A Horse By Any Other Name (Part 2)

One Month after the Summer Solstice (Seventh Moon, 1000 ALB)

As the group begins to gather back together, Niklas, still not feeling fully recovered from the injuries inflicted by Malekith, leans down to take a mouthful of grass.  He chews thoughtfully for a few moments before declaring that it is “Not bad”.  He starts to walk in the direction of the town when he pauses and moves closer to the nearest party member, Ra'ziir.  The ranger pokes Ra'ziir's flank sigil with his nose to see if it “activates” anything but nothing happens.

Raz raises one eyebrow and asks, “Scratch and sniff?” Niklas sheepishly shrugs, “My apologies. Was just testing a theory,” before taking a bite of another mouthful of grass.

The bladesinger turns in Raven's direction and concentrates on the permanent telepathic bond spell he shares with the other elf...er...horse, “Raven?”  Raven hears the thought and replies, “Still here. You good?”  The former swordsman looks around, counting horses to see if everyone is accounted for, sniffing the air and swiveling his ears to and fro to see if our arrival was noticed by anyone.

Ra'ziir continues to concentrate, this time turning his arcane sight upon his fellow adventurers.  To his surprise, there are no active spells in play on any of the group members.  Whatever Loki does not seem to have an ongoing effect, implying a permanence that is unsettling at best.

Grotto shakes his head, “Thank Hanseath, at least we make fine horses.”  The scarred dwarf prances to and fro in front of the group, “Loki could have done much worse to us.  Back in the Grimmlands, there was an island that turned young boys into donkeys.  An enchanted puppet broke the spell by... actually, it wasn't broken.  The puppet fled the island before he could be completely transformed and was swallowed by a whale... nevermind, might not be the best example I could come up with.”  “Maybe I should think about trying to heal our wounded instead,” he thinks to himself.

Drax shakes his head, still overwhelmed and follows closely with the group if and when they finally begin to move.

In times of toil and trouble throughout his life, the minstrel-priest has always been able to find solace in song. As he has never been a horse before, this seems to be one of those times.  The minstrel-priest begins by setting a beat. Normally he’d clap his hands, snap his fingers, or…he pauses…stomp his feet. With no feet, per se, Ced begins tapping his hooves on sod beneath his barreled body. Clop-Clop-Clod , Clop-Clop-Clod… he sets a beat. He then clears his throat, and begins singing an old tune, 

“Oh, come by the hills to the land where life is a song
And sing while the birds fill the air with their joy all day long
Where the trees sway in time and even the wind sings in tune
Ah, the cares of to-morrow can wait 'til this day is done…”

As his song comes to an end, the bard sighs, relieved to discover that his voice is still his own, despite the transformation he has been subjected to.

Kysek, fully realizing that he has become a unicorn swishes his tail back and forth, trying to approximate the somatic motions of a spell and speaks the word, “Летать”.  His horn begin to glow with a soft green hue that envelopes his entire body and he begins to float off of the ground.
- - - - - 

• Cedron: 79% health;
• Drax: 100% health; 
• Grotto: 61% health; 
• Kysek: 100% health; Half of the Tome has been read, Fly (10 minutes, 9 rounds remaining)
• Niklas: 63% health; 
• Raven: 80% health; 
• Ra’ziir: 65% health; 
• Shadow: 97% health;