Open Chronicles Lessons learned

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TimberDusk

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Timber flew around the woods outside Alliria on a foggy morning. He had made a habit of buzzing close by people walking the trails just to see their faces. He would be kidding himself if he were to say he didn't enjoy the attention he had garnered by becoming one of the first Fae to make himself known amongst the giant races. He would perform loops to the splendor of children walking with parents, run off snakes and small predators that may frighten horses and occasionally play a game of keep away with random squirrels and their nuts. He couldn't directly speak to squirrels but his attunement to nature let him understand them in a way and they him. So he would jokingly lead them off on a chase only to lead them to twice as many nuts than he had stolen away.

Out of nowhere a paw swipes from a bush, Timber reacts to roll out of harm's way but it's too late. Tim tucks himself in to avoid damage to his wings. The impact is intense, he is sent across the road and his attacker is diving for him. Tim's senses are faster than the attacker and rolls back and springs up into the air, it's a medium sized cat, too big to be domestic, maybe a wild lynx. Tim attempts to flap his wings but the dirt slows them down and the lynx bats at him again, sending him reeling again. Flapping the whole time the debris leaves his wings and allows him to stabilize as he land in a three point stance. Deciding not to harm the feline, Tim waits for another pounce, as it does and is in mid air he dashes a kick for the cats nose. This sends the cat into a sneezing frenzy and makes it's landing a little rough. As the cat lands Tim drops down and sees it lose interest in the difficult meal and leave. A heavy sigh as he sits roadside for a moment watching passers by.

A short time passes and Tim decides to see about some berries, he walks along the road a short ways until he happens across a group of four travelers. Fluttering up he gets in front of the group "Hello fair travelers, good morning" he closes his eyes and begins a bow "My name is Ti-" he's snatched out of the air "Hey, what do we have here?" A rough looking young woman says with Tim in her hand "A little fairy boss" a scrawny young man in black says from behind her. At this point Tim realizes it's a gang of highwaymen, the woman holding him was being a little rough with him "Don't fairies grant wishes?" She said as she manipulated him with both hands, he could feel his wings weren't in flying shape as he was then forced upright with his hands behind his back as she gripped him firmly, but the only thing he could feel damaged was his wings. "But you see, I'm a Pixie, not a fairy" he said as he felt her grip tighten "So what do you do?" She brought him closer to her face, he could feel her breathing maniacally, the heavy, hot breath scaring him, she seemed like a predatory animal rather than a woman. "I don't know that pixies do anything if you catch them" a rather large, simple looking man spoke as a rather attractive woman stepped forward "I believe they are usually tricksters, they steal from humans" she spoke to Timber's captor. "Let me guess, you have a thief, a bruiser, she's an amateur spell slinger and you're the brains aren't you beautiful." Tim chuckled before her grip tightened some more "Think you're funny don't you? Well, let's see how funny you are when I swallow you whole. I bet you'll squirm the whole time until you die" her mouth started to open slowly and Tim closed his eyes as her hot breath cascaded over him, he felt her saliva drip down and he knew it was time.

He had been focusing his energies on the vegetation around him and they hadn't noticed until all the grass in the area shot off the ground and began to slice into her arms causing her to drop him. As he fell a puff of air slowed him down before he impacted the ground. He drew his blade knowing that it would only be a momentary setback. Sure enough he saw her boot coming down on top of him and sidestepped with ease. "I'LL CRUSH YOU, YOU BUG!!!" she yelled as her group readied to help. Another thunderous stomp from the fiery leader but this time as Tim dodged the ground wrapped up around her feet causing her to be held fast in place, losing her balance she braced herself on the ground only to have it wrap her hands as well locking her in a standing all fours position.
The brute rushed forward trying to grab Tim only to have a handful of squirrels begin to swarm him. Timber laughed as he looked to the one in black as he ran off then to the mage, who sighed and followed the brute fighting off squirrels "I'll help you Firell, just go back to the hideout, I have a feeling they'll stop." Tim laughed as he looked to the leader and swung his sword around "Now, you, you broke my wings. It'll take a few hours of meditation and a hard to make salve to fix. And, and, you tried to eat me. I can't let that stand, you need to be taught a lesson" he walked to her arms "let me go and I won't hunt you kill you when I get out. That good?" she spoke as Tim demonstrated how sharp his blade was by swinging so close he cut her arm hair off cleanly. "See, we're not good" he started to climb up her pants on the side until he stood on the highpoint of her arched body, the small of her back. He sliced the belt holding her pants up and as an insult pulled from his bag, his makeshift hairbrush and smacked her bare bottom to punctuate each word. "Bad, bad girl. Fae are friends, not food" he climbed down the arm of her shirt and released the stone bindings and had a small stone pillar rapidly shoot up and hit her in the forehead to throw her off balance "Now we're good, go on. Get out of here before I get real mad" Tim turned away as she pulled her pants back up and looked at him embarrassed and furious, but she saw people approaching and decided to flee.

Timber sat down breathing hard, it had been a while since he was in that big of a bind "Goodness that was rough, no more closing my eyes when I bow, not unless I know them." He held his ribs as he made sure they weren't broken "all my salves are back home" he let out a grunt as he looked out and saw he was a few miles out from the city "that's a full days walk for me, if not more. I hope someone can give me a ride" he began walking toward the city "Who is that on approach?" as he sees someone approaching down the road a ways...
 
TimberDusk

A frown etched itself across his face he heard shouts and felt ripples of magic energy flutter through him. Not a form of magic that he was familiar with. Something new and unusual. His footsteps were heavy on the road as he picked up his pace.

The magic vanished nearly as quickly as it had begun and he shrugged, tugging on his beard for several moments before continuing on.

Something moved down by the ground, small even by his own standards. He paused and squinted to get a better view, before bowing to the small being. "Greetings, friend. It is rare that I meet one smaller than myself. What brings you this route?"
 
Timber looks up at Sigfrith Runecarver with a sigh "Well, I was on a morning trip for nuts and berries when some ne'er-do-wells decided to try and kidnap, then eat me. Didn't go well for them." He stretched and a grown escaped his lips as he covered his ribs, they were still pretty tender "they damaged my wings in the process, and as I'm sure you know it's a long way back to town in foot, especially at my size. Could I trouble you for a ride back? I can't offer much I return but I don't take up much space. And maybe I can teach you some about pixies" he looked up tentatively at the Dwarf with a smile that just beamed the essence of 'please'
 
Sigfrith stared at the small creature for several moments. He’d never seen such a small one before, yet he could never say no to those of the smaller size races. He knew their struggles all too well himself. In a world built for humans and elves, the shorter ones needed to stick together. And beside, a chance to learn about this... Fey? It sounded processes.
“Certainly!” He said, giving a bow of greeting. “I am Sigfrith Runecarver, Maester of the Elbion College. Would be a deiloght to make your further acquaintance and travel with you to the next town.”

He adjusted his pack to make some extra room and lowered the hood for extra cushion and supper before offering a hand for the pixie to step into. “I can carry you in the hood of my cloak. Should be safe there.”
 
As he stepped into his hand, it's noticed that he weighs even less than he appears to "Thank you, some highwaymen decided to try and capture me. Then when they found out I don't grant wishes their leader tried to eat me. Broke my wings all to pieces, it would nearly kill me to use raw magic to fly home at this point." He extends a hand as though you shake "Timber Dusk, folks call me Tim. I'm a pixie, and from what I can tell around here you don't get many of us Fae races around often." His tiny wings look mangled and snapped but they still flutter a second "Why do people think I'll taste good, I'm out in the same world and exposed to the same elements as them" he chuckled some up to the Dwarf.
 
"Tim then," Sigfrith said, nodding. "Well-met. And you speak truly, we have only scattered tales of Fae races. Many do not believe that your kind exists. I would have been a skeptic had I not known you."

He set off towards the town, listening to the small pixie chatter in his ear, mostly listening. "But that your kind taste good, I can not hazard a guess as to the reason or cause of that. It is most peculiar."

He strode in quiet for a while, but then asked. "What brings you out into the open of the world then?"
 
Tim sits on the dwarfs shoulder and sighs "Adventure I guess. I got to see the big world when I helped an elven mage check in on claims of dark magic. My chief sent a few of us to help, since the human village was so close to the forest and the elves had sought us out specifically to help. It was baseless, panicked humans dealing with someone smarter than themselves and being scared of the knowledge." He chuckled some as he thought about his past ."Then I went back home with wonder in my eyes. My friends and family said it would be foolish, I'd be crushed underfoot in less than one full lunar cycle. But after seeing how people who aren't all magical have advanced. Machines, ships, carts, they were all incredible, most advanced machines I had seen before that was a spinning wheel and loom. And we got those plans from the elves that season." He looked to Sigfrith with his eyes wide "but you're a Dwarf, machines are your people's thing. Well, not all of them some are incredible mystics, I think really it comes down to how regimented and stone-like you all are. No offense, I mean it turns out some incredible artworks and people, but always so hard, rigid" he seems to daze off for a second "Sorry, I don't mean to offend, it's just it's hard to imagine growing up like that, us pixies are taught about feeling energies and fluidity of magics, wild and free, organic, symbiotic with nature and the world around us. A far departure from what I've seen of..... well any of the giant races." He kinda rifles through his bag for a moment "and you? What is it that brings you around here?"
 
"Mhmm," Sigfrith said, listening as he walked. It took some time to interpret everything, but it began to make sense. Some of the statements regarding Elven and Dwarven nature was a bit puzzling to him, but he accepted them. It didn't seem too far off. "Rarely are any of us mystics," Sigfrith said after a moment. "We have little skill with magic and less power in it."

He shrugged again. "I am a Maester of the College of Elbion on a research trip."
 
He smiled some "Oh, the magic school? I would love to see what sort of magics you giants know. From what I've seen you tend to try and force elements into existence rather than use what's around" he wing stumps flutter around as he gets excited "oh yeah almost forgot. But anyway, as a maester....I'm guessing that means teacher, what sort of magics do you focus on? I've seen all sorts, from natural, like myself, to hexes and attempted necromancy, even runes. I attempted to learn rune craft from my village elder but the language he used was ancient and forgotten to this realm, very potent seals and-" his voice seems to vanish as bells, whistles, and squeaks can be heard as his mouth moves. He then suddenly stops making noise and closes his eyes, takes a deep breath "....oh my goddess, I'm sorry, I get excited and start talking at normal pixie speed, most giants can't perceive it, I understand we sound like wind, squeaks and bells. Sorry about that" clears his throat some "so what is it you teach?"
 
Sigfrith raised his eyebrows as the small thing by his ear chattered on and on, speaking even more rapidly. He grunted a few times in acknowledgement and agreement before his companion came to a stop.

Rune magic,” he said at last after several moments. “That’s all that I teach and all that I know. And you know nature magic, you said?”
 
Tim nodded some "I know several forms of magic, nature comes the easiest. Most mages I've seen will conjure up elements that aren't present for an attack, or manifest raw mana constucts. Both I can do as well but there is no point, nature and earth can provide all one needs. Let's say for instance, the bandits I dealt with. I could have summoned a fireball and thrown it at them, but the fog today would make it harder to do. So I called upon the blades of grass to....well, be blades. They shot forth like arrows and sliced at my captor, then as she attempted to stomp me out the ground encased her feet in stone holding her still. Manipulating the elements around and working in harmony with nature is the essence of what it is to be a Pixie. As repayment for helping me, tomorrow I will return to the spot where the grass leapt from the ground and ensure it grows back." He stares off into the distance looking past this world it seems "You giants fascinate me, not only do the mages fight against nature and it's elements, but those without magic do the same. Building roads, erecting massive cities. I thought it was strange enough that not all of you could tap into magic and it's forces like us. But to see that it divide those that can and can't" he sighs some "my kind need to come out of hiding, maybe then we can all advance this world farther than ever" he continued to stare off at nothing