Style Quest: Lost Songs

Varick was on his way to the Guild Hall when a soot-colored Dragonborn that had seen better days intercepted him. Kriv had taught the Clydesdale how to control his magic and survive when portal traveling. His combat lessons paid off recently when Varick had to fight for his life on Lyra. The Dragonborn looked quite distressed, which threw Varick off guard.

 

“Please, please, please tell me you weren’t the one that took down Syph,” Kriv begged the horse tailor. “Tell me the rumors aren’t true.” This plea struck Varick as odd and out of character for the Dragonborn. He should be congratulating Varick for winning his first real fight. That or boasting about how well his training was that his student took down a wanted fugitive even with a broken leg.

 

“Yeah, I did everything you told me,” Varick laughed as he adjusted his bag. “I didn’t fight fair, and I didn’t overthink it.” Sometimes the mahogany Clydesdale’s leg still ached slightly, but the magic potions had healed it nicely. 

 

“In that case, you need to get out of town for a while,” the Dragonborn growled, annoyed at something. “Syph escaped custody by using some unknown artifact. He carved up the guards pretty severely before using their blood to write a message swearing to kill you for beating him.” Varick was shocked and confused by this revelation. He didn’t know what to do as his bag fell. “Where were you headed to?”

 

“The Borealis Enclave, I got a summons from someone to make clothes for their daughters, but that can wait,” Varick told Kriv after a few moments of stunned silence. “What about my parents and Kaytlyn? Are they in danger too? What is happening?”

 

“Captain Jaina is stationing extra guards around your parent’s place, I’ll be staying there too, and Drakethorpe is going to be disabled from the portal network temporarily,” the Dragonborn tried to answer all the questions while steering Varick into the Guild Hall. “Go to the Enclave, and I’ll have the portal master falsify the records to show you went elsewhere. Someone from Guild Security will retrieve you and send you to a safe house once we figure out where that’ll be.” Varick was more confused than before, even with his questions answered. “I won’t let anything happen to your family. You know I’ll cross every line in the book before I break my word.”

 

“Thank you,” Varick said as his eyes welled up. He hugged his old mentor and approached the portal master to request transport. As this was a unique portal, a tan-skinned female elf with brown hair showed Varick to a side room with a heavy door. It took great effort for the elven woman to open the door and usher the Clydesdale inside.

 

“Once I close this door, strip naked and stow your clothes,” the half-elf instructed as she handed Varick a glass vial filled with a silvery purple liquid. “Hit the button by the door, and the room will flood. I want you to stand feet together while the water flows up to your knees. At that point, drink that potion and hold your breath. The portal will appear once the room is fully submerged and your transformation is complete.” Varick started to ask a question, but the door slammed shut before he could. 

 

He stripped naked before hitting the button to flood the room as instructed. Once the cold water crested the horse’s knees, he popped the cork and drank the wretched-tasting liquid inside the vial. Immediately he felt like he would vomit his lunch as the transformation started. Pain shot throughout the naked Clydesdale’s body as his legs knitted together, transforming into a blue-green scaled fishtail while his regular blonde tail disappeared. Varick remembered to hold his breath just as breathing became difficult. By the time the water passed, the brown horse’s neck gills had sprouted. Breathing this way was weird, but Varick was confident he could work with this after a few practice laps around the flooded room with his new body. Once the portal sparked to life, the new mer-horse put his shirt and vest back on and then swam through it. There was a dark feeling in the waterway through limbo, but it disappeared as Varick came out the other side.

 

Like the city, the Adventurer’s Guild in the Borealis Enclave resided under the ocean. All sorts of sub-nautic species and those in specialized gear fill the underwater city. Glowing coral illuminated the busy streets of the Enclave as people swam or rode water creatures around. Still getting used to his new body, it took Varick a little time to swim through the streets to the building he was looking for. Normally the horse was a terrible swimmer, but this form made it quite a bit easier. Teal and gold light illuminated a coral-encrusted mansion on the east side of the Enclave. Massive silver gates covered in pearls sat out front of the house. Varick wondered why there was a need for a gate underwater as anyone could swim over or around it.

 

An older merman in a black suit answered the door and showed the merhorse inside. The inside of the mansion was just as decadent as any above the waves. The only significant difference was the glowing coral all over the place. Varick followed the butler to a sitting room filled with furniture that seemed more at home in a house occupied by species with legs instead of mer-tails. A tray of kelp crackers and sliced fish was left for Varick to sample. He found that his new mer body rather liked the treats.

 

“Greetings, my friend,” a blonde merman dressed in a sports jersey with golden jewelry announced as he swam into the room. “I hope your journey here wasn’t too difficult for you.” This merperson must be Marlious, who sent the letter summoning Varick here. He was expecting someone more richly dressed, not someone who looked like they were on their way to a sporting event. 

 

“It was a little difficult getting used to swimming like this, but once I figured out the trick, I managed just fine,” Varick answered, swimming over the merman. “I must admit I am a little confused as to why you summoned me and not someone with experience with subnautic fashion.” 

 

“I picked you precisely because you weren’t one of our designers,” Merlious explained as he clapped the brown merhorse on the shoulders. “Currently, land base designs are all the rage here in Borealis. I managed to buy this jersey here from a traveler that was passing through. Your name shows up every time I had my people look for a designer that can add certain glamors to his clothes.”

 

“What kind of glamors might those be,” Varick inquired wearily. This whole situation seemed a bit sketchy. There was something slightly off about the entire thing. Plus, the whole business with Syph had the merhorse on edge.

 

“Legs,” Merlious excitedly exclaimed as he motioned to his tail. “You land types can drink your potions and turn back and forth all you want, but for us merpeople, it’s dangerous for us to transform and walk the land. If you can supply my three daughters and me with three or four outfits each that make it look like we have working legs, I will triple whatever your normal fee for the work is.” Varick knew that making glamors like that work would be a challenge, but he was up for it as that money meant he could afford to hire a shop assistant when his application to open one was approved.

 

Merlious’s three adult daughters were all just as blonde as he was. Each one had different designs for clothing in mind. One wanted long and elegant dresses, one wanted short skirts and crop tops, while the last wanted pants and low-cut tops. Merlious himself left it up to Varick to design his clothes for him. Making the clothes didn’t take more than a few days, but the leg glamors extended crafting time out to a month. Getting illusionary legs that hid a mer tail, only “walked” when the wearer was actually in motion, and didn’t incorrectly phase through each other or glitch was physically and magically draining for the merhorse.

 

After several weeks of getting almost nowhere, Varick was beyond frustrated. The magic wasn’t working; the merhorse tailor was homesick and missed his family. Varick took a day off and swam to an old cliffside ship graveyard called the City of Lost Songs. This stretch of water had previously claimed many ships and lives. Now it was a tourist destination both above and below the waves. As the merhorse swam through the wreckage, he spotted a ship that seemed out of place. Its design was that of the vessels from Requinest’s ancient past. According to the official history, no one had ever left Varick’s home world before it fell, much less a whole ship. Intrigued, the tailor carefully studied the wreckage, trying to figure out how it could be here. Unfortunately, there were no answers to that question, but a recipe carved into the inside of the hull caught his eye. It was a recipe for making spell threads from different elemental pearls. Varick copied down the recipes for earth and water thread, but years of water damage had eroded the recipe for air thread.

 

Varick could finally make the leg glamors work with his arsenal's new elemental spell threads. A little trip to clear his head had paid off in spades, as Merlious and his daughters loved the clothes. Each daughter begged and pleaded for the brown merhorse to stay and make them more.

 

“Girls, I’m sure our friend would like to get back to breathing air,” the merman father told his daughters. “I’m sure he has a way we can reach him in the future to order more.”

 

“Just send a letter through the Guild again,” Varick assured the family. “I have your measurements, and even if I can’t get here myself, I’ll make sure anything you order gets here.” With that, Varick took his payment and left the mansion. Late evening was setting in the land above the waves as teal and golden coral lit up the Enclave. Varick was ushered into a sealed room at the Guild Hall and given a potion. Similar instructions were given as last time before the door shut tight. Varick stripped off his clothes, said goodbye to his fish tail, and drank the potion. Water drained from the room as the Clydesdale changed to his original form; legs, tail, and all. There was a tense moment as he had forgotten how to breathe with his lungs but quickly remembered before redressing himself. A strange-looking portal flared to life, which Varick walked through a little shaky on his land legs.

 

This portal felt artificial somehow as the horse transverse the limbo between worlds. Varick’s hooves echoed as he stepped out onto the metal ground. This place wasn’t the Drakethorpe Guild Hall, nor was it somewhere the horse had been before. A red and brown wolf hawk wearing a sleeveless pirate jacket, no undershirt, and loose-fitting jeans stood before a window that looked out into the void of space.

 

“Greetings, Varick,” the wolf hawk spun around with his arms outstretched. The feather arms and tail looked reminiscent of a redtail hawk. Varick’s confusion became momentarily broken as he wondered if this hybrid could fly with his arm wings or glide. “I am Captain Tabious of The Harlock, The Sequel, which will be your safehouse for the time.”

 

“Wait, Captain Tabious,” Varick asked as he recognized the name. Fur and feathers closed around the Clydesdale in a friendly hug. “Like Admiral of Drakethrope’s freedom fleet, Captain Tabious?”

 

“One in the same,” Tabious answered as he released his hug. “Guild security decided it was best if you were on the move and somewhere difficult to break into. I’ll show you where you can roam around and your quarters.” The wolf hawk admiral showed Varick to the crew quarters, the cafeteria, a cargo hold that was currently empty, and his assigned room. “We don’t need a tailor onboard our ship here outside of the occasional rip or tear, but if you do have orders that come in or something you want to send out, let your roommate know, and he’ll handle it.” 

 

“Ok, and how long am I trapped onboard,” Varick inquired as he looked at the door to his room. He felt homesick in the Enclave, and this new confinement wasn’t helping. 

 

“I saw the pictures of what happened and read your guild file,” Tabious stated in a hushed tone. “You were lucky to beat Syph before he activated whatever artifact he possessed. The word is that we have both seen magic this before, perhaps you more closely than I. Rumors are also circulating that Syph is starting a cult. I know it’s not ideal, but get cozy. You might be here for a while.” Tabious gave Varick another hug and then left to oversee his ship. 

 

“Hi, are you my new roommate,” a kind voice asked, causing Varick to turn to see who it was. A small, slim kobold that only stood at about waist level on the Clydesdale. Varick had a bit of a feminine build, but this reptilian, whose coloration was red and green with flecks of gold, could easily be mistaken for a woman. The horse tailor almost made that mistake himself, but the husky’s half-unzipped blue and black flight uniform revealed the truth. “My name is Tavin, but most people call me Tay. I do the mail and cargo runs.”

 

“Var-Varick,” the mahogany Clydesdale stammered, lost in his new roommate’s figure. He didn’t know why but cute guys always made Varick lose his composure. 

 

“Well Var-Varick, is it ok if I call you Var,” Tay asked as he stepped closer to the blushing horse. “I heard a whisper that you look almost as good in a dress as I do; you want to show me?” Varick could barely nod as the kobold led him into their room.