Quest II. The night the towers cried [open]

[Darik]

A woman approached the Black Sun warriors. Darik had to admire her courage facing the bringers of death. She seemed to gesture a lot to the ceiling, but Darik still didn’t look up. He was much too busy pulling the man to a more serene spot. By chance, he did hear what she said at the end, while her eyes half drifted towards him. Knowing she was watching, Darik slit the man’s throat. Red blood gushed everywhere . Literally everywhere, it seeped all the way into the man’s clothes. On second thought he should have taken of the man’s clothes before he killed him… Oh well. Once the man was dead, Darik gave a big grin towards the woman. He even waved his bloody hand and knife towards her. Why did he do this? Because he was ecstatic. The man had money on him! It was in a bag on his belt. Twelve gold coins rested in it. Darik threw down the bag down for now, he didn’t need it. He had his own storage system. Using the man’s stomach as a cover, he opened his dagger’s hollow pommel. Inside the secret compartment was three shiny gold coins. Soon they had twelve more siblings to contend with. After Darik had his dagger safely hidden once more, he surveyed the corpse for more hidden treasures. Darik keen eye saw another pouch on the man’s belt. Thinking it was another pouch of gold he quickly detached it. Looking inside he became quite disappointed. There were these leafy things inside and they smelled… like herbs. So they probably were herbs. It wasn’t money, it wasn’t poison, no, it was herbs. What a waste… Still maybe it could be useful later in the future. He put the string, the one that opened and closed the pouch, under his shirt. You know, on second thought the situation is almost funny. Under his shirt he has two things. One that brings life, and one that brings very painful death. Ahh… I love hypocrites. Now that he was done searching for money, he stole the most obvious object. No, not the man’s blood stained clothes they were ruined. He stole the man’s sword. Once its unwieldy weight was out of the sheath, he inspected it. Darik had seen swords before and it wasn’t even close to one. It was shorter and because of this it was lighter. Sort of like a training sword but it was sharp and not made of wood. Fun! After he slid it back in its holding place, he unhooked the belt from the man’s hips. He held it up to his to check it out. It was a bit bigger, the man had bit of a belly. Darik used to having slight larger than need clothes, tightened the belt around his waist. With the belt and sword enhancing the appearance he didn’t see anything else to take. He had stripped the man clean. Except his shoes… Darik bent down to pick them up and the scabbard rudely slapped itself against his butt. The sword was going to get really annoying, but it had it uses. He pulled off one of the man’s shoes and was delighted to find something inside. Six gold mizas were on the bottom, by the sole. He searched the other shoe, and found five. Why he didn’t have six in both puzzled him, but maybe he bought a beer or something else wasteful. Luckily, the bag that had originally held the man’s money was still close at hand. He dropped his treasure into the sack made of leather. He then firmly secured the pouch of money on his belt. After everything was situated, he inspected his own shoes. The soles were worn and his toes were about to break out of the restricting leather. Ya, it was time for a new pair of shoes. Soon, Darik was standing with his new foot protectors on. So did he continue searching the man for money? Of course not, it was impossible for him to have more than twenty three mizas. It was surprising he even had five on him, let alone twenty three! Now what to do with his old shoes… The women who had looked at him was approaching the red liquid. He knew what to do now. He left the man, throat cut and shoeless, to come over to her. This is were the scabbard became a real pain in the ass. Literally. It either slapped his behinds or his legs. He didn’t know how knights carried the swords all day long. Because there was no possibility he had the scabbard on wrong. He never even considered how odd he looked. A kid with a tad too large belt, with a pair of worn leather shoes in his hand. When he did reach Cassandra, he let both of his shoes clatter in front of her. ”I think you will need this to get that liquid. “ Wait, did Darik just help someone for no gain AT ALL? Of course not! There was a strategy to killing people. You got to make friends whenever you can because they can vouch you didn’t kill the person lying dead on the ground. It’s happened to Darik before, and it will probably happen again. Sadly, some people, like Riki, were too pure to make friends with a guy like Darik. Fortunately, this black haired beauty didn’t seem to have the same uptight morals.

oocHay Tarot, I assumed that there is a belt that had some sort of scabbard on it. If there isn’t I can change it.

[Cassandra Coven]

Cassandra's face fell at the young man's advice. Walk away? Walk away where? While she appreciated the thought behind his words, and the seemingly noble gesture of unconsciously putting himself between her and the Black Sun group, the dark-haired woman knew there was no getting away from the followers of Rhysol in this enclosed space. And even if she somehow managed to avoid them during the duration of their say here, she knew full well she would still have to face their wrath if or when they were able to return to Ravok. She looked up at Sword and Shield, the nickname she had mentally tagged to the youth, and smiled sadly. "You don't understand," Cassandra said softly. "You don't say 'no' to people like them. At least...at least, I can't. But thank you all the same." A delicate hand, sheathed in a fingerless glove, reached out to grasp at the young man's arm. Cassandra gave it an appreciative squeeze before turning away to fulfill the Black Sun leader's command. Fear of the man and the group he represented guided her actions now. Surely there must be some way to scoop up a sample without getting all the icky stuff on me... And then an idea struck her. Pulling out her hidden dagger, Cassandra used its sharp blade to rip off a sleeve of her blouse. She planned to use the strip of cloth as a rag to obtain some of the tentacle goop. If it was viscous like mucus, it would be so much easier for her as it would easily stick to the fibrous material. And if it was watery, then the cloth should absorb enough of it that a few good drops could be squeeze off of it. She rolled up the strip to shield her fingers from touching the liquid and was about to kneel down to dab it in the growing pool of redness, when she sensed the approach of another. Cassandra glanced at the person once, then did a double-take as she recognized it to be the one who had dragged away an innocent - one who was now likely dead since the man sported several new items on his person. Her dagger flashed immediately between her and the man. "What...what do you want?" she rasped. Didn't she have enough trouble with the Black Sun? Now she had to deal with a murdering thief. But the man only dropped a pair of worn out shoes in front of her and suggested to her that she use them on the liquid. Cassandra had to blink a few times as she tried to understand what he had just said. Was she suppose to wear them while she scooped up the tentacle stuff? Granted, she was only wearing sandals and might get some of the red liquid on her toes if she moved to close, but putting those was just plain ridiculous. Besides, whoever worn that pair might have some sort of fungal foot infection. Gross. "I...I don't need your help! G-go away!" she stammered, her tone rising with every syllable. It was obvious the stress of the situation - from finding herself in a strange place, to the attack of the tentacled beast, to facing the Black Sun, and now having to deal with the weirdo - was getting to her. Cassandra lashed out at the man with her dagger. It wasn't a well-aimed attack, but rather one meant to ward him off. Whether she hit him or not, the dark-haired woman would immediately turn back to the pool of red and dip the cloth strip in it. The Black Sun were waiting. Darik : Up to you if you want to get hit by the knife (Cassandra has 30 pts in it, equal to your Escape Artist skill if that can be applied to dodging the attack). You can even retaliate to her if you want and kick her into the pool while her back is turned. Hopefully, Tarot won't have it melt off her flesh or something equally interesting like that.

[Darik]

oocI am sooo sorry Cassandra.. heheheheh…

Woman. It’s such a simple word, but it carries a hidden meaning. On the outside it looks pretty but in the inside it’s something full of malice. And Darik learned long ago, no matter how the perfect the woman seemed, they are always evil. Always! Expect maybe those two chicks that had given him winks. They couldn’t possibly be evil…Anyway, back to the point. Women are evil. You try to help one or ask them to make a sandwich and they attack you. Literally, the black haired demon swiped her dagger at Darik. When her arm moved Darik didn’t know what to do. Block with the sword or the dagger? He moved his hand to the hilt of the shortsword but it was already too late. The dagger sliced through his unproductive shirt and on his right shoulder. Luckily, or maybe unluckily in Cassandras case, it had missed all his veins. Still it pissed him off. Women don’t hit men, men hit women! She obviously needed a lesson in that. Darik walked behind her and stopped himself. She sure did have a nice ass… What if he pushed her in and she got horribly disfigured or something? Wait, only her top half would go in leaving the rest…Yes! Win, win situation! He gets his revenge and a chance to become a certifiable pimp. He lifted his right leg and shouted “I was just trying to help you, slut!” It connected and caused her whole body to slam into the liquid. That’s what she gets for turning her back to a man like Darik! He was born to dominate, and dominate he did.

oocIt's soo short! D:

[Cassandra Coven]

If Cassandra thought her simple attack would faze the man, she was sadly mistaken. Unfortunately, by the time she realized this, it was too late for her to do anything about it. As she bent over to collect a sample of the red liquid, she felt the sole of the man's new stolen shoes connect against her rump. The blow caused warmth and pain to radiate for the abused cheek of her buttocks and she almost reached out to rub the sore spot. But of more immediate concern was the tentacle-stuff stained floor rushing to meet with her face. Her reaction was instinctive as she dropped both stiletto dagger and cloth rag to catch herself. Alas for the poor woman, there was nowhere but the liquid-covered floor to place her hands on. Cassandra fell on all fours in the pool of red. TarotPlease don't melt Cassandra's face off! Or hands and knees for that matter. >.<

[Zlakalia]

Zlakalia was busy making her plan. The vibrations were getting stronger and stronger, the creature would rise up again and smash the life from them. Zlakalia had plenty experience with bigger things trying to smash her, but these petchin' big people were flailing about and panicking without even the barest thought to how to survive! Zlakalia peered around the room, hoping to rally the ones who paid heed to her shout. And no one was listening. Zlakalia felt rage build up inside her. These people were standing around as the last few ticks of their lives slipped through the gods' fingers! They were fighting and crowding together and shoving and pushing. Their footprints paid no heed to what they stomped and crushed. Zlakalia's hands were shaking, her face twisted and bitter. 'I will not die for you giant husks, you shells. I'll kill you all first if I have to!' Her thoughts were breaking down, reason leaving her. But, fortunately, she didn't need much more reason. Just willpower. An inkling of fear was soaked into her, however, causing the fade from reason to be less immediate, drawing out her focus a little longer. It had been not even two weeks since she last suffered the horrible effects of overgiving, that her very eyesight had faded away. Kali hadn't used magic for days after that day, and had even just begun to use it sparingly. Would she be alright? How could she use more magic? 'But today is different!' Kali told herself. 'That day I worked tirelessly, I was unprepared. All I've done is this feeble shield! I can do this!' The anger was renewed into an indignant sense of self-preservation. She was going to survive! Besides, the basics of her plan were already caught in her psyche like insects in a web. She could feel the parts shift and shuffle in her head, begging to escape and save her. The last bits of logic fled away, dripped out of her head. She was going to at least try. Kali looked out over the crowd. The group that gathered around her were mostly preoccupied, so she first turned her focus to the crowd beyond. 'First the really big ones.' Kali picked out a few of the taller members of the random and panicked crowd, an Ethaefal and an Akalak and a tall Drykas. Not many passed the height mark Kali was looking for. But the few tall members were to be her muscle, hopefully. One at a time, she sent a single thought into the minds of the tougher looking members. 'I have to take control of the situation and calm people down!' Zlakalia peered at the Black Sun members. The leader looked... cocky. Confident. Kali knew... admittedly little about the Black Suns beyond the barest lore of their leader. Rhysol was just another hypocritical god, one who needed to be taken down a step. Still, she had to try something. 'The beast is about to return. By Rhysol's command, stop it.' She knew the thought would seem foreign, but wanted it to. She hoped these fanatics so quick to please their master to jump at her words. A low buzz entered Kali's brow, a thin burning as she focused her djed. It stung, but she brushed it off. She was going to succeed, bring her plan into fruition. Much like the shield, she already had her task before her. She couldn't stop now. Her plan would succeed, it just needed more djed! Her rounded eyes searched the crowd again, searching for targets for the next step. Picking a few members of the crowd at random she worked at the beginnings of a more subtle method. She tried to choose shapely women, but the pickings were surprisingly slim, just as slim for tall people. Her plan was barely being held together by the few lucky instances of people fitting her profile she managed to spot. All she managed to find were a busty vantha girl whose hair shimmered with purple, a blonde maiden with suspiciously Syliras-looking fashion sense who seemed to be panicking with her eyes shut, and two Konti women: Kamalia and Satu. First a thought. Getting this right was going to be difficult, and she wasn't sure how to get the women in the right mental state. The thought she sent out, forced into teh minds of the few targets, was the best detail for this part of the plan Kali could think of with the growing pain in her forehead. 'The monster is coming back and it will kill me unless I appease it!' As soon as the thought sent out she also focused an amotion, quickly whipping her djed back to get a bit more control. The emotion she sent their way was not as focused as she would like, probably even sloppy. But hopefully it would get the job done. Lust, a lip-biting and unnerving feeling of need, was what she tried to cultivate in these women. She hoped at least the four females would help to make the males more docile, buy her some time to plan things out. She hoped. Zlakalia stopped to note the actions of Bob, Darik, and Cassandra. Perfect. She would know what that stuff was, figure out what its effects were. Maybe she could fit it into her.. erm... plans. Her... Kali shook her head, the headache already beginning to cloud her thoughts. She had so much left to do.

[Talen Stirling]

Talen looked disappointe as he raised a hand to argue. Surely there was escape, because how could the four chase anyone in chaos like this? He didn't know that she and they were from the same city, and vengeance could find her even if she managed to escape the cursed disc. Besides, Rhysol's servants probably thrived in chaos. His objections however were never spoken as an average-looking short young boy approached. However, his pathetic appearance was off because of the bloodstained boots he was carrying. He looked back at the woman, and she looked scared, even though he apparently offered help. Why hadn't Talen just thought of tha-- She lashed out at the boy suddenly. Talen cried out in surprise as the kid fell back from the slash, and shot a glance back at the blackclad soldiers before he turned around to ask why she had done it. Only to see him sneak up and kick her into the red liquid. Talen reacted before he even had time to think, leaned in and grabbed her falling arm in a steel grip pulling her towards him catching her with his other arm, away from the liquid. Perhaps rather than all fours, she'd only touch the liquid with a supporting hand. He'd no time to worry about the boy, although his turn would come soon enough. OOCYeah.. It's abit hard to try and interact in things that have already been written as having happened. I'm still here!

[Niapret]

Having plugged up as much of the cracks as she could with what little clay she'd been given, she realised she'd need much more, but no one had any more clay or weren't willing to give it away. He mind wandered to the pycons, they seemed to be made of clay.. No. She didn' know what the red goo cold do to them, even if it didn't seem to melt the non-living clay she'd plugged a bit of the cracks with. It'd be wrong, so she wouldn't bring it up. She heard the ruckus going on behind her, but paid it no mind, one problem at the time or nothing would get done.

She secondguessed her decision to leave Abura, these people seemed uncivilized, chaotic and criminal; were they really how other people than akvatari were? If they were, was the beauty of the world really worth seeing? Yes. The answer came quickly to her mind, as she wanted to paint all the beauty of the world very much. She just had to survive this first, and save, if not all, then as many of these people as she could. It's sad how many might be lost, really. Maybe all the people in this place. Oh well.. Life's sad.

She petted Ariel's kitten carefully if she held it, as to comfort it. Then an idea creeped into her head. The walls of her home were painted, she'd done it herself, even sealed a small crack she'd accidentally made when trying her mother's new spear. If layered on thickly, paint can seal cracks. She took out her shiny yellow paint, her least favorite because bright happy colors rarely fit in her paintings, and begun smearing it on with the apropriate brush. She was saddened by the loss of her prescious paint and brush, it seemed such a waste. She'd only lay on what was needed to seal the cracks, if it worked, for she had a motto; waste not, want not.

She'd of course be careful and try to avoid getting goo on her, and be ever more careful that the kitten didn't, if she held him. She'd rather get the goo on herself than let the kitty get gooed, because if she picked him up, he was in her care. How sad wouldn't it be if she failed to protect a poor innocent kitty?

[Sira]

Sira stood guard, her eyes surveying the chaos before her. It was all just.. insane. Wind Reach was nothing like this. The people of Wind Reach were nothing like this. Why did she ever think she wanted to see the world? These people were crazy, every one of them. A man killed an unconsious beggar for his coins, the dark men were picking on a woman who was only trying to calm them and all around people were trampling each other as they ran to nowhere. Yes, it was scary, but panicking wouldn't help anything. Up above Sira saw a creature she did not know trying to seal the cracks with.. clay? At least one person was trying to do something productive. And then it came, the aura of a god. Sira was not an Aurist, but her eyes were able to pick up the auras of the divine. It was part of being a wind eagle, part of her secret job. She had seen the aura around Ulric, and the dark goddess that followed him. She had seen the auras of other gods, and she saw one before her now on the disk. It was only there for a few seconds, and Sira didn't know which god or goddess it belonged to, but the fact that it came at all filled her with even more hope. The gods were watching, they were trying to help! When Addy pulled Sira down next to her and invited her to pray she joined wholeheartedly. Sira had never been one to pray, but never had she had a need more so than at that moment. "Yes, Rak'keli, please help your healers save this man. Help them do what you marked them to do. And help us all, please. Please heal the cracks in this place if you can, and please help us to survive this.. whatever this is." Sira didn't really know what to say either. Though she really did want the help of the goddess she didn't know how to word it. Would Rak'keli want her to beg, or to demand, or something else? Sira didn't know. She had only ever prayed to Priskil, and even then it had been out of a moment of desperation. ..just like this particular moment. Sira continued to pray, though it was no longer to the goddess of healing. "And Priskil.. if you are here too, we need you now more than ever. All around people are giving up, and.. it's getting bad. They need hope. I need hope. I don't know what we can do to save ourselves, but any aid you might lend us.. um.. would be.. appreciated." After her prayers Sira squeezed Addy's hand and, to both fo them, she said. "A god was just here.. maybe our prayers will be answered too." Then she stood and turned back to the chaos at hand. There wasn't anything she could do about the cracks, nor anything she could do about the goo. If it got too close she would urge them to move, but she couldn't stop it from closing in on them. What she could do was make sure she gave these two healers the chance to do what they were meant to do. As everything unfolded before her, as the girl was knocked into the goo, Sira stood guard over her charges and waited.

[Darik]

The knight ((Talen)) stopped the girl from slamming all the way into the liquid. He couldn’t tell how much of her body got submerged and the effects because he was too busy doing other things. The knight had turned his back to Darik afterall. It would be so easy to slide a dagger in his neck, but he didn’t. It may not kill him and injured warriors were quite deadly. No, instead he went for something of value. He had no pouches on his belt and his shield was firmly secured, so he chose the next best thing. The sword in his belt. When the knight bent over Darik gripped both of his hands on the hilt of the sword. The guy didn’t notice because he was too intent on lifting the girl. When he pulled her into his arms, his spine straightened out giving enough momentum for Darik to pull the sword out of its scabbard. It wasn't very strenuous but he felt a slight stinging in the shoulder that had been stabbed. Darik ignored the pain and took a big step back and pointed the longsword straight at Talen. “Who’s the big badass knight no—“ Darik didn’t get to finish his sentence because he fell backwards. The sword was heavy and he had never wielded it before so it was no surprise he fell back. He took a few stumble steps then fell. The longsword dropped down in front of his feet and Darik ended up looking straight at the sky. Now he saw why everyone was freaking out, there were cracks! Still having wits about him, he used both of his feet to kick the longsword’s hilt with his feet. It caused it to go closer to the red blob. He was giving Talen a choice, either save the sword, because no one had any idea what the red stuff did to metal, or deal out punishment to Darik. Either way he was slowly rising, getting ready to bolt.

[Ariel]

"Yes, for the love of Harameus, transform that disgustingly injured and diseased pile of rotting Akalak flesh back into what it once was," Ariel whispered. "For the sake of all that is good and holy, in order to maintain the dwindling level of sanity of all that which comprises mankind... let those blessed by Rak'keli succeed. Let them heal that poor, foolish over-grown, green-skinned, being, so that he may live to learn from this day. So that he may, next time, hopefully defeat those who support darkness within this world before they manage to do something the likes of... that," the pycon stammered as she gave Riki's shoulder a squeeze, with each of her tiny clay hands. She was swinging her legs wildly, as she glanced nervously down at the ground, the red goop that seemed to be inching closer and closer as the orb split and shook underfoot. As she glanced at Nilk's wound. Please Harameus, let the healers transform that mess into something that will make it appear as good as new, if not better, Ariel thought as she waited. She couldn't hear Rafael mewling in distress anymore, nor could she find him when she looked down. Her eyes grew wide. "Rafael!" she called, not caring if she had grown so loud that it hurt Riki's ears to listen. "Rafael! Where on earth did you get to?" she hollered, having been so distracted by Nilk and the healers that she didn't notice Niapret having come by to gather the kitten. Petch, now where did that furball run off to? Probably terrified of that goop he is... unless one of the giants decided to scoop him up. Apparently having him saddled means nothing. He's just ripe for the taking to them. Petching giants, she thought, as she cast her gaze to the others that had been trapped in this frightful place. But no matter how hard Ariel looked, she couldn't seem to spot anyone with her kitten. No could she hear him mewling in distress, or someone screaming at him for scratching or biting them. Ariel sighed. She truly was awful of keeping track of things, and keeping her mount in line. Hopefully he didn't get to far... There was a slight pause, or melt in that mess. Or get trampled... you know how giants are. Never can bloody look down. OOCI tried to be the comic relief, did it work? P.S. Addy I am not ignoring the hello... I simply figured Ariel would see you as too busy to be bothered right now... and thus would save that stuff for later.