Chapter 2: Shortages

[BelGareth]

Chapter 2: Shortages

You all get a good dinner and manage to get some decent sleep. Nothing happens throughout the night as you take your turn of watch, albeit, you are on edge being the sole person awake in the gloomy house.

Morning finds you all refreshed, or at least as refreshed as you can be, in a situation as yours.

You go about the morning preparing your spells, praying to your god and oiling a weapon or set of armor. Ma rustles up another great meal and you all share it in relative silence.

A silence that is broken by a noise at the front door.

*Boom* *boom* *boom*

Looking to each other you all see that everyone is imagining the worst, a zombie either stumbled its way into your courtyard, which means more may be coming.

Again comes the sound *Boom* *boom* *boom*, yet this time it is followed by something else, "Please! If anyone is in there, let me in! PLEASE! they're following me!" you hear sobs of crying "I can't run anymore."

Ralph being the cautious one by his very nature, peers out a hole in one of the main windows, and seeing what was outside yells to Ma to open the doors.

Opening the doors as directed a frail, beaten, dirty and fatigued female halfling stumbles into the house. Ma closes the door, but not before she scans the immediate area, you see no zombies apparent.

The halfling stumbles to the floor, on the side of the foyer exhausted.
"Oh thank you, thank you, Steve had told me someone had holed up here, you were my only hope."

Lucien, curious, asks "What happened? were you followed by anything?" Not wanting to bring up the z word.

She looks up at you and smiles weakly, Ma yells at someone to get Alerya for some healing. "You haven't heard?" looking around she continues "No, I guess you wouldn't have. The other side of town is a mess, the guards have dispersed and everyone is holed up in their houses protecting themselves. Most of the undead have been destroyed downtown, gangs and street thugs are the problem over there..." she pauses for a second. "There's no food anymore, its all gone or is being hoarded by people. Bjorn Knightfell has a lot of it, but he demands a high price. He is a cleric see, he can make food out of nothing, he's carved himself a mini empire, blocked the roads, created safe places in a whole street. But he's mean, he forces people to do things..."
She looks away "whole families go to him for help, he helps them and then they gotta do what he asks...Some say he's aligned himself with demons....Dunno if that's true or not." she starts to sound weak.

"I'm sorry...do you have any water?"
You give her some wine, as its the closest thing handy and she smiles "Ah...sweet wine..." and she falls unconscious.

A Heal check will tell you more about her condition.
Knowledge local check will tell you more about Bjorn.
And, if you want to, sense motive to check if she is telling the truth.


OOC

I know let her in without allowing you to react, however I WILL NEVER do that to you if it had possible dangerous repercussions.

[TheArsenal]

Im still knocked out. But Hasni strongly disapproves of allowing more hoardes on our food to enter. You can just sense it.

Hasnis mind is currently trying to balance out the insane chemicals hes pumping into himself.

[Sparrow]

Ralph catches her, not letting her head slam into the floor. "Well, this is a strange turn of events." Ralph says, holding the unconscious girl. He carries her over to the couch and sets her down.

Heal: [roll0]
Knowledge (Local): [roll1]
Sense Motive: [roll2]

[SamBurke]

Alyera stood up, having left Ma without her question... The time wasn't right... she still needed to think.

A voice yelled up for healing, and she breathed deeply. You know, it doesn't matter, Yera. If your healing.. doesn't... her thoughts got caught up on one image. That face, gagged, mouth lolling open, screaming, clawing at her, begging for freedom, begging for life.

SAY IT. That insistent voice... what was with that?

If anything... goes wrong, it's for a reason. No matter what, I have to believe there's a reason for everything here, have to believe in... what?

A PLAN. It didn't make sense, but the thought was almost there...

Alyera grabbed a rag, and brushed off the axle grease. Nobody'd understand, save Ma and Ralph, perhaps. Somethings just made you focus, and grease was one of those things that sent all of Alyera's movement to her mind in an instant. The refreshingly sick smell jolted her straight to concentration.

She walked downstairs, each step suddenly awash with a slight hint of... something? It's hard to tell, but there seem to be a few golden sparks bursting out after she walks.

When Alyera turns the corner from the stairs and comes into view, there's something decidedly different about her look... there's a brightness in her face, and her eyes, if possible, seem a little bit tinged with yellow. "I'm here to help... who needed healing?"


LOH #1:
[roll0]

Also, other rolls:

Heal:
[roll1]
Sense Motive:
[roll2]

[Sparrow]

"That would be this woman right here." Ralph said, as he crouched next to the couch by the unconscious girl.

Is this halfling young or old. I keep wanting to say young, but I'm not sure.

When Alyera heals the girl, Ralph goes to get some food left over from their last meal and brings it back to the couch, waiting for the girl to wake up.

[Golden Ladybug]

"That Knightfell deserves a kick in the teeth, if you ask me. What sort of person does that?" I muttered, munching angrily on a piece of Toast at the table

In truth, I was more anxious about what would happen next, than I was about the Cleric being an asshat. Whatever the Magi had tried to protect the city from by enclosing it in this Wall of Force, and whatever had happened to them on the top of the Mage's tower...I shook my head, pushing away those thoughts. I'd had all night to brood on our situation, and it wouldn't do anyone any good if I let that continue on into the morning.

I yawned loudly, and got to my feet. I felt an absolute wreck after not being able to get to sleep last night, and I was glad that I'd been able to dump my backpack in my room.

Alyera overtook me as I stumbled over to the young girl, and set to using her magic to heal her. Something was different about her, though, and I frowned slightly as I tried to figure out what it was. I hadn't seen her since before I'd been to the Tower, however; she'd been locked in her Room all of last night, after all.

Maybe its nothing...

I stumbled over to Ralph and Alyera, and looked over the exhausted Halfling with concern.

[TheArsenal]

Hasnis brain goes Blap.

Owww. It sputters, and goes on to reboot mode...

OW!

Goes hasni as his brain informs him that it is not as Malable as he wishes it was.

Oh .....Ugh My head


But as tries to place his hand over his head something beats it to the punch.

His tentacle smacks itself against his head

Hasni turns pale.

GET OFF!

Hasni grabs his tentacle and attempts to throw it off.

Ow.

Hasni feals the tentacles pain.

What the...

Hasni traces his tentacle to his spine.

Oh yeah. Right.

Hasni spends a minute manipulating his tentacle. It appears to sort of have a concience on its own that can be overridden with his thought.

It also hisses for some reason....

Then a brilliant though hits him.

He has his tentacle reach for his back aaaaand

HAHAA!

Yes its true. The tentacle DOES reach that itchy spot on his back.

Remind self to make my creation have a backscratching tentacle.

Hasni trods downstairs to see the gang having breakfast. (He doesn't notice teh halfling)

Hello everyone, meet my new apendage!

[Fireheart]

As Ma watches Alyera heal the unknown halfling, she glances around at the motley crew that has joined as family. Alyera had never asked her question instead turning back to her work so Ma watched her carefully as she came downstairs. She seemed a bit brighter this morning and Ma hoped that meant she had come to terms with what happened yesterday.

Ralph and Lucien both seemed calm and a little more rested. Analyn seemed grumpy and still looked exhausted; Ma worried that she had not been able to get any sleep. She lightly squeezed the girls shoulder as she moved past her to look at the halfling. She wondered if she needed to suggest Alyera try to help her in that direction tonight.

The last Ma saw of Elinin, the elf, she was practicing with her sword, she glanced around hoping she would appear soon. Ma couldn't help but wonder if the Elf was as young as the others or older, like she was, it's so hard to tell with them that live so long.

She shakes her head as Hasni stumbles down the stairs with a new tail. "Great Erastil, Hasni...you seem to change everytime I see you. What are you?"

Sense motive
[roll0]

Heal
[roll1]

K (local)
[roll2]

Ma's spells for the day
1 -detect magic
3 -disrupt undead
1 - grease
2 - magic missile
1 - ray of enfeeblement

[TheArsenal]

Good morning Ms Collins

Whilst I cannot easily classify my profession I can say that I am an Arcanist, a Chemist, and a Surgeon.

This new apendage is merely the result of me eating an entire lemon after injecting myself with Protlorium cyornacty every other month. I am quite lucky that this is the only result of such recklessness. I could have had my bones dissolve.


Say, what is that Halfling doing here?

[SamBurke]

Alyera bends down over her fellow halfling. "Hey, girlie.. you got a name?" She instantly seems familiar, and tries to ease any fears the poor girl may have. "We don't have a whole lot of food here, you know, but if Ralph's alright with it, you can stick around... For now, though, I need you to tell me about your injuries. Where does it hurt?"


Fail checks, both. Heal Check=4? I seriously need to put some ranks in that... Sense Motive=8. Methinks I'll be buying some "Looks Legit" Potions o' Miracle sometime soon...

[BelGareth]

Results:

Heal

Heal DC 12 or >
She is infected with Zombie Rot.

Heal DC 18 or >
She is extremely weak and her body is losing the fight (lots of CON damage)


Knowledge Local

Knowledge Local 16 or >
You have heard of Bjorn, he is part of some gang or other.

Knowledge Local 18 or >
You know Bjorn is the member of the Violet Snakes, a gang who specialized in thieves and trafficking rare goods.

Knowledge Local 20 or >
You know Bjorn is the 2nd in command of the gang and a evil cleric.

Knowledge Local 22 or >
Bjorn is a supposed cleric of Orcus.


Sense Motive

Sense Motive 16 or >
You feel as if she is hiding something from you.

[TheArsenal]

Wait a minute! She is a Zombie Survivor! Let me inspect her


Hasni Inspects her for any sighs of disease.

Nature Check: Hooray for class bonuses

[roll0]

Not good. This is the form of infectious disease spread by undead I have been talking about. Its called Zombie rot. It turns those that die from it into undead plauge carriers

[SamBurke]

Alyera continues to care for the girl, lifting her onto the couch and tidying the area up a little. "Ma... I can't honestly think of much right now... how do her wounds look?' Her voice is tinged with concern over this new person, and it would appear Alyera is completely ignorant of the possibilities of guile on the part of the poor refugee.

Glancing around while waiting for Ma to complete the diagnosis, Alyera steps back in horror. "HASNI! IT'S ATTACKING YOU!" She screams, leaping over and attempting to jump on his back. "Forget zombie talk for a moment, and look out! It's burrowing into your spine!"




Grapple check? Also, thank you for someone having decent rolls.

LOL.
Grapple:
1d20-6

[TheArsenal]

Hasni inspects and uses the appropriate chemicals in attempt to help the Halfling.

....Or at least he thinks so.

Will spare another bout of childish crying from Alerya

Hasni thinks.

"Forget zombie talk for a moment, and look out! It's burrowing into your spine!"

GAAAUGH!

Hasni yells as Alerya nabs his still sensitive new apendage!

GET OFF!

Hasni shrieks

Hasnis Tentacle (I finally realized how to accurately desricbe it. It looks like an animate Spine with a claw at the end) Whips out and hits against Aleryas arm- Breaking her hold)

Hasni stands up from the faited Halfling. His Tentacle starts hissing

Dont touch it! Its still sensitive! Its my new apendage!

[Fireheart]

Ma struggles not to laugh as Alyera attacks Hasni's new tail.

Sorry: OOC, literally laughed out loud!

When the commotion dies down, she leans over the sleeping halfling. "I'm afraid, I can't tell much either. My guess is she's exhausted on top of.... Hasni - what is this zombie rot? Is it contagious? How can we protect ourselves? What does she need to heal?

[TheArsenal]

Its contagious but only after the reanimation of the subject. Its lethality depends on the power of the Zombie that attacked the subject.

And I gave her a dam good treatment. I gave these all the time to father. Lets hope that zombie was a weak one.

I have no magical forms of aid for her. I can help her cure wounds, but not infection outside of my surgeon skills.


Hasni mumbles looking visibly upset over Mas smiling face.

[Sparrow]

Ralph watched protectively over the halfling as Hansi performed whatever it is he is doing.

Ralph recalls what he can about the cleric, "I've heard of him. He's in a gang named the violent snakes. They gives the guards loads of problems because they are into stealing and trafficking goods. Our Cleric happens to be second in command and is an evil cleric. He will not be easy to stop."

Ralph watches Hansi even more after he finishes his speech. "Be careful Hansi. I don't want this girl injured even more."

[Fireheart]

Ma reaches over and pats Hasni on the shoulder as well. "Thank you." She says as he finishes his ministrations.

"Good. So as long as she doesn't die, we should be fine." Ma can't help but think there is some irony in that statement.

"An evil cleric..." Ma shakes her head. "Erastil's blessing, that's not something we need right now. And with the guards and most of the wizards dead, there isn't really anyone to keep him from ransoming food and getting even good folks to do evil in his name." Ma stomps her foot. "I'm with Analyn, Knightfell deserves a good kick in the teeth. Oh, speaking of deserving a kick in the teeth...Analyn - I meant to ask last night, what is our dear Royal Wizard Oakenstaff doing? I trust he is still trying to figure out how to bring down the wall?"

OOC: or I can't remember...but did Analyn tell us what Oak is doing?

[Golden Ladybug]

"You'd think that, wouldn't you?" I replied, bitterly, "Oakenstaff doesn't have a clue what he's doing; he doesn't know what to do now that the Archmages are out of the picture. I think we're pretty much on our own"

I gestured for Ma to come away from the others, and once out of earshot of the sick girl, whispered to her "I don't trust her; she's hiding something. I don't know what, but she isn't being completely honest with us"

As those words left my mouth, a memory started tugging at my brain. Some words half remembered about a Cleric called Bjorn Knightfell, that one of my Teacher's had been muttering about angrily in a corridor once...something about which god he served, and how it was deplorable that he was allowed to get away with it...

My face paled when the memories fully surfaced.

[GuyFawkes]

Lucien

The young boy tries to rack his brains at the mention of Bjorn, and he reacts when Ralph says the bit about the gang. "Hey, yeah! I've heard of him on the streets. Damn bastard, to think he'd take over like this with the situation! Maybe Miss Analyn here's right! We ought to put that bastard a peg down!"

Realizing he's being too loud, he composes himself and watches as Alyera and Hasni try to go over the little girl. He can't help but laugh at the commotion when Alyera tries to wrestle off Hasni's new tentacle, but his face becomes more serious when he learns of the disease the little one has.

'Dammit! I really won't be surprised if that cleric is the one causing this zombie disease. Or at least he has a hand in it, and is threatening people with it."

[BelGareth]

Those of you aware of Bjorn and his location realize that he is, ironically, in the same street as the one eyed pirate you were initially looking for.

[SamBurke]

Alyera stands, stunned for a moment. "Your... new... appendage? Is that healthy? Because it's sure as hey disturbing." She listens to everyone else's knowledge, and chides herself for the hours spent alone, helpful though they were. You need to be down here with these people, Yera.

PROTECT.

Y'know, she'd begun to actually like that voice's strange interjections into her mind; they were somehow... comfortingly correct.

Walking silently away from the group, she begins to pray over it all.

Dear Lord.... I don't know who you are. I don't know whether you exist, even. But, my "reason" tells me you do, tells me you make sense, and I feel that you do. Nevertheless, though I desire with all my heart many things, my father, my mother, knowledge of you, understanding of that which now threatens me, and many others, I ask not for myself. I ask of you, Unknown God, to protect these people. Few of them I have known for more than a day, but I know that we are to be together, no matter how strange they may act. We are to do... something. I pray, I plead, I beg, I beseech for you to tell us what that is, not now, but when we need it... when it is your...

PLAN.


Hrm... how big is this house? I'm considering casting Consecrate (using the prayer and so on as the casting of the spell, if that's OK with you, Bel), but at this moment, I don't have enough spells to keep it up all day, which may be a problem.

[GuyFawkes]

Lucien

Lucien is really considering beating up that cleric now. Or at least check the situation out. Then, suddenly, some vague memory came up to him.

"Hey Ralph, d'you remember where in town that Bjorn is exactly?"

[TheArsenal]

Hmmm. That explains the undead variation. Most undeads that spawn as magicaly enchanted like we saw before are the result of magic tampering.

Hasni looks over to Annalyn


Wait a minute...She most likely has a spell book.


Um....Ms Annalyn I wish to apologize for my previous behavior. I was rather rude to you yesterday. Let us make amends. As a token of my gratitude you may inspect my alchemy book for any kinds of spells you wish to use.

Bluff Check for sincerity:

[roll0]

OCC: Wizards cannot transcribe from alchemy books, but Alchemists can transcribe from wizards.

Oops Forgot to factor in Traits: +1 to bluff

[Mefika]

Slowly trailing after the others into the entry hall after it became apparent they were in no imminent danger once the shouting stopped and still lost in a cloud of her own thoughts that started over breakfast, Elenin only catches a few scattered sentences before her attention stops wandering and sharpens on the here and now.

"He's in a gang named the violent snakes"

"Knightfell deserves a good kick in the teeth"

"...ought to put that bastard a peg down!"

"Wait a minute, the Violet Snakes? Bjorn Knightfell? she blurts out looking horrified as she actually pays attention to the scene unfolding in front of her, a weak, sickly looking passed out halfling lass being crowded over by Alyera not looking that much better than the other halfing and Hasni with some sort of spiny tentacle attached to his back whipping around in the air.

What in the Nine Hells is happening this time...no, no one else is looking too worried, it can't be that bad.

"Aren't the Violet Snakes based near that bar that Lord Friderick mentioned? The Toplles Mermade? If were going to be heading off to...kick some teeth in, as I believe I heard, then we should see if there is anything we can find out there as well."

[Sparrow]

"I don't want to ruin anyone's plans of kicking in teeth, but do we really want to go up against a cleric? If he is second in command of the gang, most likely he is powerful. We need a better plan than running in and kicking him in the face." Ralph said, trying to think of a better plan, perhaps one with a chance of survival.

[Golden Ladybug]

"Thanks for the offer, Hasni, but I wouldn't be able to copy anything out of your Alchemy Book; it doesn't work on the same system, or something. I didn't really pay attention when my Proffessor went over it" I replied, doing my best to seem friendly. Inside, however, I was fuming. He'd just tried to trick me, I knew it.

What is he trying to pull?

The Cleric's religious choices temporally pushed to the back of my mind, I stumbled away from Hasni, still angry that he'd tried to trick me. I didn't like him very much (a far cry from before, when he had been the only one that I'd trusted...), but I don't see why he'd need to try and dupe me...and for what? Had he wanted to look at my Spellbook, or something? He wouldn't have been able to understand it, not unless he managed to crack my code...

Bastard...

I'm not even kidding about that; Annalyn's spellbook is written in code. She has a feat for it and everything

I shook my head, and moved back over to Elenin and Ralph

"I think kicking him in the head is a great plan...okay, it could use some work, but I don't think we should be too worried. I managed to scare that mob off last night with a Cantrip, so the Gang Knightfell's in might not be too bright about magic either. Maybe he just fooled his way to the top?"

[TheArsenal]

"Thanks for the offer, Hasni, but I wouldn't be able to copy anything out of your Alchemy Book; it doesn't work on the same system, or something. I didn't really pay attention when my Proffessor went over it"

Hmmm.

She knew. More importantly, she knew about his type of study. How is it possible!

Well played Ms Annalyn.

"I think kicking him in the head is a great plan...okay, it could use some work, but I don't think we should be too worried. I managed to scare that mob off last night with a Cantrip, so the Gang Knightfell's in might not be too bright about magic either. Maybe he just fooled his way to the top?"

Unlikely. Its one thing to scare a rushing mob. Its another to create an organized system.

Him having undead powers would explain the variations of undeads.
Unless...


Hasni Uses his trait of casting Detect magic at the area to check for general necromancy over the area.

Wait spellbook.....DOH! I said that out loud!

[Fireheart]

Ma shook her head as Annalyn shared the less than optimistic news of Oakenstaff.

"Morning, Elenin." she says seeing the elf join them. "It's another crazy day in Zombie city!"

"While I am all for kicking in the teeth of the cleric, we probably need to find out more information. What god does he serve, for instance? To be second in a street gang, I am sure he has some power but I can't imagine it being too much or he'd be first. But Elenin brings up some good information - if he's in the same area as the pirate, we can go looking for the pirate and see what turns up about Knightfell as well."

[GuyFawkes]

Lucien

"You just spoke my mind, Ma!" Lucien chimes in with a smile. "If ever it turns out nasty with this cleric, it'd be wise to have checked out the pirate beforehand. That way, we're sure to get some leads. Unless this, whats-his-name, One-Eyed Burt?...is in cahoots with that Knightfell. I hope not."

He is about to suggest leaving soon, but he notices the hafling. "Well, how shall we go about this? I think with our situation now," he looks at the halfling, an continues, "we all can't go. Plus, if there's no one to watch the house, either it's some crazy mob of deranged citizens, or you know, them other creepy things, that's gonna greet us when we come back."

[Fireheart]

Ma looks at the younger kids and Elenin and then back at the halfling.

I'll stay here. I think I have spells to keep the house protected and I can watch over the halfling.

(OOC: I hate splitting the party...but I have to spend the next two days cramming for the PHR Exam (Professional in Human Resources) which I am taking on Friday. So it might be good to have Ma go quiet until after Friday. I'm too easily distracted and this is way more fun than studying compensation & risk management.)

[Sparrow]

"I will stay as well. I...I have to think some things over." Ralph says, still keeping a watchful eye over the halfling girl. "Unless, of course you guys need any tactical plan involving stealth, or anything."

[TheArsenal]

Hmmm. Yes. Well I just scanned the area and there is no city wide necromancy effect. Unless this building is holy for some reason or other but then I would have sensed it as well.

The undead are not a result of the ritual or some sort of accident. They are man made. This does put more suspicion on the cleric once more.

Hasni looks at annalyn again.......DO IT!

I have been itching to tell you this and since you apparently have a knack of seeing through lies I guess the truth must suffice.


I think that you are an elitist cow. You disrespect me merely because I am limited in my magical abilities. You insulted my social skills and treat me like some sort of alien being. Is my lack of magic aura inherently detrimental to you?

Is there something WRONG WITH WHO I AM! WHAT HAVE I DONE TO YOU TO WARRANT SUCH DISRESPECT! I DESPISE YOU! YOU LUCKY ONES BORN WITH MAGIC!


Hasni slowly starts talking more aggressively until he is almost yelling.

Hasni has Daddy issues.

[Sparrow]

Ralph seemed shocked at Hansi's outburst. "Hansi, calm down. No one is trying to disrespect you." Ralph turned to Anayln, "Right Anayln?"


Good old Ralph, trying to keep everyone calm. Oh how I miss one of my other characters from a dead game. She would of turned this spark of anger into a brush fire. I miss that little psion. :(

[TheArsenal]

YES SOMEONE IS TRYING TO DISRESPECT ME!

Screams Hasni.

[Sparrow]

"Hansi, why would anyone disrespect you for not having as much magical ability. I don't have any magic talent at all. If anyone would be disrespected, wouldn't it be me?" Ralph replied to Hansi, who seemed to be getting more angry.

[TheArsenal]

BECAUSE I CANNOT CAST SPELLS! YOU HAVING NO MAGICAL TALENT IS SIMPLY THE RESULT OF YOUR BUFOONERY!

Hasnis tentacle whips out madly.

I TOLD HER! I TOLD HER OF MY LIMITATIONS! THE VERY SAME THAT SHE ENJOYS EVERY DAY I MUST BARELY SCRAMBLE CLOSER WITH MORE MATERIALS AND WITH STILL MORE LIMITED RESULTS!

AFTER I TOLD HER THAT SHE SAID THAT I HAVE NO FORMS OF UNDERSTANDING OTHERS!


Hasni screaches at annalyn

YOU WHERENT LOCKED IN YOUR OWN HOME UNTIL YOU WHERE OF WORKING AGE! I WAS TORMENTED AND IN PAIN EVERY DAY OF MY LIFE FOR LACKING THAT ABILITY! YOU HAVE NO RIGHT TO JUDGE ME!

YOU HAVE NO RIGHT TO JUDGE ME!

[Sparrow]

"My buffoonery? My buffoonery is a result of my studying and making something for myself. Being a merchant is dangerous, you can't trust the economy. I have been trying to create a back-up plan for myself." Ralph said, trying to stay calm, but getting slightly more angry as he spoke.

"Nobody blames you for being angry. Yes, you are right. Anayln did know your limitations. But when she has been taught not to have those same limits it is difficult for her to not cross them." Ralph adds.

[SamBurke]

Alyera stops in her prayer, broken up in mid sentence, to watch the display of pain.

Without another word, she walks demurely through the crowd of angry people, to the three. Quietly standing alongside Hasni, she puts her arm up on him, regardless of the tentacles and grime. Her voice seems soft and understanding, if barely audible. "I know how you feel. I know what the feeling of pain is like. I know the agony of a physical beating, the torture of lashes, cuts, breaks and tears. But what's more, Hasni, I know how the heartache of loneliness tears at the soul. I know the experience of inadequacy, the knowledge that you weren't enough, can't be enough."

Alyera sighed, hanging her head and then looking all the way up into Hasni's enlarged pupils. "But... there was an answer. There is a hope at the other side. I found not inner strength such as you have. I gained no mastery over magic like Oakenstaff wields. Merely, I looked to logic and truth, and found something: there is a God. No mere god of mortals, a God who has... a... plan." Her voice faltered. She wasn't really sure of what she was saying now. In fact, Alyera couldn't even figure out how she'd thought of that whole speech. She just knew... it was true.

It was true.

[GuyFawkes]

Lucien

The young half-elf smiles and makes his way through the others and grabs Hasni by the shoulder, wheeling the hysterical man around to his direction and meeting his face with a punch that he put all his weight in.

"Told ya I'd tag you back!" he says to Hasni with a smirk in his face. "Calm down. You're not helping. And nobody cares if you can use magic or not, so just shut it. Focus! We need a plan now, not to shout at each other over some grown man's insecurities."

[Golden Ladybug]

I stood there in silence, as Hasni screamed abuse and veiled despair at me, and I kept silent as Ralph and Alyera interceded on my behalf.

I could feel a broiling sea of anger roaring through my head, and a deep, bone-breaking tiredness threatened to overtake my body. It was all I could do to not shout back at Hasni, or even to make the first move and destroy the Alchemist with Acid and Force. I almost did.

"Hasni," I hissed through gritted teeth, "If you think that you're the only one with problems, then you're more than just an *******; you're ignorant and naive!"

The knuckles on my right hand, the one holding my Staff, had lost all color from clenching around the knotted wood so tightly, and I had to force myself to loosen the deathgrip, as I stormed off towards the front door.

Knightfell is a Cleric of Orcus." I called back to the others, "I'm going to go kick his ass for the way he's treating those people, anyone who wants to join me is welcome"

OOC: My Plan is, we go and find Knighfell. And then we all dogpile him and defeat him through weight of numbers.

Or we Diplomance him a bit...and then we dogpile him and defeat him through weight of numbers :smallbiggrin:

[Fireheart]

Ma looks up from the halfling in time to see the outbursts of frustration.

Seeing the yelling escalate physically, Moraine quickly moves to stand between Hasni and Lucien.

"Didn't I just do this?" she glares at them "We cannot fight amongst ourselves. Stop this!"

She turns to Hasni..."Hasni - I am sorry your father was a Dragon's patooie but do not take it out on Annalyn or anyone else for that matter."

She looks at the others. "I know this is hard. We are all struggling. We are all trying to figure out what do to. Ralph lost his family yesterday for Gods' sakes, Alyera is trying to get over killing something she tried to heal, and god knows what's going on in the Elf's head but we all need try to be a bit understanding."

She takes deep breath and suddenly seem much calmer and more peaceful.

"Now, Ralph and I are staying with the Halfling. Who else is going with Annalyn to scout out the pirate and priest? Please try to avoid conflict if you can, find out what information you can about the pirate and priest and bring it back here. Hopefully, we can then make a plan to target the priest with spells and" she glances at Hasni "other attacks that are effective against his defenses."

[TheArsenal]

Hasni Looks stunned. His face flushes.

I dont believe it.

I dont believe it!



"Hasni - I am sorry your father was a Dragon's patooie but do not take it out on Annalyn or anyone else for that matter."

Hasni spaces out for a while

I dont believe it

Hasnis face turns dark red

"other attacks that are effective against his defenses."

I WILL DESTROY YOU!

Hasni Drinks the Mutagen almst crushing the bottle in his hands (Move action).


His transformation is very quick.

His jaw pops out with a mushy crackling sound

His face begins to elongate to something canine looking (Think Hyena).

He begins to grow in size, by nearly 2 feat

Sharp claws envelope his hands in a bloody eruption.

Tufts of fur burst out of his skin until his entire body is enveloped.

Two rows of sharklike teeth erupt from his mouth filling it with drooling blood

His tentacle starts elongating in a disgusting popping sound and gets covered in a chitin and resembling a scorpions stinger.


Hasni pounces toward Annalyn (Not in a move action- just as in for an attack)

His tentacle wraps around annalyn. With his two claws he reaches toward her throat.


Grapple (+4 for tentacle):
[roll0]
Vs CMD 12


And as he almost begins to crush down on her windpipe.

His subconscious asks

Wait....Why am I attacking her again?....Hmmm. I cant remember!

And so he lets go.

He then goes into a crouching position similar to what a dog.

Why was I attacking you again?

Comes out as

YIP! YIP YIP YIP YIP!

OCC: Angry people don't listen to reason. They get ANGRIER!

Hasni feels like Annalyn has not even ADDRESSED why hes angry. Making it about how HE is wrong. Nothing makes a man angrier. Especially pointing out his inadequacies

This was the only way I thought I could resolve the issue without ending up with somebody dead.

[GuyFawkes]

Lucien

"Sorry Ma, just can't help myself from getting payback," he smiles. "Anyway, we should be focusing on..."

A sudden shout and a movement makes him wheel around to find a furry god looking monster strangling Analyn. He is surprised at how such a monster could have just appeared so suddenly. And it does not look like a zombie. He quickly moves in and shoves the thing away, catching Analyn and holding her in a way she would not be able to use her hands to cast any spell as he realizes the thing that attacked her is Hasni. He draws out his scimitar and points it at Hasni.

"WHAT THE HELL DO YOU THINK YOU'RE DOING?!!" He is furious now.

[SamBurke]

Alyera flinched for a moment, feeling Annalyn's fear. "No. No." Her voice rises to a scream. "NO! YOU DO NOT TOUCH MY FRIENDS!" Both her hands glow a flaming Gold, and her eyes narrow to slits. "SEE THE LIGHT!" She screams, slamming both her hands in his face.

After a moment, she stops, realizing what she did. "I... I... I'm so sorry. It's for your own good." She hangs her head in shame a little.


OK, you asked for it... Using my Sleep, (DC16,) followed the next turn by my 3/day Sanctuary. He can't attack, can't be attacked (should zombies break in or something), and he's asleep. From there, let's work with it.

Besides that, GUYS! Could we get some understanding for Hasni's pain, here? Really? He has legit issues, like the rest of us.

Also, I realized that the Tendersoul, being 3.5, doesn't have a lot of nice Pathfinder spells (or a few spells that just plain make sense for the class). Would it be possible to add some, as long as they make sense?

[Fireheart]

Ma tries to pull Annalyn away from Lucien and behind her, freeing Lucien to use his sword if needed. She tries to keep herself between the Hasni-Hyena and Annalyn and the unconscious halfling.

(OOC: Is it wrong that my first thought is say shout. "Down! Hasni" and wag a finger at it/him?)

OOC: Ma believes at this point that fighting is inevitable, her response is to try to limit the ...what's the word...bystander effect...by keeping as many of thier companions out of the line of conflict as possible.

[TheArsenal]

I... I... I'm so sorry. It's for your own good.

Hasni senses a tickle go through his head

That felt good

YARK! YARK YARK

Hasni payes no heed to the brandished sword.

He gives a big bloody (as in "Your face is now red from blood) lick to Alyera.

SLUUURRPah

Hasni sits on his legs much like a dog and gives a gigantic goofy grin.

He then proceeds to pant and let what used to be his gums fall out his mouth.

edit:

Hasnis tail wags happily and smacks Luciens sword from his hand with Scorpion style reaction.

He then proceeds to continue to wag his tail.

[GuyFawkes]

Lucien

Lucien reacts as he sees what has become of Hasni try to lick Alyera, which he took to be some sort of attack, and darts forward. He is then taken by a surprise stab of the tentacle looking to disarm his sword and managed to do so. However, this did not deter him, in fact only infuriating him more. He keeps his forward momentum and at the instant his sword falls out of his hand, his other hand takes out a dagger from his belt and he continues with his intended attack. But before his weapon goes its full swing, he notices Alyera does not seem to be harmed and Hasni's posture doesn't seem to be an aggressive one. He stops and backs away.

"Raaagh! Enough of this! Alyera, please take that thing away from here before I do something," he manages to try to lower his voice while breathing heavily to calm himself down.

His hands, however, belie his attempts of calming down as there are now one dagger in each of them.

[TheArsenal]

"Raaagh! Enough of this! Alyera, please take that thing away from here before I do something,"

Hasni sees Lucien yell

Why are you angry with me!

Hasni wimpers and backs off from lucien. Lowereing his scorpion stinger to the ground.

[SamBurke]

Alyera stands between Hansi and the rest of them. "Everyone... this is over. Please, find something else to do. Go... guard or something. I'll have a little talk, and everything will be OK." She pushes Hasni back for a moment, and turns to him.

She looks up, pulling his face down towards her level. "There we go... a little better. Look... we're all tense. We're all on edge, Hasni. I don't mind you venting frustration, I do it too. But when you lash out... it hurts other people. As a group, we need to stick together. These times are tough, and they'll only get worse. We all need other people to support us, and to keep us strong. So... can you wait here, and aid Ma with your knowledge of the undead? In between the two of you, I trust everything will be under control. I trust you, alright?" She puts her hand on his shoulder, and looks deep into his wild eyes.


In other news, I'm glad we have no fanfic writers around... I think I'd get shipped like Rainbow Dash.

[TheArsenal]

"There we go... a little better. Look... we're all tense. We're all on edge, Hasni. I don't mind you venting frustration, I do it too. But when you lash out... it hurts other people. As a group, we need to stick together. These times are tough, and they'll only get worse. We all need other people to support us, and to keep us strong.


I like her. She is so nice
Hasni gives another lick, covering her face is blood and gory chunks of his tongue.
YARK!

So... can you wait here, and aid Ma with your knowledge of the undead? In between the two of you, I trust everything will be under control. I trust you, alright?"

But im confused. Do I stay or do I go?

Hasni turns his head to the side and expresses question (You have no way of knowing that im confused)

YARK!

[Sparrow]

What? Why does the weird stuff always happen when I'm at school?

"Actually Ma, I'm going to go with them to scout. I can assess the situation and come up with a plan that will result in the least bloodshed." Ralph says. He then lowers his voice, "Please be safe, and please don't let the halfling out of your sight. I don't think she is telling us the whole truth." He then follows Analyn toward the front door.

[Golden Ladybug]

Oh wow, I missed so much. This whole, different time zone thing is really not working out for me :smalleek:

Okay, lets pretend that this has been happening in the background since Hasni grabbed me with his bony-phalange thing

I gasped as Hasni's tentacle darted forward and constricted aroudn my neck, suddenly choking.

Only a few instants later, he released me and I fell to the floor "urgh" I gasped, as my hands flew to my throat. I tried my best to keep breathing, and gingerly felt the already bruising skin around my throat. I felt like I needed to throw up.

I forced myself to look up, and I saw Hasni, now sporting a tail and a mindless grin. He must have ingested another one of his potions, and once again his personality had completely changed. I hated him so much.

My staff had dropped to the ground, and rolled away from me. I groped blindly for it, before tearing my eyes away from the others and searching for it properly. It had rolled over to the doorway, and my hands darted out and grabbed hold of the long, twisted wooden staff. It was plain; incredibly so. I'd been given odd looks when I'd brought it along to the ceremony. Most wizards choose something grand, perhaps inscribed with runes. Something to show their status, or something functional, like an amulet or wand. I'd just picked up the straightest length of wood I'd been able to find when I had taken a quick stroll in the woods, and then the ceremony had taken care of the rest.

I pulled it straight, and got to my feet. Shooting a venomous glare back at Hasni, I then moved out onto the street and looked around to make sure that no one else was around.

Then I feel to my knees, and sobbed.

[TheArsenal]

Hasni saw the Venom from Annalyns glare, and saw her roll out of the room.

What did I do?

Hasni darts from Alerya, in a sort of monkey walk. He trots outside to see Annalyn crying.

I made her cry. Im so stupid

Hasni gives a wimper and cautiously approaches Annalyn.

Im sorry Annalyn. For some reason I don't remember why I was attacking you. Could you please remind me?

HARK HARK!

[SamBurke]

Alyera glanced at those around her; the broken and abused heart inside the sobbing Analyn, the confused and almost criminally insane but loyal Hasni, the young nobleman who wouldn't tell anyone the pains tearing him apart, the warriors rushing out the door, ready for vengeance on a dangerous foe in an unknown world without any knowledge, the over-tasked part time mother who was yet in her element despite the chaos...

and her. What was she? What was she to them?

"It doesn't matter. They're my friends, and I stick with them. No one gets deserted this time." Her eyes flared at the internal monologue, and she clenched her fist.

"Hasni, I'll stay here, with you. Don't worry about... her. We can work things out, OK?"


Moar posts coming.

[TheArsenal]

Hasni turns his head to side to see Alerya yapping about something. He really didn't care. But she looked realy funny, red face and all.

HARK!

Hasni gives a nod of approval.

Hasni rolled around a thought in his head. In case they needed to escape some zombies maybe he should prepare a potion of detect undead? Yeah, that WOULD be a good idea.

[SamBurke]

Alyera asks for a few sheets of paper and some ink, and disappears upstairs again. I just need to think.. and to think, I need to have it mapped out.


She sat at the desk, staring at a blank page. The first thing that hit her head was going down on that page. First thing.

If only she could think of something to write. Something... to draw?

Without further contemplation, she threw herself into sketching something... the lines didn't look right, the proportion was completely off, and it might not even work. But it was something she could make. If you try to make that necklace, it better turn out straighter than the drawing... or else you'll have a spike in your trachea. But, still, not such a bad drawing. It was something on those blank pages.

In a rush from the thoughts in her head, she flipped over the sheet, and began to write in that measured equalized print her father had taught her.

Day 2, Zombie Desecration, Solstice 26
Alyera Soliser, Escaped Concubine

Yesterday, 25th of Solstice, it began. The moment I awoke, I knew something wasn't wrong. True, it was as I liked it when I wake; quiet, and empty. But everything... was too quiet.

As I searched the halls, all were asleep, and none responded to healing magic. After walking into the streets, I was met by only a few people still conscious. These people are still with me, and will be described as these notes require. First is Ma Collins. Honestly, I can't even remember her real name; she's always just been mother to me, ever since I came to Cloud City.

We met with all the people, and walked across the city a few times. The horror of silence... it's hard to comprehend when you're used to the industrious clamour of a workshop, the bestial anger of a harem, or the pleasant cacophony of a busy home.

The silence, if possible... was heavy. Heavy. It pressed in, formed a void between people, making every step seem to span a vast gulf, every mile an eon in a forgotten era, the city dead. Dead... Gone. As if we were walking through some sort of illusion, a plaything of wizards and demons, or perhaps an imagined battlefield of history.

But this would be no battle.

Whatever has happened in Cloud City.... it is a massacre.

We still encountered no undead, and reached the Dwarven Embassies to the West of the city, near the mountains. Having heard a loud boom from there, we decided to check on it.

Resting just outside the embassy was an enormous wall of force, which we found was actually sheathing the entire city. Despite trying to move around it, we could not, and left the embassy.



She froze. "That's enough writing for now, I think...."

She left the page and quill there, ignoring the growing splotch of ink staining the end of the sentence.

It's a lie... I don't have a handle on everything here... this matter-of-fact writing's just a facade.

IT'S NOT YOU.

That was a long sentence, from you...

Alyera paused for a moment. She was really talking to the voice in her head? This thing was more serious than she had thought.

Much more serious.

[BelGareth]

After a short break, those of you who are ready to move out peek out the cracks in the boards and see nothing outside. Opening the door you all file out, ready for anything, and more.

Moving into the street you see several decaying bodies, more decay than should be warranted for only 2 days, nonetheless, there are several dead bodies on the road. Your presence scatters several ravens feasting on the remains and a house cat looks at you not caring about your proximity and continues to feast on the dead flesh.

The day is dark and dreary, the smoke caught in by the bubble of magic is causing the city to have a hazy pallor about it.

Moving on you manage to make good time.

Please give me an order of march and everyone roll a d6.

Don't match mine: [roll0]

I believe Ralph, Lucien, Hasni, Annalyn and I'm assuming Elennin is going too?
with Ma and Alyera staying.

[TheArsenal]

Before Hasni leaves he throws Alerya a muddy bandage and points to the unconscious halfling.

If you can Identify them they are bandages of rapid recovery

He then prepares two of his spells:
Giant Growth and Cure minor wounds.

He then scampers off with the rest of the group.

[BelGareth]

Lucien, Ralph and Hasni -

You all make your way safely through the deserted streets to Air Walk bridge, although it is no longer such a beautiful sight. As you saw before, dead bodies are floating on the brackish waters, fish and and assortment of smaller animals float in small congregations as if to some murky aquatic god of death.

The stench is nearly overpowering, in fact you can't but approach the bridge but hold your nose to the filth that rises from it, let along cross the thing.

You know that if you are to cross that bridge, you are most likely going to lose the contents of your stomach, and who knows whats waiting for you to lie prostrate, emptying your stomach upon the floor?

Options, you don't have many. What do you do?


The main thread is going to be for the above characters, Annalyn is staying purely on the fact that Golden Ladybug hasn't shown for a while (and I'm worried she may not come back) Other players will have a separate thread, which will be linked in the OOC.

[BelGareth]

You all attempt to cross the bridge holding your nose or even covering it with a piece of your shirt, but to no avail you all submit to the intolerable stench that spans the river.

Falling to your knees you continue to cover the cobblestones with the contents of your stomach to point of dry heaving, you soon realize your not going to stop while you are within the stench but your strength has left you. The only thing you are able to do is lie on the floor in your vomit dry heaving.

After several minutes of this, blood starts to come forth from the continual heaving, you know your body cannot take any more of this. From the other side you all see a figure bound through the yellowish fog that surrounds the fog of the river banks.

All of you take 6 points of non lethal damage and 3 points of lethal damage.

You make a move action before she gets to you, but actually moving is limited to only crawling. Any spells or similar affects need a concentration check DC 20.

[GuyFawkes]

Lucien

"Blarghh.." is all he could muster as he tries to warn the others of the figure coming from the other side of the bridge. He tries to focus himself as he tries to discern the nature of the figure shrouded in fog.

Perception: [roll0]

[TheArsenal]

The pain temporarily shakes Hasnis mind from its cozy numbness

Ugh.....what.....where.....oh god, when will these potions not cause me to black out when I take them....ugh.....

But then another bout of vomiting quickly jams it back again

HELLO LUCIEN I HOPE YOU ARE ALRIGHT! I HOPE WE DONT ATTRACT ANY UNDEADS!


HARK HARK HARK HARK!

[BelGareth]

As you both strain to keep your heads from falling to the stones beneath you the figure comes toward you, just before you pass out you see a young woman with a cloth dripping something over her mouth.

Waking up you are on the same side you started except with the woman watching over you, leaning against a wall near the bridge you realize she dragged the both of you off the bridge to your current location.

She looks to be helping you.

The smell of urine seems to be around you, but you cannot pin point the origin.

[GuyFawkes]

Lucien

Coughing and clutching his chest, Lucien tries to prop himself up into a sitting position. He looks at his companions who are still on their backs, and his focus shifts to the figure of a woman watching over them. He is immediately alerted and tries to stand but his head is still spinning. Then he relaxes a bit. If this woman wanted to harm them, they would be dead by now.

"Excuse me. Was it you who carried us from the bridge?" A rather obvious question, but he does not know how to proceed.

[BelGareth]

The woman who was tending to Hasni's unconscious form turned to look at you, in another place and time she would have been attractive, but she had a rough fresh scar running across her face.

Her smile came off awkward as several spots of her face failed to respond.

"I dragged you, if that's what your asking." she laughed a little "Little ol me couldn't begin to carry the likes of you two, what were guys doing crossing the bridge like that anyway?"

[GuyFawkes]

Lucien

"Thank you, I suppose," he replies with a smile that tries to hide his feelings of...whatever it was jumbled up inside him as he looks at the girl. Pity, maybe, or awe and admiration. "Well, we managed to cross it just yesterday and it wasn't that bad. To think it'd turn out that way after a day, things sure are taking a turn for the worse," the last sentence rather a murmur to himself.

Now this sucks. How the heck are we supposed to go to that pirate and cleric's place? This place is surrounded by the river. We have to somehow cross it to get there. He works his brain to find ways to cross, or alternate routes to take. It's his city, his playground. Surely there's somewhere, or something. Then, something dawns upon him.

"Hey, how'd you manage to cross it just fine?"

[TheArsenal]

Hasni Shakes awakened

GETOFFOFMEWHATAREYOUDOING!

HARK HARK!

Hasni angrily growls at the woman.

[BelGareth]

The woman looks to you with a half crooked smile, although you can't tell if it's from the horrible scar or the kind of smile.

"With this" she says as she holds up a dripping wet rag, "hold it against your mouth and then it prevents you puking your guts out, come on we have to go before the walkers are here" she finishes just as Hasni wakes up and barks like a deranged dog.

Backing away from him she takes out two more rags and douses them in a liquid she poured from a bottle on her waist. All the while staring at Hasni. giving them to both of you "Put it against your mouth, what ever you do, do not remove it. C'mon lets go!"

she starts to run across the bridge, pulling you along.

The rag you put against your mouth smells strongly of urine.

[GuyFawkes]

Lucien

"Calm down, Has. She helped us," he puts a hand on Hasni to calm him down. When the girl told them of the way to cross, Lucien begins to understand why he has been smelling urine. So this is how. Seeing that it worked for her, Lucien has no time to hesitate and goes with her. "Come, Hasni," he says to him under the rag.

[TheArsenal]

Why do you want me to smell the disguisting rag you crazy person!

HARK HARK HARK HARK

"Come, Hasni,"


Why do you want me to smell urine Lucien! Do you hate me too?

HARK HARK HARK!

Fine, but if this is just to kidnap me, im eating your vocal chords once this is done

Grrrrrrr.

Hasni Finally complies

[Sparrow]

If I remember correctly Ralph is with these guys. Correct me if I'm wrong.

Ralph wakes up after passing out. By the time he gets to his feet, the others have already on th other side of the bridge. After puking up his intestines, Ralph says just loud enough for the others to hear without alerting any stray zombies, " Hey guys! What about be, I don't have anything to stop the smell!"

[BelGareth]

The woman that led Hasni and Lucien yells back at you

"Just pee on a rag and hold it against your mouth!"

[TheArsenal]

Suddenly, the rules of reality change for Hasni. Fully becoming the Dog like creature his nostrils become more sensative, and his brain becomes overwhelmed with smell based information.


HAAAAAAAARK!

PAIN

Hasni starts wildly running around almost knocking over the lady whilst running wildly in circles.

[BelGareth]

Seeing the deranged man start running around like a rabid dog she lets go of him an keeps running with lucien making over the bridge she leads him off to the side where there is some cover allowing them to watch in relative safety.

turning to Lucien "You keep strange company." she says simply and then turns to watch. she takes the rag from her mouth, folds it and places it in a leather pouch at her waist. She wipes her mouth with her sleeve and says nothing more of it.

[GuyFawkes]

Lucien

Between the putrid smell of decayed bodies and the strong smell of ammonia, Lucien is hard pressed to stop when Hasni goes off with his usual unusual behavior. He decides to make a run for it across the bridge, then pulls away the rag covering his nose and gasps for a relatively cleaner air before looking back.

What in the Nine Hells is wrong with him this time?

When the girl speaks to him about keeping strange company, he cannot hide a smirk on his face. He turns to her and replies, "Miss, you would not believe how much that is an understatement." Turning back towards the bridge, he cannot quite understand what is happening to Hasni.

Shaking his head in frustration, he takes a deep breath and puts the rag back on his nose, then makes a run towards the rampaging Hasni. As soon as he gets there, he grabs him anywhere he could. "Damn it, Hasni! You have the most impeccable timing to go crazy!" he shouts underneath the cloth. He looks back towards Ralph and shouts, "Oi, hurry up and piss on a rag or something. We haven't got all day!" before running towards the other end with Hasni in tow.

[TheArsenal]

IT HURTS!

"Damn it, Hasni! You have the most impeccable timing to go crazy!"

....Im....OUCh...sorry lucien

Hasni wimpers and sits on his hind legs.

[Sparrow]

"Pee on a rag?!?!?!?!?!?!? That's disgusting. There has to be another way!" Yelled Ralph across the bridge.

[GuyFawkes]

Lucien

Dragging Hasni all the way to the other end, Lucien removes the rag again and breathes deeply. He looks back at Ralph and sighs. "Ugh, great. Rich kids," he mutters. With no visible effort he splits himself into to and hands the rag to his copy, which then sprints towards Ralph's end, disappearing as it arrives there and hands the rag to Ralph.

"Take the rag and press it over your nose! There is no other way! Just do it or we'll leave you behind!"

[TheArsenal]

Im sorry. I didn't mean to (GAAAAH DIRT DIRT ITS EVERYWHERE!) make you mad Lucien....Here is a present.

Hark

Hasni Reaches into his belt and pulls out a syringe (Do you know what that is?).

Its filled with a purple liquid with heart shaped bubbles that swirl around a yellow yolkish looking triangle.

Hasni indicates you should stab it into your arm and push the top part.

Its a potion of cure minor wounds but you don't know that

He then makes puppy dog eyes and wimpers for a bit.

[GuyFawkes]

Lucien

"Oh, come on! Puppy dog eyes?! What the hell are ya tryin' ta pull this time?" he says as he takes the syringe containing a strange liquid inside with a weird look on his face. When Hasni motions for him to use it, "What? Use it? No way! I don't even know what this is. You want me to turn into somethin' like you?" He places the syringe in his belt pouch and pats it two times. "I'm keeping it 'til you're back to when you can talk and explain to me what that is."

He then finds somewhere to sit, looks around, and back at the bridge. "Ugh, if he's not here within a minute, we're leaving him." Noticing the girl, he tries to call her attention by calling her name, but he realizes he has not gotten her name yet.

"I forgot to ask, what name should I call you with?"

[BelGareth]

Ralph eventually grabs the rag and sticks it over his mouth and runs across the bridge, gasping for air as he reached the other side. Obviously trying his hardest not to breath through the urine soaked cloth.

The woman looks to Lucian and smiles, "You can call me scars. Near everyone does, come its time to go, we've been here long enough as it is."

With that she takes off running. It takes you a few seconds, but you realize she is not running in the same direction as you intended to go.

[GuyFawkes]

Lucien

"Right, let's go," he picks himself up and turns to the others. "Let's go boys. We've been held up by that stinkin' bridge long enough," turning on his heel and his step turning to a sprint. A few seconds, he gains his bearings and realizes they are going away from where they intended to go. He immediately stops.

"Hey, Scars!" he calls out. "We're kind of going the other way. Where are you taking us?"

[BelGareth]

Scar looks back to with a quizzical look on her face. stopping and walking towards you she speaks "I'm taking you to my boss, isn't that why you came over the bridge? the only thing in the other direction is Bjorn and his lot."

She stands with her hands on her hips, slightly off centered. If it wasn't for the scar across her face, she would be a very attractive woman. You find yourself double taking at the image and slightly distracted as to your young age.

[TheArsenal]

I don't like her.

Hasni Growls at the woman.

But Lucien wants me to not to run around.


Hasni Stays next to Lucien and keeps quiet.

[GuyFawkes]

Lucien

With Scars standing close to him, he can't help but flinch at the sight of her wound. And he would have paid it more mind if not for the new information she just said. "Ahh, errm..." Boss? Who's this boss now? He looks sideways at Hasni. Dammit, I could use your acid tongue right now. Right now they need to go find out more about that Bjorn, but he is curious about that boss as well. Maybe, maybe they could get information without having to deal directly with that bad lot. While he cannot be sure of this...

"Ahh, yes! Haha sorry, I think the stench got into my head, got me disoriented. Lead the way then," he says with a smile. When Scars would go turn and proceed, Lucien would look at the others and give them a "just play along" look.

[Sparrow]

After getting the other side of the bridge, Ralph throws the rag down. "Okay, I can handle a lot of things, but that was just disgusting." After he comes to his senses, he nods in agreement with Lucien's command for the girl to lead the way.

[NinjaStylerobot]

I wonders what Lucien means....No matter.

Hasni wanders following Lucien.

I don't trust her....where is this lady leading us? Why is Lucien listening to her?....Hes under mind control!...Of COURSE! It makes perfect sense! She probably has a wand hidden in her sleeve!

Hasni Comes up to the woman...he tries sniffing her. He tries to smell any kind of unusual scent that may give away spell components or the like.

[BelGareth]

Scars looks at you with a smile as if to say "ok" and then turns around and runs off.

Following her you skirt the streets, sometimes backtracking whole avenues to avoid things you cannot see, staying the shadow you see Scars is competent at moving in them.

You quickly realize (Lucien) that she is leading you to the same Smithy where your father was and you looked for him. The street is blocked width wise with wood and broken rubble from some close buildings.

Stopping short she lets out two whistles and is replied by a head bobbing up from the hodgepodge parapet. The person takes a second and then bobs back down.

Moments later she is gesturing for the three of you two follow her closely. She sprints close to the barricade and waits, making sure you are all behind her.

[GuyFawkes]

Lucien

As the location of their probable destination becomes more and more identical to what he has in mind, questions begin to pop up inside the young boy's head. Was the leader Scars was talking about that old cleric he saw inside the shop that time he went looking for his father? Or...

He stops with his thoughts as their group comes closer to the barricades. He notices the movement behind it as Scars whistles. Looking around, he sprints behind her, intent on finding out what this is all about.

[Sparrow]

Ralph follows the other two, trying to determine what they were thinking by their body language and such.

Just to see if any thing strange is going on, sense motive:[roll0]

[BelGareth]

Ralph, you are only able to see the top of a head and nothing seems amiss, Scars seems relaxed and eager to get inside.

Hasni, you smell a myriad of things, human refuse is a strong smell permeating from behind the barricade. But underneath the raw sewage is another intense smell, it's hard to make out, something you have only just recently experienced, ah yes....burned flesh. A remarkably unique smell.

A few seconds later the woman who you are following leads you around to the side of the construction and knocks gently on a door to the building adjacent to it.

A few seconds more it creeks open, and then wooshes open, you are all ushered inside and the door slams shut behind you.

All you can see is darkness which only deepens when a sack is put over your eyes, you may try to fight back but at least three sets of hands are upon each of you and your are blind. They start to beat you, punches go to the face, kicks tot he groin, elbows to the ribs, you fall to the ground and it's all you can do to curl up in a ball and whimper and hope for the void of unconsciousness.

You wake up, the sack still on your head lying on the floor. The floor is wet and reeks of something nauseous. Your hands are free and you feel like hell, as if you have a really really good night out drinking but instead of a hangover you got beat up.

Hasni, you get the smells of human excrement, bits and pieces of digested food, dog, rats and ammonia.

[NinjaStylerobot]

Hasni stumbles upward, the intense smell almost making him Vomit.

He lightly (But rather agressivly growls)

OH No Lucien!

Hasni stumbles over to Lucien

Come on you ouf- stand up!

Hasni wakes lucien.

[BelGareth]

You quickly realize that all your personal belongings are missing.

Taking off the sack you can see the room you are in, a plain room that may have had a bed in it once. Not now, besides the smell you can see blood and water is seeping down from above in the corner, making the whole corner green with lichen and moss.

The door however is a solid one, and by the looks of it is locked and barred.

[GuyFawkes]

Lucien

"Ughhh," Lucien groans as he regains consciousness. What in the Nine Hells just happened? Then suddenly, "Oww, Ouch!" The pain begins to register all over his body. Back, chest, face. Everywhere. Then it all comes back to him.

****.

And then as if mocking him, the putrid smell begins to assault his senses. "Ughh, where the hell.." he mutters as he removes the sack over his head. He notices Hasni, still in his mutated form, close to him, up and about, and looks as if it was him who woke him up. His head quickly spins around to look for Ralph, and he hurries over to him as he is lying still, covered in the same sack as he was. He begins see some signs of life. When he sees he is still alive, he breathes a sigh of relief.

****. I really screwed up this time. He looks at Hasni. "Sorry, Has. I guess it's my fault. I gambled on this too much."

[NinjaStylerobot]

Hasni gives a big sigh.

Its Ok I guess as long as your sorry

Hasni Slumps next to Lucien and examines him for any injuries that may cause lasting harm to him.


Dammit, I don't reember how this stuff goes again...the bones are connected to the...uh...


Heal check:

[roll0]



Even with his lowered intelect hasni shows great care in his attempts of making lucien feel better.

After realizing that Lucien is not suffering any major injuries Hasni wakes up Ralph.

Im not waiting before my mutagen runs out!

Hasni Charges at the door


STR Check:

Its a fail Not a win.



Hasni fails at breaking down the door

[NinjaStylerobot]

Hasni Re attempts to break the doors of oppression down!:


STR Check:

[roll0]

Like OMG its my first natural 20

[GuyFawkes]

Lucien

While Hasni is trying to break open the door, Lucien searches the room for any other openings they might be able to use to escape, or a rather weak spot on the wall where Has could better use his strength.

Perception: [roll0]

[Sparrow]

Ralph gets up after waking. He is doubled over in pain for a moment, he then stands up straight, trying not to show the pain. The first thing he realizes is that his dagger is gone. The second thing is that they took his lockpicks. Mumbling another curse in one of the languages he knows, he looks around the room for anything, anyway to get out.

[BelGareth]

While the two of you search the room Hasni starts to throw his weight against the solid wooden door, he begins to make some leeway when the door suddenly opens spilling Hasni onto the floor at the feet of several well built men with clubs.

"What IS this racket?" one yells as the door swings open. The other two seem to snicker at the look of you all, one licks his lips strangely looking at you all with some kind of hunger in his eyes.

You can see they are all strong men who look as if they could handle themselves.

Behind them you can see a pile of equipment, you quickly realize it is your gear. Several cracked and broken vials lie on the floor, one with a similar yolkish mixture seeping into the floor.

Hasni

You smell the scent of cooked flesh, very intensely, but it has a weird aroma to it, you have never smelt cooked meat like this before.
Knowledge Nature would reveal more info.


Hasni suddenly reverts back to his human form on the floor. All the men look down in disgust, one points out to him his hand trembling uncontrollably, he grabs it with his other hand and turns away ashamed.

[NinjaStylerobot]

Hasni begins to mourph. 30 minutes isn't such a long time if your knocked out:

(Imagine Hasni screaming the following as his jaw reverts to its original shape)

GRAAAAAAAAAHGH,....YEAAHGH.....YAAAAAAAAAH....GAAA AAAAAAAAAAA. NOOOOOOOOOOO

Hasni begins to shed his fur- His dirty orange color begins to fall off, mixed in with blood.

As most of the fur falls off in clumpy chunks his shape begins to twist and revert to its original size. You can hear very definitate cracks and lots of popping as his canine jaw reverts to its original shape.

His clawed appendages fall off entirely. New Human hands erupt out of the stumps.

His sharp teeth fall out and get replaced with human teeth. Except for his two canine teeth that remain in their oversized form

Finaly the scorpion like chitin covering his tail falls off in one swoop revealing the bone like apendage that was there originally.

Hasni Collapses in pain. It doesn't knock him out though.

Mly invlentilons..wly?


Nature Check:

[roll0]



Hansi mumbles through his teeth (Which prevent him from talking normally)

I decided to permanently change Hasnis tentacle into his tail. It just sounds and works better as a tail then as a tentacle on his back

[GuyFawkes]

Lucien

Lucien turns to the door as he hears someone speak and looks at the men who appears. Apparently they have been tasked to guard them, as evidenced by the look and built of these men. He steps forward towards them.

"Yeah, you tell us. What IS going on here? What's the idea beating us up and keeping us here, huh?"

[NinjaStylerobot]

They want to eat us! Think fast Hasni!

Hasni Jumps up quickly and puts up the best "Yes mis that is a contraception potion, not a bottle of water" smile he can do.

Llucien, thlres no nleds tbe alermed. Thesle gentlmen jlust dlont likle us dlestroying thier dloor!

Hansi Gives a Bow

Hlansi thle slurgen at yol servilce

[GuyFawkes]

Lucien

His eyebrow rises as Hasni's demeanor seemed to change. But knowing him, he must be up to something. He nods at Hasni and continues to speak.

"What do you mean not be alarmed? They beat us up and put us in here like rubbish. It still hurts, ya know." As he speaks, he looks for other ways to get around what seems to be trouble, should Hasni's plan not work.

[NinjaStylerobot]

Hasni nugdes for lucien to drop the subject


This is Lucien mly cohlort

And tlats ralph mly applentice

Il unlestranld yluou flewows ale looking flor a mleal

Blut asl yolu alndresntand, oul line ol wolk requlies ul to touch toxlic chlemicals thlat makes it dlangeroes flour us to clarry flood wilth us.

Elven licking my own 'hland would likely plioson me!"



Bluff Check:

[roll0]



O,l worse! ylou cloud tuln inlto a squlid!

[GuyFawkes]

Lucien

Lucien looks at Hasni with a "I know" look. Then after listening to Hasni's little speech, which is distracting to him, apparently because of his teeth, he stops to think. Meal, what meal? We haven't got anything on us. What's Hasni up to? Regardless, the boy's quick wits tells him to ride along with it.

"Oh, oh dear," he says with a serious look on his face. "Did, did they just play with those vials over there?" He is pointing at the broken vials on the floor. "Please say you didn't touch them. Well did you?!" he looks at the men with a worried look on his face. "Doc Has, it can't be THAT chemical you were just recently working on, can it? That volatile one??"

Aid another with bluff.
[roll0]

[NinjaStylerobot]

Hasni makes a horrified face- Utterly stunned

I like your train of thought
Ils wosle! Thlat vlail hlods thle ailboln tloxin!

Unwless evlybody hlere glets n anlitoxin yl al diel in a weekl!




Hasni makes a mad attempt to get past the gaurds (But not enough struggling to make the guards want to knock him bak)

[Sparrow]

Ralph looks at the vials and listens closely to the others' words. It doesn't take long before he realizes what is going on. He stands quietly looking scared, giving the impression that he thinks he has been poisoned. He says in a frantic voice, "Oh gods, what have you done?"

Bluff Check: [roll0]

[NinjaStylerobot]

Wlhat hval ylou done!

Hasni attempts to beffundle and knock the guards off balance and gestures Lucien and Ralph to come closer.


Feint Check:

[roll0]

I know that I usually can only attempt fein checks against one person but outside of combat can it be two?

[BelGareth]

As Hasni talks the men look bewildered and its obvious to all of you that they cannot understand a word he is saying.

However, Lucien and Ralph managed to lie successfully and they start to back away, one of them looks back at the broken vials not sure what to do.

"Ah Jorge! we is gonna et them ain't wes?" one man whines as he looks to the broken vials and then his hands which start to shake violently.

The middle one thumps him hard "You shut up! Now they now, an Borock tole us nut ta tell'em!"

The door slams shut after hansi is thrown back in the room a little more roughly than he had hoped, he lands taking [roll0] non lethal damage.

The men continue to talk, not realizing or caring that you can hear them.

"Aw now we'll ave ta tell'im bout them!"

"Of course we will, he's gonna want ta noe about that strange one, you see how he grew new limds? We might ave found a special something, he could give us unlimited food!"

the other two, apparently not so bright audibly gasp at this prospective treasure trove of unlimited food.

"Gaw, hadn't though bout that!" one says as they walk away.

After they have gone you see a crack in the wall, some of the wooden planking has come loose and you think you might be able to pry it from the wall. If anything it would serve as a good club in a pinch.

[NinjaStylerobot]

hansi is thrown back in the room

Hasni Struggles to stay awake. There is just thier sensation of his body just wanting to shut down.


He could give us unlimited food!

Oh god no....
Their too strong....Im too weak...
Of all the ways I thought I would die I never believed it would be by cannibals in a zombie infested city....with fangs


Hasni licks his teath. Inspecting his newly created fangs. They made him look like a vampire except with even bigger teath.

Hasni realizes how itchy and disgusting he is. He wipes away some of his blood and slime from his face. He realizes that some of his fur is still stuck in his leather shirt.

He plops down. Without his gadgets he is nothing....

He sits there completely ignorant of everything surrounding him. Was it worth it? Escaping? Killing his father in the process?

He was right. He would never amount to anything.....

[GuyFawkes]

Lucien

Lucien starts to make his way after Hasni but stops as he sees him hurtling back, being thrown in by the thugs. He bangs on the door as he shouts, "Hey! Get us out of here! At least give our items back so we can make a cure for the toxin! You're all going to die along with us if you don't help us!"

When he hears them leaving, he turns back to his companions. "Well, that's just great. Those three were too stupid to fall for that one. Anyway, what was that all about? With you being an unlimited source of food, Has?" He looks Hasni in the eye, searching for answers in his face. Apparently he already knows the answer. "You can't mean...?" His voice falters as it dawns on him, and his face becomes pale.

[Sparrow]

"They're cannibals." Ralph says, finishing Lucien's sentence. "We are trapped in a room, with cannibals outside. We need a plan, a good one."

[NinjaStylerobot]

Hasni looks up with a soft smile.

Technilcaly its poslsible..I clould fleed them wilh my blod

Every sylable is interupted with a deranged chuckle

Il jusl havl tlo hlop they donl wlan flesh!

Hasni begins laughing with a laugh of a dead man.

Clhs I donlt klow hlo tlo rlgenerate lmibs!

His laugh gets deeper. It slowly devolves into light sobbing.

Ilst ylou wolou shloud be wlolied! thlier gliong to leat you! Il be live

[GuyFawkes]

Lucien

The tumult of emotions in him makes Lucien not able to speak for a while. Zombies, and now cannibals? What's next, vampires and werewolves? The mix of anger and fear and confusion is clouding his brain now.

So it's all going to end like this? Being eaten by crazed townsfolk of the same town he grew up in? And what if they did escape? Probably a horde of zombie is waiting for them outside. The irony of it all. Is there no end where they are not eaten by anyone or anything?

Ralph's words and Hasni's laughter are drowned by his thoughts. All seem lost. He does not want to admit it, but despair is creeping up his heart. What is there left to fight to stay alive for? He has lost everything. His mother, his friends, his beloved town.

Then the thought of his father comes up. Where is he? Is he even still alive? I don't know. I don't care anymore. I'll be seeing him soon anyway. Suddenly an echo, a voice from deep within, faint, but audible, comes up. So it's alright for you to face your mother without even trying to find your father? And you had to go and be all brave and tell her that promise. Bah! Pathetic!

Reality begins to warp back, his senses begin to kick in again, and the first word he hears is "plan". A plan, yes. We have to get out of here. He looks around again for anything, anything at all that they could use. Then, as if by design, he spots something. A small crack.

"Yes!"

The words involuntarily escapes his mouth. He hurries off to the wall and begins to finger the crack for a possible hand hold. This could be it! Maybe they could make a hole through here!

"Hey, guys! Help me out here. Maybe we could make a hole here!"

Strength check to pry the wood off: [roll0]

[NinjaStylerobot]

Hasni sees Lucien rushing to ply the wood off.


Its no point. Where would we run?

Hasni looks at Lucien with apathy.

WORTHLESS WORTHLESS WORTHLESS!

All you can do is imitate magic! A mage would have burned the door down by now!



.....Your not worthless Hasni. You created me.

What....Who said that!

I did

Hasnis Tail moves in front of his face and gives a hissing sound

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA

[BelGareth]

As Lucien rushes to the small crack in the wall and while his initial attempt failed he was making some leeway.

Hasni stays on the floor and looks to his 'tail', and then he sees something. Just past his tail his vision focuses on the floor behind his appendage to see an eye peering at him through an as of yet seen hole in the floor.

It blinks, gold speckled blue. You are taken aback by how pretty they are.

"Shush" it whispers quietly "Don't let your friends know"


NinjaStylerobot we can continue this in another medium so as to keep it hidden and not hold up the thread.

[Sparrow]

Ralph rushes to aid Lucien. While doing so, he reminds Lucien of an obvious flaw in the current plan, "Even if we get through, we won't have our equipment."

[BelGareth]

With the aid of Ralph you both manage to leverage some decent weight behind the wall.

With a loud *CRACK* the wooden spar snaps off sending you both to the floor.

Looking up you can now see a hole where once was the piece of wood you hold in your hands.

Looking through the hole you see a stairway leading down, your room is above the stair way just overhanging the stairs.

[NinjaStylerobot]

Hasni inspects the Shank....Its very high quality. Its handle is engraved with detailed drawings of trees and the ocean. Another unusual thing was that the shank was triangular in shape. That was to maximize the pain it inflicted as triangular wounds didn't heal as much as cuts did.

"Even if we get through, we won't have our equipment."

Thlen thlis wills halve to dlo folr nowl

Hasni Throws Lucien the Shank

Thlis wlas meh selcet wlepon

Ilw ule mly tlail tlo attlack.

Lucien ale yoh alrmed wlith anlything?

[BelGareth]

As you catch the shank, you can instantly tell the weapon is of masterwork quality and probably even more so.

Looking at the fine dagger, the filigreed handle laced with emerald gold, small sapphires and amethyst stones studded all along it and the almost smoky metal that shimmers in the light.

The blade whispers to you "Lightning" inside your head and you suddenly realize that the blade just told its name.

Map

https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-ro32NtQ4dWQ/TyxeRJEZxLI/AAAAAAAAAyc/-30vzGKBoHQ/s800/cannibalhouse.jpg

[GuyFawkes]

Lucien

"Yeah, but we have to make a bigger hole first if we are to get out of here." He looks outside and makes a mental note of the area. "I think if we go up that stairs down there, we'd somehow go back to this room's level, so I think we have a chance of finding our equipment. Better out there than staying here, right?"

When Hasni asks if he has some weapon for his own, he replies. "I can manage. I can use this if needed," he holds up the plank. "But ideally we should be able to sneak up to where our weapons are before we should be in a situation where we would be needing them." He looks at Ralph's weapon that Hasni passed to him. "Hey, that looks cool. Where'd you get it? Anyway, help me make this bigger first," he says, going back to working the hole, grabbing another plank and pulling back against it.

Strength check: [roll0]

[NinjaStylerobot]

ITsl mly sclet welpon....Ivl olays hald ilt

Hasni runs up and gives a hand


STR
[roll0]

[Sparrow]

Ralph, in attempt to help, adds his strength in trying to pull off another board.

[roll0]

"Let me see that real quick." Assuming Lucien hands to shank to Ralph, he examines it. "This is nice. I wonder why anyone would try so hard to make a shiv look so nice."

OOC: Sparrow suddenly remembers Skyrim and his magical Soul Trap shiv he uses to slit people's throats and making skeletons and ghosts bleed.

[BelGareth]

As you all attempt to pry more boards from the wall above the stair case you manage to grab and barely move another board with a loud *CREAK*.

At the same time the both of you can see through the hole and the 3 men are walking back up the stairs, they all hear the noise and look up, with a mixture of surprise and anger they see you attempting to escape and rush up the stairs.
"They is trying to escape!"

You all have 1 standard action to do something before heads begin to roll!

Roll initiative.

[NinjaStylerobot]

Hasni Rolls for initiative!

[roll0]

Pretty sweet

Hasni busts some sweet rhymes


If the door has a handle Hasni grabs Lucien's board and uses it to jam the door.

If not, Hasni tries to squeeze through...What check do I need for that?

[GuyFawkes]

Lucien

"Oh, great. We just can't get a break," he mutters. "Quick, stand flat against the wall and don't make a noise. If the opportunity presents itself, make a run for the door. Otherwise, you all know what to do." He then concentrates and make an image in front of them.

Leaning back on the wall, Lucien casts Silent Image of the exact wall behind them in front of them, with the only difference being a few scraps of cloth is caught on the edges of the hole.

[NinjaStylerobot]

Hasni stiffles a gasp


What, Lucien is a mage too!

Its as if fate itself is taunting me!



Its not your magic thats inportant- Its your talent.

[Sparrow]

Ralph squeezes between the wall and illusion, making sure that he doesn't make a noise, while still gripping the shiv in his hand.

[BelGareth]

The 3 men come rushing into the room ready to lay the hurt upon the three of you with wooden clubs. But to their surprise you are not there.

Stepping forward the middle one peers through the hole and touches the fabric left on it.

OOC

I will make this a vs check.
I'm going to need a concentration check from Lucien, pray it's better than his will save.
[roll0]
All three of you make a stealth check also.

[Sparrow]

Ralph remains as quiet as he can.
stealth: [roll0]

[BelGareth]

The three men stand in the room, with the middle one looking beyond the hole in the wall.

He turns to the others and speaks "They musta jumped down before we got here! Let's go or they'll get ta Ormstrom an that won't be good!"
The other two faces almost blanch at the words and they all scramble out of the room.

You hear them thump down the stairs, open and slam a door shut and then silence.

It appears that your ruse has worked.

[NinjaStylerobot]

Hasni immediately runs (quietly) towards his equipment.


Sulccess!

Hasni whispers

Hasni happily grabs up his belt of vials containing remaining equipment. He grabs his potion of Haste (Mythweavers deleted what potion I got before- So I just went with haste) and his extract of giant growth.

Hasni gestures everybody out of the room fast.

[GuyFawkes]

Lucien

Lucien holds his breath as the brutes storm the room and check the hole, or what it seems to them, for their presence. When they are convinced they have escaped, he breathes a sigh of relief. "Good thing those buffoons' brains are half-developed," he blurts out as he hurries after Hasni outside to where their equipment are.

He quickly grabs his equipment and puts them on. He checks his bag to see if everything is intact, and slings it over his back. While doing so, he speaks. "You know, I've never been good at magic, not like my friend. No matter how hard I tried - I trained everyday you know - I only managed to learn those tricks and illusions, but for those brutes, I guess that was enough." He holds his scimitar and looks down towards the corner. "Well, now that we're out, what now?"

[NinjaStylerobot]

Mental note- Teach Lucien magic

Hasni grabs his mummified hand on a chain and puts it on his neck.

......I rlemned ylou wlas rlased bly an nlecrlomancler.

Well, now that we're out, what now?

Luclen I slugest tlo glo dlowstlais als flasl asl wles clasn.....


Hasni grabs the hand.

Hasni points his finger at his shiv in Ralphs hand. It levitates out of his hand and into his own.

Ils nleds a mliunte

Hasni begins to mix together a disguise self extract.

[Sparrow]

Ralph slips out from behind the illusion very carefully. He makes sure it is clear before races to his equipment. He takes the time to put his armor on and his noble's clothing with the vest. He straps his rapier back at his waist and replaces the mundane dagger in his spring-loaded sheath with the shiv, putting the other dagger in what ever he carries his stuff around in. (I'd think it would be a satchel because a backpack would just look awkward.)

"Okay, now time to get out of here. If we encounter any resistance, we can defend ourselves now."

[NinjaStylerobot]

Halfway through mixing the extract a realization comes into hasnis mind

What course of action do we do?

I have no idea what is the structure of this building.

What am I going to do with this extract. If I am caught they would eat me and my allies either way!

For this we need stealth, and being able to detect my enemies through walls is a much more useful ability then a limited Disguise.


Hasni restarts and mixes deathwatch.

He begins to slowly descend down the stairs.

[GuyFawkes]

Lucien

Lucien watches alternately at Hasni, who is caught in his mixing of his chemicals, and the stairs, where the brutes went down on. Seriously, he has to do this now? Oh, what the heck, at least he's doing something, maybe it's something useful. I don't have a clue where to go right now.

When Hasni finishes and moves down the stairs, he follows, scimitar on hand. He looks at it and back to where it used to lie as they were imprisoned back in the room. Really, to think they'd put it somewhere safer. Oh, wait. Yeah. They lack that certain capacity. He smiles then stops to think about how he'd been berating those dimwits since earlier, when in fact they are the bigger fools for getting caught in this mess in the first place.

No, not them.

Him.

He hits his head with the pommel of his weapon for it and moves on, focusing on their escape.

[BelGareth]

You move down the stairwell and open the door to a large common room, no one is present, but the room has a second floor with a balcony that would provide unfortunate line of sight if you were caught unaware in a fight.

There are several doors in this room, and it is very large. The furniture is unkempt and many of if it is splintered and broken as if many fights had broken out here.

In the middle of the room a red circle has been crudely painted on the floor, adjacent to the circle and on the other side a crude elevated chair sits like a throne in the dilapidated room.


There is no other way out of your current location, onward through the common room or stay in the area you are in.

[NinjaStylerobot]

Hasni makes a common sense check:

[roll0]
Fighting ring


Hasni thinks to himself.

He begins to get the jitters.

He tries to sneak to underneath the bacony so if somebody came out on the top nobody would see him.

[GuyFawkes]

Lucien

What is this place? is what immediately enters the young boy's mind. It is evident that the room has had its share of beating. But for what? Entertainment? Maybe they even made people fight each other and then the loser gets to be...

He tries to erase the thoughts inside his head and follows Hasni.

[BelGareth]

You manage to sneak into the room, heading underneath the balcony without a sound, no noise can be heard from any of the other doors and the whole place seems to be eerily quiet.

Maybe too quiet.


Roll some stealth checks, perlease.

[NinjaStylerobot]

Hasni steps on a nail

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAA

[Sparrow]

Ralph follows behind, keeping about 4 or 5 feet from the others incase something goes wro...
Hasni steps on a nail

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAA

Ralph quickly draws his rapier and tries to find another source of cover, going back the way he came if need be.

[BelGareth]

The three of you sneak around underneath the balcony as best as you can, you think your doing great and nearing a door when Hasni steps on a nail and crashes to the floor trying to remove the darned thing.

Hasni takes [roll0] piercing damage.

And then all at once the room is alive with activity, shouting and yelling, thugs from all of the doors fill in the room. large lads with bulging muscles all over there frame, you consider fighting and you could easily manage to take a dozen of them, but the room is filled to the brim in almost an intake of your breath.

Hasni has barely just pulled his nail out and he realizes that everyone is looking at him, just as a deep laugh peels through the room echoing and bouncing off the mildewy walls.

"YOU THINK YOU CAN JUST SNEAK OUT MEH?" It asks, looking around you can easily see that the booming voice is coming from a very thick man sitting on the makeshift throne. Only now, while looking at the man do you realize the throne to be made out of bones. Humanoid bones.

The man laughs heartily and all the men in the room do also, you notice that there are no women in the group and that everyone is shaking or twitching in some manner.

The large man on the throne speaks again "BRING DEM TO CIRCLE!" and then the large men grab you and you are shoved towards the center of the room. Standing in the center you see blood streaks and pools of water that look too crimson to be mildew.

The man before you points and you can see his hand shakes like an earthquake in full swing, his face is fully deformed, an eye is completely diagonal to the other and his teeth are fangs which point outwards like tusks. He may of had some orc in him, but any of which remained was something new. His skin is a dull greyish and he has several wounds, which he seems none bothered about, which ooze a yellowish puss that dribbles down his sickly flesh.

As he points he laughs hysterically and jumps up and down stomping his feet on the floor hard. From the side a zombie is bought at arms length with a pole attached to the neck towards the mutant king. Upon reaching the king he launches himself at the thing striking a blow to the head with his fists, pulverizing it instantly, he then rips an arm off without effort and continues to take a bite out of the zombies arm and chew it.

He walks back to his chair chomping on the zombie arm like a chicken leg at a feast.

He whips around as if remembering you and points again smiling, undead flesh spills out of his mouth and shouts unintelligibly, the others in the room seem to understand however as everyone starts to cheer.

From one side of the room another zombie is being led out, again on a stick attached at the neck, towards the three of you.

It is obvious that you are going to fight it.

[GuyFawkes]

Lucien

Lucien is surprised at how quickly they are surrounded, and the sheer number that comes out to greet them. He holds his weapon hand in front of him and presses his back against his comrades, trying to fend off any that dares come close, but to no avail.

They are surrounded. They are in deep trouble. And it was his fault.

Dammit! A mix of fear and guilt and anger is brewing inside of him as he faces the zombie. IT'S ALL YOUR FAULT, YOU FRIGGIN' MONSTERS!!! His grip on the scimitar's hilt tightens so much his knuckles are turning white, and his face is flustered, his teeth gritted tight. He has to take this tumultuous emotions out somewhere.

And the zombie is just perfect.

Initiative: [roll0]

[Sparrow]

Ralph tries to get away, but is met by many bulky bodies. He realizes how foolish it would be to try to fight them, so backs into the center with his allies, with his rapier drawn.

As the zombie is led to the middle of the room, Ralph has a quick memory flash.

He remembers his cousin and mother laying in the street with a poodle of blood under each of them. And how they were raised as zombies, and had attacked them. His father, being killed as well.

All of it was to much for Ralph. He had done his best to suppress the memories, but this, this had finally broke him. He wasn't just holding his rapier now, he was gripping it with all his strength, rage consuming him. He pointed the weapon at the zombie, waiting for the monster to make it's move.Come at me bro.

Initiative [roll0]

Really? After all that, I roll a natural one?

[BelGareth]

The zombie lumbers forward staring wide eyes at all the man flesh before him, a literal sea of viscera stood before him yet he could not touch any of. And then his strange eyes lock with the three of you, it's mouth opens slightly and it licks its lip in anticipation, a low growl emanates from it as it is led ever closer to you.

And then you see others, five in total, all being led to the circle, to meet in its doom, or to give you yours.

[GuyFawkes]

Lucien

Before the zombies would come any closer, the young half-elf draws his dagger from his belt. As he does so, his outline begins to waver like before. He stands in a readied stance, and finally explodes, "Come on! Come and get it, you monsters! You wanna eat me, right? Well, come on!"

Draw weapon and cast Blur.

[NinjaStylerobot]

Hasni retrieves his other syringe.

As Lucien becomes blurry Hasni simultaneously stabs Ralph and Lucien with two unknown substances.


[roll0]
On a roll of 1-20 I miss lucien because of blur:smallannoyed:


The needles hit them in exposed areas of their arms.

Whether they know it or not, they have been injected with a wierd clothneride mixture. A naturally occurring chemical in Duergar blood. When mixed with adrenalin it has- unnusual effects. For one it doubles the size recipient. It also has OTHER side effects but lets not dwell on that.

Immediately after being injected you feel immensly sick. For while Hasnis body is used to his abuse, your bodies are receiving things you where not meant to receive. The place of injection grows into a postule, and it grows to baseball size.

Then it BURSTS releasing tentacles of energy that begin to net over your bodies .

It covers your body and begins to stretch you. You feel as if a chul grabbed you in EVERY PLACE and has been pulling. When you open your eyes- you see yourself towering over everybody else in the room. Fortunately your weapons and your clothes enlarged with you.


Full action use of touch attack enlarge person

[Sparrow]

"What the...?" Ralph lets out, as he is jabbed with a syringe "Hansi, what was that?"

He is answered only by a sick feeling followed by an even sicker feeling. He nearly collapses on the ground, but resists. After the sickness dulls down a bit, Ralph starts to feel as though he is being tortured. Soon later, Ralph opens his eyes, only to realize that he is now standing tall about the others.

He looks at Hansi, "We'll talk about this later. But for now..." Ralph looks back to the zombies, again, he points his rapier toward them. He sprints toward them, shooting his dagger from his sheathe to his hand as he runs. When he reaches them, he quickly jabs his rapier into one and slashes another with his dagger(If possible, the TWF rules don't explain it well.)

Rolls in OOC because this is an edit.

[BelGareth]

Lucien starts to blur before everyone, Hansi seemingly attacks his own allies and Ralph charges the zombies as they enter the arena.

The crowd cheers and all you can hear is the rumble of the large room, your heart thumping in your chest, could this be it? having to defend your life to undead zombies and then killed by a mob of brutish thugs who eat the undead?

No.

No it could not, the gods must have something else for me.

You could feel it.

And you could hear something that didn't belong, it was counting, someone somewhere was counting.

Four

Three

Two

It was ever so faint, but it was coming directly below you.

One

And then everything turned upside down, the very floor you stood upon fell as if a god reached down and pulled it under. The mob of thugs looked shocked and awed as explosions rippled through the room sending their bodies like rag dolls through the air. Time seemed to slow for you as you fell, mere inches above the floor you stood on moments before.

You instantly realize the only part of the floor to drop was the circle, to perfect to be a mistake.

With a massive slam that rocks your body you hit what ever it was below the floor you stood on before. Dazed and stunned you barely make out a natural cave with dozens of people rushing about, a toothless skinny man laughing hysterically, he reminds you of hasni somehow....

And then your eyes lock with Alerya, Annalyn and Ma.

How? What? and then you black out, the fall too much for you.

[SamBurke]

Alyera's arms rise instantly, and the golden glow of her dweomers flash in the dim light. As she kneels down, to pray, the room begins to thrum with a low, deep, beat. Golden sparks twist outwards from her palms, flowing across the floor in a pool of life.

For the first time, she speaks aloud, with a quiet, clear tone. With every word, the sparks dances and leaps, winding their way to each person, each pulse of the rhythmic words pushing them further out in a flow.

"May all here know the truth. May all here know the good. We have come together, we have come to fruition. This is, I pray, a moment to renew. A moment to restart. May all here know love. May all here know life. Let us band together, let us begin camaraderie, let us find a way out together. If this is to be an end, let it be remembered as an end in which none turned his hand to his neighbor. I pray that we would protect each other, that we would..."

PROTECT THEM ALL.


Hopefully that reads as melodically as it was supposed to...

[GuyFawkes]

Lucien

Lucien is so focused and his emotions having found its target on the zombies, he did not notice Hasni stab him with his syringe. When he does take notice, the place where the syringe was shot is now swelling up into a huge mass of clear skin seemingly filled with pus.

"What?! What did you do?! HASNI!!" he shouts in shock, turning from the pustule to Hasni rapidly, then back to the swelling mass again. Suddenly his knees give way as a wave of nausea takes over his body, lessened only with excruciating pain he is simultaneously experiencing. His grip tightens on his weapons as he clutches on the different parts of his body radiating pain.

"Aaaargh...UWOAHHH!!!"

For what seems like eternity, Lucien is barely hanging on to consciousness. Then as suddenly as it began, it stops. Breathing heavily, he opens his eyes and looks at his hands and the pustule.

Huh, it's gone. And I look normal. What was it? Dammit Hasni, I'll get you later for that.

When he looks back around towards his surroundings, the effect hits him. He can now see everything seems...smaller...compared to him. But before he could process what has happened to him, his knees give way again. Or so he thinks. An explosion, one that brings down the floor, and before he knows it, he is falling.

Again, for what seems like eternity, Lucien is suspended in time. As he falls, he catches a glimpse of Alyera, Ma, and Analyn. Ma and the others? I must be seeing things. So this is what they say when you're on the verge of death, that your life flashes before your eyes. He smiles, then he hits the ground and is unconscious.

*****

One slash after the other, he brings down one zombie in a flash. But he does not have time to admire his own sword skills, as another rotting corpse comes charging from his side. Dodging with the ease of an expert swordsman, he spins around to deliver a devastating blow on his attacker, splitting rotting flesh and bones cleanly in half.

But before he could even regain his stance, a bony claw rakes him from behind, sending him down to the floor. He tries to stand up, but another bony hand clutches at his leg, and another removes his weapon from his hand.

When he looks around, he is surrounded by zombies, and he can feel their hands starting to pull against his every limb and whatever they could hold on to. He tries to scream, but there is no sound that issues from his mouth. Only deafened silence, as he is slowly being clawed at by filthy undead hands.

Suddenly, a bright flash of light surrounds him, instantly disintegrating all the zombies near him. The light wraps around him, and he feels warmth and life. His wounds begin to heal and everything around him is pure light. He closes his eyes.

*****

He opens his eyes again, and he sees a blurred image of someone beside him. When his eyes begin to focus, he makes out the small figure of Alyera kneeling down and seemingly praying. He tries to stand up and shake his head, then looks around and up, surveying his surroundings, trying to make sense of the rapid succession of events that just transpired. He looks at the wreck of the wooden floor beneath him and the hole above, then around to the little people circling them, then Ma and Analyn. His head spins as he tries to put them all together. Finally, he speaks.

"Alyera? Ma? And Miss Analyn, too? What are you doing here?"

[NinjaStylerobot]

Hasni opens his eyes slightly. His body feels much better. Its no longer sore like before.

Alerya?

Miss Analyn, too?

Oh....What.....

Hasni remembers the occurrence.

OH....um...

Hasni Closes his eyes again. He tries not to breath.

[Fireheart]

Ma rushes toward Lucien (who I'm picking to be closest.)

Helping him sit up, "I'd say we could ask the same thing of you? Are you okay?" Ma looks around to see if she can spot the little girl.

OOC: Sorry for the delay in posting. Convention over the weekend and then MONDAY!! at work.

[Sparrow]

Ralph's mad-dash didn't quite do as well as he had planned. Through all his analyzing and such, he hadn't thought of the floor flipping. When he had hit the ground, he had smacked his head and was unconscious.

Most of the time Ralph dreamed when he slept, but this time, he had wished it was a dream. Even the previous night(s?) [I forget if one night has past or many], Ralph hadn't slept well. He had nightmares, and flashes of the tragic events of the market district, where his parents fell and nearly killed him.

Now, he was having another flashback. But this time it was almost like it had been corrupted. This time, he was in the market district but it wasn't just his family. Everyone he had ever met was attacking him. His friends from school, his girlfriend, Lucien, Analyn, Alyera, Ma, Hansi, everyone. He tried to fight back, but they swarmed him. They teared his flesh, and were biting him. They clawed and it seemed like it would never stop.

Outside the dream world, Ralph laid, still unconscious, rolling, and mumbling in his sleep. Finally, he woke up. He opened his eyes, feeling his flesh, making sure everything was still there.

After a moment, he sat up, reaching for his dagger and rapier off the floor near him. He struggled to get to his feet, and when he finally did, he sheathed his rapier by his waist, and his dagger in his spare sheathe by his ankle. He would have to reset his spring-loaded wrist sheathe later.

This is where I hope that he was unconscious enough for the serum to wear off. It isn't the best thing for a rogue.

[Golden Ladybug]

I brushed a clump of dusty debris from my jacket, and got back to my feet, casually (or maybe not so casually; its not something I do often) rand my hand over the lick of hair that covered the left side of my face, making sure that it still covered the rotting and lifeless skin.

"I could ask you the same question" I muttered in reply to Lucien's comment, as I stared up at the neat hole the Toothless Man had made with his explosive trick...we only had so much time before whoever had gotten the other three so worked up came to investigate.

I looked back at the others, hoping that they hadn't been injured too badly in the fall. We wouldn't be able to escape if they had aquired some broken bones, especially since...

Wait, what?

"Why are you so big?"

[Sparrow]

Ralph was still in a lot of pain from when he hit his head on the ground. His nose was bloody and he had a cut on the side of his head.

"Hansi decided we needed to be larger to fight the zombies up there."Ralph looked at Hansi and said ,"By the way, don't ever do that again. I need to be light on my feet and I can't do that when I'm twelve feet tall and weigh half a ton."

[NinjaStylerobot]

I need to be light on my feet and I can't do that when I'm twelve feet tall and weigh half a ton.

Ungrateful oaf...

Hasni wispers. He wants to delay the "I almost killed you" conversation as long as possible.

[SamBurke]

Alyera brings her hands together again, and another shower of sparks begins to build up. Leaping forward, she taps Hasni and releases it. The golden flashes fall around him, forming a small circle at his feet.


You have activated Alyerbuff. Please enjoy your stay. Feelings of being high, ruling the world, dizziness, headiness, badassness are all rare but awesome side affects of being giving innumerable numbers of blessing of *Unknown God* incorporated.

Tap Inner Beauty on Me.

Protection from Evil on Hasni. +2 Deflection AC, +2 Resistance Save bonus. No body contact with summoned creatures.

Any body else need:
Veil of Positive Energy (+2 AC, +2 Saves, stacks w/Protection from Evil)
Protection from Evil (+2 Ac/Saves)
Tap Inner Beauty? (+3 to Cha checks, which may or may not include caster level)

[GuyFawkes]

Lucien

The young half-elf tries to stand up, but staggers as he tries to do so. "Well, it's all my fault that we got sidetracked," he says, not being able to look the others in the eye. "Wait, what about you? Why are you not at the house?"

[Fireheart]

Ma shakes her head sadly. "There is something strange going on." She said. "When the halfling died, she returned more aware as a zombie...more focused almost...we managed to shoo her out of the house but then she brought back an army to attack it." She looks over at Ralph. "I'm sorry."

[Sparrow]

Ralph's entire world was tearing itself apart. Hi family was dead, the only place he had called home was gone and he didn't even know if the girl he probably loved was alive(His girlfriend)

Ralph said in a saddened voice, "That's okay, there was nothing you could do. How did you manage to get out?"

[GuyFawkes]

Lucien

"Well this is bad. No more safe place to hide. But more importantly, you're here, safe and alive," he replies. He brushes of the debris sticking on him, then realizes he is still larger than normal. The realization brings a train of thoughts that make him remember the situation they were in. He quickly spins around and looks up.

"Wait, no time for that. A mix of zombies and cannibals are up there, and they might jump down any moment now. Everyone ready!" He grips his weapons, surprised he has not let go even as he fell down and became unconscious. Good thing I don't act out my dreams. It would have been bad while I was holding these.

[Sparrow]

"There are too many of them, even for all of us. The best thing to do is run" Ralph replies.

Ooc: no one going to say anything like 'hey Ralph, are you okay'?No? okay

[Fireheart]

(OOC: Sorry Ralph!)

Ma glances over at Ralph and then looks up at the hole. She rises from beside Lucien and walks over toward Ralph. "We followed a little girl..." Ma looks around again trying to spot her and trying to get an idea of who else is in the area.

"Ralph, Hasni are the two of you okay? Do you need healing?" Ma asks quickly glancing at Alyera for confirmation?

[BelGareth]

As the lot of you meet up on the rubble strewn once ceiling to this cavern you all see people rushing about carrying weapons and yelling for more.

At one point you see a group of ragged warriors leap up into the air around your heads and ascend through the hole in the ceiling by form of magic, from your vantage point you couldn't see much fighting but you could hear it going on.

The explosions must have taken a good chunk of the cannibals as you see nothing forthcoming from the hole.

It takes a minute or two but in the confusion the little girl runs up to Hasni her beautiful eyes strangely and uncomfortably close, looking at you person she cusses under her breath and then turns to look at Ralph and Lucien, seemingly satisfied she runs to Ralph and neatly removes her shiv from your person.

Looking back at Hasni she giggles and runs off.

And then a strange sight comes walking around the corner, or at least for Ralph. His father as alive as could be stands there smiling and winks at the boy, he motions for you all to follow him. He walks you all to a small alcove, one which looks as if it where living quarters.

Looking at everyone he smiles again, not of jest of humor but of genuine happiness.
"I believe you all may have some questions?"

[Sparrow]

After the little girl had come and gone, Ralph was a little confused. But he was completely speechless when his father appeared. He thought his father dead, but there he was, looking like it was just another day in Cloud City. He followed his father until they reached the alcove.

When father said something Ralph starred at him."Where do I start?"

[NinjaStylerobot]

Before the girl with the eyes can take back her shiv Hasni reacts

No

Says Hasni as he grabs her hand

Hasni looks into her eyes. They look as dull as all the other eyes hes ever seen.

[Golden Ladybug]

"Oh, just a few" I growled at the stranger who had led us over here, "Most pressing being; what the hell is going on here?"

I shoved my Ioun Stone into my pocket and crossed my Arms grumpily. This day was turning out to be even more ridiculous than the previous, and after my face had halfway rotted, blood and necrotic water had been soaked into my clothes and an inconvenient floating rock was obscuring my vision most of the time, I was quickly running out of patience with all this.

"And, while you're at it, if you have any explanation for all the Zombies and the Wall of Force around the city, I'm all ears" I muttered, holding my hand to my chest. Even after Alyera's burst of healing energy had rolled over us all, the parts of my skin that had come into contact with the water was still Icy Cold and Numb, and it hadn't regained what little colour it had before I fell into the water. At least it wasn't rotting any more...

[Sparrow]

"Let's start with: I thought you were dead. How did you survive?" Ralph asks his father, a tear nearly forming in his eye.

[BelGareth]

Hasni -
As Hasni tries to stop the girl from taking her shiv she simply shrugs her shoulders and snaps her fingers, the shiv appearing in her hands from no where, she then runs off evading all your attempts to grab her.

Everyone else -
Ralph's father listens to your questions and his smile turns into a serious look of concern.

"Yes, those are good questions, but i can only answer but a few." looking to Ralph "I was dead." he pauses to make sure the word sank in, he then moves to hold his son in an embrace. After a few moments he releases him giving him a kiss on the forehead.

Returning back to where he stood he continues "But was found by the resistance, once I came back as a zombie they killed me again, so to speak. It was in a chamber down here and my body lay where I fell, in a pool of strange luminescent water. A day later I awake in the water and found myself alive" he turns to look at the others, his arms crossed over his chest "it seems the strange magic that has pervaded over the city had different affects, this pool has strange healing qualities, we have tried to resurrect others, but to no affect, sometimes it will heal you of your wounds, and other times just barely."

He stops talking for a moment and lets you all think on the matter, he then looks to you all again "It is a wonder you are all here, I was amazed to hear from our spies that a group was taking shelter in my house, so I dispatched Zhani over there, I was even more amazed to here that my son was among you all."

He brings his hand up to his hair and runs through it like a comb "But I digress, I do not know what is going on this city, by all accounts everyone has gone insane and things are happening that I have only heard of in fairy tales. I must ask though, what is it that you all are doing?"

[GuyFawkes]

Lucien

It is after the number of figures head up towards the hole above that Lucien begins to take notice of the other people around them. He outs up his guard, but eases up a few moments later when they seem to be on their side. Or at least not with those zombies or those cannibals.

He just stands there wordlessly as he looks at the small girl with strange eyes go up and check them out. What is a little girl doing in a place like this? And a questioning look is painted on his face as a man comes up and asks them if they have question. He observes the conversation that ensues with him and his other comrades, and he could gather from it nothing but one.

"I guess I do have one question. I believe you two know each other?" he says to Ralph and the man.

Damn service errors. Well this should be before Bel's post, so let's just assume it that way.

[NinjaStylerobot]

She teleports that Shank out of his hand.

WHAT! WHAT WHAT WHAT WHAT WHAT!

IS EVERYBODY HERE A MAGE? EVEN CHILDREN! HAVE I DIED AND THIS IS MY OWN PERSONAL PURGATORY?

Hasni hits his head on the stone floor over and over

WHY WHY WHY WHY
Master, please. Its unlikely that she is a spellcaster. She seems to be something....else
You right....
Hasni sees annalyn distracted
Do not worry about the man is saying. I will hear him instead of you
This is....convenient

Hasni stands up and runs over to the girl. His tail eagerly listens to the magic water idea.

Whalt al lyou? And wy dild you saly that Il could't tell the othels about youl?

[Fireheart]

Ma watches smiling as Ralph is reunited with his father. She glances in confusion Hasni bangs his head on the floor before almost eagerly bouncing over to join Ralph.

"What are we doing?" Ma asks, shaking her head. "I'd say the same as you. Trying to survive and figure out what has happened. Do you know anything about what's going on above ground? What is this 'resistance'?"


She holds her staff in her hand, crossing her arms in an unconscious echo of Annalyn's earlier movements. She looks Ralph's father in the eyes, and taps her foot slightly.

[SamBurke]

Analyn got the 2d6 (which turned out to be +6 HP) like everyone else. It was a thirty-foot emanation, which should cover everyone.


Alyera stands silently, watching all with the eyes of a hawk. Something isn't quite right about this fellow... logically, the pool should work the same way every time: magic was a science, something that could be replicated.

She froze. Replicating the experiment would require a freshly-made zombie. And she knew who, too. First, though, she needed to figure out what was going on... this fellow might not be trustable, Ralph's trust though he appeared to have. Deception was easy, far too easy, as she well knew.

"Who are you all? A resistance? How did you know it was coming, or how are you so well prepared? Do these water lines run under the *entire* city? Is it a sewer system? How can we trust you and yours?"

[Sparrow]

"Alyera?" Ralph said disappointed. "You can trust him. You can trust him if you trust me." Ralph finished, shocked at the idea that his father couldn't be trusted.

[SamBurke]

"I take your word for it, Ralph..." She says in what she must believe to be soothingly, but ends up a little ruffled. "How do you know him, by the by?"


She doesn't know he's your father: no one's ever mentioned it out loud: it's only been in narrations and such. (If I'm wrong, I'll edit my last posts).

I just checked my last post: herp a derp, I posted that I thought he was your dad. I'll fix that. Sorrah.

[Sparrow]

"He," Ralph said, "is my father.Ralph looked to his father. "That is why you can trust him."

[GuyFawkes]

Lucien

Resistance? Some magical healing water that could revert zombies into their former selves? And who is this man? Lucien shakes his head. There's just too much information all at once. He takes a step back to take in the situation. The man knows Ralph, and Ralph knows him. Then he says something about a...son? He's definitely not his father. And definitely not Hasni's; he would have been in a state of either fear or anger, he remembers Hasni hates him.

"Wait, wait. Just to clear this out? You mean to say...you're Ralph's father?"

[SamBurke]

Alyera bows, nodding deeply. "It's good that you... trust him. One should always trust their father."


Gravy. I knew this moment would come, but it is really hard to get in her head: what would a girl who believes she killed or enslaved her father, but loved him dearly, say and do here? I'm going the understated route right now...

[BelGareth]

Ralph's father raises his hands palms facing towards you.

"Woah there, let me answer your questions one at a time!" he says almost smiling.

"I am indeed Ralph's father, I was killed." he stops, his eyes looking at some other place or time. catching himself he smile awkwardly "and was raised here in this resistance."

"The resistance is new, it formed by a gang who happened to be in the sewers when everything went crazy. They led people down here and helped those unfortunate, they were just a bunch of unorganized rabble until I was raised." he smiles again, it was obvious that he was referencing his leadership. "We know nothing more than you"

Looking to Alyera, he nods "Yes, these sewers run throughout the city, MOST of the city." Although some of the northern areas are crumbled and unusable.

He stops, placing his hand on his hip "so, what were you all doing?"

[SamBurke]

"Ah, good that they have solid leadership, then. What parts of the city do the sewers not cover? Is there, perhaps, a chance of them leading out, to find help and food?"

A little arrogant, perhaps... with reason? We'll find out. I don't like it, nevertheless: a father should be loving and humble, only... Her face twisted a little bit.


I know I shouldn't reveal my plans to the GM like this, but, whatever. If they get blocked, they get blocked.

[BelGareth]

She teleports that Shank out of his hand.

WHAT! WHAT WHAT WHAT WHAT WHAT!

IS EVERYBODY HERE A MAGE? EVEN CHILDREN! HAVE I DIED AND THIS IS MY OWN PERSONAL PURGATORY?

Hasni hits his head on the stone floor over and over

WHY WHY WHY WHY
Master, please. Its unlikely that she is a spellcaster. She seems to be something....else
You right....
Hasni sees annalyn distracted
Do not worry about the man is saying. I will hear him instead of you
This is....convenient

Hasni stands up and runs over to the girl. His tail eagerly listens to the magic water idea.

Whalt al lyou? And wy dild you saly that Il could't tell the othels about youl?

Moments before-
The young girl looks to hasni and giggles.

Smiling she says "The plan didn't turn out the way it should have dummy! You got out, why are you so serious!" she accentuates the word serious strangely. She giggles again and walks away.

A skinny man with a big grin on his face walks by, he seems to be very proud of himself, black smoke covers the front of him and his belt jiggles with the glass tinkering of multiple vials.

[NinjaStylerobot]

Before Hasni can lash out at her he sees the man.

Can it be?

Hello....Are you also a partitioner in the arcana supplementary arts?

[BelGareth]

The skinny man turns at the question and for the first time you see he is a toothless skinny man, a little deranged smile springs upon his lips as he sees you and registers the question.

"wHAT?" he says, his volume going up as he yells. "DID YOU ASK MIKEY A QUESTION?" he continues.

[NinjaStylerobot]

sigh

Are you an alchemist?

[SamBurke]

Alyera can't help but grin at the reactions of her comrade. "I suppose you have one of the crazies, too?" Let's get as much information from him as possible. If he tells me anything about the group, I can use it to subvert him if need be.


7 hours of the Godfather I/II is not good for writing paladins. At all.

But seriously, if he hurts anyone, she is more than willing to break away from his leadership.

[BelGareth]

"DO I HAVE ALZHEIMER'S?" He asks with a pained look on his face "WHAT DO YOU TAKE ME FOR YOUNG MAN?"

[NinjaStylerobot]

I have no shame. But I need that formula!

Yles makles exlosions land thlingies thlat makel youl grol intlo stluffies?

[BelGareth]

At your response he suddenly grins at you.

"WHY YES, I AM AN ALCHEMIST!" the irises of his eyes suddenly widen as if he just got his hearing back. And apparently he had "Sorry about that! My explosion was a little louder than I thought it would be! Why do you ask?"

[NinjaStylerobot]

Ah, a colleege that wasn't insane!

Wells Ils wass hopling youl wouldl lewt me inspelt your formula book. Wle cloud plohalps tlade folmulas?

[BelGareth]

The toothless man grins even wider "Of course! come this way." he leads you to a side chamber, pulls a curtain back to reveal a hodge podge made lab, beaten wooden planks serve as the desk and vials are sprawled out over pieces of paper with intricate designs. He goes looking for something and pulls out a leather bound book gesturing for you to take it he reaches out as if expecting something in return "Let's see what you have?"


You find the following formulae, you must study each one for an hour and then roll a spellcraft check to see if you can copy it into your own book.

1st - Spellcraft DC to learn is 16
Enlarge Person
Endure Elements
Touch of the Sea
Youthful Appearance
Ant Haul
Cure Light Wounds
Identify
Longshot

2nd - Spellcraft DC to learn is 17
Alter Self
Fire Sneeze
Shadow Bomb Admixture

3rd - spellcraft DC to learn is 18
Lightning Lash Bomb Admixture
Undead Anatomy I

[NinjaStylerobot]

Hasni is taken somewhat aghast because of the alchemists kindness.

The Hodgepodge lab looks like a beautiful land of wonders to him.

The alchemist lets him have a peek at his formulabook, and as he watches his (Alchemy book) understands that he is standing in front of a master.

He spends the next two hours chatting it up with the alchemist, about life, the universe, and alchemy.

AND THEN! (Stifles a laugh) The dodo stands up and says wheres my dinner!
*Bout of laughter* the countess never played with my experiments again!



Attempts at copying Fire sneeze

[roll0]


Hasni chuckles with the professor.

Helh helf. I nlever hlad smlothing liek thlat halpen toh me. Julst sleing alchemy in a hut.


Copying undead anatomy

[roll1]


Hasni begins to pack and thanks the alchemist

Slay, I nlever askled youl namel

Its Proffesor Dlonamir

Bel, I hope you don't mind if I fill in the blanks for this character a bit. Also Im not sure how spellcraft relates to alchemy but I used it anyway =P

Also Im not sure if the time skip was two hours or one, so if you want I will remove the second attempt.

[BelGareth]

It takes only few more moments for Ralph's father to explain everything, it seems he had become the pseudo leader of the resistance and had been planning a raid on the Flesh eaters lair. It seems fate had placed you within reach of them just in time.

The Flesh eaters were a desperate group of thugs who had turned to eating the flesh of others, some had even chosen or situation had pushed them, to eat the flesh of the undead, with dire repercussions. They were a blight upon the city and they needed to be removed. Thankfully due to Master Gemwrat the resident Alchemist, they had managed to locate the underside of their headquarters and, well the rest you know.

It had only been a day or two, but the city had been drawn and quartered taken by those with the power to do so. No one had even gone to the Southern Gang district, and no one wanted to. But everywhere else, the streets piled with the refuse of the dead and the dead themselves. Barricades had been erected to ward of the walking dead and to designate the lines of ownership.

Ralph's father had indeed heard about the Bjorn character or at least he Violet snakes, they had caught and rescued several refugees stumbling through the streets after being released.

"Sounds like you all can use some rest, but rest is for the dead eh? Anyway, I would like to help you, we cannot get you into the Violet snakes area as their sewer system is guarded by skeletons but we can help you get close enough to enter." he pauses for a second and nods as if agreeing to someone speaking who was unseen. "And we'll help you with your armament too, seems like if you get in trouble you'll need more than just basic weaponry." He smiles weakly at that, "Come, follow me" he moves out of the small quarters and walks around and through some natural caves that oozed brackish water, you get the feeling not to touch it.

As you walk he continues to speak "We managed to acquire some gear from the Flesh eaters, seems cannibalism does nothing for the higher faculty. They had it stored in a locker, we haven;t had time to identify yet or even assign it out, but you are welcome to pick and choose at what like."

While you all move into the room and start to examine the equipment laid out he walks over to Ralph:

He whispers to you,
"I am ever so glad to see you alive son! But as ever the situation would pull us apart, would that I could join you, but it seems that I am destined for other things as of now. Make me proud son!"

After hearing your response he grasps your shoulder and elbow in the greeting of a warrior and nods to you.


"I hope it meets your needs better than your current gear. Once you are ready, Ilyeit will guide you to where you need to go, I believe you have already met? I trust her, she is one of our best."

Items

All items can be identified, DC's are listed.

Magical Items
1 Half-Plate (http://www.d20pfsrd.com/magic-items/magic-armor/specific-magic-armor/daystar-half-plate) - DC 30
1 Metallic Brooch (http://www.d20pfsrd.com/magic-items/magic-armor/specific-magic-armor/folding-plate) - DC 25
1 Tower Shield (http://www.d20pfsrd.com/magic-items/magic-armor/specific-magic-shields/fortress-shield) - DC 26
1 +2 Breastplate - DC 21
1 +1 Studded Leather - DC 18
1 +1 Full plate - DC 18
1 +1 H Steel shield - DC 18
1 +1 H wooden shield - DC 18
1 +2 Mitrhal buckler - DC 21

1 Heavy Mace (http://www.d20pfsrd.com/magic-items/magic-weapons/specific-magic-weapons/boulderhead-mace) - DC 24
1 Dagger (http://www.d20pfsrd.com/magic-items/magic-weapons/specific-magic-weapons/dagger-of-venom) - DC 20
1 kusarigama (http://www.d20pfsrd.com/magic-items/magic-weapons/specific-magic-weapons/dancing-wasp) - DC 22
1 Longsword (http://www.d20pfsrd.com/magic-items/magic-weapons/specific-magic-weapons/flame-tongue) - DC 27
5 bolts (http://www.d20pfsrd.com/magic-items/magic-weapons/specific-magic-weapons/screaming-bolt) - DC 20
1 +1 Short Sword - DC 18
1 +1 Longsword - DC 18
1 +2 Dagger - DC 21
1 +1 Quarterstaff - DC 18

1 Ring of Protection +1 - DC 20
1 Ring (http://www.d20pfsrd.com/magic-items/rings/ring-of-forcefangs) - DC 24
1 Ring of Minor Energy Resistance, Acid - DC 18

1 Staff (http://www.d20pfsrd.com/magic-items/staves/staff-of-bolstering) - DC 23

1 Rod (http://www.d20pfsrd.com/magic-items/rods/metamagic-rods/metamagic-enlarge) (lesser) - DC 32
1 Rod (http://www.d20pfsrd.com/magic-items/rods/metamagic-rods/metamagic-intensified) (lesser) - DC 32

(All potions are min CL and are identified)
Potion of Misdirection
Potion of Cure light wounds
Potion of Undetectable alignment
Potion of Cure moderate wounds
Potion of Cure serious wounds
Potion of Bear's endurance
Potion of Cure moderate wounds
Potion of Resist energy (Cold) 30
Potion of Resist energy (Cold) 10
Potion of Bear's endurance

Wizard Scroll:
2nd Owl's Wisdom CL: 3; - DC 18

Paladin Scroll:
1st Litany of Sloth CL: 1; - DC 16
2nd Zone of Truth CL: 3; - DC 18
1st Protection from Chaos CL: 1; - DC 16
1st Cure Light Wounds CL: 1; - DC 16

Ranger Scroll:
2nd Acute Senses CL: 3; - DC 18
2nd Acute Senses CL: 3; - DC 18
1st Charm Animal CL: 1; - DC 16

[Divine] Wand of cure light wounds CL: 3; 43 charges - DC 18
[Divine] Wand of Lesser Restoration CL: 9; 10 charges - DC 25
[Divine] Wand of Dispel Magic CL: 6; 5 charges - DC 20
[Divine] Wand of Searing light CL: 8; 9 charges - DC 24
[Arcane] Wand of Unseen Servant CL: 12; 50 charges - DC 27
[Arcane] Wand of Wraitstrike CL: 15; 26 charges - DC 30

Belt [+2] (http://www.d20pfsrd.com/magic-items/wondrous-items/wondrous-items/a-b/belt-of-physical-might) - DC 27
Amulet[+2] (http://www.d20pfsrd.com/magic-items/wondrous-items/wondrous-items/a-b/amulet-of-natural-armor) - DC 20
Manual [flesh] (http://www.d20pfsrd.com/magic-items/wondrous-items/wondrous-items/a-b/book-golem-manual) - DC 23
Boots (http://www.d20pfsrd.com/magic-items/wondrous-items/wondrous-items/a-b/boots-of-levitation) - DC 18
Headband [+2] (http://www.d20pfsrd.com/magic-items/wondrous-items/wondrous-items/h-l/headband-of-vast-intelligence) - DC 23
Belt [+2] (http://www.d20pfsrd.com/magic-items/wondrous-items/wondrous-items/a-b/belt-of-mighty-constitution) - DC 23
Goggles (http://www.d20pfsrd.com/magic-items/wondrous-items/wondrous-items/e-g/goggles-of-minute-seeing) - DC 18
Musical pipes (http://www.d20pfsrd.com/magic-items/wondrous-items/wondrous-items/m-p/pipes-of-the-sewers) - DC 17
Quiver (http://www.d20pfsrd.com/magic-items/wondrous-items/wondrous-items/e-g/efficient-quiver) - DC 24

Mundane Items
121 bolts
63 arrows
3 daggers
1 Quaterstaff
2 light crossbows
1 Composite +3 Shortbow
1 Longbow
1 rapier
1 MW Flail
1 Cold Iron Longsword
1 Elven Chain (http://www.d20pfsrd.com/magic-items/magic-armor/specific-magic-armor/elven-chain)
1 Battleaxe, Adamantine (http://www.d20pfsrd.com/magic-items/magic-weapons/specific-magic-weapons/battleaxe-adamantine)


Once you have equipped yourself you turn to see the little girl Ilyeit watching you stifling yet another giggle. It seems she was more than just a little girl. Motion for you to follow she takes off through a series of natural caverns and twisting man made tunnels until after several long minutes she gestures up a ladder to her left. speaking in a hushed tone "Up here, it's in an alley behind some buildings." and with that she takes off running back the way she came, her light steps barely making a mark on the mildewed stones.

Moving up the ladder you find yourselves exactly as described, an alley behind a series of buildings, there doesn't seem to be anything stirring in the alley, just the detritus of the city. Sneaking a peak around the closest corner you see a large street and on the other side every alley and side street is barricaded off. You can even see a watchman at each one.

[NinjaStylerobot]

Hasni grits his teeth and attempts to use some of his innate magic again, to try to detect the magic in the items. Alas all it gives him is a migrane.

Hasni comes up to Ma and askes her
You pathetic slime
Wlowd ylou mlind idlentifying thlese items?

Hasni bares his vampirish teeth.

[Fireheart]

Wlowd ylou mlind idlentifying thlese items?


Moraine stares in wonder at the stack of items. She glances at Hasni and shakes her head.

I May not be able to identify the magic for all of them...but here is what I can do. She glances at Annalyn remembering her spellcasting...Annalyn, can you assist? Perhaps you can identify the ones I do not know....

She passes her hand over her eyes and waves her staff slightly and whispers words of power. When finished, her eyes glow with a soft blue light. She looks the pile.

These items are magical.

1 metallic broach - which is actually Folding Plate (+1 Full Plate)
+1 studded leather
+1 full plate
+1 Heavy Steel Shield
+1 Heavy Wooden Shield
5 screaming bolts
+1 shortsword
+1 longsword
+2 dagger
+1 Quarterstaff - I'd like this if no one else is using it...Ma says as she places it in the pile
Ring of Protection +1
Ring of Force Fangs
Ring Minor Resistance, Acid

Paladin Scroll: Litany of Sloth
Paladin Scroll: 1st level protection from chaos
Paladin Scroll: 1st level CLW

Ranger Scroll: 2nd Acute Senses CL: 3
Ranger Scroll: 2nd Acute Senses CL: 3
Ranger Scroll:1st Charm Animal CL: 1

[Divine] Wand of cure light wounds CL: 3; 43 charges
[Divine] Wand of Dispel Magic CL: 6; 5 charges

Boots of Levitation
Goggles of Minute Seeing
Musical pipes of the Sewer
Efficient Quiver

Also, if noone wants it...I believe that pile of shine armor is Elven Chain and I would like it. It's pretty.

~Fireheart


OOC: Detect Magic

[NinjaStylerobot]

Mis Morriane reacted to my vampiric teeth surprisingly well.

Annalyn, can you? I can narrow it down for us though....

Or dear no.

Hasni awkwardly twiddles his thumbs as annylyn approaches.

[SamBurke]

Alyera's eyes sparkled with all of the items. "Woaaaaaaaah," She gasped, "You weren't kidding!" Closing her eyes for a moment, she began to move the non-magic items from the rest, and organize the other things. Potions with potions, armor in a line from large to small, weapons by size, wands in a line, most complicated first, rings, brooches, and amulets all in a bundle.

"One thing I can do is look at these scrolls..." She mutters, picking through them with another prayer. "Or maybe not. Ma, do you know how to read magic runes? These are sort of difficult..."


Cast: Detect Magic

Well, we now know what all the scrolls are. OR NOT. I'm assuming It's Spellcraft I'm rolling? Guidance on each one. I'll let Ma read the scrolls, this is on the... Wands, first, rings next, then the amulet...

1.
[roll0]
2.
[roll1]
3.
[roll2]
4.
[roll3]
5.
[roll4]
6.
[roll5]
7.
[roll6]
8.
[roll7]
9.
[roll8]
10.
[roll9]

OK, this got the: Wand of Searing Light and the +2 Amulet.

[SamBurke]

Herpaderp second post




Well, we now know what all the scrolls are. OR NOT. I'm assuming It's Spellcraft I'm rolling? Guidance on each one. I'll let Ma read the scrolls, this is on the... Let's go down the list on the other minor items, with these extra rolls.

1.
[roll0]
2.
[roll1]
3.
[roll2]
4.
[roll3]
5.
[roll4]
6.
[roll5]
7.
[roll6]
8.
[roll7]
9.
[roll8]
10.
[roll9]

Got: The Staff, and the Scroll of Owl's Wisdom.

[Sparrow]

Ralph nods as his father whispers to him, still astounded that his father is alive.

When they get to the magic items, Ralph politely asks, "Could I take that longsword? It may be useful for me. Also, the magic studded armor. That is all the magic I'll need." While he waits for an answer, he will also say, "I'll also take a light crossbow, and some bolts." He says, taking a light crossbow and about thirty bolts.

I'm assuming it comes with a quiver, if not, I'll draw them from my satchel, assuming someone takes the magic quiver.

[Golden Ladybug]

"I'll see what I can do" I replied, and walked over to the other spellcasters and began scanning each item for traces of magic.

Ignoring the pile of items that Ma and Alyera were decoding, I swept my gaze over the other objects that the Resistance had recovered, narrowing my vision and letting the Ioun Stone out of my pocket to float freely. It was annoying, but it sharpened my mind, and I didn't want to miss anything.

Okay, the Breastplate is enchanted to be much more sturdy, and so is this Buckler. The Half-Plate and the Tower Shield do something, but I can't tell what" I said absent-mindedly, moving them to the side as I dug into the pile of weapons.

"Dunno about the Mace or that... chain thing, but the Dagger is coated in some sort of Magical Poison. It only poisons an Enemy is you wish it to. Looks sharp too" I went on, flicking the floating stone across my face with the Dagger. If wobbled in mid-air, before returning to its normal orbit "The Sword Short has been magically sharp-Ow!" I pulled my hand away from the blade, nursing a small nick on my index finger.

"Okay, this is a Wand of Restoration, but I can't tell with the other wands"

Now at the bottom of the Pile of items, I paused at the items of Clothing. I could only decipher what two of them did, and I recoiled from the book...was that human flesh it was bound with?!

That Amulet hardens your Skin, and this Belt increases your endurance. I haven't got a clue what those Rods do, but they might be Metamagic Rods. One of my Teachers had one that would make any spells he cast last for the full day, but I don't know what these ones do."

"Do you mind if I take them, at least until I can figure out what they do, by trial and error if necessary?"

+1 Half Plate DC 30 [roll0]
Tower Shield DC 26 [roll1]
+2 Breastplate DC 21 [roll2]
+2 Mitrhal buckler DC 21 [roll3]

Heavy Mace DC 24 [roll4]
Kusarigama DC 22 [roll5]
Dagger DC 20 [roll6]
+1 Short Sword DC 18 [roll7]

Wand of Lesser Restoration DC 25 [roll8]
Wand of Unseen Servant DC DC 27 [roll9]
Wand of Wraithstrike DC 30 [roll10]

Belt +2 DC 27 [roll11]
Amulet of Natural Armor +2 DC 20 [roll12]
Flesh Golem Manual DC 23 [roll13]
Headband +2 DC 23 [roll14]
Belt of Mighty Constitution +2 DC 23 [roll15]

Did I miss anything?

[NinjaStylerobot]

Hmm Slo if thlat blelt incleases youl indulance, then mayble thle othler one does slomething do? I wloud lso liek tlo tly to identlyfy it

[Golden Ladybug]

"Be my Guest" I told Hasni, passing him the belt I couldn't figure out; I knew he didn't have any magical talent, but perhaps he had his own way of determining the effects of magical items.

As I handed him the Belt, I almost tripped over a length of loose chain. It was one of the weapons that I'd been unable to figure out...I'd never seen anything like it, but it was certainly something. The thin links of chain connected to an elegantly crafted sickle, decorated in a pattern I couldn't quite decipher. It was beatiful, in a way.

I reached out, and slowly wrapped the chain around the hilt of the sickle.

When I was sure that no one was paying too much attention, I slid it underneath my jacket.

What the hell are you doing, Annalyn? I thought to myself furiously, as I turned back to the others, the strange thing hidden in the folds of my clothing.

What was I doing?

[NinjaStylerobot]

Hmm. She took that attempted murder attempt rather well.
She also didn't mind your fangs


Perception check
[roll0]

Well, I decided that since I rolled suprisingly high, I guess I noticed your attempt. Especialy since you could beat my perception only by rolling a natural 20 sleigh of hands check


LOOK Shes taking the weapon!
Hmmm Yes.

Eiler wlay, I slugges wle klep thla sklolls untlil we clan declode thlem, thlen keep thier arclane folmulas to use for futler uws. Likes poweshuns

OOc: To avoid confusion my tail now speaks in dark orchid to avoid confusion

[NinjaStylerobot]

Suddenly Hasnis eyes fixate on one thing.

An axe.

He ignores its beautiful handle composed of three encrarved Coatles dancing across the planes.

He ignores the axey part which depicts a story of a humble farmers rise into nobility and how he fell in love with a foreign ambassador. That love didn't work out but as a token of her love she had this axe made for him.

All completly ignored.

That is quite allot of adamantium
Indeed.
That is going to be smelted and used for lab funds

Hasni grabs the Axe clunkily in his hands. His eyes lit up at the possibilities

Dethroyan rock, Sphinx Fur, Organs of a disenchanter, eyeballs of a Flumph. Maybe even a dragon scale.
Yes you will serve me well.

[SamBurke]

Alyera gathers up a few of the wands. "I'll hold on to these, if no one minds... and the ring." You just love not telling' stuff, don't ya? Don't tell them that you're already sentimentally attached to a stupid ring, 'cause it looks like it has his crest on it. Pffft. You will never see him again... why would you want to? You're just... Just......

Wait, what is Annalyn doing, stealing that.. thing. Why does she need to steal a weapon?

WATCH HER.


Perception: [roll0]

Edit: and unless Analyn wants to roll a Slight-of-Hand Check, i'll be counting it as a 80% chance of sighting it.

[Fireheart]

When no one objects, Moraine calmly walks over to the elven chain, she picks it up, eyeing it carefully. She steps to one side and begins to change, sliding her top off and removing the light and shiny chain shirt beneath it, she slips into the chain mail. She look longingly at the chain shirt for a second before tossing it into the pile of other armor.

Stepping over to the pile of magic weapons, she picks up the quarterstaff. Moving to an open space within the sewers, she swing it around carefully a time or two before nodding to herself. She lays her older one against the walls.

Shrugging her backpack back on, she looks at the gathering of younglings.

"So, now that we are all together again, pirate or cleric?" she asks.

She glances back at Ralph's father and bows. "Thank you, she says, "for the assistance."

[SamBurke]

Alyera gathers up the things she'll be using, making a note to herself to test the two unknown wands as soon as possible. Taking some twine from her pack, she ties five loose loops around her belt, to allow for a quick reach. "Thank you most cordially, sir, for your aid," she said, with all her courtly dignity. "Would it be possible to parley with you for just a moment in private?"


If I remember the rules correctly, since they're easy to reach and not in the pack, it should be a swift action to grab one, right?

[Sparrow]

Ralph walks calmly to the cache and takes the magic dagger, replacing his current one in his wrist sheathe. He then takes his current one and puts it in a sheathe by his boot. Taking one of the normal daggers from the pile, he places it in his other boot.

He then grabs the magic short sword ((I believe nobody wanted it. If I'm wrong then just mention something to Ralph)). Placing it opposite his Rapier on his belt, he draws it in the open, giving it a flourish before returning it to its place at his waist.

Next, he tucks the googles of minute seeing into his satchel before taking the crossbow and putting it on a strap on his shoulder. If the bolts come with a quiver, he puts them on his other shoulder, if not, he places them in his bag.

"Thank you father," Ralph says before turning back to the others.

"Personally, I need some answers from a certain cleric." Ralph says, thinking of vengeance. His father may still be alive, but his mother and cousin were not.

"Oh father," Ralph says turning back, "Any word from or of the castle?" Ralph asked.

[GuyFawkes]

Lucien

The half-elf is silent the entire time Ralph's father explains what happened for them during the earlier events of the catastrophe. But he is only half listening. Half of his mind is off wandering where his own father could be. Maybe. Maybe...he could not think of it. He brushes the thought off his mind and concentrates on listening.

When they are ushered to the equipment stack, he looks around for anything he could use. He looks at a longsword which the others could not identify, and, as he swings it around for weight and balance, finds it to be of his liking and takes it. Looking around some more, he spots some bows. He approaches the stack and finds a shortbow, picking it up and drawing it. He already has his longbow, but this one was a composite bow. But, I could use the added damage, he thinks before finally removing his longbow and changing it with the shortbow. He also picks up a quiver of arrows, and the special magical quiver there. Finally, picks up that other magical belt that the others couldn't identify. This is bound to be useful somehow.

When he is done, he waits patiently while the others sort out their stuff.

[Golden Ladybug]

Once the others began to take items openly, I returned to the stack of items and poked around a bit more. The spiked...thing I had taken dug into my chest when I bent over, and I winced when the blade pressed against my skin. Why couldn't I just leave the blasted thing alone?! I mentally screamed, as I shoved the two Rods of unknown function into my Satchel, where they jostled against my collection of candles and the Waterproof bag containing my Spellbooks. And a small Crossbow, along with a case of Bolts.

I disentangled the weapon from the satchel and held it up "Does anyone want these? I don't suppose I need them anymore..." I announced, frowning even as I said the words. Why didn't I need them? Because, for some impossible reason, I'd taken that stupid thing that I now hid in my jacket!

I stumbled a little, and the crossbow dropped from my hand and clattered against the pile of items. The stack, balanced precariously as it was, collapsed with a roaring crash.

I blushed furiously, and quickly dropped to my knees to try and clean up the mess I'd made. As quickly as I could, I returned the magical items to their rightful places. One of those items was a shield, a Buckler made of sparkling silver, almost flew from my hand when I grabbed it. It was so light! Maybe even light enough for me to use it without any problems...and given the situation, I probably should have something like a Shield. I could defend myself with magic, but I wasn't strong enough to keep that up all day...

I slipped it onto my wrist, flexing experimentally. It would do.

Next, I collected the Staff that Alyera had identified. I would be able to use it, and since it used Arcane Magic, Alyera wouldn't. And, after curling my fingers around the knotted wood, I was sure that I'd be able to put it to good use.

Finally ready, I went over to join the others, giving Ralph's father a smile. He'd been very generous to offer us all this. I stumbled again, dropping the staff with a clatter. Scowling, I picked it up again, and looked down. My Boots had started to decay, a cruel reminder of the negative energy infused water. I scowled, my brow furrowing; I'd only bought those Boots last week, and I'd expected them to last longer than that

I pulled them off, and threw them to the side. One of the items in here had been a pair of boots, and I was not going to fight a Cleric barefoot!

[BelGareth]

Ralph -

Your father scrunches his face up for a second and thinks "The castle? thats a good question son, I haven't even thought about that place this whole time, and for good reason, no one has. As far as I know, it's been as quiet as a corpse."

[Sparrow]

Ralph appeared to be stunned, his face horrorstrucken. It was apparent that he was made uncomfortable by the simile.

[SamBurke]

"What's our next plan, then? We can't give up hope for the city, so we have to do something. There's the pirate, and the cleric... Which one do we go get? We shouldn't split up, of course." The words gushed from her mouth, and she brushes aside some hair, putting it back into an unnoticed gold-wrought hairband.

[Fireheart]

Ma looks at the group.

"Pirate," she says. "Atleast, that's my suggestion. He's supposed to know something about what happened. Let's see if we can get the city back to normal. Then we can worry about the cleric."

She glances over at Ralph, her eyes worried.

[SamBurke]

"I agree. We have neither the resources nor the manpower to take on a formidable operation like the impostor's. Given time and a little bit of hope, we can try for freedom. But now, the other I deem more important."

[Sparrow]

"Okay, the pirate it is. But first, could we stop by the castle. I have to know something." Ralph said, thinking about all the different things he may find when they got there.

[GuyFawkes]

Lucien

"I don't recommend going there. We do not have anything on the castle. For all we know it might be overrun by zombies the most," Lucien finally chimes in. "Unless we would definitely get answers from there on how to turn this situation about, we best stick to what we know could give us answers. The Pirate. I mean, I already messed up earlier with my bad decision on taking the detour, and that's one too many for today."

[Sparrow]

Ralph thought about it for a second. "Very well, I shall delay the trip for now. Lets go get some answers." Ralph said, checking his weapons.I need answers, Ralph thought. Then he said out loud, "We need answers." With that he walked toward the exit.

[Fireheart]

Ma nodded.

Shouldering her pack and grasping tightly to her new staff, she follows Ralph.

[SamBurke]

Alyera breathes deeply, and, against her better judgement, leaves the safe haven of the room, venturing into the feral streets. These were her friends, and these all -she still couldn't keep track of everyone- she would stay with.

"Since we're all decided, let's go."

[Golden Ladybug]

Tying the bootlaces swiftly, I nodded along with the others; even though I wanted to say a few choices word to that Cleric (anyone who used Magic so pettily was someone I despised...), but that could wait. Alyera was right about one thing; splitting up hadn't gone well for us in the past, so sticking close was a good idea.

Slotting my Staff and our newly acquired one through the loops in my backpack, I got to my feet. I winced as the blade of the weapon I'd stolen pressed against my skin, underneath my coat.

Well, what are we waiting for?" I said, grinning, "time to go find this Pirate."

[GuyFawkes]

Lucien

The half elf follows as everyone goes out, taking the rear. He adjusts his gear and the newly acquired weapons and trappings. He has been pondering on whether to try out the unidentified belt he took earlier or not, and now decides to put it on anyway.

With my rotten luck, this may very well be cursed.

He looks before him and hastens his pace to catch up. Then he notices something.

"Hey, where's Has?

[Golden Ladybug]

I turned round towards Lucien, my grin quickly become a grimace.

"He's still messing around with the other toothless Alchemist, playing with their stupid potion books. Bastard" I said, bitterly, "He can stay; its not like we need him"

Man, Annalyn is kind of vindictive, isn't she? Still, its as good a way of folding Hasni into NPC-ism as any, I suppose :smallfrown:

[GuyFawkes]

Lucien

Lucien stops, looks back from where they came from for a few seconds, before turning around and continuing forward. Oh well, Has could be helpful, but he certainly could be a pain at times. A double edged sword really. Whatever suits him then.

[Fireheart]

Ma looks a bit surprised at the venom in Annalyn's voice. She glances back at Hasni and seeing him still deep in conversation, she shrugs and continues out the door.

I hope he'll be okay down here. Atleast he's found someone with the same well...mentality as he has.

She looks over everyone else, glances back at Lucien, and appears to be counting heads.

"Hey, is everyone healed from any injuries before we go traipsing through dangers untold and hardships unnumbered?"

:smallamused:

[Sparrow]

Ralph turned back, "I still have some injuries that haven't quite healed yet."
My sheet says I'm at 16/27. Dunno if its right though.

[SamBurke]

Alyera glances around for a moment, and turns back to Ralph. "Let's fix that, then..." Breathing deeply, she clasps her hands together. With a moment's pause, she lays one hand on each of his shoulders with a glowing aura. "Anyone else...?"

[Fireheart]

Ma looks around at the now physically fortified group but notices that everyone seems a bit drawn.

She takes a deep breath.

I think perhaps, before we seek this cleric, we should find a place to gather for a bit. Perhaps fortify ourselves with a meal. I worry that the losses we have seen and faced may haunt us in the future. Perhaps a bit of peace before we jump back into the fight?

She pauses and looks around.

I don't know that Ralph's place is safe anymore and I'm not sure how the shop stands but we could try there unless someone else has a thought?

OOC: I figure if everyone agrees on a location, we can "fastforward" sneaking through the sewers to come up outside it.

[SamBurke]

"Can we try your shop? We locked it up... what was it, two days ago? It seems like such an age..."

[GuyFawkes]

Lucien

"Yeah, we could take a little break before that. The shop is in the direction of where we need to go, so I think that is a good place. If it is still in one piece, that is."

[Golden Ladybug]

I nodded along with the others; we were all a bit beaten and bruised as it was, and going off to pick any more fights was risky. We needed to fight somewhere to hunker down and recuperate.

And I didn't want to stay here in this cavern any longer than I had to.

"Unless someone tried to hide in your Shop while we were away, I can't see why any of these Zombies would try and get in. Even if a few of them did get in, we should be able to take them" I added, gathering my things up into my bag, and soon enough I was ready to leave.

[SamBurke]

Alyera stalks the streets carefully, watching the side rows and alleys for any sign of danger. "How far is it from here, do you think?"

[GuyFawkes]

Lucien

The young half-elf surveys their surroundings for a moment. "It's to the south. Not too far. Come. We better hurry before we get spotted," he says before going the direction he stated.

[Fireheart]

Everyone followed Lucien and Ma through the tunnels of the sewer. Moving swiftly and quietly, they inched thier way to the street beneath Ma's shop.

Lucien pointed up where a cover opened up into the street. Ma climbed up and inched open the cover just a little. The street appeared clear and from her vantage point, the shop appeared to still be standing. The door still looked locked but one of the upper windows had a break.

Ma whispered back down to the others. "right, I'm going to run across and open the door. Everyone else follow as quickly and quietly as you can!"

Ma took a deep breath and ran across the street, pulling her key from rope around her waist, she opened the door to the shop and waved everyone in.

(OOC: Hope that works for everyone.)

[Sparrow]

Ralph followed Ma as quickly as he could while still retaining his stealth. It wasn't too difficult but it still slowed him a bit. When he got to the shop, he held the handle of his rapier, preparing to draw it if need be as he entered.

[Golden Ladybug]

The move through the tunnels and into the streets was uneventful, so of course it wasn't until we reached Ma's Shop that I tripped over and made a fool of myself. After Ma had darted across the street, I followed after her with the others, at the back.

I probably hadn't tied my new boots up properly, because the bloody things slipped on the cobbles and sent me tumbling into a heap.

"Oww..."

After levering myself up with my Staff, I continued on and waited with the others as Ma opened the door, scowling in annoyance.

[Fireheart]

After Ma got the door opened, she ushered everyone inside and locked the door behind them. Quickly running to the front windows, she pulled the curtains shut. Then ushered everyone upstairs to the main living area, where she pulled the curtains shut as well.

She then let out a deep breath and lightly touched one of the walls.

"Phew. I am so glad to see that the shop is still here. Go on guys, make yourselves at home. There are rooms upstairs if you want to rest - Ralph, you can show them. Otherwise, I'll see if there is anything left to eat...we grabbed a lot of it when we headed out but I may still have some dried beef tucked in the pantry and we can sit and rest for a bit." She dropped her backpack against one wall and rested her staff over top it. Rubbing her shoulders as she walked toward the kitchen, you soon heard various doors and drawers open and shut as she searched for food.

Ma's house (for those who hadn't been there) was clearly designed with comfort in mind. You caught a glimpse of a herbalist's shop as Ma rushed you upstairs.

The main living room had a variety of seating. Everything from a pair of wingback chairs, a sofa and several comfortable throw pillows scattered on the floor. One wall had a small bookshelf stuffed with books for every age. A low table sat in the center of the room covered in books, small wooden toys and the odds and ends of various projects.

Though a small hallway you glimpse a kitchen area and stairs leading up.

OOC: At some point, I really need to draw this out...assume any inconsistencies from our previous posts of the shop are simple misrememberings. :)

[SamBurke]

Alyera slouches on one of the chairs, her small form barely reaching from one arm to the other, even sideways. "I love these chairs so much... they just beckon a person to hide in them."

Looking up, she stares at the others for a second, noting their lean, haggard faces, torn with the events of just two days.

"So, um..." Think of something, fast. Where were you all born?"


Perfect time to describe your faces and reactions!

[GuyFawkes]

Lucien

The familiar sight of Ma's shop brings a rather pleasant feeling of nostalgia to the young half-elf, like it had been months ago that he last saw it. There is something in the old shop, with its cracked paint and fairly old wooden facade that screams home to him. Or maybe it was just that most of his fondest memories with his friends all happened here. Unconsciously his pace quickens and even breaks into a run in the last few yards.

Once everyone is inside, he helps Ma close the door and secure them by placing some of the shelves behind it. He follows everyone to the living area and plops down on the floor beside Alyera's chair and closes his eyes. Yes, he could easily get comfortable anywhere inside this house, he could easily sleep where he is right now.

As soon as his eyes close, the events begin to unfold again in his mind, like it is still happening in front of him. Trying to get his mind off of it, he focuses on what they need to do, and tries to think of information he might have missed that could help them, but to no avail. He cannot think of anything. Everything that is happening is still a mystery to him.

Alyera's question jerks him out of his thoughts, and a smile creeps up on Lucien's rather weary face. "Heh, why ask that all of a sudden? Hmm, yeah well come to think of it, you have been hanging out here for a while now but I don't know much about you, don't I? And apart from Ma, and you, the rest of us I only met on the day this all began." He opens his eyes and springs up into a sitting position.

"I guess it is time we get to introduce ourselves properly, no? I'll start it off then." He clears his throat before continuing. "Ehem. As you already know, my name is Lucien, son of La'ron. As you may have guessed, I am born from an elf and a human. And to answer Alyera's question, I was born and raised here in Cloud City, just a few blocks away from here. I guess you could say the whole city has been my playground. Well, most of it, anyway. I'm not too proud of it, but back in the day, I used to cause a ruckus all over with my buddies, until Ma found us, and well, ever since then, we began hanging out here and not causing any more trouble. Not that much anyway. He he."

"So, who's next?"

Oops, sorry. Took too long with my editing. :smalltongue:

[SamBurke]

Still need to work on that subtlety... "Get our minds off whatever's outside, I guess... you don't have to talk if you don't want to."


BATTLE OF THE ANGST. Make it happen.

[Sparrow]

After Ralph finishes looking around the house, he settles into a chair as well. In response to the others, he replies, "I was born and raised in the city as well. I have lived in the same home my entire life, well, until now that is. My life isn't much to tell. I was born rich and as such, grew up with what I wanted, although my parents made sure I at least did a little work to earn it. That is the main difference between myself and the other nobles, I have a decent work ethic where as the others snap and get what they want."

"I know my behavior lately has been strange, as I was concealing almost all emotions after the death of my family. I did this not to seem weak. It happens whenever something in my life changes, a friend moves, I have a bad break up with a girl, I lose someone close to me. I conceal as much as possible without losing myself. Which leads to nightmares recently. I've been told by some people that I toss and turn when I have bad dreams. Sometimes, I even woke my parents. I apologize now for any sleep I may have deprived any of you from."

Ralph looked around the main room they were in. He liked how simple, yet complex the room was. He stood up and walked to the bookshelf. Examining the different books, he turned to the others, "So, anybody else have something to say?" He turned back, seeing the children's stories.

He thought to himself, I remember this story, my mother read me that when I was young. His mother, Ralph missed her so much. He missed her kindness and love, but the thing he would miss the most was probably her nagging when Ralph forgot to do something. He didn't know why, but its just something you get used to over 15 years, and once its gone, you realize how important it was to you.

Enough, Ralph thought, now is not the time. You can be sad after you get answers. Do not show weakness.

Ralph flashed back to when he was younger. His dog ran away and he started to cry. His father patted him on the shoulder. "Ralph," he said, "Don't show weakness. Stop crying, the dog will come back." Sure enough the dog did return. But, the dog was just the first instance where his father tried to prevent Ralph from showing weakness. When the dog died, Ralph tried to hold in his emotions, but couldn't, being only 8. His father again told him not to show weakness. Now, the lesson had stuck and Ralph stayed strong. Waiting to be alone to break down, not showing others his weakness.

[Golden Ladybug]

Angst off, eh? I can dig it :smallsmile:

I followed the others into the living room, and gingerly took a seat on the couch and laid down my backpack and the pair of staffs I was carrying at my feet (I'd stuffed the chain-weapon into my backpack while the others hadn't been looking on the way here, so it was no longer cutting into my skin). I listened quietly, with my head down, as the others told us all more about themselves. Not too long ago, I hadn't trusted these four; now, I would put my life on the line to help them. Hell, in the past day, I had! I'd stayed with Ma and Alyera to try and stave off the undead, even though I could've escaped.

These were the first people I'd been able to think of as friends in a long time...

A few moments after Ralph stopped talking, I realised that it was my turn to open up and finally tell them who I was. I licked my lips in trepidation, and looked up at them all

"I wasn't born here in the City like you guys; I used to live out in the country with my Dad and my little sister. I never knew my mother, but my Dad was a Wizard like me," I said, my voice filled with fondness and nostalgia for better days, "He was so proud of me when I told him I wanted to learn Magic, and he taught me the very first spell I ever learnt" I lifted up a hand, and after muttering a brief incantation, a small ball of sparks appeared in midair "It's just a simple practice spell, but its useful, and you can do some cool things with it when you think about it. Dad wanted me to be a Conjurer just like him, but I think I'd have been able to do more if I'd specialised in Illusions..." I dismissed the Ball of Sparks with a wave of my hand.

"Anyway, Dad started showing me more and more magic, and one day, he decided to let me help him perform a Summoning. I messed up, misdrew one of the lines for the Circle, and the Demon he tried to bind got loose and attacked me. He jumped in the way, and he got really badly hurt by it, but after that he managed to drive it off" I looked away from the others again, and covered my mouth with my hands.

"After that, the wounds became infected, and Dad got really sick. Me and my sister tried to help him, but the Demon's claws must have been poisonous, because nothing we tried worked. He, uh... he died a few days later"

I remained silent for a few moments after that, playing with a loose strand of wool on my jacket absent-mindedly. I didn't want to tell them about the Dreams just yet. I trusted everyone in this house implicitly, but I wasn't ready to share those with anyone.

"So, after that, I got a scholarship to the Arcanist's College my Dad went to, and I just studied. I wanted to make sure that I'd never make a mistake like that again, and I guess I got a bit obsessed. I went from an Apprentice to a full Mage in three years," I chuckled a little, "faster than any other student ever. I snuck into advanced lectures, stole tomes from the library, and they were forced to bump me up to the higher level courses. I bonded my Staff, got given a Spellbook and left when no one wanted to take me on as an Apprentice"

"That's it really. I just wandered around, finally found this place and rented a room for a few nights. Then all this happened..." I sighed, feeling exhausted beyond belief.

It had been a hard couple of days, after all.

[Fireheart]

Ma had stopped in the door to listen, her hands filled with some slighly over ripe fruit and strips of dried meat.

As silence fell across the room, she entered. Clearing a space on the table she placed the food on it, grabbed one of the strips of meat and piled a few pillows up against the wall near her staff. Kicking her boots off, she crossed her ankles and stretched her legs out, sliding them under the table.

She tilted her head slightly. "Like Annalyn," she begins, "I was not born in the city. I lived in the village of Margrave in the south. My family was good; we farmed. When I was 17, I married a good man, together we had three children, Mora, Laine and Jervain. But Roland, my husband, was not a good farmer. He left us."

Ma stops for a second, you can hear a bit of something in her voice, not really anger but regret. She glances at Lucien, "A beautiful elf brought me his sword and some gold." She shrugged. "I used the gold as doweries for my daughters and to my son, Jervaine, when he decided to answer the call of Iomadae, I gave the sword."

She ponders for a moment. "I guess it was about 3 years ago. The farm was getting crowded, what with Mora's family and I was ready for something new. So I gave her the farm and came to Cloud City. I'd always been good with herbs so it seemed natural to set up the shop."

She paused again. "And then...I met Christoff. He gave me my first training in magic and fighting. I had never held a sword until I met him." She grins suddently, "I still don't like swords but a staff...now that's a weapon I can use." she reaches over and pats the new one. "Anyway, about 3 months ago Christoff's feet began to wander. But I liked it here and besides," she smiles at the group, "I have this tendency to take in strays."

She lets out a deep breath..."And that's 36 years of life in a nutshell." She glances around the room. "I think it's your turn Alyera."

OOC: We didn't miss anyone, did we?

[SamBurke]

Wow, our group slimmed down to a normal number........ just the five of us. OH NOES! It ith my turn!


Alyera's head jerks to the side, and stares at Ma for a moment, unsure. This was supposed to distract them so I could slip away, but... I can't not listen. And now I have to talk. "Well... uhm... I wasn't born here, either... I was in the country, at my family's.. um... farm. We made things for magic. Potion testers and stands and fine quality powders, material components... things like that. It was a... pretty good life.
Alyera's halting speech stops completely, and her eyes narrow angrily until she chokes. "And then I came here. And met you guys. And that's it."


Well, then. I stink at roleplaying.

[GuyFawkes]

Lucien

The young halfling finds it somewhat odd to hear so many different aspects of these four people that he thought he had somehow come to know. Just goes to show that it has only been a day or two since they have been together, well the rest of them except Ma.

As Alyera finishes up her part of what turned out to be their group sharing, Lucien feels the urge to ask some more about her. He had seen her here a few times and yet he does not know a thing about her, making him all the more curious. But the pained, or was it angered, look on her face as she finished told him not to pursue the query, and he simply looks down on the floor.

"Ah, so it seems for the better part of the recent years all of us have been in Cloud City at least," he says as he looks up to the others. "Kinda funny how we all were walking around the same city and yet some of us have not met. Or maybe we had, but just couldn't remember it, eh?" He then chuckles at the thought.

"But whatever the case, I am glad to have met all of you guys. Even if the reason for that is this...this stupid crap that we are in right now. I guess since this is the only opportunity that we have been given, I would like to say this now: It was nice meeting you," he adds, with a rather off but sincere smile on his face.

[Sparrow]

Ralph snapped out of his flashback and settled into the couch, next to Annalyn. He put his hands to his face, trying to keep his eyes open. The last couple of days had been tiring to them all. But even when Ralph had a chance to sleep, he was constantly waking from a nightmare.

After all of the others finish their stories, Ralph looks up. "Nice to meet all of you. If only one good thing came from this mess, its that we met each other, and right now, it seems very likely that it is the only good thing."

He realizes he never explained his reasoning for wanting to go to the castle. "By the way, the reason I wished to visit the castle is because my girlfriend is the daughter of the Countess. I haven't been able to check on her since this began."

[Golden Ladybug]

I turned my head away from the boy sitting next to me, feeling sick. I felt empathy for him; not knowing if someone you care about is going to live or not is one of the most horrible feelings you can go through.

"I hope, for your sake Ralph, that's she okay..." I replied, sadly.

I left the implication that she probably wasn't unsaid...