Devil's Deal IC 4: The Fourth One

[Archmage1]

Tulip looks sad.
"But... they're too heavy! I can't move them! Maybe I could make it look like they're not here? Do you think that would work?"
She looks to Mithra, seeking approval for her brilliant plan, hope clearly blossoming in her heart.

[Hazuki]

"Lutent, nominally. I'm more of a mercenary sort." The mask replies, its face permanently fixed into a demonic grin.

"It's possible, depending on the spells you have. If you cast the enchantment first, then maintain the illusion while talking, it will work - but you'll still need to clear the area for any erroneous noise." Mithra watches the hovering Petal without seeming to care much about her fickle emotions.

[Raunchel]

"And what did this Lucent fellow pay you?", Yildiz asks, very nicely.

[Archmage1]

Tulip brightens as she thinks of another great idea.
"I know! Maybe Dilaa can move on, so we can wake him up! But... maybe while she's doing that, I can find the horses! If they can't get out of those saddles, they might be hurt!"

Tulip darts over to Dilaa, and smiles cheerfully.
"Dilaa, can you help me, please? I'd like to talk with one of the orcs, but Mithra thinks that talking to them here wouldn't work, so maybe you could move him somewhere he can't see all the other orcs? And I'll save the horses, and then come back!"

With that, the smiling petal sets out, intending on getting the horses to come back, so their saddles could be removed.

[PersonMan]

Dilaa agrees, having listened to the discussion about questioning the orc without saying anything. Dealing with defeated but living enemies was something she had almost no experience with, and the idea of Tulip using her magic to get information from one of their former opponents sounded far better than Yildiz's proposition of cutting them to pieces.

[Hazuki]

"Promising to be on the face of somebody powerful! Like him!" The mask enthusiastically decares, just a little too loudly. "And I had to work with these cowards," It waggles its eyes in the direction of the orc corpses. "Before I could get to that rank. Ain't it always the case?"

~

Tulip darts off to find the horses, but knows that in order to do so, she'll need to convince them of her concern for their safety. By flying high enough, she's able to catch sight of most of them, and knows that she can fly fast if she just focuses hard enough!

~

When Tulip flies off, Mithra turns to face the unsure-what-to-do-with-herself Lun. "I'm going to bury the bodies. Can you help me with removing their packs and dragging the bodies to, say, there?" The mage asks, pointing to a fairly flat part of the surrounding field.

"Oh. Of course!" The half-orc smiles at the mage, shuffling over to the nearest corpse and removing any packs she can see on it. While she does so, she opens them up and peeks around inside.

Mithra gestures at Dilaa to come closer.

[Archmage1]

Smiling happily as she sets out to save the horses, her form seems to blur, as she darts through the air really, really quickly, looking forward to making sure they were all ok.

[Raunchel]

"And which specific talents would you happen to offer?", she asks, really innocently.

[PersonMan]

Dilaa heads over to Mithra, curious about what the mage would need her for.

[Hazuki]

Tulip easily manages to catch up to the horses and, through convincing words, somehow manages to convince them that they should all gather up someplace for her.

~

"Magic. Poison." The maks answers Yildiz, followed by a yawn.

~

"Can you help with moving the bodies? I plan to make a grave for them." Mithra asks of the warrior.

[Archmage1]

Tulip guides the horses to be on the other side of the bluff from the battle, upwind of the cooling bodies, in a small meadow, so they can graze. Once they're in place, she flies back over to Mithra, and Dilaa, and Yildiz, and Lun.
"Can you help the horses, please? If we remove their saddles, they'll be ok, but if we don't, they'll get hurt!"

[PersonMan]

"Of course," Dilaa replies with a nod, heading over to help Lun with the work. After a few moments she talks to the half-orc about splitting their task into two - she would search their belongings, and Dilaa would drag the corpses to the designated spot.

[Raunchel]

"What sorts of magic and poisons?"

[Hazuki]

"I'll have my servant do it." Mithra informs Tulip, walking alongside her and waiting for the Petal to lead the way.

~

"I'm going to search the alive ones, too." Lun says, as Dilaa starts to drag the corpses away.

~

"Discovering the secrets of magic, shrouding myself from the eyes of cowards, controlling minds, communing with the GODS! And lifting things up." The mask explains. "My poison drains valor, whatever that means."

[Archmage1]

Tulip smiles happily at Mithra's words.
"Thank you, Mithra! They'll be lots happier, without those heavy saddles! This way!"
The excited petal leads Mithra along, to the horse filled meadow, chatting about the horses as she goes.

[Raunchel]

"And what do you know about the secrets of magic?", Yildiz continues her questioning, hoping to finally find the answers that she seeks.

[Hazuki]

As they walk, Mithra doesn't seem to care a great deal about the horses, but doesn't complain as she listens to Tulip's chattering. As they arrive at the field, Mithra's eyes glow green as she summons an invisible force, which then flits between the horses, removing their saddles one by one, and stacking the items in a pyramid shape.

~

"Not much...in this form." The mask answers.

[Raunchel]

"In this form?", Yildiz asks, "Do you have other forms?"

[Archmage1]

Tulip watches the servant be summoned, and as it starts removing saddles, Tulip brushes the worst spots on the saddleless horses, trying to help them feel better, feeling quite happy herself.

[Hazuki]

"Of course!" The mask bellows. "You'll have to me happy with the short version, because I'm not going to sit around in your freezing hands all day yammering about myself. That'd be rude! I'm meant to be able to take a humanoid form, but this cad forced my into the form of a mask before I could. Now, I'm stuck like this until I die or am gifted power."

~

Once all the saddles are removed, the horses look over to Tulip and wait for instruction.

[Archmage1]

Tulip looks over the horses, and is a little confused as they all look to her for instruction. Still, this was nothing that questions couldn't fix, so she smiles cheerfully, before she tries to cheerily talk to them.
<horse>
"Do you want to stay with people, or be on your own?"

[Hazuki]

"We want to be free! Galloping through the hills, with the wind running through our manes!" The prettiest pony of them all answers.

[Archmage1]

Tulip nods, and smiles cheerfully, although she does seem a little worried.
<horse>
"Ok! You're sure you'll be ok? There are demons and things around, I think! And lots more orcs too!"

[Raunchel]

Yildiz still looks at the mask, but now also at her hands, they're not that cold really, although she would love a nice steaming bath to collect some heat. It always makes her feel a little better. "And how would you get this power?"

[Hazuki]

"Most of the orcs aren't so bad." One of the other horses speaks up. "They raised most of us."

~

"By being given it by Lutent. Like I JUST said! Are you slow?" The mask answers

[Raunchel]

Yildiz puts her saw into the mask's edge, and makes a few movements, driving it into the wood. "Just be polite, mr. Mask. I know that I should say that I don't like doing this, but to be honest, I do love it. Does it hurt? Please?", she pauses for a short while, "Now, will you behave yourself? Will you be a good mask? Are there other ways for you to gain this power, other than this Lutent?"

[Hazuki]

The mask winces as Yildiz starts to dig the saw into it, but as soon as she pulls it away, the wood regrows and makes the mask complete again. "Of course! Anyone with sufficient power could give it. Of course, my humanoid form would probably take on some of their traits..."

[Raunchel]

"And could someone be forced to give you that power?"

[Archmage1]

Tulip smiles cheerfully at the horses.
<horse>
"If you think it's safe for you to go free, you can go now, but... there are lots of meanies around, so it might not be safe. It's up to you."

[Hazuki]

"There's this whole punishment thing that we're dealing with, and if we could just command or enchant somebody to give us power, there wouldn't be much point in the punishment to begin with, would there? No, it has to be willing." The mask answers fairly casually.

~

"Then is there anywhere you'd suggest, to avoid them?" The horse asks Tulip.

[Archmage1]

At that, Tulip turns to Mithra, looking hopeful.
"Where do you think it'd be safe for the horses to go free? They'd really like to! Or maybe places they should avoid?"

[Raunchel]

"That's just stupid. What use is anything if you can't even make people do it for you. But what were you being punished for?", she returns to her sweet demeanor, as though she hasn't just been threatening the mask.

[Hazuki]

"I would suggest sending them to the Lar'ask. Mounts already trained for combat will be useful." Mithra suggests to the Petal, having been watching her talk with the animals with mild curiosity.

~

"Being mean. I mean, what else would it be?" The mask asks bitterly. "I abandoned my waymarker, got my body stripped away, and now I'm a malicious spirit who's not allowed to take a flesh form unless others give it to me, or I somehow gather enough power to do it on my own."

[Archmage1]

Tulip looks disappointed at Mithra's words.
"But... they want to be free, not to continue to be used! Isn't there somewhere they could go, and be safe, and free?"
Tulip earnest, sad expression conveys her hope that there is somewhere for the horses.

[Raunchel]

"And what would you offer to whoever wears you?"

[Hazuki]

"I rather doubt that any horses who have been bred and raised in relative captivity will survive well in the wild. But, just tell them to head Southwest if you'd like them to be in safer regions." Mithra answers. "The further from the border, the safer they'll be."

~

"What, right now? When I'm worn, I can find things for you, but that's all. All my other abilities, I explained to you earlier." The mask replies impatiently.

[Archmage1]

With Mithra's words echoing in her mind, Tulip turns to the horses.
<horse>
"Well, Mithra is really clever, and she thinks that if you head to the southwest, you'll be in safer places, the further the better! But... she also thinks that you might not know how to survive! Maybe because there won't always be hay and things for you to eat, and there are tics and mosquitos and things too! Are you sure you want to try? We could try to work out something else, if you'd like!"

[Raunchel]

Yildiz thinks for a few moments, before putting the mask over her face.

[Hazuki]

"N-No hay?! What do you mean?!" One of the horses asks, panicked by the prospect.

~

Yildiz feels the mask shifting on her face for a few moments, a slight itch as it bonds with her skin, and then her vision fades for a moment before returning. She can see and hear things ever so slightly more clearly now, and she can breathe and speak as though the mask is her actual face.

[Archmage1]

Tulip looks at them, and moves a bit closer, to be a bit more friendly.
<horse>
"Well, the orcs fed you, but now you'll need to find your own food, unless you go to different orcs, and there might not be any! I think it'd be really hard for you to live free, because all the giants will want to catch you, and I think they have most of the food you can eat too!"

[Raunchel]

Yildiz feels her face, wondering what it is like now. And then she takes off the mask again, she doesn't want to walk around with a stupid mask on her face all day long.

[Hazuki]

Oddly, Yildiz finds that the mask looks just as it did before when worn on her face. And it remains a mask once it's taken off.

~

"I'm confused and need somebody to tell me what to do!" The panicking horse announces, stomping its hooves.

[Archmage1]

Tulip flies over to it, smiling, trying to project an aura of cheerful friendliness.
<Horse>
"It's ok, no one's going to hurt you here, calm down, please?"
After spending a few moments to make sure that it was calm, she flies back a bit, so all the horses could see her.
"Do you want to talk about your decision among yourselves? Living in the wild can be hard, especially for big creatures like you are!"

[PersonMan]

Dilaa shrugs, unsure of what the laws of the land were in this situation. They were most likely something along the lines of 'to the victor go the spoils', and would allow them to strip the orcs of their valuables in lieu of simply executing them all. She continues to haul dead orcs into a pile, the simple physical effort fairly enjoyable and her thoughts going far as she moves.

[Hazuki]

"Tulip, can we please hurry this up?" Mithra asks, as the Petal attempts to calm the horses down.

"We just want to know what to do." The formerly-panicking one answers the Petal.

~

Lun doesn't seem to be scavenging much from the dead orcs, although Dilaa does notice her taking a few bits of food to nom on while she piles up the packs elsewhere. Soon enough, there's a respectable pile of corpses in one part of the hills, and a pile of packs in the other.

[Archmage1]

Tulip thinks on their response for a few moments, before she smiles brightly at them.
<horse>
"Then... maybe you should go to Lar'ask? It's the town the nice orcs are at, I'm sure they'll take care of you, especially if you bring the saddles and things! If you want people to tell you what to do, that's the place to go. I think you'll get to meet new friends there too! It's that way, and I'm sure you'll find it!"
She points towards Lar'ask.

[Hazuki]

"Well...alright." The horses nods at Tulip. "Thank you for helping us!"

[Archmage1]

Tulip smiles cheerfully at them.
<horse>
"It's always fun to be nice! Be safe!"
She goes on to describe the route for them, giving them landmarks and such to follow.
As they go, she waves goodbye, before she flies over to Mithra, looking a little sad.
"They wanted to be free, but they didn't know what it meant, so they thought it would be better to go somewhere safe! But they'll go to Lar'ask, and hopefully, they'll be all right. They mostly want to be together, so they should be. Do you think we can go and talk to the orc now?"
She seems a bit more cheerful as the social faerie mentions talking to the orc.

[Hazuki]

The horses don't really seem to comprehend the instructions as well as they could, but nevertheless take off to follow her instructions as best they can.

"I will still need to make a grave for the dead ones, and then we will need to move the unconscious ones somewhere - and figure out their fate." Mithra answers Tulip, starting to walk back to the main group.

[Raunchel]

"Like I said, just kill them. It saves a whole lot of work. And we can just leave the bodies here, that gives the birds something to eat.", Yildiz suggests, already heading over to the unconscious orcs.

[Archmage1]

Tulip looks a bit disappointed by this, but she lands on Mithra's shoulder as she walks back, the petal looking around eagerly.

However, at Yildiz's words, she shakes her head.
"It'd be really mean to hurt them more now! Maybe we could make sure they couldn't hurt more people, and leave them here? They'll wake up, eventually, and maybe they'll decide to be nice then!"

[PersonMan]

"You can eat already?" Dilaa asks, clearly surprised as she notices Lun eating while they go about their grisly work.

[Hazuki]

"Umm...well...yes..." Lun answers Dilaa, mouth partway full as she self-consciously swallows it and stuffs the lump of meat back into her pack. "I've never had much food before, and, you know..."

As they arrive back at the battlefield, Mithra'a eyes glow green and the ground shifts beneath their feet - the soil and grass rolling over the pile of orc corpses to form a hill that's surprisingly inconspicuous when compared to the rest of the hills in the area.

While Yildiz is distracted, the mask tugs in her arms to get away, but she manages to hold it in place.

[Archmage1]

Tulip seems to relax a bit as the 30 dead orcs are buried, looking a little happier.

[PersonMan]

"I see. I understand - I'm sorry, I didn't mean to dissuade you," Dilaa replies, offering Lun a reassuring smile when she sees the half-orc's self-conscious response. "I'm just...not the type to be hungry after fighting. Because of how I grew up, I think."

[Archmage1]

Tulip smiles at Lun and Dilaa, even as she flies over to Dilaa, and cleans the remaining drying blood from her and Lun.
"Maybe we can go and talk to one of the unconscious ones? Then maybe we can find out if they are nice or not!"

[Hazuki]

"I'm used to eating after fighting." Lun confesses, as she grabs a waterskin and takes a swig from it. "Because of how I had to get it, you know? And sometimes their parents or whatever wouldn't be happy about me winning, so they'd come after me to get it back, but they couldn't do that if I'd already eaten everything!" Her smile is ever so slightly mischievous.

"For whatever it's worth," Mithra chimes in on the conversation Tulip and Yildiz are having. "I'd suggest stripping them of their armor and weapons, then letting them decide where to go. Either they'll submit to judgment by one of the existing tribes or4 clans, or they'll have to return to their leaders beaten and their lack of worth proven. They could potentially attack travelers, but any travelers in this time of war will be armed...and these will not be."

[PersonMan]

"Ah. I see," Dilaa nods in understanding. "It was somewhat similar for me, for a time. I would get the food of those I killed. But it made me sick, after I left that place, to think that my meals were being paid for in blood and death."

"I think now is a good time, since we've buried the dead ones," Dilaa replies with a nod. "We should disarm them, yes," she agrees as Mithra explains her idea, though she looks over their weapons and grasps her weapon with one hand. "I would prefer we destroy their weapons, even if we keep their armor. Though both are tainted, their blades are almost certainly drenched in the blood of the innocent."

[Hazuki]

Lun nods understandingly at Dilaa's words, then stays quiet when the conversation turns towards handling the unconscious orcs.

"I will be able to destroy them, if you'd prefer." Mithra comments. "Storing them may come in useful at some point, but doing so would be quite difficult."

[PersonMan]

"I would like to do so myself, if you don't mind," Dilaa replies, drawing her blade from her back and looking down at it. "It...it will do well for me to use my ability to destroy for peace," she says.

[Hazuki]

"Feel free." Mithra nods. "I will go through their packs for information." She says, moving over to the pile of forty two packs and standing still, as her unseen servant rummages through them, one-by-one.

[PersonMan]

Dilaa heads through the battlefield, crouching briefly in front of each weapon she finds before bringing her own down on it, shattering sword after sword with her own massive blade. She goes about it with clear focus, although her mood seems to be lifting after the first few, and her movement reflect this change.

[Archmage1]

Tulip watches as the packs are searched.

[Hazuki]

"There doesn't seem to be anything useful." Mithra says, as the last pack is set down. "Supplies and a few copies of a totem seem to be the extent of the things these orcs were carrying." She pulls out a small carving of a sword in a wooden block, dusted with ash, and gripped by a wispy hand. "The half-orc who wore the mask also has a map, but there don't seem to be any particular markings."

[Archmage1]

Tulip looks a little disappointed.
"Maybe I can see the map? Is it pretty?"

[Raunchel]

"Hey! Don't fly away!", Yildiz exclaims, and puts the saw back to work, cutting a bit deeper this time around. "Just try to be a nice mask, ok?"

[Hazuki]

The map floats over and unfurls in front of Tulip. Unfortunately, it's not particularly pretty, but more something that simply gets the job done for the Northeastern parts of the Shadow Marches. A good deal of it is criss-crossed with ink marks, over the territory marked as the Lek'rux tribe. She recognizes the most North-Eastern town as the one they're meant to be heading towards. The map stretches a little further north, up to the very border of the Demon Wastes, denoting a mountain pass. The marks end just on the area of the map that the party is standing in.

"Ow! Ow! I'm not a nice maks, I'm a naughty one! That's the point!" The mask yells as Yildiz saws into it.

[Archmage1]

Tulip looks at the map, and feels disappointed.
"Maybe they were mapping things! So someone else could follow?"

[Hazuki]

"It's certainly a possibility. But surely the towns would already have maps available?" Mithra asks.

[Archmage1]

"Maybe, but what if the orcs wanted to be sneaky! Or maybe there's something here that isn't on those maps!"

[Hazuki]

"Good point. But what would be the purpose of them leaving something off of their map that is on the others?" Mithra asks, as she sits on the pile of packs.

[Archmage1]

Tulip shakes her head, even as she lands on Mithra's lap, and looks up at her.
"No, what if they're looking for something, something that they know isn't on the maps! Or maybe they know the other maps are inaccurate! Do we have one of the normal maps?"

[Hazuki]

"I heard them talking to one another. Unless you're suggesting they're looking for something in addition to survivors?" Mithra raises an eyebrow.

[Archmage1]

Tulip nods, looking quite excited.
"It could be a treasure hunt! That's why she's invading! She's looking for something!"

[Hazuki]

"I hadn't considered her motives for invading." Mithra comments, thoughtfully. "I suppose it's as likely as any other reason."

[Archmage1]

Tulip continues to be excited, practically bouncing in Mithra's lap.
"Maybe this map has the key!"

[PersonMan]

After finishing her work smashing the orcs' weapons, Dilaa returns to the others, looking down at the map with a raised eyebrow. "They may be trying to eradicate the resistance completely - if they search for and kill all of the people of each tribe, then they can expand unchallenged," she considers aloud.

[Archmage1]

Tulip looks confused.
"But... why would anyone do that? It's silly!"

[Hazuki]

"To control the flow of information, perhaps? The less people know about their tactics, the less effective any opposition will be in formulating tactics." Mithra comments.

[Raunchel]

"You might be a naughty mask, but you will be nice to me, or I will saw you in half.", Yildiz threatens. "As some say, I can be a very mean girl, and hurting is a lot of fun."

[Archmage1]

"To control the flow of information, perhaps? The less people know about their tactics, the less effective any opposition will be in formulating tactics." Mithra comments.

Tulip looks despairingly at the logical pair, her voice plaintive.
"But... it's more fun if they're on a treasure hunt!"

[Hazuki]

"What are you even going to DO with me, thing?" The mask yells."You don't want to wear me, or use me for information, so what's going on?!"

~

"Then believe they are on a treasure hunt." Mithra shrugs. "We're just stating possibilities."

[Archmage1]

Tulip smiles happily, glad that they were on a treasure hunt now, and she flies over to the selected unconscious orc, before she looks back at Mithra, Dilaa, Lun, and Yildiz.
"Are you ready for me to wake him up?"

[Raunchel]

"Thing!? Are you calling me a thing? I'm a girl! Not a thing! I was going to use you, but now I'm just sick of you. So, I'm just going to have a lot of fun with you.", her angry face slowly turns to a wicked grin as she speaks, and she starts sawing the mask into pieces.

[Archmage1]

As the mask starts yelling, Tulip flies over to the pair, clearly upset.
"You're being mean, Yildiz! The mask's a nice mask, and you're hurting it!"

[Raunchel]

Yildiz looks up, really innocently at Tulip: "But it said that it wasn't nice. And it called me a thing. That's not nice. So, now I'm being not nice back at the mask."

[Archmage1]

Tulip shakes her head, firmly.
"That doesn't matter! It's not nice to be mean just because someone isn't being nice to you! You're hurting it, and it isn't hurting anyone else!"

[Raunchel]

"But it hurt my feelings! I have them, you know, and now I'm just having revenge.", Yildiz answers, considering giving up, talking to Tulip never seemed to go as she planned. It must be the mastermind side of the fey.

[Archmage1]

Tulip shakes her head once more, quite firmly.
"Revenge isn't nice, and you said you wanted to be nice! Hurting things because they hurt you doesn't make the world a nicer place!"

[Raunchel]

Yildiz tilts her head, looking at Tulip. "Okay! You can have mr. Mask then. Would that be nice?"

[Archmage1]

Tulip shakes her head.
"He's much too big for me! Maybe Dilaa or Lun or Mithra might like him! Or maybe he has a preference?"

[Hazuki]

"Just kill it. It will go back to being a spirit, and we can move on." Mithra suggests.

[Archmage1]

Tulip shakes her head, looking concerned.
"But won't that hurt it?"

[Hazuki]

"Briefly, yes. But, the alternatives are keeping it a prisoner for as long as possible, or paying Garmine to force it to be good." Mithra responds. "The latter is expensive, because it's not powerful enough for us to do it on principle. The former is troublesome, as its kind require food and water, in addition to bondage."

[Archmage1]

Tulip continues to look confused.
"Why do you think it's mean?"

[Hazuki]

"It is an Oni. They are the evil versions of the Fey equivalent in these lands." Mithra answers succinctly. "They are created by Fey-equivalents who abandon their duties - or mortals who are so mean that they become one when they die."

[Archmage1]

Tulip looks horrified.
"But... we're nice! And I'm nice, but I'm not in my garden, so maybe we can convince it to be nice!"
Suddenly worried, Tulip pulls out her looking glass, and looks into it.

[Hazuki]

When Tulip looks into her glass, she sees her garden just like the last time she looked through the glass.

"Tulip, you would know if you had been turned into an evil spirit. Not that this process even applies to you - the equivalent of Fey here are Kami, and there are significantly more ordered than even the least chaotic court of Fey. This mask was either a Kami that willingly abandoned its duties, and was cursed by the other Kami - by removing its physical form and its nature as a Kami - or as a mortal who was likewise cursed. In either case, it turned into an evil spirit because it was mean." Mithra explains.

[Archmage1]

Tulip looks quite concerned.
"But... what if we can get it to be nice instead? Would that work?"

[Hazuki]

"You have been traveling with Yildiz for quite some time now, and she still isn't nice. I rather doubt you'll have more luck with the mask."

[Archmage1]

Tulip smiles at Mithra.
"But she says she's trying to be nice! Maybe she could help the mask be nice too!"

[Raunchel]

While Mithra and Tulip bicker Yildiz keeps sawing, she doesn't like the mask very much, and its suffering does make her giggle.

[Archmage1]

Tulip, spotting this, flies over to Yildiz, looking very upset.
"Stop it, Yildiz! You said you were going to try to be nice, and you're being really mean!"

[Raunchel]

Yildiz looks up from her handiwork: "I will stop, but only if you take the mask from me."

[Archmage1]

Tulip nods.
"Ok, I'll carry the nice mask!"
Tulip flies down, and holds out her hands, hoping to be passed the mask.

[Raunchel]

Gladly Yildiz hands the maimed mask to Tulip, although it would probably have healed a bit already.

[Hazuki]

The mask, which has been wincing through all the sawing, does heal quite quickly when it's passed - very heavily - into Tulip's tiny hands. "Thank you for taking me away from her! Why hasn't anyone given her a spanking yet? Naughty children should be punished!"

[Raunchel]

"I'm not naughty! I'm a good girl!", Yildiz shouts back.

[Hazuki]

"I wasn't talking to you!" The mask yells back at Yildiz.

"Oni are such bullies, aren't they, Yildiz?"

[Archmage1]

Tulip struggles to hold onto the mask, finding it quite heavy, and awkward.
"She's trying to be nice! And you can try to be nice too!"

[Raunchel]

"Can I please, please pretty please torture one of them to death? It would be alot of fun!", Yildiz answers, already regretting that she gave the mask to Tulip.

[Hazuki]

"Y...Yes! I just need to be nice!" The mask exclaims enthusiastically. "Oh, it's sad for me, how I was cursed, and now I'm stuck like this! I just need to be released from this curse with a gift of power, and then I can be good again!"

"I'd rather you didn't torture anyone." Mithra answers. "But, if we find a particularly vile - and not just oafish - one, you may feel free to torture them within a reasonable degree."

[Archmage1]

Tulip shakes her head firmly, looking worried.
"Yildiz, that's really, really mean! You don't really want to hurt them, just to hurt them, do you?"
Than, an idea occurs to her, and she turns to the mask.
"Do you know why the orcs came here?"

[Raunchel]

"Okay, okay. I won't torture anyone. It just sounds a little funny, to seem threatening. You know that I don't like hurting people, or things, or anything really.", Yildiza again looks innocent, as she always tries to when speaking to Tulip.

[Archmage1]

Tulip smiles at the mask.
"Maybe if you're really nice, your curse will break!"

[Hazuki]

"Oh, if only I could! This form is made only for doing bad things! Those horns? Not just for decoration! They're poisonous! Woe is this cursed form!"

[Archmage1]

Tulip smiles at him.
"But, you can try to be nice, and friendly, and try to help people!"

[Hazuki]

"No, no." The mask says sorrowfully. "I need a nice form to do nice things. It's all there in the name, see?"

[Archmage1]

Tulip shakes her head.
"Silly, you can be nice and helpful, and still be a mask! You could start by telling us about the orcs!"

[Hazuki]

"I caaaan't it hurts to be nice in this tainted flesh! Like swimming as a fire genasi! It can't be done!" The mask melodramatically proclaims. "I'll tell you about the orcs...if you give me the power to take a nice form! How's that for a slice of fried gold?"

[Archmage1]

Tulip looks worried.
"But... you can be! You just need to try!"

[Hazuki]

"But it buuuurns! Trust me!" The mask moans.

[Archmage1]

"Maybe the pain is making up for the harm you did before?"

[Hazuki]

"No, it's because it's the only form I can take when some cad decides to give me physical form! It's fine as a spirit, but very very boring!" The mask huffs. "But if I can get a nice physical form, it won't hurt! And how can you be so nice if you won't spare even a little bit of power to help somebody?! Even to help you do nicer things?! I saw you throwing around spells in the fight, so you have lots of it! Gimme!"

[PersonMan]

Dilaa listens to the ongoing discussion between Yildiz and Tulip, turning to Lun as the petal begins to pepper Mithra with questions again. "I assume you're going to want to be in every fight?" She asks the half-orc.

[Archmage1]

Tulip looks confused.
"But... can't you be a spirit, and talk to us, and help us that way? That wayt, you won't be hurt!"

[Hazuki]

"It's not that kind of spirit! I'm unseen, immaterial, and utterly unable to touch anything! I can't be heard, or spoken to, or smelled, or anything! It sucks!" The mask exclaims.

~

Lun looks over to Dilaa from the large rock she's sitting on, watching the unfolding events with wide and bewildered eyes. She blinks as Dilaa's question startles her out of it, and smiles. "Yeah. I mean, if I can!"

[Archmage1]

Tulip looks sad.
"That's terrible! But if you're nice, maybe we can help you?"

[Hazuki]

"Then...give me power to change form? Pleaaaaaaase?" The mask whines.

[PersonMan]

"In that case, I should teach you some things. I don't understand - or at least I hope I don't - why you would want to fight more after having to do so for your life until now, but if you're going to then it's best if you don't die doing it," Dilaa replies, her tone growing somewhat joking as she finishes and offers Lun a smile before standing. "Are you ready? Now is probably a good time to start, while they're busy."

[Archmage1]

"If I do, will you be nice and helpful, and friendly?"

[Hazuki]

"I, uh, dunno. I just think that I have a gift for it, and that shouldn't be squandered, right?" Lun laughs nervously, also getting to her feet. "What, ah, what do you know? I was watching you during the fight, but it's kind of hard to follow a walking crocodile's muscles like a normal orc's."

~

"Yes!" The mask answers immediately.

[Archmage1]

Tulip looks at it suspiciously.
"Are you sure? You'll be nice, you promise?"
[roll0] sense motive

[Hazuki]

"Yeeees!" The mask responds, its big demony maw as plaintive as it can possibly be.

It's pretty obvious what this thing wants. It will do anything to be able to achieve a better form, so it's likely trustworthy.

[PersonMan]

"Well, at least you don't have to wrestle with the same demons that plague me," Dilaa says as Lun explains her reason for wanting to fight. "The first thing we should go over is stance, but we don't have the time for that so I'll start with your defense. It's going to be different from mine, for more than a few reasons, so I think this will work best if you show me and then I'll point out where you need to pay close attention, alright?"

[Archmage1]

Tulip flies over, to show Mithra the mask.
"Do you think he'll be nice and helpful if I help him? He says he will be! He promised!"

[Hazuki]

"Heh...yeah..." Lun scratches her badger hair. At Dilaa's instruction, she moves over to a slightly more open part of the field and shifts into a fighting stance. It's honestly not terrible - one arm at her waist, ready to deflect mid-level blows, while her other is closer to her face to fight off high ones. Her feet are placed at shoulder-lengths apart, with knees slightly bent - but it's quite obviously an aggressive position, and one that's based on hurting her opponent more than defending herself. Given how weak and fragile she seems, due to her barely-fleshy bones and pallid skin, it's fairly impressive.

~

Mithra narrows her eyes at the mask, examining it for a few moments while it shifts its eyebrows, then nods. "Oni are proud and ordered beings. Breaking a promise, especially after it has so pathetically begged you, would go against its nature. So, yes, you can trust it, if only because of blackmail potential."

[Archmage1]

Tulip smiles cheerfully.
"Ok then! How can I help him?"

[Hazuki]

"I'm unsure of how you channel your magic, Tulip. But I suspect that imagining it growing into something nice, from your tending to it like a wilted flower, while willing that to be true, would work for you. It may leave you feeling slightly drained for a time, but nothing permanent." Mithra suggests.

[Archmage1]

Tulip smiles, and nods.
"Ok!"
She focuses, trying to imagine it growing into a lovely flower, even as she carefully tries to arrange it so it gets more sunlight.

[Hazuki]

The clouds above break slightly, as Tulip wills her power and sunlight into the mask. Nothing seems to happen for a few moments, until light flows from the Petal's fingertips into the fairly bulky mask and it breaks free from her grip with a gentle tug - the light seeming to pull it away from her. A glow surrounds the now-floating mask, swirling around it until the creature's form itself can't be seen as anything but a shining pink silhouette against the battlefield. Even the slivers of crimson splattered across the grass shine like silver for a few moments, as the shimmering form shifts and molds beneath Tulip's concentration.

It stretches out into a vaguely humanoid shape at first, if a fairly short one, before it starts to solidify. The torso becomes more defined, skinny and without muscles, while the hips flare out to the sides and a further shroud of pink light falls across the legs. While its fingers spread, becoming more slender as nails extend from their tips, its face shifts into a quite adorably feminine shape. A a pair of curled horns grows from the top of its head, stretching back, while wispy hair forms all over its skull, growing down like waterfalls over its torso.

Then, the light ripples away to reveal an actual humanoid form standing there. Its skin is peachy and smooth, adorned with colorful flowers that adorn its neck in three rows, like necklaces. Two garlands, one around its wrist and the other around it bicep, rest along its waifish arms, which end in delicate, if sharp, onyx fingernails. Its skirt is positively breathtaking, with a waistband formed on many vibrant flowers knitted together, with a long white gown that seems to have been woven together with ivory ivy.

Its face is exquisitely doll-like, with big blue eyes and long eyelashes, along with a cute button nose and pretty pink lips. Its hair, is brown at the top, with straight-cut bangs that rest just above its perfectly arched eyebrows, and while the two sides streak into white that cascades down its shoulders. The horns on its head seem quite sheeplike, matching the color of its hair, and adorned with a little red flower to make it seem that much cuter.

"Ah!" He squeaks in a voice melodic and pretty, quite like Tuiip's, as he stumbles a bit on his new humanoid form. "A mirror, please! I must see my fearsome form!" He grins.

[Archmage1]

Tulip smiles cheerfully at the new Kuwa, cheerfully pleased as it forms, and she claps as the creature finishes forms. Admiring her for a few moments, before she darts down to him, and hugs her face.
"You're really nice, and pretty! See!"
She reaches into her bag, and pulls out a present from Tirai, a gift, so Tulip could look at herself if she wanted to. It's a small silver mirror, decorated with flowers along the edge.
(Taking 10 on sleight of hand, for a 30)
She hovers in front of the Kuwa, letting him see herself, and smiling happily, the image bobbing up and down as she does

[Hazuki]

Mask looks at himself in the mirror for a few moments, eyes growing wider and wider before his jaw drops adorably and he squeals. "I-I'm adorable!"

[Archmage1]

Tulip smiles cheerfully at him, and nods.
"You are! But you're going to be nice, so it'll be wonderful!"

[PersonMan]

"Your stance is aggressive," Dilaa notes, looking over Lun's posture. "If you shift a bit, you can better defend your side, here..." she says, reaching forwards to put a hand on the half-orc's shoulder, gently moving her to a position slightly more defensible. She doesn't comment on how skinny she is - in fact, in a way it makes it easier for her. In her time away from the arena she'd grown accustomed to it, but it was still a nice change to deal with someone whose body more resembled what she felt was normal for someone who needed help improving their fighting skills.

[Hazuki]

"Hmph. Fine." Mask stomps his foot and folds his arms over his colorfully-decorated chest. "But how am I meant to terrorize my enemies - for goodness - like this?!" He asks, with endearing outrage.

~

Lun keeps her fist in the position that Dilaa moves it to, luckily facing away from the curious goings-on behind them, and nods her head. "But what do I do if I want to punch somebody really hard?"

[Archmage1]

Tulip puts away the heavy mirror, her flight stabilizing as the weight she is carrying is reduced.
"You don't need to scare anyone! You can be nice, and ask people to help. You can smile, and ask people to not be mean, and be nice! You'll see! And then, you won't be mean anymore! Don't you want that?"

[PersonMan]

"In that case you'll want to be moving - if you wind up standing still, you'll make it too obvious," Dilaa explains. "Ideally, you'll feint some other kind of attack, then follow up with the real one right after."

[Hazuki]

"..." Mask pouts sweetly. "You mean seducing people?! Like some kind of harlot?!"

~

Lun nods and firms her stance. "Right." She pauses, pauses for a little longer, then flashes a helpless look at Dilaa. "How do I feint?"

[PersonMan]

"You move like you're going to attack one way, but then you don't. Sort of like this," Dilaa replies, shifting briefly into a loose stance and performing the beginnings of a punch before stopping before her arm extends. "That way your enemy will move to protect themselves from that, and you gain an opening elsewhere."

[Archmage1]

Tulip shakes her head, before smiling cheerfully, continuing to seem quite pleased with this outcome.
"No, silly! I mean being nice to people, so they're nice to you too! That way, you can be nice, and then you can stop being mean, which will be really nice!"
Tulip pauses for a moment, before she smiles merrily at Mask.
"Don't you agree?"

[Hazuki]

"Oh, that. Right." Lun nods and performs a feint of her own, which is done quite well, if a little inelegantly. "I, is it too soon to ask you about how you did that...fire sword?"

~

"But...but..." Mask whines a little, bouncing on the spot and holding his clenched fists over his chest. "This is confusing! Teach me to be nice!"

[Archmage1]

Tulip smiles happily at Mask, and nods.
"I will! It's really easy! You just need to be helpful, and friendly, and cheerful! It's that simple!"

[PersonMan]

"Oh, that? It's...difficult to explain. Especially for-" Dilaa briefly pauses, making sure Mithra is out of earshot before continuing, "for a Northerner. I might be able to teach you the basic ideas later, but it's not something you can learn right away," she explains. "There are a few simpler methods you can use, which I could try to give you the foundations for."

[Hazuki]

"O...okay!" Mask forces himself to smile, which looks positively endearing. "So I just...nngh...need to do this! And...NOT yell at cowards! Like those!" He points at the unconscious orcs.

~

"I'm not sure about fire itself. It's...useful, and everything, but I'm not fond of it..." Lun admits. "Is it like Tulip's magic? Where you have to think pleasant thoughts?"

[Archmage1]

Tulip continues to smile cheerfully at Mask.
"See? You're learning! Maybe you can help us by telling us about what they were doing here?"

[PersonMan]

"Hmm. Well...it's a bit more complex than that," Dilaa replies. "I have heard of ways to heal yourself or others in battle, but I don't know if I could teach you that specifically."

[Hazuki]

"Oh! Lutent doesn't like Kekok, because Kekok is a lazy bastard! And so Lutent's lackeys have to clean up after Kekok's, while the latter goes to party elsewhere with his LAZY COWARD followers. This bunch was sent out looking for survivors, because enchantment SUCKS for killing everyone!" Mask explains.

~

Lun goes quiet for a moment, then nods. "That makes sense. You've probably seen a lot of warriors, haven't you?"

[Archmage1]

Tulip looks really disappointed.
"Aw... but I was hoping you were on a treasure hunt! Are you sure that you aren't? Maybe Lutent is?"

[PersonMan]

"I have, yes. I grew up surrounded by them. I've was in the arena from when I can first remember," Dilaa replies, nodding. "I've been fighting my entire life, more or less."

[Hazuki]

"Do I look like I was in the know?! I'm wearing a frilly gown!" Mask flourishes his skirt just to emphasize the point. "But Lutent works for the Albino, and I've never met her, so I don't even know what she wants. Maybe it's ugly green things. No shortage of those here!"

~

Lun nods in understanding, repeating the feint she was just taught. "Because somebody wanted you to?"

[Archmage1]

Tulip looks sad, and she flies over and lands on Mask's lovely shoulder.
"Aw... but you seemed so nice! I was sure you would know things! And some of the orcs are nice, so maybe she only wants mean orcs? Or, maybe, she's going treasure hunting! Do you know what the map was for?"

[PersonMan]

"Most of the time, yes. About two years ago I ended up leaving the arena, and then I was able to choose my fights myself," Dilaa says. "But for most of my life, I was a slave. I did what I was told. Because someone wanted me to, you could say."

[Hazuki]

"For marking where they'd been." Mask answers, flexing his new fingernails and poking curiously at them.

~

Lun stays silent for a few moments after Dilaa reveals her past, letting it build up for a few moments. "Sorry you went through that. Slavery is bad." She finally spoke, voice cracking.

[Archmage1]

Tulip frowns, and looks sad. She'd really been looking forward to the treasure hunt.
"Aw... but at least we found you, Mask! So something nice happened!"
She smiles softly, before another thought hits her, and she looks back at Mask.
"Do you know what Lutent's dogma is? One of the orcs said he was being nice, even though he'd been hurting people, because of it!"

[Hazuki]

"They think that ugly bastard is some kind of god. Barbarians, am I right?" Mask's derisive laugh comes out more like a chirpy giggle. "His dogma is just what he thinks!"

[Archmage1]

Tulip looks really confused by that.
"But... why would he think that made him nice?"

[Hazuki]

"Because Lutent thinks he is. And Lutent's stupid." Mask answers, blowing some hair out of his face.

[Archmage1]

Tulip looks strangely relieved, but when she spots Mask trying to blow hair out of his face, she darts over, and gently moves it behind his ears.
"Isn't that nicer? If you blow it, it'll just come back!"

[Hazuki]

"I knew that!" Mask snaps adorably. "I was just testing!"

"If I may interrupt." Mithra says, from just a few feet away. "My servant has moved most of the bodies out of sight, and stripped them of their armor. Would you still like to interrogate one, or has this one provided you with enough information for us to move on?"

[Archmage1]

Tulip looks disappointed at Mask's words.
"Maybe you could try thinking before yelling? I was just trying to help, and be nice!"
However, Mithra's words promptly change the direction her mind was going in, and she looks back at Mithra.
"Mask knew lots of things, so we don't need to disturb one of the sleeping ones, so they can keep sleeping! We can explore again!"

[PersonMan]

"It's the natural order of the South. It can be brutal, but that's how life is sometimes," Dilaa says. "But at least it's let me do some things that are more than fighting on the whims of others. I've been able to help you, and others, because of my training."

[Hazuki]

"To the town in the Northeast?" Mithra asks the Petal, while Mask pouts at Tulip's retort.

~

"I like that you've made something good of it." Lun smiles a little more confidently, shifting her footing. "There are lots of people who would have just started being paid for killing, and things like that, or turned into people like those orcs."

[PersonMan]

"I may not have made my decision for all the right reasons," Dilaa says, but smiles as Lun continues. "But I guess you're right. I never thought about how else my path could have gone, to be honest. Is that what you want to do? Use what you've had to learn to survive to try and improve things for others?" She asks, as the half-orc's words and her own thoughts mix.

[Hazuki]

"I hope to, yes." Lun smiles back. "I mean...I haven't learned a lot, and I don't think I've suffered as much as others, but I still think I can do it."

[PersonMan]

"You can learn more when we return to Garmine. And suffering isn't a prerequisite for helping others," Dilaa replies before looking over at the others. "But they may come to a decision soon. We may need to consider this lesson complete for now."

[Hazuki]

"Huh? Why?" Lun glances over at the others.

[Archmage1]

Tulip nods cheerfully at Mithra's words, clearly agreeing.
"We'll have lots of fun, I hope! We'll get to see new things, and new places, and we can talk with Mask, to help him be nice! It'll be wonderful!"

[PersonMan]

"If we move on, we can't stand still to work on your stance," Dilaa replies. "At least, not in any way I ever learned."

[Hazuki]

The now-six party moves back to the river, leaving the unconscious orcs to their fate and continuing on their journey to the Northeast. The river-route offers little view of civilization or the paths that others are taking through the apparently-desolate Shadow Marches, and the ruins of the Lar'ask tribe. Mask proves to be more of a burden than anything helpful, even as they make camp beneath crags, in caves, or in the occasional collection of trees. But, he does manage to provide some entertainment when being teased about his dainty form...and he even leaves Lun alone, especially while she's going through training with Dilaa. Most of her time is spent discussing that, scavenging for food with the warrior and Tulip, or listening to one of Tulip's many tales.

Mithra mostly stays quiet.

After a few days, the ground starts to get drier, the patches of grass start to get less common, and the river runs a little weaker among the damp ground. They manage to reach their destination - the village of Lar'rue - before it becomes a wasteland, but even the blazing sun seems a little less bright when they reach what seem to be its borders. The farms are untended to, crops starting to wilt, and even the few houses they can make out from the ground seem lonely. The river runs through a valley, across which a wooden bridge swings steadily in the wind, and there is a steep dirt path that leads up from the river itself. Their first sign of civilization sits at the bottom of this path.

An orc dressed in farmer's garb sits at the river, with a fishing pole in his hands. His ears are stuffed with what seems to be cork, stained by weeks-old blood that has trickled out of his crushed skull and into the water.

[Archmage1]

As they travel, Tulip cheerfully chats with everyone willing to chat, eagerly pointing out the many interesting and fun things she encounters as she goes along, telling stories as they travel, or seeking out delicious fruit to munch on, and to share. She seems to be having a great time, although her voice can get a little wearing after listening to her chirp cheerfully away for several days. She cheerfully tries to help encourage Mask to be nice, and, in the evenings, she tries to find someone to sleep on, snuggling into a ball, if allowed. She also uses her magic to clean everyone off, and occasionally, to accentuate her delightful stories.

However, once she gets her first view of the wasteland of Lar'rue, she falls quiet, looking at the untended ruins, in sadness. She soon spots the fallen farmer, and she points him out, uncharacteristically quiet, although that almost seems a welcome relief.

[Raunchel]

Yildiz sees the fishing orc, and at first merely plans to kill him, just for fun. Even though she hates streams. But then she sees that he is dead, and has been stuffed. She tries to stop it, she really does, but she can't help it, and bursts out laughing: "Do you see that?"

[Archmage1]

Tulip looks at Yildiz, sadness in her eyes, and her voice lacking that ringing cheer that it so often contains.
"It's not nice to laugh at the suffering of others, Yildiz."
Her voice is soft, low, and hard to hear, almost as though something else is going on in her mind, and she's operating on reflex.

[Hazuki]

Mask seems about to snicker with Yildiz, but stops as soon as Tulip reprimands the vampire, then gives Yildiz a stern "That's bad and you should feel bad" look. It's mildly convincing.

[Raunchel]

"What?! He isn't suffering anymore, so now it's just a joke.", Yildiz answers, slightly upset.

[Hazuki]

"Is there something you'd like done with the corpse, Tulip?" Mithra asks, interrupting the apparently-budding argument. "It seems to be disturbing you."

[Archmage1]

Tulip looks at Yildiz, her gaze telling Yildiz exactly what she thought of that argument. After she feels certain that her point was made, and Mithra speaks, Tulip looks back at the corpse, feeling sorry for him.
"We should move it, so it isn't near the water, so it doesn't make it go bad, and make lots of people sick! But... I can't move him, because he's too heavy. Maybe we can find out his story? It's good to know stories."
She continues to seem subdued.

[Hazuki]

"I did prepare that spell today." Mithra nods at Tulip's words, while Lun just watches the corpse with a somewhat downtrodden expression. "But I think it may best be saved for any other corpses we come across. A peasant is unlikely to know a lot. But, we can move him, and bury him with any other corpses we find."

[Raunchel]

"I'm sorry, Tulip.", Yildiz says, very sadly. "I'll try to be nicer."

[Archmage1]

Tulip smiles, and nods at Mithra's words, clearly agreeing, and when she hears Yildiz apologize, she smiles gently at Yildiz.
"Thank you, Yildiz!"

[Hazuki]

Mithra summons her servant, which invisibly grabs the decaying body of the farmer and drags him away from the water, until he's resting on the dry steep path that leads up to the village proper.

"Umm...Tulip?" Lun speaks up, avoiding the spot of the corpse as she walks over to the rocky face that connects to the dirt path. "Do you think you can cast that spell?" She asks with a wrinkled nose. "That...gets rid of smell?"

[Archmage1]

Tulip frowns.
"It cleans things, but... I'm not sure if he counts as dirty, or just smelly! But I'll try!"
With that, Tulip focuses her mind, and tries to deal with the smell, via her trusty trick.

[Hazuki]

Tulip's magic manages to brush away the smell, leaving the air quite fresh, and Lun nods a thanks at the Petal.

"I'm not looking forward to this..." The half-orc mutters, looking up at the dirt path like it's a mountain.

[Archmage1]

Tulip smiles at Lun as she darts over to her, and lands on her head.
"It'll be ok! Maybe they were afraid that the man was going to warn everyone else!"
Tulip's hope that everyone was mostly ok was quite clear.

[Hazuki]

"Yeah...I mean, we can hope, right?" Lun smiles weakly at the Petal.

[Archmage1]

Leaning over Lun's head so she could see her smile, Tulip smiles back and nods, clearly worried that her hope was false.

[Hazuki]

"Can we just walk up the scary slope already?" Mask huffs.

[Raunchel]

"Yes, this place is boring.", Yildiz says, heading to the very, very frightening trail.

[Hazuki]

Mithra follows after Yildiz, as the child makes her way up the slope, and her cloak ruffles ever so slightly as her servant helps her up the rather tricky walk. Mask follows after, fairly clumsily climbing up the slope and using his nails to help dig into the dirt. Lun goes last, not going any more gracefully, but she does manage to stay on two feet, at least.

Cresting the trail, the group is greeted by the sight of Lar'rue's center. Simply-built buildings sit around them in something of a half-spiral pattern, starting with the small and vibrantly-roofed slats, out to what could generously be called large huts. Some of the wooden slats that act as windows have been left open, providing a window into the abandoned homes. No small number of them have been blasted by wind and the blazing sun,their contents scattered about, while it seems quite evident that animals have had their way with their contents - sacks and bowls have been strewn about the streets.

The bridge creaks slightly in the wind, drawing the party's attention to the largest building in the village. It has at least two stories, crafted out of a white wood, and has numerous engravings all over its surface. Some of them seem to tell a story, while others simply seem to be signatures. There are even a few wooden racks, some of which hold weapons, while others are conspicuously empty. Unlike a fair few of the buildings in Lar'Rue, this one's doors and windows seem to have been firmly shut.

The last feature of Lar'rue is the stench of death and rot all around them, and the accompanying corpses that run all through town. Some are left much like the fishing farmer, just down the slope - a sack held in their arms, or a small wagon being pushed, and all of them have single wounds somewhere on their skulls. All of them have their ears stuffed with cork. Others seem to have been engaged in active battles, some wearing armor, some with weapons resting nearby, with nicks all over their bodies and gaping wounds. Only some of these have cork. Sitting at the end of the bridge are a few corpses, some knelt in prayer, while a single one sticks out; hunched over a large white tree, blood pooled and dried in the comparatively healthy soil, with a sword through her ribcage.

Lun stumbles slightly even after getting to solid ground, eyes wide as she takes in the sight of Lar'rue. Her hands tremble at her sides and she stumbles against the nearest building, leaning against it as she covers her mouth and nose.

[Archmage1]

Seeing that Lun was having trouble climbing up the slope, Tulip darts back into the air, and follows, getting blown around a bit in the wind, but when she sees the horror before her, she feels sick, and promptly throws up, the normally cheerful fey looking devastated as she sees the horror, her expression more than a bit green.
After a minute or two, she seems to recover a bit, although her expression could be fairly described as haunted.
"But... why would anyone do something like this? It's... it's... just mindless meanness!"
Tears are flowing down her face.

[Raunchel]

Yildiz looks around, admiring some of the work. But she finds it sloppy. Those fighting corpses shouldn't be there, they ruin the whole display. It should have been much more peaceful, and there should have been stuffed animals as well, that makes it all much nicer.

"Because it is a joke, Tulip. Or maybe they see it as a way to power. To show that they rule this place. Although, just a bunch of corpses isn't much fun to rule over of course."

[Archmage1]

Tulip looks at Yildiz, clearly stunned by her flippant reply.
"Don't you care? These were people, going about their lives, and then they were killed, mindlessly! Lives aren't a joke!"

[Raunchel]

"I do care, I truly do, but that is how the people who did this think about it. They like doing this, they see it all as one big joke. But whoever leads them, they want this for a reason. For power. That is all they ever want.", Yildiz answers sagely, mostly by imitating Mithra's explaining voice. But that is hard to make out, because she simply doesn't have the throat to come even close to a grown-up sound.

[Archmage1]

Tulip shakes her head firmly at Yildiz's explanation.
"But that's not how you mean it! A nice person would feel sorry for them, but a mean person would find their suffering amusing, and you want to be nice, right? Can you please try?"

[Raunchel]

Yildiz thinks for a few moments: "I want to be nice. Really nice, just like you are. And I do feel bad about this, but it is hard to show it. I can't cry anymore, not really, even if I want to, if I have to. All my tears have just gone away."

[Archmage1]

Tulip tries to smile at Yildiz, but it ends up being a slight lessening of her frown, more than anything.
"Maybe you can think before you proclaim that you enjoy the sights of meanness? Try to react like you think I would?"

[Raunchel]

Again Yildiz thinks for a few moments, before nodding: "Okay! I can try that!"

[Hazuki]

Lun, who has recovered slightly from her initial shock, frowns deeply at the scene, even though she doesn't look at the bodies long. "We're...we're going to find out what happened here." She says, voice raspier than normal. "Aren't we?"

[Archmage1]

Tulip almost smiles at Yildiz's response, and at Lun's question, she nods, firmly, her eyes never leaving the horror, knowing that she was going to remember this forever.

[Hazuki]

"We're not going to discover anything by standing around gawking." Mithra points out to the pair. "Where would you like to start?"

[Raunchel]

"Yes, we are going to find out.", Yildiz answers, "And then we are going to make sure that they will never do it again. To save all the other villagers. And we have to be fast, the more time we take, the more people will be hurt."

[Archmage1]

Tulip's voice continues to be soft, and filled with horror as she answers.
"Why are all their heads hurt, and why do they have corks in their ears? And maybe we can bury them, so it's much nicer? Maybe Mask knows something too?"

[Hazuki]

"Those are questions, not solutions. Ask yourself how we can find out why they're wearing things, and suggest a way to learn it." Mithra tells Tulip. "For the moment, the corpses should stay, as we may need to learn something from them."

"Huh?" Mask blinks and skips over to the bulk of the party. "I don't know what this is, but it wasn't any of Lutent's, because they like to destroy everything."

[Archmage1]

Tulip looks like she's struggling with Mithra's words.
"But... they can't all have been wearing them before, could they? So the meanies must have put them on! But why? Unless... could they stop you speaking with them? Maybe the ones without corks are the attackers? But... that doesn't make sense either! Maybe we need to get closer? But it'll smell really, really bad!"
Tulip thinks for a moment, before she looks at Mithra.
"Do you think you can do something about the smell? It's really bad, and it's going to get lots worse!"

[Hazuki]

Mithra's eyes glow green and she raises her hand, holding her palm outwards as she faces a particularly empty part of the village. After a minute or so of focusing, a pillar of brown beans is formed and topples down on itself to form a pile of very strongly-scented coffee beans, one which soon dominates the village and washes noses clean of the scent of death.

[Raunchel]

Yildiz walks over to one of the bodies with corks, looking closely for anything interesting. She wonders how this was done, not only because she might want to do the same at some later date, when she is really free again, but also to help with the investigation. "Maybe they didn't want their prisoners to hear something, so we couldn't ask them?", she asks, carefully observing.

Let's go with search: [roll0]

[Hazuki]

Yildiz' exceptional examination of the corpses reveals a few things. One was that the cork only went so far into the ear, about an inch or so, without harming those who had them. The corks were each hand-crafted, as identified by the shapes that didn't match from cork to cork, but they all seemed to have the same amount of residue - implying that they'd been made and put in at around the same times. Beneath the hat of the one she was examining, she discovered a rag wrapped around their head - one which, thanks to the shade, was still very slightly damp for some reason, and not with sweat. The wound itself was quite brutal, and evidently done by an actual weapon, most likely an axe, judging by the shape of the wound. It had been a quick, easy kill.

Also in her search, she notices that every single corpse is that of an orc - no half-breeds.

[Archmage1]

Relieved from the smell, Tulip flies over, and hugs Mithra.
"Thank you, Mithra! That's lots nicer!"
After she releases the hug(Somewhat reluctantly), Tulip flies around the village, looking for clues and interesting things.
[roll0] spot
[roll1] listen
[roll2] search

[Hazuki]

Mithra, as always, only lets Tulip hug her chest.

Tulip's search of the immediate area doesn't reveal anything that she's already seen, but listening does reveal something - that the only real sounds in the area those of her companions, occasional wind, and the river below.

[Archmage1]

Feeling sad at the lack of interesting things, Tulip flies up to the top of the tallest building, and sits down, looking around.
[roll0] Spot.

[Hazuki]

Sitting on top of the building across the bridge, Tulip's eyes still can't spot much among the village that hasn't already been obvious. The big white tree that sits at the other end of the bridge, with some praying, dead orcs around it, and the locked building she sits on, being the only significant things of notice.

[Archmage1]

Feeling depressed by the sight of death and destruction, Tulip tries to find a way into the building she was sitting on.

[Hazuki]

Looking all over the building, Tulip can't find any significant ways inside. The doors have been closed firmly, the hatches closed, and the rest of the building is quite sturdy indeed. It quickly becomes evident that there won't simply be a hole for her to crawl through - even the little animal hatch, attached to one of the side-rooms, has been firmly locked.

[Archmage1]

Finding one or more locks, Tulip tries fiddling with them, hoping they would open.

[roll0] open lock

[Hazuki]

Tulip's nimble fingers manage to open the two large front doors, pushing them open to reveal the room beyond. It is decorated with a few more of the weapons that were displayed outside, as well as a small collection of totems and idols that sit on shelves in the wood-and-paper home. There are two doors, both closed, although one seems to lead into a smaller room. A sturdy set of stairs sits opposite the front doors, leading upwards. There don't seem to be any signs of struggle or blood in this area.

[Raunchel]

"Hey Lun! I noticed that all the dead are orcs. Do you know of anyone who wants to take away half-orcs, or would form them into some sort of army, against the orcs?", Yildiz asks after her return.

[Hazuki]

"No." Lun shakes her head. "I only know of the same one you do, and she uses both."

[Raunchel]

"And do you know if there are many villages with only orcs? Or are most of them mixed?"

[Hazuki]

"There are clans, who like half-orcs, and tribes, who don't. This one was a tribe." Lun answers, glancing at the corpse Yildiz is standing near and then turning her head away with a wince.

[Raunchel]

"And these tribes and clans, do they get along well?", the girl asks, "Or are they fighting each other?"

[Hazuki]

"Well...they resent each other, because that's what people do. But they don't actively fight, either." Lun answers.

[Raunchel]

"Than at least that didn't cause this. And if this wasn't Lutent's Lot, perhaps one of the Ablino Orc's other minions?", she wonders, while turning towards Mithra: "Those praying orcs seem important, do you have any magic to interrogate them? I'm thinking about the one on the white tree, that one seems a bit like the boss."

[Archmage1]

Tulip's nimble fingers manage to open the two large front doors, pushing them open to reveal the room beyond. It is decorated with a few more of the weapons that were displayed outside, as well as a small collection of totems and idols that sit on shelves in the wood-and-paper home. There are two doors, both closed, although one seems to lead into a smaller room. A sturdy set of stairs sits opposite the front doors, leading upwards. There don't seem to be any signs of struggle or blood in this area.

Tulip admires the totems for a few moments, before she continues exploring the lower floor, hoping to find some idea of what happened here(Or something interesting. Preferable both.)

[Hazuki]

"If you're certain that is the one you wish to interrogate, I have magic for it. But only four questions." Mithra answers the vampire.

~

The room to the right of the doors leads to a fairly large chamber, which has no seats save for one large throne at the far end of the room, elevated above the rest. It is empty, as is the rest of the room, save for banners and particularly large totems that dominate the area. The floor is wooden, while the throne seems to be made out of horn, wood, and colorful silk that is seen nowhere but in the richest cluster of houses in the village.

The room to the left is far smaller, and a fair bit more cluttered. There is a bed, hidden by a curtain, on which sits a particularly old and comparatively scrawny orc, with his throat slit by a blade that is in his hands. He has plugs in his ears, and is surrounded by herbs that have come from the collection of shelves nearby, marked with the orcish language. Most of them seem to be empty.

There is also a shelf filled with scrolls, with the one below it holding medical items and alchemy tools. Sitting at the low hatch at the far end of the room is a fairly large wooden carving of a fox, facing outwards. It is exquisitely carved.

[Archmage1]

Tulip, as usual, admires the throne room for a bit, before she investigates the second room, which proves to be quite confusing. The herbs smell different from the rotting scent of coffee, and she doesn't speak orcish to read them, and his head doesn't seem to have been hurt, unlike the rest, however, before long, she spots the carving of the fox, which seems to be quite life like, so she flies up to it, and speaks, cautiously, not knowing if it was alive, or not.
<fox>
"Hi?"

[Hazuki]

The fox doesn't talk back.

[Archmage1]

Tulip looks a bit disappointed, but she heads into the hatch, after checking for surprises, and touching the fox's head in a brief pat.
[roll0] search

[Hazuki]

The hatch is nailed shut. It seems like this was done a long time ago.

[Archmage1]

Not wanting to be defeated by a hatch, Tulip focuses, loosening her grasp on this world, and tries phasing through the door, careful to avoid the nails.


Casting Blink, before she tries moving through the hatch.
(Assuming it is 5 feet thick, there is a 50% chance of becoming material, as this is much less than 5 feet thick, a lower percentage might still make it.)
[roll0] if failure, [roll1] damage(Again, for 5 feet of material)
[roll2] if failure, [roll3] damage(Again, for 5 feet of material)
[roll4] if failure, [roll5] damage(Again, for 5 feet of material)
[roll6] if failure, [roll7] damage(Again, for 5 feet of material)
Well, at least she gets through safely.

[Hazuki]

Tulip phases through the hatch and finds herself outside, on the other side of the hatch. The side of it she'd seen earlier.

[Archmage1]

Feeling disappointed, Tulip flies back through the hatch, before she heads upstairs, to have a look around there.

[Hazuki]

Going upstairs, Tulip finds two rooms, much like downstairs. One leads into a large bedroom, covered in trophies of war; from particularly good-looking weapons, to stuffed animal heads, to depictions of battle carved into large slabs of wood that hang on the walls. Fur decorates the floor of the room, mostly in rugs, and a large bed dominates the center of it. Above the bed sits the stuffed head of an elephant, tusks and all, just waiting to fall on top of whoever sleeps in the undisturbed sheets. There are dressers along the walls, most of them holding clothing much in the same design as the rest of the room; made to make their possessor seem tough.

The other room has far fewer ornaments, but is just as richly designed. The shelves, elegantly carved from wood, hold alchemical tools with some small amount of residue left in them, while scrolls sit neatly in their shelves and a bed adorned with silk sits very small at the far end of the room. The dressers hold simple, well-made clothing fit for a teenager. There is a desk sitting at the far end of the room, on top of which sits an open book, a congealed vial of ink, and a quill.

[Archmage1]

Tulip looks sad as she sees the elephant head, but she soon looks around, but she doesn't seem to like the first room much, and she heads into the second room, and looks around, soon heading to the desk, to look at the open thing.

[Hazuki]

The open book is written in Orcish.

[Archmage1]

Looking sad, Tulip looks away, hoping looking at it again would help, before she looks back at it.
(Comprehend Languages on)

[PersonMan]

Dilaa is silent as the group makes its way into the village itself, not seeming bothered by the smell of decay that permeates the air despite her fine sense of smell. She examines the buildings slowly, moving around each one and looking over its exterior before moving to the corpses, looking at them and considering their posture, their wounds, and slowly forming a theory as Tulip enters one of the buildings. "Something threatened them. Something from outside, possibly...no, I'm sure it was some kind of noise. They used cork to stuff their ears and protect themselves, then someone cut them down while they couldn't hear anything," she says, moving over to Mithra, Yildiz, Lun and Mask. "Perhaps the survivors boarded themselves in - they must have been very desperate, and I doubt those outside would have been alive at that point. Mithra, do you know of some kind of...sound magic, that would do something like this? I have heard tales of demon songs that corrupt those in the desert and drive them to hallucinate, perhaps this was something similar?"

[Hazuki]

Going back a few pages, Tulip starts to read...

3rd

Adaa returned from the North today, complaining of a headache. He says that he stumbled and hit his head, which is a really...well, actually, I could believe it from him. But I looked him over, and he didn't have a scratch! So he's either been hitting the wineskin, or he's lying to get out of patrolling the wastes. I've passed him on to Ebost, who's still grumpy with me for hanging around with Arish!

Father tells me I should look up to my elders, but they're making it hard with all these stupid grudges! How am I meant to take them seriously when they're praying for the guardians to throw eggs at some clanswoman who had high leather prices five ages ago? I wouldn't be surprised if the guaridans actually had stopped listening!

5th

Ebost and Arish had another argument today, so I still can't pray to the guardian, and I'm getting nowhere with my studies! Who cares about some fox anyway?! Maybe the daughter of your Sheriff could be considered more important than some mutt, huh? Did you think of that Ebost? No, of course you didn't! Because I'm writing this in my journal, and not actually talking to you.

Well, whatever. I'm going to find a quiet place to sit down with my books. If what Arish said is true, I may be able to make a breakthrough in dispelling evil magic. Much better than just killing everyone and hoping that works, isn't it? Might even be able to use it to clean that human blood out of the mongrels. Heh.

6th

Adaa is getting worse. His headache hasn't gone away, and he's starting to get nightmares. Ebost doesn't know what's going on, and Adaa's family is starting to get worried about him. If father doesn't get back soon, people are going to start throwing punches, and I don't think Arish will be able to keep everything calm. He's a warrior, not a miracle-worker. That's meant to be my job.

I've given Adaa some Devil's Snare (Leaves - leaves! Won't make the mistake of using seeds again. Unless somebody realllly annoys me) and valerian extract for his nightmares, If this keeps up, I might actually start to get concerned - we'll have to go farther out to refill our rare alchemy stores, and that means leaving the village undefended.

8th

Others are starting to complain of headaches, just like Adaa's, and he's only gotten worse. He says he's got voices his in his head, and his speech is starting to get slurred, but we just can't figure out what's going on. Even Ebost is concerned enough for him to start talking to me properly again - he thinks he might be getting delirious from lack of sleep, and stress, because my potion didn't do much of anything.

10th

Headaches are spreading, and Adaa has to be confined to his room. He's starting to get crazy, and Ebost thinks an evil spirit might have taken root in his spirit, and it's spreading unease over the village. Maybe it's where we are that's stopping it from getting to us? I do sleep further away from the village, and it does seem to be spreading through the people closest to Adaa. He admits it might be some kind of infection, but we're going to try to purify him anyway.

I don't want to. I've never seen somebody this..sick before, and it's kind of scary. Blood I can deal with, but this is is different. Adaa isn't acting like Adaa any more, and everyone else is getting the nightmares he had, and now we have to send peope out to collect rare reagants. Only the ones we know haven't got any headaches and have half a brain in their heads.

11th

Purification didn't work. Damnit, why isn't anything we know working?! The whole village is starting to complain about headaches now, good thing we got the others away in time, and we're going to have to keep everyone inside at this rate. But we can't, because that means they'll start panicking, and we won't be able to farm, and everything will go to ****. As long as we can make sure they don't start telling each other about their headaches, and realizing they've all got it, we can keep things under control. We can do this.

I think I'll be able to learn more about this if I can get more information from Adaa, identify every little symptom, and then figure out what is actually happening. Ebost will let me access his records, he promised, which means that he's scared, and that's probably scarier than everyone around me getting sick. Still, it's a chance, and Arish should be back with the good reagants soon.

12th

Damnit damnit damnit damnit damnit! Arish got back, with everyone, but now they've got all the headaches to, and even if they have the stuff, it's still making everything worse. Arish says he hasn't got headaches, but I think he's lying. He was always soft towards me, and he still doesn't trust Ebost, and I bet he just doesn't want to make everyone worry. I've not found much in Ebost's records (Nightmares getting more intense, slurring among everyone now, and Adaa doesn't even seem to think I'm there now), but there are recipes I should try.

They're all completed, and it's really, really stressing me out. I've ****ed up at least two of them so far, and Arish's group could only bring back so much before their headaches got worse, and I've got to concentrate. I've got to do this for everyone, keep things in control until father gets back, and then everything will be fine. Maybe getting smacked around for everything going wrong while he's away will hurt worse than this stress migraine.

13th

Potions didn't work. Ebost is staying in his room, and I've got nothing to do but go over the list of Adaa's symptoms, and everyone else's, and hope I can figure something out. Arish is looking sadder every day, but he's still talking to me, and telling me everything will be fine, which makes this all a little better. But only a little. Father still isn't back, and I'm starting to worry that he might not be...

Enough of that. It's just getting so difficult to concentrate, but I need to buckle down, get this sorted, and do things. I have to be able to help my people.

15th

Voices - Made and handed out earplugs made of cork, should stop people hearing the voices.

Nightmares - Blunt force trauma could work, but knocking everyone out wouldn't be ideal.

Headaches - Dip material in water when it's cool, wrap around head, numbs head slightly. Most have been wearing them under their hats, but it wrks.

Not a lot of people have been listening to me, havng progressd to the hearing voices stage, but some are, and that should help them out. Arish had been looking after the people while I del with my nightmares.

16th

Arish has gone. I don't know where he went to,b but he isn't around any more, and I fond Adaa dead in his room with a knif. Ebost is locked up and I think he might be dead. I'm so scard and father hasnt come bak. Pleas help me gardians...I want to pry at the tree but I cant go out any more, everyons acting weird and slurring and I have to stay safe or thell kill me.

1th

Runf awya nw

~

Mithra puts a finger to her lips as she ponders Dilaa's question. "There are certainly a handful of creatures able to create maddening sounds, and even a few spells, but I can't narrow them down enough with the information we have. There are also practitioners of such magic, but, similar to Tulip's magic, they can only be performed in relatively short bursts."

[Archmage1]

Tulip reads the book, and feels sad for the author, who had tried so hard to help everyone, but had failed. She puts the book into her bag, before looking around for scrolls, or notes that might explain what she did to try to help. Once she finishes that, she flies around again, looking for magic.

[Hazuki]

Tulip manages to find notes that list a few recipes that the author had tried. Most of them are fairly simple herbal concoctions for combating headaches, nightmares, stress, and insanity. Most of them use flowers.

[Archmage1]

Tulip collects the notes as well, before she scans the building for magic, and heads to the fox statuette once more.