From:
                                                                   Fri 22:03
Subject: [Dagger] [Porc] A different kinda magicTo: <dagrfall@ods.com>

Okay, before I start, a bit of explanation.  I, Lord Tamislane, am, as you
have probably read, rather suicidal and am at the moment trapped within my
own mind.  Hopefully, I will refrain from trying to kill myself again.  So,
from now on, I am writing as Catris until further notice.  On with the tale!

  ------------------------------------------------------------------------
After Jemalas' prone form was removed from my own, I heard a tinkling.
Looking up, I saw the paladin, sword drawn, coming at Jemalas, intent on
ending his life now.  Lady Raven stood up shakily, but I brushed her aside.
"What do you think you are doing?" I commanded of the man in crystal armor.
"I plan to end this man's villiany.  You yourself saw that he was trying to
kill you." he replied.  Drawing my strength up, I swung my fist, hard enough
to make his head bounce around inside his helmet.  "Look.  You may be a
paladin of Fist Sollar or whatever order you belong to, but you will not
touch my husband.  I know his words of power, the words he speaks to invoke
Kali's power.  Care to test the mettle of 'an upstart goddess?'"

The paladin's face was set in ice.  He made no move, no comment.  I could
sense he regretted insulting the Soverian gods, but was not ready to make a
move against them at the moment.  His hands twisted on the grip of his
sword, ready to strike at me.  "Fool," I said, "see now the power Kali
grants while the Tamrillian gods deny!  Ignotia per ignotius!"

I had heard and seen Jemalas do this a hundred times.  "Can't be that
hard..." I thought.  A corona of purple magic settled around my hand.  I do
not know what it is like for Jemalas, but it hurt!  Kali's power was flowing
through me, a willing conduit.  I realized the only reason I could do this
is because Jemalas still loved me, otherwise Kali would have just struck me
dead.  I leveled my hand at the paladin and the magic shot off in a purple
beam.  The beam struck his armor.  Though it refracted a bit on contact with
the crystal, the magic seeped through and changed him.  He screamed as he
changed quickly into the shape of a large pool of slime.  "Ha!  I'll leave
you like that for a few hours and see how ready you are to kill Jemalas."  I
turned away to a severely shaken Lady Raven.

Having made sure the good woman would not crash to the earth, I moved from
her expenctant look and walked over to my estranged husband.  I bit my lip
to fight back the tears at what had become of him.  Once so handsome and
strong, my love was now reduced to little more than a skeleton.  His
weaveglow, the light made by a dweomerkeeper's flesh at their will, was
active due to the sudden loss of control of his mind, but barely active.  He
was not glowing, but only had a purple tint about him, making his emaciated
body look all the worse.

I sat down beside him in the tent, placing his head in my lap.  Jemalas was
mumbling, but incoherently.  I stroked his hair, caked with his own blood.
To those of a weaker stomach, Lord Tamislane was nauseating, covered in dry
blood and seeping his red-orange blood from a multitude of scratches and his
two wounds.  I used a bowl of water and a scrap of cloth to clean the grime
away from his face.  As I moved closer to him, I felt a light slap against
my knee.

I looked down and saw Jemalas pouch.  Remembering that it opened onto an
extra-dimensional space, I gently laid Jemalas' head down and went after
Lady Raven.  I took a few hours to explain the mechanics of the bag, but
more importantly, to tell her of the healing items contained within.
Though, I would have to enter Jemalas' mind to see what items are which.

After much prodding and protest, Lady Raven finally relented in lieu of
extreme circumstances.  I laid down beside Jemalas and Raven initiated a
mind link.  I floated through the chaos of Jemalas' mind, dodging the demons
his mind had incorporated the voices into.  Seeing Jemalas' mind plane ego,
I moved on quickly, not wanting to risk damaging him or worse.  He bounced
off the barrier I formed around Lady Raven and I while in his mind.
Finally, he tried to defend the sane portion of his mind.  I gently forced
him back into it and took it.  I gleaned the knowledge of the bag, as well
as his extreme passion, and the fact that since I said I did not want him to
die, he wanted to live, if for nothing else, to keep me happy.  As Lady
Raven broke contact with Jemalas, I was hurtled back to the material world.

Shaking my head to clear the last bits of mental fog away, I stood up and
reached for his pouch, which has an opening the size of a small pack when
opened fully.  I stood up and dropped the pack over me, transporting me to
the other dimension.  Before Raven could follow, two dragons, one black, the
other white, assailed me.  I said softly Jemalas' words of power and the
dragons faded into the ether, mere illusions.  I looked around as Raven
gathered her bearings.  If anyone wants to put down my husband and needs
proof.  Look in his pouch of extradimensional holding.  Everything was lying
in piles, no real separation, just broad groupings.  Armor in one pile,
weapons in another, everything else in another.  What a pig-sty.  I pointed
to a pile containing a couple of staves and we moved toward them.

~Lady Catris Tamislane, Ruler of Kalisis, High Lady of Thornwood, married to
a romantic madman.
jrdavis@penn.com