RP:I Like Swamp Flowers

Part of the I Got 99 Problems, and a Congenital Defect is One Arc

Synopsis: After her bizarre encounter with Gualon's swamp flowers, Josleen visits her friend and Larket Academy Headmaster, Lydrain. She comes to the visit prepared, having already researched the flowers. The swamp flowers do secrete a weak enchantment magic to charm and lure rats and smaller creatures to be preyed upon by swamp snakes. In return, the flowers are nourished by the snake's waste. It is a close-ended symbiotic relationship that should not have affected Josleen. What happened to Josleen should have been impossible. The mystery begins.

Lydrain and Josleen take a field trip to the swamps of Gualon so that Lydrain may study this conundrum first hand. Josleen is, predictably, high as a kite.

This rp took began on April 25th and June 11th.

Academy of Magics

Lydrain sits in his office, behind his desk, going over several papers. The corners of his mouth were turned down, ever so slightly, threatening to turn into a full on scowl, "Damnable merchant. This simply won't do." He was, of course, simply talking to himself, but just loud enough that anyone outside of his office could hear him, which would explain the couple of students walking by with increasingly confused looks on their faces. Pulling out a quill, he began to write something onto a piece of paper, crossing out huge sections of the text that was already written, "No, no, and no. That simply won't do."

Josleen follows a trail of polite students’ hand gestures to Lydrain’s office. Once she finds the correct hallway, she no longer needs to ask which door leads to Headmaster Lydrain. His distinct voice rumbles past an open door. The bard hesitates before approaching the moody dragon. One can never be too careful with dragons, and Josleen has recently been on the pointy end of bad luck stick when it comes to friends and accidental maimings. Only once she has appraised the noise to be nothing more threatening than genteel grumbling does she make her presence known with a soft knock. “Hellooo Lydrain!” She sings her greeting as usual. The bard has changed considerably since the Headmaster last saw her. Her hair is shorn into an unflattering pixie cut, and a leather and metal brace hugs her left jaw and ties around the length of her head. But beyond these cosmetic changes, the bard’s alert movements suggest a woman who has been given cause to pause and fear frequently. “Is this a bad time?”

Lydrain hears the voice but doesn't look up, at least not yet, and shakes his head, "No no, not at all Josleen. I'm just going over some proposed changes to the economic policies of Larket. I'm just about done here anyway.” Continuing to frown, he lets out a sigh, and then murmurs a couple of words that carry the weight of magic behind them, and the papers in front of the headmaster burst into a blue flame. Chuckling after his spectacle, "And I have decided to veto all of them." Only then does he look up and notice the brace. The smile on his face is replaced with a look of genuine concern, "Jos, are you alright?" Motioning to a chair, "Please, sit."

Josleen lets loose an embarrassing yelp when the papers burst into flame. She slaps a hand over her gaping mouth and burns bright red. Her nerves need to calm down, but they are frayed and reticent to heal. She smiles uneasily when Lydrain asks of her condition and slowly lowers herself into the indicated chair. “I am alright now. This,” she gently touches the brace, “is almost healed. I am alright now.” She reiterates as if repeating the phrase makes it more convincing. “I, uh, sustained injuries several months ago.” Her leg bounces restlessly. Knowing she needs to calm down, the bard stalls with small talk and a cursory sweep the office, focusing on any personal effects. “I didn’t realize that the Headmaster of the Academy was allowed to vote on matters of economic policy.”

Lydrain was not convinced by her repitition, but, as it seemed to be somewhat of a touchy subject, he wouldn't press the issue, at least not yet. Her last comment, however, made him both smile and scowl at the same time, a rather odd expression, for sure. Letting out a sigh, "I am a member of the ruling body over this city during the absence of Queen Jacklin. Along with several other.... influential citizens. We are normally headed by the steward, but there isn't one, not since Kelovath left, and that was before my time here. The master merchant seems to believe that an economic reform is necessary, but it would only be to his benefit, not to Larket's." Shaking his head, he smiles at Jos, "Would you like something to drink, or eat? We've got a little bit of everything right now. These old mages have an odd diet, each one of them something different, so we have a rather diverse stock of refreshments."

Josleen looks impressed, as her lofted brows suggest. “I was not aware you responded to such responsibilities! A drink sounds lovely, yes. Sweetened tea?” The definition of ‘sweetened’ as used here is cavity inducing. The name Kelovath doesn’t register for Josleen, but Jacklin of course does. “Well I came to see Lydrain the mage today,” she teases playfully. “I had a rather weird experience recently. I haven’t told Ezekiel, because I don’t want to worry him. It may be nothing at all, but would like your opinion on the matter.”

Lydrain nods his head as he stands, and makes his way to a bookshelf. Murmuring the command word, the shelf slides to the side and the headmaster disappears into a doorway, only to come out, a few moments later, with two glasses of cavity inducing sweet tea. Handing one of them to Jos, taking the other for himself, he takes his seat. After taking a sip of his drink, "Yes, you mentioned something about that in the letter you sent. I apologize for not responding, I've been a bit... busy. I was actually planning to come to Xalious to see what it was, but you seem to have beaten me to the visit. So what happened exactly?"

Josleen sips her tea and feels soothed almost instantly. Sugar comforts her; she may have an addiction. “Well, I was in Gualon seeing to some business. During some free time I decided to go for a walk just outside the city limits. Suddenly, I wasn’t myself. I was entranced by these putrid, horrible black flowers that grow in a corner of the swamp near Gualon. I stood there in the swamp without a care in the world as the swamp muck filled my boots and stained my clothes - ad you know how unlikely of me that is! I was just… admiring these disgusting flowers. I haven’t the slightest clue how long I was there. I lost track of time, and if it weren’t for an avian who came upon me, I may very well still be there! Well, a corpse, anyway, because my presence also attracted a swamp troll with a mind to eat me alive! Likely would have too, had the avian not flown me out of there and back to the safety of Gualon.”

Lydrain quirked up an eyebrow, "Entranced by some black flowers? I must admit that magical botany isn't necessarily my specialty, but that does sound dangerous. Swamps however, are something extensively dangerous. Not only because of their natural dangers, but, for whatever reason, they have a horrible penchant for absorbing magical residue, and warping their already dangerous environs into something worse. Though, I digress. Did the swamp troll actually attack you, or did this avian rescue you before. Not that I mean anything by it, but very few could last long against a swamp troll, especially if they were enthralled by some arcane flora."

“Oh the troll definitely attacked me and the avian. The poor avian, Arcos was his name, took a nasty strike to the leg. Neither the troll nor the avian were affected by the flowers; it was just me. Here.” She pulls her large purse onto her lap and retrieves a hefty book about dangerous flora, most the flora dangerous by natural means, but there is a section dedicated to arcane flora. The book was authored by Josleen’s own father and mage’s guild pedant, Kyl’oriel the Studied. The correct page is already bookmarked. There is a small, forgettable blurb specifically on the obsidian swamp flowers native to Gualon, and Josleen reads it out loud. They secrete a weak natural magic, which Kyl’oriel writes is unfortunate since so little is known of natural magic and its sub-disciplines. The magic enchants rodents and insects to the swamp for swamp snakes to eat. Josleen interrupts her reading to add, “Oh yes! There were snakes writhing in the swamp all around me, but I am too large a prey for them.” In return, the flowers are nourished by the snakes’ waste. It’s a symbiotic relationship. The magic is too weak to affect large mammals, or intelligent creatures big and small, from pixies to giants and everything in between. By all accounts, it should not have affected Josleen much the same as it did not affect the troll or Arcos.

Lydrain listened to her reading the passage and cocked his head to the side, "That is... interesting. Do you have any theories as to why it affected you and not the other two?" As he was speaking, he waved his hand in the air and a book fell into his lap. The moment he actually touched it, his eyes began to glow an electric blue shade, along with an, as of yet, unseen tattoo on his arm, shining through his sleeve. He began to flip through the book. If Jos spoke elven, she would hear Lyd say, "Are you actually going to show me anything relevant, or is this also unimportant?" If she didn't speak elven, she would just hear rythmic jibberish. (As that is how I imagine elven sounds)

Josleen only recognizes certain elven words. She understands some of the words and guesses the rest, but isn’t confident in her interpretation. This half-elf really needs to brush up on her elven. Lydrain’s blue energy reminds her of Ezekiel’s and the tattoo does not surprise her. Few magical things surprise the daughter of a mage’s guild member who loves to dominate dinner conversation with his own interests. “I don’t really have any theories, but I did experience something similar to this before when I met Archmage Tiphareth. Had he not dispelled his fear-inducing spell, I would have likely embarrassed myself. My fear was so total that it was physical, as in, uh. Well I mean.” She burns bright red. “Nevermind. Suffice it to say I was terrified and incapable of withstanding his presence the way so many others, Ezekiel included, are capable of tolerating.”

Lydrain shakes his head, "I have heard many things about the Drow King, but I have never met the man himself. Though, and I mean no disrespect, I doubt his fear would mean much to me, only because my kind can do something similar. The older a dragon gets, the more formidable his repertoire of abilities, and some simply inspire fear by their presence. “How were the two similar? Was it simply captivating, or were you afraid of the flowers? Or were you simply referring to the emotionally warping sense of the magic?"

Josleen simply smiles, but does not agree with Lydrain’s comment about the drowlich. Although Lydrain is likely correct in his assertion, Tiphareth almost made her empty her bowels in the mage’s tower in front of both the archmage and Ezekiel. Thus her esteem of Tiphareth’s peerless ability to terrify is difficult to dethrone. A light bulb sparks to life as Lydrain speaks his final phrase. “That’s it! I wasn’t sure how they were similar, but I just intuitively felt that they were, but that is it! It’s an emotional warping. I am not myself. I normally can tame and control my emotions - it’s part of being a bard - but when faced with both the flowers and the Archmage, I was rendered impotent in that respect.”

Lydrain nods his head, "Magic that affects the emotional spectrum can be horribly devastating. I've seen strong minded individuals turned into frothing at the mouth madmen and hardened criminals brought to their knees in tears. Perhaps you simply need to work on finding your center? Something that keeps you, you. A well of mental fortitude that you can call upon when your mind is assaulted with emotions. it isn't necessarily something easy to learn, but it is something incredibly useful, and, if you do learn how to do it, you will find that it has many more uses than simply being defending against emotional assaults."

Josleen shakes her head. “I don’t know, Lydrain. I trust that is sage and useful advice, but this effect...” She scratches under her jaw brace. It’s always itching. She will be glad to be rid of it soon. “Perhaps it would be useful for you to see the flowers affect me in person. I don’t like the enchantment, but the enchantment itself was harmless. The only danger to me was the troll, but I have no concern about trolls when in your titanic company.” She grins impishly, completely unafraid in the company of a dragon friend. No troll will mess with a dragon; she will be safe. “Are you busy now? I have time, if you do.”

Lydrain simply nods at Josleen, "Observation and experimentation are the keys to finding answers to all of our problems, and, if you assure me the enchantment is harmless, then I see no reason why we shouldn't." He stands up, and stretches for a moment, having been sitting in his chair for far too long. Clearing his throat, he asks, "How would you like to get there? We could walk, or possibly take a carriage, but travel by wing is much faster?"

Josleen grins. “Wings!” She claps her hands thrice in quick succession like a child who just found out they are visiting the faire tomorrow. Such is her excitement that she pops into a stand and already leads Lydrain outside where they may take flight. “I just realized I have never seen you in your dragon form,” she observes, whispering needlessly as if his race were a secret in these walls.

Lydrain chuckled, "Then I suggest you step back, Jos, lest you get caught underfoot." He was, of course, joking, as he could control the area in which he 'expanded', but it was still a valid point. After clearing a sizeable space, Lydrain simply let go of the magic that held him in his elven form. His change was quick, almost immediate, but where the slender framed man had been moments ago, a massive monster now stood. The road was barely wide enough to contain him, but the yard of the Academy provided enough room that no building were damaged. His head, roughly the size of a carriage, leaned down and spoke, in a voice that was similar to the Lyd that Jos was used to, but radiated with much more power, "Climb aboard, and then hold on. This trip won't take too long."

Josleen shivers at the display of brute strength and arcane power. As a Xalious native, dragons have always fascinated her. Though she is fully aware of how dangerous they can be, she also knows that some, like Lydrain, can be trusted. She climbs onto his massive neck with the ease of someone who has done this before, and scoots back towards his shoulder blades a bit. “Ready!” She holds on tightly and pins her purse between her belly and his scales.

Swamp Flowers

Lydrain stretches his wings out, and then begins their ascent. With only a few beats of his powerful wings, they are flying above Larket, which, granted, was not a very tall city to begin with. Thinking for a moment, he orients himself towards Gualon, and then takes off. It is obvious, even from Josleen's perspective, that Lyd enjoys flying, but, unfortunately, he hasn't gotten to do much of it recently. He lets out a roar, more of a warning than a threat, for anything in his path to move, as he had no intention of attempting aerial evasions with a passenger on board. Honestly Lyd wasn't sure what to expect, as he had never been to Gualon before. He knew there were swamps and ogres and orcs... but he didn't really know much about the place, so he figured now would be as good of a time as any, to learn by experiencing it.

Josleen takes in the sights and sweet air. Cities excel at trapping odors that are less than pleasant. The trip to Gualon by air is disappointingly short. Josleen has only ever had one bad experience while flying, and that was on an airship between Larket and Vhys. She vowed never to fly by airship again - and indeed, that racket has fallen into disrepair. But when Josleen is given the opportunity to fly by the grace of an intelligent race, she leaps at the chance. “There! To your 2 o’clock. See those black flowers clustered in the swamp?” Soon he’ll be able to smell that putrid cluster of black petals too. “Oh darn, I don’t have the right footwear. You wouldn’t happen to know a spell for protecting fashion leather, would you?” She laughs the idea away as an absurdity, but clings to hope that the absurd decides to make itself real.

Lydrain chuckles, and speaks, his voice still booming, "You don't get to be Headmaster of an Academy by words alone. Keeping your shoes clean won't be a problem at all..." He chuckled again, "Have you ever seen a speck of dirt on any of my clothes? I find washing them to be dreadfully boring.... so I had to develop a way to never have to do it again." He would slow his descent, so he could land carefully. The swamp water rippled nearby, from the pressure of his massive wings. Landing, he revealed a rather large toothy grin, "Hold still for a moment, will you." He concentrated, and quickly brought his magic to bear. After muttering a couple of phrases in the language of his kind, Josleen would feel a slight tingling sensation, as magic rippled over her clothes. The enchantment wasn't permanent, but her clothing would remain as clean/dirty as they were, at this very moment, for the next day or so, until the magic faded, "Now you will be safe to trudge the swamp, unimpeded by filth.'

A dragon flashing a toothy grin is either terrifying or endearing, depending on your perspective. “Magic is so very useful!” She chirps happily. She lowers herself into the swamp, and behold! The dragon speaks the truth. The swamp muck kisses her clothing but leaves no mark. However, the swamp flowers do leave their mark. As soon as Josleen dismounts, she is within range of the obsidian flowers. “Oh my goooodness!!” She stretches her hands overhead and yawns sleepily. She bends over the flowers and deeply inhales their repugnant scent. “I forget how lovely these flowers smell. Simply enchanting. Why would they even need enchantment magic, when they smell so lovely already?” She laughs, then stops suddenly and exclaims, “Oh! It isn’t affecting me this time.” She giggles madly in a manner Lydrain has never witnessed before. In fact, only Arcos has ever witnessed this madness take hold of Josleen, right here in this swamp. “Now I feel silly for making you come all this way, but goodness you must not want to leave, hm? Isn’t this place just a dream?” A dream which stinks to high heaven, is filthy, and crawling with black swamp snakes. They writhe around Josleen’s feet, but she is too large a prey for them to do anything else. “Oh look! My friends!”

Lydrain rather quickly changes back into his elven form, as it was much more convenient. He quirked an eyebrow at Josleen, "And you are certain there is no enchantment going on here? None at all?" There was a manner of concern in his voice, that, if Jos was lucid, she would be able to hear it. After which, regardless of her answer, he would begin studying the area. The plants, mainly the flowers, but the animals as well. His first observations would be with the base senses, what he could actually see, but, if that wasn't fruitful, as it likely wouldn't be, he would quickly switch to detecting magical influences in the air. It obviously wasn't bothering him, but that could simply be because it couldn't affect dragons, which would mean he wouldn't even feel it, but he could, likely find it, if he was looking, which he was.

Josleen is not lucid; she’s loopy and even more passive than usual. How is that even possible? “I am fiiiine. So fine. I’ve never felt better. This is… a -moment- you know? A -moment- and … wow. Woooow.” Her eyes widen at some unspoken epiphany. Her words are paused and drawn. “I just realized this is life. This. Wow. Wow. Wow.” She smiles eerily, trying her best to force eye contact on Lydrain. “Right here. This is what life is about. Experiences. This is the best experience, right here, right now. I am honored to share this experience with you, Lydrain, my dragon brother.” She takes in the nasty odor once more. “We should see more of each other. We should be closer friends. We should all be friends, with each other, with our enemies, with these flowers. These flowers just want friendship, you know?” She sinks into the swamp and sits, bow-legged, playing with the snakes. The only magic Lydrain will detect is that of the flowers, and it is quite weak. It does not even affect the snakes, and should not affect any creature more intelligent than a mouse, or larger than a rabbit. There is no reason Josleen should be vulnerable to this. And while it is benign in this particular setting (so long as Josleen is guarded from any oncoming trolls or other would-be predators), this vulnerability is acutely dangerous should Josleen walk into enchantment magic that would be more pernicious, or even fatal. Furthermore, should she have any enemies, all they need to know if this bizarre weakness of hers and they would do with her what they please. “What if, we like, let’s hang hammocks, yea? And live here. Forever, yea?”

Lydrain allowed his face to fall into a grimace, which was happening more and more recently, "Are you particularly susceptible to magic Josleen? Does it seem to react strangely to you at all?" It wouldn't be hard for him to destroy those flowers, but that would only deal with the symptoms, not cause the problem to vanish, much like nose spray. So instead, he began to pace around her, studying her reactions both physically and magically. This was.... strange. As a half elf she should be more resistant to this type of magic, not less so.

Josleen gets up and follows Lydrain’s pacing and mimics him, huffing and puffing dramatically for comedic effect. She laughs at her own joke. Hilarious! He is so concerned for her well-being! “I don’t knooow. Here.” She exposes her wrist heavenward. “Zap me!” She smiles passively. “I bet you I won’t feel a thing. These flowers will, you know, protect me. They are my friends. They won’t let anything bad happen. Yea. Yea. Wow. Yea. Yea. Wow.” She snaps her fingers to this newfound beat. “Yea.” Snap. “Yea.” Snap. “Wo-ow.” Snap snap.

Lydrain turned to face her, his face drawn tight with concentration and brooding. Snapping his fingers, a book appeared out of nowhere. His eyes began to glow a bright electric blue the moment it came into being, and, underneath his black shirt, a blue tattoo could also be seen glowing. The book floated in the air, and Lydrain began to shuffle through it. Having come to somewhat of an agreement with the temperamental grimoir, it led him to the page he wanted to find. After a few moment, Lydrain muttered a couple of words in a horribly accented dwarven, and sent a spell flying Josleen's way. It was a spell, devised by an old, somewhat insane, dwarven alchemist that would change the colour of a baby's hair. It supposedly had no effect on adults, but, if Josleen was as susceptible to magic as she appeared to be, her hair would turn bright pink.

Josleen‘s hair remains its natural color and the bard frowns sympathetically to the mage. “Oh dear. Nothing happened.” Not that she has any clue what was supposed to happen. She claps his shoulder reassuringly and squeezes in solidarity, her face solemn and sincere. “I won’t tell anyone about your magic trouble.” She releases him and returns to smelling the flowers.

Lydrain lets out a sigh and flips to another page, he muttered another spell, this one in a bastardized version of the Fermin language. This was meant to tire their massive broods of children, so they would fall asleep. Though, in true Fermin fashion, they did not use the best course of action, they instead relied on necromantic powers to do this. So, again, it shouldn't effect Josleen, but, should she be weak to necromancy, she would begin to get drowzy.

Josleen peers out into the distance so stilly it almost looks as if she has fallen asleep with her eyes closed. But fear not! For she suddenly whips around to face Lydrain and exclaims, “Charades!” She waves her arms over her head and gently sways, then holds still, then sways again. She tilts to the left more than the right.

Lydrain mutters to himself, "So that leaves transmutation and necromancy out... what if it is just enchantment? That is absurd.... but... maybe...?" Flipping through the book again, in its inexhaustible amount of information, Lydrain finds what he is looking for. After reading over it, just to make sure he has it right, he mutters the incantation, this time in draconic, and once again attempts to enspell Josleen. This spell was an enchantment developed by a rather neat-freak of a wizard, who had grown tired of his children constantly getting dirty. Though perhaps said wizard took it a bit too far. The spell was intended to make his children avoid mud and dirt, but instead it made them fear it. Granted, again, it should have no effect on an adult, but Jos's case was special, and, with Lydrain's magic backing it up, it would easily overpower that meek magic coming off of the flowers.

Josleen pouts as Lydrain fails to guess her charade. “A willow branch blowing in the wind.” Clearly. “Alright, your tu-uu-uurraaaaaaaaAAAHHH!!!” She jumps into the air as she lets out a blood-curling scream. Dirt! Swamp! This is her phobia! And if you ask her, this has always been her phobia, since the day she was born, yes sir. She bolts out of the swamp for the nearest patch of dry land. Her speed surprises even her. The problem with dry land is that it also has soil, so she turns towards the paved streets of Gualon, and will make it rather quickly unless stopped by Lydrain.

Lydrain lets out a sigh and takes after the fleeing Josleen. However she would likely slow down the moment he quit feeding the spell. The drain on him was minute, but the effect it had on Josleen was... uninhibited. It was almost as if she had no resistance at all to enchantment magic, and that was dangerous, very very dangerous. Hopefully Josleen would stop running by now, but with the adrenaline and brain loaded into overdrive, she might not have, and Lyd would run until he caught up with her, "Jos, calm down. Remember, the dirt can't stick to your clothes at all."

Josleen slows as the phobia stops making sense and no longer exists. As she realizes what happened, far from the swamp flowers and freed from Lydrain’s spell, she drops to her knees and buries her face in her hand. She is utterly mortified. “Oh my Sven, Lydrain. I am so sorry.” Her normal voice has returned. She speaks as Josleen - a thoroughly embarrassed Josleen, but a woman he can recognize. She looks up at him and stands slowly. As she thinks back on what transpired, the memories come in disjointed packets, like a hungover drunkard trying to recall the night before. “I am so embarrassed. I don’t know what else to say. I - Oh my Sven, I called you my dragon brother, didn’t I? And I mimicked a… Oh gods.”

Lydrain couldn't help but smile, "Yes, you did that, but, to be fair, it wasn't of your own accord. Though I believe I may have stumbled upon a rather unusual weakness... something that, if exploited, could genuinely lead to your end, or worse." He let out a sigh, "The spell those flowers exude is so minute I could barely even tell it wasn't part of the atmosphere. You seem to be unusually susceptible to enchantment magic. Which means any semi-accomplished wizard could make you do anything he wanted, at all, and you wouldn't be any the wiser. Nor would you care about any of the consequences. Now that I know about it, Ezekiel or I could shield you, but that would force you to remain by one of our sides, almost indefinitely...."

Josleen swallows hard at the arcane diagnosis. After these recent experiences, she is hardly surprised, but that does not mean she is any less scared. “But… that isn’t a reasonable solution. I can’t live that way.” She glances in the direction of the flowers and takes a unconsciou step away from them. “Is there nothing I can do? Don’t mages improve their magical resistances? How can I do that?”

Lydrain shakes his head, "Practice practice practice, but, I don't mean to be a downer, but that spell I threw at you, the one that made you lose all sense of reality, was only supposed to make a child afraid of the dirt or mud. Theoretically it should have never worked on an adult." He smiled at her, trying to be comforting, now, and continued to speak, "But we won't know about the practice until we try. However that will likely be something that will expose you to spell after spell after spell, and it would have to be varied, because if you learn how to fight against one single spell, that is good, but all it would then require is a small twist, and you fall right back under it. This path requires a lot of dedication Josleen. I know you can do it, but it will require time and hard work, not to mention mental fortitude."

Josleen tries to look upbeat and chipper, but this daunting path to enchantment resistance is not appealing. Josleen can barely cast a spell as a bard, even under the tutelage of her mage’s guild father. She was so abysmal at spell-weaving that Kyl’oriel gave up on his own daughter a decade ago. In truth, she lacked discipline because she lacked interest. “What about charms and blessed artifacts?” Any work around, she’ll take it.

Lydrain shook his head again, "Those might work, something like that, but unless you find one damned good artifact, anyone who has my magical abilities, or even more, could worm their way around those protections, or just smash right through them." There was no arrogance in his voice, only a plain, matter-of-fact sort of tone. He let out a sigh, "You might be able to get away with wearing several charms at once. Weaving spells together helps create a much stronger fabric of resistance, but if someone simply took them away, by force, you would then be right back where you started. I'm not saying charms and whatnot aren't a good idea, but having a strong mental defense is always the most prudent and beneficial choice."

Josleen looks down at the ground between her magically clean boots. The bard has never felt particularly strong. She can’t wield a weapon or call upon a higher power or intone a spell. Yet, this failing makes her feel profoundly, and childishly, weak and useless. Her shoulders slump and expression sags. “Well… thank you for taking the time to do this. I… I need to think on it. Or just, cheer up a bit. I’ll come see you real soon - if you’re still willing to lend a hand, of course. I need a solution, but I can’t really make decisions right now. It’s…” Bad news.

Lydrain smiles towards her, "Of course I'm still willing to help. I know it is an impossible choice, but I offered to allow you to stay near me, at all times, to make sure that no one could magically compel you. Though I do believe I'll need a second, or maybe a third, opinion on how to go about dealing with this. In the mean time I will work on attempting to get a few charms together, perhaps with a couple of other things, to help keep you protected." He looks up at the sky, "Would you like me to take you anywhere? Home? A hiding spot? You could even stay in Larket if you like?"

Josleen grimaces at the word ‘hiding spot.’ Is that to be her life now that she knows? Perhaps ignorance truly is bliss. “Home. Ezekiel will worry if I am not home soon.” Her already forced smile falters. “As for second opinions, I plan on telling Skylei, but perhaps you should be with me when I do. You’ll explain it better than I can. And thank you for all of this. ...I feel as if I have been diagnosed with a terminal disease. Perhaps I just need a good night’s rest.” She removes the brace from her face. The jaw looks slightly swollen but on the men. “Itchy,” she explains.

Lydrain nods his head and then lets go of the magic holding him small once again. The light shining off of his blue scales make small sparkles dance across the swamp waters, creating a beautiful but dark and foreboding scene. As he speaks, the dragon's voice is barely a whisper, but can still be heard clear as day, "Climb aboard, my friend, and lets get you home. I know this is a seemingly impossible task, but you are up for it, I know that much. Though the only aspect you are lacking is confidence. Once you find that, nothing is insurmountable." Once she is safely mounted on his back, he will take off, and gracefully fly towards Xalious, and her home."