IWUAaDNW: Exploit 4.6, 4.7, 4.9, 4.10, Party 5.1

Olivia gave her a clasped-hand salute, closed the flaps of the pockets which contained Whys and my pixie, then walked into the shadow of the communication tent, took a breath and…

…sunk into the ground.

My pixie didn’t seem to appreciate it at all, and spent the next couple moments whistling in alarm and trying to push its way out of Olivia’s pocket. I tried to tell it to calm down, but it refused to listen. In comparison, Whys was much more subdued, though from its senses I was getting a weird kind of stretching feeling, like Whys was being pulled at its feet and shoulders in opposite directions.

Finally, it was over, and my pixie recovered its wits enough to––

Wait no!

––fire a stun bolt directly at the pocket containing it, freeing itself with a victorious whistle…

…only to find itself staring at the tips of half a dozen spears carried by lightly armored soldiers, and the angry and startled stare of a tough-looking woman in full body armor.

—IWUAaDNW: Exploit 4.6



When the name ‘Fort Duvos’ had dropped into my metaphorical ears, the first picture I’d had of it was of a dreary place.

[...]

Well, I had someone I could send. If the headmaster was on the tallest tower of the Academy, then something small and flying could easily get there, assuming there wasn’t any magical fuckery going on––which, considering it was a magic Academy, was hardly a sure thing. I prodded my pixie and made it fly to the writing implements on the table.

[...]

And that was how, about a minute later, I guided my pixie out of the conference room and down the halls of Fort Duvos, saddled with writing implements and a rolled up scroll containing a message, held in place by a piece of twine wrapped around its tiny shoulders. It accepted the load stoically, then dutifully followed my guidance with a minimum of hesitation.

[...]

I instructed my pixie to give him its burdens. He accepted them with a glint of hope in his eyes, which grew into some form of grim determination when he unrolled and read the message.

[...]

And, like a curious toddler left unattended for a moment, my pixie decided to take a peek through the window.

“NO!”

It pulled back immediately, but it was too late.

[...]

Driven by curiosity, I told my pixie to try and open the window.

[...]

At my command, my pixie delicately unfolded the letter and let me read it through its eyes.

[...]

With nothing better to do, I told my pixie to explore, giving time for the Headmaster and whoever had interrupted us to have their business done.

[...]


“Forget it,” I told it. ”Go back outside and check on the Headmaster.”

—IWUAaDNW: Exploit 4.7



It was somewhere around this time that Lieutenant Tallcliff and my pixie finally made it to the Imperial Library. My pixie had spent most of the trip with its head buried in Tallcliff’s belongings, namely a rolled up cloth bundle which contained his lunch. It hadn’t tried to take a bite, so presumably it had done so to protect itself from the smell of the dead woods they’d walked through.

I told my pixie to sit still and quiet as the rhythmic shaking of Tallcliff’s steps ended. Maybe he spoke with someone, maybe not. Without a way to look out or a way to listen in, I had no way of knowing––

My pixie raised a tiny hand in front of its eyes and… flapped its fingers.

Talking?

It was hearing Tallcliff talk, and letting me know because it knew I couldn’t hear through its ears?

Clever little guy.

—IWUAaDNW: Exploit 4.9



On the other side of the country, the girl in the vault had been quietly yawning for hours, but when she stumbled in the middle of a description of a peaceful-looking but no doubt treacherous beach floor––the author had pulled off the ‘it’s actually very dangerous’ card three times now––I decided it was time for her to sleep. I made my pixie tug at her clothes in the direction of the bedroll I’d spotted in the corner of the vault, and she reluctantly agreed to go to bed.

“You’ll still be here tomorrow morning, right?”

Hug her, I ordered.

It did so awkwardly, smothering itself across her cheek.

—IWUAaDNW: Exploit 4.10



I told my pixie to draw her attention to the Amir’ea book instead, the one the rebellion wanted to keep away from the Khannites. If there was anything of worth in there, maybe it would be good if I found out about it first.

“You too, huh?” Naïa said with a giggle as my pixie tugged at her arm. “Did you find something good?”

Move up and down, I told it. It did so, then I told it to fly to where the book was stashed

[...]

On the other side of the country, the village started waking up. I watched through the eyes and ears of tamed bugs as the villagers went through their morning routines, today interrupted only by Eira’s little magic demonstration.

—IWUAaDNW: Party 5.1