She turns to you, very upset. "I risked a lot in leaving; I don't know what Claude will do to me when he catches me, but I do know it will be terrible. That's fine... but first of all, I'm not okay with him hurting her, and second, her being in the same place as me makes it more likely we'll both be found. She's not as good as I am at covering her tracks; what if she was followed?"// Valera goes and starts warming up her cyclone outside... David and Shane look interested, and David whispers to Shane, "Ooo, kittenfight imminent!" Jonny and that little boy who you will probably never talk to are paying no mind.
*smiles and hugs her*
"The only thing Claude is going to get if he tries to harm you is a lightsaber enema, or a phaser pulse to the face. Your with us now Jewel, Val and I aren't going to let anything happen to you. Beyond all my other abilities, the Cyclone is one of the most power war machines every invented for it's size. It's not a question of you running anymore, it's a question of if they are feeling lucky."
*pauses*
"We aren't hiding we are acting, and working toward lifting your curse."
J
Doublepost
She thinks for a moment, long enough to lose her adrenaline, and says grudgingly with a sigh, "She's so ... mmm." Her eyes return to their normal color. "I told you she'd be mad," Eria says, and Jewel answers her sharply, "I still am. You're putting yourself in more danger than you understand." Eria says to you, ignoring Jewel, "I heard who the power guards were. Claude was talking to Blade, and he said they were Chase, Fizgig, and Sefyr." Jewel nods, and turns to you also. "Chase is one of Alex's commanders, so he'll be with Alex's army; he's a crack shot with just about any firearm and a crackshot in his head and has some psychic abilities, but he's probably the weakest of the three. He's one of Fizgig's sons. We might be able to even get him to help us by staying alive and going to the throne with us and killing himself, but we'll need some kind of leverage... I'm not sure what we could use. Sefyr is the second most powerful sorcercer in the world and uses a nodachi with great skill; he's hungry for power and almost completely insane, so getting his help will probably be the most difficult of the three. Fizgig you've met, he's a ninja. Fizgig is probably the toughest of the three to find as well as to beat, but he's also the most reasonable and the least likely to want to be the All-Ruler; if we can get his help in this it'll be a lot easier; we probably won't be able to get both his help and Sefyr's, since they hate each other, but they constantly fight each other to a stalemate every time they fight, so if we have one, beating the other is a near sure thing. Once Blade finds out what we're doing, you can expect he'll try to get in our way somehow, so it will probably be best to keep as low a profile as we can about what we're doing when we're somewhere he might be able to hear about it - Claude is practically his pet. The others will probably keep out of it unless they think we've got a plan to break their hold over the world."
*thinks on it a bit*
"Well if Fizgig is the most reasonable and least likely to want it, we should just go about our business trying to find out what can turn Chase, then find Fizgig, and deal with Sefyr and Blade. So since we can talk of it here and not have to worry, I think that's our plan. As for you two, if we are going to do this, we are going to make sure you two have a way to be hidden. With all the cloaks I see here, I think making you two cloaks of invisibility are the wisest options. I have the abilities to do it, will take a bit of time. The investment of time is worth it, if it keeps you two safe deal?"
*pauses*
"This will take a few days, but this is the most protected place here, so I ask for the time to keep you two as safe as possible. I also ask when our time is done here that we be allowed to take them with us for coming adventures."
*If they agree, will Transmute two rocks to Cloaks, and begin prep for 2@1 Create Active When Worn/Held Device M15@8 to create two Cloaks of Invisibility that work active and worn when you put the hoods up. I do not know the baseline for the skill, but will take 10x for each, baseline looks to be 3 hours, so 30 hours for each, I will ask permission for David to stay for the period needed to make two, full body, Will give the flavor test for a ring of invisibility, as the words forcefully, full body, walking around the cloaks saying the above*
J
Jewel is fine with it, and thinks the idea of having an invisibility cloak would be lovely and Eria absolutely does not want one any way or how and thinks being invisible would be terrible no matter how it was accomplished. Thoughts?
*shrugs*
"Can't make a little girl do something she is dead set against, still making two in case she changes her mind, also there is Val and myself when we leave, so it's a practical item to spend the time on, carry on."
*start the process*
J
OK. David tells you, "Well, the only place you'll be able to do magic really is outside, and outside isn't protected from teleportation or eavesdropping. So, it's at your own risk."
*Nods*
"Keep the girls in here then, I have mental defenses."
*will do the rituals outside*
J
OK. You now have two cloaks of invisibility. 60 hours have passed. It is now the early evening.
doublepost
*Sleep, have the girls sleep in their bed, Val and me in the other, being good, wanting to sleep next to Val for the first time ever and head down the elevator in the morning to start the mission, hand one cloak to Jewel, keep the other one for Eril, if she wants it, pretty excited to have made magic items himself*
J
Eria doesn't want it. Jewel plays with it relentlessly, then pulls down the hood and asks you, "What if we're around someone who can see through magic, or a wolfkin, they have heightened smell and hearing, or a serpent, or a beastperson.. wouldn't it be less suspicious for you to just say you don't like how we were mistreated and you're protecting us while we pretend we don't know who the power guardians are?"
*smiles*
"You never let me know about what the wolfkin or serpent or a beastperson could do. We could do that, but that would mean Eria would have to play along. Besides, I like them, and I always wanted to have one, so it was both for you and for us."
J
She says, "I'm so sorry, I started to tell you then I got sidetracked before...since I'm human, I'll use that as a baseline. Wolfkin are stronger than humans but not as smart, and have stronger senses of hearing and smell but not as good eyesight. They can differentiate people by scent and can tell how other nearby Wolfkin feel instinctively. Serpents are more agile than humans but not as strong, they can hypnotize someone if you look into their eyes, so be careful with them; they also often have other psychic abilities. Draconians are a very diverse group, but their diversity is tied to the kind of dragon they are. All of them have a humanoid form and a draconian form. Beastpeople are similar to Wolfkin, smarter, but not as strong. Ayludian women are similar to human men and vice versa. In spite of the fact that all the races evolved from different bases, they can all reproduce with one another, making more possible half-breed combinations than I could probably mention; wolfkin and serpents usually hate each other, though, making wolfkin-serpents a very rare combination. You remember their physical differences in appearance?" (inte check: 20) you do, she did mention though in the post I wasn't able to provide them all for some reason or another, the easiest way to tell is by hair and eye color; generally, serpents have teal to green hair and teal to green eyes, wolfkin have white to red hair and red to yellow eyes, beastpeople have yellow hair and have ears resembling a cat and green or blue eyes, ayludians have pink, purple, or blue hair and pink or purple eyes, humans have brown hair and brown, green, or blue eyes, and draconians have hair and eye color which generally matches their dragon form.
*nods*
"Almost makes me wish I took the shapeshifting path, instead of the human one, well live and learn. Ok so we'll just go as your guardians, and no one mentions power guardians, and we should be alright for awhile."
*I will make sure everyone nods at this in understanding before we take the elevator down*
"Ok who is riding with who, one passenger per Cyclone, so let's get it hashed out now so there isn't a problem later?"
J
Eria and Jewel both want to ride with you. Valera does, too, but she doesn't voice her wish since she knows she's one of the drivers (in spite of the fact that she's never actually driven, which you must have extrapolated based on the worlds she's been to). They're arguing like siblings, and you have a feeling this is going to be a long adventure. They don't seem like they'll be coming to a compromise soon.
*lets them argue for a bit and puts his hand up*
"Ok each rest stop we will switch, equal time."
*gives a knowing look to Val and says*
"I haven't ridden till a few days ago, so we are both in the same boat, we have two motercycles and only two drivers, we all need to work together, ok guys?"
J
You misunderstand me; she hasn't driven at ALL. She has an alright tech bias from your first world, so she probably has a better chance than the other two; she succeeds learning with your instruction. You begin the drive to ... you're going where? Alex's army? Did you want to do anything else before arriving there, or is your destination different?
*Sorry, yeah I will also show her the switch to flip the Cyclone to battleoid mode as well, making sure the girls are off, and we are heading to a safe place for the girls to find dirt on Chase, I ask them where he is from, maybe we can find something to turn him to our side. I don't want either of these girls anywhere close to the army. I am also ready every night for the mind trap with Mr. Pedophile. Once we get a place to start we will head there.*
((Very interesting world, hard to keep my train of thought, with 14 different stokes in the fire))
J
(((thanks, as I said, it would make a good gather because of the sheer size of it, but will never see print for the same reason. I tried to run you through a quick introduction to let you meet some of the key players, so now that you've left David's mountain with Jewel it should be a little easier to follow.))) Jewel tells you, "Chase is one of Fizgig's kids... he's a quarter human, a quarter draconian, and half ayludian. Other than that, I don't know where he's from."
*sighs*
"In that case we'll go to the closest city that the army isn't at and plan our next move. Hopefully someone there knows something about Chase."
*head in whatever direction she indicates*
J
(ge 22) You head off in the direction of the city; it's in the forest. A couple days later, when you arrive, you see a lot of activity here; it seems as if lots of ruffians are disturbing and looting the townsfolk here. In particular you see a loudmouthed man leering in a young woman's face as he openly gropes her and drags her by her arm up the street, but there also people looting houses for valuables and innocents being shoved around and frisked for possessions practically everywhere; it clearly resembles the spoils of war after a battle.
*drives disgusted and pulls along side of the man dragging the women*
"I think your going to let her go before you make me angry*
J
The man turns to you, laughing at first, then says, "Looks like you've got some pretty toys there." (flipped coin, heads Jewel with you, tails Eria, it's tails) Eria wraps her arms around you more tightly, and the man continues, "And what a cute little daughter! Can't wait to hear her squeal." The men have largely abandoned what they were doing and are forming a circle around the four of you; before they can make a move, however, a commanding voice cracks like a whip, "Stop!" The men towards further into the city part, and a well-tanned, lean man with a red sword in hand with a white hilt walks through the opening. He's wearing leathers in a color scheme of green and yellow with a cape, yellow on the inside and green on the outside, has brown hair and eyes, and is looking severely at the men, saying, "This is NOT the way we treat a defeated people. I have submitted to my subordinates' suggestions for your needs in order to keep morale high, but I WILL NOT tolerate this complete lack of ORDER, and DISCIPLINE." He approaches you, and stops about seven feet away. His face and voice soften, and he says, "Hi. My name's Alex. It seems that I'm the leader of these men; I'm sorry for their mistreatment of your people here. They have carnal needs and material desires beyond what they should." He looks severely at them again, then turns to you. "Are you the master of these people? What is your name?"
*looks at him*
"I am Jhiaxus, Disciple of Odin, no I have no ties to these people other than speaking out to seeing them mistreated. There would have been a time in my youth where I would have just jumped in without offering the chance to stand down. Time has forged a temperance that I didn't know I had."
J
"In that case, thanks for sparing his life; he didn't know what he was doing. What brings you and your family here, Jhiaxus? It's the wrong direction for refugees -- besides, you seem more the type to die in battle rather than living to fight another day. I'd love to hear about your story, if you'd accompany me to my tent; it's not the most comfortable place in the world, but there's room for your family to sit, and we have supplies enough for a meal." (intu check 4) He doesn't seem to recognize Jewel or Eria.
*looks to Val*
"Yes my wife and children would love to sit and take a meal with you. You are right we aren't refugees, we are scholars and looking for birth registries of towns, to try and piece together migration patterns after war. It is of particular interest to us."
J
He takes you back to his tent; the further you go, the thinner the amount of people gets. Eria is holding your hand; a pale man with black marks on his face stares at the four of you, particularly at Eria and Jewel; from how Eria squeezes your hand, you recognize this man as the elusive Reim. Not much further and you reach the tent, larger than all the others. (ge 5) Inside is decent space and a meal already laid out on a table; six places are set, and another man is seated here, patiently waiting. He has long black hair that doesn't look like it's been washed in some time, pale white skin, red eyes, and is wearing a red shirt, red pants, and lots of red belts, all with various guns and ammunition. "This is one of my commanders, Chase. Chase, this is Jhiaxus, a scholar with an interest in geneaology. What brings you here, Chase? I was hoping to speak to Jhiaxus about his geneaology interest." Chase responds to him, "You know why I'm here. My sister. Until you release her from her service to the men, I will be here every day, breathing down your neck." The acidity in his voice burns the air. Alex sits opposite him, and rubs his temples with his fingers. "Can't this wait until after I meet with Jhiaxus? My hands are tied, Chase, and you know this." "That's fine. I'll sit in." Alex does not look pleased, neither does Chase, but Alex seems to have given up with him and motions the rest of you to the table. Breaded chicken, black-eyed peas, and a salad of greens wilted over heat in vinegar, with a very slightly alcoholic apple cider and clean water; all as fresh as possible.
*sits down to eat*
"They say you can measure a man by the company that he keeps, there was one out there, that was eyeing my daughters like a piece of meat. I have enough respect of your hospitality to not separate his atoms one by one, but my interest in genealogy, does not mean I do not know how to fight. With that said, it is good to meet you Chase, I am Jhiaxus, Disciple of Odin. It seems fortuitous that all three of us are here.
J
Alex says to you, "All of my commanders were hand-picked by my father for different reasons; Reim and Tam are very skilled in subterfuge, even if I don't agree with what either of them like to do in their personal time." Chase says, "No, that really was well said of him; Reim and Tam were both together in the decision to bring many women we found along for the men to use to keep their spirits up, along with Drakul." Alex rests his hand on the pommel of his sword, glances at the sword irritatedly, then responds snappishly, "And your vote was one of no contest, as I recall, until you found out your sister was one of those in captivity." Chase bangs his fist on the table and stands up, looking angrily at Alex, and walks out of the room amidst Alex's apologies and excuses that it's just the stress talking. After Chase has left, Alex sighs and looks to you. "I apologize; the pressures of running an army. If it will be helpful to you, I can have one of my commanders locate the birth records in this city and bring them to our camp;" He rests his hand on the sword again, glances thoughtfully at it, looks pensive for a moment and offers, "Perhaps we could come to a mutual arrangement. You're searching for birth records, and I'm always searching for capable warriors. I can guarantee the safety of your wife and children, and in exchange for your assistance, give you all the birth records of all the cities we conquer. Does that seem like a fair arrangement?"
It's been much too long since I gave you the standard packages for the bod skills and haven't gotten to telling what other skills you know, so here it is in black and white: if it's reasonably believeable that a normal human could know it, you know the general skill using the same rule as before, 3@1 through level 4, 2@10 through level 8, 2@5 through level 12, and 2@1 through level 15. Obviously I'm maintaining a fair bit of veto power until I can get to writing it all out, and I'll need to get you an accurate bod bias level at least very soon, but feel free to make up up to 15 bod skills of those that involve specific descriptions, such as martial arts maneuvers, and those are the ones you know.
*bump*
*smiles*
"I would take you up on your offer, but one of your commanders has already attacked me in my sleep, through my dreams. It was a pretty sad attempt, but an attempt none the less. I really just wanted to see what kind of man you were to be honest. There were rumors of you bring a good one. Even the best of intentions can be perverted. As for warriors, I'm not one anyone would want. I am much too set in my ways to let any crap go on, or let anyone or anything tell me something is the right course when I know in my heart is wrong.
J
He puts his hand on the sword and says aloud, "No." Then he looks to you and says, "Uh, heh, sorry, not you. In that case, I will extend an offer of hospitality to you and your family for the night, and allow you to reconsider the offer. If you still feel the same way in the morning, we willgo our way and allow you to go yours without trouble. I would suggest, however, that you do not get in our way; you seem like a nice guy, and I wouldn't want to have to kill you." The food is just about done, except Chase's, who didn't touch his, and Alex's, who has barely touched his, being so intent on conversation. (ge: 12) When you are all finished, he calls for Chase to come, and asks him to put the four of you up for the night in comfortable quarters. Chase beckons to you to follow him and begins walking away from the middle of the camp. ((( ooc: to sleeeeep... ugh...)))
((I understand getting tired myself))
*Nods, keeping up the charade of being a normal warrior*
"Sounds like a fair offer, let me sleep on it and see what happens then."
*Fully expecting to be attacked in his dreams, slamming Reim's ego, setting the bait here, should be fun, putting my plan into motion to give him a surprise*
*as Chase is walking us to the house*
*send him a telepathy*
"I came here to see you, we desire your help tell me how to free your sister and it will be done, I do not speak in the open about this."
*walking to where he is being put up*
J.
Chase stops walking, looks at you with a poker face, and thinks back to you, "I'm not above treason at this point, no. What's in it for you? What's my end of the bargain?"
*Thinks back* "The only thing I want is to free some people from a curse and get out of this trap. What I would need from you is to stand with us when the time comes and decide who rules, and give us time to figure this place out in peace. Oh yeah and make sure the pedophile goes a little crazy and doesn't want anything to do with any people again, that's just a bonus."
J
He thinks back to you, "I have no idea what you're talking about, but it's probably irrelevant; since I'm betraying Alex out of my own self-interest, you understand that I can't be fully trusted and will look out for myself before the greater good. It's fine if you do. Mia is in the containment area with the rest of the women. I'm going to spring her tonight and leave, with or without you. It will be messy. I need to know now whether you're in, or out. I travel extremely quickly and extremely lightly, so be prepared to leave behind anything you aren't prepared to carry. I'll provide the transportation as long as I know you'll be there. As for Reim... if you want to take him out before we leave, that can be arranged."
"I am in, we carry everything on our Cyclones, which are much more than just motercycles, as for Reim, I have something more permanent than death in store for him, but yes I would like him in a position to do it before we go. I have enough faith that helping you save your sister is enough to help us against Sefyr when the time comes."
J