Posted by Willow, Serna, Irzen & DM
on 6/21/2009, 8:13 am, in reply to "Re: The Curious Case of Tommy Tanaka"
"It is done!" acknowledged Dungeon Master as he rose to his feet once more, "Gamer, please, awake and rise!"
With the return to the Arboretum, the Gamer's appearance changed one final time. Returned to solidity, he now wore the face with which he'd first graced the Realm, hair red and flowing loose. His Chinese-style pants and shirt were similar to his original outfit, though the cloth was a black star field, his belt a sash of golden silk. His Weapon of Power, a red gem matching the Game Master's own talisman, lay open on his chest, glowing dimly.
"Well," Exclaimed the assassin watching the gamer's return, "that's what you call a make-over."
Tommy opened his eyes, seeing first the Dungeon Master standing above him. Softly he whispered, "And you, my father, there on the sad height, Curse, bless me now with your fierce tears, I pray." He blinked then and looked around, finally aware of his surroundings.
Sitting up, apparently not yet ready to stand, the Gamer spoke again. "I…bide a moment." He closed his eyes and took several slow, deep breaths, the gemstone pulsing in time with his heartbeat. After half a minute, the glow reduced to a faint ember, and he opened his eyes once more.
"Thank you all," Tommy said then, eyes moving around the glade to acknowledge his companions. "My, it's nice to have binocular vision again." He smiled. "I think there's a lesson – well, probably several – to be learned here. While it's generally good for your reach to exceed your grasp, it's also good to know your own limits. Unfortunately," he chuckled, flicking lightly at his pendant with one finger, "this thing didn't come with a User Manual." A shake of the head. "Also a bit of the old 'be careful what you ask for…' Borrowing aspects from a couple of major initiatic rites wasn't one of my brightest ideas, given that they were both of the 'succeed or die' variety. I came remarkably close to becoming one with the universe, which from another perspective is the same as ceasing to exist, and I'm not really ready to do either of those, so once more thank you all for calling me back to myself. Or selves, or something like that. It's going to take me a little while to get settled back into my own head, but as…" he looked at the Swordsman. "I think it was you who said, 'we have a world of work ahead of us and so little to time to do it all in.' So let's be about it."
"Nice to have you back, Tommy," Alyson stretched her arms, "note to self, don't go to such extremes when calling in favors, ok?"
"Welcome back, Gamer, your presence is both well-needed and well-wanted," The Ranger walked over to Kana and handed the Wolfen her Lightning Bow, "Thank you again, Kana."
"Welcome home, Master Tommy," chirped Serna with a warm smile, "I'm glad you're back with us, safe and sound."
"Ditto!" added The Swordsman patting his friend on the back, "It is good to have you back. And you are right, we do have a lot of work ahead of us. We have to find Aurilaz the Black Dragon and we have to find The Eleventh Talisman and bring it to Venger without actually giving him the thing. Tough assignment, huh?"
"Do you think that there would be anything on the Talisman in the Library that Venger wants us to get?" Kana asked, deciding that getting straight to the point was better than dwelling on what just happened. Tommy's change in appearance was throwing her off a bit, though she found it interesting that he seemed to smell the same.
"The answer to all that you seek does lie within The Great Library, Archer," admitted the Dungeon Master sadly, "But bear this in mind, my young pupils, The Eleventh Talisman cannot be taken it must be given. For the Talisman must always have a bearer and the bearer must always have the Talisman."
"What in the Realm does that mean?" asked Serna with a questioning look.
When everyone turned their attention back to Dungeon Master for the answer, the Gnome was gone.
In his place though, War Scribe popped up with a book cart laden with ancient tomes, scrolls and stone tablets, "Okay, everyone, I have everything we need to bring back ol' Laughing Boy. I have tomes for resurrection, scrolls for healing, tablets on raising the undead, the half-dead, the mostly-dead and the just a little dead back to life. Muwha! Ha! Ha! Ha!"
Suddenly she stopped and took the full measure of the now revived Gamer, "Hey! What are you doing up and about? Shouldn't you be on your way to paying an up close and personal visit with Death right about now? What gives?"
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