Cee - "Arl tracked the kidnappers down really quickly, but then Marsle defeated her. He's like, some sort of elite flute-playing super-kidnaper with rubber flesh and ultrahard skin. Anyway, he left with Greta last night so we didn't get to fight him. And I said last time because you've dealt with an evil god before!"
**Cee's eyes appeared to smiling as he intoned last bit. Esyllt, however, looks rather confused.**
Esyllt - "Although I would like to learn about whatever god you've dealt with before, the source of the kidnappings is the city of Notawhere, which pays fealty to a God-King of monsters known as the Yue-Yue. I'm... not sure I would call it a true god, but its powers do appear to be divine.
**The dryad gently holds up the girl's head as she administers whatever liquid is in her bottle.**
Epic World! Because seriously! It's the awesome!
And don't forget to do your shopping at The Newe Haberdashery, the finest vendor of magic items and oddball services ... Ever!
**Ahab's head was warped and horselike, and various parts of his bodes were warped as well.**
Dr.Smalls - "We won't know until he wakes up. Javert stopped the transformation part-way, but the real question is how fast the transformation effects the mind."
---
**Esyllt starts to speak, but then stops. She holds up a finger as she finishes administrating the liquid. Arl doesn't seem to respond, and that appears to make the dryad happy.**
Esyllt - "Full recovery! To answer your question Darby, I'm not really sure what it means to be a 'god'. The Yue-Yue has created races, but might not have done so from scratch. The Yue-Yue can transform people in ways that greatly exceed regular magic, but I'm not sure that's really deific per se. It's immortal, cannot be harmed by any regular weapon, can kill mortals with just its presence, can possibly echo through dreams, and has who knows how many other horrifying powers, but I imagine a true divinity would be.. more than that. If that makes sense."
Epic World! Because seriously! It's the awesome!
And don't forget to do your shopping at The Newe Haberdashery, the finest vendor of magic items and oddball services ... Ever!
Esyllt - "Jadis? I've heard that name before... hrm.. isn't she one of the.. ancient elven gods? Sorrow, I think? I heard a rumor about them being responsible for the Lord Marshall's death?"
"Wow, that is a lot more knowledge about Jadis than I had going in. And yes, Jadis was responsible for quite a few deaths at that party, I think the Marshall was one."
Epic World! Because seriously! It's the awesome!
And don't forget to do your shopping at The Newe Haberdashery, the finest vendor of magic items and oddball services ... Ever!
Esyllt, to Darby - "That's horrible. Why aren't their any divinities doing good things?"
**Cee turns an eye towards Laghairt, being in position to eavesdrop on both conversations.**
Cee - "We can!"
Dr.Smalls - "Right, you mentioned knowing of a way to save them.
**Dr.Smalls smiles and nods towards Cee before walking to Arl and the others.**
Dr.Smalls - The anti-toxin is out; the children are too far gone to survive the expulsion process. They'd die instantly if the anti-toxin did anything at all."
Cee - "Hasao can save them!"
Esyllt - "Who?"
Cee - "He's a monster noble or something."
Esyllt - "Monster Noble?"
Cee - "Yeah! The kidnappers were going to present Arl to him so he could prepare her for some kind of sacrificial ceremony. Percival wants to join his flock, 'cause he's a loser that's still serving under Garibaldi, Maestro Della Nascita Cucito."**The bird's recitation of the title is distinctly mocking in its tone.** I think Hasao is... Maestoso Signore Della Casa di Notte? **cue over-the-top loving sigh** I tried to remember every name Percival was whining about."
Laghairt's and Darby's Items
Laghairt: Wheel of Ice and Fire – A simple four-winged boomerang of dark blue, almost black nevermelt ice.
>Heat-Stripping Twirl – The boomerang pulls in ambient heat as it spins through the air, growing brighter and redder as it chills its surroundings and pulls in flames. The boomerang stores this heat within itself; growing blisteringly hot after a long spin and/or after being thrown through particularly sweltering conditions
>Inferno Exhalation – The thrower can will the boomerang to release all of its stored heat in an explosion of flame relative to the amount of heat stored. This explosion does not harm the Wheel, but it probably stops its momentum.
Darby: Taker-Of-Names – A simple, black steel gauntlet lacking any sort of embellishments.
>Takin’ Names – Whenever Darby defeats a foe in battle (or graciously accepts their unconditional surrender) their name appears on the gauntlet in glowing, red letters. The tougher the foe, the brighter the letters. Any current names fade after the end of an encounter.
>Out of Gum – The gauntlet seemingly becomes more… intense with each name added to it, granting Darby an increasingly powerful intimidation effect based on the quantity and quality of the names it bares.
>No. – Once every 5 posts Darby may choose to have an attack, effect, insult, etc. that would otherwise be doing him a bad turn effect someone whose name is on this gauntlet instead of himself. They don’t even have to still be alive. Deal with it; it’s not Darby’s problem.
For example, a strike might phase through Darby while his last foe’s corpse is mysteriously cut in two. And no, names added to the gauntlet by other means don’t count.
Esyllt - "Wait, how does that mean Hasao can save them?"
Cee - "Oh! It's cause I heard them arguing about whether or not to dry out Arl. Apparently it'd let them move her faster, but then Hasao would have to reverse the transformation 'cause he'd need her back in fighting shape for the exhibition before offering her up to the Yue-Yue. And that's annoying to have to do, or something. Maybe expensive? I'm not sure, but Hasao can definitely save the kids!"
"Well, that seems like it might be a good way to deal with them, but Dr., is there anything about saving the children in your instructions? I would hate to break them and miss the chance to get your artifact." Kage said as he joined the others.
Dr.Smalls - "I'm afraid there is not, Kage. The book only noted the need for the anti-toxin, and we've already used it to save one of the 'three friendly voices' that we were to meet up with at the ship. Her dimensions match one of the extra disguises as well."
Esyllt - "But the book didn't say we can't save them either - The book of knowledge only gave us as much as we needed to know and no more; I believe most of us only received single-sentences or even specific symbols. The way it gave a small book's worth of instructions to Dr. Smalls only highlights how dangerous this mission truly is."
Kage thought back on his own answer. He prayed the day he would need the answer was far, far away. Then he said to the Dr. "So then Dr., what do you say we do? It's your adventure after all."
Gigan started to convulse and foam at the mouth. He writhed and hissed in pain as the scale burned into him. The silver color slowly spread to the rest of his body. The lizard sprouted small wings that would allow him to nimbly fly at 5mph. Gigan now has iron bones(The rest of him's still squishy) and is resistant to electricity.
After going though the painful transformation, Gigan got back to his feet. He looked around and realized that he should go and find Laghairt. The monitor started to run and his new wings caught the wind and he started to rise. The two new appendages flapped awkwardly at first, but soon Gigan had them under control and found flying to be okay. He flew in the direction of that his big brother had ran and soon saw him on the ship. He flew to him and landed on Laghairt's shoulder while the large man was distracted by thoughts of the strange rune the book had given him.
Gigan - Hiss!
Laghairt - Oh, there you are Gigan. What the hell happened to you!?
Gigan ducked his head down to show Laghairt the Ancestral Heart that was now a part of his head. Laghairt nodded and scratched the monitor's head.
Dr.Smalls - "Well Kage, I believe the first thing we should do is ask Darby here if he'd be willing to join us on this expedition. The book may have foretold his arrival, but I'm not going to force anyone to join us on this journey if they don't want to. After that we set send a message to the town and set sail! I have an item that will allow us to safely carry the children into the city, and this Hasao's technique sounds like their best hope."
Darby looks wistfully at the shore one last time before giving his answer.
"Of course I'll come with you. I have a reputation to uphold now, haven't I? I won't be touted by bards as the hero of the tournament after lugging some dryed out kid-husks into town, when they could have been saved. I'll just be the lazy bastard of the docks. How long is this journey?"
Epic World! Because seriously! It's the awesome!
And don't forget to do your shopping at The Newe Haberdashery, the finest vendor of magic items and oddball services ... Ever!
Dr.Smalls - "Ahah! Good man! **pats Darby on the back** A few weeks of sailing should get us to the tundra, perhaps a few days more to the mountains. Then we'll just need to get through the mountains and sneak into the city of monsters. How long it will take to get past the inner barrier is unknown, but I would wager it will take a few days if not weeks."
**The sounds of a shouting match can be heard coming from below decks**
Epic World! Because seriously! It's the awesome!
And don't forget to do your shopping at The Newe Haberdashery, the finest vendor of magic items and oddball services ... Ever!
Binge - "It ain't possible! It. Ain't- STOP HITTING ME! Javert - "THEN I'M GONNA BEAT A MIRACLE OUT OF YA!"
**The din of a relentless barrage of *Thwacks* fills the air as Darby and the others enter the lower decks. All of the clothing and armor that was in the center crate has been dumped on top of some of the empty crates that had been off to the side. In their place sits a man seemingly made of two bags - a lower bag whose limb-holes have been sealed off by various leathers and bits of his former limbs, and an upper bag that forms his head. Binge's impromptu prison looks a tight fit, but Tratorious and Javert apparently ran Arl's former chains through the monster as an assurance. Tratorious silently shovels the creature's remaining meat-stuffing into a funnel piercing the increasingly obese bag-man's back. Javert, for his part, appears determined to beat that stuffing right back out.**
**Meanwhile, Emille had fairly conclusively determined that the one nicer-looking hammock behind some shoddily strung up curtains was the infirmary. Maybe. She'd also found out that the former crew had restructured the below decks like a pirate vessel, removing any unneeded walls in favor of being able to swarm out at a moment's notice. The quarters in particular lacked any barriers between the hammocks, although there was a private-looking box beneath near each one. Several secret doors and rope ladders had been built into the below decks as well.**
Kage's Dagger
Piercing Sacrament - A fancy nevermeltice kila dagger. The dagger's blade is unusual in that it is both 6" long and four-edged instead of the three. Flip of the Four Deadly Priests - The dagger's edges can be willed to open like a flower, tearing through anything in their way with Strong strength. The opening blades then proceed to lean against the hilt, sliding forward and flowing together in a drill-like motion as the blade regains its former shape. Lashing of the Master's Tongue - The blade can be willed to detach from the hilt, remaining connected by a nevermeltice chain that can be flowed into and out of the hilt to a maximum length of 3'. Willing the chain to completely flow back into the hilt reconnects the blade, as though it and the hilt were a single solid whole. Detaching the blade is not forceful, I.E. it doesn't shoot out like a gun, although swinging it while detaching it will obviously have an effect. Faithless Butterfly - The hilt's ornamentation reflects the antithesis of the religious beliefs of the last sapient creature whose living heart was torn asunder by the dagger's blade. Currently depicts lunar imagery combined with people and beasts of all shapes and sizes holding hands and happily dancing about.
**Cee's eyes appeared to smiling as he intoned last bit. Esyllt, however, looks rather confused.**
Esyllt - "Although I would like to learn about whatever god you've dealt with before, the source of the kidnappings is the city of Notawhere, which pays fealty to a God-King of monsters known as the Yue-Yue. I'm... not sure I would call it a true god, but its powers do appear to be divine.
**The dryad gently holds up the girl's head as she administers whatever liquid is in her bottle.**
Nervada - 98% fat free, high in fiber.
Eizen - Collected
Yack - Walking
Miko Wydberg
Tanya
Laghairt - How is Ahab?
Come on and check it out. You know you want to.
After Esyllt's comments, Darby made another statement. "The last one was certainly a god, but you say this one might only be god-powered?"
Colt Wyrmbane
Olivar'Romov
Detective Taskmage
Darby, Esteemed Adventurer
Mike, the Situation
Herschell Ratliff, Merchant of Finery
Yaagh, the Pummeler
And don't forget to do your shopping at The Newe Haberdashery, the finest vendor of magic items and oddball services ... Ever!
Dr.Smalls - "We won't know until he wakes up. Javert stopped the transformation part-way, but the real question is how fast the transformation effects the mind."
---
**Esyllt starts to speak, but then stops. She holds up a finger as she finishes administrating the liquid. Arl doesn't seem to respond, and that appears to make the dryad happy.**
Esyllt - "Full recovery! To answer your question Darby, I'm not really sure what it means to be a 'god'. The Yue-Yue has created races, but might not have done so from scratch. The Yue-Yue can transform people in ways that greatly exceed regular magic, but I'm not sure that's really deific per se. It's immortal, cannot be harmed by any regular weapon, can kill mortals with just its presence, can possibly echo through dreams, and has who knows how many other horrifying powers, but I imagine a true divinity would be.. more than that. If that makes sense."
Nervada - 98% fat free, high in fiber.
Eizen - Collected
Yack - Walking
Miko Wydberg
Tanya
Colt Wyrmbane
Olivar'Romov
Detective Taskmage
Darby, Esteemed Adventurer
Mike, the Situation
Herschell Ratliff, Merchant of Finery
Yaagh, the Pummeler
And don't forget to do your shopping at The Newe Haberdashery, the finest vendor of magic items and oddball services ... Ever!
Esyllt - "Jadis? I've heard that name before... hrm.. isn't she one of the.. ancient elven gods? Sorrow, I think? I heard a rumor about them being responsible for the Lord Marshall's death?"
Nervada - 98% fat free, high in fiber.
Eizen - Collected
Yack - Walking
Miko Wydberg
Tanya
Colt Wyrmbane
Olivar'Romov
Detective Taskmage
Darby, Esteemed Adventurer
Mike, the Situation
Herschell Ratliff, Merchant of Finery
Yaagh, the Pummeler
And don't forget to do your shopping at The Newe Haberdashery, the finest vendor of magic items and oddball services ... Ever!
Come on and check it out. You know you want to.
**Cee turns an eye towards Laghairt, being in position to eavesdrop on both conversations.**
Cee - "We can!"
Dr.Smalls - "Right, you mentioned knowing of a way to save them.
**Dr.Smalls smiles and nods towards Cee before walking to Arl and the others.**
Dr.Smalls - The anti-toxin is out; the children are too far gone to survive the expulsion process. They'd die instantly if the anti-toxin did anything at all."
Cee - "Hasao can save them!"
Esyllt - "Who?"
Cee - "He's a monster noble or something."
Esyllt - "Monster Noble?"
Cee - "Yeah! The kidnappers were going to present Arl to him so he could prepare her for some kind of sacrificial ceremony. Percival wants to join his flock, 'cause he's a loser that's still serving under Garibaldi, Maestro Della Nascita Cucito."**The bird's recitation of the title is distinctly mocking in its tone.** I think Hasao is... Maestoso Signore Della Casa di Notte? **cue over-the-top loving sigh** I tried to remember every name Percival was whining about."
Laghairt's and Darby's Items
Laghairt:
Wheel of Ice and Fire – A simple four-winged boomerang of dark blue, almost black nevermelt ice.
>Heat-Stripping Twirl – The boomerang pulls in ambient heat as it spins through the air, growing brighter and redder as it chills its surroundings and pulls in flames. The boomerang stores this heat within itself; growing blisteringly hot after a long spin and/or after being thrown through particularly sweltering conditions
>Inferno Exhalation – The thrower can will the boomerang to release all of its stored heat in an explosion of flame relative to the amount of heat stored. This explosion does not harm the Wheel, but it probably stops its momentum.
Darby:
Taker-Of-Names – A simple, black steel gauntlet lacking any sort of embellishments.
>Takin’ Names – Whenever Darby defeats a foe in battle (or graciously accepts their unconditional surrender) their name appears on the gauntlet in glowing, red letters. The tougher the foe, the brighter the letters. Any current names fade after the end of an encounter.
>Out of Gum – The gauntlet seemingly becomes more… intense with each name added to it, granting Darby an increasingly powerful intimidation effect based on the quantity and quality of the names it bares.
>No. – Once every 5 posts Darby may choose to have an attack, effect, insult, etc. that would otherwise be doing him a bad turn effect someone whose name is on this gauntlet instead of himself. They don’t even have to still be alive. Deal with it; it’s not Darby’s problem.
For example, a strike might phase through Darby while his last foe’s corpse is mysteriously cut in two. And no, names added to the gauntlet by other means don’t count.
Nervada - 98% fat free, high in fiber.
Eizen - Collected
Yack - Walking
Miko Wydberg
Tanya
Come on and check it out. You know you want to.
Cee - "Oh! It's cause I heard them arguing about whether or not to dry out Arl. Apparently it'd let them move her faster, but then Hasao would have to reverse the transformation 'cause he'd need her back in fighting shape for the exhibition before offering her up to the Yue-Yue. And that's annoying to have to do, or something. Maybe expensive? I'm not sure, but Hasao can definitely save the kids!"
Nervada - 98% fat free, high in fiber.
Eizen - Collected
Yack - Walking
Miko Wydberg
Tanya
Acelin's Characters (since her sig won't work).
Esyllt - "But the book didn't say we can't save them either - The book of knowledge only gave us as much as we needed to know and no more; I believe most of us only received single-sentences or even specific symbols. The way it gave a small book's worth of instructions to Dr. Smalls only highlights how dangerous this mission truly is."
Nervada - 98% fat free, high in fiber.
Eizen - Collected
Yack - Walking
Miko Wydberg
Tanya
Come on and check it out. You know you want to.
Acelin's Characters (since her sig won't work).
Olus - "Well if this is any indication of how this journey is going to be, it should be a hell of a time!"
___________________________________________________________
Gigan started to convulse and foam at the mouth. He writhed and hissed in pain as the scale burned into him. The silver color slowly spread to the rest of his body. The lizard sprouted small wings that would allow him to nimbly fly at 5mph. Gigan now has iron bones(The rest of him's still squishy) and is resistant to electricity.
Go ahead and run, you'll only die tired.
Those who might never meet are pooled together
Gigan - Hiss!
Laghairt - Oh, there you are Gigan. What the hell happened to you!?
Gigan ducked his head down to show Laghairt the Ancestral Heart that was now a part of his head. Laghairt nodded and scratched the monitor's head.
Come on and check it out. You know you want to.
Nervada - 98% fat free, high in fiber.
Eizen - Collected
Yack - Walking
Miko Wydberg
Tanya
Go ahead and run, you'll only die tired.
Those who might never meet are pooled together
"Of course I'll come with you. I have a reputation to uphold now, haven't I? I won't be touted by bards as the hero of the tournament after lugging some dryed out kid-husks into town, when they could have been saved. I'll just be the lazy bastard of the docks. How long is this journey?"
Colt Wyrmbane
Olivar'Romov
Detective Taskmage
Darby, Esteemed Adventurer
Mike, the Situation
Herschell Ratliff, Merchant of Finery
Yaagh, the Pummeler
And don't forget to do your shopping at The Newe Haberdashery, the finest vendor of magic items and oddball services ... Ever!
**The sounds of a shouting match can be heard coming from below decks**
Nervada - 98% fat free, high in fiber.
Eizen - Collected
Yack - Walking
Miko Wydberg
Tanya
Colt Wyrmbane
Olivar'Romov
Detective Taskmage
Darby, Esteemed Adventurer
Mike, the Situation
Herschell Ratliff, Merchant of Finery
Yaagh, the Pummeler
And don't forget to do your shopping at The Newe Haberdashery, the finest vendor of magic items and oddball services ... Ever!
Come on and check it out. You know you want to.
Acelin's Characters (since her sig won't work).
Binge - "It ain't possible! It. Ain't- STOP HITTING ME!
Javert - "THEN I'M GONNA BEAT A MIRACLE OUT OF YA!"
**The din of a relentless barrage of *Thwacks* fills the air as Darby and the others enter the lower decks. All of the clothing and armor that was in the center crate has been dumped on top of some of the empty crates that had been off to the side. In their place sits a man seemingly made of two bags - a lower bag whose limb-holes have been sealed off by various leathers and bits of his former limbs, and an upper bag that forms his head. Binge's impromptu prison looks a tight fit, but Tratorious and Javert apparently ran Arl's former chains through the monster as an assurance. Tratorious silently shovels the creature's remaining meat-stuffing into a funnel piercing the increasingly obese bag-man's back. Javert, for his part, appears determined to beat that stuffing right back out.**
**Meanwhile, Emille had fairly conclusively determined that the one nicer-looking hammock behind some shoddily strung up curtains was the infirmary. Maybe. She'd also found out that the former crew had restructured the below decks like a pirate vessel, removing any unneeded walls in favor of being able to swarm out at a moment's notice. The quarters in particular lacked any barriers between the hammocks, although there was a private-looking box beneath near each one. Several secret doors and rope ladders had been built into the below decks as well.**
Kage's Dagger
Piercing Sacrament - A fancy nevermeltice kila dagger. The dagger's blade is unusual in that it is both 6" long and four-edged instead of the three.
Flip of the Four Deadly Priests - The dagger's edges can be willed to open like a flower, tearing through anything in their way with Strong strength. The opening blades then proceed to lean against the hilt, sliding forward and flowing together in a drill-like motion as the blade regains its former shape.
Lashing of the Master's Tongue - The blade can be willed to detach from the hilt, remaining connected by a nevermeltice chain that can be flowed into and out of the hilt to a maximum length of 3'. Willing the chain to completely flow back into the hilt reconnects the blade, as though it and the hilt were a single solid whole. Detaching the blade is not forceful, I.E. it doesn't shoot out like a gun, although swinging it while detaching it will obviously have an effect.
Faithless Butterfly - The hilt's ornamentation reflects the antithesis of the religious beliefs of the last sapient creature whose living heart was torn asunder by the dagger's blade. Currently depicts lunar imagery combined with people and beasts of all shapes and sizes holding hands and happily dancing about.
Feel free to rename it.
Nervada - 98% fat free, high in fiber.
Eizen - Collected
Yack - Walking
Miko Wydberg
Tanya