They were finally under way, with  a new companion...   -------     Chapter 22.      "Gemcalling," Hiriista began, "is a combination of one's personal magic, alchemy, symbolism, and the channeling of power outside oneself." "Whoo. Sounds complicated," Poplock said. The four of them were seated near the cookfire; Tobimar and Kyri were taking turns watching the food as it cooked, but they were old hands at this sort of thing and clearly didn't need to focus much attention on it. "Complicated in concept, yes, and [ Continue reading... ]

Let's see how this party finishes out...   ------     Chapter 19.      Finally starting to wind down, Poplock thought to himself. He'd managed to wander around most of the huge house of the Reflect while the others were in conversation; as he'd expected, in most cases people didn't even notice him if he was at all cautious, and at most they picked him up and moved him somewhere they felt he belonged. There wasn't a single thing he'd found that was indicative of anything wrong here; it was, he admitted, perhaps a bit [ Continue reading... ]

  Let's join the party and see what's up!   ------     Chapter 17.      One major advantage of being thought a dumb animal was that you could look at pretty much everything whenever, and however, you wanted, and no one would even notice, let alone wonder why you were looking; at most they'd pick you up and throw you out, or return you to your apparent owner. Poplock smiled to himself. He'd spent almost four years in Zarathanton honing that skill, disappearing underfoot or being ignored sitting on a low table or [ Continue reading... ]