RPG Replay: "Fall of Magic," GenCon 2016 / Part 2: The Oak Hills
(Continued from part 1)
Caspian: I think it's time for the Magus to move to the Oak Hills.
Host: Everyone take back their tokens.
Caspian: So this is in the Magus's words?
Host: Yes, so when you play the Magus, show us who they are, what they're thinking, and how we travel together. Just as you would your own character.
Caspian: Okay.
Host: And you're going to describe to us the Oak Hills first, and eventually the ending of summer.
*** Magus / The Oak Hills: The Ending of Summer ***
Caspian: The Magus is looking out of his tower over the hills. He furrows his brow and makes a dour face. He walks over to a large wardrobe and pulls out a long, thick cloak with a fur trim along the top. Then he turns, and Vago will be there. He says to Vago, "Are you a traveling man?"
Vago: "I've ... crossed some roads, sir."
Caspian/Magus: "The Oak Hills?"
Vago: "Not before."
Caspian/Magus: "It's time."
Vago: "Your slippers, sir?"
Caspian/Magus: "No. Not the slippers, not the sweeping, not the garden. This is the last summer."
Vago: "And what comes after next spring?"
Caspian/Magus: "For you, perhaps another summer."
Vago: "You don't mean that."
Caspian/Magus: "I appreciate the pleasantries, really, Vago. But we must ready for travel--you, myself, the boys, the scholar."
Vago: "All right. I'll arrange your horse and the coach then."
Caspian/Magus: He stares out over the hills, and the way he sees, it isn't just the hills from a distance; he sees closer. It moves in, and he can see the workers in the fields. He can see the wheat moving and growing and reaching its height. He's like, "Yes."
Vago: "The coach."
Caspian/Magus: "Yes, the coach. All the provisions we can carry."
Vago: "A long trip?"
Caspian/Magus: "My last."
Vago: "Oh."
Caspian/Magus: "Yes."
Vago: I back out of the room and close the door behind me.
Caspian: As you close the door, he's looking off in the distance, and he can see a tree. It's a very stout oak with a very broad trunk to it, and as he's watching, the leaves he sees, just on the edges of it, just slightly start to turn brown and golden. He turns back on his heel and goes to the door.
Harp: You get to describe Oak Hills too, don't you?
Host: I think that was the description.
Harp: Oh! Got it.
Host: It was a little unorthodox because he was describing it from a distance, but it's going to be fine, because now we'll still be there.
Caspian: Sure.
*** Vago / At Dawn: Your Morning Ritual ***
Vago: I think at dawn, Vago's morning ritual would consist of...
Host: First...
Vago: Oh, sorry. At dawn. They've been a few days on the road. The inn that they're staying at is in a nice, rolling part of the Oak Hills. It's wooded nearby; you could miss the place if you weren't looking for it. A few other people are staying at this particular inn. Vago tries to be up early, but the innkeeper is up earlier somehow; does this guy sleep? Pots are clanging downstairs. Bacon smells throughout the place just over the stables. Light is just breaking across the canopy of trees.
Vago wakes up. They've been traveling for a few days now, and the Magus insists on covering as much ground as possible. He seems like he's got somewhere to be, more so than enjoying his leisurely trip, so Vago does his best to get horses ready. He comes down and visits with the innkeeper for just a moment.
"Thank you. Yes, we'll be leaving very early today. No, nothing you've done wrong. No, no, don't worry about it; everything's fine. I'll see to the horses. Please arrange for breakfast. A small breakfast. We'll be leaving very shortly. --No, again, nothing you've done wrong. Please stop. I'll be back."
He sees to the horses; they've been brushed down the night before, but saddling takes a while. Making sure that the horses are fed and watered in the morning is all part of what Vago does every day now, and he'll take the horses out of the stable, tie them up outside, and then go to see to the Magus.
He takes the breakfast from the trays downstairs up the stairs with him. Here comes another one of his weird, wistful looks over the horizon. Get ready for it.
[pause]
I keep on forgetting the importance of the location when I start doing my scene.
Host: It's an easy thing to forget. But it makes it feel much more potent, doesn't it?
Vago: It really does, yeah.
Piccolo: So as of the end of your scene, we were just leaving, then?
Vago: Just about to leave, yeah.
Host: And as always, don't feel restricted by that.
Piccolo: Okay.
*** Piccolo / Making Camp: Wealthy/Cunning/Kind ***
Piccolo: It's the first night of our journey. We've made camp. It's an open field, but the Magus still travels in style. There's a large tent for him and his apprentice and a smaller tent for Vago and Piccolo to live in. Harp had joined us not too long ago and has a tent of her own, as befitting a scholar. Piccolo has just finished pounding in some tent stakes and was going to report to Caspian that he's finished when he runs into Harp.
Harp: Okay.
Piccolo: "So, have you spoken to him yet? To the Magus?
Harp: "Uh--"
Piccolo: "I mean, I know you've spoken to him, but have you spoken to him yet?"
Harp: "No, I haven't. It may sound silly, but he makes me nervous."
Piccolo: "I think that's natural. I think he makes everyone nervous. He's probably the most powerful man in the world."
Harp: "Well, yes, thank you. You've just explained why he makes me nervous, but now he'll make me even more nervous if I think about that, so, um ... But I suppose I've got to find a way to do it somehow. Maybe if I ... well, how did you wind up serving him?"
Piccolo: "He found me, at the scrying pool. He's just got a way about himself. I'd approach him plainly. If he wants to talk to you, he'll talk to you. I mean, he's powerful, but he's not pretentious. He's just the Magus."
Harp: [to herself] "Interesting. Does he find everyone at the scrying pool, I wonder? Maybe he's the one who scries there."
Piccolo: "Well, anyhow, you seem like you do okay for yourself. You're a scholar--does that mean you went to the college at Ravenhall?"
Harp: "Well, originally I came from Istallia. I wanted to go to Ravenhall because of course I'd heard of all the many wonders of the city. So I studied very hard and tried to arrange to be in the right place at the right time so that I could be seen to be studying hard. I suppose that isn't very credible of me, but I always felt that I wasn't quite as clever as everyone else, you see, so I had to make up for it in some other ways."
Piccolo: "If you're looking to learn something, I suppose there is no better place."
Harp: "No. And you certainly have done well in the time you've been there."
Piccolo: "Thank you. You know, when I first met him, I couldn't bear to even meet his eyes. I think it's been good for me. I think I've become a bit more confident. So hopefully we'll all find what we're looking for."
Harp: "Yes. Yes. Approach him openly--wow. Well, I suppose that's not very different from standing in front of the headmistress with my book open."
Piccolo: "I mean, you are a noble, right?"
Harp: "Well, minor nobility. As nobles go, not much to speak of."
Piccolo: "I've seen nobles. They always seem like they belong somewhere. So just act like you belong; just don't insist upon it."
Harp: "Thank you."
Piccolo: I'm going to mark her with "wealthy."
[Harp passes her character card to Piccolo, and he adds "wealthy" to it.]
Vago: Because to a pig farmer, she is incredibly wealthy?
Piccolo: Yeah.
[Piccolo passes Harp's card back to her.]
Harp: Thank you. And now it is my turn, eh? All right.
*** Harp / The Harper's Road: Who You Left Behind ***
Harp: So, another day as we are traveling along the Harper's Road, I notice ... let's see, it's getting to be late summer. I notice, off to the side of the road, a plum tree with big, ripe plums on it and suggest that we stop and refresh ourselves with the fruit, since it appears to be just growing by the way and doesn't seem to be part of anyone's orchard. I can see that these are the kind that have the yellow flesh and are very sweet. The taste of that reminds me of when I was a little girl running about on a day very similar to today with the son of the master of our stables, who was about my age. When we were children, we were inseparable. Many a time, we would climb the plum trees behind the house. One would climb the tree and throw the fruit down to the other, and then we would scamper off somewhere and enjoy it in secret.
We were allowed to play together until we were about eleven years old, and then somehow, mysteriously, he wasn't allowed to see me. His father would tell me that he was very busy, and after that went on for a month or so, suddenly he was sent away to be apprenticed at another family's home. Not too long after that, I was sent away to the academy. But I've always wondered what happened to him. I suppose probably he's somewhere, married with eight children by now, but I think wistfully about him.
Caspian: Plum-shagging duty probably falls to these two [indicating Vago and Piccolo]. Do you insist on climbing the plum tree as a matter of reminiscence?
Harp: I would be perfectly willing to stand underneath and hold my skirts out to catch them.
Host: The people may just be thinking about plums. [?]
Harp: So I can be standing there, and you can be throwing the plums down to me.
Vago: I've just climbed up there, shaking a branch.
Harp: I'll dash around trying to catch them. Actually, despite making her a little bit wistful, this actually really cheers Harp up. This is probably the first time you have seen her laugh like this.
Vago: "You must like plums!"
Harp: "I love plums! Get some more!"
Vago: [To Piccolo] "This branch."
Caspian: On to me?
Harp: Yes.
Caspian: Okie-dokie. Doo-de-doo ... we're going to move on again.
Host: You actually, unfortunately, cannot yet, because your token's not on the board.
Caspian: Oh, right! I'm cheating.
Piccolo: Are you trying to blitz us, son?
Caspian: I know! I was like, "Let's move it along!"
Host: And double Magus, huh?
Harp: We also weren't going to have a scene from Caspian this round.
Host: If you're in a hurry to move on, just have a short scene.
Caspian: Eee ... okay. I'm just trying to think. That was the problem, you see; I planned ahead.
Host: I know.
Caspian: I'm a fool.
Host: Sorry, sorry.
Caspian: No, that's cool.
Host: The key is, when you're feeling like "Oh man, I don't know what to do," just put yourself somewhere and start describing it. Let the scene naturally unfold.
*** Caspian / By Firelight: A Comfort from Home ***
Caspian: We're camping in a clearing by a forest, so we're surrounded by trees. Caspian is sitting on a stump right near the fire. He reaches into a pouch on his belt, and he pulls out some seeds and some acorns that he's looking at and smiling. He looks over to Vago; Vago is sitting against a tree, just kind of whittling away at a fallen twig or branch.
"They make me think of potential--what they'll grow into."
Vago: "It takes a long time."
Caspian: "They grow up big and strong. They last many years."
Vago: "Without undue interference, yeah. Maybe one of them will be a boat."
Caspian: "Maybe. That's potential too, in its own way. So maybe after things are dead and gone, they can still be useful. I don't think that's sad."
Vago: "Would you like to be a boat?"
Caspian: "It is nice to travel."
Vago: "It's nice to have roots too."
Caspian: "You've spent a lot of time running."
Vago: "Not long enough, I suppose. I spent too long in one place--the wrong place."
Caspian: "Well, sometimes you have to lift up your roots."
Vago: "I'm a free man. [Gesturing] Open sky ... no shackles ... shoes. The Magus is a good man."
Caspian: "He is."
Vago: "He did this. This will last once he's passed."
Caspian: "That's up to you. That's your potential."
Vago: "He thinks this is his last summer. Does he know everything that will happen? Does he know when his demise will come?"
Caspian: "Who's to say? Some people try to see the future, but I think it's just because they're afraid of the past. The scrying pool only shows you what always happens. It's only what we do with our hands that will change it." He puts the seeds back in the pouch. "Maybe we'll cross the ocean."
Vago: "I've never seen the ocean."
[Caspian gestures that he is finished. Vago places his token on "Making Camp."]
*** Vago / Making Camp: Wealthy/Cunning/Kind ***
Vago: The night is quiet. The fires have died down. The moon is high in the sky. There are crickets and nightingales very, very gently chirping and singing. Vago, who had been asleep, bolts upright and runs out of the tent into the cold night. This will wake Piccolo. He runs several paces outside of the tent and then stumbles and falls to his knees.
Piccolo: "Vago! What is it?"
Vago: [Gasps, then comes to himself] "Piccolo. I'm sorry."
Piccolo: "No, what is it?"
Vago: "A dream. I ... I thought I heard dogs."
Piccolo: "I've been awake for a little while. Actually, I was going to go swimming in the river. It seemed like a nice night for it."
Vago: "You go ahead. I don't want to go to the river."
Piccolo: "But I didn't hear dogs. You're safe here. I don't know exactly what chases you, what hounds your spirit, but this is probably the safest place you could ever be in."
Vago: "Then it's a shame we're leaving in the morning."
Piccolo: [laughs] "Let me clarify; I think that with the Magus is probably the safest place you could ever be."
Vago: "Then it's a shame his time is passing."
Piccolo: "Mm. As it does."
Vago: "Do you know--has he spoken to you? Does everything that he sees come to be? I asked the apprentice, and he said, 'Who's to say?' Something about fearing the past. I don't understand."
Piccolo: "When I first met him, he said if I followed him, I'd understand myself. It hasn't happened yet. But ... you've got to enjoy things while they last. Don't worry too much about what will happen, because you'll miss out on the good things that are happening. We had a good time today catching the plums, just the three of us. What will happen to the Magus will happen to the Magus, and what will happen to us will happen to us. But if I hear of anyone chasing you, I'll let you know. That's the best I can do for you. Sorry."
Vago: "That is an excellent kindness, and I will take it. Thank you. And with that in mind, I think I will eat the last of the plums while they last." I eat a plum and go to bed.
[He writes "kind" on Piccolo's card.]
That was very reassuring. Thank you.
*** Piccolo / Harper's Road: Who You Left Behind ***
Piccolo: Harper's Road is near a river, and it's, as rivers go, relatively clean. It stays warm even when the weather turns cold for a spell. The year before I left, on a full moon, I would swim with the neighbors' daughter. We didn't really tell anyone, but it's something that we did. Then one night, it was a full moon, just like it was tonight. We were swimming, and she saw something, and then she ran home; she never talked to me. I think that's part of why my foster father sent me away. But I still like to swim. The night, the moon--it's so beautiful.
One of the things that I took with me was a pendant. It wasn't made by a goldsmith or a silversmith; it was just made by the town blacksmith, and it was just a memento, one of the few things I took with me when I left. But even in the warm water, even on a night like this, it just feels so cold, so cold around my neck.
Vago: Is that cold comforting to you, or is it--?
Piccolo: No, it's just bitter cold.
And that's a short one; that's all I got.
Harp: All righty. I think it's time to move to Barleytown.
(Concluded in part 3)
Caspian: I think it's time for the Magus to move to the Oak Hills.
Host: Everyone take back their tokens.
Caspian: So this is in the Magus's words?
Host: Yes, so when you play the Magus, show us who they are, what they're thinking, and how we travel together. Just as you would your own character.
Caspian: Okay.
Host: And you're going to describe to us the Oak Hills first, and eventually the ending of summer.
*** Magus / The Oak Hills: The Ending of Summer ***
Caspian: The Magus is looking out of his tower over the hills. He furrows his brow and makes a dour face. He walks over to a large wardrobe and pulls out a long, thick cloak with a fur trim along the top. Then he turns, and Vago will be there. He says to Vago, "Are you a traveling man?"
Vago: "I've ... crossed some roads, sir."
Caspian/Magus: "The Oak Hills?"
Vago: "Not before."
Caspian/Magus: "It's time."
Vago: "Your slippers, sir?"
Caspian/Magus: "No. Not the slippers, not the sweeping, not the garden. This is the last summer."
Vago: "And what comes after next spring?"
Caspian/Magus: "For you, perhaps another summer."
Vago: "You don't mean that."
Caspian/Magus: "I appreciate the pleasantries, really, Vago. But we must ready for travel--you, myself, the boys, the scholar."
Vago: "All right. I'll arrange your horse and the coach then."
Caspian/Magus: He stares out over the hills, and the way he sees, it isn't just the hills from a distance; he sees closer. It moves in, and he can see the workers in the fields. He can see the wheat moving and growing and reaching its height. He's like, "Yes."
Vago: "The coach."
Caspian/Magus: "Yes, the coach. All the provisions we can carry."
Vago: "A long trip?"
Caspian/Magus: "My last."
Vago: "Oh."
Caspian/Magus: "Yes."
Vago: I back out of the room and close the door behind me.
Caspian: As you close the door, he's looking off in the distance, and he can see a tree. It's a very stout oak with a very broad trunk to it, and as he's watching, the leaves he sees, just on the edges of it, just slightly start to turn brown and golden. He turns back on his heel and goes to the door.
Harp: You get to describe Oak Hills too, don't you?
Host: I think that was the description.
Harp: Oh! Got it.
Host: It was a little unorthodox because he was describing it from a distance, but it's going to be fine, because now we'll still be there.
Caspian: Sure.
*** Vago / At Dawn: Your Morning Ritual ***
Vago: I think at dawn, Vago's morning ritual would consist of...
Host: First...
Vago: Oh, sorry. At dawn. They've been a few days on the road. The inn that they're staying at is in a nice, rolling part of the Oak Hills. It's wooded nearby; you could miss the place if you weren't looking for it. A few other people are staying at this particular inn. Vago tries to be up early, but the innkeeper is up earlier somehow; does this guy sleep? Pots are clanging downstairs. Bacon smells throughout the place just over the stables. Light is just breaking across the canopy of trees.
Vago wakes up. They've been traveling for a few days now, and the Magus insists on covering as much ground as possible. He seems like he's got somewhere to be, more so than enjoying his leisurely trip, so Vago does his best to get horses ready. He comes down and visits with the innkeeper for just a moment.
"Thank you. Yes, we'll be leaving very early today. No, nothing you've done wrong. No, no, don't worry about it; everything's fine. I'll see to the horses. Please arrange for breakfast. A small breakfast. We'll be leaving very shortly. --No, again, nothing you've done wrong. Please stop. I'll be back."
He sees to the horses; they've been brushed down the night before, but saddling takes a while. Making sure that the horses are fed and watered in the morning is all part of what Vago does every day now, and he'll take the horses out of the stable, tie them up outside, and then go to see to the Magus.
He takes the breakfast from the trays downstairs up the stairs with him. Here comes another one of his weird, wistful looks over the horizon. Get ready for it.
[pause]
I keep on forgetting the importance of the location when I start doing my scene.
Host: It's an easy thing to forget. But it makes it feel much more potent, doesn't it?
Vago: It really does, yeah.
Piccolo: So as of the end of your scene, we were just leaving, then?
Vago: Just about to leave, yeah.
Host: And as always, don't feel restricted by that.
Piccolo: Okay.
*** Piccolo / Making Camp: Wealthy/Cunning/Kind ***
Piccolo: It's the first night of our journey. We've made camp. It's an open field, but the Magus still travels in style. There's a large tent for him and his apprentice and a smaller tent for Vago and Piccolo to live in. Harp had joined us not too long ago and has a tent of her own, as befitting a scholar. Piccolo has just finished pounding in some tent stakes and was going to report to Caspian that he's finished when he runs into Harp.
Harp: Okay.
Piccolo: "So, have you spoken to him yet? To the Magus?
Harp: "Uh--"
Piccolo: "I mean, I know you've spoken to him, but have you spoken to him yet?"
Harp: "No, I haven't. It may sound silly, but he makes me nervous."
Piccolo: "I think that's natural. I think he makes everyone nervous. He's probably the most powerful man in the world."
Harp: "Well, yes, thank you. You've just explained why he makes me nervous, but now he'll make me even more nervous if I think about that, so, um ... But I suppose I've got to find a way to do it somehow. Maybe if I ... well, how did you wind up serving him?"
Piccolo: "He found me, at the scrying pool. He's just got a way about himself. I'd approach him plainly. If he wants to talk to you, he'll talk to you. I mean, he's powerful, but he's not pretentious. He's just the Magus."
Harp: [to herself] "Interesting. Does he find everyone at the scrying pool, I wonder? Maybe he's the one who scries there."
Piccolo: "Well, anyhow, you seem like you do okay for yourself. You're a scholar--does that mean you went to the college at Ravenhall?"
Harp: "Well, originally I came from Istallia. I wanted to go to Ravenhall because of course I'd heard of all the many wonders of the city. So I studied very hard and tried to arrange to be in the right place at the right time so that I could be seen to be studying hard. I suppose that isn't very credible of me, but I always felt that I wasn't quite as clever as everyone else, you see, so I had to make up for it in some other ways."
Piccolo: "If you're looking to learn something, I suppose there is no better place."
Harp: "No. And you certainly have done well in the time you've been there."
Piccolo: "Thank you. You know, when I first met him, I couldn't bear to even meet his eyes. I think it's been good for me. I think I've become a bit more confident. So hopefully we'll all find what we're looking for."
Harp: "Yes. Yes. Approach him openly--wow. Well, I suppose that's not very different from standing in front of the headmistress with my book open."
Piccolo: "I mean, you are a noble, right?"
Harp: "Well, minor nobility. As nobles go, not much to speak of."
Piccolo: "I've seen nobles. They always seem like they belong somewhere. So just act like you belong; just don't insist upon it."
Harp: "Thank you."
Piccolo: I'm going to mark her with "wealthy."
[Harp passes her character card to Piccolo, and he adds "wealthy" to it.]
Vago: Because to a pig farmer, she is incredibly wealthy?
Piccolo: Yeah.
[Piccolo passes Harp's card back to her.]
Harp: Thank you. And now it is my turn, eh? All right.
*** Harp / The Harper's Road: Who You Left Behind ***
Harp: So, another day as we are traveling along the Harper's Road, I notice ... let's see, it's getting to be late summer. I notice, off to the side of the road, a plum tree with big, ripe plums on it and suggest that we stop and refresh ourselves with the fruit, since it appears to be just growing by the way and doesn't seem to be part of anyone's orchard. I can see that these are the kind that have the yellow flesh and are very sweet. The taste of that reminds me of when I was a little girl running about on a day very similar to today with the son of the master of our stables, who was about my age. When we were children, we were inseparable. Many a time, we would climb the plum trees behind the house. One would climb the tree and throw the fruit down to the other, and then we would scamper off somewhere and enjoy it in secret.
We were allowed to play together until we were about eleven years old, and then somehow, mysteriously, he wasn't allowed to see me. His father would tell me that he was very busy, and after that went on for a month or so, suddenly he was sent away to be apprenticed at another family's home. Not too long after that, I was sent away to the academy. But I've always wondered what happened to him. I suppose probably he's somewhere, married with eight children by now, but I think wistfully about him.
Caspian: Plum-shagging duty probably falls to these two [indicating Vago and Piccolo]. Do you insist on climbing the plum tree as a matter of reminiscence?
Harp: I would be perfectly willing to stand underneath and hold my skirts out to catch them.
Host: The people may just be thinking about plums. [?]
Harp: So I can be standing there, and you can be throwing the plums down to me.
Vago: I've just climbed up there, shaking a branch.
Harp: I'll dash around trying to catch them. Actually, despite making her a little bit wistful, this actually really cheers Harp up. This is probably the first time you have seen her laugh like this.
Vago: "You must like plums!"
Harp: "I love plums! Get some more!"
Vago: [To Piccolo] "This branch."
Caspian: On to me?
Harp: Yes.
Caspian: Okie-dokie. Doo-de-doo ... we're going to move on again.
Host: You actually, unfortunately, cannot yet, because your token's not on the board.
Caspian: Oh, right! I'm cheating.
Piccolo: Are you trying to blitz us, son?
Caspian: I know! I was like, "Let's move it along!"
Host: And double Magus, huh?
Harp: We also weren't going to have a scene from Caspian this round.
Host: If you're in a hurry to move on, just have a short scene.
Caspian: Eee ... okay. I'm just trying to think. That was the problem, you see; I planned ahead.
Host: I know.
Caspian: I'm a fool.
Host: Sorry, sorry.
Caspian: No, that's cool.
Host: The key is, when you're feeling like "Oh man, I don't know what to do," just put yourself somewhere and start describing it. Let the scene naturally unfold.
*** Caspian / By Firelight: A Comfort from Home ***
Caspian: We're camping in a clearing by a forest, so we're surrounded by trees. Caspian is sitting on a stump right near the fire. He reaches into a pouch on his belt, and he pulls out some seeds and some acorns that he's looking at and smiling. He looks over to Vago; Vago is sitting against a tree, just kind of whittling away at a fallen twig or branch.
"They make me think of potential--what they'll grow into."
Vago: "It takes a long time."
Caspian: "They grow up big and strong. They last many years."
Vago: "Without undue interference, yeah. Maybe one of them will be a boat."
Caspian: "Maybe. That's potential too, in its own way. So maybe after things are dead and gone, they can still be useful. I don't think that's sad."
Vago: "Would you like to be a boat?"
Caspian: "It is nice to travel."
Vago: "It's nice to have roots too."
Caspian: "You've spent a lot of time running."
Vago: "Not long enough, I suppose. I spent too long in one place--the wrong place."
Caspian: "Well, sometimes you have to lift up your roots."
Vago: "I'm a free man. [Gesturing] Open sky ... no shackles ... shoes. The Magus is a good man."
Caspian: "He is."
Vago: "He did this. This will last once he's passed."
Caspian: "That's up to you. That's your potential."
Vago: "He thinks this is his last summer. Does he know everything that will happen? Does he know when his demise will come?"
Caspian: "Who's to say? Some people try to see the future, but I think it's just because they're afraid of the past. The scrying pool only shows you what always happens. It's only what we do with our hands that will change it." He puts the seeds back in the pouch. "Maybe we'll cross the ocean."
Vago: "I've never seen the ocean."
[Caspian gestures that he is finished. Vago places his token on "Making Camp."]
*** Vago / Making Camp: Wealthy/Cunning/Kind ***
Vago: The night is quiet. The fires have died down. The moon is high in the sky. There are crickets and nightingales very, very gently chirping and singing. Vago, who had been asleep, bolts upright and runs out of the tent into the cold night. This will wake Piccolo. He runs several paces outside of the tent and then stumbles and falls to his knees.
Piccolo: "Vago! What is it?"
Vago: [Gasps, then comes to himself] "Piccolo. I'm sorry."
Piccolo: "No, what is it?"
Vago: "A dream. I ... I thought I heard dogs."
Piccolo: "I've been awake for a little while. Actually, I was going to go swimming in the river. It seemed like a nice night for it."
Vago: "You go ahead. I don't want to go to the river."
Piccolo: "But I didn't hear dogs. You're safe here. I don't know exactly what chases you, what hounds your spirit, but this is probably the safest place you could ever be in."
Vago: "Then it's a shame we're leaving in the morning."
Piccolo: [laughs] "Let me clarify; I think that with the Magus is probably the safest place you could ever be."
Vago: "Then it's a shame his time is passing."
Piccolo: "Mm. As it does."
Vago: "Do you know--has he spoken to you? Does everything that he sees come to be? I asked the apprentice, and he said, 'Who's to say?' Something about fearing the past. I don't understand."
Piccolo: "When I first met him, he said if I followed him, I'd understand myself. It hasn't happened yet. But ... you've got to enjoy things while they last. Don't worry too much about what will happen, because you'll miss out on the good things that are happening. We had a good time today catching the plums, just the three of us. What will happen to the Magus will happen to the Magus, and what will happen to us will happen to us. But if I hear of anyone chasing you, I'll let you know. That's the best I can do for you. Sorry."
Vago: "That is an excellent kindness, and I will take it. Thank you. And with that in mind, I think I will eat the last of the plums while they last." I eat a plum and go to bed.
[He writes "kind" on Piccolo's card.]
That was very reassuring. Thank you.
*** Piccolo / Harper's Road: Who You Left Behind ***
Piccolo: Harper's Road is near a river, and it's, as rivers go, relatively clean. It stays warm even when the weather turns cold for a spell. The year before I left, on a full moon, I would swim with the neighbors' daughter. We didn't really tell anyone, but it's something that we did. Then one night, it was a full moon, just like it was tonight. We were swimming, and she saw something, and then she ran home; she never talked to me. I think that's part of why my foster father sent me away. But I still like to swim. The night, the moon--it's so beautiful.
One of the things that I took with me was a pendant. It wasn't made by a goldsmith or a silversmith; it was just made by the town blacksmith, and it was just a memento, one of the few things I took with me when I left. But even in the warm water, even on a night like this, it just feels so cold, so cold around my neck.
Vago: Is that cold comforting to you, or is it--?
Piccolo: No, it's just bitter cold.
And that's a short one; that's all I got.
Harp: All righty. I think it's time to move to Barleytown.
(Concluded in part 3)