[HCD IC] And suddenly...ZOMBIES!

[Callos_DeTerran]

Some parties are the stuff of legend. The kind that resonate throughout the fabric of history while making gods and demons of debauchery pause, stare, and go '...Dude, hardcore.'

...This had not been one of them.

A valiant effort had certainly been made at the DAAT, situated as it was overlooking the town of Delver's Dale, when the metal-bards had brought out the orcish vodka to unintelligible, screeching lyrics about skull mountains and flaming unicorns and especially when several druids had revealed their stock of 'herbs' to add to the fun, but in the end several of the trainers had crashed the fun when a drunken display of magic had incinerated the statue of Delver in the academy's lobby, ironically during a party to honor 'Delver's Founder Day', one of the few holidays to be observed at DAAT.

Now inebriated and hung over students lay deposited chaotically around the main speaking chamber, a rather large chamber with tiered rows of seats all facing a single lecture that currently bears some green graffiti declaring dwarves lightweights compared to elves. An actual elf is near by, head shoved through the wall around beard height, though none seem in a particular hurry to free the elf from his hole. Nor was the chaos restricted to just the grand, expansive rooms where lots of people could fit in at once, the dorm rooms on the north side of the Academy had their own little minor bubbles of anarchy that threaten the rationale of most sane minds.

Like how two women, two men, and a warforged all ended up in the same bed together as a too bright sun rises on a new day...

I'll leave it up to you guys how you ended up like this or what you did at the party. :smallwink:

[Shades of Gray]

Sehlia Tyrundlin

The spellthief yawned as she awoke, rubbing her eyes. Who turned on the sun, and why couldn't they wait another hour or so? And what was with her headache? Sehlia ungracefully rolled out of bed, taking the entirety of the bedsheet with her which she wrapped around herself, depriving her strange bedfellows of any kind of cover or warmth. Wait, strange bedfellows? Sehlia looked at the four beings that had just occupied the same bed as her. What did she do last night? She stumbled towards a dresser in the room, locating her clothes underneath a pile of bottles. She tried to put her shirt on, stumbling in her half-drunken stupor and falling to the ground, sending a bottle to the floor which promptly shattered loudly.

[Kayne650]

Sen Lei

The shattered bottle woke Sen immediately, who sat up suddenly and reached for a pair of swords that weren't on his hip or back, like they usually were. What the heck?

But the search for the blades turned up another interesting fact: he wasn't wearing pants. In fact, he was wearing absolutely nothing but his loincloth, which caused his face to turn a most interesting shade of red. Okay, this was weird. He didn't feel hung-over, but he rarely did, even after a night of drinking. His family used to tell him that he got drunk easily with few after-effects. But none of that explained any of this!

Oh wait, there was Sehlia. It was starting to make sense.

"Sehlia!" Sen hissed, careful not to wake up anyone who might still be asleep. "What is going on? I don't even know most of these people!"

[Derjuin]

Kartika

Looking up with a face still full of sleep, Kartika mumbled something about keeping noise down, or possibly something about hoisting clowns, before flopping back to the pillow. Just before her eyes close again, they catch the sight of a couple something elses in the bed, and she flops noisily out of the bed with a start.

"Who - what...where...?" she spouts, falling into a heap on the floor. Apparently she hadn't bothered to take even her armor off before falling asleep in the bed, her shirt and jacket showing signs of being slept-in, though luckily her sword was not on her person at the time.

[Mordokai]

Dominic

Suddenly, a loud snorring can be heard from underneath the warforged. This goes on for few seconds, before it stops and voice can be heard underneath.

"Ok, whose bright idea was it to dump a truck on me? Mike? Lewis? C'mon you guys, if you come clean right now I promise not to kill you?" It would seem Dominic had been a little too deep in his cups last night and that he hasn't quite recovered yet.

[Cespenar]

The Protector

"System reboot."

With an escalating mechanical whirring noise, the heap of metal lying upon Dominic shakes itself to awareness. Some odd seconds later, the noise finally stops. A pair of eyes open themselves, and focusing on the nearest subject, gaze hard at the poor soul that has been weirdly trapped under him.

"Proximity alert!" he booms with an unseemly loud voice, and hurries himself to his feet. Seeing a bunch of other people beside him, the construct seems to be taken even more aback, and he raises his right arm to head level, supporting it with his left, like one would hold a crossbow.

"Intruders! 5 seconds allowed. Explain." An ominous red-white light begins to grow on the middle of his palm, and the aptly named Protector revolves left and right to calculate how to include most of them with the same blast.

[Mordokai]

Dominic

"Much better, thank you." Sitting up and flexing himself, Dominic either doesn't notice or doesn't care about him being au naturel, as he looks around the room, searching for his jeans and his hoodie. His eyes stop on Kartika and Sehlia. He acknowledges their presence with a simple nod. "Ladies." Turning around, he also spots Sen. He doesn't recognize him. "Pip squeak." Another polite nod. And finally, his eyes stop on Protector. "Who left the golem inside? I was under impression they aren't allowed out of the kitchen."

[Derjuin]

Kartika

Kartika's eyes narrow to try to keep the sun out as the sopor of sleep leaves her sensitive eyes. "Whoa, whoa, hey now, no need to go all blasty on us," she says, standing up and brushing herself off. "We're all students here, no intruders among us." She looks to the other humies in the room, suppressing an urge to start mischief. Nah...too early for that.

She nods to Dominic and smiles. "Hey, Dom," she says, followed by mumbling about at least knowing one person in the room. "Does anyone remember what in the nine hells happened last night? Besides the party, I mean...specifically, what led us all to apparently bunk together."

[Mordokai]

Dominic

"Always a pleasure to see you Kartika. And, as always, I see you are ready for fight. Do you even sleep in your armor?" He then looks at protector again. "Chill down my man. It can be hard waking up in a bed that's not yours, but you get used to it after a while." He finally spots his clothes and stands up to put his jeans on.

[Shades of Gray]

Sehlia

Sehlia tried to stand up, using the dresser as support while she still wrapped the blanket around herself. "Heeeey Sen." She said with a stupid grin. "Why do I have m'underwear on m'head?" Another good question as the spellthief pulled herself up. She put on what clothes of hers she could find on the dresser.

"I dunno who these people are, but it must have been some night." Sehlia laughs, taking a bottle with some small amount of beer left it in it and taking a swig.

Image:
http://i202.photobucket.com/albums/aa279/oliver426/g21808.png

[Mordokai]

Dominic

"I have no idea what happened. The last thing I remember was that whole party, finally getting interesting and then... blackness. From the looks of it, it didn't happen only to me." As he buttons his jeans, he starts putting his hoodie on and gives Sehlia a look. "In fact, it would seem some are even worse off than I am."

[Cespenar]

The Protector

"Ah. Students."

Finding the half-drow's answer satisfactory, the warforged lowers his arm and starts examining the room in a surprised manner even though his facial features don't show any of that. He then passes on to the examination of the others, sparing Sehlia a few extra seconds in a desperate effort to deduce the reasons behind her apparel. Finally, after some deliberation, he turns to the exact middle of the room and in the worst imitation possible of a hungover college student, says:

"Man. That was some party. Isn't it."

[Kayne650]

Sen

Sen starts at the Warforged's command, reminded once again of his lack of swords (or clothing), but relaxes when Kartika takes care of it. He takes the opportunity to retrieve his pants (or maybe they're someone else's, he's still kind of tired). While pulling them on, he heard Dominic's comment, and stuck his tongue out at the much larger man.

"So none of us know how this happened? I think that it ended up involving a dwarf challenging us to a drinking contest..." Sen trails off when he realizes that he's wearing a sock on his head, where no sock truly belongs. He pulls it off and examines it, then looks at Sehlia.

"Hey, I found your sock. Uh, you want it back? Neither of us know where it's been." Then he turned back to Dominic, giving him a face again. "For your information, I'm doing just fine, if a bit more naked than usual."

[Mordokai]

Dominic

Cracking a wide smile, Dominic slaps Sen on the back. "That's the spirit!" Putting a hand in one of the trouser pockets, he soon fishes out a can of beer and opens it, taking a big sip from it and before the rest can even gather themselves the can is already empty. Putting the hand in pocket again, he fishes out another can. He offers it to Sen. "Want some? It's not as cold as it should be, but it will do."

[Kayne650]

Sen

He grins at Dominic and takes the offered can. "Sure, why not. I'm not known for learning quickly anyway." He starts drinking it, but stops when he looks in the bathroom and sees his actual clothes in a soggy lump on the floor.

"Does anyone know why my clothes are on the bathroom floor?" He asks somewhat rhetorically. He doubts that anyone there remembers why his clothes are wet, though he vaguely recalls that it had something to do with throwing up...

[Shades of Gray]

Sehlia

"Wait, it's comin' back to me. I remember you giving me a piggyback ride..." She says, putting on the sock that Sen hands to her; it was torn in places due to stretching. "You suck't those. I remember some motion sick'ens." Sehlia entered the bathroom, locating her missing boot. For some reason it was full of beer.

[Mordokai]

Dominic

"In fact... I remember something... I think you and the lovely lady over there... and with that, Dominic points at Sehlia were stealing away in the middle of the night... I remember hearing the doors slamming and then there were some funny noises coming from inside the bathroom... giggling and the like... and that's about when I fell asleep... again."

[roll0]

[Kayne650]

Sen

Sen's eyes widen as he Sehlia responds. Yeah, it's coming back now.

"You threw up on me, didn't you?" Sen asks, fearing the answer. As if in preparation, he drains the rest of the can.

"I guess I'll need new ones, then. But wait, if those are my clothes, then whose pants am I wearing?"

Hearing Dominic, Sen sticks out his tongue again. "No, I remember better than that."

Since that's my modifier to Sense Motive, I don't believe you. =3

[Derjuin]

Kartika

Checking her own pants just to be sure, Kartika responds to Sen. "Don't think they're mine..." she says, stretching her arms and back. She starts to open her eyes, slowly letting them adjust to the light levels. "I'm surprised I haven't lost my...uh, whatever I ate last, yet. By Sashelas I don't even remember if I had dinner or lunch before the party," she mumbles.

She starts to crack up when she hears Dominic's story to Sen, but quickly quiets when her eyes finally finish adjusting and she sees Sehlia. "Oh, my," she says with a smirk, quickly growing into a grin, and a snort.

[Cespenar]

The Protector

Feeling out of place in the midst of the lively chatter, the warforged stands silently in the middle of the room like some piece of furniture, his head revolving swiftly to keep track of whoever is speaking. When the subject becomes what has happened during the party yesterday, however, he raises a finger as if suddenly realizing something.

"Ah. One moment. I recall impairing my own cognitive systems in order to emulate an effect similar to alcohol. But still, the incidents of yesterday must have been recorded in my memory. If you want, I can repair and reclaim that memory."

[Kayne650]

Sen

Sen puts the cup down, hoping that will start making sense. Then the Warforged starts talking. Sen couldn't remember if he knew the machine, but normally one would remember meeting such a being.

"No, I think that despite all of our curiosity, none of us would appreciate remembering what happened last night."

"But hey, I don't think that I know you. I'm Sen, a student here. What's your name?" Sen asks, extending his hand to shake.

[Mordokai]

Dominic

It was a very transparent lie and he didn't really expect it to be bought. But it was worth trying. When the warforged starts to speak and Sen cuts in, Dominic raises his hand. "Don't be so quick. I'm sure at least few of us would be very interested in knowing what has been going on in the last few hours."

[Cespenar]

The Protector

The warforged looks at the extended hand for a long second, and then mirrors the move, shaking it ineptly with his cold metal hand.

"I'm called the Protector. As I am here to learn as well, you can call me a 'student' too."

He waits a full second before continuing. "And you are called... Sen Lei." It's apparent that was more of a statement than a rhetorical question. "I remember."

[Shades of Gray]

Sehlia

The girl leaned against a wall, disappointed that the bottle of beer was now empty. "Hmmm... Well I maybe didn't not puke on you." She suggested. "I'd rathern't know. Amnesiac heroes are a staple." She declared, making up words as she looked for any drops of beer left in the bottle. "This'll probably be an important plot point later on in m'life. Perfect for an adventurer like myself."

[Kayne650]

Sen grins up at the Protector. "Well, it's nice to meet you, Protector! I'm kinda surprised that I haven't seen you in any of my classes; you'd think that I'd remember seeing someone of your...stature." He adds, still looking up at the Warforged.

"And yeah, my name's Sen Lei. Did you know me before, or do you just have some kind of info on everyone here?" Sen looked a little suspicious as he asked, but he seemed more excited than suspicious and his curiosity was overpowering. He hadn't really talked to anyone like this before, and it was really interesting.

But Sehlia was still talking. "If you didn't not puke on me, then you did. Two negatives cancel each other out, Sehlia. And you're not an amnesiac, you're just hung over. Besides, you can't be a tragic hero, because you can remember most stuff about your life. Remember? We talked about this before."

[Shades of Gray]

Sehlia

"Tragic heroes can know about their lives. Like that prince guy who got all depressed because life was boring, then he killed his uncle and died." Sehlia recounted, leaving out several details and simplifying things. "Or that magician who summoned a devil for infinite knowledge, then got dragged down to hell by him later."

[Kayne650]

Sen

"Hey, did you notice a similarity with those two? Horrible things happened to both of them. Also, the prince was kind of a prick anyway. No, to be a tragic hero, you either have to have no memory of your life, have all of your family die, or both. Your life needs to be a tragedy, Sehlia. It's not fun." It sounded like Sen had said this sort of thing before.

[Derjuin]

Kartika

"Sen Lei, Sehlia and the Protector..." Kartika nods to each of them, as if adding them to a list of people to remember the names of. As she nods to Sehlia, she can't help but crack a smile again. "You look very silly, Sehlia Underpants-on-Head."

After a moment, she begins looking for her blade. When Dominic mentions wanting to know the previous night's events, Kartika raises her hand, without turning from her search, and says "I'd like to know too!"

[Cespenar]

The Protector

Tilting his head slightly, Protector replies to Sen Lei with a slow, instructive tone, as if it should be obvious.

"I have heard you mention it before. Once I have recorded it in my memory, that knowledge can be recalled anytime."

[Kayne650]

Sen

Sen paid little attention to Kartika (whose name he still didn't know) as his attention was still focused for the time being on the Protector.

"Oh, I guess that makes sense. Wow, classes must be really easy if you just store everything you've ever learned up here," Sen commented, tapping his head. "Hey, shouldn't there be more noise? You'd think that after a party there'd be more people up and about. Hold on, I'm gonna go check outside."

Sen walked to the door and opened, looking out into the hallway (or whatever was outside the door).

Spot check, if necessary. [roll0]

[Mordokai]

Dominic

"Eh, I wouldn't be surprised if most of people are drunk and/or stoned too much to even be able to speak, let alone scream. They are probably sleeping or nursing the hangover.

Speaking of which... what time is it anyway?"

[Callos_DeTerran]

Despite the confused and disjointed conversation of the five in the room, the hallways outside are remarkably quiet aside from the odd pained groan from those nursing hangovers or drunken/high injuries. Sadly, the same malady seems to have affected Dominic's internal clock that helpfully informs him that it's around midnight despite the sunshine shining through the window of the dorm room. Sen goes to open the door, mostly to check on the casualties of the party, just to find himself face to dirty linen shirt with a mountain of man.

Tousled brown hair lays limply over glazed brown eyes as spittle dribbles down his chin. Big hands reach up clumsily to grab at Sen's shoulders only for the man to step back in disgust at the stench of alcohol coming off of this inadvertent house guest and the thought he was going to vomit.

Which he did, the noxious smell filling up the room even as Sen back pedals quickly, looking out the door wasn't worth that much!

Sometimes though the obvious can be staring someone right in the face and other details will cause onlookers to miss it. In this case, the image of a party-hardened delinquent distracts most involved from noticing the fact there's a rather large sword protruding through the man mountain's chest. For a couple seconds anyway. It was kinda hard to miss after all.

"...eeeerrrrr..." comes the slurred groan as the newly dead swings a heavy handed fist at Sen, only to spin about from the momentum and teeter alarmingly as if about to fall over.

[Mordokai]

Dominic

Taking an interested look towards the doors, Dominic decides to stay out of this for a while. Still, he can't help himself to not be at least a little interested. "A friend of yours Sen? I must say, he has the weirdest way of saying hello."

[Kayne650]

Sen

"Sonova*****!!" Sen shouts, jumping backwards as the man made his clumsy swing. Sen stares at the mountain of flesh with a complete lack of comprehension. The man was dead, the smell alone was enough to attest for that. But if he was dead...

"...Guys?" Sen started, his voice a little weak as he turned back to everyone else. "I'm pretty sure he's dead. If he's dead, how did he take a swing at me?" In his shock he completely ignored Dominic's jab.

Then suddenly his expression of horror turned to one of excitement as a grin spread across his face. "Do you think there are ZOMBIES?! I need to find my swords!" Sen apparently found this all very exciting. Zombie invasions was something that he had been training for with Sehlia, as well as Narwhal attacks, meteor swarms, kraken assaults, and the occasional rabid giraffe. You had to be prepared to be a hero.

[Mordokai]

Dominic

Taking another look at their guest, Dominic frowns. "Zombies? You sure about it?" One more look at Sen's face is enough to drive the doubt away. "Oh ok, just a second."

Standing up, Dominic suddenly manifests a huge claws where his hands used to be only seconds before. Only a moment later, he is already at the "zombie", clawing away, after he gives away the swift kick to the face.

Manifest Claws as swift action for one mutation point, augment them to Rend for two more. This takes a swift action. Charge at zombie, gaining +2 to attack, -2 to AC. If attack hits, deal extra 1d12 damage, thanks to Flying kick.

[roll0]
[roll1]
[roll2]

[Shades of Gray]

Sehlia

"This... Isn't good." The spellthief understated. "Crap." Sehlia moved the bedsheet on the ground and picked up her bag, taking a dagger out of it. "Any chance this is just an elaborate prank from the necromancy department?" She said, seeming to have gotten over her drunkenness in favor of the fight-or-flight response.

[Kayne650]

Sen

"Boy, that'd be great," Sen replied dryly, backing away from Dominic and his assault of what Sen was pretty sure was a corpse. There was no way in hell that any human could survive that kind of sword wound. Speaking of swords, Sen still needed a weapon. And it wasn't perfect, but his shirt seemed mostly dry and not to repulsive, so he pulled it on and experimentally flicked his wrists, grinning when the hidden daggers in his sleeves popped out to their ready position.

"It's uncomfortable, but I still don't remember where I put my usual blades. They'll do for the time being." Sen said mostly to himself as he turned back to Dominic and that...thing. "No, this is way too big for the Necromancy department. They don't really pull pranks, remember? They're way too high and mighty for that. Now come on; I'm pretty sure that this isn't all by itself. Something put that blade in it, and whatever it was lost." Sen crossed his arms in front of himself and concentrated, bringing to mind all of his skills, bringing his most powerful maneuvers to the front of his mind.

5 Maneuvers readied: Burning Blade, Sudden Slash, Mighty Throw, Offensive Roll, Counter Charge
Stance: Inner Sphere Stance: +2 Dodge bonus to AC, +2 Morale to Will Save

[Derjuin]

Kartika

"Found it," Kartika said to no one in particular, retrieving her blade. She turned around to find the Sen guy in the door with another, rather big and hung-over looking fellow. She began to open her mouth to make a joke about manners when the man slings a lopsided punch at Sen, then noticed the sword sticking out of the visitor's chest.

"Is that...a..." she pointed at the sword, turning a bit paler in the meantime, and jumped when Sen mentions zombies. "Walking dead?! And you're sure it's NOT a prank?" she nearly screeched, her eyes wide now. In a moment, her shock turned to some kind of determination as she readied her blade, and would have joined in the fray with Dominic and Sen if the doorway weren't such a terrible place to engage in a four-way sword...fist...clawfight. "Try to bring it in the room, I'll give it a good thrashing if it's near the wall!" she nearly shouted to Sen and Dominic.

[Cespenar]

The Protector

"Intruder?" the warforged asks hopefully, turning to the zombie while trying to aim at it, but is genuinely distraught when Dominic rushes it with his claws. Moments later, however, he seems to recover.

"Zombies are often found in packs," he declares in a monotone, as if reading from a dictionary, but his eye-lights flash momentarily at the thought.

[Callos_DeTerran]

The zombie, and it's almost certainly a zombie (right?), stumbles as Dominic gouges across it but remains standing!

Up until the moment the clawed young man delivers a flying kick to it's face, which sends it rebounding off the wall and across the room to stumble right into Sehlia, bearing them both down to the dirty floor. White eyes stare down into the young woman's even as it's mouth opens up wide.

"Beee......" it groans, shuffling uncomfortably to try and grab hold of the comely spellthief and failing miserably. Still, no one wants an undead abomination hanging off them first thing in the morning. And if this was a prank then it was certainly an odd one!

[Mordokai]

"My bad there!" With the zombie now being on top of Sehlia, Dominic doesn't dare start swinging his claws again. And bludgeoning with fists would probably be a bad idea as well. So, he does a next best thing. He steps next to the pair on the ground and lifts zombie away, ready to crush the unlife out of it.

Treating this as grapple. Since Dominic has Improved Grapple, zombie doesn't get AOO.

[roll0], vs. touch AC
[roll1]
If succeds, [roll2]

[Shades of Gray]

Sehlia

Sehlia held her dagger tightly, momentarily dazed as the monster fell upon her. A real adventurer doesn't freeze in a dangerous situation. She brought the dagger up to the Zombie's throat, attempting to push it up through his jaw.


[roll0]
[roll1]
[roll2]

[Cespenar]

The Protector

The warforged storms out of the room and looks around expectantly in an attempt to find new targets, leaving the group and the zombie inside.

"Irrelevant array of noises to attract more zombieees!" he calls out to no one in particular, eye-lights continuing to flash hopefully.

[Derjuin]

Kartika

"Not quite what I meant, but it'll sort of do," she mumbles as the zombie stumbles into the room, ready to strike at it with a less crushing attack. She falters, though, when it, Dominic and Sehlia end up in a heap, not wanting to strike the two not-zombies engaged in the fight. When Protector begins its array of loud noises, she rushes to the doorway, ready to lend aid if the dratted machine attracts more zombies.

"What are you, robot-insane? Why do we want to attract more zombies?!"

[Kayne650]

Sen

Sen looked at the tangle that was Dominic, Sehlia, and the probably-a-zombie on the floor, and decided against joining in. "You two've got this one, right? Of course!" Sen asked and answered, scooting past them to join the Protector and Kartika in the hallway. There might be more zombies there, and he wanted to be ready for them.

As he joined the two in the hallway, he looked around, searching for more of the walking dead. "No, he's got the right idea. Better to make the zombies come to us. I'd hate to fight them on their turf." Sen held his daggers up, ready to attack.

Spot check: [roll0]

[Cespenar]

The Protector

The warforged, while still looking around for zombies, turns his head to the drow and again, speaks as if he's reciting from a paper.

"The potential of my current firepower suggests that I will be more efficient against clusters of enemies than single targets. Maximum efficiency is my reason of existence."

[Callos_DeTerran]

One wouldn't think that there was a way to miss a zombie laying on top of someone, but Sehlia seems rather intent to prove that sentiment wrong as her dagger skitters harmlessly up the side of the zombie's cheek. Alright, it wasn't entirely harmless, it leaves a garish scratch, but it doesn't seem to deter the zombie any! Not until Dominic picks it up off the ground and squeezes it tight, prompting it to fall apart in his hands to leave a disparate bundle of body parts laying across the floor. It's actually a mite depressive that it's hard to notice zombie bits with all the other mess on the floor...

Out in the hall, Defender blazes loudly, seeking to attract more of it's kind...to find the hallway empty of anymore undead threats. Had it been the only one? Sen doesn't have any more luck in finding zombies, just a host of large paper banners stretched out on the walls with discarded wooden mugs strewn about the floor. If the noise does do anything, it's to rouse other students from their own inebriated slumber who drowsily poke their heads out of their rooms.

"Whazzat?"

"That crazy warforged thing..."

"Someone turn off the damn alarm!"

[Mordokai]

Dominic

Extending his hand to Sehlia, Dominic quickly withdraws it, when he remembers there are still claws instead of fingers to be had. "Sorry about that little incident." He then turns around and looks at the others, crammed in the doors like sardines. "If you people... and robots... don't get out my way, I just may have to help you..." His muscles seem to swell a little at the latest statement. It would seem the fight with zombie got him in the mood. And while his face is still as impassive as ever, the tone of his voice lets everybody know he's probably very serious.

Manifest Cunning for two general mutation points, gain another attack per round.

Mutation points left, O/D/G: 0/3/1

Mutations manifested, Claws, augmented to Rend and Cunning.

[Shades of Gray]

Sehlia

The woman pulled herself to her feet, someone helping her or not. She tried in vain and halfheartedly to fix her outfit. "That was crazy." She was clearly too drunk to remember what fear felt like. "Wouldn't be d'first morning I hadda half-dead man on me." She said with a chuckle as she stumbled back and fell onto the bed.

[Derjuin]

Kartika

Somewhat relieved to hear the groaning of the drunk instead of the dead, Kartika turned back to the room. "I hope that wasn't a threat, Dominic," she said, her tone suddenly just as serious. "If you'll ask nicely, I - in all my graciousness - might just move for you. Might take more than that to move the screaming hunk of metal, though." As she finished, the smallest hint of a smirk appeared on her face.

[Cespenar]

The Protector

Looking around for some time with high hopes, the warforged eagerly waits for more targets to appear within shooting range, but sadly, no one gives him the satisfaction. After a while, Protector simply lowers his arm and heads back in the room. A grating sound not unlike a throat clearing echoes from the depths of his body, and he starts to speak with an uncharacteristic, cheery voice.

"Hello potential customers! It has come to my attention that you are recently attacked by an... [undead creature], and are in possible danger. With that in mind, would you like to employ the services of a skillful protector, such as myself?

"As the cost of my services, I require nothing more than the promise of a series of escalating conflicts and a symbolic amount of five gold pieces. Remember, you can never be too safe from... [undead creatures]."

With a muffled click, the warforged stops speaking and gazes expectantly at the group.

[Kayne650]

Sen

Sen looks around a little disappointedly and steps out into the hallway.

"Sorry guys, we didn't mean to wake you. We just had a little...problem in our room." Sen ducks back into the room to avoid the angry stares of his classmates.

He listens to the Protector's proclamation, his head tilted quizzically and his eyebrows slightly raised. "Are you honestly four people, all of whom can handle themselves, to pay you to help us? I wouldn't mind your help, certainly, but I'm not going to pay you for it. But if you want to help out regardless, I'm glad to have you on board."

[Mordokai]

Dominic

At the sound of Kartika's voice, Dominic's atitude seems to soften a bit. No Katrika. Sorry Kartika. But seriously, get out of the way. You probably don't want to stand between me and zombies, if they show up. You're smart enough to know that's not a good place to be."

[Derjuin]

Kartika

Satisfied with the response, Kartika shrugged and departed the doorway, relieving part of the portal's blockedness. "Good enough for me," she said and turned to the warforged talking about being hired. "Like...Sen, said. You can tag along if you'd like, though you'll not get a copper piece from me for it." as she finished, she pointed to Sen and Sehlia. "If you two aren't planning on going your own way, you can follow Dominic and I for a while too." Though the events of the day so far had unnerved her, she was slowly getting back into her groove.

[Cespenar]

The Protector

The warforged stays silent for a few seconds, and then for a few more. At last, he starts to speak.

"I think I will still follow you as long as you seem capable of finding new and viable targets to shoot at, but my programming requires a monetary price in order for my loyalty and protection protocols to be activated. Five gold pieces was the lowest allowed integer on that variable."

A clank that might be equivalent to a shrug rises from his body.