Jareth’s Musings

A Brief Glimpse (Poor Malkin)

Jar’Eth sits in a window, looking out over his Labyrinth, one hand idly spinning his crystal balls.

“Those Werebear Tykes are sure a handful. Usually I like playing with the young ones before they are changed, but they just kept biting. Not like you, Zara’shan,” he says to the small minotaur on his lap. “You are just a little treasure.” He bounces the baby minotaur on his lap, who coos happily.

“Just glad I got their Daddy rather than their Mother– mothers are much more unpredictable.

He holds a crystal out to his eyes, the other two seemingly disappearing. “So far exactly as advertised. Fighting among themselves, getting bogged down, and even killing one of their friends. My Brother must have become much more patient now upon his return, to work together with the likes of Them. I just hope they don’t solve the secret- they were close with the traps, but luckily forgot once the Gnome stepped up. His music is truly a concern as well.”

Jar’Eth laughs, holding on to Xerx’ses child to prevent the child from falling. “What I did not foresee was how angry the Minotaur was- turning away Hoghead works better than any plan I could have made!”

The Goblin King becomes suddenly pensive, again idly spinning his crystal balls. “I wonder how my brother is. He has spent much time in his Crystal Palace, closed to me. I wonder if he finally identifies with why I am here. I wonder if he would appreciate the Labyrinth- he always loved puzzles and games.”

“No matter,” laughter again emanating from the Castle, louder this time, carrying out across the miles, “time to get back to the game!” With that he lets the three crystals fly out. “Let’s see how they deal with this!”


Malkin awoke from this vision with dry mouth and hungry once more, but was a flurry of action despite the discomfort.

“The things we do for our Friends! I am tired of these visions, they are getting in the way of the research, but there are pieces of this one that I must share immediately!”

Malkin rushes out of his small little dark room in Khemennu, lithe and agile belying his age. He gets quickly to his three friends in a dank library of ancient scrolls- the scholar Rystrom Khejas, the monk Ley-Rhy, and the mage Haladriel. “Come quickly, I need all of your powers of persuasion and your knowledge- we must find a way to deliver a message that is not deliverable! I have had a vision of the Goblin King himself, and it has information that CrIsis may need!”

Malkin huddles with them, as they trade ideas back and forth on how to solve the problem. Finally, with alacrity, Rystrom goes to a scroll, spreads it out, and Malkin exclaims, “That may work, but how do we convince them to allow it?”

Haladriel and Ley-Rhy smile at Malkin, and Haladriel says, “You did bring me along for a reason other than these unkempt smelly rooms in this awful congestion of a city.”

Ley-Rhy adds, wryly, “We have our ways after all.”

Within a few hours Silent Dream sees a vision of the four old friends gathered round a giant round stone, with priests joining them. One priest has a bottle-shaped hat with a glowing disc of light in front, while another has a red headdress with a cobra in the bowl. A third wears a combination of the two hats. The priest with the cobra headdress states, “I still hope they fail, but if they do succeed, Osiris must rise in Khemennu!” Dream then sees the same vision that Malkin had. As the vision fades, he hears Malkin exclaim-

“NO!!! WE SENT THE VISION TO A GOBLIN, NOT SILENT DREAM! LET US HOPE THAT THEY ARE STRONG ENOUGH TO SURVIVE!”


Shared with the players at the beginning of their 5th hour in the Labyrinth.

Picture from The Jim Henson Company #BowieForever

 

3 Responses to “Jareth’s Musings

  • “But why the surprise?” Silent Dream quietly mused after sharing the vision he received with the rest of CrIsis. “Did Malkin think he sent that message to some other goblin? Maybe he just didn’t see me clearly,” Dream rationalized with just a little hurt. “I guess to a human all Goblins must look pretty similar.”


    I really liked how the Werebear twins were a handful, and the strange ritual that required cooperation from both the Pantheon of Ra and the Pantheon of Taut. I can’t even begin to imagine what Haladriel must’ve had to do to get their cooperation in this.

  • “Bite his Face off Childs, go get him!”

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