SSJwrestler

'Pure bliss..' Vanelee said looking at Matt. 'How I miss the days when I could experience that.'

Then, turning to look at Nina, Vanelee said "And what about you young miss? What are you going ot need to be outfitted with?"

Vanelee thought that perhaps she would like some new clothes for the journey, as most girls her age did. But he immediately dispelled this idea from his head, thinking that he might be decieved by her young appearance, she might be older, and she most assuredly not a normal girl.

Thinking again about her age, Vanelee asked. "Young miss? If I am not being to brash, may I ask your age?"

Vanelee smiled warmly and waited for Nina's reply.

Dixie

Nina was deep in thought and didn't hear Vanelee's question. 'Hmmm, it's time to prepare...alone,' Nina thought, looking back over her shoulder at the winged creature above the treeline.

Vanelee heard Nina's voice in his head, 'I will find you at dawn,' a friendly giggle and then she was gone. Vanelee turned and called to her. Dreggan and Matt looked around in wonder. The girl-child had simply disappeared into thin air. A broad grin spread across Vanelee's face. 'A mage,' he thought, 'that's handy.'

Nina opened her eyes to find herself standing in a dark, stuffy room. "Anca," she called softly and the bright-eyed wolf stood at her side, "I have found him," she whispered into the animal's attentive ear. She grasped her staff firmly in one hand and stroked the beast with the other. She sat deep in thought as the day faded into night.

__________________
talk is cheap, so i buy every word you said.
scared me half to death, now i'm half dead.

Bob Biter

"Oooookaaaaayy. She'll have to teach me that trick at some point. Ah well, on to the buying."

Dreggan then entered the food store first, since Matt's uninterrupted jumping made the need for provisions a tad more urgent. Shaking his head, the thief just tossed him a few money pouches almost as a master would toss his favored hound a treat. He also gave Vanelee a couple, almost relunctantly.

As Matt was busy making his copious selection, Dreggan simply opted for strips of jerked beef, dried nuts and berries, a water skin and a quart of mild liquor, all of which would procure strength without spoiling quickly. Smiling, he noticed that the elf also chose wisely.

Watching Matt buy fresh fruit, meat, fish and sweets, Dreggan just shook his head.

"Matt, at least TRY to pick something that will last more than a few days here, will you?"

The sudden pouty look on his companion's face brought a weird feeling to Dreggan's mind. Why should he care what the man bought, it's not like he was family. Wait. Ah, that's it: he didn't want his hard earned money wasted. There you go.

After they had settled up with the owner, they made their way to the alchemist shop. It was so easily recognizable as to be almost offensive. A small building with shuttered windows, a thatch roof and with odd smells emanating from every fissure... a myriad of oddities hanging from the door frame, as if to ward off practically every negative thing on the planet, from flies to mimes... and lastly, the ever so charming sign hanging from a metal spike, eerily depicting a sorceror's ubiquitous pointy hat, magic wand and grimoire. How quaint.

Making their way inside, the group was greeted brusquely by an ancient human, bent at an almost right angle. Without any further chit-chat, he returned to his inventory, letting Dreggan almost wish he could rob the man for his inattention. However, he was always wary of pilfering from wizards, as they had their ways to maintain security that even this seasoned thief was loathe to contemplate.

Scanning the shelves, Dreggan opted for the easier task of simply requesting what he wanted.

"Kind sir, my friends and I are about to embark on a most epic quest and require the following:

In the potion category: 3 healing, 2 weightless, 2 sleep and 3 poison. In the amulet category: 3 protection from undead. In the "miscellaneous" category: 3 eggshell bombs, 3 smoke bombs and 2 "screechers". To go please. Quickly please. I trust this is enough."

Dreggan then dumped all the pouches he had "acquired" on the counter. Unphased the alchemist simply reached under the counter and pulled out the items the thief had requested, as if he had known what the order would have been in advance, minus one for each, and started removing the money bags.

Stunned, Dreggan was about to protest when the alchemist silently pointed at the price list on the far end of the counter. Reading it, the thief noticed that every item had two prices, one of them significantly higher than the other. Seeing Dreggan's puzzled face, the old man actually said something:

"Thief tax."

Sighing, Dreggan then collected his purchases and waited to see if anybody else wanted to buy anything, this time from their own pocket.

"I bought these for all of us, but if you guys want anything else, be my guest and go ahead. As for Nina, since she's so independant and all, I'm sure she already has all the equipment she needs..."

"What's a screecher?" Matt enquired.

"It's a nifty little sub-demon trapped in a crystal. When you throw it on the ground, it shatters and the creature starts running in the opposite direction (away from the thrower), yelling and screaming in THE most harrowing way. It'll chase down anyone it sees, but doesn't do any harm, just freaks them out. I use these things occasionally to cover an escape or just cause confusion and panic."

__________________
A plan is just a list of things that don't happen.

SSJwrestler

After equipping himself with a new cloak, since his was so travel worn, and a number of "snacks" for the long journey ahead, Vanelee made his way to the back of the sop where the women's section was. He thougt that Nina would like a new traveling cloak also, since hers was so worn to. He bought her a green hooded cloak to replace the similar one she had before.

'I think she'll like that." Vanelee thought to himself, as he stashed the cloak in his traveling bag. The cloak was accompanied by a few healing potion, a pair of dragon hide gloves, and an undershirt that was woven from the hairs of a unicorn, giving it magical propeties.

Joining the rest of his group in the courtyard Vanelee wondered where the young miss had gone. While he wondered, he saw a semi-distraught looking Dreggan patting his half empty bag, which had previously been teaming with bags of stolen gold. His gaze also fell upon Matt, who was eyeing his newly bought bag of food with hungry eyes.

Adjusting his new cloak, Vanelee walked towards the duo and said, "I think that we should either go to the armory, if any of us feel the need for weapons, or else move out and start tracking that winged creature, so that it's claws do not fall upon any innocent inhabitants."

Eldaire

"I vote follow the winged one!"

After saying this, Matt began to bounce off towards the woods. On his back he had a food pack the size of a small boulder. Judging by the way he carried himself, bounding light as a feather towards the woods, noone would ever know it wasn't completely empty. He stopped 10 ft away from the party.

"You guys coming?"

Menoman

"Orc kill!!" "Argg!" "ahaha!" "hmmphhhrunt!" the silly mindless orcs rambled on in the bushes 'attempting' to be silent.

Interupted by an inhumanly deep voice, "Shut up you imbiciles! Be silent or the duke will have your hides hanging in his halls!" It didnt take much more than that to shut the ignorant brutes up. The gargoyle had dealt with the mindless muscles before.

"Listen up, we're down to 13 of you and of course the two of us." Boasted the gargoyle, as if they were better than the orcs. Obviously they were. "Tos is up there flying luring some of the warriors to here, with your silly clubs you should be able to annihilate them"

A funny look covered the eyes of the orcs..

The gargoyle sighed, "Bash, Crush skulls!".

The orcs burst out into yells and grunts once again. After a few minutes they calmed down and listened to the gargoyle.

One last sentence came from the gargoyle, "Remember you fools, I, Kos, am the mage. Tos is the brutal slasher. Don't get us confused or you won't be getting your healing." What a waste of my spirit to heal these meat shields it thought.

__________________

Bob Biter

"I'm set to go, but first, who wants the spare amulet for "protection against the undead"? I'll keep the eggshell and smoke bombs, as well as the "screecher". I'll also keep the potions, so basically, aside from the amulet, either of you can have a healing or poison potion. Any takers? You won't be hearing offers like this again!"

Seeing that Vanelee had already bought some healing potions, Dreggan decided to give him the amulet, but leave the potions to Matt, in a rare spirit of fairness.

"Well, hope you are all ready. I'm fine weapon-wise, so I guess it's off into the forest for us."

With that, the thief jumped the branches of a tree in order to progress at a higher level, which would lessen the risks of an ambush.

__________________
A plan is just a list of things that don't happen.

Dixie

Nina sat silently in the dark. She had told Vanelee she would wait until dawn to rejoin them, but she sensed that danger may be near to her companions.
'They can probably handle themselves just fine without me, but just in case...'
She gathered Anca in her arms as best she could considering the wolf's weight, closed her eyes and focused on finding the location of the warriors. She was somewhat amazed to discover that she had no trouble at all locating Vanelee, it was as if they shared some connection. 'That's interesting...' she thought, wrapping herself in the night, clutching Anca and her staff in her arms somewhat clumsily.
She closed her eyes and was transported instantaneously to a spot some 50 yards from where Vanelee, Dreggan, and Matt were beginning to advance. They were tracking the winged creature and Nina could feel its presence somewhere in the distant night sky, but there was another, more powerful presence lurking just a few feet from where Vanelee and Matt stood. She quickly noted Dreggan's position in the tree and wondered that he had not spotted the evil presence she felt. 'Another mage?' She croutched and whispered into the wolf's ear, comforting it with her words before she began to follow in Vanelee and Matt's steps cautiously.

__________________
talk is cheap, so i buy every word you said.
scared me half to death, now i'm half dead.

Eldaire

Matt ran effortlessly across the forest floor, almost floating over it. The party heard the orcs some 20 yards before they were upon them. Matt stopped and set his food pack down.

"Well, let's get to fightin'! After that meal, I feel like I could take on an orc army!"

[OOC: Matt does not even think about ambushing the group because it is not in his character to do so. Dreggan on the other hand...]

Menoman

Kos stood at the bottom of a tree that was about three foot wide, he knew they were coming, but he meditated to get the last bit of spirit he could muster up. When the group of adventerers were about twenty five feet from them he felt the sudden appearance of a abnormally strong character. Out of no where it hit him. He knew that was the warrior he would fight himself. In the back of his mind he wondered how many of the orcs had fallen asleep and didnt even realize they were upon a battle...

__________________

SSJwrestler

Vanelee sighed as Matt and Dreggan prepared for battle, he really didn't want to fight now, especially with orcs. 'Why'd it have to be orcs?' the elf thought to himself ' It's always orcs...always'

About this time, Vanelee sensed a familiar presence appear behind him. 'Nina' he thought. He turned around with a smile now on his face, but his gaze only came upon a wolf standing some 10 yards away. 'A wolf? How strange.'

The group was now fast approaching the waiting orcs, and baatle was imminent. Vanelee sighed again , and as he took a step forward, following about 10 feet behind Matt and Dreggan, he was met by s sudden sense of a powerful magic force ahead of them.

'That power can't belong to an orc...it's to powerful, and it seems...magical...it couldn't be a...' Vanelee thought to himself, but his thoughts were interrupted by a large form crashing through the bushes next to him. He looked over at the form right before it made contact with him, his gaze coming upon a gruseome face.

An orc had lunged from the bushed and tackled Vanelee into a nearby tree. The elf felt a blow being delivered to his exposed side, and a rushing pain afterward. Using his speed, Vanelee ducked the orc's next blow and appeared behind him, sword drawn. A quick slash from the elven sword across the orc's back ended the battle.

Falling to one knee with an excruciating pain eminating in his side, Vanelee yelled to his fellow companions, "They're here!"

He was then back on his feet, running to catch up to his companions, who now had nearly 6 orcs bearing down upon them.

'I guess now the battle commences.' the elf thought.

Eldaire

"Alright! These guys are strong. I'm getting excited!"

With that, Matt began frolicing through the battle like a child in a candy store. He moved fluidly through, placing blows where he saw fit. The whole time, a smile covered his face. At some point, the orcs realized it was foolish to continue a head on onslaught, so the encircled him. Matt merely looked around, and smiled. The bravest of the orcs charged him, but in a flash Matt's staff was out and extended, knocking the orc blade into a nearby tree. A continuation of the same motion brought the other end of the staff into the orc's head, flooring him. After that, all of the orcs charged at once. Matt brought himself into the air with an easy jump, and turned upside down. The orcs merely watched with a dumbfounded expression. [OOC: I'm just flowing with my writing here, so my expression matches the orcs. Wait! I've got it!] He planted one end of the staff in the ground and seemingly ran across the circle of orcs, delivering kicks as he went. The circle flew back, all of them injured or out. Matt's melee abilities were indeed great, and these foolish orcs did not have the intelligence to attack in any way other than hand to hand. Matt had given himself some breathing room now, so he looked over to see how his companions were doing.

SSJwrestler

After Vanelee had slain the orc that had attacked him, he had counted 12 more of the vile creatures, four a piece for the warriors. Matt had easily taken care of 3 of his 4 and was moving on quickly to the 4th. However, the orcs were not smart enough to distribute themselves in a way necessary to order to battle the group of warriors equally, so 5 had gone after Dreggan and 3 after Vanelee.

'Orcs, it had to be orcs.' Vanelee thought to himself as he squared off against the trio of menacing orcs.

The first one charged in head on, violently swinging his club. Vanelee jumped to dodge the attack, and sent his enemy flying when he landed on it's back with a kick. Taking no time to aloow the others to attack, Vanelee drew his sword from under his cloak, which he was still wearing, and charged. He dodged the closests orc's counter assault and immediately followed up with a quick blow to his back, killing him instantly.

Wasting no time, the elven warrior charged the other, confused, orc with a jumping sword attack, bringing his sleak sword down upon the point where the orcs neck and shoulder met, again killing him instantly.

With a look back in the diretcion of where the first orc was sent flying, Vanelee saw the thing lying in a crumpled heap. It had run head long into a tree, breaking it's own neck.

'Damn I hate orcs...' Vanelee thought, as he sheathed his sword. He didn't sport his usual smile, but rather a grimace, and his eyes no longer twinkled their warm grey, but rather were as grey as thunderclouds. There was no twinkle present either, only a slight glisten of malice, perhaps hate even.

Vanelee looked up the path to see how the rest of the group was doing, while in the back of his head he wondered wherther he really had sensed Nina earlier, and if he was correct, where was she?

Dixie

Nina watched the battle ensue sheathed in invisibility. She knew there was something stronger than just orcs here, but what was it? Neither animal, nor human. She darted through the trees in search of the thing, all the time sensing its presence around her.

She rubbed her side, a dull ache had begun throbbing in it immediately after an orc had delivered a blow to Vanelee's side. What was this connection she shared with him?

She had left Anca with a command to help any of her companions if they needed it, but it seemed unlikely.

Focusing her energy on the location of her opponent, Nina closed in on a small hedge which radiated with the power of the beast she was sure lurked just behind it...

__________________
talk is cheap, so i buy every word you said.
scared me half to death, now i'm half dead.

Bob Biter

Having spotted a few orcs before their undisciplined, unfocused attacks against Matt and Vanelee, Dreggan had decided against warning them, out of a morbid sense of curiosity as to how they could handle themselves in real battle. Vanelee was efficient, yet a bit sloppy; Matt's enthusiasm, along with his acrobatics, easily confused the hapless orcs, but how would he fend against a smarter opponent? As for Nina, yes he had seen her dart here and there, but it seems she was searching for something, but what?

As he was pondering these things, standing on a branch and leaning against the tree, he felt it jerk suddenly. Regaining his balance, he saw that 5 of the lugs had managed to spot him (not that he was making any special efforts to hide) and were in the process of trying to knock him down from his vantage point, albeit crudely. Seeing that their attempts were futile, one of them bellowed, in that seductively sweet voice of his:

"You squishy human! Come down! Come face Tarakk! You small squishy coward, we will bash you good!"

His companions quickly screamed their approval and started to laugh at Dreggan's apparent cowardice. Suddenly, one of them paused, as if suddenly aware of something. Another paused, too, then a third. As the last laughing pair turned to see why the merriment had ceased from their brethren, they understood. Each of them had a needle firmly planted in the throat. As small trickles of blood started to flow from their neck wounds, they simply fell back, their death almost instantaneous.

As they whipped their gazes back to the branch, Tarakk and the other orc saw that the "squishy" had disappeared. Enraged, they turned to alert the rest of their comrades, only to find Dreggan standing right behind them.

In the blink of an eye, it was over. Using his Savate style, the thief jumped and delivered a kick to both orcs' fat head simultaneously. As he was coming down, a quick and graceful sweep with both legs (OOC: Olympic pommel horse style) was all it took to take them to the ground. As soon as they hit the dirt, Dreggan finished his sweep in a handstand, performed a slight somersault, unsheated his sais in mid-air and planted them firmly in the brutes' chest. As life was leaving them, all they could hear was his soft chuckle.

"Oh dear, you orcs really ARE stupid, aren't you?"

Removing his sais and wiping them on his victims crude vestments, the thief casually turned to see how the others were doing.

__________________
A plan is just a list of things that don't happen.

SSJwrestler

Vanelee held his side that had been hit by the orc, as he watched. He was quite impressed by the "thief", and couldn't help but smile knowing that he was on his side.

The pain continued in his side, but Vanelee chose to ignore it. But, what he couldn't help ignoring was the fact that he sensed someone else shared his pain. Someone...close..someone...

'Nina?' he thought to himself, and smiled as his question was answered by a light blur darting towards a bush. 'What happened to dawn Nina? Did you miss us?'

However his thoughts were cut short as he remebered the other magical force he had sensed before the orcs attacked, Where had it gone? Fled? Or was it still nearby?

Menoman

Tos, the warrior of the gargoyle duo, was completely unaware of the squirmish just 200 feet below him. He had no seen the people enter the woods, and he could not sense them he had no magic abilities at all. He was brute strength, three times that of the rock hard orcs. He was also quite a bit smarter than the orcs.

Just then he heard Kos' voice in his mind. "Get down here brother! I'm not sure I can relinquish this magi or whatever the hell it is by myself!."

"What magi?" He thought to himself, unable to communicate back he swooped down toward the woods, just before he got to the tops of the trees he arced his descent to just slice the tops of the tree's making them shake violently, branches cracked, his largest talon sliced off a quite long 6 inch wide branch and sent it swooping to the bottom of the forest. Then performing a quick flip and finishing it with a head long dive toward the glow he knew well that was his brother....

__________________

Menoman

Back at the castle the Duke sat in front of his furtune telling boy-slave, listening to each move that was performed at the battle going on. Quite unhappy..

Sar had raised up the gargoyles since before he murdered the former king of his reign and turned his land into a spiral of death and theivary. He knew of their power, how could these few nameless wanderers dispatch them?! The real threat was probably the people the king had chosen to sent to his castle, not some peasants and theives whom are having a stroll into the wood for hunting or adventuring.

Somehow his keen intuition told him something was amiss, he just didnt know what.

__________________

Dixie

Nina darted through the trees embracing a keen sense of awareness. Suddenly she found herself in a large clearing. She could not hear the voices of her companions fighting the orcs and the darkness was penetrated only by the light of the full moon overhead.
Suddenly, she saw two figures approaching across the clearing. Their gait was strong but jerky as a result of the large wings protruding from their backs.
'Gargoyles...ugh...I hate gargoyles,' Nina mumbled.
The one on the right was larger and more muscular by far, but the one on the left had a strange aura that reeked of evil magic.
She closed the distance between them only slightly and then stood, poised for battle, staff in hand, awaiting their approach. They seemed to be speaking to eachother, their sardonic laughter made her cringe. She couldn't help but remember the last time she had fought a gargoyle. It had ended in the death of the creature, but also the loss of her only friend in the world. She felt a stab of regret and tried to force it from her mind. This was no way to enter into a battle, she had to forget the past. 'And anyway, Vanelee will take care of me...' This thought jolted her, why should a self-possessed elf who knew nothing of her care anything about her survival? No matter, Kos and Tos were a mere 15 feet away now. It was time to fight.

__________________
talk is cheap, so i buy every word you said.
scared me half to death, now i'm half dead.

Bob Biter

Alerted by the sudden movement above the trees, Dreggan went back up the tree.

"Hey guys, I believe that the real threat wasn't those dumb orcs, but whoever was leading them. I'll do a quick sweep and look for Nina. I have a feeling she tends to get herself into trouble."

Not waiting for confirmation from his companions, the thief jumped from branch to branch until he reached some kind of clearing. A huge flying creature had just landed and joined another like it. It looked like... gargoyles? What the hell were those things doing here, in the middle of a forest, no less. Didn't these freaks stay in the mountains? Oh well, more battle.

Heading back to Matt and Vanelee, Dreggan got their attention and motioned for them to follow him. As he lead them to the clearing. He pointed to where Nina was hiding and tried to formulate some kind of strategy. Just like a... soldier. Ugh.

__________________
A plan is just a list of things that don't happen.

SSJwrestler

'Gargoyles?' Vanelee questioned himself 'This could present some problems.'

Looking over his surroundings very quickly to get a guage of the battlefield, Vanelee began to think of ways to attack.

The clearing would allow the gargoyles to fly, so that meant the group had to draw them to where they stood, under the cover of the trees.

Looking at the two vey different gargoyles, Vanelee began making some quick judgements. 'OK,the one on the left is strong, REAL strong, and the one of the left is some sort of mage. Damnit, a real problem for us. They make a formidle duo. But let's think now..'

Dispelling his doubts, Vanelee stepped forward and turned back to look at his two companions.

"Guys, I have a plan, but you guys don't have to listen if you don't want. But, I think it might be in all of our best interests. Any objections?"

Dixie

[AS ELDAIRE (THEY BANNED ME)]

"No plan! Nina in trouble! Fight time!"

[OOC: I would attack the one on the left but...]

Eldaire darted through the woods, using his chi to power his movements. He came around behind the gargoyles and began charging the strong one. He figured he didn't stand much chance against a powerful mage and thought his companions could take care of that. When he got within five feet he extended his right hand and delivered a powerful invisible chi attack that had the force of 10 punches from a mighty warrior. Even the mighty gargoyle reacted with great pain. He turned to see his attacker and was met with a staff across the face, sending him flying about 10 feet away into the dirt. Matt took this opportunity to dart around to the other side of the downed gargoyle to get away from the mage. The whole thing had happened before the mage even had time to look over. Matt took a fighting stance, staff in hand. He was a bit suprised to see the gargoyle get up, but was then very excited. Alright. It's been so long since I've had a real battle.

The gargoyle looked at Matt with a terrible rage in his eyes. "That wasn't very smart," he said.

__________________
talk is cheap, so i buy every word you said.
scared me half to death, now i'm half dead.

Dixie

Nina groaned. Why did they have to interfere? It was easy enough for them to assume that the weak little girl would be in trouble, but actually she had been handling herself fine without their assistance.
No matter. Swinging her staff up over her head, she encased herself and the gargoyle mage in a shielded vacuum, where they could not be seen by the others and could battle without interruption.
The gargoyle laughed maliciously and lifted himself into the air. Nina focused on his chest, feeling the pumping heart beneath it. She raised one closed fist to the level of her face. When she opened her trembling hand, a blast of brilliant red energy erupted from her palm and swept over the beast. It cried out in pain and dove toward her. She dodged it effortlessly, clutched her staff, and gained control of the gargoyle for a moment, sending it crashing to the earth. The creature was almost too strong for her telekinetic capabilities and it knew that one blow had weakened her. Shaking off the blow, it began gathering energy and power from within, preparing to attack.

__________________
talk is cheap, so i buy every word you said.
scared me half to death, now i'm half dead.

SSJwrestler

"Nina!" Vanelee yelled taking a few steps toward the shielded vacumn, but he was stopped by a voice that seemed to be whispering in his ear.

'Vanelee, don't worry...I'll be fine...'

'Telepathic?' Vanelee questioned himself 'Is Nina telepathic? I igured she had telekentic powers being a demi-elf, but telepathic? If so...has she been reading my thoughts...'

Reassured that Nina would be just fine fighting the one gargoyle by herself, Vanelee turned to see how Matt was fairing against the larger of the two gargoyles.

Seeing that Matt's Sechi style was clearly dominating the fight, Vanelee thought to himself 'Has Nina read my thoughts...my feelings..?'

Vanelee regained focus and watched as Matt dismantled the strongest gargoyle.

Bob Biter

__________________
A plan is just a list of things that don't happen.

Amarth

[As Eldaire (forever more)]

The gargoyle moved with incredible speed in an attempt to leave the warriors from the battle and gain some breathing room to maybe recover from the incredible pain, but Eldaire easily followed him. They ran parallel to one another, trading blows. The gargoyle struck hard, but Eldaire's chi absorbed much of the blow. One of his strikes was too fast for Eldaire though, and there was no chi there to block it. Eldaire was sent careening through the air. The gargoyle chased after him and came down through Matt's after image hard with a kick. A look of suprise came over his face just as Matt brought his staff down hard from behind, planting the gargoyle face down in the earth. He then stood over the gargoyle hands outstretched. Screaming, he sent wave after wave of chi at the Gargoyle. The gargoyle dug deeper and deeper into the earth with the force of the attack. He made no attempt to get back up.

"Whew! I'm exhausted," his stomach growled, "and hungry. I'm gonna go get my food pack."

Vanelee spoke up, "What about Nina?"

"Is she here?"

"She's fighting the gargoyle in a shielded area right now."

"So there's nothing we can do?"

"No."

"I'm going to get my food pack."

Matt ran off in the direction of his food.

Bob Biter

(OOC: Great, which post do we use here?)


(OOC: Nevermind, Eldaire's attacks pretty much follow Dreggan's.)

__________________
A plan is just a list of things that don't happen.

Dixie

Nina showered the gargoyle with several powerful blasts of fiery energy, knocking it on its back and temporarily blinding it. The mage gargoyle flew up in the air and hurled several bullets of fire and ice back at Nina, who attempted to dodge them all but was struck across the face by one.

She felt something roll down her cheek like a tear. She wiped her hand across her face, looked down at her mortal blood and back up at the gargoyle, rage gleaming in her eyes. An intense wind whipped through the realm they battled in, nearly spinning the gargoyle out of the sky, but only slightly stirring Nina's hair and cloak.

'Enough,' she whispered, gripping her staff with both hands and raising it vertically above her head. Her eyes glazed over with the power that overtoke her as she brought the staff down and buried its tip in the ground. The earth shook and a hole opened up where her staff had penetrated it. A fiery wind lept up from the crevice, swallowed the gargoyle, dropped back to the earth, and the hole closed again. Nina stood motionless, slightly charred from the explosion, a tiny flame consuming one forlorn strand of her hair. The wind died down and the vacuum evaporated.

Vanelee looked up just in time to see Nina collapse from exhaustion, having defeated the mage beast.

__________________
talk is cheap, so i buy every word you said.
scared me half to death, now i'm half dead.

Amarth

Matt came strolling back, still chewing on some of his remaining food. His pack was on his back, but it was now the size of a small backpack. Only the potions Dreggan had given him remained. "That was good!" He looked to see Nina collapsed on the ground. "Should I toss her the healing potion?"

Bob Biter

[I]The battle had been won, but the newly reappeared Nina looked exhausted. Dreggan worried about this, as the group was only at the beginning of their mission, but what could he do. Each individual was very independant, some even more so than others, so there was no stopping whatever actions any of them might want to take.

Taking a piece of jerky from his pack, the thief started chewing on it, as Matt went off to gorge himself and Vanelee tended to Nina. Daydreaming, Dreggan thought back to his youth...

[OOC: Flashback follows]

"Dreggan! Get out of here! The house is surro..."

A sharp "twack" silenced the middle-aged man, who fell to the ground, a throwing blade stuck in his lower back. He couldn't get up, the thrower was skilled. The weapon was lodged low enough to prevent shock, while paralysing the lower body.

"UNCLE! I don't want to go! Please get up!"

Suddenly, the shadows came alive. Out of them emerged 4 figures, each dressed completely in black. Even their faces were covered, save for a slit for the eyes. Eyeing the fallen man, they stood immobile, until finally one of them spoke.

"You had your chance to leave, thief, but you chose to face your death. How generous it was of you to save us the bother of tracking you down! I am genuinely thankful. However, I am not so merciful."

A blur of movement from one of the men sent another blade deep into the thief's shoulder. He didn't scream, but still grimaced and groaned, cursing his would be killers.

- "Such a foul tongue you have, Mano."

- "Damn your eyes, Sekine. Why do you have to ply your disgusting trade in this realm. I know of your contracts, you murder the weak and defenseless for the rich and powerful, so that they may rule more brutally than ever!"

- "And you steal from the rich and give back to those wretches. You see our conflict, no?"

- "Thieving is harmless. The Gray Cloud Guild does not hurt anyone except for defense and steals only from those would hoard their belongings or flaunt them like the superficial fops they are. You people kill. You terminate life, whoever it might belong to. You do not contribute anything in this world! "

- "Tsk. Tsk. Such misguided word from someone who profits from loss. Life and wealth are the same. Who are you to judge their worth? We are a business. Businesses exist to make profit. It just so happens that certain people can brings us prosperity more easily."

- "You are evil, Sekine. You and the rest of your souless horde. Go. To. Hell."

- "You first, Mano."

The other three assassins who had simply watched suddenly sprang into action and buried their narrow, yet extremely sharp short swords into Mano. Their attacks were aimed to cause maximum pain, while keeping the victim alive.

The boy watched all of this, too paralysed to act. The hired killers had not even glanced at him... did they even know he was there? The question was quickly answered when he felt a cold blade press up against his neck. Only then did he realise that the man known as Sekine had disappeared from the carnage before him, only to reappear behind the boy. Beads of sweat slowly trickled down from the young lad's brow, as he struggled to swallow his fear. Sekine whispered in his ear.

"Watch, young one. Watch how thieves are dealt with. This is what he wanted you to be. Do you want to die like this? Like filthy vermin who exists only to rut, scavenge and be exterminated by those superior than they?"

[OOC: End of Flashback]

Dreggan's thoughts snapped back to reality. He looked around sharply to get his bearings, and remembered where he was. Looking at his hand, he saw that he had crushed the piece of jerky beyond recognition. Sighing deeply, he let it drop to the ground and took out another one, along with some water. His throat was parched. He took a long swig from the water skin and swallowed with great difficulty, some of the liquid trickling down his mouth.

He got back up, put on his facade once again and walked towards the rest of the group, chewing his jerky nonchalantly.

__________________
A plan is just a list of things that don't happen.

SSJwrestler

Vanelee watched the vacumn shield disperse as quickly as it had been summoned by Nina, and Nina drop to her knees from the exhaustion of the fight.

Seeing this, Vanelee ran to her side and caught her before she hit the ground. Her hair was slightly singed at the ends, and bits of ash were smeared across her face. It looked as if she had traveled through the brimstone of Hell and back.

Laying her small frame down on the ground gently, Vanelee looked up upon hearing Matt's question.

He answered, "Yes please Matt. If you'd be so kind. I think she could use it."

Matt tossed the elf the red potion and Vanelee fumbled as he caught it. It appeared that Matt had regained his strength quickly, because the potion was thrown with a bit of muster.

Tilting Nina's chin back ever so slightly so that her mouth opened, Vanelee poured the healing potion into her mouth. Taking care not to spill any.

"I think she will be fine in the morning, which is only a few hours away. I think we should just go ahead and set up camp here, to get some rest before continuing the journey." Vanelee suggested.

After seeing his other companions shake their heads in agreeance, Vanelee set about preparing his place to sleep. He removed a small sleeping mat he wore slung over his back under his cloak and set it on the ground. He positioned himself on the ground, not to close to Nina, but close enough so that he could see to it she slept peacefully.

Before he laid down to go to sleep, Vanelee removed Nina's old cloak, folding it in thirds so that he could use as a pillow for her. He then removed the new cloak he had boughten for her and laid it over top of her like a blanket. As he did this, he heard a slight growl from a wolf who had appeared from the woods, and joined Nina at her side. He never attacked Vanelee, just growled lowly and watched his every movement.

After seeing to it that Nina was fast asleep, Vanelee turned to his other companions. Matt was searching his bag for any left over morsel of food, and Dreggan was searching the clearing to see if the gargoyles had dropped anything of value during their battle.

Sensing that they were being watched, they both looked up to see Vanelee smiling sheepishly at them.

"Great fighting you two. I am sorry that I wasn't much help. I was going to step in, but you two seemed to have no touble dispatching of our enemies."

With this, Vanelee turned on his side away from his companions and began to drift to sleep, but only into a light sleep. His senses were still on alert, ready if they came under attack.

Menoman

"Damn fools" the duke said calmly. Walking away from his precious power mind locked away under his castle. "Those guys had trouble with those gargoyles, merely my first pawn in this match."

The duke walked through his enormous castle, looking into a room now and again, one room had a huge room, all the walls lined up with shelves of dusty books. Another, a dining hall, had a 20 foot table with 10 chairs on each side with a large master chair on the end.

When he finally made it to his destination, a large door sealed with 3 steel shackles and a glowing glyph in the center of it. Uttering a few quiet words the glyph shined red and white, then faded away. Quickly unlatching the shackles he walked outside, there was he shapeshifter Aspin outside in the center of his castle in a small courtyard area.

When the door opened Aspin dropped to one knee and lowered his head to the Duke's calf level. "No need." spoke Sar. "There is no time. The gargoyles are dead. As are the orcs, as I expected from them."

"Sir, if I may, We have plenty of time they still have to cross the mountains, they will either have to summit the mountain, which is where the gargoyles live, or they will have to travel through the caves. Then after that, well then its your territory, you'll have no problem with them here. You may not even have to do anything, the damned heathens living here would slit their throats for a dime."

"Your probably right, friend." said Sar, "You keep your act straight and you'll be by my side in no time, I can see you becoming powerful." At this time the Duke was sitting on a rock, he stared at it for a few minutes saying nothing. "I'll be back, wait here, I have a task for you."

Standing up his armor clanked a bit on the rock he was sitting on. He headed into the castle and to the room across the hall. Inside were hundreds of vials and vats of bubbling liquids, it was foul smelling in here. Heading straight to a small table with a vat and behind it small vials laying on the table. He picked up three small vials and headed back out to find his companion.

"Turn into something less threatening this time and head out to the mountains, at the base I want you to pour these three vials onto three seperate rocks. Do it quickly and get out quickly. I have seen what happens to people who act slow."

Without asking what they were for the shapeshifter grabbed the vials and stuck them into a pouch he carried around his right shoulder down around his left hip. tucked the pack around his back and began to change, slowly as to not pain himself much. He changed into a large condor, quite a rare sight around the world but when seen its accounted to being lucky, not threatening. Spreading his wings out he began to take flight, almost nightfall he had a hard time to make it to the mounts before daybreak but he could do it.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------

When the morning came he was just arriving at the base of the mountains, he had pondered all night what these vials were for. He was about to find out, swooping his wings out as he was about to land he quickly made a lot of dust, but he saw 4 rocks sitting near where he landed, slowly changing back into a human form he layed on his side. He thought he saw something out of the corner of his eye but his vision was heavily distorted from the transformation. When he regained his composure he saw there was nothing where he thought he was looking. Reaching into the bag he pulled out the vials, setting one on each of the rocks he was going to pour them on, so he could get it done quicker.

The first vial went smoothly, reaching for the second and pouring it over the second boulder, which was a bit larger then the first.

His hand went for the third but he smacked his hand off the rock and knocked the vial into the second boulder smashing it and the liquid oozed down the side of it. "Damnit!" angered by his own clumsiness he ran up the hill about 50 yard and transformed quickly, moaning at the pain of it all. After he was back in the shape of the condor he watched the rocks. The liquid had seemingly multiplied itself and had enveloped the entire rock in the color red. They started to move a bit, and crack the crackes were in the same exact spots on the two rocks, as they split and moved the condor at the top watched them without blinking. After a minute they came to rest...

What the.. thought Aspin. Taking to the air, should I go back? Yes, I can't disappoint the master. Swooping past the rocks one of them busted apart and stood up, senseing the vibrations off of the birds large wings, standing 7 feet tall and completely faceless one of the animated bodies took one step, the other rock felt the vibrating earth near him and stood up also, this one with two vials splashed on it was slower even. The bird noticed what had happened because of his mistake, this one had two complete arms on the side the vial smashed and the other side had one arm that was the size of two arms grown together. Sighing, he could do nothing but head back to the castle.

Both creatures standing beside each other not moving whatsoever. A minute later they returned to large boulders on the ground, but still they had the crackes in them. They were also blood red not like the brownish tan ones around them.

__________________

Dixie

Nina awoke from her sleep, shaken by harrowing dreams, dreams that blinked quickly into history, telling stories, broken and distorted by time. Some of the images were from her memory, things she had forgotten and things she could not forget, but others were images she did not know or understand. The past lives of her companions had been revealed to her in dreams, but the events were so fragmented she could not piece them together.

She found she had been covered by something, a cloak, and her companions were sleeping close by. Anca was at her side, breathing heavily and nudging her with his nose.

She remembered all that had happened and knew that Vanelee had taken care of her, after all. She crept silently to where he slept fitfully near her. She knelt beside him and watched his chest rise and fall as he breathed. She reached out with one trembling hand to touch his face, but withdrew it quickly, realizing the folly in this. She did not believe in love, not anymore.

As she drifted back to sleep, she felt an aching in her stomach that spread through her chest. The journey had not even begun and already she felt doubt creeping in. She had vowed to take this risk, she was born to take it, but maybe she truly wasn't ready for it.

__________________
talk is cheap, so i buy every word you said.
scared me half to death, now i'm half dead.

SSJwrestler

Vanelee had fallen asleep one or two hours before sunrise, and had waken with a start as soon as the sky over top the mountains began to glow with the rising sun.

Kicking himself for falling into such a deep sleep, Vanelee sat up and looked around. Everything appeared to be fine, all of his companions were still asleep. Matt had fallen asleep leaning his back against the tree, Dreggan was in a smiliar position, but was some 8 feet up the tree on a branch, and Nina was still lying on the ground, but the cloak that Vanelee had laid over her had been cast off to the side. Had she woken up in the night?

Seeing all was well, Vanelee thought he'd gather some fruit for his companions and he, to make their departure that much quicker. Gathering his sleeping mat, Vanelee returned it to its place under his cloak. He then headed off into the woods where he had seen some berry bushes before the battle commenced.

As he entered the woods though, Vanelee took one more look back at the camp, his gaze falling upon Nina. Her face seemed to glow as it was illuminated by a beam of sunlight. Vanelee was awestruck for a moment, for he had never realized just how beautiful the young miss was.

However, he quickly snapped himself back into focus, shaking his head to break his staring gaze.

'Breakfast' he thought ' I am going to get fruit for breakfast....'

Bob Biter

(OOC: FLASHBACK)

[I]The boy stood there helpless, as he watched his uncle writhe in agony. That and the soft chuckle of the man behind him, was all he could hear. The assassins went about their work with a frightening lack of passion, as if they were doctors operating on some unknow patient, stabbing here, cutting there...

When it was finished, Mano was reduced to a whimpering mass of mangled flesh. Never before had Dreggan seen such carnage, but there it was, and he would never forget it.

The nameless assassins then turned their gazes towards the boy for the first time, but were looking at their leader instead. Mano, despite the unspeakable things done to his body, managed to turn his ruined face towards his nephew.

- "Don't let the... demons take you, Dreggan. Re... Remember this... day..."

- "Do you really think we will let that happen?"

- "..."

- "Do it."

As soon as Sekine had spoken this command, 3 blades found their way into Mano's heart. His eyes widened, only to close slowly. His body shook violently, only to subside.

As life departed his uncle's body, Dreggan simply stood mute, unable to cry or speak. Sekine had let him go and joined his underlings, facing the now totally orphaned boy.

- "Tell me, Dreggan. How would you like your death? Quick and painless or slow and agonizing?

The boy's gaze lifted slowly from the cooling corpse lying at his feet to the dead eyes looking down at him. His face was calm, his grey eyes piercing the inner pain and sorrow he felt to even give the assassins pause.

- "Slow and agonizing. So that I may remember what it was like to be alive."

- "..."

- "I'm waiting."

- "Heh. You are very brave, boy. Braver than most men I've seen in such conditions. However, I still have a purpose for you. Since you were not in our contract, I can do with you as I wish.

Sekine snapped his fingers and his henchmen went into action. Dreggan didn't even see them move, but felt the sharp blow to the neck and the sack pulled over him. Before losing himself to blessed unconsciousness, he did manage to hear a few words.

- "I always did want a son..."

(OOC: BACK TO THE REAL WORLD)

The thief woke with a start, but noticed something odd. He was moving. Rapidly. Downward. A loud thud and a pain on his side reminded him to avoid sleeping on narrow branches again and he cursed under his breath as he got back up.

His dreams were coming to him more frequently and he did not care for it. Especially now, when his demeanor had so thoroughly convinced the others of his aloofness. Why must he torment himself so? Climbing back up the tree to get his pack, he saw something that made his blood freeze. A steel needle, just like the ones he used, was lodged in the tree trunk near where he had slept. A thin strip of cloth with something written on it hung from the weapon, slightly flowing in the morning breeze. Slowly reaching for it, he dreaded what it could mean, but in the back of his mind, he knew what the intent was.

Dislodging the needle, he read the message: "Remember." Tears welled up in his eyes, but he wiped them away angrily. They had found him, but had not taken him... why? Why must they torment him still? Discarding the needle, Dreggan dropped down from the tree and composed himself. Vanelee was gathering fruit, ever the consumate "good-guy", so he most likely heard him fall the first time. Putting on his game face, the thief walked to him, smiling.

"So, I see someone's up early! And productive as well! My, my... I can tell she'll fall for you hard."

Vanelee's ubiquitous smile slowly dropped; a huge question mark floating above his head.

- "What do you mean?"

- "Whatever you think I do, mister!"

With that, Dreggan snatched a few berries from Vanelee's hand and stuffed them into his mouth. Smiling the whole time.

__________________
A plan is just a list of things that don't happen.

Amarth

Matt slept against the tree, but fitfully. He fell from it and his head bounced off the rock. This didn't even come close to waking him up though. He threw stray punches in his sleep. One of them hit the tree and almost felled it. His dreams were of his past.

[OOC: I want a flashback too!]

The house was quaint and far from town, but it did the job. Matt and his father spent little time actually in the house anyway, and Matt's mother had died giving him birth. Out back, the yard was littered with staves, bows and arrows, knives, swords, chucks, sais, and every other type of weapon imaginable. That was where all their time was spent. All they did was eat, train, and sleep. When Matt's father was at work, Matt trained alone. When he got home, they trained together, except for today. There was no training today.

Matt sobbed terribly as he watched his father get taken away by the sentinels. One of them spoke to his father, "Sorry to do this to you old buddy, but the law's the law." Amarth spoke only to his son, repeating over and over again "I'm sorry bud, but this is the way it has to be." Amarth put up no resistance to the sentinels. As they loaded him up on one of the horses, he spoke to the one who was his friend, "Take good care of my boy okay?"

"Of course old friend." All of the other sentinels rode off and the only people left were Matt and the sentinel. "Let's go Matt."

"Go away Emyn. I'm waiting right here till my dad get's back." Matt was only five years of age. He could not understand the situation. He did not understand why his dad had to leave. He did not know where he was going. He only knew that he could not imagine life without his dad. He sat in the doorway stubbornly.

"I wish he were coming back kiddo, but he's not. Now, let's go." He put a hand on Matt's shoulder and attempted to force him along, but Matt threw him hard on the ground and put him out cold.

When Emyn awoke, he sat up and spoke to Eldaire. "I'm sorry to do this to you Matt, but you leave me no choice." Emyn went to punch him, but Matt dodged and countered with a kick that doubled Emyn over, gasping for breath. Emyn's anger began to get the better of him. "Why you!"

At that moment, a strange bald man in red robes stepped forward and spoke. "Just a moment good sir. I have been observing this prediciment for a while now, and I would like to adopt this boy if it suits you, and the boy."

"Do what you like with him!" With that, Emyn began to walk away, but, remembering his promise to Amarth, he sighed and turned around. "You'll give him a good home right?"

"Of course sir. He will be very happy in our monestary I promise." The man's voice was so kind and gentle that Emyn was convinced at that. He nodded and walked away. The man then turned to Matt. "Hello there Matt. My name is Alda. I know it's hard for you to understand, but your father will be very busy for a long time and he won't be coming back. We'll leave him a note if you like. I'm sure he'll come for you when he's finished." Matt looked at the man curiously. He felt he had known him forever. He approached the man cautiously at first, but he ran to him, throwing his arms around him and sobbing heavily into his robes.

FLASH

Eldaire woke with a start. His stomach growled furiously. The sun was already high in the sky. "Huh. I woke up pretty early today." He ran off into the woods to find himself and his group breakfast."

Dixie

Nina found that she had outslept all of her companions. Embarassed, she doned her new cloak and darted off into the woods to dine alone. She caught a woodland rabbit easily, built a fire and roasted it in no time, as she had been subsisting in that manner all her life. She and Anca enjoyed the tough meat together and as she ate she tried to refocus on her purpose.

(OOC: I guess if everyone else is revealing their past, maybe I should, too. Not. Heh heh.)

She had to reach the Duke somehow, if that meant the death of her companions, then so be it. She could not let her feelings for Vanelee distract her from her mission. She had struggled for too long to give in to such a weakness now.

Feeling slightly more resolute, Nina made her way back to the camp, where she found Dreggan and Vanelee finishing breakfast and preparing to leave. Not wanting to abandon courtesy all together, she thanked Vanelee curtly for the cloak and his attentiveness the night before.

Dreggan seemed troubled by something. Curious, Nina darted through his mind quickly, scooping up prominent information. What she found shocked her. Such loss, such pain. He had shown such a carefree exterior, she hadn't bothered to enter his mind, convinced she would be bored with what she found there. How wrong she had been to judge him! Vanelee, on the other hand, seemed capable of shielding his thoughts from her and she could only divulge superficial feelings and emotions from him. Perhaps Matt was more than he seemed as well. She would find out soon enough, she sensed him approaching from the woods.

__________________
talk is cheap, so i buy every word you said.
scared me half to death, now i'm half dead.

SSJwrestler

'I knew she was telepathic' Vanelee thought to himself, as he watched Nina closing her eyes , trying to hide the fact. 'Well young miss, you can read somethings in my mind no problem, but other things must main hidden from you....'

Seeing that everyone around him seemed to be in quite a somber mood, Vanelee decided he'd say something to distract thier thougts.

"I know I've said it already, but phenomenal fighting yesterday. Not even the elves in my clan..." with these words, Vanelee's smile faded, and his twinkling eyes lost nearly all their shine. "Yes well...um..my clan..they couldn't have even dealt with those foes as easily as you all did."

Thoughts came racing into Vanelee's mind after mentioning his clan, and he joined his companions in their feelings of somberness, but only for a moment. With a quick shake of his head, Vanelee focused his thoughts on something else and raised his head back up to look at his fellow companions, dorning his usual smile now.

"Let's say we move on now, unless...Matt are you still hungry? Matt?"

Looking around Vanelee did not see Matt. He could have sworn that he was still amongst the group, but he was obviously mistaken. Vanelee's thoughts wandered to the words Dreggan had spoken earlier, as he awaited Matt's return. "I can tell, she'll fall for you hard."

'She isn't falling for me...' Vanelee reassured himself. 'She hasn't given any of the usual signs, but then again she isn't your usual girl...she's much more...she's...WAIT! She could be reading my mind!'

With this, Vanelee looked up at Nina, who had her cloak's hood pulled over top of her head, hiding her face from view.

'Was she reading my thoughts? Man, I have to be a little more careful. Especially if she doesn't have any feelings for me and I'm the only one who...'

Vanelee's thoughts were broken as his ears perked up. He had heard something moving in the woods directly behind him. What was it?

Bob Biter

__________________
A plan is just a list of things that don't happen.

Amarth

Matt came stomping back from the woods, a dead bear over his shoulder.

"Hi gu...."

A needle flew in his direction with great speed and accuracy. Matt ducked just in time to have the needle plant itself in the dead bear. It went so deep that you never would have known it was thrown in the first place.

"What was that for?"

"Sorry about that..." responded Dreggan, one hand on the back of his head.

"Anyway, like I was saying... Hi guys! I got us some breakfast! Just let me start a fire really quick and we'll be feasting on bear meat."

Matt started a fire with some sticks and straw. He had done this plenty of times in his time as a journeyman and liked to think he was getting pretty good at it. While the fire was building, he prepared the bear for roasting. He jumped into the air and knocked two branches from a tree with each arm. He then broke one of them in half and shoved the two halves on either side of the fire. He put the third one through the bear meat and began to roast it. He reached into his pack and pulled out some salts and oils. He turned to Dreggan smiling [OOC: Think ^.^], "See, I thought in advance. I got some for now and some for making it good later!" When he was finished, the meat looked fit for a king. It was a tender brown and the greasy aroma drifted across the woods. He slapped his head as he remembered somthing. "Be right back!" He ran into the woods in his usual speedy fashion, leaves flying up on either side of hiim as he ran. When he came back, he was carrying a large boulder which he threw into the air. He concentrated on it's motion a moment, and then jumped, punching it and sending debris flying away from the group and the meat, towards the woods. He then used his legs to jump off towards the debris. He grabbed four large flat pieces from the debris. He carried them back and tore the meat into four pieces. Three about 2 lbs in size and he other had the rest of the meat. He ran over to his companions with the first three. He handed one to nina who toppled a bit, being suprised by the weight of the stone. He then ran over to Vanelee and did the same. He set the third under Dreggan's tree. When he was done, he ran back to his and began to devour his share of the meat. About half way through he looked up and noticed his companions' food was untouched. "You guys eatin' or what?"