© 2010 Marvin E. Fuller
Scurrying across the street to the building, she paused for a moment to look over the big, ornately carved wood statues on either side of the door. Could this be a woodcarver's shop, where a local artisan might display his hand-carved wares for sale? Nudging her way in, she saw to her satisfaction her guess had been more than right. Judging by the amount of wood carvings, pottery, and other artisans' wares crammed into almost every conceivable spot in the small building, whoever ran the place made a decent profit off the traffic that passed through town. Two of those potential customers currently browsed the inventory, a bat in foreign dress examining a number of the more intricate items with great interest and his mouse companion who seemed more interested in kicking back a pint at the nearest inn than staring blankly at rows of knickknacks. As Baksrit wondered how to get the attention of the store's proprietor, a hare buck wearing a leather apron materialized out of the back
"May I help you?" the hare asked.
"I hope so," Baksrit said. "I was wondering if you knew someone who had some wood lying around they wouldn't mind getting rid of."
"Depends," the hare cocked his head at her. "What are you looking for?"
"Oh, a good rod of wood, about yay-long," she held her paws about a foot apart. "Maybe a bit shorter, and about as thick around as my thumb. A bit of taper would be nice, but I'm not picky. Rowan, if at all possible."
"A wand, in other words," the hare stroked his chin for a bit, considering the matter. "You're a mage, I reckon?"
"Yes," Baksrit saw no reason to lie. The hare fell silent once more. Baksrit thought that curious.
"Strange you should want one just like that," he finally said. Without further explanation, he vanished into the back, only to quickly reappear with a wand in his paw. He handed it to her so she could examine it.
Whoever had originally made the wand had done a good job. The wand felt smooth to the touch, worn on the thicker end from frequent handling. That it happened to be made of rowan didn't bother her. Rowan served as an excellent default wood for mages of all sorts, even those who didn't have an affinity for it like Baksrit did. The wand's length and diameter happened to be a little bigger than what she had indicated, possibly because it had been originally made for a larger person, but Baksrit hadn't intended to be too picky.
However, the hare's behavior made her suspicious enough to scry the wand for spells, a wise precaution anyway when it came to wands someone else might have used. A mage never knew what unwanted spells might linger on a secondhand wand. She didn't find anything dangerous. What she did find intrigued her.
"How much?" Baksrit turned the wand thoughtfully in her paws. She had not run across such a fascinating bunch of spells in a long time.
"Fifteen groschen," said the hare.
"Five," countered Baksrit, expecting him to haggle.
"Five, then," the hare surprised her. In response to her sharp look, he explained, "I'm too busy to dicker right now."
Baksrit wanted to question him further, but glanced at the other two shoppers and kept her mouth closed.
"Done," Baksrit dug out her money pouch and counted out five coins. "Thanks."
"Thank you for coming," the hare called after her as she left. He didn't sound very hopeful.
Spatters of rain upon the hood of her cloak reminded her of the clouds overhead, forcing her to hurry across the street to the inn. Walking in, she found Kyrinn and Dusky seated at a table talking.
"Find what you wanted?" asked Kyrinn, eyeballing Baksrit's new wand with curiosity.
"I did," she confirmed.
"Looks like a wand," Dusky said, with polite interest.
"It is," perching herself on a stool at their table, Baksrit set the wand on the table before her, then slid her staff under the table. "This used to be someone else's wand, I know not how long ago. It could even be someone's family heirloom long since lost track of. It's also very peculiar."
"How peculiar?" Dusky asked.
"He wouldn't haggle," Baksrit shook her head. "He wanted to get rid of it for some reason. Poor guy. He seemed sick." She stared at the wand as a thought struck her, worrying it over in her head for a moment as the implications sank in.
"Be right back," she suddenly stood and dashed out the door, then rushed back in just long enough to retrieve her staff. Ignoring the rain and easily dodging a wagon racing for cover, Baksrit returned to the woodcarver's shop.
"Is something wrong with the wand?" asked the hare, as she walked in. He didn't look very optimistic.
"No, the wand's fine," Baksrit reassured him. She glanced around, but the bat and mouse had already left. She quickly scried the hare for spells, then kenned deeper to see if her guess had been right.
"Someone's put a geis on you," she said, cutting him off before he could ask what she was doing. "You've had trouble getting rid of this wand."
"Yes," the hare nodded, his long ears perking up.
"Hm. It's a sneaky little geis," she examined the hare's aura for a moment longer before blinking back into normal sight. "I can't dispel it without a lot of preparation and I don't have the time for it. What I can do is move it from you to me. That shouldn't take too long." She focused her mind on the hare, muttering under her breath as she cast the necessary spells to mentally reach out and tug at the geis. When she spoke the final part of the spell, she felt as if something strapped itself into her innards. It didn't seem too bad.
"The geis is mine now," she announced.
"I – wow," the hare rocked on his big feet, a shocked expression on his furry face. "That's– what a relief! How can I ever repay you?"
"It's ten groschen for the spellwork," she winked at him. "The ten I owe you for the wand. This wand is worth it. If you ever need anything I can help you with, you can send word to the Treetop Artemins over by Churls Falls in Gloomhaven. It may take a while, but they'll get the word to me."
"I will," the hare said. Baksrit could see a sparkle had entered his eyes.
"One more thing," she said. "How did you get this wand?"
"A trader gave it to me about three or four years ago," the hare tried to remember. "Four, I think. He said it was causing him trouble and wanted to get rid of it. He seemed so happy to be rid of it he didn't watch where he was going and got hit by a wagon." The hare winced at the memory. "I thought he was a bit moonstruck at the time, but I soon realized why he was so happy. I've not felt well since he died. Not until now, that is."
"Not well? How?" Baksrit prompted. "It may be important for me to know."
"I feel – felt stuffed up," the hare struggled to tell her. "Like – like I wanted to throw something or punch something, but couldn't. Like my arm was full of water that couldn't flow. I felt really lousy."
"That makes sense," Baksrit grinned through her whiskers. "Don't worry. It will never bother you again."
"Thank you," the hare returned her smile as she went out the door.
Outside, the rain came down in buckets, battering her through her cloak. Grumbling at all the mud, she decided to cheat. With a quick spell, she froze the mud in front of her, just enough to stiffen the muck so she could pick her way across the street without messing up her clothes. She shook the excess water off her cloak before going back into the inn and retaking her place at Kyrinn and Dusky's table.
"So what was that all about?" asked Kyrinn. Both she and Dusky fixed her with expectant stares. Baksrit related what she had done with the hare.
"A geis?" Dusky looked skeptical. "Are you sure it's a good idea having one of those on you?"
"I'll be fine," Baksrit idly fiddled with the wand. She didn't want to start delving into the spells she'd found embedded within it until she could find some quiet time alone. "It's only a spelled geis, not one of those self-fulfilling superstitious ones. In fact, I think I can handle it better than the storekeeper could. From what he described, I think the geis has something to do with spellcasting. He wasn't a mage, so couldn't fulfill the geis. I can."
"I hope he doesn't die because you've got it now," Dusky said, bringing up a point Baksrit hadn't thought of.
"He shouldn't," Baksrit said. "I think he got the geis because the trader died first. I took the geis from him, so he should be fine. I can check on him in the morning, just to be on the safe side."
