Arc 1 - Beast of a Thousand Knives (Completed)

[Ryssa Blackblood]

Hakka let go of te girl she had befriended reluctantly, but she did indeed let her go. After that she had watched the transformation, her eyes wide in amazement. It took a moment or tw after the girl had finished becoming this towering centipede creature before Ying said anything else, and another few moments before Hakka could respond. Her response was to shring another inch or two as she shifted into a form that retained her human aspects but took on a few decidedly more fox-like ones as well. "Afraid hell," she said, jumping up into Ying's arms and hugging her, "You're beautiful. I had no idea you were hiding such an amazing body, Ying....But it's all the more reason why we have to find your sister and go, now."  

[I Drink Blue Moon]

"Buck up buttercup, I know exactly what to do. Swing wide." Gloom would begin to last out with his rod, summoning his scourge of exquisit agony and gaining the reach that it granted as he struck out to his right, then to his left. "Invisibility is my sticht."  

[PupSage]

"Revenge, those two may not be inheritantly evil, but they need to answer for there crimes in Lupa. This town is barely thriving on what little they have, taking out their horses and bulls could very well ruin them. Lets get to them before the soldiers. I am sure that if we can get them to Lupa, Poa can help even the odds."  

[Kowsauni]

As Gloom swings around his disturbing looking mace, he meets nothing but air.

Kuori, with her passive perception, hears the sound of people entering the forest. Though they are invisible, the soldiers aren't perfectly stealthy. However, the sounds are too numerous and indistinct to actually pinpoint their source, and within a few moments they are gone.

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Ying

Ying seems to be caught quite off guard by Hakka's reaction and catches her in surprise as she jumps into her arms. Ying begins to cry again but this time it does not seem to be out of fear or sadness. She squeezes Hakka tight. It is obvious that there is tremendous strength in her new form.

"Thank you, thank you... for accepting me--the real me." Hakka feels a strange sensation as Ying's top four appendages on her lower half embrace the fox girl as well. However she quickly pulls them off and sets Hakka down back on the ground. She looks down at the ground again and blushes a bit in embarrassment.

"S-sorry, I use those for holding onto things--it's just sort of instinctual now." She then wipes her eyes and looks back up at Hakka. She still looked worried but it was as if a tremendous weight had been lifted from her shoulders. Somehow she seemed happier than ever before.

"So, what should we do now? We can't leave 'til my sister gets back, but I don't have any ideas myself."  

[Ryssa Blackblood]

The girl's returned hug was quite a bit tighter than Hakka had been expecting, but that wasn't necessarily a bad thing. For one it didn't hurt, and for two, it showed just how much her friend really was grateful. She had to admit, though, that the lower arms hugging her too was a new and somewhat unnerving experience. "Of course, Ying," she said, "Us hybrid types have to stick together...because who else would stand up for us..." She thought for a minute or two on the problem at hand and said, "There has to be a way we can leave a warning for your sister..maybe if we make a smoky fire? But that would lure the soldiers this way...Maybe if we hide in the trees?"  

[PupSage]

"I doubt their potions will last very long." Kuori said as she ran into the forrest."  

[Rain Yupa]

Revenge would shake his head at Gloom. "They undoubtedly left. If they wanted a distinct combat advantage, they would have just dogpiled me. On the plus side, that cost them about... what..." He paused, inflecting. "Thirty-something thousand gold pieces?"*

At that point, Kuori headed off towards the woods. "You can get to the girls faster on your own, I'll just slow you down. I'll try to harry the Arians from behind, buy you some time."

Again, he would turn to Gloom. "You seemed to nagivate alright in there. You might be better off with Kuori. Thoughts?"

At this point, he was reaching down to pick up his weapon again.

EDIT: Revenge would then head into the woods in the direction he thinks the soldiers went, trying to tail them as best he was able.

Quote:

Perception to follow the noise, 15. Stealth of 7. Not unnoticed, but still quieter than some of them, I hope.

((*36,000 gp, to be exact!))  

[I Drink Blue Moon]

Gloom started running after Kuori, "I'm with the giant on this one."  

[Kowsauni]

Ying

"Oh, I'm quite good at that! Especially in this form!" Ying moves with alarming speed and silence as she scuttles over to the edge of the clearing on her dozens of little legs. She then effortlessly climbs up a large tree and almost instantaneously disappears from sight. However after a few moments or so her head pops out upside down from underneath a cluster of leaves. She's in an entirely different spot than from where she entered the tree's canopy. "Hey, did you want to hide with me or did you have something else planned?"

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Gloom and Kuori move through the forest while Revenge trails behind
them. No sign of the soldiers can be seen or heard. It's almost as if they've vanished. It does not take long to get back to Duke's corpse and the pond, but after that the path gets a little more confusing as before. Though the party knows the way to the den fairly well by now, they still have to be careful to not get lost in this maze of a forest.

((Either a Perception check or Nature check is needed to get the rest of the way to the den. Gloom and Kuori just need one check between the two of them. Revenge will need to make his own check unless Kuori and Gloom wait for him to catch up before diving deeper into the woods. I will accept a different check if it can be justified to me through RP as fulfilling the same roll as the other two checks, though the DC might change.))  

[PupSage]

[Perception check]
5+11= 16 Perception to Detect Soldiers. (If she does, none of the following happens)
14+13=27 Nature Check to navigate
3+13= 16 Nature to create a false trail
Nat 1 +11 = 12 Autofail To hide her own footfrints.

As they arrived to Duke's grave, Kuori pauses to listen and look for the soldiers. She had came here at a full sprint, leaping over fallen trees and swinging from the occasional vine. Assuming she hears nothing, Kuori finds the trail for Gloom and says, "Go ahead of me and warn them." Then she proceeds to break off two of Duke's ribs and creates a false trail, resembling the one that they followed out here. She made here way in the opposite direction and once off the trail she looped backed and ran to the cave, casting off the ribs halfway.

----
In the event she hears a soldier she will quickdraw her bow and fire it at the noise. (22 vs AC)  

[Rain Yupa]

Revenge would pause occasionally, trying to make out noises in the distance. A snapping twig, a breaking branch, a rustling of leaves. Anything!

But he soon stopped, standing in place, noticing that he heard nothing unusual. Nothing. At. All.

"Well, that's fantastic," he would say sarcastically as he looked around. "Where in the hells am I?"

Since he took a different route than the others (following random noises, rather than going towards where Duke's remains were), he would be left in completely alien territory.

He had a couple options, but none of them ideal. But he thought about what he had been told yesterday by Ying. He looked up towards the canopy, trying to gauge the tallest tree in his immediate vicinity.

He would look thoughtfully up at it, reaching down with his left hand and resting it against his plate mail armor.

"This is such a bad idea. Such a bad idea," he would repeat to himself silently, before resting his weapon against the base of the tree, followed by removing his pack and his sword's scabbard. "Sehanine, I really hope you had grander plans for me than dying in the middle of the woods alone."

And he would proceed to climb.

Quote:

Athletics of CRIT for 23 to climb the tree and survey the land.

 

[Ryssa Blackblood]

Hakka couldn't help but giggle as she watched her friend skitter across the clearing and up a tree. The giggling only continued when the head popped out upside down some ways away. "Yes of course I want to hide with you, silly!" she exclaimed, running over and scaling the tree to meet up with her friend. (Athletics 17)  

[Kowsauni]

Ryssa Blackblood

As Hakka approaches the tree, Ying disappears back inside the branches. As she climbs into the tree, Hakka is suddenly snatched up into the arms of Ying and carried further into the canopy. Despite her large size, Ying's movements are quick and precise. She barely disturbs a leaf as she moves across and around the branches. Once they are completely surrounded by a layer of leaves and branches, she stops. However a small gap in the cover allows them to see into he clearing. Ying has picked the ideal spot.

Then a strange thing begins to happen. Ying's skin begins to change color and patterns form on her. Within a few moments, her skin has camouflaged itself to blend into the surrounding foliage. She giggles a little nervously and quietly explains to Hakka. "They did this to me as well... I figure you will hide better with me here."

((You are now hidden with Ying. Roll me a stealth check to assist with her stealth roll))  

[Ryssa Blackblood]

Hakka gasps a little out of surprise as she's plucked from the tree and carried off, but the familiar feel of the arms around her stop her from panicking. When they stop and Hakka watched the demonstration of the girl's camouflage, she beams at Ying and says, "You are truly amazing." Hakka then turns back into her fully fox form and licks Ying's cheek before snuggling in to hide. (Stealth 31)  

[I Drink Blue Moon]

Following Kuori's directions, Gloom ran ahead to the cave, looking in when he got there and coming back outside. "Good ... they got away." Shows those damn soldiers for trying to come in without me.