RPGWW     > Gaera Main RPs         > From the Ashes (board and/or AIM D&D)
Page 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12	<< Prev Topic | Next Topic >>

Author Comment Archmage144  Hyper-scientific Bishounen Pharmacist Brian Season III! Posts: 4214 (10/31/05 23:03) Reply Re: Damn kids and your damn cookies. James approached the aforementioned heavy wooden door. He poked it, tentatively, and decided that he was going to press his ear against the obstruction to see if he could hear anyone inside. If he was going to bust down a door, he was going to be damned sure that he got the jump on the room's occupants as opposed to the other way around. Anybody home? thought James, smirking a bit as he listened. Nakibe Mmmmm... Chaos Sandwich. ^_^ Posts: 1028 (10/31/05 23:10) Reply No pastries for me, thanks. "Anyone want a pastry?" joked Damian. "I mean, apparently someone left them here for us or something." Having said that, Damian decided to examine the heavy door before even considering opening it. Probably would be best that way. Kai  Robo-Kai Posts: 770 (10/31/05 23:58) Reply | Edit Re: No pastries for me, thanks. Eve made it down the stairs in time to quirk an eyebrow at Damian's offer. She shook her head and began to make her way down to where James was standing by the door. Myrnal and Damian were both ahead of her, so she kept her distance rather than join people by the door. From behind the door, James couldn't hear much movement. There were occasional sliding noises over the floor, but most of what he heard took the form of a hushed, extremely deep voice speaking to itself in a language filled with more sibilants than most languages could manage. The words were unintelligible to James, but the monotone, rhythmic phrases suggested that the person speaking was going through chants or prayers of some kind. From their side of the door it was pretty much impossible to tell whether it was locked or not. The only way to know for sure was to try and open it. Magnus de Silentio You Tazered bear! Bear takes 1 damage. Bear eats you! Posts: 187 (11/1/05 0:01) Reply Woo. Lym followed behind the rest of the group at a reasonable distance, readying his large repeating crossbow, just to be certain. He kept Eve behind him. Even as he stood ready, he closed his eyes and hypercognated. He wanted to know everything about the door that he could. Magnus de Silentio You Tazered bear! Bear takes 1 damage. Bear eats you! Posts: 188 (11/1/05 0:12) Reply woo! Lym learned a number of things, most of which were absolutely useless. "The door isn't too incredible," he explained, quietly. "Mainly it's protected against scrying and psionic tricks. It's made of wood, the hinges are iron, and it has a considerably better than average lock. If we're going in there -- and I think we are -- it would be advantageous to simply teleport in, if you think that can be safe, Eve. I'm assuming you hear something or someone, James." Nakibe Mmmmm... Chaos Sandwich. ^_^ Posts: 1029 (11/1/05 1:21) Reply Re: woo! "James, how many does it sound like are in there" asked Damian. "And Lym, are you sure teleporting in would work right?" No matter how you looked at it, it was definitely time to get to work, or at least Damian thought it might be. As such he began rummaging around for his recently acquired ring. Elegant and made of silver, it fit on his left hand just fine. And in a place that normally didn't bother him when the gauntlets covered it. Time for our Me and My Shadow routine. Sounds decent to me. Magnus de Silentio You Tazered bear! Bear takes 1 damage. Bear eats you! Posts: 189 (11/1/05 10:07) Reply Re: woo! "I wouldn't be the one to ask," said Lym. "Eve is the expert, that's why I was checking with her." Kai  Robo-Kai Posts: 771 (11/1/05 15:00) Reply | Edit Re: woo! Eve looked from Lym to Damian to Lym again. "Would you people freaking wait?" she whispered. "There is an easier way to find out what's there than to teleport blindly inside. You can tell me to go all you want. I'm not going to do it until James gives me a verdict." As James continued to listen, he still only heard the one voice, and only very occasionally was there any movement from the room's interior. Nakibe Mmmmm... Chaos Sandwich. ^_^ Posts: 1030 (11/1/05 17:24) Reply Re: woo! "M'lady I AM waiting," was Damian's response to Eve, "Just getting out a few goodies for if we DO go in, whichever way we do." FF Fanatic 80  Imposter Brit Posts: 1824 (11/1/05 19:06) Reply Re: woo! For the moment, it seemed nothing was out of the ordinary. Moreso than it already was, at least. Noting the rest of the group heading downstairs, he turns to Kei and speaks. "Looks like they're all heading downstairs. But, I think one of us should stay up here, at least at stairway entrance to keep an eye out. You want to do that, or join the explorers down there?" NebulaQueen VACANT Posts: 3132 (11/1/05 19:33) Reply Re: woo! "I will stay up here," Kei replied. "If something comes this way, I think it would be easier for me to slip away than it would be for you." Archmage144  Hyper-scientific Bishounen Pharmacist Brian Season III! Posts: 4215 (11/1/05 20:29) Reply Re: woo! James turned around and whispered cautiously to his comrades. "There is definitely someone in there. I can barely hear them, but they are there. I have a plan. Whoever they are, they're praying or meditating or something, and I should be able to get in and strike without making much noise. But if you guys hear anything...say, a scream of pain from the enemy...do me a favor and rush in immediately so that we can finish the job." FF Fanatic 80  Imposter Brit Posts: 1825 (11/1/05 21:32) Reply Re: woo! Stephan simply nods to the Nekojin, then starts down the stairs after the others. Nakibe Mmmmm... Chaos Sandwich. ^_^ Posts: 1032 (11/1/05 23:36) Reply Re: woo! "I'd actually prefer if you let me do it myself. If you don't mind, James." Damian showed off his ring. "People have a habit of not seeing much of me, you know?" With a shrug, he gave James a second, appraising look. "Of course, maybe I'm wrong and you could do things better. Either way they probably won't keep praying for long." Archmage144  Hyper-scientific Bishounen Pharmacist Brian Season III! Posts: 4217 (11/2/05 0:24) Reply Re: woo! "Be my guest," noted James, motioning to the door. "Watch your back," he added. "And don't do anything I wouldn't do. Since you and I know each other only peripherally, I assure you that you can do almost anything you want, especially if it involves violence." Nakibe Mmmmm... Chaos Sandwich. ^_^ Posts: 1033 (11/2/05 12:53) Reply I hope there's actual shadows in this webcomic. >:{{{ Carefully reaching under his coat, Damian quickly pulled one of his two gauntlets onto his right hand, making sure it was snug and he could move just fine for the work ahead. The gauntlet itself seemed dark, and almost unnaturally so, as if trying to enshroud itself in darkness. For his part, Damian just looked up at James, letting a dry chuckle escape his lips. "I will, but I think the shadow will take offense to me taking over his job." Damn right I will. I mean, its like you don't TRUST me anymore. Never trusted you in the first place. And then there's the matter of that Rivan town. ONE TIME I miss a single solitary idiot and you hold it over my head. Anyways, we'd best get going. With that settled for the moment, Damian walked up as close as he could to the door and began to make himself one with the shadows... one with his element... seeming to fade until he was only a shadow himself. The one shadow left on the floor almost oozed eerily through the door, followed by its second, the shadow stalking a shadow. I tell you, I have never been so insulted in my life. I should go on strike. Shut up, you. Yeah yeah, work. Whatever. (OOC: Hopefully this will work. Shadowjumping into the room himself. Saves time and money. Or something. Aiming for as short a jump as possible, by the way. In case it matters. And Move Silently/Hide check immediately after, also if it matters.) Edited by: Nakibe at: 11/2/05 14:32 Magnus de Silentio You Tazered bear! Bear takes 1 damage. Bear eats you! Posts: 190 (11/2/05 15:31) Reply Hehe! Order of the Stick reference! Lym raised one quizzical eyebrow. "I don't know what the fuck's going on anymore," he grumbled, trying to think of any way he could be even remotely useful in this situation. As soon as Damian had sunk beneath the door, he realized that he knew. He opened up a telepathic line to Damian. This is Lym. Tell me -- with your thoughts, I mean -- what you see, and what you do. Edited by: Magnus de Silentio at: 11/2/05 15:31 Kai  Robo-Kai Posts: 777 (11/3/05 17:03) Reply | Edit Re: Hehe! Order of the Stick reference! The door didn't block Damian's movement, so it apparently doesn't prevent supernatural effects from functioning. Damian made it to the other side, and used up only the minimum ten feet required to shadowjump at all. He finished his jump in an enclosed doorway, which probably accounts for the presence of shadow there. The fact that the center of the room was actually fairly well-lit by several torches scattered about. As he looked about the room he saw several things, some of which were important and some of which were probably less so. On the far wall, clearly lit and hard to miss, was a painting which covered the entire surface of the wall. It was set against a landscape of blackened ground and a sky that was overcast with ash-filled grey clouds. The bulk of the picture was occupied by the image of a phoenix, painted in glaring shades of white, yellows, oranges and reds. It was emerging, true to its mythological origins, from the ashes covering the ground at its feet. The very edges of the fiery bird were tinged with small licks of green flame, which darkened on the ends to black and faded nearly seamlessly into the dismal greys of the background. To the right of the mural (and in fact painted over so as to be less obtrusive) was a door on the back wall. On the left wall were several hooks for coats or robes, and underneath them were a few scattered cushions. They were uniformly designed...round and flattened in such a way that suggested they might be prayer cushions. In fact, the overall impression of this room was that it was used for religious observances of some kind. The religious iconography on the wall, the prayer cushions and the alter near the mural all seemed to point in that direction. Yes, an altar... though it could hardly be unexpected that a cult would have one or two lying around. This specific altar was made of the predictable black stone, with flames carved into its sides. It had a broad shallow depression in the center where, as near as Damian could see, two small human figures were lying motionless. They weren't anyone he recognized, but it would be safe to assume that they were children. From Damian's position at the door it was impossible to tell whether or not they were breathing. Next to the altar and the children was the source of the praying that James had heard a moment before. The voice was coming from a nine-foot-tall green-scaled snake. The creature had the body of a snake, the head of a snake, and large muscular arms. Leaning on the altar near its right hand was a large black halberd. Damian had easily managed to enter the room without being noticed by him, and it was up to Damian what to do next. Visuals are awesome. Edited by: Kai  at: 11/3/05 17:05 Nakibe Mmmmm... Chaos Sandwich. ^_^ Posts: 1035 (11/3/05 18:19) Reply Re: Hehe! Order of the Stick reference! Damian's mind bristled at the mental contact a bit before recognizing the "Voice" that was speaking to him. Ah. Good timing. HII!! ... don't mind the annoying extra voice in here. Here's the situation. And with that Damian did his best to give Lym an impression of the situation he'd walked in on. Anyway, it looks to me like the kids are either supposed to be blessed or sacrificed. Either way having them wake up might make things difficult. Going for the main snake right away, unless you've got better ideas. And with that, Damian rubbed his ring, which he was told would make him invisible. He also started down the shadowed way as silently as possible, going BEHIND the snakeman. No reason to take ANYTHING even REMOTELY like a chance with this one. All I want is one clean shot with no complications. All I want is a hot dog and a side of fries. ... yeah. Too bad you can't always get what you want. Bah. "One Clean Shot" ... that became Damian's mantra as he crept forwards towards the snake's back. Archmage144  Hyper-scientific Bishounen Pharmacist Brian Season III! Posts: 4227 (11/4/05 12:28) Reply Re: Hehe! Order of the Stick reference! "My plan still stands," noted James in a whispered voice to the others. "If we hear anything, I'm going in. There's no time to waste if Damian gets into a fight in there, and while I have no reason to doubt his abilities, I personally think he would probably appreciate the assistance if whoever is in there manages to retaliate." That said, James pulled a wand from his coat and levelled it at the lock on the door. (James is reading an action, assuming it's allowed; if he hears any sounds of a struggle coming from the room, he's going to cast Knock on the door to unlock it quickly.) Magnus de Silentio You Tazered bear! Bear takes 1 damage. Bear eats you! Posts: 191 (11/5/05 0:21) Reply get down tonight Lym hissed. "There's a huge snake thing in there. It's going to sacrifice a couple kids. Damian's about to engage it now. I'll tell him to tell me when he does. When that happens, we need to immediately get inside and clean up whatever he couldn't do for himself. Okay? Okay." He sent a message to Damian: Lemme hear you say "hey" when you hit him. Kai  Robo-Kai Posts: 782 (11/5/05 14:16) Reply | Edit Re: get down tonight Damian took aim at the Yuan-ti Abomination, and reached forward with a bladed gauntlet, but he couldn't quite manage to penetrate the damn thing's scales. As the blades scraped across the Yuan-ti's skin, it stopped praying to let out a gutteral hissing growl that no other species could probably have replicated successfully. The sound of an angry Yuan-ti filled the room. As a result, the others on the other side of the door could probably hear that the fight had started. The noise causes James to use his readied action and cast knock on the door. It obligingly clicked unlocked. Since he was first in initiative, he also gets to be the first to take an action. Go James. Updated combat map. Init order is: James Damian Lym Eve Myrnal Stephan Yuan'ti Nakibe (I'll roll Kei in if she comes downstairs to get in the fight, but as it stands now I believe she's at the top of the stairs keeping watch.) Edited by: Kai  at: 11/5/05 15:44 Archmage144  Hyper-scientific Bishounen Pharmacist Brian Season III! Posts: 4231 (11/5/05 16:01) Reply Re: get down tonight As soon as the door was open, James dropped his wand to the ground, kicking the door open and drawing his katar as he raced into the room, dashing toward the yuan-ti. As he charged toward the foe, hoping to get the jump on him, he grinned viciously, muttering the incantation for a favorite spell. As he did so, the katar began to crackle with electrical energy. Hoping to catch the brute off guard, he thrust his electrified katar toward his foe, figuring that if he could deliver a strong enough blow at the outset that it wouldn't be necessary to do his usual trickery. (Move to the yuan-ti, shocking grasp spell, using daggercast to deliver it with a dagger attack instead of a touch attack. +17 to hit. If the katar hits, it'll deal 1d4+7 + 4d6 sneak attack, then deliver the 5d6 shocking grasp + 2d6 additional sneak attack electrical damage.) Kai  Robo-Kai Posts: 783 (11/5/05 16:09) Reply | Edit Re: get down tonight Those damn scales got in the way again. James' hit was right on target, and would probably have slid right through a nice soft humanoid. Unfortunately, there was too much green scaly pain-in-the-assery this time around. Damian. Nakibe Mmmmm... Chaos Sandwich. ^_^ Posts: 1039 (11/5/05 16:29) Reply MAKE ME A SAMMICH, WOMAN!! >:{{{ The first thought that went through Damian's mind as his fist slid over the scales was as one might expect. FUCK! Naki, Plan B On it! And James' attack, though well placed, didn't seem to do much better. But that didn't stop Damian from dropping his left hand straight down into its gauntlet. Bright and shining, the gauntlet Caramon charged forth from its holster in so smooth a motion that one would have thought the gauntlet was always on Damian's hand. Summoning forth his own anger at not considering this... thing's scales, Damian infused his attack with a bit of his own essence and let loose a loud "KIAH". The shining glove's attack was then followed by two punches to where he HOPED the Yuan Ti's kidneys would be. Idly, Damian wondered if staying this close to the thing would prove more than a tad hazardous to his health. (Full Attack Action going on here. Quick Draw -> Flick of the Wrist with Sneak Attack and Stun Attack on Caramon. Raistlin is doing his normal set of two attacks here. Down to 3 stunfists left. >:{) Kai  Robo-Kai Posts: 784 (11/5/05 17:08) Reply | Edit Re: MAKE ME A SAMMICH, WOMAN!! >:{{{ Damian's first attack managed to hit, penetrating some of the obnoxious factors protecting the Yuan-ti. Damian could still feel it pushing through the scales so those were still going to be an obstacle. Just the same. Brilliant energy weapons are helpful and nice things to have. They helped him out nicely this time, at least. The first hit managed to slide between a couple of scales, scoring the flesh beneath and successfully delivering Yon Stunning Fist. Those are also helpful and nice. Lym next. Updated combat map. Magnus de Silentio You Tazered bear! Bear takes 1 damage. Bear eats you! Posts: 192 (11/5/05 20:03) Reply metasubject Lym stood back coolly and watched the ensuing attacks, shaking his head at his comerades' failures. He knew, first of all, that there was a reasonable chance these kids were on the altar willingly, or at least in extreme confusion. In short, there was no reason to assume they were friends. He expended a reserve of mental energy to use his first attack, motioning without theatricality at both the enemy he knew and the potential enemies he didn't. If he was lucky, they would all be significantly worse at harming himself and his friends. For his second attack he attempted to reach into the lizard's mind and take something important -- comforted by the fact that, even if he failed, the lizard would definitely feel some pain as a result. (Quickened Inflict Pain with a save DC of 23, targeted on the lizard as well as the children. Psychic Crush with a save DC of 24 [at a +4 bonus] and 6d6 of damage with save.) Kai  Robo-Kai Posts: 786 (11/5/05 20:36) Reply | Edit Re: metasubject It was hard to tell what exactly the effects of Lym's manifestations were since the Yuan-ti was stunned at the moment. He wasn't the most communicative of opponents. A bit of a grimace passed over his face as Lym manifested the second power, which told him two things. One, Lym didn't manage to tear apart the creature's mind too badly. Two, the damn thing still felt it. Eve took her opportunity to manifest a power where she was. Lym could tell that it was a power peculiar to the psychoportation school, so it was no surprise that it was her first choice. This time the snake really flinched. Something must've gotten through from that one. Myrnal...pulled out a wand and became invisible. (Stephan) FF Fanatic 80  Imposter Brit Posts: 1830 (11/5/05 21:32) Reply Re: metasubject A few things briefly popped into the swordmage's mind, as Stephan watched James charge into the room ahead. There was the odd mural on the other side of the room, a phoenix of all things. In the middle of the room, he noted the kids in the altar thing, wondering if they came against their will, or to unwittingly help their 'mom' Dawn. The more imporant thing right now, however, was the big hulking lizard. He vaguely remembered it from their last visit here. But what stuck out in his mind about that time, was Kerov's warning of the lizard's less than good intentions. Given that, and the fact his comrades were already laying into the thing, he figured there was only one thing to do right now. Stephan moves forward behind James and Damien, then takes a quick sidestep around the martial-artist to continue heading toward the mural wall. He stops once he has clear sight to the lizard, extending an arm and starting to incantate. The swordmage had waiting a long time for something to fight, and he didn't plan on disappointing their opponent, a slight smirk of glee appearing on his lips as he finished the spell. (Scorching Ray, all 3 on the big scaley one) Edited by: FF Fanatic 80  at: 11/5/05 21:41 Kai  Robo-Kai Posts: 787 (11/6/05 2:41) Reply | Edit Re: metasubject Stephan's choice to burn a reptile was a sound one. For a nine-foot-tall full-grown Yuan-ti Abomination... this guy didn't look good. In fact, thanks to some of the spells and powers being manifested on him, he looked like shit. The flesh under those scales was probably pretty damn cooked. In fact, you know what made this all a hell of a lot more fun? The snake-man still hadn't recovered from Damian's stunning fist. So rather than take his turn in the initiative order, we move on to Chibi Nakibe. Nakibe Mmmmm... Chaos Sandwich. ^_^ Posts: 1040 (11/6/05 3:07) Reply Re: metasubject The little shadow did as was planned, raking its cold undead shadow substance against the Yuan Ti's exposed side. The distraction always seemed to help its master more than anything else. Kai  Robo-Kai Posts: 788 (11/6/05 21:43) Reply | Edit Re: metasubject Hard to articulate what it feels like to drain someone's strength, but for the corporeal GM... she imagines it feels quite gratifying. Yay for the small god of chaos, doing his thing and swiping some of the Yuan-ti's power away from him. James gets to have another go at vicious bizarro time-travel revenge. It's totally his turn. Edited by: Kai  at: 11/6/05 21:48 Archmage144  Hyper-scientific Bishounen Pharmacist Brian Season III! Posts: 4233 (11/7/05 1:04) Reply Re: metasubject A distracted, stunned opponent? Allies tearing the unholy crap out of his enemy? This, in James' mind, was an excellent situation. Figuring that he should capitalize on the distraction provided by Damian's attack, James decided that if he could end the battle quickly that it would be unnecessary to make use of his usual deceptive combat style. With that, he lashed out with both katar at his foe, a tempest of whirling blades...before lunging in violently with his upper body in an attempt to deliver a vicious biting attack to the yuan-ti's neck, leaping into the air to do so. (Full attack action, katar +14/+14/+9, bite +7. First and third attacks deal 1d4+7, second deals 1d4+4. Bite deals 1d6+5. All katar attacks deal +4d6 additional sneak damage, bite deals +2d6.) Kai  Robo-Kai Posts: 790 (11/7/05 23:17) Reply | Edit *Final Fantasy victory music* A winnar is you! James' first two attacks slid quite nicely beneath the Yuan-ti's scales. After the first attack, blood began to flow down the half-demon's fingers down over his hand and under the sleeve of his coat. Surprisingly enough for the blood of a reptile, it was warm. Felt kind of nice. Like vengeance sliding down to cover James' hand and knife. With his second attack, he took a piece of scale off the snake, but there wasn't as much blood. His last attacks sadly couldn't quite penetrate the creature's scales. His teeth clicked shut without biting any Yuan-ti flesh. This was probably because James' opponent was sliding down to the ground as he snapped at it, making the reptile very difficult to bite. The Yuan-ti Abomination slid to the stone floor with a dull thud, his halberd resting on the side of the altar where surely he would have taken it up had he been given the chance. Thanks to some rather gratuitous and well-planned violence, the damned thing never got a chance. There was, however, still the matter of those two kids. As Myrnal reappeared next to Stephan, her attention wasn't immediately on the current residents of the sinister black altar. She was staring at James, silently questioning whether she'd really seen him try to leap up and take a chunk out of a nine-foot snake with his teeth. However, she quickly looked down and noticed something Stephan saw first. One of the kids was a blonde girl, probably about nine years old. The other was Joss. Archmage144  Hyper-scientific Bishounen Pharmacist Brian Season III! Posts: 4237 (11/7/05 23:27) Reply Re: *Final Fantasy victory music* A winnar is you! James waved his katar around a little, murmuring to himself to activate a minor cantrip of sorts. After he had finished his chanting, he held up his blades, bit his lip thoughtfully, and observed as they became sparkling clean and shiny again, as though there had never been a drop of blood staining the metal. Satisfied, he returned the katar to his coat, sighing with relief, scratched his chin, and made a few more hand gestures.At this point, his battle-tousled hair re-oriented itself properly against the pull of gravity and the yuan-ti blood on his robes miraculously disappeared, saving the mage an impressive amount of money on potential future dry-cleaning bills. Or not, seeing as how dry-cleaning had not been invented in Gaera yet, nor would it be within the span of the next twenty or so years. Even if it had been, Archmagus Elaith would have found a way to suppress dry-cleaning and passed some sort of edict that all owners of laundromats be turned into materials for building flesh golems. Then again, Elaith was never quite that whimsical. In any case, James glanced at the children. Not really having an intimate relationship with either one of them, he turned his attention to Stephan and Myrnal, both of whom seemed to recognize at least one of them, and figured he would step back and let them deal with the kids. Whatever was going to happen here would likely have been rather ugly and involved a lot of sacrificing of children to dark gods, things James preferred to prevent whenever possible. He was glad that the group was able to do so. Nakibe Mmmmm... Chaos Sandwich. ^_^ Posts: 1041 (11/8/05 0:32) Reply "Because you have those eyes.... I feel I haven't won.& Damian let out a long sigh, his gauntlets going back into their holsters. "Can't say that was the best I've ever done." With that Damian moved over to examine the kids... who apparently HADN'T moved to attack him like he was expecting. He had to wonder what strange and potentially twisted experiments had been done on these kids... or if they were still going on. "Anyone have an idea why these two haven't moved yet? Vision quest? Deep sleep? Something else hopefully moderately less dangerous?" Magnus de Silentio You Tazered bear! Bear takes 1 damage. Bear eats you! Posts: 193 (11/8/05 1:13) Reply subject Lym was, at least occasionally, a practical man. He ignored the children for the moment and searched the snake's body. "I think, for practical reasons, that we should assume the children are dangerous and mean us ill until we have very good reason to believe otherwise," he said, as he knelt on the floor. "I also think that we should clear the room out, excepting Stephan and Myrnal, when we elect to wake them. We'll wait outside and in sight, of course -- but Stephan has a repore with these tots, and they're unlikely to charr him. As for myself..." he trailed off, suggestively. "In any case, I'm glad this fight worked out so well." Edited by: Magnus de Silentio at: 11/8/05 1:16 FF Fanatic 80  Imposter Brit Posts: 1832 (11/8/05 10:18) Reply Re: subject "...Someone needs to check out the rest of this room first." Stephan says somewhat out of habit, though his gaze is still on Joss and his little 'friend' in the altar, "Last thing we need is crap busting in here, or a little 'surprise' getting set-off, if you're all going outside." While he waits for an answer, he also gives the lizardman's halberd a brief look over, curious if he's heard of or seen similar work before. Kai  Robo-Kai Posts: 791 (11/8/05 21:37) Reply | Edit ARGGHH! The Yuan-ti was wearing a ring, a set of bracers with a symbol imprinted on them that looks a lot like this, and that halberd is extremely sharp. If Stephan scans it astrally, it's probably enchanted. Other than that, it's not a spectacularly unique halberd. The only decoration it bears is the same symbol as the creature wore on his bracers. If Lym looks carefully, slipped under one of the bracers is a wand. The room... has not changed. The only things in it that haven't been closely inspected are the altar, the door in the mural. The altar is pretty self-explanatory. It's got people on it. The door, though. There may be something behind it. Eve walked in and stared blankly at the children on the altar. She blinked a couple of times and shook her head. Myrnal was standing next to Stephan, reluctantly turning away from the altar to run a hand over the mural, probably looking for anything unusual about it. FF Fanatic 80  Imposter Brit Posts: 1833 (11/9/05 23:27) Reply Re: ARGGHH! From all the symbols on the armor, and on the halberd, Stephan figured this bloke was either part of some kind of honored lizard guard, or followed some deity or weird faith. He wasn't really sure though, as he lacked in-depth knowledge of scaly society. That, and studying the Gods in depth tended to piss him off. Checking the door was not an option, something several previous mishaps with trapped doors had taught him. Leaving that to others less prone to accidents, he goes over the altar, trying to see if he missed anything obvious earlier. As is he does, he can't help thinking about the familiar face laying there. "...what the hell did you two get yourselves into...?" he wonders. Magnus de Silentio You Tazered bear! Bear takes 1 damage. Bear eats you! Posts: 194 (11/9/05 23:58) Reply Re: ARGGHH! Lym took the bracers and the ring from the Yuan-ti and placed them in his pack. He'd look into them later -- if nothing else, they were probably pretty valuable. As for the halberd, he wasn't interested. "How are the kids doing?" NebulaQueen VACANT Posts: 3150 (11/10/05 0:33) Reply hay guyz Soon, a soft pattering of feet can be heard by the more alert members of the group. The sound stops for a moment, though, before the door creaks open. After another short pause the door wider, allowing a familiar friend to poke her head through; it's no other than Kei, the katana master and, for the past few minutes, temporary door guard. "How is everyone?" she asks quietly, as she lets herself in. After giving the room and the group a cursory glance, her eyes freeze on the two children...and then the fallen Yuan Ti. What happened here? she thought to herself. Magnus de Silentio You Tazered bear! Bear takes 1 damage. Bear eats you! Posts: 195 (11/10/05 1:07) Reply Re: hay guyz "Nice timing." Nakibe Mmmmm... Chaos Sandwich. ^_^ Posts: 1045 (11/10/05 13:26) Reply Re: hay guyz "Please mind the kids, now. Apparently they were just put to bed. Or something." With a dry chuckle, Damian turned towards Kei and said. "Well, we had a bit of trouble with this snake man here. And we don't know what the kids are doing asleep here." Archmage144  Hyper-scientific Bishounen Pharmacist Brian Season III! Posts: 4243 (11/10/05 16:35) Reply Re: hay guyz "Yeah, the kids are important, but what's in there?" James pointed to the door. He glanced at the various trinkets that the others were fumbling with. "And that symbol is representative of Nikumu, the god of hate. My father has told me enough about Nikumu that I know better than to mess with his things. In any case, it raises an interesting question. Why would one of Dawn's followers have a connection to Nikumu? Elaith worshipped Reshtaha, the lord of death." He shook his head, shrugged, and decided that the answer might come later. That said, James proceeded to the door and listened at it. There was always a chance that it was just a broom closet or a storeroom for sacrificial supplies, but it was worth making sure there weren't people on the other side of a door before opening it. Kai  Robo-Kai Posts: 796 (11/10/05 16:45) Reply | Edit Re: hay guyz Stephan couldn't see much that was remarkable about the altar other than the aesthetic qualities. The carvings on the polished black stone were quite detailed once he got close enough to inspect them. As James listened at the door, he really couldn't hear anything on the other side. Eve walked to the altar and nudged past Stephan as he was checking on it. She reached out and turned Joss over onto his back. She took his pulse, taking several seconds to do so before moving on. She bent down and took a good long look at his face, even opening his eyes and checking the pupils briefly. "Lym," she said. "Lym come over here and check this now." She waited for him to be near the altar before gesturing down at Joss and the girl next to him. When she spoke again her voice was urgent and a little strained. "Lym does this look like decerebration to you?" Lym had a hard time telling just what it was, but the disturbed tone in Eve's voice suggested that she was pretty damn sure. Magnus de Silentio You Tazered bear! Bear takes 1 damage. Bear eats you! Posts: 196 (11/10/05 16:56) Reply Re: hay guyz Lym scratched his chin. "I'm not...completely sure. But I trust your judgment. If you're right -- and I think you are -- we should probably take them to Gunnir for treatment right away. We don't know how long they have." Seeing James's concern -- though he didn't think there was probably anything to worry about -- Lym attempted to use his sense eye to find out what was going on behind the mystery door. It was, in any case, better than pondering too long the children on the altar in front of him, whose death he was not certain he would be attempting to prevent for so long. He wondered if the children were sophisticated enough to understand that the enemy of their enemy was their friend. He remembered the children's schoolwork. Probably they were, he decided. Archmage144  Hyper-scientific Bishounen Pharmacist Brian Season III! Posts: 4244 (11/10/05 16:59) Reply Re: hay guyz James, deciding that he wanted to open the door, did so! Kai  Robo-Kai Posts: 797 (11/10/05 17:05) Reply | Edit Re: hay guyz All evidence pointed to James' earlier suspicion that this was a closet or storeroom. It wasn't even locked. In fact, the floor was taken up by cleaning supplies, while the lower shelves seemed to be a bizarre collection of children's toys, articles of clothing and other oddities. This meant that it was either used as a lost-and-found, a place to keep confiscated property (a la the secret drawer that teachers keep), or possibly a storage room for the property of children who had... visited this room before. On the upper shelf, which James could see because he was over the age of 13 and therefore rather taller than most of Dawn's congregation, was filled with an assortment of small bottles, a pair of bracers, and a dusty hat. Edited by: Kai  at: 11/10/05 17:05 Archmage144  Hyper-scientific Bishounen Pharmacist Brian Season III! Posts: 4245 (11/10/05 17:46) Reply Re: hay guyz James glanced at the bounty he had discovered. Perhaps, if he were about eight years younger, the cache of toys would have been the most exciting thing in the world, but James was a little more mature than that. He pulled down the hat on the shelf, dusted it off, placed it on his head for momentary safekeeping, and then grabbed the bracers and a few of the bottles, deciding to inspect them more closely. FF Fanatic 80  Imposter Brit Posts: 1835 (11/10/05 23:54) Reply Re: hay guyz Stephan looked between Lym and Eve, the irritation evident in his eyes as he spoke. "...could either of you explain what the hell this 'decerebration' crap is?" he asks, rather bluntly. Nakibe Mmmmm... Chaos Sandwich. ^_^ Posts: 1046 (11/11/05 0:25) Reply Re: hay guyz "Decerebration?" Said Damian, suddenly more alert... and scowling. "You mean they're missing a part of their brain?" Kai  Robo-Kai Posts: 800 (11/11/05 16:17) Reply | Edit Re: hay guyz Eve briefly checked again to make sure both children were alive before answering Stephan and Damian's question. "Decerebration is more or less what it sounds like. It's not an easy power, but it's also not uncommon. If you know which part to go for, you can pull out part of their brain. Specifically the part that regulates your enemy's vital functions. As you can see, you don't die immediately. Usually you've got a couple of days. Sometimes more, sometimes less." She sighed. "It's actually relatively painless from what I understand. Right now neither of these guys is conscious or has any sensory input at all." Myrnal crossed her arms and her jaw tensed in irritation, but there were traces of concern in her voice that she couldn't quite cover up. "That's fantastic. I'm hearing a lot of maybe, and a lot of probably. Do you actually know anything about fixing it?" "If you want my opinion, which you might not, I think if any of you want to do something about this... you'd better do it quickly. I have no way of knowing how long they have. All I know is that you talked to him not long ago, so he probably has at least until tomorrow. I can't fix this. For a psion to fix this, he or she would have to be literally powerful enough to bend reality. A cleric might be able to, though. I'm certain that magic will do the trick." Edited by: Kai  at: 11/11/05 16:22 FF Fanatic 80  Imposter Brit Posts: 1836 (11/11/05 17:15) Reply Re: hay guyz "...well, how bloody nice for them." Stephan comments, "I'm sure she was even kind enough to let them know it wouldn't hurt, when they gave themselves for whatever this shit is intended to do." He then turns to Lym, a look of irritation and contempt on his face. "And, I'm guessing this is the part where you chime in with 'Fuck the kids, let's go get the bitch instead', right?" Nakibe Mmmmm... Chaos Sandwich. ^_^ Posts: 1047 (11/11/05 18:14) Reply Re: hay guyz "I have no intention of leaving the kids here after this." Damian said, looking more than a tad agitated about the whole thing. Muttering "... be it not for the grace of the Gods, there go I", he wondered if he and possibly Stephan would have to cart the kids to Gunnir on foot. Aren't you forgetting the big picture here? Yeah, like how much this Dawn person is getting on my nerves? ASIDE from that. What would this be, praytell? Oh, nothing, just the fact that she could and probably WOULD attempt to do this to you. .... we'll burn that bridge when we get to it. Archmage144  Hyper-scientific Bishounen Pharmacist Brian Season III! Posts: 4252 (11/11/05 19:00) Reply Re: hay guyz "I'm with Stephan on this one," chimed in James. "We can't really leave near-dead children lying on the ground missing some portion of their brains. It's a serious breach of being a halfway decent sentient being. If there's a way to get them out of here, we should do it." "On a lighter note," he continued, "I found some potions in this closet, and most of them are pretty useful. If anyone wants to know more details as to what they are, feel free to ask, because I think I've figured them out. I have no idea what value, if any, that this hat has." He pointed to the dusty old hat that he had placed on his head for safekeeping. "And I'm not positive of these bracers, either." NebulaQueen VACANT Posts: 3151 (11/11/05 23:26) Reply Re: hay guyz So we need to get the children out of here, and waste as little time as possible... "Eve?" Kei turned towards the psionist, and asked, "How difficult would it be for you to transport the children by yourself?" Edited by: NebulaQueen at: 11/11/05 23:27 Kai  Robo-Kai Posts: 801 (11/11/05 23:36) Reply | Edit Re: hay guyz Eve swallowed and shook her head. "Not difficult. I'll have to get them wherever and then come back for you. Destination Gunnir, I presume. I could bring a couple of you with me if you guys wanted to shorten the time it takes to get everyone out of here." She looked around the room. "We've got a lot of people now and it might be more efficient. That and... I don't think I feel like being left alone with my sister's cult members if everyone's okay with that." Nakibe Mmmmm... Chaos Sandwich. ^_^ Posts: 1048 (11/11/05 23:43) Reply Re: hay guyz Damian sighed and did his best to pick up one of the children at random. "Yeah, I figure that there might be SOME hard feelings there," he said drily. "Just honestly glad we're not leaving em here to, you know, die." Kai  Robo-Kai Posts: 802 (11/11/05 23:47) Reply | Edit Re: hay guyz "All right. Well, thank you for helping. I can take one more person if any of you wants to come along. Otherwise, we'd probably better get going," Eve said. Magnus de Silentio You Tazered bear! Bear takes 1 damage. Bear eats you! Posts: 197 (11/12/05 0:20) Reply Re: hay guyz Lym attempted not to roll his eyes at Stephan. He hated people who did that. "Yes, Stephan, I totally want to kill the kids. I mean, before I was saying we should be prepared to do it in self defense if necessary, so NATURALLY I want to chop their decerebrated bodies into pieces and serve them up in a white sauce. With a side salad." He paused and sighed. "And some crackers." He paused again and selected a few random toys from the closet, tossing them into his pack for later use. "And then, if everyone is still a mite peckish afterward, we can have a pie. A cobbler. A quiche." He leaned over the children again, examining them closely. "If you'd been listening, dear mage, you might have noticed that I proposed we take them to Gunnir for medical assistance myself. If you can stop masturbating your own sense of moral superiority for ten minutes and actively engage yourself in the matter at hand, it would be a big help, kid." Lym tugged one of his pointy ears. "I'll come with you, Eve." Archmage144  Hyper-scientific Bishounen Pharmacist Brian Season III! Posts: 4265 (11/13/05 14:55) Reply Re: hay guyz "I am going to stay here," responded James. "We have yet to locate Dawn, and I think that this compound may require further exploration. I would hate to think she got away because we teleported out for a quick journey to Gunnir." "Is anyone with me? If so, I think we ought to finish checking this place out." NebulaQueen VACANT Posts: 3154 (11/15/05 0:11) Reply Re: hay guyz Kei ignored Lym's ranting; there wasn't any time to distract either party with even more arguements. If the two men wanted to solve this later on by punching the living stuffing out of each other (or in Lym's case, ducking and making Stephan punch himself), so be it, but right now they all had work to do. "Which is why I suggested that to Eve," Kei said to James. "However, if Lym and Damien are going with her, so be it. We should be able to handle the search between the three of us." I dare say it's better this way, she thought to herself. Kai  Robo-Kai Posts: 809 (11/15/05 16:09) Reply | Edit Re: hay guyz Damian had the girl, so Eve picked Joss up in both arms with seemingly little difficulty. Holding him in front of her she didn't have any free hands, so she turned to Lym. "Hey, put a hand on my shoulder and your other on Damian's, would you? Connect us." She waited for a moment to make sure that she wasn't leaving anyone behind. "We'll be in touch, guys. I don't know if we'll just leave these guys with Archmagus Lee or what, but I guess we'll figure that out when they wake up and we figure out whose side they're on." With that, Eve took them back to Gunnir, leaving the others in the chapel with a dead reptile and little to do but wander around the estate looking for evidence of enemy activity. Eve, Damian, Lym, and the kids materialized outside Archmagus Lee's door. Apparently the presence of teleportation magic set off some kind of buzzer, as Lee's sparkling doorknob flashed violently and a bell rang inside the office. The familiar face of the red-robed Archmage appeared as the door opened. He opened his mouth for a greeting but quickly snapped it shut and stared with confusion at the children they were carrying. He tipped his head at a steep angle, obviously keenly curious as to what was going on. "You're back. Who are they? I assume those are two of Dawn's then? Hm." He stepped back from the door, holding it open for the others to ensure that they could get into his office. Looking around and realizing that there was nowhere to put the poor kids, Lee turned to the yellow crystal Veritas. It was floating in the doorway to the back study where Damian had originally overheard the party discussing Dawn with Archmagus Lee. "Veritas? Would you tell them to move, please? They never listen to me." Veritas sprouted its arachnoid legs again and floated over to adhere to the wall. It crawled down to the floor and an aisle of floorspace opened up as various shards, fragments, and carved crystal figures jostled one another to the walls. The sound was rather like the rattling of a chandelier and didn't settle down until a few seconds after all of the crystals had apparently shifted over. Maybe some were still getting comfortable underneath the piles. It was hard to tell. "You can put them there." He peered at Joss as Eve set the boy on the floor. She left a space for the girl in case Damian didn't feel like holding on to her while the rest of them made small talk. Magnus de Silentio You Tazered bear! Bear takes 1 damage. Bear eats you! Posts: 198 (11/15/05 16:19) Reply Re: hay guyz "Thanks," said Lym. "Put simply, we found them on a ritual slab about to be sacrificed toward some mysterious end by one of Dawn's henchmen. We think they've been decerebrated. I'm going to figure out what that was all about, if I can, but the children need medical attention -- with the understanding that when they wake up, they may not be in a terrifically cooperative mood. "They've apparently been betrayed by the only person in this world they thought they could trust. They're very young, in some ways very stupid, and therefore very likely to do something absolutely ridiculous upon regaining consciousness, though I don't know what that would be. If you don't want the school set on fire, and I assume you don't, you might want to take a preventative measure or two. I'm assuming you can do that." Nakibe Mmmmm... Chaos Sandwich. ^_^ Posts: 1050 (11/15/05 18:12) Reply Re: hay guyz Damian puts the young girl down as gently as possible. "Somehow I figure it may be difficult to set a school dedicated to the study of magic on fire, although anything can happen." He looks rather sadly at each of the children. They didn't know that this sort of thing would happen. Or maybe they did, he wasn't sure. Finding out why would definitely be important in the future, though." Finding himself a comfortable place to stand, Damian thought. "They're DEFINITELY not going to be too stable when they wake up, regardless of everything else." FF Fanatic 80  Imposter Brit Posts: 1838 (11/15/05 23:48) Reply fwa When Eve and the others disappeared from view, Stephan let out a small sigh. He hated thinking like this, but a very small part of him felt at fault here. Had his talk with Dawn led to this? Was that done to Joss in order to 'silence' him? ...but his common sense put a quick stop to that. Thinking like that would not help, and they still had things to do. Namely, seeing what else is lying about. "So where else, exactly, did you have in mind to check?" Stephan asks James. Archmage144  Hyper-scientific Bishounen Pharmacist Brian Season III! Posts: 4285 (11/17/05 16:08) Reply Re: fwa James shrugged. "Most everyone is gone, and we have relatively little left to explore, but I thought that it might be prudent to examine the wreckage and ashes of that third building over there outside. The one that's opposite this building. Perhaps we can find some sort of further clues as to what happened here, or more important, where Dawn and the rest of her minions left. For some reason, this bastard stayed behind," he noted, pointing to the yuan-ti. "He stayed behind to perform sacrifices, sure. Who knows how many children were sacrificed before we got here? If we had been even five minutes too late..." He trailed off, letting Stephan imagine it for himself. "There's something confusing here. Elaith was a follower of Reshtaha, the god of death. The bracers worn by this creature bear the mark of Nikumu, the god of hate. While it's entirely possible that Dawn simply picked him out as a follower because he worshipped a somewhat dark deity, I somehow doubt that's the case. She seems to be a little more deliberate than that, which suggests to me that she is somehow associated with Nikumu. That makes this whole thing even weirder, because according to my father, there was some sort of vague deific conflict over Elaith between Reshtaha and Nikumu close to the time of his death in your time. And Elaith apparently had a servant that was at least intending to gain power over him by sacrificing Myrnal and a few others to Nikumu...who, if I remember correctly, Dawn was theoretically a replacement for. I don't know whether Dawn was a worshipper per se when she was recruited, but I am of the impression that when she died, but I'm willing to bet that her astral body did not transcend to the plane of fluffy bunnies..." NebulaQueen VACANT Posts: 3162 (11/18/05 0:44) Reply Re: fwa "I remember that she mentioned this servant trying to betray their master," Kei mentioned, when James was finished. "She seemed rather disdainful of him, but that does not stop her from switching sides of her own accord. That would explain the creature's symbol." Kei paused for a moment, and seemed to be deep in thought over something. "Unless..." she murmered, "...unless this particular Yuan-Ti was working against her. Trying to get to her through her students, perhaps?" FF Fanatic 80  Imposter Brit Posts: 1839 (11/19/05 2:35) Reply Re: fwa "So, this thing was going to use those kids, whom Dawn already gave a death sentence with the mind thing... against the very woman who might cause their death anyway..." Stephan's face shows bewilderment as he raises an eyebrow at Kei, then glancing at James as well before continuing to talk. "...Look, we can stand here speculating shit all we want, but it's not going to do a bloody thing to help without more facts. So I say we get our asses moving already and try to get a few more. Least until we know what happens at Gunnir." Kai  Robo-Kai Posts: 815 (11/19/05 14:26) Reply | Edit Out with ye. The whole lot of ye. Lee set himself down cross-legged on the floor and winced as he sat down on a stray crystal. He nudged it into the pile nearest him and inspected the children closely. "I'm going to call Richter Yates. Maybe he's available." He gave a satisfied nod and sat back to inform Yates of the situation. Excuse me, if you're not extremely busy I've got a couple of children in my office who could use a healer. They've been decerebrated and I think you're a better man to fix it than I. It seems to be the doing of Miss Valerian, and as far as I've been informed these are two of her followers. At any rate, I'd appreciate a little assistance. "Well," said Archmagus Lee. "Hopefully he'll be able to spare a moment." ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ All this talk of Nikumu had Myrnal visibly a little tense. She frowned in irritation when James mentioned her name. Myrnal didn't say anything to the others and instead turned and began to make her way out. She disappeared into the kitchen and returned empty-handed a few seconds later. She shook her head and headed up the stairs to the ground floor of the building. Anyone who wanted to go check some of the remaining wreckage might eventually want to leave as well. Myrnal waited at the doorway for the others to emerge. Maybe some tattered remnant of courtesy was still left to remind her that it was rude to walk away and leave everyone else behind. Magnus de Silentio You Tazered bear! Bear takes 1 damage. Bear eats you! Posts: 199 (11/20/05 18:34) Reply We're goin', we're goin'! Lym took out his broom and levetated it at chair height. He sat down and waited patiently. "I wonder if I should count that as one of my kills...I guess, collectively, we share responsibility. I suppose I have to count it as one of mine. I did cripple him -- or, I tried to. I did try to crush his mind, as well. That would have killed him." He sighed. "It's ironic that they assume I'm such a bloodthirsty fucker," he said, observing the children. "I wonder how many of them can count the men and women they've killed. I wonder how many of them can count them on one hand. "In any case, thank you for your help, ArchMagus. I would say that we were in your debt, but what we're trying to prevent is no small danger to you or anyone else in this world, by my understanding, so I shall consider us essentially even." Nakibe Mmmmm... Chaos Sandwich. ^_^ Posts: 1056 (11/20/05 23:58) Reply Re: We're goin', we're goin'! "I have the feeling that Stephan is a lot like me in that. He can count them all, but definitely not on one hand." Damian shrugged idly, and then pulled out a gil coin and started flipping it for his own entertainment. "From what I've heard, he probably regrets it. Can't really blame him there myself. And on that note..." Catching the coin, Damian pocketed it again, and began searching through his pack for a pen and some paper. "If you want that kill then you can have it. I, myself, am going to wait for these two to awaken. You KNOW they'll have to be restrained once they do." Magnus de Silentio You Tazered bear! Bear takes 1 damage. Bear eats you! Posts: 200 (11/21/05 1:43) Reply Re: We're goin', we're goin'! Lym sighed and rubbed the back of his own neck. "Yeah. Probably." Archmage144  Hyper-scientific Bishounen Pharmacist Brian Season III! Posts: 4290 (11/21/05 14:20) Reply In pursuit of the ninja...(in the name of politeness) James nodded and followed Myrnal outside. "I honestly don't know much about what Dawn was like when she served Elaith in your time. My father provided me with relatively few details, but apparently, she decieved more than one potential ally and caused a lot of damage. Ultimately, she seemed to be comparatively loyal to Elaith, but I can do nothing but speculate." With that in mind, James headed to the wreckage of the remaining building, intending to comb it for any clues to the devastation or the whereabouts of the rest of the children. -------------------------------------------------------- Meanwhile, on the Gunnir side of things, Richter Yates was being paged to the office of Archmagus Malachi Lee. That was almost never good news. Yates sighed a little. Gunnir students were continually injuring each other, and if it weren't for him and his staff, they would probably stay that way. When he entered the office, he glanced around briefly, surveying the damage. He expected to see bloody chunks of one student spread out over the floor and another student looking dreadfully confused. This was the psionics department, after all. No, instead, he was greeted by a group of adventurers and some prone children. Wordlessly, he knelt by one of the bodies, placing a hand on the child's head. "Oh dear," Yates muttered. "They do seem to have been decerebrated. That is terrible indeed. Luckily, I can correct this problem. It's a good thing you brought them to me so quickly." He reached into a leather pouch at his waist and pulled out some kind of sparkly dust, murmuring faintly and gesturing as he sprinkled the dust over the bodies. With any luck, Yates' spells would cure them of their rather unfortunate condition. Edited by: Archmage144  at: 11/23/05 16:27 Nakibe Mmmmm... Chaos Sandwich. ^_^ Posts: 1064 (11/23/05 20:26) Reply I'm. Too Sexy for this Post! Seeing that the kids were probably going to wake up in a little while, Damian put down his papers and pulled his backpack to the fore. "Now where did I put those things... I would've sworn they were... Ah HAH." Two vials full of pinkish liquid were pulled from the backpack labled, "Prettier than Thou". Hopefully the shady bastard that sold him these potions wasn't lying when he said they'd influence people's image of him. In any case, Damian quickly downed one. UGH. Can't these people make a potion that DOESN'T taste like ass? Kai  Robo-Kai Posts: 820 (11/23/05 20:50) Reply | Edit Shady guy: *sells Damian griffin urine* James found himself at what must have been the front door of the other building. The upper floor had collapsed down onto the first, but it was possible to squeeze under a collapsed beam into the main first-floor hallway. From just inside the doorway, a couple of the rooms were probably inaccessible thanks to wreckage and the collapsed upper story. Myrnal slipped in behind him as he took stock of the building. The room directly to his left offered little hope of access. A large bookcase several meters long had fallen in from the upper floor, possibly from a library above. On the right the situation was similar. Caught on a fallen beam was a folded black t-shirt covered in soot and dust. James couldn't read the writing on it. All he could see from this angle were the letters "Sch-" There appeared to be two more doors before the back wall collapsed into the hallway. James couldn't see inside those rooms from where he was, but making his way over meant picking through more of the blackened, unstable structure. _______________________________________________________________ When Yates finished his spell and stepped away, it was the girl who stirred first. She rolled over onto her side and put a hand to her head. Her light blonde hair shifted over to cover her face as she curled into the fetal position. Joss woke immediately afterward, just in time to see the girl cover her face and turn away. His eyes darted around the room, and his clenched fists began to smoke slightly. He made a visible effort to control his breathing and glanced over to his companion again. She'd begun to cry very quietly to herself. His hands stopped smoking and he moved over closer to her. He put one hand on her upper arm just under where her hair curled to touch her shoulder. He didn't say anything to the others, but his gaze and the lingering smell of smoke were warning enough. Joss put his other arm around her to pull her up into a sitting position. She allowed this but pressed her face into his shoulder, unwilling to look at any of the others. She was trembling a little and her faint whispers were barely audible even to Lym's elven hearing. "...master of my master...master of...my master..." She rushed through the other verses, settling on the reassuring repetition of a prayer that Joss nearly joined before he snapped his mouth shut again. She may have been praying, but Joss had nothing to say to any of them. Archmagus Lee stood behind his desk, thoughtfully tugging on the ends of his brown hair. He'd pulled it over one shoulder for just this purpose. It was probably just a nervous habit, and he was right to be nervous. Two followers of a former student of his were in his office in a plainly unstable frame of mind. This could potentially go very badly. Nakibe Mmmmm... Chaos Sandwich. ^_^ Posts: 1065 (11/23/05 20:56) Reply There are worse Damian looked over at the kids, working with his pad and paper once more. "Hey. You two feeling okay?" Hm. Kid's rather agitated, probably already has something readied for us. Not good. "Any idea what happened to you before we found you?" Magnus de Silentio You Tazered bear! Bear takes 1 damage. Bear eats you! Posts: 201 (11/23/05 21:19) Reply Re: *sells Damian griffin urine* (this post edited into nonexistance due to awkward timing on the part of Magnus) Edited by: Magnus de Silentio at: 11/23/05 21:24 Kai  Robo-Kai Posts: 822 (11/25/05 14:47) Reply | Edit Re: There are worse Joss shook his head at Damian. "You know more than I do. But I'll tell you, the moment you try to separate us you'll find out firsthand what happened to your tavern." There were a few moments of awkward silence before Joss spoke again. "Where are we?" Nakibe Mmmmm... Chaos Sandwich. ^_^ Posts: 1067 (11/25/05 17:45) Reply Re: There are worse Damian's hand clenched slightly tighter around his pen at that remark, but he did his best to keep his expression neutral. It didn't do to be mad at the boy, and the thought of fighting with him only filled him with shame. Rather cheap shot, kid. he thought. "You're in Gunnir college. We had to take you here because apparently part of your brain was actually removed from you. And I had no intention of seperating you two, so you know. Want anything to eat or drink? The mages here can probably provide it for you." FF Fanatic 80  Imposter Brit Posts: 1851 (11/25/05 18:43) Reply Re: There are worse While James and Myrnal explored the building, Stephan tried to focus on another task. He tried to scan the area for any signs of magic-related activity. Thoughts about Joss' fate, however, were making that decidedly more difficult that it should be. "...dammit, focus Stephan. You have a job to do, and the others are doing theirs..." he tried to tell himself. Still, part of him wondered if he should have gone too. Kai  Robo-Kai Posts: 824 (11/25/05 19:43) Reply | Edit Your GM: Ensuring lifelike performance since 1986! Stephan detected trace amounts of magical/psionic residue, but nothing very strong and nothing near him. Some came from the basement of the building he'd just been in. A little bit came from the back of the building James and Myrnal were checking out. It felt like pretty standard abjuration. Probably just a few protective and privacy precautions. ------------------------------------ Joss released a long, shuddering breath. His shoulders sagged a little. The blonde girl looked at him and he nodded. He broke eye contact with her and looked up to Damian. He nodded again. He muttered a reply to Damian, but it seemed as much for his own benefit as for these strange adults surrounding him. "I know what happened, then. You only get decerebrated right before your Descension." FF Fanatic 80  Imposter Brit Posts: 1852 (11/25/05 20:01) Reply Re: Your GM: Ensuring lifelike performance since 1986! The signs Stephan sensed from the back of the building concerned him. It could just be things Dawn kept in storage. Or it could be a trap waiting to blow them all to hell and back. Deciding not to take the chance, he yells in after the pair. "Hey, watch yourselves near the back there. Some kind of protective powers seem to be lingering about." Magnus de Silentio You Tazered bear! Bear takes 1 damage. Bear eats you! Posts: 202 (11/25/05 23:16) Reply Re: Your GM: Ensuring lifelike performance since 1986! "What's the Descencion, Joss? Did we interrupt something important to you?" Kai  Robo-Kai Posts: 826 (11/26/05 15:15) Reply | Edit Re: Your GM: Ensuring lifelike performance since 1986! Joss took a long time to answer. He tilted his head to the left, but stopped himself before speaking. He looked down and started to speak again before failing one more time. Finally he just took a deep breath and spoke. "If you'd asked me two days ago the answer would be yes." He stopped again at a glance from the girl. He nodded to her. It was pretty obvious they were communicating telepathically, but she seemed reluctant to talk to anyone but him. Joss continued after their short consultation. "The Descension is an important ceremony. Usually it isn't until you're fourteen. There've only been a couple, but some of the older kids would be jealous that ours was... early." Eve took out a cigarette and tucked it behind one ear. If there was ever a time for poisonous addictive substances it was now, but she seemed content to wait rather than smoke in Lee's office. "The point of the Descension is, like a lot that they--that we do. It's one part of a plan to get our master back. To convince the god of death to give him up. When we turn fourteen and have made our contribution here, we go on to convince Lord Reshtaha that Archmagus Elaith is needed here." Lee scoffed quietly to himself. "Archmagus Elaith," he muttered. Joss threw him a scowl over his shoulder and continued. "It's very important, and it's a great honor. So in a way you're right. It is important. I just don't know... how important it is to me anymore." He looked over to the girl. "She agrees with me. Don't you?" She nodded to him rather than to the others. ------------------------------------- Myrnal took a few steps back and appeared at the doorway. She gave Stephan a wave. "Thanks. Good to know." She disappeared into the structure once again and pulled a book off of the fallen bookshelf. It was just a children's book, something about merpeople and dreams and friendship. She tossed it back. "Boring. Of course, it's better than the Illithid romance novel we found once. That was just disturbing." She shuddered and asked, "So, James. You see anything?" Edited by: Kai  at: 11/26/05 15:17 Magnus de Silentio You Tazered bear! Bear takes 1 damage. Bear eats you! Posts: 203 (11/26/05 18:56) Reply Re: Your GM: Ensuring lifelike performance since 1986! Lym listened intently. He lowered his broom until it was on the floor, and sat, legs crossed, attempting to show as much respect and deference to the children as he could. "Well, on the one hand, a part of me is very sorry that we interrupted it. On the other hand, a part of me...a large part...is very suspicious about all this. I have a couple of questions for you, Joss, and I honestly don't know the answers, so if you could shed a little light for me, I'd be very appreciative. "First of all, you say that people do this Descension when they reach 14. This is because they've made their contribution, you said. Is there any other reason for that age? From one perspective, it seems like a very long time. I'm kind of surprised Dawn would wait that long. From another point of view -- yours -- it seems like it would be very brief. "Secondly, why do you think Dawn chose to honor you and your sister with the Descension at this specific time? "And finally, is the Descension normally a surprise? It sounds like, unless I misunderstand, it was sort of sprung on you unannounced." Noting his lady friend's good judgment, he held a hand up to her. "Can I have a cig, dear?" Nakibe Mmmmm... Chaos Sandwich. ^_^ Posts: 1068 (11/26/05 19:27) Reply Re: Your GM: Ensuring lifelike performance since 1986! "And equally important, what's next for you, eh," asked Damian, more than a little worried. After all, for him to take the thought of someone deliberately killing him so calmly... "You intend to go back now?" CAN you go back, kid? Suddenly this whole thing seemed to revolve around a dead guy and the god of Death himself. Being far from religious, Damian had to wonder at all of this. Maybe this was all BS, but the chances were too great that it wasn't. Somehow. Either way it didn't make him feel comfortable at all. Edited by: Nakibe at: 11/26/05 19:28 Archmage144  Hyper-scientific Bishounen Pharmacist Brian Season III! Posts: 4299 (11/28/05 16:30) Reply Re: Your GM: Ensuring lifelike performance since 1986! "Nothing terribly exciting. Dawn and whoever else she had on hand to cast spells and utilize psionic powers decided that it might be a good idea to implement some basic abjurations around here. In other words, standard magical defenses. Protection from scrying, perhaps, or any number of similar basic protective measures. To be honest, I'm a little disappointed we didn't find something more noteworthy." James shrugged, glancing around the wreckage of the building again. "The kids are presumably alive by now, if they got to Gunnir and took care of them. As I understand it, it's not exactly a huge problem for Gunnir's staff to fix a little bit of missing brain stem. According to my father, some Gunnir students were missing a good bit of the brains anyway." Looking back at Myrnal, James scratched the back of his head and muttered. This was a little less excitement than he was hoping for. He figured watching a routine healing of decerebrated children would be less interesting than exploring the wreckage of his enemy's base. At this point, it seemed as though he may have been wrong. Again, disappointing. He wanted to be poking holes in Dawn's throat with his katar, not digging through her children's garbage. "Whatever. I can't teleport, so we're just going to have to wait for the rest of our fellow adventurers to come back." That said, he knelt down in front of the bookshelf Myrnal was investigating and pulled out a copy of a paperback book. He held it up, reading the letters on the cover. Chocobo Farm. "I suppose I'll do a little light reading while I wait on the others," added James as he seated himself against the wall on a fallen timber and cracked open the procured novel. NebulaQueen VACANT Posts: 3169 (11/29/05 22:05) Reply Re: Your GM: Ensuring lifelike performance since 1986! Kei scurried after the group, and heard what James had to say. She couldn't help but chuckle at his comment regarding the fine students of Gunnir; it certainly reminded her of some of the mages she met. "Still, perhaps it is a good thing that we did not find anything more...exciting," she responded. To tell the truth, though, Kei was a bit dissapointed herself, if only for the fact that they didn't find out as much as she had hoped. Kai  Robo-Kai Posts: 827 (12/1/05 1:20) Reply | Edit Re: Your GM: Ensuring lifelike performance since 1986! Joss absently tugged the edge of a glove. "A Descension is something you're supposed to know about. So you can, you know. Prepare yourself. Figure out what to say to a god. I guess we were supposed to figure it out as we go, extempore." He looked around again. he and the girl were surrounded on all sides and they knew it. Yates and Lee were standing behind them, then came Damian with a pad of paper and Eve holding out a cigarette to Lym. Lyminali himself was full of questions as always. "I think..." He carefully inspected the glove on his right hand. "...that we..." His face tightened into a frown of confusion. He pulled the glove off, revealing his burn-scarred hand, and held the palm of the glove close to his face. The dark spreading stain on the brown leather could only have been blood. He was close by when Glinss't was so quickly dispatched, but due to a general unconscious state he had no way of knowing where it had come from. "Where are the others?" He demanded. ------------------------------------------- Myrnal gave an amused little snort at James' literary interests. She stepped over the rubble of a wall and pulled a book out. "Here you go, James," she said, kicking it across the floor to where he was sitting. It was an account of the legendary airship Titanus, which fell from the sky off the shore of Baron. It caused quite a controversy, as it had only been carrying enough scrolls of featherfall for roughly half the passengers. Leaving James to peruse the abandoned literature, Myrnal stepped around the end of a bookcase whose corner had fallen through the ceiling to balance precariously on the floor. "Hey, Kei. You want to spot me in case this thing falls on me?" Archmage144  Hyper-scientific Bishounen Pharmacist Brian Season III! Posts: 4304 (12/1/05 1:27) Reply Silvar Literary Deconstruction "I have no reason to read that," commented James. "As far as I'm concerned, it's ancient history. The boat sinks, people die, only the rich people get an opportunity to utilize feather fall. That strikes me as the way life tends to work. I would prefer to enjoy a story I don't already know the ending to," he said with a smirk, turning back to his book. "Although I swear the plot of this one is relatively familiar as well. Some chocobo are more equivalent than others, it seems, and it all goes to hell when they decide to sleep in beds. That's definitely some sort of metaphor. Perhaps the author is making a statement about how the entire idea of creating a civilized culture was a bad idea. He may have been right. Supposedly civilized culture breeds people like Elaith and Dawn." "There are a lot of threats to Gaera and the way of life that we as a society have decided to uphold," James lamented, "and all of them are equivalently bad." "But some," he concluded, "are more equivalent than others." Magnus de Silentio You Tazered bear! Bear takes 1 damage. Bear eats you! Posts: 204 (12/1/05 2:15) Reply Re: Silvar Literary Deconstruction Lym took the cigarette and slowly breathed it in. "When we arrived, no one was there. Most of the place was burned down. We found the Yuan'Ti gentleman preparing to kill you and your sister and, not understanding what we were seeing, we engaged him in a fight. We ended up killing him. "I suppose I ought to apologize for intruding...but I can't feel guilty about stopping somebody from killing you and your sister, Joss, even if maybe I should." FF Fanatic 80  Imposter Brit Posts: 1856 (12/1/05 10:26) Reply Re: Silvar Literary Deconstruction Normally, Stephan wouldn't give a rat's ass about any kind of literary discussion. To him, it almost always devolved into someone trying to explain how a man's smelly sweatsock from his teenage years was a metaphor for his degenerate way of life beginning, or stupid shit like that. Hearing James casually dismiss something about Baron's history, however, was the exception. History was one of his rare interests, other than maiming things for a living. And to hear him, of all people, trivializing reading about past events set him off. "...you know. You'd be surprised how much you don't know about shit that happened in the past." Stephan comments, leaning around the doorframe to look in and speak, "For example, did you know that occured shortly after airship construction was partially-commercialized? Apparently, it never dawned on anyone at the time, that any short-sighted bloke in for a quick buck would cut corners. My Gods, someone out for themselves and not taking basic safety precautions the military had in place for years? Shocking... indeed." Stephan guessed, from the looks he was getting, he had gone a bit off tangent, not to mention surprised a few people. So he coughed for a moment and composed himself, before continuing. "But yeah, I wouldn't dismiss that so quickly. Who knows, maybe the person who wrote that was a survivor, or someone who worked for the bloody moron who designed that piece of crap." Nakibe Mmmmm... Chaos Sandwich. ^_^ Posts: 1074 (12/1/05 14:17) Reply You get off EASY this time, Turkey. e.e "As far as we could tell, the place had been attacked and at least temporarily abandoned except for you two and the... Yuan Ti, was it?" said Damian "Perhaps that's why you weren't given any warning before your Descension. Something or another went wrong long before we got there." Kai  Robo-Kai Posts: 828 (12/1/05 15:35) Reply | Edit Re: You get off EASY this time, Turkey. e.e Joss listened patiently through most of the explanations. He took a deep, irrtated breath as Lym finished expounding on the reasons he disagreed with the importance of the Descension. He rolled his eyes and incinerated Lym's cigarette from where he was sitting. The tobacco burned rapidly down to the filter, leaving Lym holding little more than a cigarette butt. "You aren't listening. I didn't say I was excited about it. I didn't say I volunteered. I didn't say that Alya-- who is not my sister, by the way-- volunteered either. You asked if it was important. What did I tell you, Eddress?" He pressed the palm of his hand to his forehead for a moment to let himself cool down. "Yeah, you interrupted it," he continued. "I never implied that you have any reason to apologize. You guys killed Glinss't and then left with us. I get that, and I already knew that the estate was abandoned. I'm not stupid. I was there when we left. I know more or less where the other disciples are. They're with Dawn. I was asking about the rest of you guys. Kei, Stephan, that one girl. They're not here." NebulaQueen VACANT Posts: 3172 (12/1/05 17:13) Reply Re: Your GM: Ensuring lifelike performance since 1986! Kei ignored the literary talk that was going on, fascinating as it was. Instead, she concentrated on more practical matters, such as helping out Myrnal. "Of course," she said, responding to her query, as she went to stop any sudden doom involving book cases. Magnus de Silentio You Tazered bear! Bear takes 1 damage. Bear eats you! Posts: 205 (12/1/05 22:45) Reply D'oh. Lym quirked his eyebrow at the burning stub that was his cigarette. Looking around and seeing no obvious place to deposit it, he shrugged and left it between his lips. He stood and turned his back on the kids -- apparently his "charms" weren't working -- taking a few steps and making a little room. "Sorry," he said. "I misunderstood. This whole situation is a little murky. "In any case, they're still at the estate poking around. "What I want, more than anything at this time, is to understand the situation here. If you were willing to help us with that, we'd be really grateful. And if you'd rather talk to somebody else, Eve'll probably be getting them pretty soon." Lym shrugged. He wondered if Dawn knew what had happened yet, too. Kai  Robo-Kai Posts: 841 (12/10/05 1:49) Reply | Edit Re: D'oh. Myrnal made it around to the other side into a narrow opening that looked like it dead-ended further back. As she was heading back out, dust and ash sifted down from the upper floor and the staircase shifted slightly. Myrnal put an arm over her face and pressed against the wall at her back --rather rudely shoving aside poor Kei-- as the bookcase crunched down the rest of the way onto the first story. She shook dust out of her hair and looked past Kei into a room that had previously been blocked by the shelving. Her eyes widened. "Shit, not good!" She had just enough time to pull out her wand and disappear before two spiked claws reached out of the newly-exposed doorway to rake at the air where Myrnal had been. They missed and took a couple of chunks out of the doorframe. The fragile structure groaned at the impact but didn't seem to have been significantly weakened. Apparently the creature hadn't noticed the Nekonian, as the two claws pulled back into the room, awaiting prey that was a little easier to detect. (Kei is next if she wishes to act in any way.) ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Joss nodded and pulled his glove back on. "Well, you guys can do whatever you awnt. I'm not going back but I'm not going to stop you. There's a lot going on here that I think has gone far enough." He glanced over at his still-silent friend. "Even if I had plans to go back and settle things out, I don't know if--" The girl interrupted him. "I don't want to go," she said simply. "There you have it. But, um... Alya, tell them to be careful. Dawn left that thing in her room." At this very moment, the party members still at the estate heard a wonderfully belated mental comment from a little girl none of them had actually spoken with yet. Please be careful. Dawn left a monster in her room to protect it and Joss wanted me to make sure you were all right. Nakibe Mmmmm... Chaos Sandwich. ^_^ Posts: 1083 (12/11/05 23:52) Reply Re: D'oh. "Thing?" asked Damian. "What sort of thing is this? Because I rather dislike the sound of that."

Page 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12

<< Prev Topic | Next Topic >>

Topic Commands Click to receive email notification of replies
jump to: RPGWWcon Archive (New) Gaera Main RPs (New) Other RPs (New) Character Closet (New) OOC RP Discussion (New) Kotoki's Bar and Inn (New) Discussion Forum (New) Testing (New) Fanart and Miscellaneous (New) Fanfiction and other Writings (New) The Unspoken Forum (New) RP Archive Spam Shrine (New) The Rest™ (New)

the
PLAID
is dead!

Powered By ezboard® Ver. 7.32
Copyright ©1999-2005 ezboard, Inc.