirt and former-coat to slide out behind her skinny little legs. She twisted half downward to see the confirmation that it was, in fact, some sort of ultra-long version of a thick, puffy feline tail. Her eyes bugged out with the incomprehensibility of the entire situation as her remaining hand's grip on her top loosened; said top was now pulling just small enough to keep her decent as it changed into a dark hoodie with a cat-like shape in a lighter gray across the chest.

The other new girl was enjoying herself a bit more. It felt like something was gently rubbing her chest, making it tingle and then...slowly pushing it outward into the tight top that most of her gown had turned into. While she squirmed a bit more and her tail flicked back and forth slightly, she could feel a skirt fluttering around her hips and very upper legs. "Aah..mmn...mrf!" she let out, a little surprised by the canine yip but finding it a bizarrely natural reaction at the same time.

The two little bumps quickly, with her own mental encouragement, grew out bigger and bigger, seemingly stretching a newly-formed bra and the tight, sleeveless top she had on over it into larger and larger sizes along with it. Clarence let out a few pleased yips alongside at least a few quite womanly "A~ah"s as she came to enjoy her new body more and more, until finally, with one last, deep-throated bark, she felt a final push from her chest blooming it into a full, round pair of breasts fit for her curvy new form.

"Mmmngh.." Felix grabbed the tip of her tail with one of her tiny hands, twiddling it slightly as she tried to make any sense whatsoever of her present situation. The clothes that should've been around her ankles had disappeared at some point, and she was now aware of some...fitting..underwear and a pair of shorts being present on her lower body that just seemed to have sneaked themselves into existence while she was quite understandably distracted by being suddenly transformed into some sort of...cat-creature. Then she was startled by a loud, low bark from the bed in front of her—which she had also been very distracted from until now—and let out an entirely feline "Reeaarroww!" as she jumped—really jumped—back two or three feet in surprise and possibly even instinctual fear.

The canine woman on the bed was slightly aware of a loud cat mewling off in the direction the shrinking doctor had been.

"Eeh..?" She opened her eyes up, fingering the new skirt with a gloved right hand, before slowly sitting up and turning around in the bed to face the source of the noise—a small, young girl with cat-like features which were, at the moment, looking as agitated as she sounded, rattling off a series of confused questions one after another.

"Why—what—how, what is, who—what?!"

"Heey...doc..?" Clarence said slowly, one of her ears falling to one side as the realization hit her that this was probably who the small girl was.

"Wh—what? Who are—wait. Misterr..Oswell?" she said slowly, both of her ears drooping.

"That's me. Although, I suppose not exactly anymore," the woman said, putting one hand on her generous chest. "Are you alright?"

"I...suppose. If this is what passes for 'all right', anyway," Felix said, feeling a mild blush of embarrassment at her entire situation and tugging at the hoodie's collar with one hand nervously. "What—why am I, and you..?"

"I think this may be a question a lot of folks are askin'," Clarence said, her ears upright again and twitching to hear the reactions of everyone else in the entire home, just about. Dr. Piers's ears were equally active by this point, finding much the same thing.

"So it's not just us." The young catgirl crossed her arms. "I have to check this out. Are you feeling...well?"

"I haven't felt so good in decades, doc," Clarence grinned, standing up and stretching. Her tail started wagging vigorously without any real prompting. "Aaah, it's so nice to be able to move and breathe again!"

"I imagine so. Do you...want to appraise the situation with me?" she said.

"If you like. I don't know how much help I'll be, but any excuse to get out of this room!"

"Hmmph." Felix turned around and carefully walked out of the room into the hallway—although she needn't bother being so cautious, she realized after a moment. Her body seemed to have an impeccable sense of its own balance, even despite—or maybe because of—that gigantic tail. Ms. Oswell wasn't much different in that regard, now following her out quite easily. Or maybe it was that her stride was so much bigger than the young girl's was now, she thought.

There was a lot of confusion. Many people yelling, talking—some panicking. Somebody clearly needed to get a handle on the situation before any harm was done, accidentally or no. "Excuse me..!" Dr. Piers tried first, at a slightly raised volume which proved wildly insufficient to even be noticed over the din. She instinctively hissed in frustration, and then tried yelling: "YOUR ATTENTION PLEASE!" Felix winced at herself slightly, hearing a shrill child's voice come out of her own mouth, but it seemed to mostly work.

"Hi, I'm Dr. Piers," she said, waving slightly before forcibly dropping her hand back to her side. "Something very unusual—in fact, impossible—has clearly happened to us all. Now—who here are the nurses? Administrative staff?" Nearly ever person present who looked to be a child or teenager raised their hand or said 'here' in response to this. "Please listen to these people, everyone...however young they may look. I assure you we retained our mental faculties..or at least I did, anyway. I can see that you all appear to be quite well, but before taking any rash action, I believe at least one last checkup with a qualified professional to ensure that...whatever this is...didn't leave behind or cause some lingering health problems would be wise. And I understand if you want to let your families know, but please form an orderly line instead of mobbing the phones! And if possible, perhaps anyone not currently busy could round up whoever's still in the bedrooms, hallways, cafeteria, and so on..."

Even though she'd come with Dr. Piers, Clarence was far from the first person to get a checkup from the small girl—waiting in line like everyone else. "Well, you seem a whole lot calmer," she commented while the catgirl operated a stethoscope by simply holding the earpiece near her right ear with one hand. "Not upset about being turned into a kid?"

"I'm not entirely happy, I assure you," she said, while continuing to work. "But I'm trying to think positive. I was merely a normal doctor before, but now I'm effectively like a child prodigy. If someone can look past these bizarre appendages I've grown, at least."

"We're far from the only ones with those," Clarence pointed out. "If anything, they seem pretty cute, right?"

The catgirl shook her head, failing to entirely suppress a faint hiss. "No accounting for taste..."

After the doctor established some semblance of order on the crowd, Neil stood up and moved to a wall, letting everyone else go first as far as checkups went. She watched the room carefully, and soon picked out a pair near the wall as a bit unusual—one short, dark-brown-haired woman with some foxlike features, and the other a taller woman with wolflike features, black-and-white hair, and two eyes of differing colors, who appeared to be pointing out one-by-one the members of the community who had grown one manner of tail or another. The green-haired young woman slowly approached the pair, until she was off to one side of them and close enough to hear them talking.

"Well," the wolf-girl was saying, "I don't know about your 'mentor', but I'm certainly proud of all this. It's difficult to even count how many; and you said a few of them left already, which puts my estimate even higher!" Her expression was very bright, and her tail wagging vigorously like a pleased puppy's.

"I reckon it was just two perfectly-human ones that left," the calmer fox-girl said. "All the same—you're a bit of a character, ain't ya? All worked up 'bout..." At this point her ears both stuck up and she slowly turned her head toward Neil, which also drew the wolf-woman's attention that way.

"Excuse me," the bespectacled woman said, adjusting her glasses as though it were a gesture of greeting. "You two stick out from the crowd a tad, so I couldn't help a bit of curiosity. I wouldn't say you're not happy, but you sure don't seem like you're unused to those bodies like the rest of us. Hmm?" She was bluffing, of course—just about everyone present, including herself, were already seeming quite comfortable in their new appearances, not the least because of the youth and energy all the formerly-old people living here had.

"Well, I just got here," the wolf-woman said. "I'm visiting this town, sensed a huge wave of magic, and came to see if someone was nuking the retirement home or something. Thankfully not the case."

"It's not out of line to guess you're responsible for all this, then, is it?" Neil asked the fox-girl directly.

"Well..." She twiddled the tip of an ear with an index finger nervously for a second or two. "I won't admit to anything, but I will say I know just what it's like to be facing the end of one's life. Surely anyone with enough power and know-how and a..sympathetic disposition, would be inclined to attempt somethin' a little like this eventually."

"I see." Neil crossed her arms. "Well, I think anyone in my position could be reasonably expected to want to thank such a person, in that case. In fact I imagine a great many people here would appreciate some sort of explanation, or at least an opportunity to do the same. Hmm?"

"Maybe..." The fox-girl's ears drooped slightly; she was uncertain of the right course of action.

"Still a little new to the trade, are we?" the other woman said with a teasing tone of voice. "Explaining the genius of one's successful prank is just gloating, after all. It's not like it'll disqualify you for anything."

"I...see." The fox-girl nodded, apparently to herself, and started in the direction of the larger crowd.

"I suppose you knew what happened right away," Neil said.

"Of course. They don't call me 'Sage' for nothing," the wolf-girl stated proudly. This posture only lasted a second before relaxing into one that made it clear this had been a joke. "Naww, it's really 'cause that's my name. I don't suppose I could interest you in growing a tail or two, hmmn?" she added with what appeared to be a mischievous expression. While she wasn't entirely sure if the offer was serious or not, or even of its entire meaning—the green-haired woman was prevented from answering by the fox-girl taking this moment to try and get everyone's attention.