The Beauty of the Garden

[Diamond Master]

There is another thunderclap.

You are pulled forcefully into the dimension of the Trickster.

There are roaring fireplaces on three sides.

One side has a dead nut tree.

Cats sleep lazily in front of the fires.

Whenever you look into the fire, it flares up menacingly and you feel yourself uncomfortably pulled toward the fire.

Your mount flies toward a corner of the room. There you see a missing brick in the fireplace. Through the hole, you see not a chimney, but a view of a black version of the Diamond Gardens.

Where. Nothing. Shines.



The hole trembles and oscillates. You know big magic is at work here.

[Nor Dingkundar]

"Monkey not fun trickses. Monkey use stink trickses." Nor growled angrily, powers ebbing and flowing with less control than usual. Random patches start having gravity shift variably, ground underfoot starts to singe as Nor walks to the nut tree. "Him wants trickses and games. Nor can trickses and games." Ripping the aether, Nor tosses the newly tribe lizards back through to the garden, even they feeling the starts of the powers that were running rampage through Nor. Nor latches onto the tree and set it ablaze, then turns to the room, straddling over the cats and sending out a gravitational crush outward as wide as possible, sending everything flat to the ground save the few foot patch the cats inhabit before retreating back through the aether hole. Nor lands with a smack, leaving a singed body print on the ground where he lands.

[Yerkan of Elish]

I sigh softly. "Well, I suppose I ought to do something about all of this."

I step lightly through the fabric of the ether, and worm my way through the areas with the safest gravity in the Trickster's realm. I pause to look at the flaming nut tree, and then turn my eyes to the hole. I sit down next to a cat and twist perception so that it seems as though I belong there. Anyone mortal and many deities as well would scarcely notice my existence as anything more than a small detail. I stroke the cat thoughtfully and wait for the Trickster.

[Diamond Master]

The Trickster eventually arrives. He stares at the burning tree. As he stares, most of the flames turn slowly into almost-blindingly shiny perfect ruby. He grins, and caresses a burning branch. It buds out, grows a small spray of flowers, then turns into a couple fuzzy-husked nuts. He nods and lets them mature at a more natural speed, then begins setting up the fireplaces again.

The hole into the aether has healed, but the fireplace once again contains the hole into the darker Garden.

Suddenly a voice directly behind Yerkan whispers "What brings you here?"

[Steepest Durin]

Durin chuckles at Nor's plight, but keeps an eye on th' Trickster.

[Yerkan of Elish]

"Well, I heard some noises coming from this way and thought I would check it out. We can't have potential council members going in and wreaking havoc now can we? Especially not when innocent cats might be put in danger. And besides, it's quite a nice place that you have here. I'm afraid I can't say the same for my realm, anymore."

[Diamond Master]

He absentmindedly shreds a lizard scale Nor left behind.

You hold up one finger as he says
"One. When you say potential Council members, do you mean that kobold? I pity your Council, if so. Wreaking havoc, however, he does like a charmed one. I'm quite impressed. Doesn't mean I forgive the little lizard, though."

You find yourself holding up another finger.

"Two. If you want your realm back, you have only to say so."

A third finger unfolds itself from Yerkan's palm.

"The time of my cats has not come yet. You're welcome to send the Egyptian boy in to check on them."


Yerkan regains control of his hands.

"First they send an infant trickster. Then they send a pubescent explorer. You want to see a new world, Methuselah? Stick your eye up to that hole in the fireplace and feast on what you see. Just watch out for sharp claws..."

[Yerkan of Elish]

"Send, send, send. You sound as though this is all "The Council's" doing, as though I have no motives of my own. Certainly there was some sending when we had no idea who or what you were. Perhaps we still do not. It is not my intention to tell you all of my suspicions or all of my knowledge.

"But really, you think that they sent me to you? I have given them no reports on you in a long time; we are gods and see far enough without me upsetting the delicate balance of my own goals. Me reporting to them on you would probably harm them even more than me keeping to myself, given your sense of humor.

"Infant trickster. Pubescent explorer. These insults are out of place, and I take no offence at them. Age has little meaning these days, and I am content with my current position. There is no shame in being less Steep than another.

"What you want and what you are planning or working on, I do not pretend to know. But hear this: it has been some time since you surprised me, if ever you have."

I transform into my sturdiest form: that of a Tick, and crawl up to peer into the hole.

I chuckle. "Well, if nothing else, I was right; even the great Trickster agrees."

[Nor Dingkundar]

Nor gets up from his singed crater, screaming "HEAR ME NOW, MONKEY BEAST! YOU THINK CAN TRICKSES, NOR CAN TRICKSES TOO! NOR WILL FEED MONKEY BEAST TO TRIBE IF MONKEY BEAST THINK CAN OUT TRICKSES NOR!" Nor then looked at his half melted armor, contemplating the need for something a little less prone to damage from temper and walked through a wormhole to Crognac.

[Tiger Henge]

The Gardens are full of things that glitter.

Strangely, Nor, you keep noticing riches that disappear as you approach.

For example, you spot a bright gem in the staff of a statue in the next ridge. By the time you have flown up over the ridge and to the statue, the gem is gone, leaving just some crumbling plaster or snapped bolts in its place.

that's so cool and exactly what I envisioned. the garden distracts all from grounds around it .