NPF Avatars IV, Chapter XIII: Fire Three!

[Arhra]

"Well, actually," Arhra said, getting in on the huddle, "I just assumed Flare had said something stupid. Do I look like I understand crazy snake language?"

Flare's negotiations didn't seem to be going well, "Congratulations," the lamia leading the small pack said drily, "You've managed to demonstrate that you are a shapechanger. You can not stay! All of you, leave!"

[Flarecobra]

"Now, surely there's gotta be something you'd like." I said with a serious look on my face. "And the only reason I can change form is because of this thing. But I will assure you, this is my true form. The others can attest to that." I pulled out the shifting stone, showed it to them, then put it away.

[Lumaes]

"... a palpitating snake,
Bright, and cirque-couchant in a dusky brake.
She was a gordian shape of dazzling hue,
Vermilion-spotted, golden, green, and blue;
Striped like a zebra, freckled like a pard,
Eyed like a peacock, and all crimson barr’d;
And full of silver moons, that, as she breathed,
Dissolv’d, or brighter shone, or interwreathed
Their lustres with the gloomier tapestries—-
So rainbow-sided, touch’d with miseries,
She seem’d, at once, some penanced lady elf,
Some demon’s mistress, or the demon’s self.
Upon her crest she wore a wannish fire
Sprinkled with stars, like Ariadne’s tiar:
Her head was serpent, but ah, bitter-sweet!
She had a woman’s mouth with all its pearls complete:
And for her eyes: what could such eyes do there
But weep, and weep, that they were born so fair?
As Proserpine still weeps for her Sicilian air.
Her throat was serpent, but the words she spake
Came, as through bubbling honey, for Love’s sake,"

These words, like the stray blossoms of some strange tree, whispered through the air.Eyes dulled to an earnest, heart aching ultramarine, the looming skull of the spectre emerged from behind the cake cart. The cake cart which had been squeeking along dutifully behind the squad. What hard an calloused heart could resist such a beautiful and topical devotional?
The shadowy body of Lumaes sailed with a serpentine grace towards the snake-person-leader, one could almost feel the reptillian heart pulsing faster inside the scaley chest.

Then of course, the wraith ruined the mood entirely by doubling over and retching an unctuous, sparkly substance which coiled an rolled over itself with a sickly fluid quality. Apparently he wasn't quite over the staff-sickness. Coughing and blinking groggily, he stumbled back towards the cake as a flicker of sparks spat from his eyes and a set of metal rings appeared suddenly around his boney fingers. Figuring he'd already caused some gross offense, he looked up at the cake then towards the negotiators sheepishly,
"Would this be a bad time to mention that to cook up this cake I needed to use quite alot of eggs.... and that the ones I used were kindoff... large, leathery and... in nests?"

[Arhra]

"We'd like you to leave. Or die. We're not too picky right now." The lamia spokesperson was beginning to look very annoyed. Her opposite seemed to be the negotiator equivalent of a door to door salesman. Some people just don't seem to understand that no means no!

Then came poetry, sweet words in dulcet tones. Lumaes emerged from behind the cake cart, sailing towards the lamia with a vast and graceful majesty, arms in a grand embrace, wide eyes brimming with passion. The head lamia's expression softened.

Then came vomiting. And the suggestion of terrible acts commited by a spectre dabbling in the dark arts of cookery.

If the lamia's expresison before had been the sun coming out behind the clouds, now it was all thunderheads. "You dare!" she screamed, "All of you, die!" She lunged at Lumaes, stabbing at him with a short sword, the other lamia surging forwards too, others spitting out magical words as they went.

[Nikose Tyris]

Nikose let out a quiet, "If this is how it has to be, so be it." And drew Nenyel for the first real time, as a monofillment whip, and cracked her in the air once, before lashing a nearby stone pillar to topple between the NPFers and the lamias. "It won't slow them for long- Flare, I hope you have a contigency plan involved here, because whatever you said didn't seem to phase them."
Nikose shifted Nenyel into shortsword form, and then turned to Lumaes. "You." he glared, not speaking anything else.

[mammothtank]

...nah, too girly. Needs more badass.
What about Scarlet? I always did like red...
Ooh, that's cool. Just needs a little something -
HEL-lo!

MT jumped to her feet as the lamia charged but were suddenly blocked by a pillar. "Okay, what did the dead thing do THIS time?!" she snarled, drawing her sword.

[Flarecobra]

"Hey, I'm not going to stop them. If they were my eggs, I'd be doing the same thing they're doing right now. Lamia have a strong maternal instent." I said, and just let the lamia charge at Lumaes. "All in favor of leaving Lumaes behind to deal with this as we move on?" I called out.

Gina, meanwhile, was busy diving into the cake, not really paying attention as to the situation.

[The Artist Formerly Known as Hawk]

"All in favor of leaving Lumaes behind to deal with this as we move on?"

"Sounds like a plan, let's leg it!", Hawk called out as she beat her wings for lift off, preparing for the hopefully inevitable flee. Or for the inevitable Last Charge of the Lamia Brigade, whichever came first really.

"Just make sure to retreive the GIS from his mangled corpse on the way!"

[Nikose Tyris]

Nikose stood scratching his chin. "I dunno... he may have been provoking but is it right to just leave him-"

Fenris interrupted Nikose. "Hey, Nik, remember the hat show?"

Nikose promptly lost any recollection of what was going on and went skipping along behind Fenris.

[mauve]

Mauve drew a knife from its sheath, but followed quietly after the others. She still wasn't sure she should start hurling fireballs left and right so soon after using the hadoken, and a knife fight with a lamia didn't sound like it would be an overly enjoyable experience. That left Option Three: Sneak out of there and hope for the best. It was a good option, in Mauve's professional opinion.