As threatened, Harulse manifested her brilliant green and exceedingly shiny self at the front door of Strayway, wearing a brilliant green caftan embroidered with many brilliant green insect shells that matched her own. (They are not fragments of Herethroy shell — or, at least, if I were making that caftan, they wouldn’t be. I would use the shells of one of the gaudier but less tasty varieties of chub-beetle, protected by a bit of Sustenoc, which are available for about three lozens a pound in the sewing supply stores of any self-respecting city in Ketheria. (I haven’t gotten to a sewing supply store in Eigrach yet.))
Harulse:[standing in front of Strayway, looking a bit lost about where the front door is.] “Ye currently ruriculous visitors, I bid thee, obstrilligate not my invitation, instead, with great impigrity, grant me admission! “
Everyone:“What?”
Phaniet:“Let’s let her in.”
So we did.
Harulse:“The hour of sodalitious delights approacheth apace! Temerate not, O foreigners; instead you shall vicambulate to the pavilion of the great mayor Mmixamk!”
Me:“This is the modest repast he mentioned, I presume?”
Harulse:“Yes, yes, O airgonauts.”
So Phaniet and I made our final preparations, which included an undue amount of hat-repair. Kantele tried to engage her in conversation, but Harulse preferred to sit in the library, browsing around in our older and more comprehensive dictionaries. Occasionally she would spread her antennae with glee, and scribble some particularly obscure find in a small and well-thumbed notebook bound in pale leather.
When Phaniet and I were suitably dressed — Phaniet in a black sheath and triple-cloak of silk, and me in proper ribbons mostly, plus that cursed hat — we extracted Harulse from her research.
Us:“We are ready to go!”
Harulse:“And the nendrai? We have prepared the repast in our most boscaresque region, without the city walls. Famelicose or not, she must attend!”
Vae:“The I am allowed?”
Harulse:“I rarely practice fallaciloquence!”
Vae:«And what does that mean?»
Kantele:«It means, yes.»
Vae:“The wonderful!”
Me:“The you do know what you’re getting in to, don’t you, Harulse?”
Harulse:“Let us simply be gaudiloquent.”
Vae:«And what does that mean?»
Kantele:«It means, no.»
So we went. Around the city, not the more direct way through it, because we had a terrible monster with us, so eager that she couldn’t stay in one shape for three seconds at a time: a cloud of butterflies, a rowboat loaded with barrels and ballistas, a rampaging maypole, herself.
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Oh, dear. Vae’s going to end up accidentally conquering the place and apologetically giving it back or somesuch.
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kensan_oni Reply:
August 15th, 2009 at 7:06 pm
I LOVE that icon!
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terrana Reply:
August 15th, 2009 at 7:22 pm
Feel free to use it yourself. It’s just a photo I got off Google Image Search plus two minutes in Photoshop to add the caption.
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Awww! Vae got invited to the party!
It might not turn out well but I am happy for her that she got the invite.
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Why do I get the feeling the last one was the most terrifying form?
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sythyry Reply:
August 15th, 2009 at 4:48 pm
Because you know something about nendrai, perhaps?
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kobolds Reply:
August 15th, 2009 at 4:49 pm
About the only thing I know is that I am both very glad they don’t live in this universe, and that it’s kind of sad that I’d not get to meet Vae.
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sythyry Reply:
August 15th, 2009 at 4:50 pm
That is the heart of the matter. The rest is just details.
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Oh…oh my…oh my!
Even a brutish monster such as myself can sense the unadulterated DOOM that is heralded by this development. Perhaps if Vae were to be less than behaved, the doom might be slightly less doomy, but I fear that her “best” behavior might be quite doomful.
Either way, it shall no doubt be a most amusing and entertaining sort of doom, of which I am most grateful that I might observe it from afar.
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You know, if you ever have to turn Harulse to your service, you should try to find a monster infested dictionary in the same style as your Diary?
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Harulse seems to be the type of person I shouldn’t ever play Scrabble with.
On the bright side, turning her on should be easy. Rare words ahoy!
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sythyry Reply:
August 15th, 2009 at 9:01 pm
I don’t want to turn her on. She’s an obnoxious git.
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kensan_oni Reply:
August 15th, 2009 at 11:18 pm
I wasn’t thinking she was your type to begin with, though, Sythyry…
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The Doom
Doooooooooooooommmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
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That was quite astonishingly kind of them. Oh dear. I do hope they aren’t trying to get something out of Vae, or this will prove even more doomsome.
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terrycloth Reply:
August 16th, 2009 at 4:47 am
But potentially profitable! A full day’s work by a wizard does not come cheap.
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sythyry Reply:
August 16th, 2009 at 1:08 pm
Well, what reasons might a city-state have to be kind to a visiting and somewhat tame nendrai? I can think of: (1) they want something from her; (2) they want to pre-appease her wrath; (3) they are philosophical lunatics of the sort we met on that inistella; (4) they are far kinder than the rulers of city-states generally are. Am I missing anything?
And, which one have they shown signs of already?
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terrycloth Reply:
August 17th, 2009 at 8:51 am
(1) and (4), I think. At least the actual ruler and not his awful steward or whatever.
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calamitous_cani Reply:
August 18th, 2009 at 8:00 pm
1 and 2 seem like reasonable reasons to be kind; 4 could be a result of keeping up appearances in order to later apply 1 and 2 to some third party of whom you are not presently aware.
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I’m pleased for Vae. I hope she’ll enjoy herself.
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