Arc 2 - Heart of a Monster (Completed)

[Noname 51]

"You a villain, no. Following what you perceive is right, possibly." Shayne stated quickly. "But, Ask yourself this... Why would I be telling you? You have me at a disadvantage, you have your bow drawn, healthy allies near by, and have armor. Other, than wanting to make you think for yourself. I see few other reasons."

(edited: small misspellings)  

[AlphabetFish]

Twyla

"Miss Abby's fine! You know, she's good at taking care of herself!" Twyla smiled down at Petra, glad to see she was unhurt. "All the bandits are gone, but, um..." She looked over her shoulder at the quarreling adventurers. "I don't know if all the fighting is over. So maybe stay in here for now, okay? Just in case." Twyla winked, then turned and, letting the flap close behind her, climbed down off the wagon.

She cautiously approached the arguing group, sword and shield still in her hands, but no longer held up at the ready. Kuori seemed angry with the mage from the cage, and Twyla listened to figure out why. She was surprised to hear that he'd tried to put her to sleep! She surreptitiously pinched herself--well, she seemed to be awake now. No harm done!

And his story... A wanted man? Twyla's ears twitched. She suddenly had to know the full story. Her hands went to her purse--could she pay to know? Or maybe if she asked nice...

"Hey, hey, Mr. Granville!" she piped up. "It's me, Shortstack! Well, actually, my name is Twyla Rosanna Oxana Marcella Raphaella Honeysuckle Jane, bard at large, but you can call me Shortstack!" (She felt almost proud of the sudden nickname. She loved acquiring new names.) "Please, you sound like a really interesting individual! Arson? Robbery? Sexiness?" Her eyes were wide, her hands clasped. Her curiosity was palpable. "Please tell us what happened! I'm dying to know! Were you wronged? Did you go rogue? Maybe I could even write a song about you!"

Villain or no, Twyla couldn't resist trying to learn his tale. Sometimes unsavory characters had unbeatable stories--and besides, what had he done to them? A little drowsiness? And for that, Kuori had... shot him?!

"Oh my gosh!" Twyla gasped. "You're hurt! Hey, did you know I have healing magic? If you hang out with me while you rest up, you'll feel soooo much better. And when my magic's back, I'll sing you a healing song! Just, you know... tell me everything! And leave nothing out!"

((Oh, BTW, anyone taking a short rest within 5 squares of Twyla gets to add +5hp to each healing surge spent during the rest. Because hanging out with Twyla is apparently so fun. smile ))  

[Kowsauni]

Abigail (Abby) Morgan

Abby looks over to Revenge, giving him an unsure look. This whole situation seems to have her worried, though Twyla's chipper attitude did seem to lessen her burden in her frowns bit. She would announce to everyone. "I'm going to go check on Valac in the forest. Please, no one hurt each other further. There has been enough violence for one day." Abby then turns around and walks back into the forest.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Valac, as you approach the fallen archer you realize he is still alive by the movement of his chest. However, he is quite unconscious. He looks unharmed except for the severe bruising around his neck. It is clear he was throttled but by the bruising you can tell it was not done by human hands. You then hear a sound as someone enters the forest behind you. They seem to be heading in your direction but not in any hurry.  

[Mongooseh]

Valac did a quick head count of the previous scene before he left and wondered if fleeing men could kill that many people that quickly...

... Probably not...

... Still not one to be caught unarmed by the man in front of him nor the noise behind him he did draw a dagger; then began searching the archer with his free hand.  

[Rain Yupa]

28/53, 5 temp HP, Kuori Challenged

The paladin would mutter under his breath. "Ugh, such a reaction over a sleep spell?"

"Kuori, please. Bandits as they may have been, you did kill one after you initiated a confrontation, not them. You aren't an officer of the law, nor under the oversight of one. You murdered someone who was only fighting in self defense. I don't think you're in a position to talk about gravity of a person's crimes."

Looking to Shayne, he added, "You used nonviolent means to try to escape a bad situation, rather than try to make it worse. You can't be as bad as you say. Answer me this, then: You're wanted for those crimes, but how many are you actually guilty of?"

After whatever response Shayne gave, Revenge would ask, "And why were you so interested in that chest?"  

[PupSage]

Kuori lowered her bow and turned to Revenge, "Really? Self defense? So you are going to ignore the fact that they were extorting us? Or is it societies fault that he turned to a life of crime? Maybe mommy didn't hug him enough? Counter argument, maybe if the gods wanted him alive he would have been able to dodge." She put the arrow back in her quiver. "When he decides to make your wife his next arson target, you will wish I had killed him now. Or is she part fire ant?"" She started towards the wagon and said, "Wake me up when we get back to kicking some Arian a**."

Off to take a short rest.  

[Kowsauni]

Abigail (Abby) Morgan

As Valac looks over the Archer he does find much on him. His bow and quiver lay at his side and strapped to his belt is has a dagger and a longsword. He also has a small money pouch containing five gold and a days worth of rations on him

The person who entered the forest behind him comes into view an is revealed to be Abby. She lets out a sight of relief when she spots Valac. "Oh, there you are. Thank goodness you are alright. In your rage I was afraid we might have lost you in the forest." As Abby approaches she seems to become a little apprehensive as she sees Valac inspecting the archer.  

[Noname 51]

"Well Miss Twyla Rosanna Oxana Mar... Shortstack, you have a deal. Besides, I owe you and your friends for the rescue, even if two wish me ill." Shayne spoke, as he used mage hand to pull the arrow. "... Nymph right tit, that hurts... And it isn't Glensdale is moving."

Turning to answer Revenge, "If you define Arson as, casting an arcane fire spell in an enclosed space while a burlily half-orc tries to give you a new hole...That one. Robbery not so much. And, I have only meet one other bountian, a tax evading warforged. So the Council is still out on that one" ... "My bug staff, an amulet, and hide armor; along with regents, spellbook, and other things of mine." The wizard spoke before adding with a shurg, "The rest is unknown to me, an enticing enigma. No?...But, I was interested in my regents and book. To make a healing potion, or two."

(Short rest, spending two HS tokens to bring him back to full HP{Thanks to Shortstack}.)

Turning back to the gnome, "Just don't blame me if you lose interest... It was about year after I graduated from the Arcane Academy, during a week long dwarven festival. While most of the land was wasted on mushroom ale. I was at the bank,alone, keeping account of Kycoin's revenue. Wolfenstov just published a story of one of his adventures, so I will admit my mind wasn't completely on my work. I guess that was how they broke in and caught me off guard. Judging by a water clock, I was out for about 5 minutes; the real thieves were tring to open the vault. Afraid, i stayed as still as I could. 4 to 1 odds, I tought they would kill me if I moved. But, the new storybook was about Wolfenstov's gang stopping a band of thieves. And that gave me just enough courage to stand. I also must have been disillusional, as the first words out came from that book, 'The gold or your lives'..."  

[Mongooseh]

Kowsauni

Valac looked over his shoulder and seeing it was Abby carried on perusing the Archers possessions.

"No need to worry about me the coward fled like a greased pig. Good work." Stated Valac plainly gesturing to the weird bruise on the Archer's neck with his dagger allowing Abby to interpret his true intentions.

Valac takes the pouch of gold, the dagger, the quiver of arrows and then Valac would stand up and size up Abby.

"Small hands." Commented Valac glancing at Abby's hands.  

[Kowsauni]

Abigail (Abby) Morgan

As Valac points out the archer's wounds, Abby looks down at the ground almost looking ashamed. "Oh, well... The experiments they did on me gave me more than just illusion powers, you know... I just don't like other people seeing me use them. I hate acknowledging the fact I am different now. When other people see me, I mean truly see me for what I have become, I don't know, it just... It makes me feel like a monster."

Abby would suddenly look back up at Valac and ask him. "Valac, that was quite the transformation you did yourself back there. I wonder where you learned to do something like that. Where did you say you were from again?"  

[Mongooseh]

"I didn't." Answered Valac as he grinned masking his own apprehension but not offering any further elaborations or leads to that end.  

[Rain Yupa]

NO ACTION

The Divine Challenge mark ends.

--------------------

Revenge would finally lower his weapon as Kuori marched off. Seemingly a little bit more at ease, he would turn to toss a glance at Abby the woods, and make a bit of a face, before he would approach the chest.

"If you don't mind..." he would say to Shayne, before popping open the chest (assuming it was not locked or trapped).

Revenge would then verify the contents that Shayne spoke of. He would make it a point to flip through a couple pages of the book within to confirm it was a wizard's spellbook (due to all the nonsense) and not some sort of ledger or other bound tome.

Assuming once more that this is the case, Revenge would step back. "Seems to check out. It's too much of a coincidence to be ignored." At this point, the paladin would not deter Shayne from re-equipping himself... but he would still remain within arm's reach, albeit all relaxed-like.

Quote:

Since everyone else is declaring it, I'll join in the short rest, and spend 2 surges to heal up to full.

 

[Noname 51]

Granting a pause in his story, Shayne gave a look back to Revenge then to Kouri. After verifing an absence of threats, the mage hand spell would retrieve his gear and help him equip each one.

Noticing Revenge's glance and following face. "I take it, she is important... Or you saw a rare bird" as his staff flew to his hand, the final piece. "Go... You dont need to watch me."  

[AlphabetFish]

Twyla

Twyla listened in awe to Shayne's story, pausing only to wave off Kuori with a cheerful "Thanks for your help!!"

Everyone seemed to be more relaxed now and recovering from the fight, and Twyla was happy to see things were calming down. She was feeling a little winded herself, after all!

To Shayne, she would say, "So you were guarding the bank when some other fiends busted in to steal from it? Then you set them on fire?" She pulled out a diminutive, gnome-sized notebook and made notes in very small Elven letters. "Sounds dramatic! Yes, yes, I think that's a great start to a song, but..." She looked up at him with a sudden grin on her face. "It's only a start! We need a middle and an end, too! If you come with us, I'm sure more and more amazing things will happen to us and your legend can really get rolling! I'll be sure to write down every bit of it! What do you say?"

((Twyla spends just 1 healing surge +5 during her rest, bringing her to 34/42 HP.))  

[Kowsauni]

Abigail (Abby) Morgan

Abby would cast a wry smile at Valac after his evasive response. "Right, well, let us get back to the others. I want to get back on the road and I need your help moving those roadblocks." Abby turns around and and begins to head back out of the forest, but she pauses, just for a moment, and looks back at Valac. She then steps out from underneath the forest canopy into the light of the road.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Several weeks ago....

The Arian mage scientist fell to the ground with a sickening thud as her tentacles unwrapped from around him. His skin had become clear and translucent and begun to crack and bleed as he painfully gasped for air, but he had not gasped for long. She stepped over him and walked into a room lined with bookshelves that were filled with tomes and records. Another woman followed in after her, one that looked to be a cross between a dragon and an elf. This woman was covered in blue scales with horns, wings and claws reminiscent of a great blue wyrm. She spoke in Elven, desperately: "" Indeed the sounds of battle did echo from the hall, punctuated by yells and explosions.

Abby nodded, and quickly got to work. She moved rapidly through the bookshelves until she located the one that held the profile records of the test subjects. After searching through stacks of papers on the shelf, she found what she was looking for: her own personal record. She thumbed though the pages, but quickly became angry. "Nothing! There's nothing useful here at all! Nothing about my past or who I was... Wait. They have the name of the town where I was taken... Some place called Gladesdale."

The dragon woman, who was nervously watching out the door, snapped back. " "

Abby nodded, but as she turned to leave, she noticed a stack of folders separate from the rest. They looked far older than the others and she was strangely drawn to them. She took the first folder off the stack and opened it. To her surprise, it contained the sketch of a young tiefling boy. Now she knew that there were male test subjects, but they kept them separate from the females, so she had never seen one before. It read that this boy had been involved in some sort of experiment to unlock hidden potential in his abyssal blood to manifest in some sort of... transformation. Unfortunately, it did not seem to have gone as they wanted, for written in large letters on the bottom of the file was EXPERIMENT FAILED, SUBJECT TERMINATED, followed by a date of almost ten years ago.

Abby let out a sad sigh, and closed the folder. She looked over at the rest of the large stack. She did not have the heart to look at any more. Suddenly the room was rocked by a large explosion from the hall, knocking Abby to the floor and scattering papers. The dragon woman ran over and helped Abby to her feet, yelling, ""

Both girls exit the room, into the din of battle.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Abby emerges from the forest and moves over to the rest of the group. She then address Shayne with a smile. "That is quite some illusory magic you possess, though I doubt it is safe for you to travel on the road by yourself like this. If you would like, you can tag along with us until we get back into town. We are on our way to conduct some business with a noble who resides about half a day up the road from here. My name is Abby, by the way, and thank you for helping drive off those bandits. It would have been quite bad if they'd robbed us."