At the top of the crow’s nest a small creature nested in a nook of her own making. A winged lady about a foot tall sat working on something mechanical. When action erupted on the deck, she hid, disguising herself well within the crows nest. She had built a small apartment attached to it, that looked like it was part of the structure of the nest so she could blend in. When night fell she went forth form the crows nest loft to investigate what had occurred.
Down through the damaged, but mostly intact, grated hatch she could see a lantern illuminating the area above the hold. It was difficult to make out what was in there but with the light she saw there was an assortment of crates below. She wondered what could be in them. In the center of the light was a well lit creature that cried as it sang a horrible song,
“I’m never gonna get big, I’m never gonna get big!”
Fascinated by the mechanical nature of the musical instrument the creature singing was using, Drexla snuck down into the hold to get a closer look. She was able to sneak behind the creature and get a quick look at the bottom of the mechanical lute thing. There was a logo on there of a wheel cog and the letters C.O.G. She immediately recognized it as a creature of the Dimmin Empire and that was the mark of its ruling body. A stamp of approval by the government. It was an enticing piece of equipment for Drexla to have but it was easily three times her size. She wouldn’t be able to carry it out without issue.
Drexla turned away from her unattainable treasure and came face to face with a horror scene of bloody smears all over the crates in the hold. This gave her a nasty idea. Drexla, seeing that the creature was sitting close to crates, snuck up behind him once more. This time, she pressed the tip of her dagger into the back of his neck.
“Just do it, just do it” came the weak mutter from Miguel.
Drexla shrugged and went with it. Affecting a deep voice she told Miguel,
“Step away from the lute and get back to your crate!”
Crying in giant heaves, Miguel just kept his eyes closed and raised the lute above his head in offering. Drexla went to take it but it proved heavier than she thought. Good thing she came prepared. With the push of a button, her gauntlet injected some strength serum into her but her intelligence would diminish greatly. She could already feel her thoughts slowing down.
She set the lute down on the ground next to him and commanded him once again,
“Go to your crate and face the wall.”
Miguel cried some more before answering,
“But she destroyed the wall!”
Miguel began to blubber about his mishaps up to this point as he continued sobbing in between.
After seeing that she was getting nowhere with the sobbing creature, Drexla walked off with the lute into a corner to examine it better. Upon further inspection she realized that it needed a small power source that she did not have. So she handed it back to the creature but he didn’t make a move to take it. He just sat there, deadpan staring at it. It had been taken and given back so many times now, he just didn’t care anymore. With an awkward, bashful look she set the item back at his feet and moved to inspect the crates around her.
There were a couple of mangled crates that probably belonged to the creatures that broke out and there was another large crate with the lid askew to one side. She went to take a look inside. Heaving the lid to one side, she turned back to see what she had found and a cloud of sparkling powder puffed up into her face at the movement of the lid. It clogged up her airways and she coughed as she inhaled it without meaning to.
But…whoah….that rush of power and energy!
Her senses lit up with a plethora of ideas and the drive to make as much as she could. Equations, blueprints, and charts began forming around her in tangible representation of her thoughts. She could reach up and move the awesome forms around as she needed. Without further thought she plopped down right then and there to frantically begin drafting blueprints for a foldable boat that could be carried with one on land and unfolded when interacting with bodies of water. It was perfect!
Drexla’s eyes sparkled with the same shine as the iridescent powder she had found. She felt amazing. For about an hour. After that time her ideas began to lose their shine and her mood soured considerably. She knew she would need more. Grabbing a pouch from her stash of items she quickly stuffed a good amount of the shimmering powder into it for later use. As small as she was, the amount she had taken was actually not a lot in the great scheme of things but still she didn’t want to take chances. She heaved the lid back up and resealed the crate as if it had never been opened.
Then she hunkered down to see when her next opportunity to move would come and her next rush of powder.
DnD Wife Stories 