Axiom Gaiden: Chapter 2: Dreams of Red

[CelesJessa]

(OOC: alright, sorry I was gone all weekend, I was out camping. Yaay. I'll try to move it along now. (at least until SS gets back..) Sorry if I control your characters a bit, I'm just going to try to get things going a little bit.)

Al and Vindro decended on the spinder, slowly making their way down to the bottom of the hole. At the bottom they saw the fighters of the group. By some luck, they had happened to be in two rooms that were connected from the floor to the ceiling.

The rest of the mages climbed down as Al gave two tugs on the web. Before they could discuss how they were supposed to escape, a man in long white robes and an amulet much like the other ones used to teleport around his neck, stepped out of the 'living' wall. Chuckling, he addressed the group,

"It's so good that you have arrived..." She said, looking at the mages, then glancing over at the fighters, "...But it seems like many more arrived than were invited." He shrugged, "Oh well, you all can go to the grand cause of returning Shavira... our god, to us!"

Celes gave the man an incredulous look, "Shavira is dead," She insisted, "I don't know how, but I saw to her death myself."

"And one thing about being dead is... you don't come back." One of her companions chipped in.

The man in the robes seemed to only chuckle more at their comments, "Shavira is not gone in spirit. She is still very much alive and all it will take is a host and the lives of many of the world's mages to return her to us!" He said, "And I'm sure Shavira wouldn't mind the sacrifice of a few fighters who are standing in her way either!" The man held up his arm, summoning forth two large creatures. They each resembled a smaller dragon, except it only had scales on the back, and the mouth was big enough to eat a man in two bites, it's roar making the room tremble. It's claws were longer than one of Celes' fingers and wickedly pointed, like a hawk's talons would be.

"These are our magic eaters, but don't worry," the man chuckled, standing against the far wall on raised floor, "Magic isn't all they eat." Before the group could do anything the room went pitch black, leaving them only able to hear the Magic Eaters as they walked on all fours. From above, there seemed to be the scratching of the claws of a third magic eater coming from the hole in the ceiling.

[Dante]

"Well, shit."

Talan spun his blade nervously as he looked around for a way out. Nothing seemed to present himself... wait. His neck... the amulet! The rogue turned to Celes.

"I'll see if I can't get that damn amulet around his neck away from him. Maybe you guys can do something with it. After all, the last one you took let you create a portal, right?"

[Krylo]

Lucian held out both his hands, summoning a ball of electricity in one, and a ball of fire in the other, hoping to illuminate the room for the fighters. He wasn't going to use magic against a creature called a 'magic eater', nor was he so sure that any light he created magically would last for very long.

[Squishy Cheeks]

Kay was examining the walls of the room. "These are unusual." He said.

[Forever Zero]

"Well... This is more then I signed up for," Dezil muttered to himself. However his reaction was instant. He did NOT want to get close to one of these monsters, so he stuck his wrench back in it's pocket, and quickly drew the gun off his back. With a swift motion, he reached into a pocket, took a bullet, stuck it in the open chamber of the rifle, locked it in place, and fired a bullet, into the jaw of the closest Magic Eater. He repeated this motion and kept firing into the beast, aiming for areas without scales or protection.

[lazy man]

Axel drew his sword again, hoping he could at least see. The noise of the group around him made him lose track of the sounds of Magic Eaters, so he had no clue what they were doing or where they were. Grrrr, where the hell are the bastards, he thought, getting a little aggravated over his current situation. The spikes on his arms and back started showing themselves again, not that big, but growing very slowly.

[Squishy Cheeks]

"Here this should give us some light." Kay pulled out a black porcelain sphere. He threw the sphere against the wall shattering it. The splattering liquid ignited The fire spreading along the wall.

[BMHadoken]

As the white robed man looked over at the wall, Jude flung a 'rang and hooked the necklace. He grabbed it on the return.

"Who wants it?"

[Dante]

Talan grinned to himself.

Good, saved me the trouble.

[Zweihander]

Al crouched down, and readied himself for an attack at the nearest dragon's underside. He waited for a second to see what effect the stolen amulet had. The beasts might possibly turn against their former master. Still, he readied himself to attack, quickly preparing a protection spell to cast on himself when he attacks.

"If this amulet plan doesn't work out, someone shoot that monster with something," he said, pointing to his target.

[CelesJessa]

The monsters turned towards Jude after the robed man shouted to them about getting the amulet back.

"That looks like the amulet we used to make a teleporter in the other room." Celes confermed, keeping her distance from the magic eaters and backing up the others, "But it doesn't look like there's any place to put it like in the other room... Any ideas on how to activate it?" She would have used her magic on the creatures, but she wasn't sure if it was wise to use magic on magic eaters. She kept a large fireball in her hand to aid in lighting the room.

[Demon with a Glass Hand]

From the card that Coin pulled out of his deck came a drowning buzzing sound. In the light and shadows of the room swarms of terrible black shelled bees swarmed around the magic eaters, attacking them in soft spots, slowing their movement, attacking their eyes, and hopefully giving the group of mages and fighters a better chance of survival.

"First things first," He grinned to Celes as he backed away with her from the Magic Eaters. "Lets take care of these terribly interesting monstrosities!"

[Dante]

Suddenly, Talan had another idea.

"Hey, girl with the fireball! Those Magic Eaters may eat magic, but I think they'd find the walls a bit indigestible! Why don't you try dropping the ceiling on them?"

[IHateMakingNames]

"Yes, cause the roof to fall and the room to cave in. What a good idea." Guy commented. He was just sitting back and letting everyone else handle the problem, since Guy fought for a living, he tends to not do it on his free time.

[Squishy Cheeks]

Kay refused to get involved. He continued to observe the room and the fight.

[Zweihander]

"First things first, Lets take care of these terribly interesting monstrosities!"

"I agree. Armure céleste!" The protective spell quickly enveloped Alaroth's body with a soft glow, acting as a buffer between himself and sharp, pointy objects. While the dragons were focused on Jude, he ran to the closest one's side and attacked the unscaled flesh. Quickly backing away from the counterattack he figured would come next, he shouted "I suggest that the rest of you do something similarly rash!"

[Demon with a Glass Hand]

Another card from the deck. Again Coin chose the Simulacrum card. When the incantation finished, and the copies were summoned everyone in the room had a "fighting double."

Everyone save himself and Guy.

"Be careful not to let the Simulacrums get eaten!" Coin yelled above the drowning noise of his killer bees. Between the bees confusing the beasts, and the added strength of the simulacrums, they had a decent chance of survival.

[Krylo]

"I never act rashly," Lucian stated as he waited for an opening and then struck out toward the man controlling the magic eaters with the hand that held the crackling ball of lightning. Some of the bolts broke off and headed directly toward the only opponent who didn't have a good chance of surviving a magical attack.

[CelesJessa]

The man in the robes saw the lightning coming for him in enough time to cast a quick reflect spell around him, sending the lightning shooting off, hitting one of his Magic Eaters. Within seconds, the magic eater had grown visably larger. Sensing the magical energry coming from the robed man, the Magic Eater turned around quickly, hitting Jude with his large tail, sending the amulet clattering to the floor.

The robed man's eyes widened and he took a step towards the amulet, seeming intent on it's safety, but he stopped short and his eyes grew as big as sause pans as his Magic Eater approch him, thinking the magical surge he had just gotten came from him.

[BMHadoken]

Jude took white robe's temporary distraction to gust the amulet farther from its true owner and toward the feet of the one guy on his side who wasn't doing anything.

"Hey, make yourself useful buddy." Jude yelled at Kay, then rolled over and sprang up, boomerangs drawn.

[Dante]

"Thank you very much..."

Talan snatched the amulet up and retreated to the mages.

"All right, now do something with it!"

[Mephisto]

Fredan drew both his swords and created an illusion of a fireball in his hands "Hey magic eater, you hungry?" He called, holding the illusion in front of him. The smaller magic eater charged at him and he ran towrds it. When they got close enough Fredan droped to the floor and slid past the magic eaters side, slashing across it with his swords.

[Zakanf Da'arkblades]

Vindro sheathed his flute (yes, he has a sheath for it) and pulled out his longsword. As he charged forward, he started to sing a rousing battle-song, increasing his allies' strength and hastening their sword-arms. As the magic eaters were currently ingaged in other battles, he went to flank the man in white, who seemed to be the target of the larger beast. As the man froze at the site of the magic eater coming after him, Vindro lunged at his back, sword parallel to the ground, and approximately level with the man's heart.

[CelesJessa]

The smaller Magic Eater cried out in pain as it was slashed along the stomach by Fedran. It has wounded it, but it was still alive. The robved man, however, was not so lucky. He was too concerned about the Magic Eater coming for him to notice the sword, that is, until it pierced him through his back, Blood gurgled out of his mouth as he crumpled to the floor.

Meanwhile, Celes had taken the amuilet and was trying to figure out how to activate it, one of the Magic Eaters looking interested in either the amulet she was holding or her magical power. She was surprised as the magic eater pounced at her. She hadn't been expecting them to be able to move very quickly. It caught her ankle with one of it's claws as she took a step back, trying to get out of it's reach. Tripping, Celes fell to the floor, dropping the amulet with a loud crash. A crack ran up and down the amulet before it shattered into several pieces, releasing the portal that was inside of it.

The portal grew large enough to envelope herself, the magic eater, and a few others who had been near her.

(OOC: you can choose if you got instantly teleported with Celes, or if you didn't, you should make your way to the open portal before it closes. Keep in mind, the Magic Eaters will probably try to follow you out.)

[lazy man]

Axel had been trying to get at the magic eater that went after Celes, but couldn't catch up to it. When it stopped to get Celes, he was about to get a hard hit on its unproteceted sides, but was stopped because of the portal suddenly being opened right in front of him. His surprise outweighed his confusion, but he still knew that he was going to kill that thing, wherever he was going.

[Ganurath]

Ganurath had been watching for any unexpected turns of events. He quickly saw the amulet fly and had lunged for it, when it shattered and the portal formed, he was quickly sucked in. He found himself looking at the magic eater and Celes, and readied his halberd, slashing at the creature in a downward vertical stroke.

[Squishy Cheeks]

Kay noticed the portal and made his way to it.

[Darth SS]

Kal noted the portal. But he had a bit of business to take care of first.

The remaining magic eater snapped it's claws down, but Kal hopped backwards, only losing a chunk of his shirt, and a bit of skin. In return, he severed it's leg. But he didn't finish there.

As the creature roared and tried to yank it's missing appendage away, Kal grabbed a handful of what he thought was tendon, and let himself be yanked up. At the height, he let go, and neatly landed on the thing's neck.

His knees ached from that of course. But he ignored it, reversed his sword, and plunged it into the skull of the magic eater. There was a shrieking, and a grunt as Kal freed the blade and jumped off. The thing stumbled, then finally crashed into a wall.

A rumbling began to echo. Then the first bits of gellatin debris started to fall. Then the first boulder fell. Pieces slowly increased in size. Someone yelled, "COME ON!" and the group evacuated through the portal before they were buried.


On the other side of the portal, those first out tripped on some vines. In an ironic twist of the saying "Between a rock and a hard place" the group had come out of a mountain. Ahead of them was the thickest jungle any of them were likely to have seen.

[Zweihander]

After yelling at the group, Al leapt into the portal...

and landed unceremoniously on a tree root.

"OW! Although I guess we're better off here than back there..." Looking around at the lush tropcal jungle surrounding him, he said, "Where the heck are we?"

[Demon with a Glass Hand]

"Well, this is so much better!" Bradbury commented as Coin and he looked around at where they had been transported. "This is much better! Isn't it?" ... ... ... wait, is this better?"

Coin shrugged as he counted everyone who had been transported with him and Celes when the amulet was broken. Dispelling the simulacrum summon he was slightly relieved to know that no one that was with them was a copy.

Though, if they had made any difference, he wasnt so sure that anyone on the other side of the portal was happy that they were gone ...

[Darth SS]

There was a roaring, followed by a fizzle, and the portal snapped shut. Kal muttered something about "damn new evil dudes....no respect..."

He lifted his sword, and hacked through the brush that was there. It parted, and revealed a relatively short walk. This ended at a castle.

"Hey! Guys! An ominous looking castle! We can probably swing by there and find stuff to clean up with, as well as food."

There was an odd silence, which was broken by Kal going, "Just because it's dark and creepy doesn't mean it's a trap."

[Ganurath]

Ganurath looked at Kal dumbfoundedly. "How much did you have to drink at that party?"

[Demon with a Glass Hand]

"This seems a bit forced, actually ..." Coin commented, eyebrow raised.

"If it is a trap," He added thumbing through his deck. "I have something that might ... hmmm ... where is it? ... ... doesn't seem to be ... dammit! I was sure I had some sort of "Faithful Watchdog" summon in here ..."

[Squishy Cheeks]

"I'm tired. I think we should get some rest."

[lazy man]

"I agree, lets just get some sleep," Axel said. He was tired enough from the fighting and wanted a comfortable bed to lay on for a few hours.

[Demon with a Glass Hand]

Coin's brow was furrowed as he furiously searched his card deck. Sitting down on the Magic Eaters corpse he muttered under his breath.

"Get some rest ... ambushed by ogres, probably ... find that damn "Faithful Watchdog" ... "

[Ganurath]

Ganurath nods. "Rest sounds good. I'll take first watch. Who can wake up without attacking their awakener?"

[Dante]

"I'll take the first watch with you. One man patrolling alone can die in any one of a thousand horrible ways. At least, with two guys around, whoever doesn't get picked off first can sound the alarm."

When strange looks were shot his way, Talan shrugged.

"Trust me. I know about this kind of thing."

[Ganurath]

Ganurath eyes the rogue very carefully. "What did you say your name was?"

[Dante]

Talan shrugged. They were all in this together, anyway. But some things you never gave out...

"Locke. Call me Locke. I've seen this kind of thing done often enough to know, okay?"

[Darth SS]

The group shuffled around, and eventually decided to settle down.

Except, from above them, they heard some terrified yells, mostly consisting off "SLOWDOWNSLOWDOWNSLOWDOWN!"

A wagon bounced into the middle of their little camp, propelling two dwarves and what seemed to be a goblin over their head. There was a crashing as their wagon broke into pieces.

Celes sat bolt upright, and lit a fireball in her hand.

The stunted little goblin thing's face dropped. He muttered, "Oh no."

The fireworks went off. Within about two minutes everything had calmed down. Granted, most people had soot all over their faces, and for a few people their hair was sizzling.

The two dwarves glared at the goblin thing, and said "I told you the trail went left."

There was an odd pause.

Kal was the first to speak. "Let's go from the top here. Who are you, what are you doing, where are you going, AND WHAT IS THAT!?" He jabbed a finger at the little goblin like thing.

The goblin was the first to speak. "I'm Ka Boom, and I'm a grot. These two numb-skulls are Tweek and Bang."

The dwarves sadi something along the line of "Hey how's it goin'."

Kal stood and looked at the grot. It literally stood about 2 and a half feet high. Kal made a motion with his hands for them to continue.

"Wezza going to castle Grimaxe over their so these two babies can see their mother. Together, we're the only three explosive weaponry, and firework producers this side of the fourth dimension!"

Kal slumped down. He glanced at the dwarves. They were shrugging uncomfortably in their plate, and taking down their axes. One unslung a crossbow and accidentally fired it. The grot screamed. The bolt had something attached to it, and it wasn't apparent what until it nailed a tree and exploded.

The group tried to ignore the odd threesome as they screamed at each other, mostly consisting of insults.

OOC: The grot looks like the goblins here: http://ca.games-workshop.com/storefront/newimage.asp?Size=A&Img=212262

Just tone down the evil and up the cuteness factor.

[lazy man]

"Great," Axel mumbled, kind of annoyed by the three arguing. "So what do we do about these three oddballs?" he asked, pointing at the dwarves and the grot.

[Dante]

"I hope we have some better means of reaction than idly standing around and lollygagging... because that's all I have for the moment..."

[Mephisto]

"Well this just great, now I have no eyebrows" said Fredan. He quickly made an illusion of some eybrows and some of his hair to "much better. I say go with these guys up to the castle, if they know someone up there we might get some comfy beds to sleep in, although they may be a little small" he said, looking over at the dwaves.

[Ganurath]

"Going to the castle sounds like a good idea. I mean, if the owners are related to these guys, they'd be too busy tripping over each other to actually do anything bad to us, at least not on purpose."

[Darth SS]

There was a muffled explosion. Kal raised a hand and said, "I think that bad to us point is arguable."

He glanced at the trio. Currently, one dwarf was standing on top of the other two, and was holding the grot's tongue in a pincer, and was beating the other dwarf with a wrench.

"You know, maybe we should just start to the castle anyways..."

[lazy man]

"Best idea I've heard today," Axel said in response to Kal. He quickly started to go toward the castle, fearing the next explosion would be somewhere near his head.

[Zweihander]

"As amusing as this is, I don't enjoy being blown way up. Castle sounds good to me."

He waited for anyone else that might see fit to come along.

[Zakanf Da'arkblades]

Vindro had been on the ground by the wreckage from the carriage, and placed a small object in his pocket. "...what? Oh, right, let's go to the castle." Vin stood up and followed after Axel as fast as he could.

[CelesJessa]

Celes ran a hand through her hair, feeling a few slightly crispy strants from the exploasions. <Mental note: be careful with fire around these things...> She thought, then brushed herself off.

"I agree, besides, when we get to the castle, we can rest and discuss what happened back there at the ball." She said, walking forward towards the castle.

[Ganurath]

Ganurath shrugged and marched afterward, his armor cooling down. He deicded not to mention the burns on his shoulders from the heated metal weighing down on him.

[Darth SS]

In decent time, they reached the castle. Eventually, the dwarves and grot caught up with them. They were also smoking. Not as in cigarettes, but they actually had smoke coming off of themselves.

The door creaked open with an ominous creak. It seemed to be dusty within the castle.

Ka looked around the inside and said, "Lookslikenoonesherelet'sgoback."

Kal looked at the Grot and pushed him out of the way with his foot. The steps of the group echoed within the vaulted lobby.

Then something landed beside Kal. He instinctively pulled his sword and went for a beheading strike. Something stopped it and muttered, "OW!"

The Grot screamed. The two dwarves followed suit. It was a disturbingly feminine scream. Celes pointed into the darkness, igniting a fireball and sending it in.

The light revealed that what had dropped next to Kal was not a monster of any common sort. Instead, it was what Guy would've been had he been crossed with a monkey. Except dressed in good clothes.

There was an odd pause. Someone said, "Is this our night for freaks?" The monkey-man flipped that speaker off. Several monkeys landed around them.

Guy had a sudden spurt of diplomacy and said, "Hi."

The monkeys waved. Kal raised his voice to adress them all. "Hi. Do you guys know how we can get to Ulthuan liketty-spit?"

In a grunting voice, one of the monkeys in the crowd said, "Yep yep. But we help you you help us. Big bad monster. Forest. We no have home. We need drive vampire out of castle for a home. Want old home back."

There was an odd pause. Tweek spoke up, saying, "They want us to kill the vampire that owned this castle, as well as whatever drove them from the forests."

Ganurath glared at the dwarf and said, "No shit Sherlock." Following that statement, reality went TWANG and reasserted itself so that was never said.

One of the monkeys grunted, "We give you food and sleep-cots. You kill bad."

After a little while longer, they worked out what the monkeys were doing. While the monkeys prepared a disturbingly high-class meal, the group was led to chambers they were to sleep in. Aside from the distinct odour of monkey throughout the castle, it was amazingly clean.

The rooms were no exception, and they were even complete with not too shabby furniture.

A monkey spoke up. "Two beds room. Two man-things each room. Choose room-friend now now."

OOC: Choose roommates people.

[Mephisto]

"Well if feel free to sleep in my room, it's up to you" Fredan said and walked into the nearest room, unstraped his sword belt and jumped onto the bed fully clothed "well what a party that was, goodnight."

[CelesJessa]

Celes shot a slightly disdainful look at the rest of the group, then at their surroundings and the doors to the rooms. Shrugging, she walked to one of the bedroom doors, and stopped as she stepped partially through the door, "Anyone can TRY sleeping in this room with me, but..." She continued, having almost a stereo effect as Lucian made his way to his own room,

"...The first person who touches this door might get-"

"-Eviscerated." Lucian said, disappearing into his room.

"-Incinerated." Celes said as she closed the door on her own room.

(OOC: Don't worry, I'm not controlling Krylo's character, we planned this over AIM)

[lazy man]

"I don't care who shares a room with me, so go right ahead and take the other bed" Axel said, going into an empty room, dropping his gear, and flopping onto a bed.

[Squishy Cheeks]

Kay entered celes room. He dodged the fireball.

"I have no interest in sleeping with you so if you feel the need to try and set me on fire it will be because you are a psychopath. I feel of my choices for flat mate you are the least likely to take advantage of me while unconcious."

[Demon with a Glass Hand]

"Bradbury, would you like to share a room?"

"Why certainly I would, Coin!"

And so, the summoner and his talking, shrunken head had a room all to themselves.

[Ganurath]

Ganurath nods. "I can be with anyone except Guy or... Locke, was it?"

[Darth SS]

Kal walked over to the summoner's room.

He calmly took out one of his daggers, and placed it in the small crevice of doorframe and door. He then applied his less than amazing physical weight to it, succeeding in cracking the door open slightly.

The bolt was surprisingly resilient so Kal used his other dagger to push it inside of the door, thus admitting himself. After he closed the door, Kal looked at the summoner and his shrunken head.

"Just a warning. I snore."

[CelesJessa]

Celes looked at Kay as he explained why he was sleeping in her room after she had "explained" that her room was off limits. She rolled over on her bed so that she was facing the wall, "Whatever, just don't startle me when I wake up..." She warned him.

[Demon with a Glass Hand]

"So does he." Coin laughed as he pointed to Bradbury. "And, you could have knocked, too. I usually open doors when people knock on them."

Testing the beds to see which one he liked the best, he added. "You're name is Kal, right? I'm Coin. Pleasure to meet your aquaintence and all that."

When he found a bed that he liked, he sat on it and started thumbing through his deck of cards looking for the all evasive "Faithful Watchdog" summon.

[Darth SS]

"Well, if you want to be really anal about the name, it's Sir Kal Tethlis the Shining White Blade of Hoeth of the Order of our Endless Flame."

Kal shrugged and plunked on a bed. "But that's being disgustingly specific." The talking head started to say something. Kal yanked a dagger out, cut a piece of the curtains off, and threw it at the head.

Using his mother's magic, he snapped the cloth around the head's face, then seemlessly joined it at the back, effectively shutting the head up for the duration of the night.

[Squishy Cheeks]

"My name is Kay by the way." The inspector said as he took off his heavy coat. He hung it from the hat rack in the room and proceeded to meticulously empty the vials, bottles, and equipment from the hidden pockets.

[Zweihander]

As everyone went into their respective rooms, Alaroth ws fuming. Not because he had to share a room with someone, but rather because he had to share a room in an unknown building whose security is dependant on friends of two extremely unhinged dwarves and a similarly strange grot.

"Well, then, I wonder who's on watch. I don't exactly trust those monkey guys to keep us safe, if they need us to take care of their problems. And I'm not sure I would want to be caught unprepared if this castle's previous owner decided to come back." Looking around at the empty hallway, Al sighed. This is what I get for being overly cautious.

And so he began first watch.

[Darth SS]

The night passed without incident. Except that Alaroth collapsed from exhaustion. That was about the high-point.

In the early morning, the monkeys gave them a huge breakfast of amazingly good food. During this, the group had time to find out about the monster. And how they were going to deal with it.

Apparently, the thing was like a twisted combination of spider, and turtle. The monkeys couldn't give them anymore information, implying that the only ones who'd had a good look were now dead. They also implied that it might be laying eggs.

So, the group was left to ponder this information over their breakfast...

OOC: Insert PC control...HERE!

[CelesJessa]

Celes pondered as she munched on her breakfast, "They said that this monster was in the forest, right?" She asked, looking around the table at the others, "Why don't we just burn the whole forest down? That woud take care of the monster and the possible eggs it might be laying." She said, half-way kidding.

[Dante]

Talan was grumpy. He hadn't slept a wink last night, and he didn't know why. Of course, that didn't keep him from feeling tired, of course, so when the sun rose, its rays greeted an angry, irritable, bad-tempered rogue with a penchant for inserting large pointy objects into people's backs.

The sumptuous spread tamed his rancor somewhat, but he was still bleary-eyed and very sensitive. He didn't even flinch when Celes started speaking.

"They said that this monster was in the forest, right?" she asked, looking around the table at the others, "Why don't we just burn the whole forest down? That woud take care of the monster and the possible eggs it might be laying."

He cleared his throat and spoke.

"Yes, kill them all, the little buggers... dammit..."

The sun was hurting his eyes again.

[Ganurath]

Ganurath openly laughed at Locke. "You do realize she was joking, right? Our hosts need the forest intact to be their home again." Ganurath then turned toward Celes and added "You were joking, right?"

[lazy man]

"If she has no problems incinerating all of us, I doubt she'll have any regrets burning down a forest," Axel ponted out after swallowing a mouthful of food.

[Mephisto]

"If you wanna burn the whole forest, wouldn't it be easier to just kill the monkeys and run? But we won't do that, right?" said Fredan, before he resumed shoveling food into his mouth.

[Zakanf Da'arkblades]

"...well, we could always burn the forest, kill the monkeys, and take this land as ours, but I doubt that would make a good song, so let's just save the monkey people." Vin said.

[Ganurath]

Ganurath shakes his head and chows down. "I figured a group that just fought a bunch of evil cultists would be inclined toward a good alignment."

[CelesJessa]

"Fine, fine." Celes said, "No burning... the whole forest at least..." She mumbled, smiling to show that she was just kidding about burning everything in sight.

She finished up her breakfast, "In any case, we should get moving, if this thing IS lying eggs, and we don't want her to be hiding her eggs and then having to deal with MORE of these monsters later."

(OOC: I have a pretty funny picture in my head of the combination of a turtle and a spider (like the monster)... kinda weird looking...)

[Ganurath]

OOC: Sounds like a giant crab with no claws.

Ganurath finishes his meal. "But didn't they say something about a vampire?"

[Krylo]

"Fighting to save one's own life is hardly a sign of purity of heart," Lucian said as he took a bite, slowly savoring it before swallowing and continuing. "Besides, her plan is the most logical. Even if we kill that beast, if it has been laying eggs we are not very likely to find them all. Only destroying the forest can leave us certain that the creatures have been destroyed in their entirity."

[Squishy Cheeks]

"Well We know little about the creature. It has always been my belief to observe a foe and learn as much as you can before entering into combat with it."

[Ganurath]

"And it has always been my belief that you do not burn down a house to save it from intrusion. But it is correct that we have no time to observe. We must act quickly. Besides, there's a dozen of us. I'll just play meatshield, the other fighters can hunt down and kill any eggs and babies, and the mages rain hellfire on momma."

[Zweihander]

Al was looking strangely normal, despite collapsing around 1 that morning. He ate whatever it was that his hosts had given him, and let the others do most of the talking and planning.

"Although Celes's plan is probably the best, I don't want any other strange denizens of the forest to come after me. So, we better get moving if we're gonna find this spider... turtle... thing."

If I was a hideous monster, where would I hide?

[Darth SS]

"While I typically am a fan of letting someone else take all the punishment, Ganurath, we should remember that it drove out how many monkey-men?"

Kal finished off his plate, and wiped his mouth off.

"Oh well. Monster huntin' time..."

Kal then proceeded to stand, start to walk to the door, and trip over his own feet.

[Zweihander]

"Y'know, for a famous master swordsman who killed a Goddess, you'd think he'd have better balance. What did you trip over, anyway?"

[Darth SS]

Kal gave the one who'd said the balance comment the finger.

He yanked his head up, and looked. His face had literally gone through the floor. He rubbed his nose and looked through. He could barely make out anything...

Without any apparent provocation he grabbed the Grot and stuffed him through the hole.

"YOW!" came the reply from the hole.

"What do you see?" Asked Kal.

"Nothing. Just a disembodied head that's looking at us. And mumbling about Spider-Slayers having come."

Kal looked at the others. He then pulled his sword and stuck it into the floor, carving a hole.

After a little while he climbed back out with a disembodied head and the Grot.

"I hold in my hand an undead prophet. Friend of yours Brad?"

He tossed the head and the Grot up. "Who wants to carry the head?"

[Ganurath]

Ganurath shakes his head. "I'm a meatshield, not a meat carrier. As for the problem of me standing alone, keep in mind these monkeys lack two things I have: courage and an insane quantity of armor."

[lazy man]

"Well," Axel said, grinning and patting Ganurath's shoulder, "have fun getting ripped apart, becuase I doubt armor's gonna save your life from a giant monster. And courage, I think, will just get you ripped apart faster. Now if you excuse me, I'm getting my stuff." Axel walked out of the dining hall and into his room, getting his gear together.

[Demon with a Glass Hand]

"I'm used to dealing with talking heads." Coin walked over and picked up severed head. "Shall I we see what this one has to say?"

Holding the head in both his hands at arms length, he stared into its face and said in a stern, commanding voice. "Well then, what can you tell us ... erm, Ivan?"

[Darth SS]

Ivan coughed and said, "Damned if I fucking know. Wait....oh shit, here we go again..."

Ivan's eyes rolled back and his mouth started foaming (Somehow!) When he spoke, his words didn't match up with the movements of his lips.

"Spider-slayers are come. Three will complete a job that began in years past, many will began a path. The World-Gate is anxious for your arrival. But beware the raven. BEWARE THE RAVEN!!"

It was oddly cold in the room.

Kal walked forward, and asked, "Raven? What?"

The head started swaying back and forth, shrieking, "BEWARE THE RAVEN!! BEWARE THE RAVEN!!"

Coin slapped it. After it was done bobbling, it ominously said, "May the pheonix guide your blades...and stop the fallen pheonix from rising again..."

With a definitive pop! the temperature went back to normal, the foam dissapeared from Ivan's mouth, his eyes rolled back, and a donkey suddenly appeared in the room.

There was an odd silence as they looked at the donkey. It then got over it's confusion, and ran out of the room.

Tweek and Bang simontaneously yelled, "MONSTER BLAMMIN' TIIIME!" Ka smacked them over the back of their heads.

Kal knocked a chair out. "Okay...this is...weird. What do you think he meant by "three will complete a job began years past'?"

[Squishy Cheeks]

"Three sentient beings will finish what they started." Kay said flatly.

[Darth SS]

"I feel I should point out that I could kill you right now."

Kal went back to pondering. He looked around the room. He scanned faces. He stopped.

Guy looked a bit freaked out because Kal was staring at him intently. He glanced at Celes.

"Guy, Celes, I think he was talking about us. Can you think of anything we didn't kill that we fought?"

[Zakanf Da'arkblades]

"...well, he could be talking about Larry, Curly and Moe over there." Vin interjected, pointing at the two dwarves and the Grot.

[Mephisto]

"Well thats simple. You three were part of the group that killed the evil godess two years back right? And now those weird cultist guys are trying to bring her back. Anyone else seeing a connection here?" said fredan, still eating some food from the table.

[Darth SS]

"Well, she's dead. Somehow, dead qualifies as a finished job to me. We definitely didn't plan for her to come back. Hell, we didn't plan for fighting her in the first place. It was moer Myst's fault we got dragged in...."

Kal snapped back to the present situation. "Oh well. Let's go kill the big turtle-spider. When we get to Ulthuan I'll waste time thinking about it."

[Ganurath]

Ganurath Stood up and latched his shoulder-shields into place and picked up his halberd. "Going we shall then. But, I think we can just kill this spider freak the same way you guys killed the godess. Right?"

[Demon with a Glass Hand]

Pulling a bag from his jacket, Coin shoved Ivan inside it, drew the strings closed, and tied it to his belt.

"May come in handy later." He said to no one in particular.

[Darth SS]

Kal looked around then looked straight at Ganurath.

"One itty-bitty problem with that assumption. We don't actually know how we killed a goddess."