“You don’t understand” Is(whistle)kt’se worried “without the helmet you can’t see any of the obstructions that might come up. It goes way too fast for the trail especially if you can’t see what’s coming up.” She popped on her helmet. “There’s big hungry looking beasts in the woods and I can’t see my Hath’la(whistle)K .”

“They’re only deer, ash.” Acerrt said quite calmly. “And since he can barely handle your vasta, he won’t be going that fast. Now continue your story.”

“It looks like he fell here.” Another orc announced. “I don’t see any evidence of damage, although the vasta will probably need cleaning.”

Is(whistle)kt’se wrung her hands and stared at the spot, but she did manage to continue her story.

As soon as they reached the Herb witch’s Homestead, Is(whistle)kt’se rushed to her bike. She had to leap down to the ground, which was a huge drop for such a small creature, but it didn’t slow her down. The moment she was sure that it was undamaged, she took off on it, heading straight for the cottage.

Once there, she charged inside yelling. “You stole my Hath’la(whistle)K !” She slammed her fist against Raven’s leg, as she continued “how dare you! You could’ve damaged it. You’re not that good a rider. I think you got the battery wet, it’s not running as smoothly as it should. If I have to replace its battery you will be paying for it.” she continued to berate him quite loudly.

All Raven could do was apologize when he got words in.

Acerrt followed her in and calmly said as Is(whistle)kt’se started to wind down. “We need to deal with the animals. Raven, you and Ishie see to Herc and Jericho. I’ll get the others to deal with the rest of the animals. Then we can examine to see what happened.” As Raven looked like he was about to say something, she continued “what ever happened was a while ago and your mother won’t be happy if we don’t take care of her animals.”

He nodded and apologized to Is(whistle)kt’se again, and after he had finely convinced her to stop hitting his leg, he headed out. In spite of the fact that she was still fuming, Is(whistle)kt’se followed him. Although she worried out loud that Herc might decide to eat her. After all he was huge and she was tiny.

As soon as they had finished they headed back to the house. Acerrt let Raven looked around. She had made a meal for Is(whistle)kt’se. She pointed out that Is(whistle)kt’se hadn’t had anything to eat yet and was a growing orlie.

Although Is(whistle)kt’se pointed out that she hadn’t got any taller in the last 15 years. She had got fatter, but no taller. Acerrt insisted that she needed to eat and she needed all the weight she could put on before she took her long sleep. Is(whistle)kt’se insisted that she had another ten years before she’d take her long sleep and become an adult. The long sleep was when a juvenile Orlie metamorphosed into an adult. While they argued Acerrt placed a large plate of food in front of Is(whistle)kt’se. It was a large serving of scrambled eggs and toast.

Also while they were arguing Raven and the other orcs, cleaned up and searched the cabin. Norgaber pointed out that there had been at least four other humans besides Reba in the hut last night. He suspected that Meadow had not been there when they’d arrived. He also detected the smell of what the orcs called Ravata. Reba had a supply in the hospital and according to the label on the jar, which was full, it was called chloroform. When he detected the smell they had gone out to the hospital to see if Reba’s supply was missing.

In searching outside they found deep tracks under Meadow’s window, suggesting she had snuck out again. They also found tracks and trampled plants in the garden that showed who ever had come had not come to the property using any of the trails.

Is(whistle)kt’se was just finishing her second plate of food, when she heard the whir of her bike. She charged outside just in time to see Raven disappearing down the trail that led to the road to Somerton. He was riding her bike. She let out a scream that brought several orcs to their knees. All of the orcs in the area covered their ears as her scream went out.

“Raven! Get back here with my Hath’la(whistle)K !” she roared out after the scream. She stomped her foot and waved her fist in the air. Then looking at Acerrt she continued. “He stole my Hath’la(whistle)K! Again!” She then stormed towards the trail.

Acerrt ran after her catching her rather quickly. “There’s no way you’re going to catch up to him. Norgaber, Gresak go after him. You’d better catch him before he gets to Somerton. He’s not very stable on that thing so you might be able to catch him if you run. Now!” The two orcs took off at a dead run. “Hopefully, they’ll catch him before he gets to Somerton. They’re our fastest runners. We don’t have any chance of catching him so come inside and finish your breakfast.”

Is(whistle)kt’se did as she was told and finished off three more large plates of scrambled eggs and toast. Like all juvenile orlies she had a very large appetite. Although even for her five large plates of scrambled eggs and toast was a lot.

I will now continue with the various types of magic items. The second type is known as common magic items. They are known as common because they are commonplace, but because most people recognize them as magic items. Unlike mundane magic items, which are more common, common magic items are considered real magic items. They are rather rare and very expensive. All of them have limited uses, or an internal power supply that needs to be restored from time to time. Reba’s potions fall under this category, as do a lot of off world technology. The map of three destinations that appears in Trapped in a Curse is also a common magic item. Trixie’s belt pouch is yet another one. Some common magic items can be extremely powerful, but they all have some form of internal power supply. There usually created by actual spell casters. Alexander’s gargoyle also falls under this category. When it is in sleep mode it is recharging its power supply. It absorbs ambient energy from its surroundings.

Shortly Is(whistle)kt’se had her bike hurling along the path to Dalvack. She was really riding a little too fast for the narrow and crooked path, but her helmet showed her what was coming up. Even when she couldn’t see around the next corner. It also showed her that there were large creatures in the woods around her. She was quite sure that they would like to make a meal of her. Unfortunately, or possibly fortunately, she couldn’t go any faster since the path was rather slippery, uneven, and crooked. There also large puddles since it had rained heavily the night before.

Even so she rocketed out of the trail and into the orc village. Naturally she caused quite a stir. A massive gray green orc rushed towards her. She panicked as he approached, but then realized it was Gresak, Meadow’s nephew. He was a pure blood orc and the son of Meadow’s half-sister. He towered over Is(whistle)kt’se. He was easily five times her height. He and Meadow were actually the same age, although he was considered a full adult. She’d even heard a rumor that he was engaged and was planning on marrying soon.

“Where’s Meadow?” He rumbled. In spite of his large tusks a spoke quite clearly. He was looking down the path. “Is there something wrong?”

Is(whistle)kt’se struggled to speak for a couple of minutes and then finally gasped out “they all disappeared.” More orcs had gathered around them.

Another orc pushed through the crowd, ordering everyone away. She also towered over Is(whistle)kt’se. She crouched down so that she was almost at eye level with Is(whistle)kt’se. Then she spoke in a surprisingly soft voice, most orc voices were very harsh, “Ishie how about you come to my tent and tell me all about it. Your vasta will be fine right here.” Then turning to the few orcs who were still standing around she continued “I’ll handle this.” If Is(whistle)kt’se remembered correctly this was Meadow’s grandmother; although Meadow called her ashchim.

Is(whistle)kt’se followed the orc woman through the village. She thought that the orc village was a rather strange place since all the buildings were made out of cloth. Some of them were even two stories tall. They were actually permanent buildings but they closely resembled tents. There were a few buildings that were not made of cloth. A couple of low set buildings that look like they were built for orlies since they only stood a little more than twice as tall as Is(whistle)kt’se. The smithy was one such building and she had visited it with Meadow, since Meadow was an apprentice blacksmith and worked at the forge. There had been a staircase that led down into the excessively hot building. It’d been dug down into the ground so that once inside it was more than tall enough for even the smith, a giant of an orc. The roof of been made out of heavy timber and had a pile of earth on top of it. The floor had been covered with heavy stones that were flat and according to Meadow there were several basements which were used to store various things used in the forge.

There was another similar building but Meadow hadn’t showed Is(whistle)kt’se inside it, so she had no idea what it was. There was also a Fort built into the trees to the northeast of the village, and Meadow’s brother Raven had a large treehouse nearer the centre of village. The last unusual building was the arena situated to the east town. When she had come to the village with Meadow they had finished the day by watching a sporting event in the arena. Is(whistle)kt’se hadn’t understood the rules of the game, but six teams of orcs, varying in number from 3 to 5 members, chased several balls around the floor the arena. They also hurled balls at each other, but there seem to be special rules throws, and at least one time a team managed to get disqualified in one of those disputes. It had been a rather exciting game in spite of the fact that she hadn’t understood what was going on. As far as she could tell the team that Meadow had been rooting for hadn’t won, but even with that she wasn’t sure.

As the orc escorted her into a very large sprawling tent she said “you can call me Acerrt.” None of the other orcs followed them into the tent. Although Is(whistle)kt’se suspected they stayed outside and were listening through the walls of the building. “Now tell me what happened?”

Is(whistle)kt’se proceeded to tell her everything that happened that morning. How she’d slept in and assumed that Meadow had gone hunting, but then found the house had been ransacked.

Suddenly she heard a high-pitched hum from outside. It sounded like her bike, so she rushed to the door, just in time to see the tail end of her bike disappear down the trail towards the Herb witch’s home.

“Raven wasn’t any good at riding your vasta, was he?” Acerrt asked from behind her.

“He did better than Avocet, but he still couldn’t handle the corners. You don’t think he took my Hath’la(whistle)K ? Do you? Its way to small for him and only Meadow managed to take corners well riding it. He’s bound wreck it!” She then spotted her helmet lying on the ground. Rushed forward she picked it up. “He didn’t even take this. He’s going to run into something!”

“That wouldn’t even of fit him.” Gresak laughed harshly. “Fortunately, he’s got a rather hard head.”

“And I’ll make sure that he pays for any damage to your vasta.” Acerrt said firmly. With that she scooped up Is(whistle)kt’se and set her on her shoulder. “Continue what we were telling me, while we follow him.” She waved at several of the orcs to follow them, as she too headed down the trail.

I think I will take a quick break from magic items this time. I recently picked up a “videogame” called Space Engine. When I was designing Requada I used my Skyguide and picked an F8 star located approximately 30 light years from Earth to be its primary. I decided that it would be the fourth planet in the system. In my Skyguide it was described as being twenty-nine light-years from Earth, so in Space Engine I decided I would take a look and see if I could find the star. I found it a little over thirty light years from Earth, and the program had generated some random planets around it. I took a look at the fourth planet. It actually fit Requada somewhat. It had an atmosphere they could be terra formed into a breathable atmosphere. It had lots of water. It didn’t have the landmasses that Requada does. It also had similar gravity. My Requada has slightly higher gravity. I took a couple of pictures of it. One from the surface and one from space. These are not pictures of Requada, but the planet in question is very similar and in the right location. I figured I’d try and include the pictures here. I hope you enjoy them.