"Yeah. No offense, but what are you?" asked Ranma.
"I'm of the 'reality-seeker' faction," said the woman. "My name's Issandra. I was a recent inductee to the 304th Special Corps, replacing Crunch temporarily until another heavy fighter could be sent. Specialty is in scouting and infiltration."
"Huh," said Ranma, fitting that into 'ninja' category. "Nah, that wasn't quite what I was askin'."
"Ranma has apparently never met a changeling," supplied Tao from his chair.
"A 'changeling'?" asked Ranma. "So what do you change?"
Issandra stared for a moment, then fixed Tao with her gaze. "Is he playing some sort of game?"
"No," said Tao. "He's quite serious."
Issandra frowned, then shifted. Hair grew dark and shortened, twisting around, her body became lean and masculine, skin lightened.
"Whoa," said Ranma, looking at Ranma. "Can you also duplicate my martial arts?"
The newly formed Ranma looked thoughtful. "No. Just appearance."
"Oh. Too bad," said Ranma. "Be a decent sparring partner then."
Issandra's form gradually shifted back to her previous appearance. "That's it?"
"Don't do that too often," advised Ranma. "Sometimes it'd be handy to be in two places at once, but mostly I think it'd be confusing."
"I see," said Issandra, a little put off by the unusual reaction.
"So why did ya indicate that there was some reason she keeps a low profile?" asked Ranma of Tao.
"There are those who see my sort as less than desirable," said Issandra, relaxing a little as her instincts were telling her that this human actually didn't see a problem.
"Oh, cause yer a ninja type?" Ranma shrugged. "Hey, takes all kinds."
"A 'ninja'?" asked Issandra, wondering what the exotic-sounding term meant. "What is this 'ninja'?"
"Yeah, I'm not sure what they call 'em here," admitted Ranma. "Martial artists who strike from the shadows, use techniques with misdirection and stuff, quick and silent sneaky types."
"Ah, yes," said Issandra. Interesting that whereever this person came from had such an exotic name for her profession of spying. It sounded much nicer than saying she was a spy or assassin. "Yes, that's it. Ninja, eh? I like the sound of that word. From some island far from Khorvaire, is it?"
"Yeah, ya could say so," admitted Ranma.
"Fine. Then I am a ninja of my own people," said Issandra. As a reality-seeker, she found this human's directness a refreshing change. Perhaps that was why she had enjoyed associating with these warforged - their lack of prejudice and their candor that were so different from what she'd been used to.
"Gotcha," said Ranma nodding. So he had a ninja, some kinda alchemist, a martial arts student, an archer, and a swordfighter in this little group of explorers. "All we need is a princess and we got a quest."
"Eh?" asked Issandra, not getting the reference.
Suddenly:
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(Posted Fri, 06 May 2005 09:38)
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