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Dawn of Destiny; dun dun DUN!
Topic Started: Aug 28 2006, 03:35 PM (3,036 Views)
eocine
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Sometimes you just have to burn the card fate dealt you.
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The discussion had gone on fairly long into the night, various ideas suggested and played over, as was always likely to be the case. The lack of any real information as to what they faced was a huge hindrance, stopping them from making any particularly cohesive plans. Spell choices were another topic for discussion, and the need for balance had to be paramount in what they decided upon. Furthermore they needed to be as synchronised in what they did as they could be with such a small amount of time to think. It was clear of course that Skafloc would lead in battle: his brawn and muscle dictated that. Karosin would come behind, with Jonas drifting about the edges of the battle, his punching daggers taking advantage of the undefended. That left Llana to be the glue, synchronising the combat and picking and choosing her spells according to the situation.

At least this was the plan; the execution could turn out to be rather different.

Finally they all retreated to bed to rest up and prepare for the morning as best they could….

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

Morning has broken, like the first morning…

As the sun first pierced the clouds a faint and soothing sound rang out through the Citadel of the Mists, bringing those who had been still asleep into gentle wakefulness, and telling those who had awoken earlier that dawn was breaking, and thus the day was beginning.

The party had agreed to reconvene in the main hall the following morning, and it was with some trepidation and the feeling of a great task ahead that they gathered. The hall was laid out for breakfast, with fruit and the like covering the table. Early morning light shone through the glass roof, warming the whole room and from inside they could see that the day ahead would probably be a cold and clear one, the sun low in the sky and glimmering with a watery light.

When Skafloc and the others entered they could see at once that the Mist-Master and Azure were standing with a newcomer, one with curly white hair and a startlingly pale complexion…

“Good morning to you all”.

The Mist-Master greeted them with open arms, “you all of course understand the need for haste, and thus I shall not delay the introduction,” he said stepping to the side and extending his arm towards where Greg was stood.

“When we first met I told you the story of the brave people who sacrificed their lives to destroy Hellgate Keep…” He paused to allow them to remember the story before continuing. “One of their number has been returned by the gods to finish what was begun then.”

“As such he will be joining you on the mission tomorrow. I apologise for the lateness of this event, but he only arrived last night, and as you can all imagine we had much to discuss…”

“Nevertheless we cannot delay any longer, no matter how much I may desire to have you understand one another better. In one hour’s time we must be ready to move out, and to do that High Scrivener Serdin has laid out a Teleportation Circle in the courtyard that will take you onto the road that leads to Elven Port.”

He paused now, to allow Greg and the others to have their own say…
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Pamela
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Her private meditation and prayers done, the Sunite felt better able to face the coming mission. Still enthused with the peace that her devotions provided, she entered the dining room smiling at the beautiful day that was revealing itself. Her smile grew as did her sense of hope as she saw the newcomer. Perhaps another member? He seemed to be human despite his unusual paleness, but she made no attempt at any other assumptions.

Her eyes widened in realization at the description of their new companion, and also with a sense of repulsion. She understood that it was a divine favour…of sorts. But it was not one she would wish to experience herself. Except to save Karo…so long as he was never able to see me or know me for who- and what- I was.

“Greetings, sir, and welcome. Your aid is much appreciated,” she said, still able to maintain a gracious attitude despite her personal qualms. “I am Llana, priestess of Sune. May I ask your name, and your vocation?”
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Castamir
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Skafloc had been up early. He had offered his prayers to his ancestors - to grant him strength when needed, and to welcome him if things went badly.

He then applied his warpaint with a precision that bordered on the ritual. It intertwined with his tatoos and made his apprerance more savage than normal. It was unlikely to scare the Fey'ri, but it was as much for Skafloc's benefit as anything else. It helped focus his energy.

He fastened his bearskin cloak, and picked up his Great Axe 'Brainbiter' from the stand that had been in his room when he arrived. It had fitted the huge weapon perfectly, which was handy, for a vorpal blade wasn't something you wanted lying around. The axe positively hummed in his hand, as if it knew it was needed.

As he entered the dining hall he glanced at the newcomer as the Mist-master introduced him, and his expression froze.

'...returned by the gods...' This man had died.

He'd been dead, properly dead, and he'd been returned. Skafloc felt a rush of conflicting emotions as the cleric introduced herself...
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eocine
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Sometimes you just have to burn the card fate dealt you.
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Karosin’s eyes flickered open in the grey light of the pre dawn hours, and he pushed himself upright, flexing his neck as he did so, smiling slightly as his vertebrae gave an audible crack. He turned his head towards the slumbering shape of Llana next to him, taking in her face, that was for the time being peaceful and showing no signs of the trials that would awake later.

He wondered sometimes if he himself should feel trepidation at times like this, if he should have had a troubled nights sleep before the death and danger today. Yet he never did, never woke up with cold sweats or from the throes of nightmares.

Not of course that I’d want to

He reminded himself as he swung his legs out and pushed himself to his feet. Passing in total silence across to the dressing table he looked down at the carefully arranged items that were laid out on a black cloth across the wooden surface. Blades gleamed like surgical instruments in the greyness, and he picked up his throwing dagger and tested the blade against the ball of his thumb, feeling its razor sharpness straight away.

Carefully he laid the weapon back down on the cloth and stepped away, before gathering up his clothes and dressing in total silence, his clothing form fitting and designed for ease of movement. Once fully clothed he slid the door open and traced his way through the corridors, passing various magical constructs going about their business and paying him no attention at all.

Finally he reached his destination and stepped out into the courtyard, the morning was fresh and clear, and the mist rose from the ground in ghostly patterns. A malice tinged smile crossed his lips as he looked out into the expanse of forest ahead of him.

This is indeed a fine day for someone else to die…

This cheery thought in mind he began a series of stretches, aiming to get his muscles as loose as possible, an early start meant that there would be little enough time to prepare properly, and so he had to take advantage of what he had now.

The workout was a light one but once it was completed he felt better for it, and headed back inside to quickly bathe and then equip himself fully. Once he arrived back in the room though he saw that Llana had awoken in his absence and had herself bathed and was now dressing for the day ahead. They exchanged small talk and a few last minute ideas, but the threat of death prevented it from being a more lively exchange than that and Llana soon began her prayers whilst he bathed and then redressed and armed himself.

After a short while the magical bell sounded in their heads and they gathered all they could think they’d need before heading towards the main hall. As they did so Karosin compulsively checked and rechecked everything, his weapons and equipment down to the merest detail.

Somebody needs to get out in the sun more, he looks like an albino rat…

Observed the former assassin to himself as he took in Greg’s appearance and then listened to what the Mist-Master had to say…

Martyrdom was never something that he’d been able to understand, he understood bravery, understood taking on nigh impossible odds but to simply surrender ones life? That was something that he could and would never understand.

Never the less he was far less concerned with the fact that he had been dead before and been returned, to his eyes it was no different from being resurrected really… Though it did look as if being entombed had a positively ruinous effect on his colour…

While the others made their greeting he contented himself with merely ‘charmed I’m sure’… He assumed that the bleached one could handle himself, after all he wouldn’t be on the mission if he couldn’t…
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Darkwind
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He didn't sleep, of course, but meditated to clear his mind. Not so easy to do, by the way, when your mind can no longer be distracted by sleep. When it came time to meet the others, he took a quick survey and found them all quite serious--seriously boring, that is. But not for long...!

Mischief was peeking out of his eyes and smile at the others as he replied to the Sunite. He made a conscious play on words--vocation, vocal, voice. "My name is Greg, dear lady, and much to my shame I couldn't sing to save my life. My voice is barely good enough to croak the phrases of arcane spells, which is all I do. Unlike Misti here, though, I don't bother with a spellbook." That ought to tell them all they needed to know about his profession.

"A pleasure to meet you all. Pardon me for not introducing myself yesterday, but my friends here kept me busy telling stories. Our favorite so far seems to be 'There and Back Again', otherwise known as 'How the Heck Did You Manage To Come Back?' It does get rather old after a while, though. Please! Don't allow me to bother you. I see quite a few somber types among you, and I guess it's fair to warn you that I'm frivolous to a fault. Misti will confirm that."
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Castamir
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Skafloc cleared his throat, and spoke with a slight hesitancy - something quite unusual for the usually blunt and uncompromising warrior.

He had instantly wanted to question the man, but quite quickly he decided that he'd rather not know. If it were not as he had dreamed, how he had imagined for so long. If the tribal elder's tales of the afterlife had been wrong.. His mind recoiled at the very idea..

"Please, whatever happens. I do not want to hear about anything you may have seen between the moment you died, and the moment you returned. I would prefer to experience that first hand.. I am sorry if this sounds.. odd.."

"Do not think me unwelcoming though friend. It is good that you join us. You have much knowledge of our enemy, and our group is hardly going to overwealm by sheer numbers alone." He smiled, but it was quite clear that it was forced, though it was also clear that there was no actual animosity either.

Skafloc had not always been so open minded. A certain half orc druid had once nearly gotten herself split in two simply for introducing herself..
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eocine
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Sometimes you just have to burn the card fate dealt you.
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Karosin could hardly be called a man happy to tolerate fools gladly, but never the less almost continual drilling on matters of tolerance had, on a very base level at least, managed to get through to him. Thus he neglected to say much of anything to Greg after his explanation, contenting himself with a falsely cheery smile… “I’m quite sure that you won’t bother me in the least…” He responded, stating what was really more of a hope than an expectation.

That said he stepped backwards, and moved away to the other side of the hall, picking up a few pieces of food as he did so, he suspected that this would be the last meal to be taken in peace for a while and felt that it would be best to ensure that he took advantage of it as well as leaving time for digestion afterwards…
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eocine
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Sometimes you just have to burn the card fate dealt you.
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“I can confirm that he’s frivolous to more than simply a fault…” Agreed the Mist-Master dryly to Greg’s words, still he was glad to see that his experiences had robbed him of none of his customary zest for life, and he suspected that the sorcerers heart and cheer would prove invaluable in this mission, above and beyond his fearsome control of magic…

“I find myself apologizing to you all once more but there are more preparations that I must finalise now…” He said turning to them all, “I suggest that you eat now while you can and then prepare yourselves as best you’re able, an alarm will sound shortly and then it will be time for you all to be on your way…”

With that he turned and headed towards the door, his long stride swift and purposeful as he did so…
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Mistress Elysia
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8.05 - 8.25: Elsewhere....

She hadn’t a clue how they’d picked up her trail – maybe she had been getting slack recently, lulled into a false sense of security knowing that her chosen destination was within reach. Gritting her teeth against the pain of the barbed arrow that was embedded in her left shoulder, Fade grimaced at the irony of it all; once upon a time she would have been the pursuer in these very environs, excited by the chase and the promise of wanton bloodshed. Now it was her turn to be the quarry. Ironic indeed.

She continued to run, stumbling over tree roots and rocks, knowing that she would be shown no mercy of she was caught – not death; no, she was too valuable for that, but a million other infinitely worse punishments awaited her at the hands of both the factions that hunted her now. Panicking slightly, she scanned her surroundings as she fled; surely there was some form of cover here, somewhere she could hide? She had no idea how much further she could run; she had run out of healing potions a long time ago and knew that she had lost a lot of blood in the chase; her throbbing temples and distinct feeling of light-headedness were testament to that.

At first, she thought the sound of running water was a hallucination; something her pain-fevered mind had conjured up to taunt her. However, lurching toward the source of the sound confirmed that there was indeed a river nearby… perfect for her to follow in an attempt to throw her trackers off her scent. It was an old trick, she knew, but it would break her trail for a while, and even if it only gave her precious minutes to widen the gap between her and the Abyss-spawned bastards that hunted her, it was worth it.

The river was wide and relatively shallow, but as Fade waded out into its depths, she felt her heart jolt and almost cried out at the water’s cold touch. Slowly she waded up river, avoiding the jutting rocks and mats of forest debris as much as she could, for she knew that even one drop of blood would give away her position. Shivering with the cold as well as fatigue, she judged that she had moved as far up river as she needed to, and so headed for the same bank she had come from since logic would normally dictate that she would head for the opposite bank.

It was a shame that logic was something the Fey’ri had little use for.

Scanning the trees that now surrounded her once again, Fade knew she was at the end of her reserves and so frantically searched for somewhere she could hide – at least there was a chance that she would be passed by, as opposed to the certainty that she would be found unconscious on the path if she continued on. The silence of the forest was eerie after the jeering catcalls and taunts she had endured from her pursuers for so long. Maybe she had thrown them off her scent… maybe they had gone down river as opposed to up and were searching the copses and glades there. Still – she couldn’t take that risk… Damn! Why couldn’t it be summer? The undergrowth would be thicker, affording more cover. Still, the drifts of leaves that piled up against the thick, rough trunks of the trees and draped over the yellowing ferns and bushes made better cover than nothing at all… desperate now, feeling weak and envisioning all sorts of punishments if she was found simply passed out amongst the trees, Fade crawled under a large bush, covered in a drift of leaves. She almost swooned when the arrow embedded in her shoulder caught a branch and felt an odd, hot, pulsating sensation as fresh blood tricked from the wound. Knowing her luck, the arrow would have been poisoned, and the way her flesh felt hot to the touch around the wound only seemed to confirm this.

Shifting slightly in her makeshift bolt-hole, Fade drew Tholdagnir from its scabbard and listened carefully. Could she rest? Could she take a chance that she had thrown off her pursuers?

A low, evil chuckle from above her froze her blood and confirmed her worst fears: they had found her.

‘Fade… I know you’re here… I can smell you. I can smell your blood and your fear…’ A deep voice, resonant with cruelty and malice called out from her left. ‘Remember: I know exactly what they both smell – and taste – like, having experienced them both a multitude of times…’

Two more snickers joined the first; so, Inther still had his two Ranger lackeys with him. Fade almost sobbed in desperation –even in her damaged state, there was a slim possibility that she could have taken Inther on by himself and escaped, but the three of them? No chance.

Suddenly, Fade felt a large hand crash through her makeshift shelter, grab the back of her neck and haul her upright.

‘So… what have we here?’ the tiefling Fade has been forced to call master sneered ‘A little lost soul, all alone in the woods.’ With no regard at all for the arrow sticking out of her shoulder or the multiple lacerations covering her, Inther dragged the rebel fey’ri closer to him. As he did so, Fade swung wildly with Tholdagnir; no skill was involved, just the blind hope that the enchantments she had had woven into the fabric of the weapon would work. It was not a particularly strong nor accurate swing and Fade spun and fell with its momentum, but as the sword made contact with the bare flesh of Inther’s upper arm, he dropped her as if stung, his once confidently sneering face twisted into one of anger and malice. ‘You little bitch! You enchant your weapons against your own kind?!’ he spat ‘Do you have any idea of the trouble you have got me into?’ he then grinned again as he advanced upon her prone form, waving at the two Rangers to lower their bows ‘and any idea of the… punishments I have prepared for you once you were back in my custody?’
Grabbing Fade by the front of her leather tunic, he hauled her to up his mocking, grinning visage.

‘You have been a very, very naughty girl, Fade…’
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Pamela
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At Greg’s unusual and playful response, Llana smiled warmly, and with a touch of relief. She had imagined a solemn, moral zealot, full of cryptic remarks. A sorcerer- that explains a lot, she thought. She turned at Skafloc’s unusual request, wondering what lay behind it. She herself, despite her qualms, was curious. If she ever did get up the courage to ask, she made a mental note to do it in private. She smiled at the rest of the barbarian’s reply, especially at the reference to their few numbers. Isn’t that the truth...

She blinked and started at Karosin’s remark, having to force herself to not keep staring as he went off to get something to eat. This kept her tongue-tied until the Mist-Master spoke, and after saying goodbye to the illusionist, she turned back to the sorcerer. “We are quite a serious group, but much of it is concern over the rest of this morning. It is a relief to have one more among us, and a definite lessening weight upon my shoulders. As for frivolous- unless you’re going to fuss over the state of your clothes and your hair, I won’t be worried,” she said teasingly.

“Please forgive me the wording of this question, but…how long have you been back? Have you any knowledge about the fey’ri beyond that which the Mist-Master offered us?” She began to approach the table herself, turning in between setting up a plate to catch his answer.
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eocine
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Sometimes you just have to burn the card fate dealt you.
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The hour ebbed away quickly as it tends to do when you know that it will be the last time you spend in some semblance of security for a good while, and soon they heard the magical gong that called them to the courtyard of the Citadel.

There was an eerie stillness about the place, and strangely the feeling that the very building feared for them once they left its mist shrouded sanctity behind. Still, the lack of clouds in the sky promised a sunny day and one that would at least keep a certain level of light on the proceedings.

However though it was bright there had clearly been a frost, and a sheen of brilliant whiteness covered the ferns and grasses that grew in the occasional pile in the courtyard.

A number of arcane marks stood out in a dazzling neon blue against the pure white, cordoning off an area of land that could be guessed from past experience to be where the Teleportation Circle that they would be using lay.

The Mist-Master stood off to the side, the bottom of his robes damp and a somber look on his face, next to him the masked mage Azure, who was as impassive as ever behind the blue screen that he always wore… Cherissa stood a little way away from them, her arms folded across her chest and a look on her face that suggested nothing, in its own way it was perhaps no less a mask than the one sported by her Elven companion.

By the side of the circle stood the broad figure of High Scrivener Serdin, his head was bowed and his eyes were closed tightly as he prayed silently to his god to keep them all safe and aid them in winning a victory that Deneir himself would be proud to tell of.

As they all approached the Mist-Master stepped to his side, and the Serdin looked up from his prayers and smiled at them… They were brave, hardy and capable one and all, of that there was no doubt but in this case there was no certainty that it would be enough to pull them all through the horrors that the demon-spawned Fey’ri would throw at them…

Yet there was hope, for there had to be in this…

Hope that together they could achieve the needed victory… And most importantly come out alive at the end…

The time for waiting was clearly over, and he could sense that they all knew it as well for their posture spoke it in a way that words perhaps couldn’t have done… As close to a blasphemous thought there as I’ve had in a long while, chucked Serdin to himself as he thought that, for such thoughts weren’t exactly part of the dogma of Deneir.

“This is the final chance you have to back out”, spoke the Mist-Master, whilst of course privately thinking that the time for that had long since passed. “If not then I wish you well in your task, and hope to see you all again soon to celebrate your victory…”

With that and then feeling that there was nothing left to say he took a step to the side, and allowed them to step onto the circle.

As each of them did in turn there was a curious moment where a distinct feeling of duality overcame them, and for a second it felt as if they were falling, reaching the instant of terminal velocity, but rather than falling downwards they were falling up…

Then, as suddenly as the sensation had begun it had ended, and the Citadel had melted away from them leaving them standing in a circle on the cold earth floor of the forest. All around them were trees, though it instantly became clear that they were on a path of sorts, for the grasses that were abundant elsewhere had been completely eroded from beneath them.

From the left they could hear the sound of running water, which was expected as the maps that they had examined had shown the road running parallel to the Delimbyr River, to the right though was a virtually endless expanse of forest.

Skafloc’s countless days roaming the wilds of the Northlands in his younger days meant that he could easily tell which direction the north was in, and thus they made to move out in that direction…

Yet there was something… Odd…

Jonas and Skafloc heard it first, a voice borne on the wind, too far away to make out the words exactly, but the tone was unmistakable, a mocking lilt born of confidence and arrogance, with a heaping of malice undertoned.

It came from the left, in the direction of the river, and soon they all managed to pick out that there was more than one voice, perhaps a group of the Fey’ri out and hunting?...
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eocine
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Karosin had finished eating as quickly as he could without cramming it into himself, and had then contented himself with moving around the hall in a bid to keep the blood flowing around his limbs, not wanting them to cool down or their looseness to be lost… When the call had finally come he had gone through one final check of his equipment before turning to Llana and taking her hand, giving it a gentle squeeze as he did so. Occasionally he wondered if she sensed his excitement in these moments, for he knew that for her it was a different experience. Exhilaration and excitement are different indeed…

He maintained a silence as he walked, his mind undergoing that curious metamorphosis into combat readiness, a metamorphosis that chipped away at his ability to make small talk, and made most of what he said even more curt than he usually was…

By the time they had walked out into the morning light he could feel his senses were on edge, and turned to Llana, pulling her into him and laying a kiss on her forehead… “Stay safe my dear”, he whispered to her quietly as he released her hand and drew his sabre and dagger both, he after all didn’t want to suddenly step into a combat zone without his weapons in his hands…

The words by both the Mist-Master and Serdin virtually washed over him, and he paid them no notice, words meant nothing at this point, only actions counted from here on in…

When finally they stepped aside he turned once more to his loved one, the beautiful Sunite priestess and gave her a sideways grin before stepping into the circle and vanishing. Teleportation was never ever going to win him over, the sensation of sudden and huge movement was an anathema to one who so relishes having total control over everything he does, but he recognized that it served a purpose…

Once he felt more fully together he had stepped away from the circle, turning back to check that Llana was ok before scanning the area closely… Nothing seemed odd visually, but as he completed his sweep he became aware of the looks on the faces of the Tiefling and the brute…

Curious…

He followed their gaze for a moment before realizing that it wasn’t something that they could see but rather something that they could hear… Silently he took a few steps forwards and after a short time he could hear it too, the sound of a voice traveling though the trees…

A smile as cold as ice crossed his lips as he considered what this would mean…

“Perhaps we should… Investigate these voices before we carry on into Elven-Port?” Suggested the former assassin to the others… “After all they could easily be Fey’ri, and thus we may be able to question one of them as to the situation up ahead”.

Rarely throughout the human sphere of experience has the word 'question' had quite so many threatening connotations…
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Darkwind
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Before...

"Pfft. I am a man, you know. If you see me not disheveled, it's only by accident."

He followed her. "I've been back basically since the destruction of Hellgate Keep. I stayed dead only long enough for the fey'ri to get away--I knew I couldn't deal with all of them." He hesitated for a short moment. "I know you don't understand, so I suppose I might as well tell you the whole story. Maybe you can spare me an extra retelling by letting the others know the gist of it. You know why and where I died. Well, I decided to hang around a bit instead of following procedure and going to see Kelemvor, to make sure everything was done right and savor the job well done. I watched in horror as the fey'ri escaped... That wouldn't do at all, so I begged my patron, the Smiling God, to give me a chance to fix what I unknowingly did. He gave me this body, I picked up my old equipment, and I've been fighting them ever since."

After...

"Sounded like fey'ri, so I'm going." A magic word later, his cloak shimmered and he disappeared. Ethereal, he moved as quickly as he could to the left, from where the voices came from.
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Mwa13
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Earlier...

Jonas stared at Greg with much interest. He had been in many of the planes and seen many undead before, but this man was different, even though his body might be without warmth, his spirit sure wasn't and that eased things a lot. Jonas gave Greg a welcoming bow and smile. "Welcome", was only what he said.

He listened to Greg explain his death and awakening with interest. The man held a divine touch and that was very impressive to Jonas, the gods had listened to the man and given him a chance to correct things right. Not every man can say that they have gotten such a chance. Only one thought remained in Jonas' mind: What will happen once Greg finishes the job..? Maybe it was a question to be left alone and never to be asked.

Present...

Jonas didn't flinch at all at the teleportation, since he was very much used to shifting between Planes and areas. He looked around the area where they had been sent to and lifted an eyebrow, taking curious glances around.

Jonas turned his gaze towards the voice the wind carried towards them and squinted his eyes, his usual smile fading from his face. He didn't like the tone of the voice.

As he was about to answer Karosin, Greg responded and vanished. Jonas frowned at the sorcerer's actions and turned to the others. "Seems like your question is answered", he said to Karosin and starting going towards the voices, walking silently and taking cover from wherever he could. He twirled his daggers in his fingers while walking, ready for anything.
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Pamela
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Llana listened intently to the account of Greg’s past, asking questions in between eating and grateful for the diversion from the jitters she always got before a battle. When the time came to go, she shook her head at Karo’s smile, envying his attitude towards the coming battles. She stepped through, preparing herself as best as she could with the sense of lurching that occurred, and blinked at the sudden change in scenery. She turned to look at the others, waiting for everyone to get in order when she caught the others’ attention being diverted… A questioning look crossed her face as she ran through the spells in her mind, wondering if they were already required to begin preparing themselves when Karosin and Greg both left.

She frowned and turned to the others, withdrawing her blade as she followed Jonas and Skafloc towards the direction the fey’ri were. She neither heard nor saw anything, and murmured to the pair before her, “Any idea how many we might be dealing with?”

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eocine
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“As you wish…”

Karosin slipped away into the trees in total silence, dagger and sable held low so that the gleam of the weapons would not reveal his position in the early morning light…

He’d decided to move around in a circle, expecting Skafloc to do what barbarians traditionally did and charge in screaming… that way he’d hopefully be able to outflank any of them and silence them as swiftly as possible…

Crouching down he moved as quickly as he was able to whilst maintaining silence, and a short while later the sound of the river was even more audible… Through the bracken and ferns several figures were visible, and given that one of them had wings it seemed rather obvious that they were indeed Fey’ri, still the view was obstructed and he failed to make out much more than that…

Stealthily he inched further around, looking backwards for a moment until he spotted Jonas again… Gesturing with the tip of his dagger he directed that the shadow-dancing Tiefling should break around to the right and allow them to flank from both sides.

Let the brute charge in and we’ll pick up the pieces…
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eocine
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“And you know what happens to naughty girls Fade?”

Hissed Inther into her ear… “They get punished most severely”.

The Tiefling’s gaze fell down over her body and his smile became even broader than it had been before, lechery writ large in its every aspect. “How many times have you been punished now Fade?”… His pitch black tongue passed over his grey tinged lips as he took in the curves of her body beneath the armor.

“It’s getting to be so many times now Fade that there are rumors that we’re secret lovers you know…” He wrenched her to the side and rammed her spine hard against one of the trees that had long since shed its leaves, tilting her to the side slightly so that the arrow scraped across the bark, rotating the horridly barbed tip in the wound.

“I’ve missed you Fade my girl…” Whispered the Tiefling as he pressed against her, “and I’ve got some good news for you, since you enjoy punishment so much I’ve decided not to wait till we get back…”

With that, and totally ignoring the two rangers and the fact that they were out in the open he began to fumble with the buttons on his with his left hand whilst he pressed his right arm across her throat.
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Mistress Elysia
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The rebel fey’ri’s head lolled back as Inther dragged her upwards and nearly physically gagged at his words and the stench of his breath. It felt as if her teeth had been rattled from their gums as the back of her head connect with the tree Inther rammed her up against. Knowing that this was it; she was going to have to endure another one of Inther’s numerous humiliations and certainly had nothing to lose, she grinned maniacally, hawked back and spat in the tiefling’s face. Inther roared in pure fury as the disgusting mixture of blood and spittle run down his cheek, unused to such insolence. In a sheer fit of temper, he backhanded her across the face, sending her head flying backwards again and almost knocking her out cold.

‘Shall we kill her now?’ hissed the fey’ri nearest to them, his voice dripping with undisguised bloodlust as he drew his sword from its scabbard.

‘No’ sneered Inther in reply. ‘She belongs to the Brotherhood, and that means she belongs to me.’ He continued to fumble with the buttons of his breeches, and noticing that his prey was slowly slipping in and out of consciousness, he bit her hard upon the cheek, making her scream. Inther grinned at the feral shriek maliciously

‘Like music to my ears, my sweet; no point in drifting off. You’re going to be awake for this…’
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Darkwind
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ooc: several rounds' worth of actions here, I think. Casts Arc of Lightning (CA) on both rangers.

When he arrived at the scene, Greg took a quick stock of the situation. He judged that the two guards were of more immediate concern, since they were the only ones actually able to launch attacks right away. He overcame the natural impulse to come to the woman's rescue directly. Take out the guards, while you still have the advantage of surprise, and the would-be rapist would probably try to escape--all rapists were cowards.

Not in any need to pull punches, he moved ethereally to take up a position up on a bough behind and above them, then commanded his cloak to return him to the Material Plane. Moving as quickly as he could, he pulled out two metal rods while making the necessary movements and speaking the incantation. An arc of electricity came into being between them, striking them both. He watched curiously to see how they handle that--ideally, it would destroy them.
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Mwa13
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Jonas turned to Llana to answer her question in a whisper. "About three, maybe four." He turned his attention to Karosin and nodded, understanding his meaning. He walked swiftly and quietly, making his way around. He only for a moment halted as a woman screamed from the area where the sounds came. So there was some sort of assault happening, now it was a rescue, not a recon. Jonas walked to flank the assailants, glancing between bushes when he could. The fey'ri reminded him of Sigil's habitants and of what he was, but he had no love for these men. They were attacking the woman on the ground and she needed to be saved.

He gripped his punching daggers tightly as he made a quick evaluation of the situation and looked around if he could make a surprise attack. He knew he might be a little late, but if he was succesfull, the fey'ri never knew what hit them. Too bad Greg was the one to make the first surprise on the fey'ri with a cast of lightning but Jonas was there to make sure they'd be surprised even more.
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Castamir
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Skafloc heard the noises and subconsciously his stance changed, gripping his axe with both hands as he paused, silently trying to pinpoint he noise. He saw the questioning look of Karosin, but then saw that he too heard it.

He grinned at his idea of 'questioning' a captive, and was going to volunteer capturing two, so that they each could see who's captive would squeak first, when Greg made his announcement and disappeared.

He raised a questioning eyebrow and as Karosin and Jonas went in opposite directions, figured he'd do what he did best, and go for route A. Moving towards the voices with the swiftness of a trained athlete...

Skafloc was an old fashioned kind of hero - if indeed his odd moral code and occasional willful departure into the deranged could indeed be called heroic - he certainly considered himself heroic anyway. So the scene that greeted him left him in no doubt as to who should be dealt with first.. something reinforced as the lighting arced down and struck two of the perpetrators.

Greg.. he quickly surmised, without wasting a hearbeat trying to pinpoint to magic user..

The time saved not looking for Greg was instead used to it's full effect, as the barbarian sprinted full tilt at the creature that seemed to be assaulting the female, the otherworldly axehead of his trusty Brainbiter seeming to positively vibrate with excitement as he raced forward, unable to supress a grin of rage..
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In a last, vain attempt at retaining her sanity, Fade closed her eyes and thried to find that tiny place in her subconcious where she 'hid' herself during such assaults. However, the few months of freedom she had tasted without such abuse was making it harder for her - as much as she tried to disconnect herself from what was inevitably going to occur, she could not switch off; she experienced everything from the rank odour of the tiefling to the excrutiating pain in her shoulder with crystal clarity. She couldn’t fight anymore, that was obvious – she was exhausted, her left arm was near useless and she knew that the two fey’ri standing guard, leering at her situation didn’t really need an excuse to cut her down: How ironic she thought bitterly Inther really is the only thing that is protecting me from death…

Suddenly, there was an ear-splitting crack, making Inther halt his fumblings and look wildly around himself. Using this split second loss of concentration to her advantage as much as she could, Fade simply dropped to the floor and tried to crawl away. Hauling herself groggily onto her hands and knees, she saw that the two fey’ri had been hit by a powerful spell, and could not help but cower for a brief second as some kind of hulking monster ran full tilt at herself and the tiefling. Now desperate and utterly confused at these turn of events, Fade scrabbled wildly in the leaf litter, trying to locate her fallen weapons, even though she doubted that they would do her any good considering the state she was in. Finding Tholdagnir first, she hauled the short sword before her in an almost drunken semblance of a defensive stance and then attempted to stagger away from the fierce melee that was playing out in front of her.
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Pamela
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Llana debated her own next moves, especially if their opponent was presently so few. She decided for the moment to conserve her spells until this proved either manageable or an ambush. The Sunite followed behind the barbarian however; she had no talent in hiding and also didn’t want to invite any sudden attacks alone.

She was unable to match Skafloc’s preternatural speed, and when she arrived, had not seen the earlier tableau the others had witnessed. Three fey’ri and a tiefling…The two male fey’ri were shuddering in shock as a bolt of lightning crackled between them; the burly warrior was busy taking care of the tiefling; and the female was busy straggling to her feet, seriously wounded. But not enough, Llana thought grimly, and stepped forward before the weaving figure who’d just retrieved one of her weapons. She kicked the other gleaming short sword behind her; she didn’t trust them not to handle cursed items. “Stay where you are, demon-kin,” she began, even as she wondered who had shot the arrow protruding from her shoulder. None of ours have a bow… The cleric didn’t like to depend on her weak skill with weapons, but the woman was obviously near death and Karosin was likely to stick a dagger in her back or throat before she’d be able to do any serious damage to her, if it was even possible.
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Weaving from exhaustion and pain, Fade squinted at the figure that stood before her, desperately trying to focus not only her vision, but her fogged thoughts as well. She groaned inwardly as the figure kicked a short sword – one that bore an uncanny resemblance to Lawbreaker – behind it. Weaving a step forward, the rebel fey’ri’s vision cleared enough to see that it was a woman that stood before her. This time, she groaned out loud… Adventurers. Talk about out of the frying pan and into the fire… The last thing she needed now was to have to deal with a bunch of bloody do-gooders; she doubted that they would give her the time to explain her own situation before they slit her throat in the name of ‘righteousness’.

Fade once again took up her defensive stance, bearing teeth stained red with her own blood at her potential new assailant.

‘Back off, bitch’ she snarled in the common tongue ‘I have no quarrel with you. Deal with the males as you see fit, but all I ask is that you let me past.’ She squinted again, trying to take in the other female’s features. Slowly, they swam into even sharper focus, and Fade drew in a sharp breath; a half elf. A half sun-elf, judging by the lustre of her skin and hair - and a pretty one at that. Fearfully, Fade threw a glance in the direction of her three pursuers; if they noticed this beauty, they’d definitely want to drag her back to the Countess and inflict upon her even greater horrors than even Inther could dream up. Unable to let a fellow female, even a potential enemy, to go through such horrific things, the fey’ri lowered her sword and gestured wildly to the other female.
‘Are you mad?! Get out of here! You know what you are, and they will soon too! They’ll take you back… just run! Get away as fast as you can!’

Panting with the exertion of her warning, Fade then dropped to her knees.
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eocine
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He had just started to yank the back of her breeches down when he heard a snapping and popping nose behind him, accompanied by a curious cracking noise… Distracted but not wanting to lose his prize he grabbed her firmly by the base of the tail, but this was a grip that was destined to be made significantly looser through shock when he saw his two Fey’ri companions behind him stood spasming frantically as a series of lighting bolts passed between them.

Turning his head further he spotted the human bounding towards him, lips peeled back in an expression of wild glee as the warrior raised his axe. All thoughts of Fade were sundered as he frantically tried to twist his body to defend himself.

Skafloc though was clearly not to be denied…

Brain-biter slammed into his ribs hard, but the magical armor that Inther wore protected him from the very worst of the blow. Never the less it had still been enough to slam the breath out of him and send him reeling off to the side, several ribs broken and unsurprisingly a state of extreme flaccidity overcoming one of his most favored organs.

The spectre of impending death will of course do that to a man.

Meanwhile the electrical agony that the martyred one had inflicted on the two Fey’ri had mercifully come to an end, and they dropped to the floor, both still alive but both visibly smoking, and stinking of burned meat… The winged one spat something bright red onto the floor, and blood spewed from between his lips. The other of the beings had been luckier and drew both his hand axes.

“You’ll die first spell-caster”

He tried to spit at Greg, but the words came out in a strangulated hiss and he instead simply prepared himself to attack…
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Darkwind
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ooc: all talk, no actions :) Well, might as well make an untrained Intimidate check to demoralize them.

Greg contrived to look bored. "Been there, done that." He wondered if he should expend another spell--but what were teammates for, anyway? He leaned against the nearby trunk of the tree on the branch of which he stood. "I congratulate you on surviving my first attack. Not every fey'ri I've destroyed over the last few years was as hardy as you. Have you heard? Your kind has been disappearing, singly and in groups, gone to meet Kelemvor--and you're looking at the reason."

He smiled unpleasantly. "So what're you going to do?"
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eocine
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Karosin had never had any time for rapists, considering them to be pathetically weak and incapable of even a modicum of control and thus it was hardly with a heavy heart that he saw the huge axe of Skafloc blast into the Tiefling’s side and send him lurching towards his own hiding place in the ferns. Out of the corner of his eye he watched the developing situation between his wife and the would-be rape victim, but in truth she was more than capable of looking out for herself.

Of course I shall be done here soon enough anyway…

As swiftly and silently as death he rose from his hiding place, taking two steps towards the staggering Inther and sliding his dagger, the blade named Aeternus Animus up just under the other man’s armpit, into the tangle of arteries, veins and muscle that made up the Tiefling pimp’s heart.

He gave a single strangulated sigh and slumped down, his eyes still on Skafloc as they lost focus and finally were entirely empty of life.

Karosin tugged the blade free, and there was a final spurt of bright red blood that leaked down onto the floor before Inther’s lifeless body collapsed in a heap.

With a frown at the crimson blade the former assassin knelt down and tugged on the greasy mop that crowned the rapist’s skull and then wiped the blade as clean as possible. At least until he noticed that the grease was leaving smears over the silvery metal. “Filthy cretin, in your next life try bathing every now and then. That way perhaps women will actually sleep with you willingly…”
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Pamela
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Llana’s nose wrinkled in distaste during the woman’s snarlings. Not over the language; that was part and parcel of the combative lifestyle. Rather, it was the familiar but never familiarized scent of burning mortal flesh, as well as her foe’s offering up of her kinsmen. Well, it’s good to know that loyalty doesn’t run very deep, I suppose. I wonder if they’re like the drow…?

She raised her dagger defensively when the bloodied fey’ri began to raise her sword. Her eyes widened at the words. Is she in some poisoned delusional state or… She was unable to think of any alternative in her stunned state.

The unconscious however is never as slow as the logical mind. As she stepped forward, she put the dagger back in its sheath and her right hand rose to take hold of the arrow’s shaft as her hand firmly but not ungently rested on her patient/captive’s shoulder. “I am sorry….” she murmured, as she prepared to yank the arrow out. At the very least I can spare her consciousness of any further pain, and then tell the others what she’s said…

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Mistress Elysia
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As the strange woman took a step towards her, Fade rolled her eyes in impatience and incredulity. It had always amazed her at how stupid the righteous coud be...

"Just... flee. Flee whilst you...can. Don't let... them see...you' she panted. As the half elf drew closer, Fade's impatience with her grew. 'Are you stupid?' she growled 'Do you want this...' she gestured to herself '...to happen to you too? Just leg it! Get out of here...'

Unable to say much more, Fade planted the tip of her blade in the ground and using her good arm to steady her, rested her head on its hilt. What an ignoble way to die...

Suddenly, she felt her whole left side erupt into fierce flames of pain. Screeching, she threw her head back almost convulsively and caught a glimpse of the beautiful half elf clutching at the arrow in her shoulder, obviously trying to drive it in deeper and so finish its job.

'You bitch...' she gasped as she fell forwards 'And to think I was trying... to... help.... you....'

The rebel fey'ri slumped forward and knew no more.
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Castamir
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Skafloc watched the creature stagger, and was about to move in to end the creature's pathetic existence when he noticed the figure of Karosin emerge ghostlike behind it.

Skafloc watched, looking it in the eyes as the assassin relieved it of life's burden. He knew the assassin was good at his job, and so he turned away from the creature, dismissing it's last few moments, unworthy of his attention as the light faded from it's eyes.

Instead he turned his attention to the two remaining creatures, one twitching and spasming on it's knees, the other standing armed, it's attention firmly on something else... Greg..

The Barbarian grinned, and moved in on the creature, like a hulking respresentative of violent death, given human form and pumped full of aggravated intent.
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eocine
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The winged Fey’ri agonizingly raised his right hand into the air and made a brief and complex gesture that shrouded the area in a magical darkness, a shadow that engulfed the pair of Fey’ri, Jonas, Skafloc, Karosin, Greg and even the legs of the now unconscious Fade. He coughed once, his lungs racked with pain, and still now his nervous system gave the occasional involuntary jolt, but never the less the being pushed himself to his feet and prepared his next move.

His counterpart on the other hand rattled out two quick words of magic, and instantly felt that his movements had grown faster, the world seemed to radiate an air of stillness around him, though of course most of that illusion was lost to him given the fact that there was darkness all around.

“Now human, I’m going to gut you and dance in your innards…”

Conjuring his memory as best he could he prepared to sprint in the direction that the sorcerer had been seen in, but in the darkness he suddenly became aware of the pounding footsteps and guttural snarls of the approaching Skafloc. Turning painfully, every motion ripping new gaps into his crusty skin the Fey’ri launched an attack towards where he suspected that the barbarian was.

His first wave of attacks managed to completely bypass even Skafloc’s massive form, slipping past him and leaving him totally untouched. However he soon realised his mistake and span on his heel launching another series of lighting blows with his hand-axes. The first slipped past his ribs, but the next two connected, but did little enough damage to the physical powerhouse, the heavy hide armor that he wore taking most of the strength out of the blows and merely leaving him with a slightly bruised shoulder and hip.
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Pamela
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It must be some kind of ploy, Llana thought as she heard the fey’ri’s warnings, unwilling to trust either a designated foe or pure dumb good luck. She had no time or inclination to pursue that line of thought as she caught Fade against her legs as the unconscious fey’ri toppled towards her. The woman was in bad shape, but not dead. Still, she wasn’t taking any chances.

The Sunite reached for a container in the small pouch resting upon her right hip. She produced a small vial and flicked the cork off, then dropped to her knees, her free hand making sure that her patient didn’t fall into the muck about them. She poured a white powder upon the arrow’s entry wound, and nodded in unconscious satisfaction as it transformed into a pink foam. So it was poisoned, she thought, glad to have that particular danger out of the way, destroying any further efforts. She wouldn't cast any healing spells; they were reserved for her allies after all. But a cantrip wouldn’t be missed…
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eocine
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The very skies turned an inky black first for Karosin, before the field of darkness spread all around him, shrouding the entire area in an unnatural night that fitted him perfectly. In the darkness his smile was broad and cold, amused and murderous all at once. From where he had been crouching over the dead figure of Inther he rose to his feet and considered his next action.

Llana had last been seen tugging the arrow free of the woman’s shoulder, and she seemed more than ok and safe which meant that he didn’t actually have to worry about dropping out of the area of the spell and going to her assistance.

Which meant that he was free to do as he so desired here…

Taking a step forwards he brought his boot heel down hard, breaking the nose of the deceased Tiefling and giving him a lopsided countenance in life that he’d never had in death. He then exploded into a run towards where the action had seemed to be during the time when he could actually see, trusting in his natural grace and the enchantment of his amulet to keep him from stumbling as he did so.

He heard Skafloc in the darkness, though of course he’d have been hard pressed not to do so, and decided to peel off in the general direction of the other of the Fey’ri that still lived…
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Darkwind
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How bothersome. He'd underestimated them, perhaps, expecting that the rapist would not allow powerful henchmen to guard his back. Evil ordinarily did not trust so easily. Not that he wouldn't be able to defeat them, even without help from the others.

Ordinarily, he would be able to see even in total darkness--the energy that animated him gave him that ability. But this magical darkness was proof even to that. He had only one option, and that was to expend another high-level spell. With a shrug, he took out a portion of valuable eye ointment he'd prepared himself and applied it to his eyes as he intoned the incantation. Thus enhanced, he took stock of the situation. The one with the axes was fighting Skafloc and hence was already dead, just didn't realize it yet. But the other one... what could he do to him? So many options, it was hard to choose.
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Castamir
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The blackness enveloped the barbarian before he reached his target, who turned to face him before the lights went out. Skafloc had been around enough to know what the spell was, and he knew that the chances were everyone inside it's area of effect were equally blind.

Why do they make it hard for themselves.. I'd have given him a quick exit, now it's going to take longer, hurt longer, and be a lot more messy..

Skafloc stepped forward again, ears straining to fill the sensory gap his vision had left, Brainbiter held at right angles to his body, poised to strike..

He felt something pass.. something metallic missed him, and as he turned towards it, felt the small axes strike him glancing blows. Skafloc was pleased his enemy hadn't simply tried to flee, he didn't want to have to chase anyone down to kill them, it was much easier if they stuck around.

Sure that there were no friends close enough to suffer from his actions, Skafloc lashed out with brainbiter the moment he himself was hit, reasoning that the creature must have been holding the axes still, and it's reach certainly wouldn't be any greater than his own, especially considering the reach of his vorpal great axe...
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eocine
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What the sorcerer saw…

If Skafloc had been in the least bit inconvenienced by the axe attack from the Fey’ri he most certainly didn’t show it, lashing out with a strength that went far beyond the human norm. The golden rings that encircled his massive biceps pushed his physical might virtually into the realm of the godly…

And the barbarian had yet to even allow himself to fall into the rage that would increase his power.

However all the force in the world is meaningless if you cannot connect with your blows, so whilst the first one hit, and hit very hard, the second and third swings missed, simply because the Ranger had dropped to the floor immediately on being wounded further, he’d then started to try to roll away from his overpowering opponent.

Unfortunately for him whilst Skafloc was whirling Brainbiter in the empty air above him the barbarian’s boot connected with something on the floor… Something that felt decidedly alive.

It was the work of a moment for Skaffer’s to turn his wrists, forearms straining with the momentum change and then drive his vorpal blade straight down towards the floor, where it made an audible crunching sound…

The wound was a mortal one to the Fey’ri, but he wasn’t quite dead yet Greg could see, but he could also see that without rapid medical attention it would only be a matter of moments before the ebon shroud claimed him.

Skafoc for his part then simply wrenched the blade free, splattering himself with blood in the darkness.

Whilst this was going on Greg also became aware of the actions of the other Fey’ri inside the magically darkened circle. The demonically empowered Elf had reached inside a small bag attached to his belt and pulled out a flask, before rapidly gulping down the contents.

Almost instantly the crusty and dead skin covering the beast began to flake away, revealing perfectly healed flesh beneath. The Fey’ri was able to stand taller and straighter after that, clearly back to full health and ready for action once more.
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eocine
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Karosin skittered along the leaf strewn floor easily, his foot falls ever light and sure even in the perfect darkness of the spell… In truth he had a way of seeing through this magical darkness, but given that they had been informed earlier of the Fey’ri propensity for dropping globes of darkness it didn’t seem prudent to use it quite so early in the day. Rather doing it the old fashioned way seemed to be the way to go.

To his right he could hear Skafloc’s characteristic grunts of effort as he whirled his axe around, before hearing a meaty crunch that could only have been the result of a horrific wound being delivered.

Straight ahead of him though he became aware of another sound, one that for the life of him he couldn’t imagine what could be causing it, a momentary hissing noise followed by the sound of a series of light objects dropping onto the autumnal floor.

An eyebrow quirked up at the unusual noise, but at least it gave him a better idea of exactly where his enemy lay, and thus he skidded to a halt before launching an attack towards his opponent, this one was more of an experimental effort to try and judge the exact position of his opponent, so he was hardly likely to be overly worried about how successful or otherwise it was.

Fortunately for the former assassin his whirling blade did indeed connect with his enemy, and how. The enchanted sabre tore through magical chain and opened up the Fey’ri across the stomach, a deep and painful wound that would clearly affect the rest of the combat.

Still Karosin was both surprised and impressed when the attack didn’t drop the creature, still… He smiled to himself, now I know where you are my demonic friend…
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Pamela
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Llana startled at the blot of darkness which arose before her eyes, but relaxed as she realised she was outside of its perimeter. She spared a quick glance around her environs; it seemed that it hadn’t been an ambush, or at least that if there were any other enemies, they’d retreated to warn their friends. We’ll hope on the former of course, but… The sounds within the inky-black orb made it clear that her allies were able to handle whatever remained of the situation.

She then braced herself mentally even as she still had the fey’ri resting now against her shoulder. She didn’t like interrogations, let alone bringing a person back from the brink of death in order to possibly push them back over it. But leaving it to the others was cowardly. She reached again into her kit, and brought out another vial, this one with an attached stopper. She flipped it open, sniffing with disdain at the odor, and raised the smelling salts to the unconscious fey’ri’s nose….
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Mistress Elysia
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drifting...

The sharp, rank stench of the smelling salts assailed Fade's nostrils, bullying her into reluctant conciousness. For a fleeting moment, she was at a loss as to where she was and why she felt as if she'd been run over by a troop of Hill Giants. Then it all came flooding back - the chase, her discovery, the attack, the ambush...

The ambush!

In her partly delusional state, Fade realised that she was being held by someone and began to struggle weakly, mistaking the leaden feeling her her exhausted limbs for imaginary bonds and the person holding onto her for yet another attacker. As she felt a strong, firm hand clasp the less painful of her shoulders in an attempt to stop her pathetic struggles, the rebel fey'ri began to panic... I know what this means...

"No... please... no... I'm no use to you now... wait...' she pleaded, hoping that her assailant wasn't as sadistic as Inther could be and would want her at least mostly healthy. She then stopped stuggling, partially through exhaustion and partially in the simple hope that basic compliance might mean her attacker would listen to her and leave her alone, at least for the moment, she blinked furiously, trying to force her eyes to focus and ricked a glance up at the person who held her so she could assess her situation. Fearing that she would discover a hulking great male leering over her, she was surprised to discover that it was the female she had warned that was holding on to her and had brought her back from unconciousness. Slowly, her pain addled mind sorted through everything around her; the sounds of battle nearby; the stench of burnt flesh and blood; the hard, cold ground beneath her and lastly; the beautiful, stern, uncompromising visage of the female half elf that held her captive.

In her current, incapacitated state, Fade knew which she now feared the most.
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Darkwind
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Though it was beginning to seem like his further interference would prove unnecessary, with two of the enemy basically out of it, and Karosin closing in on the last--make it second to last, he corrected himself. There was still the matter of the female. Still, he decided that he'd wasted enough opportinities, and if the remaining male escaped, it would be his fault--he should have followed the first attack with another like it, instead of talking.

As he cast his next spell, he hoped for a little luck. Greg pronounced the incantation and made the necessary genstures and a ray of brilliantly colored lights shot from his outstretched hand toward the enemy Karosin had just then marked. If it hit, any number of things, ranging from a little fire damage to insanity, could befall the resilient and troublesome fey'ri.

meta: cast Prismatic Ray (save DC 24)
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eocine
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Whether or not Karosin knew where the Fey’ri was became an irrelevance in just a few short moments when Greg’s Prismatic Ray streaked into the darkness and struck his direct opponent. Though neither the assassin nor the Fey’ri could see the beam in the darkness the colour was a sickly green and it’s effect was instant, as an insidious magical poison flooded through it’s veins.

Almost instantly a greenish-yellow froth boiled up out of the creatures’ mouth, and the same foul ooze poured out of the wound that Karosin had carved across its stomach. His eyes rolled back into his skull and he dropped to the floor, collapsing in a heap of the ichor and expectorating a final lungful into the air before he finally died.
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Pamela
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At the feeble attempts at struggling, Llana restrained her as gently as she could. She didn’t want the woman to push herself back into unconsciousness with her panic, and her grip was precarious with one hand occupied as it was. She quickly sealed the vial once more, letting it drop to the mesh of decomposing foliage and carefully raised her right shoulder so that the fey’ri wouldn’t slide down to the ground.

She froze at the woman’s words, as acidic bile knotted her stomach at the implications of the redhead’s pleas. She saw your symbol, and knows that you’re a Sunite; she knows where your temple’s concerns lie, logic rationalized. This did not assuage her gut reactions of horror and revulsion. “It’s all right,” she murmured unknowingly, a healer’s instincts involuntarily arising as her own first reactions. Her grip loosened so that it would give some minor reassurance, and she made a quick prayer to her goddess that there could be some resolution that wouldn’t end in nightmares later this evening.

When the fey’ri’s sight seemed to focus and grasp her surroundings, she kept still, letting her have a moment to absorb the situation and be assured that this was not the scenario she’d first envisaged and suggested. The half-elf forced herself to speak, her right hand resting upon her dagger’s sheath, ready to provide the alternative offered. She kept her words simple; fear could boggle wits and she didn’t want any misunderstanding, or to prolong an ugly moment. “We can’t let you go. If you have information, we’ll listen. If you won’t betray your kin, I will not force you.” Her fingers gripped the hilt, ready to provide a swift, easy release. We’ll find another fey’ri, or I’ll speak with the dead- but I won’t, I can’t use her. I’d never forgive myself, she thought, as she awaited the answer.
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eocine
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In the course of a life that had seem him kill his way across most of Faerun Karosin had become rather intimately aware of the sounds that a human body made when it passed on, be it from blades, magic or poison. As such when he heard the final breach wheeze its way out of the lungs of the fey’ri, and caught the bitter stench of the poisonous bile in the air he knew instantly that the winged beast had been killed, though of course he didn’t know how it had happened or who had done it. Obviously Greg was the likely suspect, but by the very same token the being could have been poisoned hours or even days before.

Still there was little enough point in pondering, the thing was dead now and it appeared that they had been unable to summon any assistance thus far. All in all it had been a successful early encounter with the demonic elves, though they had of course had the element of surprise on their hands.

Something that we would be well advised to keep for the remainder of this little escapade…

There was something nagging at his mind at this point, something that seemed to be rather odd, but he couldn’t quite place his finger on it…

Of course…

The presence of the Tiefling disturbed him somewhat, given that there had been no indication previously that they were working with anyone else.

Well… At least that’s what the information we were given said.

Something that had been drilled into his head from the very beginning of his days as an assassin was that bad information got ‘good’ killers killed, because it threw up things that were totally unexpected, and sent careful plans spinning off unexpectedly. Of course it was something either you learned to deal with or something that meant before long you’d be looking up at the lid of your own coffin.

No time now to ponder that though...

Twisting on his heel he turned to the right and simply walked in a straight line until he exited the ensorcelled area, we would be well advised to remove this, he considered concerning the globe of darkness. The obvious reason for the question was that the area did rather give away both their position, and that there had recently been combat in the area. Both things that he would have preferred potential prying eyes to be unaware of.
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Mistress Elysia
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“We can’t let you go. If you have information, we’ll listen. If you won’t betray your kin, I will not force you.”

At those words, Fade sat bolt upright, ignoring the restraining hand on her shoulder, making her head pound and her vision swim.

"How dare you?!" the fey'ri spat at the other female with considerable venom "They are no kin of mine..." the mere suggestion that she had anything in common anymore with her cruel race after what they had put her through sickened Fade, and to think that this woman could even think she was in league with Inther after what he was preparing to do to her astounded her. "Didn't you see? Didn't you wonder?" she whispered, looking up at the half elf. "Surely even you would realise that such congress couldn't be consentual? Why do you think I told you to run?" Fade grimaced, closing her eyes and shaking her head as if to dislodge the memory of Inther's stinking breath and the closeness of his body to hers. Opening her eyes again to regard the half elf, she caught sight of the dagger the other female wore, the proximity of her hand to it and the holy symbol she wore around her neck. Her crimson eyes widened again in fear.

"Sunite...." she breathed, panic rising again.
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Castamir
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The moment his boot made contact with the Fey'ri, Skafloc's axe was changing direction, and the noise it made as it struck, along with the sudden lack of movement suggested it wasn't going to get up again any time soon.

He stuck his boot on the creature - next to his axe, and pulled the weapon free with a swift jerk, feeling warm sticky fluid spatter over his arms and face. This didn't faze him, his choice of weapon meant he was used to variety of other people's body fluids flying..

He considered his next move, he had heard the other one cry out, and as he was about to head for the source of the cry, he heard it make a sickening noise, and then the unmistakable sound of a body falling to the floor, followed by a death rattle.

The magician has taken the last one.. surmised Skafloc, who assumed no weapon had finished it off..

It was then he heard the pitiful gasps of the Fey'ri he had felled. It was clinging on to life, though it didn't sound too healthy, though that was no surprise, Skafloc was sure Brainbiter had inflicted a massive injury..

The Barbarian stooped and grabbed the body in front of him, gripping it's clothing with one hand, then moved away from the source of the darkness, figuring he'd eventually emerge from it, dragging the poor half dead creature behind him. If it survived the ordeal, perhaps with some healing, they might get some information out of it. He preferred that idea, torturing the female for information clashed with is idea of chivalry...
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Darkwind
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And that was the end of that. He used up a few more seconds of etherealness to get down from the branch he stood on, and made his way to where the female lay. He avoided the globe of darkness--though he could see well enough, he didn't want the others who could not to have to guess whether he was one of the fey'ri. As he approached, he debated with himself about what to do now. He'd never been in a position of having fey'ri prisoners before.

"Llana, you might as well let her get up. Don't worry, she won't run--I'll make sure she doesn't go far." He spoke directly to the fey'ri, locking eyes with her. "Do you understand? I will give you a chance to convince us that you should not be destroyed. Flee, or attack, though, and you'll be forfeiting that chance."
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Pamela
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Llana didn’t bother to answer the Fey’ri’s angry words. She’d come across many exiles and/or criminals of the crueler races, who suddenly became offended at their kinsmen’s ways only when they themselves were outcast. Hurling insult into injury wasn’t her way, especially when it became clear- unless she’s acting, a suspicious voice chided her- that the injured woman hadn’t realised she was a cleric.

She was glad when she heard Greg’s voice behind her; it told her that the battle was over. “I don’t think she’s strong enough for that,” she replied quietly. Turning back to the now-sitting woman, she said just as quietly, “I’m about to cast a spell. It’s not going to harm you. This I swear by Sune.” She waited for an indication of recognition, then swiftly touched her lips, her holy symbol, and wove the Goddess’ symbol in the air between them. “Veritas deae est…”
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Mistress Elysia
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Glancing from the half elf female to the pale man, Fade knew her new situation was hardly better than her last. Although she severely doubted these people would attempt to hurt or violate her in the way her previous attackers would have, she knew that rightousness brought with it its own set of preconceptions and blind prejudices. At least an evil man would gloat, giving you time; a goodly one would strike you where you stood without a second thought if he perceived you to be anything he associated with his own perceptions of evil. Not that I could blame them... Fade thought bitterly How are they to know I would have happily helped them in their task given half the chance?.

She only half heard what the Sunite had to say to her, her attention focusing when the half elf began to cast her spell. Having no knowledge herself of clerical magic, but also knowing that the Sunites were just, Fade tried to sublimate the humiliating urge to cower before something she didn't quite understand. Instead, she tried to muster her last vestiges of self-pride and face whatever it was the other female had planned for her head on. If she had been on her own things may have been different, but with the strange, pale man at her back threatening her with death if she didn't comply, she knew she had no choice. With that, the rebel fey'ri held her head high and sought direct eye contact with the Sunite.

Fade also knew she had nothing to hide, and the thought comforted her.
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Darkwind
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Greg decided not to comment on relying on divination spell to tell lie from truth or good from evil. For one thing, they could be resisted. His strange, unalive, state made him automatically immune to the Sunite's compulsion, but he had no reason to lie anyway. And for another, the spell detected lies, not falsehoods. If you believe something, but are wrong, this spell would not reveal that. But what good would pointing that out do?

His bizarre appearance, combined with his sincerely negative attitude toward the female as a fey'ri, made him the perfect 'second' interrogator. Let Llana be the sympathetic one; he'll be bad and mean. He crossed his arms and looked down upon her.

"Well, now we're ready to hear you. Speak plainly, and don't try to deceive us. I've spent several years now seeking out and destroying fey'ri. Trust me, I've become exceedingly good at it. Who are you and why should I treat you any differently?"
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Castamir
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Skafloc emerged from the darkness blinking briefly as his eyes adjusted to the light again, dragging the bloody remains of the ranger behind him. He dumped the poor unfortunate on the floor, and briefly patted it down, kicking away anything that looked as though it might aid or assist the creature - though in truth it looked so past helping itself the barbarian was no longer sure if it were alive.

Certainly it had left a trail of blood and, well, 'stuff' behind it as he had dragged it. Stuff that looked like it belonged on the inside rather than the outside.

He looked over at Llana and Greg, and noted with some satisfaction that the female was alive. He had a feeling that they were going to be seeing some terrible things, and not being in a position to do much about them when they were finally inside the Fey'ri lair, so a good deed or two on the way in was a welcome relief..

He stooped once more, this time to see if the bloody mess of a figure he'd retrieved from the globe of darkness was showing any signs of life.
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eocine
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Once he had cleaned both of his blades he slid them back into their sheaths, then ambled around the sphere slowly, as if he had not a care in the worlds… Of course to a certain extent this was true, danger, like pain was a transitory affair, and you were either in it or you were not. There was always a time when it lessened and the key to actually getting something out of life was making use of those moments to prepare for when there was danger afoot.

Deliberately paying little attention to the situation with the surviving female, figuring that for the time being it would be better for all concerned if the woman couldn’t threaten one by threatening the other of himself and Llana he instead wandered over to where the barbarian was crouching over the heavily mutilated figure of the Fey’ri ranger that he had slaughtered.

He crouched down on the other side of the gore puddle and grabbed the Fey’ri by the chin, turning his head so that the assassin could look into his eyes. Looking then at Skafloc he shook his head, suspecting that the barbarian would himself have guessed the wound to be mortal.

“We’re not going to be getting anything out of him”…

He paused for a second…

“Or at least not till he’s dead”, he amended, remembering how useful certain spells were when they allowed you to interrogate the deceased…

“Much as I enjoy the suffering of my enemies we really should finish the job… After all I find that burbling sound it’s making repellent…”
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Fade couldn't help but give the pale man a rather measured look, even though she knew it would probably put her in a bad stead with him. She doubted very highly indeed that he could do anything worse to her than the fey'ri or the Brotherhood would if they caught up with her, especially if they knew of her intentions. With a mirthless, hopeless smile, Fade shook her head and sighed. Foolish she chided herself To think that you were going to Silverymoon to try to help people such as this. You should have realised... . "Foolish to believe that they had rushed to my aid..." Fade whispered to herself, unaware that she had spoken out loud.

Steeling herself against the waves of hopelessness that threatned to engulf her and swallowing hard past the hard, sharp lump that had formed in her throat, Fade sought a moment to compose herself. The last thing she needed to do was to break down in front of her interrogators - that is what had got her into so much trouble the first time: if only she hadn't let on that it bothered her; if only she could have feigned indifference; if only....

No she commanded herself sharply Don't think about that. Concentrate on the present. The past is in the past. The past is in the past. It was a mantra she had often recited to herself to keep her focused when she found her mind drifting back to Luskan. Maybe if you can convince them, they'll leave you alone. Then go into hiding. Go South, or something. Leave a letter for the authorities and just disappear. So much safer...

Without looking at either of them, Fade began to answer their questions.

"My name is Fade. Yes, I am fey'ri by birth, but I hold no allegience to them now. I was on my way to Silverymoon to seek sanctuary there, and aid them in their fight against my supposed kin." Fade's face twisted slightly into a feral grimace when she acknowledged her familial connections. "As I said to the female; I have no quarrel with you, and seek to harm no one". Face's grimace turned into the ugly parody of a grin "Unless, of course, they happen to be loyal to Sarya or that thrice be-damned Brotherhood. Then, well... let us say that things would be different."
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Pamela
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Llana maintained her own calm, non-aggressive attitude during Greg’s speech. She didn’t like the idea of coming across as a bully, even if it were only by their own presently superior numbers. A brief thought crossed her mind as she considered the possibility of fey’ri children in Elven Port. What would Greg’s attitude be towards these? And what in the world will be done with them? You’re there to get the shard, and possibly prisoners. Their children are going to be well-protected, few as they must be…Not your problem… Not yet, at least.

She nearly gave an answer to the muttered remark, but realised that it might give a sense of false hope, so she held her tongue. It was clear the woman was still- and rightly- agitated; she made her own body language even less obtrusive than it already was. As she listened, there was a sense of cautious relief. Fade supposedly was willing to turn on her kind. Going to Silverymoon, she suddenly realised. Does she even know about the wards there?

She’s willing to betray her kind; she tried to warn you about the fey’ri’s ‘proclivities’-

-and it could be an act-

-she was too ill and exhausted to be acting at that point, unless you’re going to suggest it was all staged?

Not impossible, but admittedly a bit much…Even if she’s telling the truth, what’s to stop her from turning you in or revealing you, just to get herself safely away from trouble?

She might. After all, she doesn’t have any more reason to trust us than we her, and we’re seriously outnumbered. Easier to help an army than a group of mercenaries.

But you can’t let her go.


That silenced the inner debate, that one nub. They didn’t have the freedom of letting her go. They could probably try and take her to the Mist Master or Tomas, who might be watching as it is…

….and haven’t done anything to warn us against it.

That suddenly reassured her, and a gentle smile suddenly broke out despite herself. I can commune if there’s going to be any argument. That will certainly settle any questions- except the one about what Fade’s own will might be in the matter.

Speaking gently she said, “I’m Llana, and I believe my companions were coming to your aid. I myself saw nothing of what had earlier occurred. As you might have guessed, we’re not here by accident. We plan to make a short excursion, and leave as swiftly as possible. When we’ve completed our particular mission, we can help you to get to Silverymoon, and add our own witness to yours. But we can’t go back just yet. Are you willing to come along?” She paid careful attention to the fey’ri’s reaction, as Greg undoubtedly was. Both of them could compare their observations. The sorcerer was bound to have more questions- and objections, she warned herself. It wasn’t however the first time that they’d hired a thief to catch one however.

“If not, we’re able to contact some friends who can take you away. I can’t guarantee what their reception would be, but I know that they aren’t abusive or cruel. It’s up to you.” And the others; if there's going to be difficulty...
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Castamir
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Skafloc looked up at Karosin and nodded.

"Aye, likely you are right, and no matter what he was, he was brave, for he did not try to run when he had the chance. Perhaps a little mercy is in order.."

At that he layed down his axe, then gently grasped the Fey'ri's head with both hands, taking a breath as if a paladin about to call forth holy power and heal. Except that wasn't the result, and the creature's neck made a popping noise as the Barbarian applied his strength with a sudden twisting motion, deliberately disconnecting Fey'ri's head from his spine with the ease a farmer might twist the head off a chicken.

He picked up his axe and stood up straight, surveying his handiwork, the creature was lying on it's back, but it's head was facing the ground. It wasn't pretty, but it was however instant, and about as painless as the Barbarian was ever going to manage.

"No need to spill any more of his blood." he commented to Karosin, before slinging his bloody axe over his shoulder, spinning on his heel and strolling off towards the others, stretching his shoulder as he did so, feeling bruised muscles complain as he forced them to flex.
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Mwa13
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Earlier

Jonas didn't waste anymore time trying to find any shadows as there really weren't any. He just quietly cursed to himself as his plans foiled and walked around, listening to the start of the fight going on. He glanced behind him and around, a new idea coming to his mind. He went towards and around the area of the battle, looking around and scouting ahead, hoping there weren't any more adversaries out there.

Halfway through

Jonas listened to the fight, moving quietly around the area, looking around, keeping his sight and hearing outside the battle, although they were making a lot of noise for him to hear outside the battle area.

The sudden appearance of the ball of darkness did caught his attention, but he didn't make a move towards the battle, he was confident of the others, but he still yearned to help them, but this was a way of helping them too. He could warn them if there was any more of the enemy around, so he kept moving on and kept his eyes open to see if there was anyone else about.

End of battle

Jonas walked around and listened. The sounds of the battle had subsided and he heard the others speak. It sounded that it was a success, but Jonas didn't want to leave his post yet. Now that there was no sound of battle, Jonas could hear better the surroundings. He kept walking silently around, now listening and watching around for anymore enemies. If there was, the sounds of the battle would've caught their attention by now. All he could do is wait.
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eocine
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Karosin watched mutely as the barbarian’s massive hands clamped down on the Fey’ri ranger’s skull, and then twisted and pulled. As far as displays of strength go it was certainly an impressive one, and put him in mind of the various creative ways that one of the heads of the assassin’s guild had relived his enemies of the burdens of their lives. That was one of the methods, another was then driving a nail into their skulls, and the final was four huge brutes pulling a man’s arms and legs off and leaving them to die in the sand.

There’s always a need to spill more blood where my enemies are concerned…

He grinned to himself as he watched Skafloc walk away, then turned down again to look at the distended neck of the Fey’ri… “View good?” He patted the corpse on its shoulder and stood up straight, twisting his own neck till it cracked audibly before glancing down again… “The key to getting the kinks out is knowing when to stop my friend…”

With that he too walked over to where the ‘interrogation’ of Fade was continuing… He decided to say nothing for the time being, content to watch for the moment…
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Darkwind
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He met her gaze stonily, expressionless and silent while the women talked. Then, he stirred.

"So you say. You might not be plotting to cause any harm to innocents, but if confronted would you attack or parley? After arriving at Silverymoon, and naturally attracting the attention of authorities there, how would you respond to their distrust? If accused of a crime you did not commit, would you surrender and try to establish your innocence? Or slay those sent to arrest you?"

He shrugged. "Don't answer; I ask to illustrate a point. I've never met a fey'ri that wasn't bent on selfish pursuits, at least. We cannot allow you to go just like that. I cannot. As my friend said, it's a matter of choice. You can come with us, and prove that I am wrong to mistrust you. Or we can teleport you to a safe place."
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Mistress Elysia
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Fade could see the pale man's point, but her current state and natural defensiveness meant the accusations piqued her temper. Slowly, the fey'ri rebel staggered to her feet. Bent almost double and swaying, she nevertheless locked an unwavering stare upon the sorcerer.

"Do you see this?" she asked, pointing at the bite mark on her face "I didn't get that through play, you know. And this..." she gestured to her now useless left arm "...happened simply because I ran. I didn't want to fight Inther and his lackeys - I just wanted to escape." she took a faltering step towards Greg. "Do you know what irritates me most?" she asked in a soft, bitter voice "That if I were human, no one would question my intention. If it was a human female that you had witnessed being attacked in the way I was, you would have rushed to her aid. You wouldn't have played 20 questions with her. You would have helped her and instantly given her the benefit of the doubt, even though humans are capable of evil even the fey'ri can only dream about. I know. I've experienced this first hand." she shook her head, chuckling mirthlessly "And do you know why, oh righteous one? Because, as a race, humans never have to face the consequences of the actions of their evil kin. No one wants to believe that one of their own is capable of such heinous acts. They fey'ri are almost stupid in their own decadence and dedication to their evil ways - they know no different and so do nothing to hide it. But you humans" Fade grinned, an unpleasant rictus that had nothing to do with humour "I have to hand it to you. You know how to be inventively evil AND you know how to hide it, so no one else suspects." the fey'ri attempted to straighten up, causing her to grimace in pain. "In answer to your question; if it is called for, I will defend myself. I will defend myself against a race I have experienced nothing other than pain, misery and malice from. I would cut down a foe that was attacking me for no good reason, simply because I know what humans do to their captives" her crimson eyes hardened "especially their female ones."

Fade bent double again, now panting, scanning the floor, looking for Tholdagnir. Spotting the blade of the shortsword gleaming under a drift of leaves, she pointed at it. " However, if you need further proof of my intentions, check the enchantment of that weapon. You're a magic user - you can identify such things. Check the enchantments on that weapon and tell me what you find. Then you'll know who I am a threat to."

Finishing with the sorcerer, Fade turned to face the half elf cleric. This one's countenance was softer, but Fade had experienced the whole 'good guard / bad guard' enough times to see through such a ruse. Although there was a preternatural gentleness and calm that radiated frm this woman. If it had been coupled with a wary watchfulness and a sense of defeat, she could almost have sworn this woman was Keita in disguise. With that thought, she could not help but offer a brief, involuntarily smile to the cleric.

" I... I am sorry. I did not catch your name. Excuse me". Fade sat down agan heavily, as her body punished her for her silly, defiant bull headed-ness which had compelled her to stand before the sorcerer. "What is your mission. I have a feeling my arrival in Silverymoon wouldn't be as successful as I had hoped" and dreamed she added to herself "and I certainly can't stay out here..."
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eocine
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Karosin watched the spectacle through decidedly laconic eyes, recognising that in some respects she was right but in a lot of others there was a mixture of wilful ignorance and probable propaganda fed to her from a young age. He didn’t bother to point out the difference between the treatment in a properly constituted prison and that in someone’s dungeon, suspecting that the finer points would probably be lost on her. Still he was impressed with the depths of her rage…

Useful if it can be channelled in the right direction, but of course dangerous if it can’t be controlled…

Still saying mute he walked around to where the blade that had been kicked away lay under a pile of leaf litter. Placing his boot under the blade he casually kicked it into the air in a flurry of yellowy brown leaves and caught it by the handle. Holding the blade at arms length he squinted down the blade, testing its weight and balance before he ran the ball of his thumb ever so gently across the cutting edge, instantly it started to bite, proving its sharpness.

Impressive… If we do have to kill her then make no mistake this blade is mine…

Flipping the weapon over he caught it by the flat of the blade before handing it to Greg and stepping away again, watching Fade closely all the while as the Fey’ri turned away to talk to Llana.
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Castamir
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Skafloc watched the Fey'ri's speech with a decidedly amused smile. Despite being clearly outnumbered, and injured, and probably in shock, she was proud and defiant. The Barbarian came from a tradition where such traits held high value. Her race didn't bother him at all. He'd dealt with, and in many cases slaughtered many strange and otherworldy folk. The only prejudices he had were saved especially for orcs and orc kin... making him quite possibly the monster in their eyes.

"If she's as handy with a blade as she is with her tongue then she's probably quite the killer." observed the gore spattered Barbarian, to no-one in particular, before turning his attention back to examining his much patched hide for damage..
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Mwa13
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Jonas had moved closer to the others, close enough to hear the rescued woman's speech towards Greg. Jonas didn't react in any way towards her rantings, he had seen much of evil during his life from all sorts of people that he didn't know what to think of humans specifically. He thought there was a degree of evil in every race as there was good, the final judgement was in the eyes of the beholder, that's how he saw things.

Jonas stayed in his post, staring back out to the forest, his glance shifting from one area to the next. He stood still, his breathing very shallow. He knew that he might not really blend in to the surroundings, but he did his best as he kept watch.
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Darkwind
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Greg accepted the blade with a nod of thanks, but did not even glance at it. He contrived to look unimpressed. "I'm not here to argue philosophy with you. My race is different from yours in that the inherently evil stain is absent from my blood. Fiends have no choice--they're always evil. You are not a fiend, but are desceded from them. I agree that it's unfair, but like drow and illithid you are to be distrusted until you prove worthy of trust. And might I point out that we did rescue you from rape, at least?" For which she still has not expressed any gratititude.

"We are here to retrieve a certain powerful object. It's in the hands of the fey'ri, and that's too dangerous for the rest of us."
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Pamela
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Llana nearly rose from her feet when the staggering woman did, but held still when the tirade began. She understood pride too well herself, and doubted the fey’ri would appreciate any hovering on her behalf- or might interpret it as either anger or an attack. She watched as carefully as she listened in case there were any sign of toppling, shifting her own kneeling position to have only one knee resting upon the cold damp mess of the forest floor.

What was she doing with them, then? She wondered to herself. There had only been perhaps a few dozen of the fey’ri imprisoned. Had they indeed all committed crimes? Probably not, now that she had time to think about it. But the cleric still didn’t’ find it plausible that Fade had been a complete innocent in that ancient war millennia ago. Still, she had certainly served a long sentence, even if she had not been aware of it; and from her description of her arrival, her stay with her kin had not at all been pleasant.

Her willingness to fight her kin was ringing true to her ears, both via magic and her own intuition. It seemed obvious that her blade had been designed to benefit her in battle against her own kin somehow; how exactly, she wouldn’t dare to guess.

She gladly returned Fade’s smile, surprised at the unexpected kindness. She’d been expecting an angry response directed her way next as the obvious 'righteous' figure in their unorthodox band. She shook her head to deflect the concern over missing her name, and still smiling, repeated, “Llana. Cleric of Sune, as you can see.” She was about to answer her question when Greg did, and she quickly interjected, “I believe that we should also leave the topics of theology and anthropology aside while we’re at it. We’re here to complete a mission, not hold a symposium.”

She smiled when she heard Skafloc’s reply from somewhere behind her right. He obviously had no problem with the possibility. Jonas and Karo were either silently agreeing or waiting to hear further. Either way, it seemed fairly clear that there were no objections to her accompanying them. She doubted the woman would backstab them, but the possibility of her fleeing was still real. Nonetheless... "We’re retrieving an item that was lost by our benefactor, that he believes to be in Elven Port. But before we discuss any more details, I’ll help see to the worst of your wounds while we continue this discussion.” The half-elf reached out and gently lay a hand upon the rebel’s less injured shoulder, while touching her holy symbol with her other hand. “Curare est Sunei orare…”
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Mistress Elysia
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A little alarmed, but not that surprised that she now had an audience, Fade tried to surreptitiously take the measure of the three other men who had joined the pale sorcerer and the female cleric. As the shorter, skinnier of the two obvious humans handled Tholdagnir, she fought down an almost overwhelming urge to take her beloved weapon from him there and then. Even greater was the urge to search for its adopted twin, Lawbreaker. Hmmm. she thought to herself I should warn them, I suppose... an anarchic weapon in the hands of a law-abiding creature can only end up one way. The last thing she needed was any of them to pick Lawbreaker up and for the sword to decide to reject them - and inevitably reject them painfully. She couldn't quite focus upon the other figure lurking at the edges of the clearing - she had seen him briefly to guess his gender but not his race - and knew she would have to squint and concentrate to keep a tab on any of his movements. At the larger, fearsome looking warrior's quip, Fade couldn't help but grin - realising what she was doing, she quickly sublimated it and focused again upon the sorcerer and Llana.

Fade could tell she was going to have problems with the pale man - one who seemed so determined to doubt her. He talked of inherent evil, something she herself would have agreed with once upon a time. However, bitter experience had changed her opinon and overall outlook on life permanently - how ironic that in the end, they were probably singing from the same hymn sheet about certain philosophies. Still, she felt his opinion of his own race was absurdly biased... well, maybe he had never been to Luskan.

Deciding that Llana was definitely the more understanding of the two options, she turned her sole attention to her. "An item? In Elven Port?" Fade looked a little perplexed "Sorry... I don't know anything about that. It's been a while since I was around these parts." Fade sighed as the cleric healed a portion of her wounds - enough at least to make her feel a bit more comfortable. Already she could feel her left shoulder loosen a little - it was still painful, but at least she could now move it without fear of doing permanent damage to it. The healing spell did not, however, combat the extreme fatigue she was feeling and much to her embarrassment, Fade had to stifle a yawn.
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eocine
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Skafloc’s words were met with a continued silence from the direction of Karosin

Perhaps…

But on the other hand I’ve known more than enough people who talk infinitely better than they can kill.


His feelings thus far were mixed, whilst there were a huge number of advantages in having someone who at least had a vague idea of the terrain and what they would face, however there was always the chance of a betrayal, there was no getting away from that. Still did the advantages outweigh the risks?. He was starting to come around to the thought that perhaps it did, after all you could be certain that the walking dead would be watching her every move, and it wasn’t like he himself would let her drift out of sight either…

Greg’s talk on the nature of evil elicited no visible response whatsoever from the former assassin, he knew that he’d killed, and killed many. Innocent and criminal alike, and he had accepted the truth that he was not a ‘good’ man, but what he was trying to do was be a better one, and perhaps… Just perhaps, this female creature wanted the same as well.
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Castamir
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Skafloc finished examining his animal hide, and turned his attention back to the ongoing inquisition. Skafloc was rather a man of action, of instant decision, and for him this was becoming a prolonged discussion. But then he'd been travelling alone for a long time, and it was perhaps because of this, and the recognition of this that he didn't complain, instead he played the 'ignorant barbarian' card.

He patted his axe and gave a bloody grin, "I'm warmed up now, so let's get the introductions out of the way and get on with the job eh?"
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Pamela
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Llana remained in the same position as she cast the spell once more, and the majority of the wounds disappeared. She looked away at the yawn and the fey’ri’s embarrassment to look around for her other companions. She smiled at Skafloc’s eagerness to move forward, and his desire to bring the discussion to an end. “It seems there’s no other objections, so…” She gestured to each member as she named them. “Jonas….Karosin…Skafloc…Greg…” Another redheaded rogue type, it seems; blessed Goddess let her temper be better than the other's…. She grimaced at the corpse that the barbarian had brought out from the dark sphere, and asked, “Does he have anything valuable? Any information?” She turned back to Fade. “Do you know if these fey’ri recently came from Elven Port, or had they been companions of the Tiefling for some time?” She wanted to know if they had to worry about some search party looking for the trio if they’d been absent for any length of time.
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Darkwind
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He still didn't trust her entirely, and would be watching her closely, but since she apparently was going to come with them, Greg decided to lose the 'righteous judge' attitude--with quite a bit of relief. He preferred being a goofball. So when Llana introduced him, he waved with a genuine smile.

"That's me, Greg Smith. I'm living proof that dead men do tell tales. Well, walking around casting spells proof, anyway. But I tell such tales!" He left that cryptic remark without an explanation--if Llana saw fit, she'll fill her in.
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Mistress Elysia
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Fade regarded each member of the small band a little owlishly. She had never been that sure how to behave or react in such circumstances, and so just nodded to each name. She was most taken aback by the pale man's response, who had seemed to switch from a cold-hearted judge to being quite personable. His comment also had her intrigued... surely she had misheard him?

Now she was feeling a lot better (although still tired), the rebel fey'ri walked slowly over to the corpse. Fighting down an almost overwhelming urge to kick it, she snorted and quickly checked him over, but quickly discovered that he had been already picked over. She turned back to the group.

"These fey'ri were pretty well known in society circles - the have connections to Sarya herself" she commented "I would guess they would have been hand-picked by Xalph, Sarya's nephew, meaning their absence will be noted. I would also guess that any prolonged absence on Inther's part will also be noted, too, although not by the fey'ri; he worked for the Arcane Brotherhood." Fade shook her head ruefully. "I'm sorry that I don't know any more... I've been away from fey'ri society some years now and so I don't know their plans - if I knew anything else, I would gladly share it with you." she then focused on Greg. "If I may have Tholdagnir back..." she gestured to her short sword "...although I must warn all of you that my other weapon, Lawbreaker, has a distaste for those who follow laws to rigidly. I don't want anyone picking it up and then thinking I had trapped the weapon to deliberately hurt any of you - the sword decides who it accepts and rejects, I'm afraid." Fade then set herself to stirring the leaf litter with one foot, searching for her errant blade. After a few moments, she looked back again at the group.

"And I thank you. All of you. You've saved me from a fate worse that death... it is something I won't forget. I hope I never have to do the same for you, but considering your path, I guess it is kind of inevitable, and such favours are not forgotten easily. But I do suggest that we get away from this place, and as soon as possible; I suspect Sarya had other ways to keep track of her lackeys, and she will retaliate for the loss of two of her troops with extreme prejudice." Fade sighed. '"Which I guess is my fault. I'm sorry."

She then continued to search for Lawbreaker.
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eocine
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When the time came for the introductions Karosin responded by offering Fade a slight inclining of his head. He was still stuck on whether or not this was a good idea, but realistically only time would truly tell, and the time for objections was long since past. So instead he decided to try and be as cordial as possible with the demon-spawn.

Needless to say in his case this required silence….

His eyebrows raised at the explanation given by the red headed Fey’ri, but he added nothing instead smirking internally… Well if these nothings were part of the inner circle then this could be easier than I would have expected… Still, it was worth noting that they were known and apparently on decent terms with this ‘Xhalph’ character. Were they human this knowledge would of course be treasured to be used on the enemy when the time was right, however judging from what they’d been told about them it was unlikely that there was any real depth in the relationship…

Which was always a pity because the first thing you target in the enemy is his heart…

At her thanks he did little more than mentally shrug it off, he did actually have a code of ethics in his own way. Though it was a distinctly blood-spattered and battered manuscript and was missing several pages that most people considered pretty important.

He’d actually spotted what he assumed to be her sword earlier, mostly hidden under a holly bush, but declined from pointing it out… Groveling about on the floor was so character building for some people.

Instead of pointing out it’s location he made his way back towards where the slaughtered Fey’ri lay and shifted through his tunic and pockets as quickly as possible, checking the seams of his clothing for hidden items before piling everything salvageable from the Fey’ri and Inther onto the floor…
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Mwa13
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Jonas stood up from his spot and walked to the others, giving his usual disturbing, yet polite smile to Fade. He nodded to her as a slight greeting. "Do not worry, if we see your other sword, we will inform where it is for you to pick it up."

Jonas searched a little on the ground, before turning his attention back to Fade. "Do not say you're sorry for something that was out of your hands. They were doing harm to you and needed to be stopped. You wanted away, you have now a chance to get away and it is not a fault, but a grace. Determination to free oneself from imprisonment. You should thank yourself instead of putting yourself down." Jonas winked at Fade and continued to search for her sword.
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Castamir
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Skafloc nodded in greeting as his name was said, but as Fade thanked them he shook his head.

"Likely we'd have killed them anyway. You just made us look more heroic, everyone knows rescuing a damsel in distress sounds a lot better in the retelling than simple violence." he grinned, "We should thank you for providing another heroic deed for the bards to sing about."

He wasn't worried about her warning regarding her sword. He had no love of rules and regulations. Laws were (in his opinion) for people who lacked the sense to be their own moral guide. His own outlook, was far more 'elastic'.
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Pamela
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Llana was both surprised and relieved to see Greg’s earlier easy-going manner return. She had no doubts that it was an inherent part of his nature, but had wondered if it would suffer under his understandable antipathy towards the fey’ri. She smiled at his remarks, shaking her head.

“The Arcane Brotherhood? Have the fey’ri made allies then?” she asked worriedly. Looking around the group at the warning about the short sword, she thought, I doubt any of us are going to suffer from its touch. Llana looked towards the direction she’d kicked it, and stepped forward to pick up the blade, which had been inadvertently buried beneath a sodden, brown mass of rotting foliage and the tangled low branches of some bush.

She quietly said, “You’re welcome,” to Fade’s words of thanks. I also hope that you will not be required to return that particular favour... Her expression suddenly became grim, but her face was averted as she reached down to pick up the short sword, and produced an oil-cloth from one of her pockets. “Here it is," she called out, and began to assiduously clean the sword; handling the weapon gave some primitive sense of strength and satisfaction. It will not happen…

She distracted herself with Skafloc’s words, and smiling, remarked, “Rather unfortunate then that we are short on bards at the moment...” As well as everything else except rogues...
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Mistress Elysia
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Fade by now was feeling a little perplexed by the sudden apparent change from open suspicion and hostility to one of wary cordiality. She actually felt a little touched by Jonas' and Skafloc's words - neither, it seemed, blamed her for getting them into a fight - in fact, she would guess that the barbarian at least relished the excuse. At Llana's question about the Arcane Brotherhood, they fey'ri shrugged.
"Sarya wanted the Brotherhood to join her in an alliance" she answered, carefully. "I... I don't know that much about it. Just that certain deals were brokered" With me as their currency she added bitterly to herself. She began searching again, mainly so she wouldn't have to look directly at any of this new group... exactly *how* she knew about the alliance between the Brotherhood and the fey'ri was something she liked to keep secret from other people, considering the circumstances in which she found out about it.

Fade couldn't help but grin when Llana held out Lawbreaker for her; she took the weapon gladly, instantly feeling better with the comforting weight of it in her hand and slid it into its scabbard. "Now I just need Tholdagnir, a bloody great pint of ale and a good night's sleep and I'll be ready for anything!" she quipped, still grinning at the cleric. "But since I can't see us finding a tavern in the near future, I suppose 2 out of 3 isn't too bad... better than I would have had if you lot hadn't turned up".
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eocine
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He pushed everything into a rough circle before standing again… The next question of course was what they did with the bodies, normally he’d suggest dumping them in the river, but the river’s flow headed towards Elven Port, and the last thing that they wanted to do was be given away by a floating corpse getting spotted by a Fey’ri fisherman… The important thing is to have them out of sight of any who would fly overhead, so I guess we can just bury them in leaf-litter for now and let nature deal with them in due course once our deed is done.

Before he said anything he listened to the discussion on the Fey’ri and their arrangement with the arcane brotherhood. He knew very little about the group, only that they held some measure of power in Luskan, but it was distant from most of his usual areas of activity and so he’d never really bothered to find out much about them, something that he now regretted.

It was certainly a worry though that they were branching out into the world, and might make it more difficult to eradicate the lot of them, it also would mean that they would have more information on Faerun in general, with such an agreement they were possibly more dangerous than ever.

“We can’t promise sleep either”, Karosin replied to her absently as he looked down at the corpse of Inther, wondering if it would he better perhaps to place them in the shallows under huge rocks instead…
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Darkwind
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He handed her the sword. "Assuming we aren't being scryed by the enemy right now, we still have the advantage of surprise. We should get moving quickly. Hopefully, we can be done here before any reinforcements from Luskan or elsewhere could be brought in."

He planned to be toward the back, of course, where he could be out of harm's way and where he could keep an eye on their new companion. One wrong move from her, and she'll spend time as a glass statue of herself.
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Castamir
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Skafloc picked up the healing potions, and tucked them into the pouch on his thick leather belt.

"I assume no-one minds if I take these? I'll share them out if needed, I just have a feeling I'm going to need them." he grinned as he spoke, no trace of resentment. In fact the burly human seemed to relish the prospect of going toe to toe with an unknown amount of enemies.

He glanced over the other equipment Karosin had gathered and dismissed it, before noticing the assassin obviously sizing up the bodies. Skafloc guessed what for.

"You want me to dig a hole?"
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eocine
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He nodded at the Sorcerers words, recognising that there was a lot of sense in what he said. It was always better to do these things quickly, but the key of course was speed without mistakes. Which was inevitably a far harder proposition, but still it had to be done…

At Skafloc’s words he nodded… “It would be for the best, and you’re better equipped than the rest of us to do it quickly”. You’re also the kind of brute who doesn’t mind being covered in autumnal filth…

Still he recognised the value that the barbarian brought to the group, a moveable shield was never a bad thing.
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Pamela
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“Who are the Brotherhood? I know nothing about them myself,” Llana asked the group in general. Greg’s mention of Luskan suggested that he knew enough to know that they were situated there, and if they were lucky, it was too far for them to have many dealings- or visits- with such a hidden, isolated base. Her impressions of the prejudiced fey'ri suggested that they were unlikely to have any of the Brothers living among them. “Do you have any idea why they would be willing to work together? Trade in magical items?” Perhaps they pretend to each other to share power, and split up the North between them…?

“Whether we get a good night’s sleep is still open to debate but I agree with Greg that we should get moving…” She halted when she saw the looting of the body, and an idea sprung to mind. “Is there any reason for us to suspect that they might be capable of having set up their own wards? And if so, do any of their possessions look like wardstones, or some other object which would function as such?”

Llana shook her head at the mention of burial. “If they’re going to search, they’re sure to notice the disturbed soil. You may as well just drag him into the circle of darkness, and cover them all with leaves and dead branches. It will take too long otherwise. Actually, should we dismiss this orb, while we're at it?"
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Mistress Elysia
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Fade herself knew enough about the Arcane Brotherhood to last a lifetime, but decided that this wasn't the time nor the place to launch into a detailed description of the political situation in Luskan right now.
"The Brotherhood are secretive about their ways" she replied to the cleric simply "the telling of their tale would take a while, I fear - time that we do not have right now."

Fighting back a rising, instinctive fury at the sight of her felled foes, Fade tried to think straight about what they could do with the bodies. However, the urge to decorate the clearing with their entrails really was quite strong. She sucked in a deep breath and tried to steady herself: losing the fight and giving in to her more undesirable urges was something she had battled with for a long time. She found her own, very personal vow to live a 'better life' (although most of the time she wasn't even sure what that was, but had a vague notion that is was about maintaining control) was much easier all the time she stayed away from the heady intoxicants of battle, blood and coupling. Problem is, life just kept throwing all three at her continually, in one way or another...

"Just dismember the bodies" she suggested, trying to sound light and care-free. She kept her hands clasped firmly on the hilts of her swords and her crimson eyes took on an odd flat, hard cast. "If they were in smaller pieces, animals would find it easier to disperse them. Nature would take its course much more quickly then. We would still cover them in leaf litter; just over a much wider area, making it harder to locate them..."

Her grip on her sword hilts was now so strong that her knuckles were now white. Pease just give me the excuse... the little voice in her head whispered insistently Please... I know that bastard Inther is dead and so any wound now would be superfluous, but to be able to plunge my blade into his stinking heart... and other parts she added viciously to herself would heal a few of the wounds he had inflicted on me... Fade's tail lashed from side to side and her jaw tightened as she ground her teeth in a titanic battle of wills as she looked to the sky; to give in to her own, instinctive desire for revenge or just walk away and leave it to the others. The reasoning, tamed side of her knew that the only choice was to walk away, but the demon in her yammered and scrabbled for the blood of her foes.
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eocine
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Karosin shook his head at Llana’s question regarding wardstones, “I’ve found nothing that would suggest a ward-stone…” He looked thoughtful for a few seconds before crouching down and drawing his dagger as he did so, kneeling at the side of the fallen Fey’ri… “However I have been across magical doorways that need a certain type of blood to be opened”, he lifted up the Feyri’s limp arm and took hold of his little finger, holding it steady before he neatly sliced the digit away. He looked up at the party looking down at him and shrugged… “Well it’s got to be better him than her right?” He twisted his head towards Fade.

“I’m not trying to protect against a search, merely against someone spotting these bodies whilst flying overhead.” He gestured around himself to the evidence of battle, the spilled blood and dislodged leaves. “It would be easy enough to spot battle if you looked for it, I’m merely trying to stop people spotting it by accident.”

He nodded in agreement at her next question however, “Definitely, the orb should be dispelled if we’re able to do so.” He looked towards Greg, hoping that the sorcerer would have the answer.

“No…” He replied thoughtfully to Fade’s suggestion on the dismemberment of the corpses, “I thought about that earlier but it would spread a little too much blood around”.

He stood straight and brushed himself down… “Besides which I’m not overly eager to be smeared in blood for the rest of the day if I can possibly avoid it.”

Casually he moved to towards the river, pausing when he could see the steely grey sheen… “Actually it would probably be best to toss the filth in the river and then just drop a few rocks on them. It’s hardly transparent now after all…”
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Darkwind
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"Let's just say the Arcane Brotherhood is bad news. Not quite as bad news as a cabal of Thayan Red Wizards, for example, but suffiently bad. If they get involved, our lives could get very complicated."

He looked briefly at the bodies. "I suppose I could disintegrate them, but that seems like overkill. Do what you think is best." He got the hint and turned toward the darkness. A short incantation and a few gestures and he bent his will on unraveling the magic that kept it in place.
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eocine
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The globe of darkness shuddered, seeming to strain back against the force of Greg's will. Yet this resistance only lasted the merest of seconds before the shadow-stuff began to disperse, and a moment later the ball of shadows was gone, leaving only the foam and filth covered corpse of the Fey'ri that the Risen Martyr had slain with his prismatic assault.
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Mistress Elysia
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As the orb dissipated, Fade turned away from the scene of the fight. Her gorge rose slightly, not through disgust of the spectacle before her, but through the continuing desire to wreak vengence upon her foes. In an attempt to divert her attention, she turned away from the battleground and spoke to the others, not caring who answered.
"What are you all doing here? I can see you are kitted out for travel, and Greg mentioned that he knows much of the fey'ri... I can only assume it has something to do with them."
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Castamir
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Skafloc listened to the discussions about the bodies further, then wandered off, to return a moment later, a large boulder in his arms. He peered around it and cleared his throat, nodding at the body of Inther.

"If someone would tip him into a shallow bit, I'll do the honours.."
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Pamela
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Llana said nothing during the ensuing conversation; the disposal of the dead wasn’t something she wanted to dwell on. She looked away when Karosin took the fey’ri’s finger and focused instead on Greg and Fade’s remarks about the Arcane Brotherhood. Her eyes did widen however at the barbarian’s unconscious display of his massive strength.

She was not blind to their new companion’s tension, and had some idea that the earlier tableau had not been a one-time occasion in the rebel's life. Her antipathy was too strong, and the Sunite had seen this kind of reaction far too many times. But as Greg had suggested, they didn’t have much time, and Fade was hardly going to wish to speak about the matter with a group of suspicious strangers. Instead, she resolved to distract her from the ongoing ‘burials’ and quietly replied, “We are here to retrieve a particular object, but our patron has also asked us to keep an eye open for any prisoners and captives among their numbers.” She didn’t bother to elaborate, and moving on, added, “We aren’t here to deal with the fey’ri per se; at least, not right now. I was considering bringing the matter up with the temple or with Silverymoon’s authorities when we’d returned. I doubt that we’ll be able to deal with the problem on our own, considering their fabled reputation, and now their other links.”

The worrying possibility was that their involvement with this Brotherhood meant that they could have a base in Luskan or some other city to the west. Once they’d removed the shard, the fey’ri would be able to find out who had seized it and invaded their territory, and they had allies to help in seeking redress. Wonderful, she thought to herself, aware that she’d have to bring this up to the others when they were alone- or after Fade had proven her trustworthiness. “It seems this mission might be a little more complicated than we’d been first led to believe,” she said aloud. “And I probably will remain involved in the matter after today’s mission. If you do not mind my company, I would be willing to help you in dealing with them.”
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eocine
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Karosin nodded in thanks towards Greg as he dispelled the darkness, then spotted the froth smeared corpse of the terminally poisoned Fey’ri, impressive, he thought to himself as he gazed across at the body. Clearly our washed-out companion can pull his weight after all…

When Skafloc returned carrying the boulder he turned up an eyebrow in disappointment. He’d rather been hoping to be able to dispose of the bodies without actually getting dirty himself, but sadly it didn’t appear that was going to be a possibility.

He turned towards Jonas and gestured towards the body of Inther, “A little help with this?” Asked the assassin of the Tiefling, before leaning down and picking up the rapist’s wrists (they were of course cleaner than his feet)… His expression of distaste was never the less evident even when the shadow-dancer gave his distinctly disquieting grin and moved across to grab the now bootless feet of the pimp.

Between the two of them he wasn’t overly heavy, and they dragged him out into the shallows and tossed him unceremoniously into the river, before stepping away and allowing the barbarian to drop a rock the size of a cart wheel onto the body, holding it below the rapidly moving waters. This was a trick that they repeated for all three bodies before Karosin scattered a series of leaves over the area that the poison-killed Fey’ri had vomited all over and they returned to the others…
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Mwa13
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Jonas stared at the bodies as they sunk one by one in the river and Skafloc threw the boulders on them. He was very impressed by the barbarian's mere strength, the man was truly powerful, brawn over brain, which was a good thing to have.

He walked after Karosin, leaving the grim event behind. "That was the wisest thing to do, I must say. Nobody should be able to spot those corpses from there now."

Jonas caught Llana's statement as they came back to the others. "Indeed. This entire situation affects us all, so it is not just you who will remain involved in all this, but all of us." Jonas took some leaves from the ground to wipe his hands. "This mission is not over after we get what we want." He lifted his gaze at the others. "This is only the beginning, for sure."
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Mistress Elysia
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The rebel fey'ri watched with a hard, flat look on her face as each body was consigned permanently to the water. Never again would she have to suffer the degradations that Inther had inflicted on her and those she considered her friends and loved ones so many times. As she watched the barbarian drop the last, huge rock - which she recognised as an almost supernatural feat in itself - she felt a huge weight lift from her shoulders and an almost overwhelming rush of gratitude towards these people that had helped her. He was dead. Inther: her pimp, her nightmare, the man she had wished dead a thousand times before and whose sole purpose in life seemed to be to degrade others in every and any way he could imagine - was gone, wiped from the face of Faerun. These people probably had no idea the scourge they had lifted from the world.

Slowly, she studied each and every one of the makeshift band she had now aligned herself with whether they realise it or not she added to herself, allowing herself a small but genuine smile. She hesitated a little, unsure of what to say to them and glanced back to the river that was now Inther and her brothers' graves as a way to steel herself.

"Thank you" she said, simply lost for anything else to say. She felt her throat constrict and her eyes prickle - so many conflicting emotions...

With that, she turned away from the group and made her way towards the trees.
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eocine
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As the party penetrated the final layer of trees that were before them they could see an imposing wooden palisade that stretched to a full twenty feet into the air. The wooden poles were topped with large metallic caps that gleamed in the dim light. To the right of the pathway this wooden wall ran until it was swallowed up by the claustrophobic forest. Off to their left it met with the river, continuing into the shallows and stopping when it presumably reached the deeper middle of the river. It seemed clear that the natural watery barrier took up the task of protecting Elven-Port from invaders.

Directly before them stood a hugely well constructed gate, braced and secured by bands of steel. It was clear from the difference in the tone of the wood that the gate was a far newer arrival than the original defense.

As they stepped even closer they could see that there were wrought iron chains encircling the doors, and through the slim gap between the two leaves of the door it was clear that a series of huge boards sealed the gate more fully. Looking up revealed to them that the branches that could have overhung the barrier had been cut away.

Clearly the Fey’ri weren’t encouraging passing trade.

Curiously though it seemed to be entirely untouched by traps or magic, and beyond the doors there was silence.
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eocine
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Karosin looked up at the massive barrier with a sigh. Being able to pick locks was all well and good but that meant little enough if the door was simply nailed shut. Thankfully it seemed that there had been no traps set around the perimeter, but of course that wouldn’t apply to what was inside necessarily.

Still the set up with the fence seemed to be more designed to keep out casual attempts to enter than anything really concerted, and the problem could be navigated without any real trouble, the wood was hardly perfectly smooth after all almost certainly scaleable.

Still that would take time and they had little enough of that so instead he turned to the Skafloc, pulling a length of silken rope out of his pack as he did so, "I’m giving you the opportunity to do what many people have wanted to do over the years, and that’s launch me into the air as hard as you can”. He said with a very faintly amused smirk as he tied the rope around his belt.

This of course wasn't him being in any way altuistic in going over first, rather he simply only trusted himself to do the job right.
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Castamir
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Earlier...

Skafloc dropped the last boulder with a grunt of both effort and satisfaction of a job done. He then stooped in the shallows to take a good look at their handywork, and wash his hands in the cold water.

He stood and turned, wiping his hands on the front of his much battered and patched hide armour, catching the eye of the little group's newest member. He saw the hatred burning there, and recognised it for what it was, for it was not dissimilar to his own in intensity.

He averted his gaze, for that kind of hatred was a deeply personal thing, and he had no more interest in pursuing it's cause than he had of sharing the root of his own burning desire for vengeance..

Current...

Skafloc came to a standstill, standing tall with his axe slung over his shoulder in it's customary position. He looked left and right, and wondered about the quickest way over. He was of no doubt he could find a way in, for it was only wood, and he had a pretty useful axe, but it was neither going to be quick or quiet.

Karosin's suggestion made the barbarian grin.

"It'd be a pleasure."
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Mwa13
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Jonas stared at the wall with a frown on his face and his smile fading. The wall didn't concern him as much as the silence all around. The silence was really disturbing, he didn't like it at all.

He looked at Karosin and Skafloc, then looked at the wall again. He could go to the other side quickly too, if there was any shadows around, but it didn't seem likely. There would have to be a perfect shadow on the other side of the wall as well. He gathered that Karosin's plan was the only way to go.
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Darkwind
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Greg eyed the wall as he went over in his mind the many ways he could bypass it. He might make a hole in it by a Disintegrate spell. He might accomplish the same by casting Glass Strike and then shattering the glass. He might summon a creature to break it down. He might use his enchanted boots to fly over it. The best option, however, was to use the magic of his cloak to become ethereal and walk through it.

His cloak seemed to swallow light instead of being illuminated by it. One reason he wore black clothing was to make it less obvious. He'd almost spoken the word to command it to do as he planned, when he changed his mind. Let Fade go over first, he'll follow right behind her.
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Mistress Elysia
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Fade stood apart from the group a little, first scrutinising the fence and then the surrounding areas. Too quiet...

She stepped back into the cover of the trees briefly and looked at the hastily sliced branches. She had to admit that this was unlike the fey'ri she knew - building things took sensible, methodical and practical thinking on the whole; something her race was not famous for.

And why was it so quiet? Where were the guards? Normally, she would have expected the area to have been covered in magical wards and traps - anything to slow down a potential invader.

Concentrating again on the trees, she located one she could shin up quickly. Her tail pinwheeling behind her as she fought to maintain her balance - there was no time to be particularly careful - she sought out the highest brach she could, trying in vain to see if she could take a peek over the fence and to what might possibly lay beyond.
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Pamela
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Llana turned away from the burial, wondering what god or demon would receive their souls. This prompted her to turn to Fade, and she was going to ask her when she saw the rebel’s expression. Later, she thought to herself… If they could get any idea as to which ones might be popular, it might help them to know what to expect. She looked away for the moment at Jonas’ agreement to remain involved after the quest, and prayed that when they did return it would be with better numbers.

She followed the others as they finally moved on, and her stomach knotted as they saw the wooden walls of a well-maintained, but quiet fort. As they neared it, she kept looking up at the nearby trees, wondering where their sentinels were. There was no sign of any watchtower, oddly enough. Where are their guards? Are they so confident in their abilities and defenses that they feel no need for them?

She looked over when her husband spoke, and pursed her lips to prevent her objections. She wasn’t too worried about his ability to scale the wall ( or at least, not much) but she was concerned about him being a target for anybody just on the other side. But there was no other obvious way in. It also was unlikely that there would be anyone positioned within the well-locked gate. But where are their patrols?

She turned at a movement, and saw her fellow redhead heading back to the forest. She looked around at the others but kept her peace, and was glad she’d done so when she saw Fade’s goal. She looked up at the fey’ri with a questioning look.
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eocine
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Skafloc’s massive hands clamped down on the back of Karosin’s shirt and his belt, and he heard the grunt of the barbarian in his ear for a moment before he was suddenly launched into the air by a strength that was virtually frightening. So powerful in fact was the throw by the axe-wielder that flung him considerably higher than was originally intended and for a moment he was concerned that he would overshoot the mark.

Thankfully though his trajectory, whilst high, was still on target in the end, and his feet dropped down onto the top of the perimeter wall. His knees flexed with the impact, and he had to drop one hand down to steady himself, but in moments he was fully balanced and able to carefully pick his way across the uneven surface.

Once he had reached the gate he lashed the rope to one of the support struts, leaving a rope down to the ground that could easily be climbed up. Getting down shouldn’t prove a problem really, for him the drop was virtually non existent, and all they would really have to do was drape the rope down to the other side for the others.
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eocine
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What Fade saw...

From Fade’s precarious position in the tree she could see the ruined settlement of Elven-Port spreading out before her. An area of aged ruins dotted in several places with newer and seemingly temporary structures. Even from her higher position the overwhelming impression of the area was that there were hills and hummocks everywhere, the ground a decidedly unusual and possibly unnatural series of mounds, mounds that shrouded several details and made the judging of distance more challenging. She could see from her perch that the palisade encircled the entire area, though left the port open, for which reason it would at this moment probably be impossible to guess.

Three landmarks dominated the skyline of Elven-Port, climbing high above the others, that were of a far more uniform height. Furthest to the left as Fade looked she could see a beacon that jutted high into the sky. Presumably used to signal the other settlements in the area in the event of an Orcish invasion or similar.

At least it was difficult to imagine that the Fey’ri themselves would have any use for it.

More centrally a ruined stone tower that had a heavy list to the left stood, archery windows were dotted up and down the sides, however whilst it certainly had a military bent to the design it was also just as clearly of Elven make, for the design was infinitely more graceful than anything the human nations would have considered using for a martial outpost. It was perhaps a reasonable assumption that the ancient tower was probably the first building placed in the settlement when the ancient Elves of yore had attempted to carve out an empire in the harsh lands of the silver marches.

Finally, and furthest to the right a crystalline tower stretched up heavenwards. In common with most of the rest of the settlement had signs of obvious signs of wear and tear, with the tip of the tower missing, and a huge crack that was visible even from Fade’s position, running down the left hand side from the top to the very bottom. If there was a method of entrance it wasn’t on this side, or at least wasn’t visible to the naked eye. Indeed perhaps it was even debatable as to whether it was a building or merely a massive monument of sports.

Of the lower lying buildings there were several areas that were clearly houses, but they too were damaged and crumbling away to nothing. Clearly as well of Elven make though, which meant that they were airy and spacious, with plenty of room in all directions.

The Delimbyr River ran up the left of the town, and there were three docks still standing, attached to one of which were the mostly skeletal remains of a ship. The main mast had fallen, splintering the deck in its path and then crashing down onto the river-side. The sails had long since rotted away but the wood remained, ancient and warped by the years in the rains and sun.

One edifice that would have caught the eyes of the Fey’ri warrior was a decidedly curious construction of what appeared to be glass and a vibrantly blue stone of a sort. It appeared to be a building, but one shaped to resemble a mighty whale of a sort. There was also a huge amount of minor damage carried out on this building, yet it still seemed in better shape than the majority of the other buildings in the area.

It was probably reasonably easy to speculate that this longevity was magical in nature.

In the very center of the settlement a large wooded glade existed, seemingly untouched by the ravages of time over much. But of course given that the forest itself had hardly suffered itself it was perhaps no surprise.

Finally there was an area that Fade’s vision couldn’t penetrate, as it was obscured by what seemed to be steam, there was perhaps an impression of movement in the steam for a second, but it could just as easily have been a trick of the eye. Either way it was there and gone in a second, leaving her looking at a grey cloud that hung in one place.

Virtually everything else however was hidden by the peculiar layout. One thing seemed clear though. This was hardly a busy hive of activity…
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Mistress Elysia
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Shading her eyes with one hand, Fade surveyed the ravaged town. Again, she felt quite uneasy to see it seemingly deserted. Where are they...?

Suddenly and rather surprisingly, Karosin flew past into her field of vision. Looking down, she could see the grinning visage of Skafloc who was watching Karosin's flight with interest. Surely he hadn't just... no. Fade shook her head. He couldn't have thrown another man that high... could he? She then remembered the massive boulders her had lifted with ease and frowned slightly. She then turned her head back to Karosin, who, despite the rather ungainly method of his ascent, was now comfortably poised on top of the fence. With a grin at these rather unorthodox methods, Fade decided to join her fellow rogue and tell him what she had seen from her perch.

Testing the branch to see if it would carry her weight long enough for her to jump, she ran along it, maintaining her balance with her tail and then jumped, flinging herself with one arm outstretched at the fence. Her judgement was true, and as her outstretched hand met the top of the fence, she instinctively threw her other hand up, and using the momentum of her jump, swung herself up on to the top of the fence. She crouched for a moment, finding her balance and then stood up. She concentrated for a second on the patch of 'steam' she had seen before to see if she could make out anything more, and then picked her way along the top of the fence towards Karosin.
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Castamir
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Skafloc watched Karosin land where planned, and raised his eyebrows in surprise. He'd proceeded with the plan, but hadn't been 100% it would work, in fact he'd been ready to try to catch the assassin should he bounce off the wall and fall. If he'd sailed straight over, well, then he would have offered his sincere apologies to Llana..

"Hmmm.." he rumbled, nodding approval.

As soon as the rope dropped down, the Barbarian stuck the shaft of his great axe down the back of his belt, and followed Karosin up the wall with a nimble dexterity that was unexpected given his great build. He'd grown up in the mountains and valleys however, and climbing was an essential survival skill.

Once on top he pulled Brainbiter back out and dropped to a crouch next to Karosin, raising an eyebrow at the killer and nodding his head towards the panorama whispered, "Anything interesting?"

Scanning the view himself, he spared the acrobatic Fade a sideways glance and quietly whispered with a grin, "What are you? Half squirrel?"
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