Mad Plans: Freestyle RP!

[Khael!]

Welcome! Here's a little trial to get this RP running.

Post character information in the signup thread if you want to join, and we'll figure out a turn order from there. If you're scared about anything, check the rules post I made in the Signup thread, and see if the stuff there helps. If not, feel free to message me telling me I'm a complete idiot and forgot something blatant. ;) (I work better with peer editors, gadzooks!) Also make sure to read the regular roleplay rules. We have to be careful not to get too Red Magey in here; at least until this thing is well established.

I'll have a character myself who will do stuff independently of my dice rolling, which will help me learn how to run this well in the long run. (Don't worry, I love it when stuff goes wrong with my characters. there will be no dice abusing.)

~~~
You slowly stop the spinning inside your head and sit up.

Hmm... strange. You don't recollect there being quite so much... pine forest just a minute ago. Little pieces of singed burlap litter the dry pebbly ground. You try to recall recent events.

...A large exploding fwoomph noise comes to mind... there was a bet... something about putting a magical sword inside... some sort of magical holding, bag... thing? You look down, realizing the burlap probably was that bag at some point. You notice several other people scattered about, looking equally dazed.

One guy, wearing a narrow pair of blue sunglasses and a black overcoat, is muttering to himself in a tree. Despite his sharp-dressed style, long red-brown hair and witty soul patch, he looks like a complete idiot up there.

"Damnit, I can't even win a lousy bet, and now I have a... why is there a treebranch stuck through my arm? Must've appeared halfway through it..." He reaches for a curved blade at his side, seemingly contemplating where to cut.

You decide to do something besides watch, for your own sake. Or possibly his.

[Preturbed]

Eli Revelin:

This certainly is a strange place. It is a pine grove, but the smell is not what I remember of my home groves. I can see a few other beings (people? I hesitate to say) from where I stand, and they're all either passed out or just as confused as me. Stranger still, I thought I just heard narration from above, but I don't think the narrator was addressing me personally. There's still somebody up in that tree, regardless of cicumstance.

I'm not the hero of this story, heck I hope to qualify for sidekick sometime soon. But I can't resist the urge to help the strangely clad man. He's obviously less in touch with nature than I, but on a more literal level he's more in touch than I've ever been.

I shout up at the man, "Don't cut that branch! ... or that arm! I'll help you as soon as I can!" then take a good look around to see if there might be anything to aid me in my endeavor.

EDIT: ((OOC: 42, I don't think that was the X's intent. Somehow I think more than one of us was involved in the Bet on a Bag of Holding Incident. Eli was not invloved, perhaps Roy was.))

[xravi]

“Don’t worry about me I just landed on my head.” Roy get on his feet quickly and looks around. “Hmm what happened anyway.” He takes a pause to look more closely at his surroundings. “I still win right? If so I am going to dance now.” Roy thrusts his pelvis forward then he stops with his eyes wide open. “Ok maybe not.”

edit: ((42PETUNIS I am not the guy in the tree.))

[42PETUNIAS]

(OOC: is this going to be the turn order? so should everyone thats posted wait until everyone has joined? One more thing, are you going to tell us stats/ possesions/gold?

Edit: gotcha, sorry, it just seemed that you were responding to his talking to the guy on the branch)

Ataska peeked out from behind a tree, seeing the two morons join together. He had been camping just outside of town, and hearing voices slipped from a small hole between some roots where he had slept, and put his blanket into his pack with practiced ease. He had then deftly climbed into a tree and hidden, as he watched a ragtag group of all species, loudly walk out into the open, and then make one of the stupidest bets he had ever seen or heard of. They decided to go against everything everyone knows about bags of holding, and put a sharp weapon in it, and on top of this, the foul creatures actually bet on it! The bag exploded, harsher than he had expected, and throwing him from his tree. He landed harshly on the ground, then started to make a check for broken vials of poison, then lost conciousness as one of the broken bottles of sleep-inducing poison. He awoke, and after checking himself for wounds other than that scratch, he climbed back up the tree, and noticed all the unconcious bodies, and the two that had risen. There were an awful lot of them though, and he thought that if he waited until all the concious ones had left he, aided by a few choice stabs, could help himself to a few purses, they had bet a fair amount, so at least some of them would have money.

Drawing his focus back onto those that had risen, he shook his head in disdain, one of them actually thrust out his pelvis in a barbaric show of joy. He sighed and slipped out of sight, he could stay hidden like that for over a day, not moving, just listening.

[Ogianres]

"Hmph, such a commotion could wake a hibernating white dragon! Why was I curst with such an appreciation and liking of serenity and peace in a world where the loud are constantly thrust upon me? Mayhaps they are here to kill me, now that would be a treat, ha!" The man was laying on his back in a spot of particularly tall grass, gazing up through the pine needles at the sky above, "bah! I am never so lucky." The man spoke in a deep voice, heavily accented with frequent slurs, phonetically-pronounced vowels, and slightly rolled R's, "heh heh, this will be interesting for sure!"

The man rolled over on to his stomach and stretched out his limbs with a loud, deep groan, and stood up to his full 6'4" height and leaned back, still stretching out his arms, "Nrgh, ah! My head has been cleaved by a dwarf! Never has any planeswalker, wizard, mage, or cleric ever spoke of such a headache!" the man paused, realizing he has been monolouging his thoughts out loud, "perhaps the sound of my own voice will soothe me."

The man chuckled, his breath whistling slightly as it sped past his small tusks into the air, but quickly stopped, and began to run his hands over his body, searching for any wounds. Good, he thought, my skin is still a beautiful tinge of yellow-green all over! Nothing is wrong, at least, nothing on the outside. He started brushing grass off of his plain, brown robes, causing a tinkling sound as his hands grazed past his bottles and flasks, held to him by belts around his middle. He looked around at the others in the clearing, perhaps one or more of these people know where we are. Bah! I am never so lucky.

((OOC: I will avoid using his name until he has reason to tell someone his name.))

[The Argent Lord]

((From the original post, it looks like we were somewhere else originally, but the explosion teleported us here. I'm going with that assumption in my post.))

Safra woke up in the forest, lying flat on her back. The demon's instincts immediately took over, but the attempted roll onto her feet failed due to an altered center of gravity, and she wound up exactly how she'd started, but a few feet to the left. She picked herself up more carefully, then glanced around. There were quite a few people there, most of them still regaining their wits. Hoping they hadn't seen her, she quickly scrambled up a tree and hid in the branches.

[Myst]

The cat-person sat up, licking his hand and rubbing it against his ear, trying to calm down after the overly loud noises. Looking around, he noticed several people gathered around a tree, talking to someone who seemed to have a branch growing out of him. He tilted his head to the side as a little girl ran past him, but before following her further was distracted by the constant buzz of some green guy monologuing to himselfmust be a bad guy, they're the only ones who talk that much.

With one last shake of his head and a flick of his tail, the cat jumped to his feet and scampered up the tree until he was next to the man growing out of it. "Hi! Whatcha doing?"

[Bisected8]

After leaving the dark room I had a dilemma on my hands-where to start. Suddenly ahead I noticed a group of people around a tree. Feeling at the very least they may know something I decided to approach them while remaining hidden in the long grass and eavesdrop.

[Khael!]

Eli, after calling to the man, you scan your surroundings for anything useful. Some small rocks, pine needles, a large moss-covered boulder pressing against a pine covered in a type of fungus... There doesn't appear to be anything useful in the immediate situation... You consider taking a closer look at the guy's arm when something reflective catches you eye. You find a tiny vial of colourless liquid by the boulder.

Ataska, you only manage to find four of the five vials you had. Two sleep poisons, and one minor paralyzing poison, plus the broken one.
You make it up the tree completely undetected. Soon after, a stranger who seems more at home in the woods comes to the base of your tree. They stoop for a moment, and stand up again inspecting something. You can't tell what it is they're looking at, but they don't seem to suspect your presence.

Safra, you catch a glimpse of a strange cat person as you run. You're sure they noticed you, though you make surprisingly little noise. In your rush to climb, you unwittingly snap the crisp twigs on one of the branches. The noise was obvious to everyone, but you keep completely hidden from sight in the thick pine boughs.
You notice many clusters of large pine cones within your grasp.

Lindo, you fail to notice where the little girl scampered off to. You hear a branch crack not too far off, but pay it little attention as you clamber up another tree yourself.

~~~

Dragoon pauses, and puts the blade away.

Dragoon: ...Alright, I'll wait. Are you sure I can't just cut it? We're talking branch and arm are totally taking up the same space here. Good thing it wasn't a very large branch... Yes, Roy, you bloody win. I'll give you the 20 gp I owe you and some gum after we get me down from here. ...stupid bet. What the hell kind of bag of holding throws you into a forest because of one lame sword?

The cat being bounces into view, their face several inches from Dragoon's. He seems surprised momentarily, but quickly fades into curiosity.

Dragoon: ...Were you with us before? I wasn't aware my bet had attracted an audience! I dunno what I'm doing here, to be frank. I mean, look at my arm! Stupid thing hurts. It's kind of cool though.

[Preturbed]

((OOC: Did I do this too soon? I went back and counted players after posting, and it doesn't seem everyone has joined yet. Khael, I think you missed Roy.))

Eli Revelin:

Those around me are beginning to wake up and several seem to have already invented their own plans to rescue the stranger in the tree. I'm largely oblivious to this though, mostly absorbed in my search.

"Hmm, lets see," I mutter to myself. "Pine Needles? The forest is covered in those. I could make a rope out of that and climb up, but it could take forever. Those rocks could make decent ammunition for a sling, if I hadn't left mine at home. I should probably collect a few anyway. Hey, this fungus looks weird!"

After picking up five little rocks, I take a sample of the fungus and examine it. "Could this have some alchemic use?" I wonder quietly. Being from another universe entirely, the form of this plant is slightly different from those I am used to. Hopefully its just a variant of a species I already know.

While sampling the strange plant, I notice the vial. Not seeing any other vials in the immediate area, I resolve to keep this one in my pouch until I discover who it belongs to.

After this, I walk around the boulder. Dissatisfied with my visual scan of the area, I sit crosslegged with my back to the stone and Commune with Nature. I haven't yet come up with a way to rescue the poor fella in the tree, so I devote a higher than usual portion of this meditation to his conundrum. Even faced with this problem, I'm also concerned about getting the lay of the land and discovering more than what is in the immediate area.

Before sinking deep into my meditative spell, I wonder if the branch is through his arm or if the wood has meshed with his flesh.

[xravi]

"Huh? Where did you guys come from? Anyways I think I know how to get him off without hurting him.". Roy smiles and draws his sword. “Ok get ready for this one.” Roy stands up strait and holds his weapon in the air. “Someone should cut off the bigger branch he is sitting on then I will catch the bigger branch. He won’t be harmed in any way and we’ll deal with the smaller branch later.” Roy puts his sword down. “That was somehow not as satisfying of a plan as I though but, it might work.”


((And That my good sirs is a mad plan. My spe;;ing may suck but my soul is as free as a slave..........wait.........))

[42PETUNIAS]

(OOC: mad it may be, but you spell worse than that illiterate ranger.)

Ataska waited, until the men left, but much to his dissatisfaction, it seemed like more people were congregating around the area. He saw the man beneath him, and considered taking him out, but realized he would only really be able to hold him up, like a common bandit. He was much better at what he did than that. Another nearby tree caught his attention, it looked like a talking cat was climbing it, speaking to someone he couldnt see. Now this interested Ataska, something other than these disgusting races. He decided to check this out, and after the man left, he slipped down, went to the other tree, and climbed up next to the cat, he saw some sort of child. He announced himself with a clear of his throat, his blade drawn behind his back just in case

[hastur]

"Well thats odd," Aramil said to noone in particular.
On the plus side now he had finally escaped from jail. Noticing the man in tree he immediately realizes a possible solution.
" You know once he has been gotten down from the tree, if I were to use a spell to produce fire, namely burning hands, then it would probably burn the stick in his arm to ashes. At the same time, it would cauterize the wound and stop any other blood loss. "

[Myst]

The cat-person tilted his head to the side, leaning in closer and looking at the branch, "I don't think it's supposed to do that. Maybe if you just pulled your arm away it'd break off?"

Hearing a throat-clearing noise behind him, Lindo turned to see a...black elf-thing(?) holding his arm behind his back. "Ello, who're you?" he asked, leaning to try and look behind him, "What're you holding?"
"Do you think this branch can really hold three people?" He added as an afterthought, digging his claws into the tree's trunk just to be safe.

[42PETUNIAS]

(OOC: did you just violate order? does it matter? ive been only going right after roy so far...)

[xravi]

(OOC: did you just violate order? does it matter? ive been only going right after roy so far...)

((There is no order right now.))

[Bisected8]

(OOC: Wait, did I succeed at hiding?)

[42PETUNIAS]

Ataska was taken aback by the affable nature of the cat, so innocent and naive, it must be newly... created"

"Im not much for names, but you can call me 'A'" he said, "and you? i can tell you have an interesting story"

"As for the branch, with you against the trunk, we should be fine" he grasped hold of a branch above him for support, "and that will take some of my weight off. I dont think that little girl weighs much, and between you and me, she sort of creeps me out. Has she said anything?" he trailed off.

[Akamaz]

Ishva came back to herself, Most unusually, instead of being in the bar that she was meditating in, she was at the edge of a clearing in a pine forest with several others who were congregating below a man who appeared to be stuck in a tree... correct that, after a closer look, make that stuck TO a tree.

The words "burning hands" caught her attention immediately.

"Perhaps Fire isn't the best answer, being surrounded by what is essentially pitch filled wood... your pardon sir, but is the wood going through the bone?"

[Khael!]

(Sorry Bisected, you totally ninja'd my post while I wrote it at school.) Hakiver, you hide quite succesfully. It's pretty hard to see what's going on, seeing how there's trees and grass in your view. You can't tell how many people are up in that pine. Well, until you hear a snap.

Eli, in your occupied state of mind, you fail to notice a dark-skinned individual slip up the tree. As you sample the fungus, an uncomfortable burning sensation fills your mouth. Your tongue promptly goes numb to the touch.
You sink deeply into meditation, the sounds of the forest filling your mind. A great whisper of a thousand pines... the roar of water echoes to the north... creatures soar by night... You draw closer to your immediate surroundings, the souls of those around you so clamourous... one rings of tempered metal. You sense a sharp pain above, close by. There's a second, tugging pain as well, as if the branch wants to bend free... You see it clearly - the man's arm and the tree are blurred unnaturally as one.

Roy, it occurrs to you that Dragoon is sitting on a different branch than the one he's stuck to. He'll kinda hang there by his arm... dang that would look funny.
As you tell him about your plan, you see another person has joined the two already up there. That's gotta be heavy for the tree to hold up...

Ataska... (aw god first 1 rolled in this RP). You sneak up the other tree completely unnoticed, until your announcing. The other two seem confused when you mention a little girl. (she's in a tree across from this one.) Though you begin to shift your weight, you're a moment too slow. A sickening crack ensues beneath your feet. The (deceptively strong-looking) branch you were balancing upon splits. Thankfully you are holding onto the branch above you tightly enough.

Aramil, as Dragoon listens to your idea, a hopeful look crosses his face - then he gets interrupted by someone up there. You can't see who they are, but their voice reaches you ears. There is talk about names, and ...a girl? You don't see one. Suddenly a terrible snapping fills the air, and you're hailed with several pinecones. Dragoon is left dangling from his bad arm. A second being clings easily to the tree's rough surface. They have the definite look of a feline.
Strangly, a third person you didn't notice becomes visible. They deftly swing to another unbroken branch a few feet over, safely avoiding a fall. A Dark elf!

Ishva, you witness the spectacle in the tree, then call up to the stuck guy. He's clearly struggling to get a foothold.

~~~

"Holy hell this hurts!" Dragoon kicks angrily in a failing attempt to take his weight off his arm. "I'd be yelling an awful lot less if it did go through bone! Burn it, whatever! Feeling my bicep get all twisted like this is damn disturbing."

He tries again to get his feet on another branch, but to no avail. He manages to twist himself around further, and his coat sleeve rips around the branch it's (also) stuck through. He cringes, saying something in a foreign language. You just know it's rude. He gives up with a defeated sigh, his sunglasses now crooked.

"...Okay, maybe fire's bad. Can I please just cut it? I really don't mind the fall." He clings to the branch with his free hand, it's bending a fair amount.

[Preturbed]

Eli Revelin:

Having seen more or less exactly what I expected during my meditation, I stand and face the man in the tree. I shout at him, trying to get his attention.

"Oy! You stuck in the tree! You're not going to be able to pull that branch out of your arm! Its not pierced, its meshed with the wood!"

To help explain my point I weave my fingers together. Part of me hopes that everyone else is able to hear and understand this as well, since any plans to free him probably involve simply sliding the branch out in the end.

Something crashes to the ground very near me. A branch the size of a young tree has landed in a manner that was less than graceful. Far above, someone dangles whole-heartedly by his arms. It looks like he'll be able to make it, but just to be sure I prepare to catch him.

At the same time, I gather quite a bit of the burning, numbing fungus from the tree and put most of it in my pouch. Shouting once again, I call out to the one who looks most comfortable in the trees.

"Hello! Cat person! Will you help me?"

((OOC: Is non-turn based IC conversation allowed here, or should we put that elsewhere?))

[42PETUNIAS]

(OOC: wow, my bad, for some reason i thought the cat had gone up into the girls tree, this calls for a contrived explanation!)

As Ataska swung to another branch, he got a look at the... mans... face. Then he realized that humans often did that with their hair and clothes, and if he hadnt had such controls over his emotions, he would have blushed.

(OOC: Yahtzee!)

"My apologies miss..ter, i had mistaken you for someone of the opposite gender. Now, you must be in a lot of pain, and i cant imagine getting your arm out of that position would be easy, might i provide a blade to cut the branch, and perhaps some... anasthesia?"

He gritted his teeth at helping a filthy human, but the man was in trouble, and he might be persuaded to provide a reward.

[Ogianres]

The green man looked at the commotion, which before had seem disjointed and spread, but now appeared to be focused. He walked over to where, curiously, a young man was dangling from a tree, with what looked like a branch impaled in his arm. However, there was no blood, so the arm could not have impaled. He pondered about what may have happened, If the branch did not wound the man while entering, it had to enter in a way that completely avoided any and all blood vessels. That branch, however, is far too large to have done such a thing, and could not even have pushed all the flesh out of the way to avoid actual damage. It would have to shrink, contort, then reenlarge and push everything out of the way. Or his arm would have to somehow morph itself around the branch. Curious.

He walked over to the... "People"... watching the strange phenomenon and asked, to nobody in particular, "What has happened to him?"

((OOC: I know what happened, but Agrerius wasn't paying the slightest bit of attention, and I like to think that he was a couple dozen or so yards away anyways.))

[xravi]

Roy Studied the presentation demonstrated by Eli. "Ok so we don't mess with the branch then. How about just cutting it so he just off the tree and the part that he has somehow fused with is not messed with? Can we do that?” Roy glanced at the Dark elf. “Careful now you just might damage him permanently and that would not be cool.” He then looked over the person who walked over. "Don't worry the guy up in the tree is just tapping into his inner self and communicating with nature." He said it in a ironic voice.

[hastur]

"Obviously he has been at the recieving end of a major problem in space time. That branch probably was teleported into his arm. The only way to get it would be amputation and restoration. Someone really should cut him down."

[Myst]

Lindo nodded at "A," and smiled now that he could see the dagger that had been held behind his back. "I'm Lindo Myuso, Pleased to meet you." Sticking his tongue out he added, smiling, "Told ya the branch wouldn't hold us all."

Listening to the conversations below, Lindo came to a conclusion. While he didn't know about communicating with nature or space time problems, clearly the guy growing from the tree needed help, and he was the only one to do it. The red haired guy asking him as much just reaffirmed this, of course.

"Sure thing," Lindo shouted down to the people under the tree. He then proceeded to climb up the tree until he was positioned above the branch that the guy (Dragoon) was stuck to, and pulled his legs up under him. "You might want to catch him, I don't think he'll land well." With that out of the way, he leapt down towards the branch (casting extended pounce to add enough force to break the limb off) and kicked off of it, landing lightly a few feet away on the ground (cat person racial ability).

[Selfish]

Azza had heard high meyhem further on in the forest, and with quick padded feet, raced to the source. Nothing that loud was good, nothing that rumbly was safe.

But try telling that to her curiosity.

With a swiftness ordinarily used to track small woodland creatures to their untimely end, she hovered at the outskirts of the blast zone, gingerly gathering information.
Voices, movement, the smell of powder heated and cooled too quickly. There was also a bitter taste in the air, one of...magic?
Everything told her that this was not the place to be, but still she snooped around... Her part of the forest, hers to discover.
She stumbled onto some sort of clearing, with strangers standing or milling as the case may be.

There was a guy, with an arm sporting a branch therein, and everyone seemed to be looking at him.
Pity she was not a pickpocket at a time like this, she thought, for indeed with the air of bafflement resting on these people there was none *completely* aware of where she stood, she was almost certain of that.

(attempting to hide amongst trees, nearby enough to see folk, not to be seen. - cmon natural er, 16! lol)

[Bisected8]

After hiding for a moment I decided to get a bit closer, hide in the shadow of a tree and see if anyone had something worth stealing.

[Khael!]

(OOC: IC talk? No problem. There really isn't a turn system active right now; my schedule won't allow me to post at regular intervals yet. It will be most important when we do battles anyway.)


Eli, you take four chunks of the fungus; each is a bit smaller than the size of your hand. The catperson happily agrees to help, and positions himself above and to the right of the stuck man. You watch, a little confused. He jumps, firing himself like an arrow toward the branch. It breaks cleanly.
...Oh.
Though prepared to catch the brown-haired man, he lands a lot harder than you anticipate. You sort of catch him, but immediately buckle under the force. You wind up on the ground, sore but unharmed. The man grumbles and grabs his forehead. You see some blood on his fingers.

Ataska, you also notice Dragoon's goatee. Definetely not a woman. You apologize, he grins crookedly accepting it. One of his lower teeth is oddly... a fang? Taking a better look at his face, you catch a glimpse of his eyes under those now-crooked shades. Last you knew, Humans don't have eyes that yellow.
He gladly accepts the first half of you offer, and seems to be declining any anaesthetics when Lindo flies down and severs the branch with a clean kick.

Agrerius, you question is promptly answered by an elven man standing by. Another man, human, makes a very cheesy joke at the expense of the stuck stranger. Seems like he knows the guy.
The question now of course is what the hell was the tree-stuck stranger trying to cast?

Roy, you listen in the hope that Dragoon heard that joke. A second later, you hear a good old "I heard that!" from above. You weren't expecting the snap and loud thud that followed it though. Looks like that nature-y guy broke his fall.

Aramil, in perfect timing with your words, the man falls out of the tree. It's easily evident to you that he has little training in how to safely land. The feline on the other hand... he lands with natural grace a second later.
Despite having someone to break his fall, the stuck-guy's head hits the ground. You hear a clumsly shout of "I'm free!"
Sounds like it could've been a lot worse.

Lindo, you call upon your memories as a cat, your skill and balance... and totally break the branch with awesome precision. Pushing off from the tree's trunk, you land silently on all fours. You look up, admire your hadiwork, and spot a nice little stub of the branch. You also see 'A' peering down with interest. Smiling to yourself, you turn to see the red-haired guy didn't... quite catch the man with blue glasses. He looks okay though. You notice an Orcish looking man has joined the group.

Azza, you think you could have done a much better job at hiding. Even so, nobody is even looking in your direction. Watching them, you're convinced that not all of them were together originally.
You notice a bit of singed burlap by your foot. It has that metallic bitter smell too. You turn your attention to the group again in time to see the stuck guy fall.

(OOC: Okay, I'm alive again.)

Hakiver, you spot the Orcish man who passed you a moment ago. There are several interesting flasks hanging from his belt. Looks like they're tied on there pretty good though.
After moving closer, you also see the red-headed man pick up a bunch of some weird fungus... for whatever reason. Many of the people here seem to live modestly, judging by their apparel. A lot of them are carrying backpacks; this leaves you hopeful.
You see, not too far off (5-10 yards), a lady who's also hiding. She's watching the events with evident curiosity not unlike yourself.
D'oh! A split second later, and she sees you.

~~~

Dragoon laughs slightly as he sits up, grasping his forehead with his good hand. He moves off of the one who broke his fall. "Sorry about the whole, y'know, falling on you thing. Thank you. Thanks too for getting me down, Lindo!"

Adjusting his glasses, he blinks in bewilderment at the number of people present. He fails to take notice of Safra, Hakiver, nor Azza.(Wow what a crappy spot check I made.)

"Wait, when did all of you arrive? Last I was aware, it was only Roy and I making that bet," he winces at his blatant reminding of certain money owed, and reaches for his backpack. He pulls out a small steel mirror, inspects it for cracks, then pokes through some paints and art materials. He puts both away again with a look of relief.

Next he pulls out a small box with a simple latch on its side. Scrambling urgently through the contents with one arm, he unravels a balled-up roll of bandages. A brown dropper bottle falls free onto his lap, thankfully unharmed.

Daubing his head injury with a wad of gauze, he peers back inside the box. "Nuts, some of the sewing needles are missing... uh, anyway. Who are you guys? I think we need some introductions here."

He absent-mindedly extends a genial arm as if to shake hands, quickly returning it to the cut on his head. "...The name's Dragoon."

[42PETUNIAS]

Ataska shinnied down the tree, then came up to the group forming around the man with a branch through his arm, keeping his short sword drawn after seeing the mans strange eyes and fang.

"Still need a blade to remover the excess branch?"

He then took a better look at the branch, how thick it was, and at what part of his arm (forearm, bicep) it had gone through.

[hastur]

Aramil approaches Dragoon cautiously, careful not to get to near in case he decides to do something more stupid than his recent activities.

"Hello, I'm Aramil. I still think that fire would be a good idea. It seems like one of the only ways of removing that branch without the removal of the arm attached to it."

[xravi]

“Dragoon you’re either indestructible or insane, probably both.” Roy looks around and counted all the people who were there. “Quite a lot of people have come so I guess we could introduce are self to…………remember this moment more vividly.” Roy then grabbed his sword and starts to show off by spinning his sword above him then stabbing it into the ground and somewhat leaning on it. “I am Roy ((Sonic is not is his last name. Infact he has no last name. )) Sonic Swordsman of the Sacae, somewhat nice to meet you all.”

[Ogianres]

"I am Agrerius Montischellan von Kendellac Vyaro the Fourth, alchemist and Sole Inheritor of the First House of the commercial city of Cevving, Silver Ring of the Borderlands..." he paused for a moment to wipe off a piece of spittle that fell upon himself, "Head of the First Ring of Scholars of the Cathedral of Knowledge, and Water Sage of the Honorable Geh'Koora tribe of the northlands. You may simply call me Agrerius to save on breath, and Ager to let me know that something dangerous is near so I may start running, ha!"

Agrerius neither exhaled nor inhaled during his thorough introductions or even his mild chuckles at his own joke, and continued to speak in his strange, slurred accent, "but perhaps one of you could tell me why we are here? My astronomer friend said that the stars did not foretell of any unusual planar fluctuations, nor did the priest ever state that the gods would directly intervene in our mortal realms for another fifty years! Perhaps... " at this point Agrerius seemed to be talking to himself, almost slipping out of the reality around him. He did not apologize for nor clean any flying spittle that left his mouth, and was speaking long sentences without breath like before. He spoke of strange things regarding stars, spirits, gods, and extraplanar creatures, before his odd ranting subsided into indecipherable murmurings. His lips kept moving but no sound escaped them, and his eyes glazed over, as if hypnotized by some strange force, and began to sway on spot like a passanger might on a ship in less-than-calm waters.

[Bisected8]

After being spotted I chose to try and bluff everyone present by suddenly running screaming as if I had seen something terrifying, and hopefully get them all to do the same.

[Preturbed]

Eli Revelin:

I stood up and brushedthe majority of dirt and woodsy trash off of my robes. This wasn't exactly the outcome I expected, nor was it one that I'm particularly happy with. Oh, I could deal with being landed upon. Seeing others mistreat nature that way bothers me. Some people just have no respect.

I force a smile anyway. I was told before I left that not everyone would see things the same way as I do. Offering my hand to the man, I introduced myself.

"My name's Eli Revelin. That looks pretty painful, friend. You mind if I take some of the pain out?"

I withdrew a mortar and pestle from my pack. Someone spun around and introduced himself as Roy, Sonic something of someplace. When he looked my direction I gave a wave.

"Eli here. Nice to meet you."

I then took out one of the pieces of strange fungus and placed it in the little bowl.
"Spit in this," I said, motioning to the mortar. "That is, if you want your arm to stop hurting."

Suddenly, someone ran by screaming. I hadn't seen him before. Maybe he had just arrived? He seemed pretty afraid of something. The man, who had just introduced himself as Dragoon, was obviously in no condition to follow him, and I was committed to helping him before I would allow myself to do so. Still, I felt working faster would now be to my advantage.

"You know," I said looking back at Dragoon, "Fire might not be a bad idea. I could whip up a pretty strong Resist Fire potion. ...hell, I might be able to make a salve out of it. Of course, if you can withstand the pain, a great thorn growing out of your arm would make a decent weapon."

[42PETUNIAS]

Ataska saw the screaming man run at the group, was stunned at first, and then reflexes caught in, and he attempted to trip or grab the man as he came running at him, planning on interrogating him.

[The Argent Lord]

Safra slid down from the tree, convinced from watching that these people, while certainly not normal, were not the type to cause her harm without reason. The man with the tree branch in his arm appeared to need help, and she thought she knew a way to help. If the demon was right, it could work... She carefully approached as people began introducing themselves, and had almost reached the man(Dragoon, was it?), when someone screamed and ran. She leaped straight up in shock, instinctively using magic to reach the tree's branches.

[Bisected8]

Realising that no one else had started running I dived into the undergrowth to hide myself.

[Myst]

Lindo sat and purred, very much amused with his success. He listened to the other introductions, watching Roy Sonic the swordsman show off, as well as the green guy start monolguing again. When it seemed like he had mostly subsided, Lindo tapped him on the forehead, tilting his head, "Are you a badguy? Most people don't talk that much, especially to themselves."
"I'm Lindo Myuso, wizards apprentice." He puffed up slightly at the last part, expecting some level of praise. When the person went running by screaming, Lindo hopped up,hissing as his claws popped out and his hair stood up. He also could have sworn he saw the little girl again, though she was gone by the time he looked back (spot check to see if he can find her?).

[Ogianres]

Agrerius jerked from his stupor after he felt his forehead being tapped by Lindo, barely registering the name, "huh wha-" but was cut off by a strange yelling sound, and began swiveling his head to look for the source.

((Spot/search check))

[xravi]

Roy looked over to the man who ran by screaming. “Today is just one of those days where there is never a dull moment.” He then picked up his weapon and slung it over his shoulder. “Well lets see what’s up with crazy.” Roy watched what was going to happen next.

[Khael!]

Ataska: Dragoon gives you the okay to start cutting, as long as you try not to damage his coat too much. Upon closer inspection, you see that the branch is also melded with his coat and shirt sleeve. Both have torn partially, revealing his actual arm beneath. The bark is indistinguishable from his skin for about a half-inch outward. In your focussed inspection, you do not see Safra approach.
Yet another man charges out of the woods screaming at the top of his lungs. You snap to alertness, looking about sharply for the source of his panic.
Odd, you don't see anything in the direction he came from. His terror sounds genuine, yet...
A speck of confusion crosses his expression and he dives headlong for a patch of ferns.
You abandon your shortsword, not wanting to miss the prime opportunity to intercept him.
You jump at him, grabbing his legs by the ankles. Success! You bring him to the ground without causing harm to either of you.

Aramil: It doesn't look like 'Dragoon' is going to do anything too stupid at the moment. You wonder if that's really his proper name.
He holds his right arm out for 'A' to take a look at in detail. The Drow has their shortsword at the ready... There will most likely be a portion of branch he won't be able to cut free; not without causing blood loss.
You hear small footsteps fifteen, maybe twenty yards behind you, then screaming much closer by. Surprisingly coolheaded, Eli voices a good idea to help with your fire plan.
You turn around... That man is running a little too quickly for your comfort. Whatever it is he's trying to escape from, you don't want to be around when it gets here. 'A' takes this moment to tackle the fleeing man.
Interesting development, but you feel your safety is still the priority right now.

Roy: After questioning your buddy's sanity, you throw out your dramatic introduction. Dragoon simply smiles bemusedly to himself, accustomed to your 'special moments' as he calls them.
The red-headed man introduces himself as Eli with a disinterested smile. He must not be used to witnessing sheer coolness like yours.
The orcish man greets everyone wholeheartedly. Agrerius uhh, Montish... something. Wow that guy has a long name. He's discussing all sorts of possibilities for why we shouldn't be here. You kinda find it hard to follow what he's saying. It's probably for the best that he doesn't seem to be talking to anyone specific.
Good thing Ager gave a nickname for emergencies; some wacky man hurtles by like he's on fire. You consider getting the hell out of here, when you look down. You do already have your sword drawn...
'A' goes total ninja on him when he tries to hide in the bushes, instead of going after whatever's chasing him.
You think you see movement in a large, withered pine beyond the running guy. There's nothing there - wait, that's not even where the running guy came from! You scan in a more logical direction. Trees, rocks, ferns... unless he's afraid of those dark clouds you can see through the clearing, there's a definite lack of approaching danger.

Agrerius: Dragoon listens as attentively as he can with 'A' prodding his arm. You fall deaf to the world amidst your thinking.
While yes, the stars speak of nothing strange to come, nor the clerics of their deity's plans, there have been more... little occurences. Nothing very out of the ordinary besides an enigmatically blurred divination. Maybe a potion or two that did more than intended... Errors on the people's part surely-
Lindo taps your head with a fluffy finger, asking if you are a 'bad guy'. Clearly he has enjoyed the tales of one too many bards!
Screaming ensues. Lindo jolts backward with ears flat against his head and hair standing on end. Following his line of sight, you turn to see some commotion in one of the trees. You pay it little heed, as you see the dark Elf fling himself at the source of the obnoxious noise: a terrified human attempting some sort of escape.

Safra: The demon doesn't feel the cat man called Lindo is a threat. You like Lindo; he's funny. However, both you and the demon are dead certain he saw you.
Before you can react to Lindo, a frightened man comes very close to where you are standing. Several heads turn in his direction, putting your location in jepoardy.
Your instincts taking over, you find youself in the fork of a tree without... having done any climbing...
From up here you can tell this fir tree is for the most part dead. There isn't a lot of green brush to use as cover. In one arm of the fork there is a deep hole, rotted soft and black. You can't see much of the interior, but you might be able to fit partially inside it. Not that you want to.
you see the black-skinned elf tackle the man who barely missed you, and poor Dragoon struggling to get moving with his backpack awkwardly slung over one shoulder.

Azza: The man you made eye contact with spontaneously bolts into the open screaming wildly. This leaves you rather confused... watching him as he goes, he runs past a tiny girl without even noticing her.
The girl then winks out of sight. Very confused...

Lindo: Too bad Agrerius doesn't get a chance to compliment on your ability as a wizard's apprentice.
You are positive you see the little girl tip-toe'ing toward where you're standing.
That's when the man comes screaming along. This not only shocks you, it also pulls your attention away from the child. You only look back in time to see her literally vanish. Putting you further on edge, you decide to leave the fighting to Roy and take cover. He's got that big sword, surely he can handle it.
You scamper up the tree you were just in, and do not see 'A' capture the screaming guy.

Hakiver: Total crap. Something wraps around your ankles, locking your legs together. You land flat on your front. The ferns cushion the landing, but they really taste awful. Note to self - always fall with mouth shut from now on.
Checking that your blade is still where it should be, you find it has thankfully not been lost from the impact.
Turning yourself over and over, you can't seem to pull free from the grip of this... black elf?

~~~

Dragoon begins what sounds like a protest when potions are mentioned, but he never gets much of a chance to say anything among the commotion.

He tries getting up, nearly losing his balance as his backpack is only over one shoulder. It slides down and snags where the branch meets his arm. A hiss of pain escapes through his gritted teeth, and he stumbles to his knees.

He pulls his backpack over both shoulders properly and gets up again, looking mildly disoriented as he tries to work through what the hell is going on, and whether or not he should be running.

[42PETUNIAS]

After tackling bringing the person to the ground, Ataska quickly regained his breath, then grabbed the guy at the neck and said "What the heel are you running from, and are we in danger?"

[Bisected8]

The black elf asked if there was any danger.

I was about to make myself seem stupid by replying (with a thick country accent);

"Aye, I saw yellow grass. A sure sign of witchcraft"

Before realising magic was very little to get worked up about and said instead;

"Aye, I saw a man with a tree growing out of his arm. A sure sign that something evil is afoot"

I then looked at the elf with suspicion to clarify my point.

[Akamaz]

"As much as i hate to say it, I doubt that He is the cause of what happened to Dragoon. I remember you mentioning a 'bet'" Ishva motioned towards Dragoon "What was it about?"

[42PETUNIAS]

Ataska sighed, releasing the man, seeing that he was obviously only scared of dragoom, and proceeded to stand up, pick up his shortsword, he then walked back over, "ok, i guess ill cut some of the branch off, but just the bits on the side, ill try and stay away from your arm." He then brought his blade down, and proceeded to saw at the branch.

[xravi]

Roy was busy focusing over where he thought was a person. "Yeah right, dragoon.....evil.....me....sure." Roy turned around and looked down at Hakiver. "If there is evil afoot you wouldn’t need to run past it, your just making up an excuses." He then faced others behind him. "Have any of you seen someone," Roy points to where he saw the figure. "back there?".

[Bisected8]

After the elf left I decided to walk closer to the group and see what was going on.

[Myst]

Lidno,calming down considerably now that the screaming man had been tackled by 'A' What a nice guy, that elf. I bet he'll be my friend!, climbed back down the tree. Why does that little girl keep disapearing. I bet she's lonely.
Lindo walks over to the last spot he'd seen the girl, and starts looking around, sniffing and mewing softly. (search/spot check?)

[The Argent Lord]

Safra slid down from the tree, very confused. She didn't know how she'd gotten up there in the first place, but the demon probably had something to do with it. She'd have to ask him later. First, she was going to help this guy with the branch in his arm. She stepped out in front of everyone and said in a very timid voice, "Excuse me... Uh... my name is Safra, and I... I think I might be able to help with that branch... If you con't mind, of course..."

[hastur]

"Excellent idea Eli, we should implement that as soon as possible before some dread horror comes from the trees."
As Aramil says this he slowly backs away from the sound of screams, while he tries to find out where those tiny footsteps are.
"By the by," he says to dragoon," what is your name?"

[Khael!]

(In a rush, can't post much. Turn order will be determined by the order of posts made after this.)

Well, by the time Aramil turns around, the footsteps have already stopped.

Roy asks soon after if anyone saw something near the same place Aramil was just looking.

Lindo catches a scent and follows it to yet again that same spot. The trail abruptly ends with a metallic tinge to it.

Your mysterious being finally shows themself. An ordinary girl comes into plain view from under the canopy shadows. She looks like she might be lost. Strange how someone so little could be so elusive.

~~~

"Pardon? I did remember to introduce myself, right? My name's Dragoon, from the metropolis of Daernath-" All his formal politeness falls into sarcastic laughter when he hears why Hakiver is so terrified, "Hahah, me!? A threat? I'm only a danger to myself! And even then... haha, oy."

He sighs, regaining his composure slightly at Ishva's inquiry, "Yeeeaah... About that... Roy and I were talking about I don't even remember what, sometime last week. We got onto the subject of bags of holding, and eventually it turned into an argument of whether they explode or implode when cut from the inside..."

'A' begins sawing away at the problematic branch. Dragoon rolls his eyes in an expression of self-annoyance, seemingly unphased by the impromptu surgery.

"Naturally I just had to go and prove him wrong... I swear I read it somewhere back in Daernath! So anyway. We got a damn bag and a cheap magic-trinket of a dagger, found a suitably empty field outside Talsis, and ran a test - No Roy, I don't see anything there - Now, I know what you're thinking of my intellect, but trust me; we were being..."

Dragoon falls silent as a new, faint voice addresses him.

"Oh. Didn't see her. ...Safra, eh? Pleased to meet you, and to hear you'll lend a hand. Now, how is it you think you can help?"

Dragoon's bright-hued eyes go wide with a sudden recollection, "Shoot! Potions! No potions! Goodness, I completely forgot to warn you guys about using magic and stuff on me."

[Myst]

Lindo smiled and walked over to Safra, leaning down to talk to her, "Hi! I'm Lindo, nice to meetcha. You move really fast, how do you do it? Is it magic? It is isn't it!?"

Growing excited, he brushes his ears a couple of times, then takes a deep breath and continues, "So you're gonna help Mr. Dragoon? Can I help, I'm a wizard too!"

[Bisected8]

Fed up with being the dark I decided to exclaim out loud

"Whats going on?"

[Preturbed]

Eli stopped, his pestle about to grind into the fungus he had placed in the mortar.

"Whats wrong with potions?" he inquired. "I know I could ease that pain a little if you would let me." Just then, Eli notices something. "Hey, erm... "A" hold on just a moment, will you?"

Eli withdraws his ceremonial knife and cuts a decent-sized circle of fabric from the hem of his robe. This he places under Dragoon's arm at about the place where the sawdust has been falling.

"Carry on then. You never know what you will need a pinch of sawdust for. Say, Dragoon, what do you think of using that hatrack A's leaving for a weapon?"

[The Argent Lord]

Safra blinked in suprise at the friendly cat-thing that came up to talk to her. "Uhh... yes, I suppose it is magic. I'm not really sure... I didn't do it on purpose. I think I can take care of the stick on my own, though. Just a moment." She stepped forward a bit and grabbed one end of the stick. "Get ready, Dragoon, and jerk your arm away when I say go." She closed her eyes and focused magic on the stick. She'd make it blink out of this dimension just long enough for him to pull his hand away. It'd have to be quick, though: She could only make it blink away for a quick second. She focused, and... "Go!"

((EDIT: Oops. I was writing when Preturbed posted, and I didn't realize that somone was cutting at the branch, either. Work it out as you see fit, Khael.))

[xravi]

"Dragoon has a problem with potions." Roy glanced at the girl then looked at Eli. “When ever he drinks a potion weird side effects happen to his body.” Roy turned his head to Dragoon and smiles. “Hey that reminds me of somthing. Remember the time with the girl and the poison? That was one of the best memories I have of someone’s plan going horrible wrong, besides this of course.”

[hastur]

"When you say using magic and stuff on you, are you also including any spells or just potions."

Aramil continues to keep his distance, just to be sure. He also listens to see if he hears any more curious footsteps.

[Ogianres]

"Immunity to magic? How fascinating!" Agrerius pulled out a small needle and flask from his belt and promptly prodded Dragoon in his uninjured arm with the needle, "would you perchance be willing to donate some flesh and blood for me to experiment with?"

[42PETUNIAS]

As Ataska sawed at the branch, he wondered something about dragoon's immunity.
"Does this immunity just apply to magical effects, or would poisons work whose effects i think are biological and not magical? As far as i know, poisons use chemicals, not magic to work."

[Akamaz]

"Poison is a possibility, My master used natural herbicides in his garden to remove weeds, something that would make the branch wither may not affect the flesh that it' attached to"

[Khael!]

(OOC: wait. Nine people? And not everyone has posted yet. I hadn't even noticed how many of us there are!)

In answer to Hakiver's question, Dragoon half-shrugs. "I dunno. Guess we'll have to wait and see how my arm turns out," he turns back to Eli, "...sawdust, eh? Might as well get some use out of this poor branch," Dragoon gleefully grins, nodding in approval of the weapon plan.

Safra instructs Dragoon on what to do.

"Alright... Wait, What!?N-" The branch vanishes with a fine clacking noise, reappearing almost instantaneously. Unprepared, Dragoon flails his arm away as much as he can without hitting anyone.

With the sudden lack of resistance, Ataska's arm flings downward still holding onto his blade. It hits the dirt, missing the cloth of sawdust by a couple inches.

"-NNngh!" Dragoon's moving arm is still partially overlapping the branch when it clack's back. His momentum tears the edge of his arm and sleeve free.

"Looks like... I wasn't ready..." he gasps. "I'm only partially immune. Magic... Most potions don't do anything for me either."

Roy reminiscs about foolhardy days. Despite the pain in his arm, Dragoon bursts out laughing.
"I probably shouldn't have insulted her cooking... Gods I wish she'd at least poisoned the right drink, instead of that other girl's... how long was she asleep for? Heheh, like a month?"

He pulls up his sleeve, and tilts the brown bottle over, letting a few droplets fall onto the open wound. He squints as the stinging mixture soaks in.

"How big a sample would you need? Oh, wait, you're gonna make potions outta me? Wow that's cool! I probably should've waited before putting iodine on this... Hang on... I'm sure you don't want to hold onto that any longer -" he gently takes the half-sawed branch from Safra.

Eyeing a two inch long chunk of flesh stuck to it, he states the obvious. " - That is mighty gross for an arm. Agrerius, think you can get any use out of this? ...also, could you could help me sew this up?" He digs out a spool of fine thread and a curved needle from his medical box.

Dragoon ponders Aramil and A's questions a moment as he hands the items to Agrerius. "hmm... from my experience, chemicals still work, but to a lesser degree. Well, assuming I react to it in the intended manner. I can tell what a potion's trying to do to me, though the results are never anything special. ...?" Dragoon notices the odd looks he's getting from several present.

"Oh, I used to test potions and spells for students back at the Arcane Academy. Usually, the more magic was present in the ingredients, the more screwy the results went. As for magic, the ones that were supposed to blow people up usually worked like a downscaled version. The alteration ones though, oy vey... weird times explaining why I was covered in blue scales to my mythology teacher..."

[Bisected8]

"You could use this as a bandage you know..." I suggested holding up some tape.

[xravi]

Roy looked over at the mess that was Dragoon’s arm. “So Dragoons will fully recover and all will be good, well, that’s what I’m assuming.” Roy then remembered all the unknown people who where here. “Not everyone introduced themselves maybe right now we should.”

[42PETUNIAS]

Ataska started to get shifty after being asked to introduce himself, but the fact that dragoon would still be effected by his poisons was... interesting...
"You can call me 'A', as a dark elf, i am rather hesitant to share anything about myself with... others ((really racist tone))"

[The Argent Lord]

Safra gasped and covered her face in shock. "I'm so sorry! I should have given you more warning, or tried to move the branch when it flickered, or... or... I don't know. I'm really sorry." She moved backwards with each step, like a frightened deer almost ready to bolt.

[Akamaz]

Ishva placed a calming hand on Safra's shoulder "It's allright child, you couldn't have known how that spell could have been affected by Dragoon's unusual nature" Ishva patted Safra's shoulder reassurringly

"By the way, I am Ishva"

[Ogianres]

Agrerius beemed ecstatically as he guided Dragoon's flesh into his empty flask with his needle, strapping it to his top belt, "thank you very much! If you ever lose more of yourself, I'd like to know so I may collect it!" He wiped a bit of drool from his lower lip and peered around, "so, does anyone know where we are or what happened? Any ideas even? Was anyone doing anything particularly unusual or tampering with magical devices of any kind?"

[Selfish]

((Darn you and your lightning fast posts, people. I have been working freaking OVERTIME.))

Azza searches around, trying to make out any order in all of this mess.

Nope. Not to be found.
A man has some sort of branchy-tree thing growing out of his arm.
A little girlie girl seems to wink in and out of reality like a firebug`s charm
Screamy seems to have wandered off somewhere.
There is a cat thing-y that would be excellent rugging. Or just, helping to catch prey animals.

Then there is this elf.

Yah. That not good.

They tended to shower their `me better than you`isms all over.

More, of course.
The weirdness of the gathering here.
What was it all about?
Introductions?
None of them looked particularly hard to run from or kill.
Why not?

She expects that she will be able to just herald her name, in a clear voice.
Not so much.
No one is particularly paying attention to her, and no one seems to care.
People seem to be milling, looking for things.
She decides not to hide...yet.

One of them seems to catch her eye, and she nods solemnly at them.

WHY were they in HER wood?
What was their purpose?
HOW did they expect to live, and Where did they come from?

Also, that one THERE seemed to have nice boots.
VERY nice boots.
Pity she wasn`t a thief or rogue.
Then those boots would be HERS.

[The Argent Lord]

((This post is entirely OOC. For those of you who post here but haven't looked in the signup/discussion forum, we have a turn order now. It can be found here: http://forum.nuklearpower.com/showpost.php?p=464465&postcount=13 When you're done with that, keep up with the rest of the discussion thread. As we're already very much out of turn order, I'm going to suggest that we wait for Khael to come back and tell us what to do about this.))

[Bisected8]

OOC: Where was the last in order post then?

[Khael!]

It's too early to be getting dark out... Ataska, Eli, and Azza, through the openings between the treetops you realize the sky has been blanketed by stormy clouds. (the others have probably seen this too but have not processed the fact yet.) The trees whisper with a gentle but cold wind. Lindo, and soon Azza too, you both smell the earthy scent of rainfall on the breeze. There's probably a little while yet before it reaches here.

~~~

"Safra, Safra - it's alright! You shouldn't have to see this... Don't worry about me, it wasn't your fault. I'm okay. I'm used to accidents, it's alright. ...I don't know how you did that blinking spell, but that was impressive.

"Scaredy, you have tape?? That's perfect!" Dragoon finishes up closing the wound with a little help from Agrerius. A little gauze, some bandaging wrapped over, and he pulls the tape around his arm to secure it all in place.

"Nooo! Don't say that Roy! When you assume, you make an ass out of u and me! Heh just messin' with you; Maybe I'll have a neat little dent in my arm and another story to tell. At least until Agrerius here gets the rest of me in a bottle.

"Well, I've explained as best I can why Roy and I are here... I'm dead positive bags of holding don't implode or teleport you randomly... that can't be right... Mayhaps a couple of others got caught in the area of effect?"

Dragoon turns back and thanks the man who provided tape. "Ssoooo... You have something I can call you besides 'Scaredy'?" He seems jokingly hopeful on using the nickname frequently.

"'A' huh? No need to be hesitant; I'm used to hanging out with all sorts of folk. Ever met a half dragon? Regardless, pleased to make your acquaintance."

Dragoon spots Azza eyeing the group quietly.

Raising an eyebrow, he adds, "...Also, I think this lady here likes your shoes."

(OOC:)And all was right in the world. Oddly enough, I'm rather low on the turn list. Ye who goes after me, post away!

EDIT: Okay, proclaiming everything to be good forever never works, no matter how sarcastic one is being. Slowly I am learning.
I have added the turn order to my signature as a link. 42Petunias, Preturbed and Myst, you may delete your posts here and move them to the discussion. Thanks.

[Myst]

(OOC: Sorry to butt into this, but I posted a fixed version of the turn order, from the point of Khael being first post in a turn (as DM and all)
http://forum.nuklearpower.com/showpost.php?p=465635&postcount=38)

[Bisected8]

(OOC: Maybe to fix this whoever is at the start shoul have the next post ot clarify things)

[Akamaz]

As Dragoon goes on mumbling about the bags of holding and sharp pointy things Ishva Sits down on a fallen tree and pulls out a metal stylus and some bound copper disks

[42PETUNIAS]

Ataska sighed, seeing the storm clouds. "Ugh, looks like a storm is coming." He then muttered. "You surface dwellers and your stupid weather." He then started to back away from the group, sitting in the shade of a tree next to Ishva's

((OOC: I deleted all my posts that should have belonged in the discussion. That was close though, i really thought that it would be 3 in a row that skipped.))

[The Argent Lord]

Safra sat down in relief. "Thank you, but I really should have been more careful." She carefully avoided answering the questions about her magic. These seemed like nice people, but it would raise too many problems.

[Bisected8]

(OOC, yay, I'm next)

"My name's 'Hakiver' I replied"

"By all means call me 'scaredy' if you don't mind the consequences through"

I added, half seriously.

[xravi]

“All right then, scaredy”. Roy grinned as the words rolled of his tongue. He then looked up at the sky and saw the clouds gather there. “Rain, rain, go away, before the thunderstorms come out and play.” Roy was still staring at the sky when he said, “By the way, is there anywhere were there is some kind of shelter?”.

[Khael!]

[OOC: 24 hours passed after Roy's turn. Agrerius/Ogianres was next but he did not get a chance to post. Aramil/Hastur is eligible to post. If he doesn't do so before around six tonight, Eli/Preturbed can go.

Nobody goofed. I wasn't skipped. Check my signature, there is a link to the turn order. I know it looks different; it's the same order, simply bumped so that I appear at the top of the list.]

[Khael!]

[OOC: I neglected to state that I am not counting entirely OOC posts as part of the turn order. Ignore those, and the actual in-game posts fall into order.]

[Preturbed]

Eli Revelin:

I gather the small piece of fabric that now contains a bit of "special" sawdust and put it in my bag along with the rest of my things. It is starting to look dark out, and the weather is more than a little threatening. This was obviously my que to get moving. I could endure a night in the rain, but I don't really want to, so I turn to my newfound companions and make a suggestion.

"Hey Dragoon, A, and erm... everyone else, its about to get pretty nasty out here. I suggest we either set up camp or get moving. I prefer the latter myself. There's a river to the north of us and we'll be more likely to find some kind of civilization near the water. Even if we don't, the food by the river is probably more plentiful."

I take a few steps in the direction that my earlier meditation said was north, and turn to see if I'm being followed.

[hastur]

"That sounds reasonable."
Aramil begins walking along after Eli.

[Khael!]

Ishva takes a seat on the log, which is very old and almost entirely mossy now. It compresses slightly under your weight with a mild crumbly noise.

Dragoon turns his gaze up to the coming clouds. "Our stupid weather? Boy I wish it was ours; maybe then we could tell it to behave itself at times like now."

He nodds acceptingly to Safra's apology. "It's okay to be a little bold every now and then. It's how we learn. Like when I called Hakiver here 'scaredy'," Dragoon glances at the rather... uniquely edged knife at the mans' side,

"I just learned he gets a little scary when I call him that. Er, so he's, just Hakiver then..."

Dragoon begins to follow after Eli, motioning to Safra to some along. "I don't recognize this place at all..." he turns to address the group,

"Not sure about you guys, but I like this guy's thinking. Not that a little rain bothers me; it's the only weather I get back at home, with all the mist coming off the waterfall. Follow us if you wanna - whether you do or not, it was great meeting all of you! ...Maybe we can find a way to catch fish from that river... what would we need..." Dragoon trails off, random scraps of though escaping his lips in an unintelligible fashion.

He draws his scimitar-like blade and pulls out a red packet from a concealed coat pocket. He opens it and cuts a fresh piece of chewing gum off, still thinking to himself.

'A' settles down upon a tangle of stringy plants growing beneath the tree. As Ishva sits upon the log, something long and dark green quickly slithers out of the cracks and into the brush a few feet from where you are sitting.

[Akamaz]

After briefly noting the probable cause of the translocation, Ishva pulled up the hood on her tunic. apparently her poncho hadn't made the transition with her.

"So does sanyone here have any idea where we're at?"

[42PETUNIAS]

Ataska got up and followed Khael wherever he was going, staying within earshot, but a bit back, so no one would specifically notice him.

[The Argent Lord]

Safra fell into step behind Dragoon as she walked. She carefully snuck a peek over her shoulder at both Hakiver and "A," who seemed a bit more threatening than the rest.

[Bisected8]

Pleased I had managed to intimidate my way out of a nickname, I looked around.

Then I spotted a small green creature move from a log to some brush. "Hmm, whats that..." I said quietly to myself trying to recall what it is.

(OOC: I'm making a knowledge check or soemthing to recall what it is)

[xravi]

“Dragoon you’re talking to yourself again.” Roy said in a low voice. He glances over to the people walking forward and he himself walks forward. “So does anyone truly know the area around here. I don’t think I ever been here so I wouldn’t know." Roy looks back to Dragoon. "Hey give me some gum man.” he said motioning his hand to Dragoon.

[Ogianres]

Agrerius obliviously picked away at his ear, gazing once more at the cloudy sky as he flicked out a particularly large piece of wax into the air. He heard someone say something about "camp" and, after taking a few minutes to actually put that word into relevant context while cleaning his nose, said, "well I hope somebody had the foresight to realize that we were going to get stuck out in the middle of nowhere and brought a tent, ha!"

He looked around, noticing that several of the others had already began to walk off in a direction, and began to follow them. Hopefully, he thought, these people will have the necessary skills to keep us all alive out here. Agrerius chortled at the absurdity of the concept, but did not falter in his movements.

[Khael!]

[OOC: Preturbed has missed his turn. Myst has tonight to post, as I won't be able to until tomorrow.]

[Selfish]

(I`m sorry guys. Count me out.... I am being swamped with junk. Azza dissappears in a fine mist or something. My bad.)

[Khael!]

Azza edges backward, away from the strangers... 'strange' being the operative word here. She clearly has no need to wander; she's already home! Azza nimbly disappears into the southeast.


Tagging along, Lindo peers about curiously at everything in his surroundings.

Dragoon trudges on slowly but sure-footed. The thickening undergrowth is giving him a much more difficult time than Lindo or Eli, who have easily taken the lead.

"...a tent! Tent, tent... how would we make - ooh, I bet we could use a load of this stuff I keep tripping over... I'm thinking what out lou- oh. Damnit." He clears his throat in a poor attempt at changing the subject.

"Um. I mean - no. Beyond a forest, I have no idea where we are. I know how most of us got here, though it doesn't make any sense. since when does magic get to break it's own rules..."

Hakiver looks long and hard at the creature, which returns an unblinking stare of its' own. One wrong movement on your part, and it rears it's head in an intimidating manner, hissing. Snippets of memory come back. Snakes. Slithering... cold... fangs... poisonous?

You'd rather not test that.

Dragoon shakes his head, getting his thoughts back in order, "So that's me, Agrerius, Lindo, Hakiver... all teleported - damnit again!" With a snap of his fingers, he surrenders his blade and gum packet to Roy, "I was hoping you didn't notice. Eli? You've been here all along, am I right?"


Safra sees Ataska following the group at a slower pace. He's being sneaky. Maybe he doesn't want animals to hear him... Hakiver is looking hard at something on the ground... a vine? No... you can't tell what's got his attention.


[OOC: Wow, I make my Gather Presents check with a plus 10 bonus, and still I come back emptyhanded!]

[Akamaz]

{ooc: I made my gather presents check and got a nat 20}

AS Ishva slid off the stump, she noticed the snake. Ignoring it, she followed after Dragoon, wondering why he had chosen the thickest part of the woods to walk through, instead of just going around the underbrush

[42PETUNIAS]

Ataska kept following, having a difficult time staying quiet and keeping up in this heavy growth. He was excellent at stealth, but much better in cities. He saw the child look at him, but didn't mind, he wasn't trying to sneak up on them, just not to be conspicious. One child noticing him wouldn't make a difference.

[Bisected8]

Deciding it would be a bad idea to fight a small creature which was more than capable of poisoning me, I decided to ignore it and follow everyone else.

[xravi]

“There is just something about gum that makes me want it.” Roy cut a piece of and stuck it in his mouth. “Sure you may call it an ‘addiction’ but I’m sure it is nothing.” He began chewing it and handed back the stuff to Dragoon. “Yes, yes, there is no addiction at all.” Roy then noticed that something was missing, a person maybe? “Hey…….never mind.” He just told himself it was nothing, just like the addiction to gum.

[Khael!]

"Yes, just... nothing... just like the poison I laced that slice with... muahaha! No, not really. Be damn funny if I was that dumb." Dragoon stows his precious gum away out of sight.

Hakiver, you take a few steps. You hear scuttling in the leaves. The snakes is the exact same distance behind you. You edge away slowly, but with every step, it - curiously - inches forward the same amount. It isn't acting threateningly any more. It's taking it's sweet time looking at you with it's head tilted.

Snakes don't do that!


Dragoon reaches for Safra's hand to help her along the path. Nobody was watching this in particular, so a second later when their fingers touch -

A crackling flash of yellow light!

- she's gone.

Dragoon is left standing, arm outstretched to someone who isn't there. Almost instantaneously, He and everyone else in the vicinity is knocked backward. Birds fly from the trees in escape.


Roy recovers first. You immediately look where Safra stood. Wierd - there's what appears to be bits of somewhere else in her place. You dig around.
A chunk of a... chair leg? A small handle from something, looks like the other end used to frame another object. Torn bits of newspaper... something made of glass. Huh, there's a couple neat things left in the dirt here, but no bits of people.

[xravi]

Roy stood up after searching through the pile of random bits of things. “Dragoon, what did you do to Safra? It looks like she switched places with something or something.” He looked down at the pile of bits and stared. “I think she is still alive, or she could be dead by now.” Roy’s still stared down at the pile of bits, his mind still trying to figure out what happened. He then picked up items he thought were of interest to him.

(OCC: Looks like some kind of side quest. But, should we care about someone who is not even participating anymore?)

[Myst]

Lindo hissed, his hair standing out, rather odd looking considering it stretched almost 2 feet out from his head. "Where'd the little girl go?" He pauses, trying to gather his thoughts, "Wait, why was a little girl out in the woods..." Another, longer pause, "What are we even doing." He sat down, brushing his ears, "How much longer til we get out of these woods?"

[42PETUNIAS]

Ataska looked back at Hakiver, and saw the snake following him. Hakiver was looking at it very oddly though, and Ataska decided to fall back and help him with it. Not because Ataska felt altruistic at all, but because he wanted to try and milk some venom out of the snake. He was sure he could find and empty vial, or make room in one of his, and perhaps a thin piece of cloth, or some other material another person would have would serve at the top of the vial. He decided to call out "Hey, Hakiver, need some help with that snake?" As he rose from cover. He then took a glance at the main group, who seemed to be puzzled that the little girl had dissapeared. He turned back to the snake, if anything had happened those people would work it out.

[Bisected8]

Deciding the snake could be convinced to lose interest I decided to continue moving away from it slowly, though still ready to dodge and with my dagger in hand it if was nessesary.

[42PETUNIAS]

Ataska saw Hakiver draw his dagger and realized that his venom was in danger. He had even thought about getting the alchemist to help him out.

"Hey, can't you hear me? I'll help you with the snake, please don't kill it, i'd like its venom." Stupid surfacers.

[Bisected8]

I heard the elf shout at me, asking that I don't kill the snake

"Can't you just get the venom out of its corpse?" I said, still keeping an eye on the snake.

[42PETUNIAS]

Ataska started to walk towards Hakiver and the snake.

"I don't know, I don't know too much about getting venom from snakes, only that you can milk them for it. To get it from a corpse, I'd have to find the venom sacs and all that. Milking it is much simpler."

[Ogianres]

Agrerius, so completely lost in his own thoughts like usual, did not hear much of the commotion caused by the others. However, he never goes into a trance so deep that he will not recognize certain phrases.
"Milking venom? From what? That snake? It is quite easy, and its venom, when mixed properly, can make a potent cure for many common diseases. I myself have used snake venom-based cures for simple colds and flus. I remember once, during one of many winters at my home city..." he began to trail off, but miraculously caught himself and began again, "well, I believe I remember how, just catch and kill that snake and give the corpse to me, and I will try to extract as much as I can. Just let me keep a small percentage of it, say, a quarter."

[42PETUNIAS]

Ataska looked back at the group, hearing Agreius's voice. The alchemist was suggesting that he should kill the snake so he could milk it. This confused Ataska because as far as he knew, milking was acheived by placing a thin cover over a glass, and then getting a live snake to bite through the cover. The snake would then release its venom through its teeth at what it thinks of as prey. Agreius might have been confused, but perhaps Ataska was wrong in his thinking. Better to ask. "I'm not sure, but i had thought milking needed a live snake. Perhaps we could extract venom from a dead snakes skull, but that seems like it would be much more difficult. Unless im wrong, lets milk it live, and then we can kill it. Im sure the skin and stuff might have other alchemical ingredients we can use."

[Ogianres]

"Huh what?" Agrerius pondered what was told to him, "oh yes! I have no idea what I was thinking! Um, probably something about the other body parts that have to be harvested post-mortem." Agrerius coughed embarrassedly at his quite novice mistake. "Yes, let's not get ahead of ourselves here, first milk the venom, then harvest the other body parts."

Agrerius reached into one of his robe's pockets and pulled out a thin membrane, and placed it over one of his empty flasks. "Ahem, yes, well... Let's begin shall we?" Agrerius looked around confusedly, "oh, right, you have to get the snake first."

[Bisected8]

"So, how are we going ot capture the snake?" I asked

"And more importantly keep its venom in a bottle and out of my circulatory system?" Still with my dagger at the ready and my knife in the other hand, just in case.

[42PETUNIAS]

Now that he was next to Hakiver and could see the snake well, Ataska took a better look at it, at how big it was, and trying to gather what he could about it from sight.

((OOC: Khael, help me out here))

[Khael!]

Ataska: You'd estimate the snake is slightly over four feet long. It's dull green scales come to a hardened end at the tail, but it doesn't look like a rattler. Tiny spines protrude from either side of it's head above it's eyes.

The serpent seems to be eyeing you both just as intently, when Hakiver draws his knife. Instantly it goes back on the defensive, poised to strike if necessary.


It's not getting any sunnier out. You can hear the wind rushing through the tree canopy, though you can barely feel it in this deep section of the forest. The underbrush here is pretty viny.


Amidst the muttering of Lindo, Dragoon regains his senses and clambers to his feet.

"Safra? Safra!?" He dashes to the pile of scraps in her place. "What... where did she-?"

He digs about in a panic, pushing a piece of curved glass and bits of metal aside, along with other scraps Roy found. He pulls at a corner of something stuck in the dirt. Wiping the soil off, it looks like it used to be part of a wooden crate, a clean edge where the rest of it would have been.

"It doesn't look cut... Gods, more ruined teleportation?" Dragoon lets a defeated sigh free. "...I hope... do you think she's alright?"

He turns to Agrerius, who completely doesn't answer his question. It takes Dragoon several moments of glancing about in worry to process what's been said.

"A snake? Where!?" He answers his own question immediately afterward, seeing the damn thing right there in front of Ataska and Hakiver.

"What are you doing!?"



Roy: Dragoon knocks the glass thing around with all the other crap. It looks about the same shape as the handle thing you picked up... you take both. Everybody's insisting that they capture that snake instead of killing it, but you might want to draw your sword anyway.

[42PETUNIAS]

Ataska looked back at the group. "Hey, is there anything back there that we could use to to capture the snake without killing it? I'm sure there must be a blunt weapon in the pile. If that doesnt work, could i borrow a large piece of fabric from someone."

[xravi]

After stashing away the two objects away Roy focuses his direction to where the snake was. "Snake?" Roy said, after barley recognizing that other people were more interested in a snake than a missing person. Roy griped his swords handle that was sticking out of it’s sheath, he then heard what A had to say. “It would be more easier to kill the thing, I’ll get something, I guess.” Roy picked up the part of a chair leg and walked over the group and handed the it to A. “I do not know how to fight with a piece of wood,so, you should have the honor.”

[Akamaz]

Hmm everyone calm down. I remember shavi the snake charmer used to do something to calm down his snakes before the show. Let me see if I can remember the trick to it.

(OOC: trying to remember snake charming stuff from her circus days)

[Bisected8]

"Hang on" I said, remembering something "don't snakes live for a bit after you cut off their heads?"

[Akamaz]

No, that's worms

[42PETUNIAS]

"Is there any reason why we should be cutting its head off? lets just get the venom and kill it." Ataska said as he accepted the piece of wood. He tore a piece of cloth of himself, and wrapped it around his hand, in a way that offered mild protection, but didnt trap his fingers. He drew closer, stopping directly in front of the snake. He postioned himself with the wood in front, and his hand ready to grab at the snake behind the mouth. He hoped the snake would lunge at him, giving him a chance to bat at the head of the snake, stunning or knocking it unconcious.

[Bisected8]

"Perhaps we could just leave it alone?" I suggested. After all if you need venom you can always find someone willing to sell you some...

[xravi]

“Yeah but, I have never seen anyone milk a snake before.” Roy said trying to give any reason to continue doing such a unneeded event. “Besides there is no place to buy venom around here.” Roy knelt down and focused his eyes on the snake, waiting for something to happen. “If we had a straw we could suck the venom from a distance. Of course you would not want to drink that stuff, maybe put it in some kind of bottle. Someone else would handle the snake from a distance and someone would have to be the sucker who gets the venom out.” He then chuckled to himself after giving such a lame pun.

[42PETUNIAS]

"Well clearly someone would need to hold it down while its milked, the problem is that its a fairly large snake, and it would almost definitly be difficult to pin down." Ataska took a deep breath, anticipating the sudden lunge of the serpent. The snake almost faded into the vines of the surrounding underbrush.

Wait... Vines....
"Hey, we could probably trap it with these vines all around. A good one around the neck tied tightly would work. Anoyone good at tying knots might want to prepare one or two vine nooses."

((OOC: Didn't notice the vines till now.))

[Akamaz]

Ishva begins moving her hands and feet langoriously, attempting to duplicate the movements snake Dancer Shavi used when he was doing his snake charming act

Nobody make any sudden moves

[42PETUNIAS]

"Not unless it tries to bite me, then ill hit it with most of what ive got."

((OOC: we should probably start a second chapter, weve already doubled 60))

[Bisected8]

As the snake was still staring at me, I decided to comply, crouching with my knife and dagger at the ready.

[42PETUNIAS]

Ataskas muscles were starting to cramp up from how long he had been standing there.

[xravi]

Roy sat down still focusing on the snake. It seemed to him that nothing is going to happen, as if another force of being conrtoled their actions and right now it was not present. He shook the thought away because such a thought was mad in itself.

[Myst]

Lindo's tail twitched, and he hissed softly, watching the snake, "You know, I could just pounce on it, break it's back and all."

Watching the elf girl dancing about, he decided to wait, but stayed tensed up.

[42PETUNIAS]

"Thats good Lindo, but if you could do that just to pin it down, that would be even better."

*Yawn*

[42PETUNIAS]

Ataska snapped back to attention, ready to smack the snake.

[Myst]

"Alright, but where's the fun in that?"
(if Ishva's attempt doesn't subdue the snake)
Hoping the snake was distracted enough by the elf girl, Lindo edged around until he was facing it, then stared it directly in the eyes, hissing loudly (cast freezing gaze). After waiting a few seconds for the snake to stop moving, he closed carefully, then pounced down on its back, just behind the head. Carefully shifting his weight, Lindo attempts to hold down the snake without hurting it too badly.

[42PETUNIAS]

Ataska jumped towards the snake, grabbing it behined the neck. He then reached for a nearby vine, "Can someone cut this so i can secure the snake?"

[Bisected8]

I cut the vine with my knife.

"How are you going to tie up a snake" I asked "It doesn't have any limbs"

[42PETUNIAS]

Ataska released the snake, and quickly wrapped the vine around its neck, he then tied a quick knot with his deft fingers, and tightened it as much as he could. He hoped this would be enough to not choke the snake, but to hold it in place. He pinned down the vine with his knees, and grabbed the snake right behind the jaws.

"OK, you can pass me the vial now" He called out to Agregrious.

[Khael!]

The serpent does not move for so long as it seems to be torn between which person is the greater threat. Ishva begins moving in a slow dance-like motion, attempting to hypnotize the snake. They look a little silly there. The snake slowly takes notice of this dance, following its' movements breifly, and then becoming rather... confused by the whoe act.

Lindo takes the moment to fly up into its' face hissing, eyes gleaming with ferocity. You have only a few seconds to act.
With the aid of Ataska, you pin the snake to the ground. Ataska has a firm grip on the throat of the creature. You grip slightly below that, keeping its' head still while Ataska tightens the vine around it.

Twelve feet away, Dragoon just watches from beside the mess of objects. Eyes wide, taking it all in. He's got his blade ready if the snake decides to make a dash for it. There's already enough people all in that one area.


The snake snaps to again as it is pinned, and begins thrashing its' tail about like an aimless whip. Lindo, you lose hold of the snake's neck as the hardened scales covering its' tail lashes you upside the face.

Ataska struggles to keep hold of the serpent's head, the spiny protrusions snag into the cloth wrapped around his hands. Thankfully, this seems to be keeping the snake from pulling its' head out of your grasp. The snake whips at your boot, making an incomplete cut through the leather that doesn't hurt you.

Lindo, you lunge for its' writhing body attempting to stop further hits, and get a hold of it momentarily with one hand. It pushes ever harder to free itself; you apply more weight, both hands, then your arms... until finally you're sitting on the thing. The tail's tip now wiggles around with too little length at its' disposal to harm anyone.



"Uh, you sure you guys have it?" Dragoon looks to Agrerius, then the snake and back again, "better work quickly."

He moves up, being sure to stay clear of the snake's head regardless of how stuck it is, and circles around to the other end. He grabs the base of the rigid, claw-like tail end with both gloved hands.

"Doesn't look like a stinger... Should we cover this thing?"

[I need this thread closed. The new chapter titled Mad Plans: part II is now up.]