NPF Avatars IV, Chapter XIII: Fire Three!

[Arhra]

OOC: Sorry about the delay. These last few days have been hectic.

Infighting ended, a grave was dug and the NPFers seemed ready to move on.

"What the hell was all that about?" Arhra asked, quietly, but emphatically.

She walked forwards, "Let me repeat myself. What the hell was all that about?!"

"I told you before, if any person here is going to be killing anyone else here, that person is going to be me!" Arhra seemed to have been using the time during the big argument and subsequent burial to let her anger simmer, "I'm working on a very tight schedule here and I do not want this sort of behaviour from you lot. These quite probably are the last few days of your life, so you can at least be cordial to each other!"

Arhra was getting into full voice now, pacing furiously and stabbing her finger at people as if it could shoot death rays, "But noooooo, you have to do stupid things and then get in stupid arguments, offending each other stupidly because you're too stupid to behave like normal, non-stupid people, start stupid fights, attacking each other, through your stupidity and now there's a bunch of STUPID SNAKE-PEOPLE GAWKING AT US!!"

The diminutive figure of fury paused. Something wasn't right with this picture.

It was probably the five new arrivals. They were human above the waist, but snakes below. Some grasped short blades while others went barehanded but looked capable. They had the predatory look of hunters about them.

They'd probably been attracted by the noise.

[mauve]

"Hey," Mauve said, eyeing the newcomers. "Flarecobra-People."

The lamias looked fierce and battle-hardened. Each had the looks of one who could rip a person to shreds with their bare hands.

"Hmm. I vote that Flare should handle this," Mauve decided, slipping into the "back row" section of the NPF ranks. "It's really not my place to meddle in the affairs of lamias."

[The Artist Formerly Known as Hawk]

Hawk had noticed the approaching Lamias before anyone (she could hear their slithering a quarter mile away, echoing up the tunnel), but had said nothing until Arhras rant had subsided, hoping they would be able to sneak up and end her insufferable ego. Alas, they had failed miserably.

Ah well, it was worth a shot. So now we probably have to fight Lamias too. I should start getting a commision for fighting serpent enemies. Or at least a +1 advantage.

And lo, did another 2d box flash into existence once again:

Hawk gained +1 damage against serpents.

It then vanished before anyone could comment, just as before.

...

"Yeah.... Flare, be a sport and go do some diplomacy kay?"

Hawk also made her way to the backlines with Mauve, landing on her head to maintain a decent line of sight in case trouble insued. For once, she didn't feel like fighting.

[Flarecobra]

I shook my head. "Trust me, if they're not in the mood, I don't think they would want to talk. It looks like a hunting party to me, sent out to see what happoned to their guardian." I said with a sigh. "Anyway, give me a moment." I said, switching over to the Lamia language. "Is there something we can do for you?" I asked them, keeping my weapon in it's sling across my back.

[Fenris]

Fenris immediately clapped his hand over Nikose's mouth and dragged him into the shadows.

[Arhra]

Faced with monsters who seemed talkative, Arhra was brainstorming, trying to select a suitable spokesbeing. Since they'd probably be more comfortable with psuedo-reptiles like themselves and summoning someone from the lizard universe wasn't really an option right now, that narrowed it down to Flare and Hydra.

Flare was a part time part-reptile, what with the dragongirl (Arhra wondered if there was a better name for that) and lamia forms. Arhra wasn't sure if that lack of commitment would go down well with the lamia demographic. On the plus side, she could turn into a lamia, which presumably counted for something.

Hydra, on the other hand, had worked her way up from a lowly random monster encounter, which was sure to evoke sympathy. On the other hand, she was a intimidatingly large, multi-headed, multi-armed reptilian cannibal, which might not go down so well. On the other hand, her basic honesty of purpose might prove unexpectedly popular.

While Arhra was wracked with indecision, the others nominated Flare.

"Is there something we can do for you?" Flare asked.

Arhra sighed. What kind of question is that?! We should have gone with Hydra. Well, at least someone had had the common sense to silence Nikose.

"What do we want?" A lamia replied, answering in Language*. She seemed to be their spokesnake, her garb just a touch finer than the others. "We want you to leave. Now."

* You know, what everyone speaks

[Nikose Tyris]

"We Want you to leave. Now."


"Okay, sounds good to us! Let's go everyone!" Nikose said, prying Fenris's hand off his mouth. "We obviously have no right to be here, and these proud lamia's obviously stand guard on their land- is there anything they cannot do? Are they not easily more powerful than any other race?" Nikose called to the group, making sure the Lamia's could hear as well. "We don't need to harrass these fine people, unless they choose to invite us stay, to share stories of bravery." He turned and bowed to the spokesnake. "A thousand apologies." And then he rose, turned and began walking away. While silently biting his tongue to keep himself from giggling or letting any of his madness loose.

[Flarecobra]

"Well, as much as we wish to leave you in peace, I'm afraid we can't do that. We've got important business to conduct here. Once we are finished, we will leave.....though I may stay for a bit, as I used to live in another area of this place." I said, as I started to undo my leg armor, and then said "You know, I'm a lamia as well. Then with that, I started to change form, turning into my true form.

[Fenris]

Fenris muttered to Nikose under his breath, "Why must Flare insist on undermining everything everybody does ever?"

[phil_]

Phil broke into the huddle. "Now now, she's just going about it differently. She knows more about snake-folk than we do; maybe they aren't susceptable to flattery or something. Though, how are you guys understanding her Lamia talk? I mean, I've got this Harry Potter™ Parseltongue™ Translator and Decoder Ear Piece," she pointed to the blinking plastic snake in her ear, "but did you guys waste skill points on Lamia language or what?"