WS4--Beyond the Borders--Chapter 7
Replies
The REAL Squirrel Dragon Inn
Morrow, disheveled and in obvious need of a new outfit and a good bath, is otherwise in pretty good shape. There are a few bloody scratches on him, but these could easily be from his rescue, and none require immediate attention.
His tale, however, is another matter. He quickly sputters out a story about black smoke entering the Wayward Squirrel, reminding everyone inside too much of the horrible unseelie fog.
"It seemed as if it was trying to measure the inn somehow, but Ertrude fought back immediately and sent through the portal for help. Vibrissa and Melian came almost immediately, and sent the smoke away," he explains after he's carried outside. "But it seemed to notice me on the way out, and reached out tendrils to grab me. I think it confused me with my old goblin self, before my reparation. When I fought back it tossed me away, through its substance. I was so afraid as I hurtled back to ground, but then a little creature appeared below me, blowing smoke from a pipe. It wasn't enough to save me, but it did push me into this cave. I hope she's still around here somewhere. She said her name is Suzy, and she's a Gummy."
He starts to call out. "Suzy! Suzy, are you here?"
"Tsu Tze, and I'm a Gumi!" says a firm voice, and a foxlike being steps out of the trees.
"Suzy!" says Morrow happily. "I'm glad you stayed."
"Tsu Tze, and you shouldn't be standing around. It's chaos up there, and there's a whole patrol of soldiers heading up the trail. I puffed some to confuse them, but this isn't a full color pipe, so it only has so much power."
Klytie, Junu, Lappy, and all the companions turn and head back, but the patrol is now coming out of the inn, escorting all the Danaks, and a few others, whom they must have mistaken for the same class. There are too many to fight.
"Hide!" Junu orders, and everyone ducks behind bushes.
"We have to do something," whispers Klytie.
"Not right now," Junu tells her. "Look at what's happening at the inn itself."
Klytie turns her head up the trail again and gasps. Black smoke is swirling everywhere!
You all begin to fly run on two, four, or whatever number feet.
The arrests took everyone by surprise, and suddenly the whole place dissolved into a battle, led by Sayirumi and Tanaka, both of whom seemed determined to kill as many of you as possible.
Sayirumi summons cloud after cloud of thick black smoke while Tanaka flies like a whirlwind, accompanied by the so-called staff and a number of chairs, tables, and urns who have transformed into Dokki, the ogrish golems of Sinhaen lore.
You're all weary, and still learning your adapted skills in this strange lands. Added to the shock of Tanaka's betrayal, you're definitely at a disadvantage.
The music from Junu's flute as he arrives dissipates enough of the smoke to let you fight back somewhat, but you still could use a helping hand. Sayirumi is no gisaeng! She's a shaman wielding black magic! Adding Tanaka's battle skills to hers makes the opponents formidable.
Suddenly, there are bolts of lightning outside, and the crash of a screen lets in a huge pair of tigers, one behind the other.
Somersaulting over the nearest tiger comes...Tanaka?!?
Wait a minute. What is going on?
At the arrival of the storm tigers, Sayirumi turns and quickly vanishes before anyone can catch her. Her henchmen flee, and the objects return to their previous state. Junu's flute clears the smoke, leaving only Tanaka and Tanaka? locked in combat in the center of the room.
Close to them, with throwing knife poised, is Larianne. But who should she target? They both look exactly alike.
One turns to her, and it's perfectly Tanaka, right down to that cheeky grin. "Come on, Lari. You know you can do it. Get me out of this."
The other looks at her as well, but only says, "Your choice."
This is the sort of cliffhanging decision of legend. Your Danaks, and a few Illjimaes have been taken to prison, who the heck is this fox creature and there's a lot of information you need to finish this chapter, but you can't proceed until you can say who Larianne is going to hit with that knife.
"Right, Suzy?"
"TSU TZE!"
(OOC: This chapter text will conclude in 24 hours after each team submits their choice of Tanaka to hit. Just comment. There is also a solo mission, and a rather strange HA challenge, which will be listed in the OOC thread for this chapter.
The bonus puzzles will materialize along with the Squirrel Dragon Inn in the second part of chapter 7. Have fun!)
Edited to fit the challenge 18/7
You got orange on you
Nightshade opened his eyes, it took his brain some time to comprehend his surroundings.
The last thing he remembered was helping morrow out of a jam and then... Then... What happened after that? He didn't move, his mind finally cleared of the distortion of the sudden change finally came up with a single possibility, he was captured somehow and spirited away to another location.
Nightshade's senses started to collect all the data it could to increase his odds of survival, the feel of the cold stone under him, the absence of the warmth of light on his skin, the musty smell in the air, the breathing of a heavy set person... The person was outside the room as his breathing was muffled by a divider. He listened harder, he heard no other sound...
The whole thing probably took a second or two but when your adrenaline spikes and sends you suddenly into survival mode the whole world seems to slow down turning seconds into eons.
Finally the Dark Elf opened his eyes, his cell was a small one with an iron door, light streamed from the small mail slot like window in it to his dingy, empty cell. There was probably a guard on the other side of the door but he couldn't see him.
Nightshade got up and demanded an explanation, the guard tried to shush him at first but if there was one thing the Elf was good at it was making a nuisance of himself! Finally the irritated guard told him that as a Danaka the magistrate had sent it's shadow enforcers to capture him, he was to stand trial in the morning and capital punishment 5 minutes after. The fact that Nightshade had never brewed anything stronger then tea in his life was apparently a matter of "details" that he would to petition after his hearing...
"I hate bureaucracy." Nightshade exclaimed in frustration.
"Me too, it takes a special kind of person to survive in one" a familiar voice said from beyond his cell door.
Nightshade jumped and rushed back to the door's tiny window and looked down "Morrow! How did you get here!" He exclaimed when he saw the goblin.
Morrow shifted uncomfortably and eyed the guard wearily "Why, I came to visit my cousin before his trial of course. I WOULD bring you a customary hope-your-trial-goes-well fruit basket if you tell me WHICH fruits to bring of course." Nightshade wondered how big of a bribe was needed for a guard to look the other way as a goblin visited his cousin.... The Dark elf.
"Also your sister Suzy got the news and is crying her eyes out, she really, really REALLY wants to ESCAPE her family's house and visit you but you know how your father is" Morrow continued in an even tone... Nightshade wondered if his guard was stupid or simply deaf!
"Dear cousin" Nightshade winced as the words left his lips. "I would love it if you brought me some oranges, ginger ale, soda (or tonic water), a large mug and of course some flowers that make you think of my name for when I'm gone." Nightshade watched as the goblin shock his head understandingly. "And do tell my beloved...sister... That I'm just fine, she need not do anything rash like disobey her... Father"
Soon enough morrow came back with the basket of items,
Of course Nightshade flowers were as beautiful as any other flower,,, but other flowers didn't come with toxic berries. Nightshade (plant but arguably the person as well) has been recognized as a poison for ages however if you knew how to process it just right you end up with a very potent hallucinogen. The orange and ginger where there to mask the bitter taste, the fuzz would also confused the taste buds regarding the after taste.... Also who doesn't like a good orange fuzz?
Nightshade was gushing about the drink while making it under the guard's watchful eyes, when he finally had the bubbling vial ready to pour into the mug he stopped.
"What? Aren't you going to drink?" The guard asked, Nightshade detected the faintest glimmer of hope in his voice. Hook, line and sinker he thought.
"It's not that, I seem to have made too much hmmmmmm should have asked my cousin to stay for a drink." Said Nightshade thoughtfully "we don't waste a good drink where I come from..." He sighed wistfully and then shrugged. " well, what can you do I guess, where's the sink?"
"Waste is shameful" agreed the guard "pour some for yourself first"
Nightshade poured some orange fizz into his mug, the drink bubbled and made a delightful hissing sound. The guard quietly took the mug and held it to his lips, he waited until Nightshade had taken a good sized gulp from the vial before drinking.
The drink was good, REALLY good, so good that it masked the taste of the nightshade berry extract that was coating the inside of the mug.
About an hour later Nightshade was guided out of the magistrate by his own guard who (through the power of suggestion) saw him now as the God of poverty and as such couldn't get him out fast enough, apparently he was not too happy to see the walls of the magistrate oozing tar and empty rice bowls.
Nightshade' favorite deadly flower had, once again, proven itself. Thankfully the effects were temporary.... Well, unless the guard gets a heart attack or something, never accept a drink from a stranger, they'll always make you pay an outrageous price for it
Tsu Tze in allure mode.
Morrow in his new outfit
With his keen canine intuition in full play, Lappy knows who the real Tanaka is, but he sees that several of the Protectors do not. He can move fast enough to divert their blows, but he has to trust his mistress to know where to throw her dagger. He leaps into action.
"Why yes, I can do this. Tanaka taught me how." Larianne smiles sweetly at the Tanaka wearing his so familiar cheeky grin, and then flips her dagger right between his eyes.
The cheeky grin fades, and the double staggers backward, then dissolves into a plume of black smoke. Lappy smacks the other Tanaka, but simply gets a chuckle, as he has already dodged the few misplaced missles.
Then all is swirling magic. Larianne runs forward, Tanaka swoops her up over his head and twirls her around.
"Good going, Girlie! How'd you know?"
"Since when have you ever, ever called me Lari?"
Then they're both spinning and laughing, and this could go somewhere if Junu didn't take that exact moment to call Tanaka's name.
"I'm going to kill him," mutters Klytie, as Tanaka slides Larianne down and turns to face his cousin. "What does he thinks this is? Some drama where they don't get to kiss until Chapter 13?"
The two men walk closer together, studying each other's face until Tanaka says, "Junu? Is that really you? Did all three of us survive?"
"You mean Chiasa is..." Junu whispers.
"Yes, we know where she is!"
Even Klytie calms down as we have two teary-eyed men hugging, and a whole structure dissolving from heavy sinister dark timbers into one who has indeed pulled part of the Wayward Squirrel's magic.
A figure appears in the doorway, wrapped in an aura of power and wisdom. "I see you've recovered your haven. Welcome to the Real Squirrel Dragon Inn."
(OOC: Many thanks to Searchname for our beautiful Squirrel Dragon Inn, which will be making an appearance in the Souk. See the OOC thread for more on your "rewards.")
: [spoiler=Frieda gets nicked...] Frieda’s emotions sensed the soldiers arrival even before she saw them and she knew immediately they were after her. Before she could draw her sword, two soldiers had rushed in, surrounded her, grabbed her arms and dragged her out of her seat. “Outside danhak, resistance is futile.” His voice was mechanical, his emotions dulled by some other mind filled with hate. "How dare you dishonor the Wareng."
She was taken outside with the others and stripped of her weapons, her satchel of herbs and her armor disguise. When she protested the loss of her herbs she was rewarded with gloved fist to the face and a jab in the ribs with the pommel of the soldier’s blade. She fell to the ground, blinded by the stars in her brain and the jarring pain in her face. “Speak again and die!” The soldier kicked her in the butt as she tried to get back up. “Stay down! Move when I tell you to move.”
She lay on her tummy spread-eagle as the soldiers pawed through her belongings. She turned her head just enough to watch as they divided up her weapons, but was surprised when the lead soldier immediately closed her satchel after he became aware of what was inside. “Evidence! No spoiling of evidence.”
Within moments, there were orders shouted to get the prisoners moving and Frieda’s soldier kicked her in the ribs. “Get up, danhak filth! Follow the others and don’t even try to run, you will not get two steps before you are shot through the throat.”
The march was long and difficult and the soldiers didn’t take very many rest stops. The only water she got was when they approached a stream and she was allowed to kneel and drink a few sips.
Eventually they arrived at an official-looking, fenced-in palace of some kind, though it didn’t appear to have any of the trappings that Frieda imagined a royal palace would have, like a mote or courtesans milling about everywhere sipping tea. It was most likely a palace of law or a fort for the military. She quietly shuffled as the soldier prodded her along with the butt of his weapon.
Once inside the palace courtyard, the guards directed their prisoners toward a large building whose entrance was barred by massive, red-lacquered, doors guarded by a squad of soldiers. The doors parted and Frieda was ushered in alone with her guard. The interior was well lit by lanterns and lined with more guards. There was a table in the center of the room and a well-dressed man was seated behind it fanning himself with a beautiful black and red paper fan. To his right was a scribe whose brush moved rapidly across a parchment in almost imperceptible detailed strokes. Frieda imagined that this was an inquisitor and she reminded herself to say nothing that would give her companions away.
The man folded his fan with a flick of his wrist and in a heartbeat her guard yanked the knot from her gown and roughly stripped her naked in front of the man. He pushed her forward and prodded her with his weapon, “Turn, filth!” He stood at attention and saluted the man. “Sir, the small danhak was dressed as a Warang. She is weasel-kind sir.” For a moment, Frieda detected a wisp of fear in the soldier's emotions at the word ‘weasel-kind’ before it was again masked by the black hate she had sensed before.
Frieda realized that the seated official wasn’t an inquisitor, he was the jailer and that she was being inspected for hidden weapons. Two more guards approached, one grabbed her tail and raked through it and the other let down her hair and combed through it roughly with his gloved fingers before he slapped her face to make her turn around to face the jailer.
“You have been remanded to the Board of Punishment for this district, our Peoples Republic Gendarmerie has been patrolling this district since your arrival and were finally successful in capturing you and your accomplices. I am Seok, the Commandant Gyodogwan (jailer) of this prison. I will not say welcome, danhak, for you are not welcome here.” His laugh was barely audible but it reeked with malice. “Perhaps the Magistrate will welcome you when he sees you, his tastes are a bit dark after all.” He flicked his fan at his scribe. “State your name, Danhak.”
Frieda stood as tall as her four foot four inch frame could, flicked her tail and spoke clearly and with a strong voice. “Frieda VonSteuben, Commandant Seok.”
The blow to the back of her head brought back the stars and her knees almost buckled. The jailer slapped the table with his fan and pounded his fist. “Dog! The Magistrate will not hesitate to end your life for such insolence!” He stood and pointed his fan at Frieda, “He will make your tail into brushes for his scribes!” He stood and pointed to a side door with his fan. “De-louse this filth, she is to be seen by the Magistrate immediately.” He sat down and resumed fanning himself. “Danhak Frieda, do not hope for a positive outcome here. I trust you have prepared your ancestors with gifts and offerings, for you will be in their presence soon enough, with or without your tail.”
She was pushed through the doors into a dark hallway and marched into a room that smelled of sulphur. Three female wards of the prison, stripped bare to the loins, took Frieda roughly by her arms and made her stand in a tub of cold water. They lathered her up with a soap that smelled as if the animal fat they had made it with had gone rancid. She was then made to stand in a second tub of cold, oily water and they pushed her down to her knees and dunked her head under the water to rinse off the foul soap. When she stood the odor of turpentine was overpowering and Frieda realized that she had just been ‘dipped’, an old treatment for skin parasites. They briskly dried her off with burlap and applied [item2=Brimstone] powder ( sulfur ) to her entire body, dispensing it with what looked like a very large sock that they hit her with. Two of the women turned to clean up the area for the next prisoner and the third woman turned to pull a prisoners dressing gown from a shelf. In that brief moment it took for the woman to toss her the garment, Frieda swiped the sulfur pouch and hid in in the folds of the gown she had received.
She was still naked and barely dry when the guard came and made her march out of the baths carrying her folded gown out in front of her with both paws. He gave no indication that he had observed what she had done and motioned for her to keep marching down another long hallway. They passed through series of iron barred doorways and entered into a cell block. She was pushed into a small cell that contained a dirty straw-filled mattress on the floor, a dented, enameled iron chamber-pot, a tin cup and a spoon. The guard guard locked the bars and turned to Frieda, “Dress quickly scum, the Magistrate will be calling for you soon.
She quickly hid the sausage-shaped bag of sulphur inside the chamber-pot and dressed. She thought about her situation and shrugged her shoulders. Why had she even bothered to disguise herself as a warrior in the first place? It was as if they already knew what she was the moment she arrived in this country. She would have saved herself a lot of wear and tear lugging around all that heavy weaponry and armor.
She must have dozed off because the next thing that happened was another guard was at her bars unlocking her cell door. She quickly stood at attention and bowed hoping to stave off another blow to her head, she was nursing three big bumps already. The guard ordered her out and marched her off to meet the Magistrate.
The Magistrate's Council chamber was twice as large as the jailer’s chamber and there were several officials and scribes in attendance. The guard pushed Frieda forward. “State your name.”
Frieda bowed, not so much out of deference, but out of a sense of pain avoidance. “Frieda VonSteuben.” She winced, awaiting a blow.
The Magistrate barely moved a muscle and sat with both hands palm-down on his desk. “A danhak is forbidden in this land. You are danhak by virtue of the poisons you carry with you.” He motioned for one of the scribes to hold up the satchel of herbs. “And if that were not enough, you are weasel-kind, a trickster, a temptress, one who even more evil then a fox.” He removed his hands from the table and placed them on his lap. “No doubt you can summon a devil, pull offspring from your mouth by the legion to create an army or perhaps you can perform some other kind of atrocity." He folded his hands together and sat quiet for a moment and collected his thoughts.
“You are guilty of practicing danhak sorcery on the shishin as was reported by our spies and are sentenced to beheading at the next full moon in two days as is the custom of this district.” He placed his hands back on the desk and took a red stick of sealing wax in his long fingers. “In the meantime, you are required to provide your own meals, we do not provide millet or rice to thieves or danhaks. A squad was dispatched to bring someone who can provide your meals and he may visit you twice a day to provision you. You are allowed one tiffin and one water skin per visit.” He lit the sealing wax and watched the flame develop, "After all, we want you alive when we remove your miserable head from your shoulders."
The scribe on his right hand placed a parchment on the desk and the Magistrate sealed his signature with the wax and impressed the seal with his signet ring. “Of course, you can attempt to negotiate your sentence in my private chambers, seductress.” He nodded to the guards to remove Frieda back to her cell. “I will send for you tomorrow night, before your beheading the next morning.”
Back in her cell, Frieda sat on her mattress, stunned. “Me, a seductress?” She muttered to herself. If it weren’t so terrible it would be hilarious. She felt so alone, frightened and hungry, she hadn’t eaten now for nearly 24 hours. She laid down on the mattress, curled her knees up to her chest, and wrapped her tail around her paws. She rocked herself and eventually fell asleep and had fitful dreams of the only love of her young life, Weldon, her mate and protector. If he were here, this palace would be a smoldering wasteland. Seductress…that was just crazy talk.
She was jolted awake by the sound of the lock-chains on her cell door being pulled through the bars. She quickly sat up and put her paw up to her eyes to shield them from the shaft of afternoon sun pouring in from a skylight high above the cell block floor. She could only make out two forms, one tall and one quite short and was momentarily confused until she caught a familiar scent and a familiar set of emotions. “Morrow? Is that you?”
The short form stepped forward, “Yes, Frieda. I’ve brought you dinner.” He unslung a large canvas bag and a leather water bottle from his shoulders and held them out.
The guard pushed the reformed goblin into the cell, slammed the bars shut and locked them in. “She has 10 minutes to eat. You may leave the water skin.” The guard refused to look at Frieda or to acknowledge her existence.
Morrow quickly set his load down and untied the canvas bag. From inside he pulled out a five tier tiffin and Frieda could smell something yummy escaping. “You’ve got to eat as much of this as you can in ten minutes, there’s meat, rice, dried fruit and nuts, and a honey seed cake.” he quickly opened up all the tins and Frieda got down to the business of hoarking down as much as she could. She went for the meat and the honey cake first to regain her strength and she had most of the rice gobbled when she heard footsteps. She dumped the nuts and fruit into the folds of her gown and gulped down the last of her rice. “Morrow, I got to get out of here, tomorrow if possible.”
Morrow pulled a kerchief from his robes and handed it to Frieda and gestured to the nuts and fruits in her gown. “But how, Frieda? This place is impossible to escape from, at least that’s what the locals say.”
Frieda quickly bundled up the fruit and nuts into the kerchief and tied it off. She put the bundle under her mattress as she whispered. “I need you to bring me some,
- [item2=Lightshow Potassium Nitrate]
- [item2=Lightshow Charcoal Briquettes]
- [item2=Silver Salute]
- [item2=Acid Juice]
- [item2=Quicksilver]
Hide it in this tiffin if you have to.” She fidgeted “and I need somebody who knows this land to help me.”
Morrow quickly assembled the tiffin, loaded it into the canvas carry bag and handed the water skin to Frieda just as the guard appeared. “I’ll see you in the morning.” He winked at her to signify that he knew exactly what she meant. “Same thing tomorrow then?” He turned and waited for the guard to let him out.
The next morning Morrow arrived and as soon as the guard closed him in and left, he got right to work helping her sort her items. “I was able to bring the first three items this morning, they’re in glassine packets under the fruit container and nut container and in the seed cake. I hope there’s enough material for you, though there's not much food.” Frieda was surprised at how much actually fit inside each tiffin compartment. Morrow helped her wraps the packets of contraband in a kerchief that he had in his pocket and they were able to stash them in the chamber pot. “I hope you don’t have to use this soon.” he said as he wrinkled his nose. “I guess they don’t inspect these on a regular basis do they?” He traded water skins and was too soon escorted out of her cell. She would have to wait until the afternoon for another meal and another shipment of supplies that she had requested.
It seemed like forever before Morrow returned that afternoon, and Frieda was eager for news as well as food and another water skin. “Junu says that the back wall of your cell faces toward the north, which is why the sun comes into your cell in the afternoon. The moon is almost full tonight, so you don’t have the luxury of a lot of cover of darkness, it will be high in the sky shortly after sundown and there is very little cloud cover predicted. You have about an hour.” He helped her stash the two vials of liquid materials in another scarf he had worn around his neck and tucked that under her mattress. “Your mattress is getting lumpy, let’s hope nobody gets snoopy.” He packed up the empty tiffin tins and loaded them into the canvas carrier. “Junu showed me a way to make a distraction to the south at sundown, that should give you time to assemble your things and…you know…do your thing…do your stuff..take them down…take them down to weasel-town.” He handed her the new water skin, took the old one and patted her cheek tenderly. “We will succeed in this..." He sniffed and struggled to hold back tears, "We just have to." He stood just as the guard appeared to let him out.
Just prior to sundown, there was a changing of the guard and Frieda soon realized that was why Morrow had chosen that time to plan her escape. In a matter of moments after she observed the sky turn crimson, she heard shouts and screams outside and realized that was the signal for her to get to work.
She uses her prison issue tin cup and spoon to grind and mix a small portion of the Lightshow Potassium Nitrate ( saltpeter ), Acid Juice and Quicksilver to make the friction explosive 'potassium mercury fulminate.' She then ground and mixed the charcoal, brimstone and remaining saltpeter to make 'black powder.' She packed the black powder into the chamber pot with the Silver Salute placed right in the center as a detonator. She tamped in the scarves and kerchiefs to pack it in tight to give it more compression and set the chamber pot up against the back wall in the corner where the force of the blast would be the greatest. Frieda was running out of time and quickly made a trail of mercury fulminate powder from the opposite corner of her cell to the chamber pot where the Silver Salute fuse was sticking out. To further contain and propagate the blast, she doubled up her mattress and piled it up against the chamber pot.
With a prayer, she held her spoon over the mercury fulminate line and thumped it hard. The impact and friction generated by the spoon hitting the powder causes it to explode li
Items asked for [Item=bent copper pipe wreckage]
Kenny's not a Danak..., really he's not
Kenny had an uneasy feeling, something was wrong here, very wrong. He was more than a little concerned over Blanco, and caught himself looking about nervously as he attempted to laugh and joke with Jett and Ilaera. When the door burst open and scores of armed soldiers poured in he was almost expecting it. He was astonished, however when they announced they were here to arrest him for being a danak. He had hoped his disguise was good enough to escape detection as a practitioner of the alchemical arts.
As Ilaera surged to her feet, he held out a cautioning hand.
“This is a terrible case of mistaken identity. I’m a mere brewer of beer and liquor, not potions and other evils. I may have fallen on difficult times recently, but I’m sure we can clear this up peacefully. “
His conciliatory words were in vain though, as one fight broke out, and then another, and suddenly the whole place dissolved into a chaotic battle. Two of the soldiers roughly trussed his arms behind him, and grabbing his staff quickly shoved him out the door while the battle raged in the inn behind them.
As he, and several other of the protectors were marched down the road, Kenny continued to protest his innocence. He described a fictitious brewery, and the ingredients and flavor of a variety of beverages he was allegedly famous for. By the time they reached the gaol, both guards looked thirsty, and one was visibly licking his lips. When they searched him, before locking him in a dank cell, the sake gourd that hung from his staff sloshed audibly. As the guards sniffed at the gourd’s contents, Kenny sat down dejectedly thanking the elements that he had set his satchel of chemicals under the table, and it wasn’t among the confiscated belongings to damn him. Before he could formulate a plan for his defense in the trial that was certain to come however, one of the guards thrust the gourd through the bars of his cell.
“Did you make this?” he demanded to know.
“Why yes.” Kenny lied glibly. “It’s a weak vintage. Really only suitable for quenching your thirst when travelling. I apologize; it’s terribly low quality for anything else. The guards exchanged an incredulous look, before sniffing at the gourd again and taking a surreptitious sip as they walked over to a table at the far end of the room.
A soft voice from outside the narrow window of his cell caught the half elf’s sharp hearing. The guards seemed engrossed in the contents of the gourd-bottle, so Kenny took the chance to climb up on the cell’s narrow pallet and peer out. To his surprise, Morrow, the Squirrel’s goblin butler, and a strange foxlike being stood outside.
“How can we help you?” The goblin whispered.
Glancing over his shoulder at the guards, who had poured the gourd’s content into a pair of small pine boxes and were smiling as they toasted each other, Kenny devised a wild plan. The goblin and his friend stood befuddled as he asked them for a scoop of hops, some yeast, an amanita, and a piece of copper pipe. Kenny described the mushroom carefully, he didn’t want to kill anyone if he could avoid it. Calling to the guards, He continued his brewery alibi story.
“You know, it’s too bad I couldn’t make some of my famous Shochu for you, it’s so much stronger and sweeter than that watery journey drink. You’d love it, I know you would. It’s too bad though, unless you had a lot of sake to start with it would take weeks to ferment before distilling.” The guards looked at each other, duty clearly warring with desire in their troubled expressions.
“Of course even if we already had sake to start with we’d need several cooking pots, some sugar and a hot fire to cook it on…,” Kenny continued as if musing. If Morrow could find some copper pipe, a cooking pot would serve as a cucurbit, a second pot, with the copper pipe for a spout, upside down over the first would pass for an anbit, and a third receptacle to catch the alcohol as it condensed from the rising steam would make a working alembic…, a cooking pot-still.
As the gaurds eagerly scrambled to stoke a crackling fire in the jail-house irori, and gather their cooking pots, Kenny listened hopefully for Morrow’s return. As if in response to his thoughts, a bright red and white spotted mushroom fell through the window to land silently on the pallet, along with a good double handful of dry green hops flowers, and a tiny paper packet that must be the yeast. Kenny dove to catch the tangle of bent copper pipe wreckage before its noise could attract unwanted attention, and choosing the longest piece, slid it through the bars to lie against the wall outside his cell.
The guards had gathered over a months worth of their ration of sour sake, and were pouring it into the pot to boil as Kenny quietly crushed the dry hops and mushroom into powder with his heel, and palmed it into the sleeve of his kimono. Asking for the sugar and making a dramatic show of carefully measuring it, provided easy cover for adding the extra ingredients to the mix. While Kenny directed the guards from inside the cell, pointing out the pipe and various pots that would seal nicely when jammed together, the yeast quietly began the process of turning sugar to alcohol, and the hops lent a fresh citrus aroma to the bubbling wort. After much fumbling, and a brief moment of panic when the pipe, after being bent into a coil and spout shape, refused to stay fixed in the hole that had been punched into the top pot. A sticky glob of glutinous rice solved the problem fairly quickly though, and soon the still was assembled.
Several long hours went by while the mix simmered in the jury-rigged retort, before a clear liquid began to drip from the copper tube. Instructing the guards to toss the first cup full into the fire for “the Gods” Kenny was rewarded with the blue edged flame of strong alcohol. With the soporific nature of the hops and the hallucinogenic mushroom distilled into it, this drink would surely send the unsuspecting guards into a very strange dreamland .
By the time Tsu-tse and Morrow had slipped unseen into the holding area to help him escape. Kenny was locking the cell door on one guard who was profusely thanking him for saving him from the “Things with tentacles”, while the other snored loudly by the dying fire.
((ooc: HAs will be submitted by team captains.))
Cats, Corrosion, and General Chaos
“Owwwww.” Aery groaned to herself as her eyes blinked open sleepily. Then she bolted upright, narrowly missing clunking her head on the uneven stone bricks of the wall beside her. Thoughts started piecing themselves back together – having a yummy dinner while listening to her friends talking about things that were supposed to be funny. Then a thick cloud of black smoke, rough hands grabbing her, shuffling through her clothes and stripping her of anything that might be useful. Then being cuffed over the head, then nothing—
“Left straight left right straight straight right left left right straight!” The sequence of turns spilled out of her mouth. She frowned for a second… why did she have that in her head? Unless she’d woken up enough to keep track of… hallways or something. Judging by the cold floor she was lying on, and the fact that the only light came from a tiny, barred window, she guessed she was in a prison cell.
“So wait, that would mean I’d have to do the inverse, so… straight left right right left straight straight left right straight right?”
“Oi, pipe down in there!” A bang on the door and a muffled voice made her jolt backwards, causing her to crack her head against the wall and groan in pain again. “Stop being so cheerful – you’re in prison, now act like it!”
“Why should I? If I’m bound to die anyway, why not spend my last night on quality time with myself?” Aery pitched her voice to be somewhat hysterical, as though she was panicking and on the verge of tears.
Silence for a moment, then the guard said, warily, “…With yourself?”
Aery frowned for a moment. That hadn’t been at all what she’d expected, she’d expected to startle a laugh out of him. He probably thought she was crazy, now… Wait, why was that a bad thing?
“Yep! I’m the best company I’ve ever been with – well, me and my friends.”
“Your friends?” The voice was suspicious now, and Aery saw the latch on the door go down as though the guard had put his hand on it.
“Yup! My friends live inside my head. Their names are Too and Morrow. I call them that because they always say they’ll let me see them tomorrow. But they never do let me, it’s always “tomorrow”, so that’s what I decided to call them.”
The hand came off the latch, and muffled footsteps echoed through the door. The guard, now clearly further away, said, “Well, I guess I’ll leave you to it…”
A loud, high-pitched laugh from behind Aery made her jump again, causing her to go sprawling on the floor. A shadow was cast over her, and she looked up to see a luminous pair of green eyes staring out of a wrinkly gray face, peering at her.
“Lucky guess! My name’s Morrow, and I’m here to break you out!” The goblin – she assumed that it was a goblin, anyway, judging by the wrinkles and skin tone – said. She noticed that it had pitched its voice to mimic the high, bubbly tone of hers. At least, the one she’d used to talk to the guard. It was similar enough that maybe the guard would assume she was just talking to her friends... and then answering for them, too.
“Morrow! You’re /real/?! Oh I’m so glad I finally get to see you!! Is Too coming, as well? Are we finally going to have that tea party we’ve been planning for twelve years?”
“I’m afraid Too is being finicky – she wants to bring the perfect tea arrangement but doesn’t know what you’d want… She’s not going to show up until you come up with things!”
Aery raised an eyebrow at the goblin, who winked back at her. She made a show of thinking, “hmm”ing and even getting up to pace the room. Then she sat down again with a thump.
“hmm… How about a couple of those chasey purple fireworks, for mood lighting? They’re so mellow and calming, and it’s so nice that they hover over you while sparking. Really romantic. Anyway… ooh! I like my tea really, really strong and dark, so how about some of that liquid shadow? Or whatever it’s called. Something like that. And then, oh, how about some corroding dew? I do love the stuff, it adds a lovely tang and a whole other complex layer of flavor to tea. Nothing like singeing out your tastebuds to wake yourself up and cleanse your palate! Anyway…. Oh yes! If either of you can find him, do track down Mr. Purry for me. He said eight whole years ago that he’d want to come to this, but I haven’t heard from him since, and, well, ya know, cats are kinda fickle. Invisible ones are especially fickle, but in any case I’d like to hold him to his word. Oh! And of course some of that vibrating… whatsit gel. Neutron? No… Nucleus gel! That’s what it is! Mr. Purry always loved to chew on that stuff, said it made his mouth feel good.” Her mouth was twitching as she finished speaking, and she grinned up at Morrow, who nodded solemnly.
“I’ll be sure to tell her! Purple chasey fireworks, liquid shadow, corroding dew, vibrating nucleus gel, and Mr. Purry the invisible cat!” Morrow disappeared from sight.
Aery hummed contentedly to herself, murmuring about brewing tea and making cakes, and got up pacing around the small cell, fumbling around in the air as though she was cracking eggs and stirring batter. She heard footsteps in the hall, and glimpsed an armored guardsman peering into the barred window of her cell, but she didn’t falter in her crazy fumbling. Nor did she pause in her endless, sing-songy litany of sensible cake ingredients, such as eggs and potassium nitrate.
The footsteps faded as quickly as they had come, the echoes accompanied by words. “Oh. I guess that’s what they meant by crazy.”
Aery kept up the act, pausing only when she said, “The cake is done! Hope Morrow and Too like it. Wonder what’s taking them so long, anyway.” She settled down on the floor, holding her arms out as though there was a cake tray resting on them.
Morrow’s head popped over the window sill, as if on cue. Aery noticed a pair of scratches down his face, from what she could assume was a very angry (invisible) cat. “I’m baaaack. I brought all the things you asked for. I also convinced Too to come along with me!!”
A glimmer caught Aery’s eye and she looked up to see Silme squirming between the bars, moonlight glinting off of her wings. She jumped to her feet, clapping excitedly and squeaking happily. Okay, so maybe she’d gotten a little /too/ far in character. The glass dragon chirped happily and landed on Aery’s shoulder, nuzzling against her cheek and blowing sparks.
Morrow coughed, pushing a knotted handkerchief through the bars, and Aery leaped to catch it before it hit the ground. She carefully set it down on the floor and then reached up for the squirming, jerking bundle of nothingness that had the vague outline of a cat. She brought it in, wincing as the creature’s sharp claws dug into the skin of her forearms, and gripped it by the scruff with one hand while she picked a generous pinch of fur out of its back. It was all loose fur, so the cat didn’t feel anything, though it did object to being held up, judging by the scratches that were appearing on the back of Aery’s arm. She set it down on the floor as soon as she had her pinch of fur, and with a muffled “mrrt” the creature was gone—probably up the door and then down the hallway.
Satisfied the cat would be able to take care of itself, Aery knelt on the floor again, carefully untying the handkerchief (a tricky business with only one free hand!) and setting the items on the floor. The fur was placed into the middle of the handkerchief so that she wouldn’t lose it. She took stock of what she had.
First things first. She combined the corroding dew spell with the vibrating nucleus gel and smeared it onto the hinges of the door. She wasn’t terribly confident about the mixture, but she figured the vibrating gel would be helpful to catalyze the actions of the dew, by helping to push apart the metal and let the acid penetrate deeper. She just hoped that the door was sturdy and stable enough to stand even without the support of the hinges, or else it might fall prematurely.
While the acid was working she considered what she had left. She took the two fireworks and carefully twisted the cones off of the tops of them, then added about a third of the vial of liquid shadow to each. She shook the mixtures gently, then twisted the cones back on, being extra careful to not dent them. She set those aside too.
Finally she eyed the left-over liquid shadow, and the handkerchief with the fur (presumably) on it. She fumbled until she had picked up a substantial pinch of fur, and then dropped it into the flask of shadow. Then she put the cork back in and shook the flask, then stopped shaking and eyed the bottle suspiciously. She was left with a somewhat sparkly black potion.
“I hope this works…” she muttered to Silme. “And doesn’t turn me into an invisible cat…”
Aery downed the potion, shuddering at the horrible gritty, stringy texture and nasty taste. (She supposed it tasted like charcoal might taste.) A tingle ran up her spine, then down her limbs. While the potion was taking effect she reached for one of the fireworks, then held her hand out to Silme. The little dragon settled on her palm and started spitting sparks, until one ignited the fuse on the firework.
She quickly tossed the firework out into the hall. As she did the spark faltered and for a horrible, gut-wrenching moment she thought it was going to go out. But it soon caught again. The guard let out a questioning grunt and approached (so she could tell by the shadow on the wall). And then the flame on the firework turned into a roar and it lofted off of the ground, twirling to point directly at the guard, and then proceeded to fly towards him at an alarming rate, spitting sparks threateningly.
He hesitated for a second, then bolted down the hall with a shout and a string of profanity. He didn’t get all that far before a loud boom sounded, and a cloud of thick, dark smoke started billowing down the hallway, obscuring the light from the lanterns. It would doubtless be very difficult to see while in the hallway, shapes would be distorted after even a few feet and it would be virtually impossible to see more than five meters.
Aery reached for the other firework, to save for later. She tucked it into her shirt so it would be safe, then stood up and went to the back of her cell. From a running start she slammed against the door with as much force as she could muster, causing the whole thing to flop over. She tripped over the door as she went out—it was disorienting to have only nearly-transparent shadows where her limbs were. But she righted herself, and sprinted down the hallway. In the other direction from the guard, so she took three rights to go around a block of cells. Then she frantically tried to recall the turns she’d said earlier.
“straight left right right left straight straight left right straight left…? Silme, help me remember. Well I don’t need to do another straight cause I went around that block. Starting with left.”
Silme had seemingly disappeared for the first turn, but soon caught up, its glass stomach full of lantern oil. It chirped at Aery as she ran, lightly pinching her ear when it looked like she was about to miss a turn. A few times she had to race around a block of cells to dodge an angry, singed, soot-streaked guard, and a few times she tripped over her own feet and nearly went sprawling, but she made it without too much difficulty. About halfway through she heard an alarm bell sounding, and shouts from various rooms along the smoke-tinged hallways. She was very glad she’d put in as much of the liquid shadow as she had, as it seemed to be causing issues for much of the complex. Things were going well, for her, at least.
Until the very end, that is. She tried to turn left, but Silme shrieked at her. When she tried to ignore the little dragon, it bit her ear sharply. Aery gritted her teeth but did as the dragon bid, and sure enough, there was another door. She slammed into it hard, shoving it open, bursting into what she assumed was the warden’s office.
There were three guardsmen there, facing the door, swords at the ready. They weren’t expecting to be hit in the face with a wave of smoke. They definitely weren’t expecting to have an angry crystal dragon rise up in front of them, spraying burning oil at their faces while emitting an ear-piercing angry shriek. The guards went reeling, dropping their blades and clutching at their faces, and Aery bolted out the door. Silme quickly followed.
They raced into the trees. The shadowy, transparent girl clawed her way up one, so she’d be about twelve feet off the forest floor. More than high enough to avoid being seen. She clutched tightly at the tree trunk, not looking down. Aery absolutely despised heights, but… in this case fear of death won out over fear of falling.
The guards that Silme had burned raced out of the prison just a few moments after Aery had gotten situated clinging to the tree. They looked around for all of two minutes, before they approached the treeline. Silme dove out of the sky throwing tongues of flame at them and shreeing, which scared them back and made them even more cautious, but they inevitably came close to the trees again. Finally Aery, tense and trembling, pulled the second firework from her corset and inspected it. It was dented, but it seemed intact. She held it aloft and waited until Silme had managed to set the fuse on fire, then threw it at one of the guards.
As expected, the firework chased the guards around through the trees. It would have almost been amusing for Aery, had she not been scared for her life. Inevitably, the firework detonated, sending sparks and a thick cloud of black smoke everywhere. The three guards screamed and ran back towards the prison, trying to outrun the thick, dark smoke. After they disappeared inside, nothing stirred for five minutes. Then ten. Then twenty.
Finally the adrenaline left Aery’s body, at least enough that she could half-climb, half-fall out of the tree and sink to her knees on the ground, gasping for air and choking out sobs and probably sounding like a dying animal, tears streaming down her face. She hadn’t realized just how scared she’d been until that moment.
A small, blueish gray hand settled on her shoulder, and she jumped, whirling around to see the little goblin who’d helped her. Morrow, his name was. He was grinning at her, while patting her sympathetically. She reached out on impulse and hugged the little creature, who squirmed, but hugged her back.
“Hey, why the tears? I’m okay. You’re okay. We’re all okay. Well except for those guards but eh, they’ll get over it. And thanks for distracting them, by the way – Those buffoons were on patrol and spotted me and went after me. They probably would’ve caught me if it hadn’t been for that alarm you set off! That was certainly a way to leave an impression. And that acting earlier, simply flawless… at least, I hope it was just acting.” Morrow cracked a grin at his own joke, but as Aery stared at him blankly, the grin faded, until finally he said, “Oh come on, at least smile. It was a joke. Anyway, let’s get you back to the Gold Dragon – we’ve got one HECK of a story to tell!”
Emma in Jail
Emma slowly opened her eyes and looked around, Where am I? How did I get here? What happened? Rubbing her eyes while trying to take in her surroundings, she desperately needed to figure out where she was. Was she in a prison cell?
She rubbed her eyes again hoping something would begin to make sense. Where was she and more importantly, how was she going to get out of here!
Across the room she saw someone. “Hello? Hello, can you help me? Uh … excuse me … please, I need to get out of here. Will you open this door?” Nothing but silence, was he asleep? “HELLO … please, I need help”. A slight repositioning of the man revealed a badge, it suddenly hit her, she was in jail AND that was a guard stationed to keep her there.
"Nikko?" whispering softly, where was her Nikko? Was he lost or had he been injured? She vaguely remembered seeing him catching a ride on the back of Ninja, Willow’s companion. Did that really happen … ugh, why can’t I remember? When Emma was young, she received Nikko as a gift from her uncle, Emma had learned a special type of whistle. Similar to a dog whistle, most people could not hear it and that was just fine with Emma. She knew if Nikko was okay he would come to her rescue once he heard her call. She touched her tongue to the back of her teeth and blew … not once but twice.
As she waited, Emma noticed her surroundings, taking in everything as the fog started to lift from her head. There was a desk covered in piles of papers, the drawers were shut but she made a mental note to have Nikko open them … where was he? Another quick whistle just to be on the safe side. Next to the desk was a book shelf lined with books, nick knacks and several other items. It appeared to be the best place to place items when they weren’t sure where they belonged. A garbage can sat next to the desk, overflowing with garbage. She thought to herself, who is in charge of this place? Alongside the window was a cabinet, the shelves within were so cluttered she doubted the doors would actually shut tight. Surely she could find enough items to get herself out of this mess. One more whistle and a movement caught her eye … Nikko had jumped to the open window. So relieved to see him she almost shrieked with joy. She had realized her best option was to let the guard continue to sleep, maybe with a little help from one of her sleeping potions. Conjure up a key to open the gate and quietly slip by the guard.
Trying her best to be quiet, she motioned to Nikko to jump down to the desk. Having taught him sign language years ago, Emma found it easy to communicate exactly what she needed Nikko to do. As the guard continued to sleep. She signed to Nikko to bring her the jar she had noticed on the top shelf of the cabinet. He happily grabbed it and scurried over to hand it to her. "Hmmm", must have wanted to get rid of those blemishes on his face but this will come in handy. She quickly signed for Nikko to grab a glass jar on the bookshelf, it had a cork and if it was actually what she thought it was, the would be perfect for her “Key” making spell. She sent Nikko back three more times having him open the drawers of the desk yet once held up her hand as the guard turned his head, however when the snoring began, the monkey started work again. That’s when she spotted it, the to make extra keys for the guards. She did a slight jump with excitement. Pointing it out to Nikko, he dutifully retrieved it. A quick glance revealed the last two items she needed, another sign to Nikko and he grabbed the last two items handing them to her one at a time. Yes, she was now confident that with she saw in the corner of the cabinet and the found in the last drawer Nikko opened, she could definitely make this work! Once mixed together the smoke would waft up keeping him sleeping for hours. Certainly long enough for her to escape.
With all the items in hand, she moved around her tiny cell then took two of the items, mumbled a few words under her breath and stepped back as sparks flew and smoke appeared and with a thump, a key dropped out of the air. She grabbed the last two items, held them out in her hands and mumbled a few more words as she diligently mixed them slowly together …suddenly with the powder and smoke combined she motioned for Nikko to slide it under his chair, the smoke would slowly drift up and keep him sleeping soundly giving her plenty of time to slip out of this place.
With the last set of instructions, Nikko jumped back to the window and ran out in search of Suzy. With Nikko on his way, she grabbed the Vanishing Cream, after a quick wipe down hoping it would at least last until she reached the door. She quickly grabbed the key and unlocked the door then ran as quickly as she could. Once around the corner, it was obvious the cream had worn off and she was thankful to follow Suzy or as the Gumi said "It's Tsu Tze" who was wearing her beautiful outfit and carrying Nikko on her shoulder through the alley. She knew the Tsu Tze would provide a safe passage back to Chook, Willow and the rest of her friends. Boy, she thought to herself, will they be surprised to find out where I have been ……
Morrow has relaxed during this episode of the Travelers:
,
Morrow sits this one out and Suzy shines
[img align=right]http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y34/pamelalou/TzuTzeMonkey.png[/img]
Couple of Disasters
Tight lipped and watchful her gaze took in everything as they were ushered to a well-built prison; solid stone, cold and damp. The patrol was not exactly friendly, muttering insults and being a little too free with the butt of their weapons on the more aggressive prisoners. Lucky for her she kept her head down, hiding behind her sweep of long hair and not meeting anyone’s eyes.
Once the door slammed behind her she frowned, taking in the small cell. There was a tiny window but it was high up and barely big enough to fit an arm through. The stone looked thick too, slick in some places and there were suspicions stains on the floor. Wrinkling her nose she spent the next couple hours worriedly pacing, her mind going over what she could possibly do.
She had no idea that Sorn had been infuriated beyond belief. He’d growled and had been about to fight as she was taken. Dash had bear-hugged him from behind, trying to calm the man. Nothing he had said seemed to help. Even Cerac hadn’t been able to calm him down. The poor boys were going to have a time of it, especially when the new battle broke out. Goddesses she hated not knowing what was going on.
Turning toward the door at the sound of muffled steps Kara stepped closer to the wall until she heard a voice and saw a face through the bars.
“Hello,” Tsu Tze said to the drow in an almost bored voice. “We better get you out of here, one of the animals I was speaking with told me of a male drow being restrained by two men, very angry and wishing to kill everything in sight… your lover, I would assume?” She put some powder on the lock and stood back. A muffled crack later and the door swung open. Putting her hand inside her trusty pouch she handed the woman some clothing. “You’ll get out quicker if you don’t look like an alchemist.”
Kara quickly closed her gaping mouth, though she couldn’t help but be slightly wary. “He is my lover and a little high strung,” she agreed, knowing it was probably an understatement. Stripping without an ounce of modesty she slipped quickly into the new clothes, pulling her hair back into a bun and securing it. 
She could tell Tzu Tze was growing impatient and was quick to slip through the door and shut it quietly behind her.
All things considered it was fairly easy, maybe because there was a commotion deeper in the prison. But there was no fighting, no shouts to stop as they walked out, no amazing feats of daring do to perform. Kara certainly would not complain, quietly thanking the other woman for her rescue. Now to get back to the boys before Sorn hurt himself- or someone else.
Prison Break Tsu Tze
Morrow's new duds.
,
Tsu Tze & Morrow
--- 
I want to break free
Lizzy scowled fiercely at the guard who was smirking at her outside their cell door. Of all the luck! First they were welcomed into an inn and fed wonderful food and then everything turned around and it revealed itself for the trap that it was. Then on top of that she was nabbed and then tossed into a cell like a lowly bandit! To make it even worse she had no idea what had happened to her teammates. "I want my lawyer and due representation buster! When I get out of this cell I'm going to knock that smirk right off your face!" Lizzy growled to the amused guard.
The guard turned away and Lizzy took a closer look at the room she had ended up in. A disgusting cell with wet straw and a hole for the human needs in a corner. Nothing she could use to get free. Also as if to mock the inmates, the key to the lock hung in plain sight on the belt of the guard in front of the cell. Just when Lizzys finished her examination her companion Ratte started squeaking excitedly. "What is it boy?" Lizzy curiously asked. Just then she noticed an oddly dressed character approaching her cell. Listening closely she heard this person explain to the outside guard that he's there to deliver food and water to the captives. "Well get on with it and quick! I see any funny business from you I'm throwing you in to your own cell!" growled out the guard Lizzy stared at the strange man trying to figure out why he looked so familiar to her. Suddenly everything clicked together. "Hey I know who you are! You're... " Lizzy exclaimed before he gestured at her to lower her voice. Wow I almost didn't even recognize him in his new duds! It's Morrow! Lizzy thinks in wonder. "Shh, don’t let the guards know I am not who I seem to be." Morrow quietly states. Morrow then placed the tablet with a bowl and a cup of fresh water in front of the cell. “I will help you get out. There are some things you might need in the cup and under the bowl. I could not get anything else in the rush, but I think this will be useful." Morrow murmurs while bowing his head "I'm sure I know what to do! I'm a relative of the great MacGaiwer after all!" Lizzy whispered to Morrow as he turned away to leave the prison. Double checking to make sure the guard didn't notice anything fishy, the vagabond then pulled out the bag from under the slimy prison food and opened it. Inside there was some driedand
, some pieces of
, leaves from
and a little bottle with .
“Clever Goblin!” Lizzy muttered to herself, grabbing the wet straw and adding the Belladonna to cause madness and the hallucinogenic Henbane to it. Just when she was putting in the coral pieces in her and Rattes nostrils to be safe from any harmful things in the air through the filtering qualities of this oceans gift, she noticed that the guards were starting to argue with Morrow. Now was the time to act! With a little bit of the dragon breath she set the straw on fire. From the flames large plumes of smoke started to spread out from the confines of the cell towards the guard and Morrow. Lizzy really hoped that Morrow knew what she would do with the things he gave her and spared some corals for protection for himself. As soon as the smoke touched the guard he started stumbling and scratching his arms. “Aaaa … make it go away. It eats me! Make it go away.” the guard exclaimed in fear Now it was Rattes turn to flit to the panicking guard and due to his hallucinations was able to crawl up his leg unnoticed to the belt and with sharp teeth started nibbling on the key. Unfortunately mice teeth are not made to nibble on metal and so the little one returned back to her with hanging ears and no key. However they still had the acid juice to use. It burned away the metal lock and when Lizzy finally was able to open the cell door she saw no trace of Morrow. She hoped that he made it out okay and looked forward to seeing him again after this ordeal was over. Now it was all about finding a way out of there. Grabbing the smoking straw and the keys from the frightened guard, Lizzy and her mouse raced through the room. There were some other guards that soon arrived due to the screams of their colleague, but as soon as the thick purple smoke reached them they started to stumble and hallucinate. Due to the chaos, no one noticed the figure in the gray cloak racing through the wing of the prison. Every door she had to pass through had a lock that had to be opened with the stolen keys. She finally reached a thick wooden door that had the smell of freedom to it. Unfortunately the keys were no longer of any use. In a way this was logical to Lizzy due to if someone was able to escape and get the key from the guard, they still wouldn't have the last key to make it out. She knew there had to be a key for that door somewhere. Unfortunately she began to hear voices further down the passage. By then she knew the straw would have smoldered out and the smoke would only be a soft grey wisp. They had to act fast and so Lizzy took the Dragon breath and opened the lid as wide as possible, freeing an inferno of fire that left nothing but black ashes of the heavy door. Free … at last. Lizzy left the building and vanished into the gray twilight. Walls and fences were easy for her to overcome and the next task was to find her teammates.CATNIP-THIEF
[img align=center]http://i.imgur.com/LAJGKrQ.gif[/img]
Purple-hearted zodiac
❤️ | ❤️
The Diamonds in the Rough
Alisandra let out an exasperated sigh. She had been trying so hard not to reveal herself as a Danak.
How did they find out? Someone must have tipped them off...
She began to pace her cell, trying to figure a way out or a way to get a message to the outside. She had a cell with a window, luckily enough. The window stood way up high, however, and she was unable to look out it. Alisandra tutted and continued pacing.
Other than her small window and the solid door, the room was nothing but walls. Walls and floor and ceiling and straw. Outside of her cell, all was silent. It didn't seem like it would be easy to escape.
Meanwhile, Morrow's new duds came in handy. He made his way into the prison dressed as a holy man bringing baskets to the poor prisoners. He had talked the guard's ear off about the importance of kindness and generosity, even when it came to criminals. The guard had become irritated with the goblin and allowed him in as long as he would keep quite while he delivered his parcels. Each basket was filled with a few pieces of fruit and a book--and one basket held a little extra.
As Morrow and the guards neared her cell, Alisandra could hear their voices from outside her door. And... bleating? Milo! Alisandra leaned closer to the door to try to hear what the voices were saying.
"... apologies, sir. I'm not sure what's gotten into him. Very attached to me, you see."
The voice seemed familiar, but she could not pin the voice to a name or a face. The guard spoke in low grunts, and she was unable to make out what he had said. She backed away from the door and pushed herself against the wall as guard started to unlock the door to her cell. When it had opened, Milo clopped his hooves slightly in frustration, knowing he couldn't go in to her. Morrow's plan worked perfectly; Milo identified which cell was Alisandra's. Morrow silently placed the basket in her cell and bowed low, then allowed the guard to shut the door again.
Alisandra listened to the sounds of their footsteps and hooves until she couldn't hear them anymore. Then she threw herself at the basket unwrapped the parcel to find the following (in addition to some oranges and a book):
Alisandra's usually expressionless face broke out into a grin. Clever!
She had unwrapped the parcel so quickly that she almost missed the note sticking out of the book.
Alisandra,
Hope these help.
Morrow
Alisandra quickly set to work. She combined the powder and the liquid into the bottle. She picked up the match and raised her eyebrow. He seriously only packed one? Alisandra held her breath as she lit the match. She dropped it into the bottle and smiled when the effects were immediate.
She waited a few moments before downing the contents. Now to wait.
A warm sensation spread over her body. She closed her eyes, not wanting to watch the transformation as her body slowly disappeared into smoke. Once she was almost completely smoke, she opened her eyes and willed herself out the high window. She billowed out of the window and towards the inn. The potion would only last a short while, so she hoped she would be close before it wore off.
[center
The Role-Play[/center]]The smell in the dark, damp cell was very unpleasant. Levity wondered how much of it was coming from her cellmate. He appeared to be an elf of some sort though it was hard to tell with him wrapped in that dirty old blanket and huddled in the dark corner of the cell. He had had a really sour look on his face earlier for the total of five minutes he was awake. It was almost as sour as his smell Levity thought as she wrinkled her nose. The old guy looked like he had been here for a very long time with his foot long beard. She however had no intention of being here any longer than she had to. She looked over just in time to see Pistol, her obnoxious feline companion, creeping up on the old man. "Pistol!" she hissed. "Get over here!" "Aww come on!" he whined as the old guy groaned, farted and rolled over. "Just one good scratch?" "Get over here or I'll throw out your cat nip!" she ordered. She heard a quiet shuffling and turned to see Morrow appear on the other side of the cell bars."Morrow!" she whispered happily "Boy, am I glad to see you!" "I doubt that your companion feels the same way. I am glad that you don't seem to have his disposition" he replied. "Pistol can be a real jerk, sorry. I was hoping that you could help me out?" she said as she reached behind her smacking at Pistol who was silently poking his sharp claws into the back of her thigh.She glanced at the dozing guard to her left. He had been kind to her as he escorted her to the cell and even been apologetic of the conditions. He seemed like a nice guy for a guard and she hoped to use that to her advantage. Gotta do what ya gotta do, all's fair in love and war and all that she thought to herself. "I could really use some henbane, a little brimstone, crypt dust, moonwort and a tin of caffeinated mints?" she whispered to Morrow. "I just happen to have the mints" he replied. Levity looked at him quizzically and Pistol laughed out loud. "What? Some of us like fresh breath!" Morrow huffed. "A rare trait among goblins I am sure" Pistol muttered. "You do have wonderful breath I must say. You also look quite dapper in your sinhaen garb." Levity told him. "Thank you but enough flattery" he said though Levity noticed that he put his shoulders back rather proudly. "I shall return with the things you need shortly" he told her and with that he was off.
Levity watched him retreat down the dark hall and when she could no longer see him she returned to her dirty cell bench. Pistol sat down in front of her and began to open his mouth. "Shush" she said. He started to open his mouth again and she made a closing gesture with her hand. They did this repeatedly until a short time later when Morrow returned. He was carrying a small back pack. He tried to carefully hand her the items through the bars from it but as he did so the package of breath mints slipped from his palm and clattered to the ground. They both froze and looked towards the guard. The guard, slumped in his chair, stirred a little but luckily he quickly went back to snoozing. She put her hand to her mouth to stifle a loud laugh when she saw the look on Morrows face. His eyes had went wide, causing his forehead to wrinkle up and his very large nostrils to flare out so widely she thought to herself "Wow! You could get a truck in there!" It was all too much for her and try as she might she let out a squeaky, slobbery giggle.
She collected herself, wiped her chin with her sleeve and thanked Morrow who looked at her as though he was sure she was insane and shuffled off muttering "Poor thing!" as he shook his head. "Thank you, Morrow" she called quietly to his retreating back. "My aren't you precious!" Pistol snickered. "He may think I'm a jerk but he thinks you're straight out of a padded room"
Levity, ignoring Pistol grabbed a small rock from the uneven cell floor. Crouching by the bench, out of sight of the guard, she ground and crushed some of the items that Morrow had brought to her. She then grabbed her water jug, which was the only item she had been given when put in the cell, and added a little to the pile of powder she now had in one side of the mint tin. As she did so the combination of brimstone and moonwort caused a bright purple smoke to puff up which luckily quickly dissipated. The faint smell of burnt hair lingered on however she doubted it would be noticed over the rank smell of the cell. Adding the crypt dust and some crushed mints to the mix she began shaping all the ingredients into a tablet forms that looked similar to the one remaining breath mint. She then carefully placed them into the metal tin making sure the one unaltered mint was showing it's small indented logo and would be obvious to her.
She felt the makeshift mints looked close, as close as they were going to get, so she stood and straightened her clothes. She tried to straighten her hair and dust off a bit all the while praying that she had not started to smell like this place. When she felt she was as presentable as she could be under the circumstances she made her way over to the cell bars.
Clearing her throat and using her sexiest voice Levity called to the guard. "Hey handsome" The tall guard stirred awake slowly and looked at her quizzically "Who me?" he said as he looked around to see if there was someone else in the area. "Yes, you!" she giggled sweetly battling her eyelashes. "I don't see anyone else as fine as you around here." she continued. Don't overdo this she thought to herself. "Wow, thanks!" he began to blush as he stood up. Handsome didn't quite fit the man who had a rather large nose and tiny, close set eyes. You could tell he was not used to flattery but he was eating it up. "You're welcome sugar. So you from around here?" she asked wondering where her sudden southern accent had come from. When he wasn't looking she swatted at Pistol who was laughing in a strangely strangled way behind her. Trying not to laugh herself she reached for the tin of breath mints she had in her hand as the guard approached the bars of the cell. She lifted the lid as she batted her eyes at him and took out the only actual breath mint she had left inside.
As she slowly put the mint to her lips she extended her hand. "Nothing is nicer than a long kiss from someone with fresh minty breath. Don't you agree?" she asked as she tantalizingly rubbed the mint on her lips. She heard Pistol gag. The guard oblivious to anyone but her began nodding his head in agreement. He seemed mesmerized as he reached for a mint and put it in his mouth. "So tell me all about you? I'm dying to know." Levity said. He then began to tell her his life story. He was about five minutes into it when he began to look mystified. "I...Why I don't remember what I did next." he stammered. He sat back down with a thump. "I don't remember who I am...or where I am?" He said looking rather befuddled. The quickly made mint seemed to be doing it's job as he began to lose his memory. "Finally!" Pistol whispered. "I thought he was going to bore me to death!"
"You're my boyfriend and you were just going to unlock this silly cell here so we could go on a date remember?" Levity informed him flashing her biggest smile at him. "I am? Well alright!" the guard exclaimed smiling hugely as he jumped up and began to fumble with the key to the cell. "What a maroon!" Pistol exclaimed loudly. The guard faltered with his hand on the cell door and Levity shot Pistol a look that could kill. "Oh don't mind that silly old thing, sugar. We have places to go and things to do." she simpered as she reached between the bars to stroke his arm suggestively. "We do? What are we doing?" he asked confused again "I don't remember". "We are going on a date remember darling? Uhh it's our anniversary err Jim Bob and we are going to our special place. You just need to grab that key there and unlock this door so we can be on our way sugar" "Oh huh... yeah. Jim Bob. I'm Jim Bob." he told himself as he grabbed the key and unlocked the cell door. Levity wasted no time and jumped outside the cell startling the newly named Jim Bob. "Sorry, sugar. I'm just so excited for our special date." she informed him.
"Date? Who are you?" He looked at her completely befuddled again. Before Levity could reply Pistol yelled out. "She's a big fat liar is what she is and a terrible actress." He laughed. "Come on you hussy!" Pistol called to her chuckling loudly as he ran down the hall. Levity grabbed the confused guard as he watched Pistol disappear and pushed him into the cell locking it after him. "I'm sorry but the effects will wear off soon." "Effects? Who am I? Where am I?" he asked again. "Later, Jim Bob!" she blurted and quickly ran out after Pistol.
[center
Morrow & Tsu Tze[/center]]
Jilly's Incarceration
Jilly was scared. She had never set foot inside a prison cell before in her life. She had been handled roughly by the guards and pushed into a small cell. It was cold, musty and smelled strongly of urine in one corner. Straw covered the floor to hide whatever waste that lurked underneath. Thankfully there was a small window with metal bars that let in some fresh air from outside the prison. The door was also a network of metal bars, but it didn't let in fresh air. Instead it stank of sweat and fear. There was no bed to lay on. Jilly surmised that the straw was also meant to be her bed for the night. She was close to tears when she felt something brush up against her leg. She almost screamed! Were there rats living down here? But the soothing purr told her that it was her cat, Salem. She sighed in relief and bent down to scratch his head.
"I'm so happy you're here Salem," she whispered. "How did you get in here?"
"I followed you, of course," He said almost condescendingly.
"Do they know you're in here?" Jilly asked.
"No, I kept hidden in the shadows. They never saw me." He purred.
Jilly looked at her black companion and smiled. She was glad she did not have to spend her time alone inside this dismal place.
"So how do we get you out of here?" Salem inquired.
Jilly was taken aback. "Get out? With the guards just outside the door? We don't have a chance!"
"Hey! Who are you talking to in there?" A loud voice came from the hallway on the other side of the door.
Jilly's heart stopped. She held her breath as she heard the guard fumble with the keys and her door was unlocked in a moment. A large burly man stepped into her small cell with a lantern, which shone light in all corners of the room. But as she frantically looked around, she noticed that Salem was nowhere to be seen. The guard sneered at her.
"I-I-I'm so sorry," Jilly stammered. "I get lonely and will s-s-sometimes talk to myself. It-it helps me calm m-my nerves."
"Well keep it down, you old biddy. I don't have time to be chasing shadows. I have important business to do!"
And with that he slammed the door shut.
"Old biddy? Hmph! I'm old enough to put that man over my knee and show him a thing or two about respect!"
Salem slipped through the bars of the door and back into the cell with Jilly.
"I'm sure you would like to." He purred.
"Be careful! You're lucky you're small enough to slip between the bars like that." Jilly whispered softly.
When the guard was in her cell, Jilly was able to get a quick assessment of where the newer straw was. She gathered it up and made herself a half decent bed to sit on. She made sure it was as close to the window as possible so she could at least get a small taste of the fresh air.
"What are we going to do Salem? I don't have any of my ingredients on me to make a potion."
Salem pondered their predicament. He wasn't sure how to proceed. He rubbed against Jilly.
"I'm sure we can figure out something. Just give me some time to think things through."
Jilly sighed, lay down and closed her eyes. She missed her friends. Perhaps they were devising a plan to rescue her. She hoped they were okay! In all the chaos of the arrest, she thought she heard a commotion coming out of the inn. Fear gripped her as she realized that the black smoke she saw wouldn't be from a fire.
She sat straight up in her bed of straw. The lighting was different in her cell and there were more shadows. Had she fallen asleep? She couldn't see Salem but maybe he was just in a dark spot.
"Salem?" She whispered. "Are you here?"
"Psst!"
Jilly jumped! The sound came from above her head. She looked up at the ceiling but saw nothing.
"I must be losing my mind" she lamented.
"The window! I'm over here!" The voice whispered frantically.
Jilly hopped up and went straight to the window. She caught sight of some long pointy ears.
"Morrow?"
"Yes, I'm here. Salem asked me to bring you some items to help you get out. I'll lower them down to you with this rope. Just make sure not to spill anything or you'll be wishing you hadn't seen me!"
"Hurry! I don't want you getting caught!"
Morrow lowered down a small bundle through the window. The rope dropped just as Jilly heard a voice from outside.
"Halt! You there! What are you doing? Hey! Come back here! Guards! We have a snooping renegade on our hands! Get him!"
Jilly heard the running feet get fainter. She had hoped Morrow escaped. Not long after, Salem slipped back into the cell.
"Did you get your package?" He purred.
"I did. I hope Morrow is okay." Jilly was genuinely worried.
Salem's whiskers twitched. "I'm sure he can take care of himself. He IS a goblin after all."
Jilly smiled. She then opened her satchel. Inside was a small
[item2=Black Handcrafted Coffee Mug], [item2=magical matches], an [item2=acid apothecary bottle], [item2=bottled dark matter] and the [item2=coiled rope] that Morrow used to drop her satchel down with.
"I hope this is enough to help me escape. But how am I going to brew this without them noticing? A fire would most certainly draw attention to me."
Salem twitched his tail. "I think I can distract the guards long enough so you can do what you need to."
"Oh do be careful. I would never forgive myself if something happened to you!" Jilly frowned.
"Don't worry so much! They haven't caught me yet, and I still have eight of my nine lives."
Jilly knew Salem was right. He had to be the one to distract the guards. She couldn't help but worry that something terrible would happen to her dear friend. She went into the far corner of the cell and began to collect some of the straw that was dry. She then cleared out a small area so that there was nothing but the dirt floor to set her small pile of straw on. No sense in setting the whole cell on fire! She put the mug in the center of the straw. Then placed the two bottles away from the mug and she waited.
Salem slipped through the bars of the door and back into the hallway. Only two guards were on duty. They were sitting across from each other at a small table. Between them were some bones. The big burly guard rolled a pair of dice. He laughed and moved the bones around on the table. Salem saw a flash of copper. They were playing for coin. Salem's tail twitched excitedly. He knew how to distract them. Staying in the shadows, the feline slinked up behind the tall, thin guard and perched close to his head.
"He's cheating, you know." Salem whispered softly into the guard's ear.
Suddenly he stood up, knocking over his chair.
"What's yer problem?" The burly guard growled.
"I thought I heard voices!" The thin man exclaimed.
He picked up the lantern and held it up high above his head and looked around. But there was no one there.
"Bwahahahaha! Yer just as crazy as that old biddy in that cell!" the burly guard guffawed.
The thin guard sat back down. His eyes were still darting back and forth, but he couldn't locate where the voice came from.
"C'mon! Throw the dice! I want to have a drink of ale when I get off shift and yer paying for it!"
"Fat chance of that! I'm going to win this time!" And he threw the dice. He frowned. Luck was not with him and he lost his turn to the other guard and so he slipped another copper penny onto the table.
The burly guard laughed again. "Perhaps I'll have two drinks!"
He threw the dice and won the round again.
"How long are you planning on letting him cheat?" whispered the voice again.
This time the thin guard squinted his eyes. He realized that he hadn't won a round in quite some time. Perhaps the voice was his conscience warning him. He carefully watched the bigger guard and threw the dice. He lost again.
"Hahahaha! This is my night! It's like taking candy from a baby!" The big man grabbed for the coins.
The thin guard huffed.
"Watch his hands. He's gotta be switching the dice when you're not looking." The shadow whispered to him again, ever so softly.
The guard watched as the big man rolled the dice. Another lucky roll!
The thin man tried again and lost.
Meanwhile Salem had slinked over to the large guard. He had managed to find something while he was hiding in the shadows. Now all he had to do was finish this. But he had to time it perfectly. He carried the found object in his mouth, but how was he going to pull this off without being spotted? He looked up and found his answer. Silently he crept over to the wall and jumped onto a small table. Next to it was a cabinet that held spears and other weapons. He easily was able to spring up on top of it. Now to jump from that to the chandelier hanging above the guards. The noises below were already getting louder, the two guards were arguing already about the game. He smiled and worried less that his jump would be heard. And so he launched himself outward and cleanly landed on the chandelier. He cringed as it swung, it was creaking due to the rust that had covered the metal piece. But it had gone unnoticed by the two below, for they were still loudly arguing.
"You MUST be cheating! I haven't won hardly any rounds and you're cleaning me out!" Cried the thin man.
The burly guard growled back even louder. "How DARE you accuse me of cheating, you lily livered scoundrel!"
Salem watched intently as the thin guard shrunk back from the burly one. He worried that the smaller man would chicken out and let the big guy win. Then he saw the burly guard pick up the dice. It was time. As soon as the guard let loose the dice, Salem dropped the object from his mouth and let it fall to the table. Now there were three die on the table.
The thin man found his courage and stood up, drawing his sword. "That's it! You ARE a cheater, AND a big fat LIAR!"
The burly man was shocked to see the third die on the table, but as soon as the thin man stood up, he did as well. "I DO NOT CHEAT! You slipped that in there to make me look bad!"
"I did no such thing!" Cried the thin man. "Now give me my coin back, or I'll make you regret it!"
Salem had already jumped back down. He probably could've walked over the table that was between the two guards and they still wouldn't have seen him since they were so distracted. He slipped back into Jilly's cell to find that she had already started a small fire and her potion was brewing. She had put the dark matter into the mug first, then added several drops of the acid. It was at a nice boil by now. Jilly carefully picked up the mug and placed it under the window. She then took one end of the coiled rope and measured out a short length of it and held the rope over the small flame of her fire until it burned through the rope. She then stomped out the fire and fanned the smoke towards the window.
She heard the sudden clang of iron against iron. The guards were now duelling outside the cell, both protecting their honor. She had to work quickly, for once that battle was over, her time would be up.
Jilly took the small piece of rope and pulled it apart so that there were several strands. She dipped each strand into her brew and took great care to wrap the strand around the metal bars in her window. A quiet hiss emanated from each strand, the brew was eating its way through the bars.
A curse cut through the battle outside as one of the guards was struck. But the clanging of weapons still rung out.
"Hurry Jilly. Try and pull the bars out of the window!" Salem urged.
Jilly gripped the bars and pulled. They didn't budge.
"We have to wait for the brew to eat through the bars Salem. I can't get it to budge just yet."
"Keep trying! That duel won't last forever!" Salem worried.
Jilly knew time was running out. She closed her eyes and said a prayer. She waited to hear another clank of the duel when she pulled hard on the bars. This time they snapped and slid out of the window. Jilly nearly fell backwards from the momentum.
"Salem, quick! Grab the rope and jump out. Tie it to something so I can pull myself up and out!"
The cat pounced into the window and disappeared with one end of the rope in his mouth. He returned shortly to let Jilly know it was secure.
Just then she heard a gurgling cry. One of the guards was finally killed. Her time was gone. She grabbed the rope and pulled herself up as quietly as she could manage. She heard footsteps coming closer to her door. She reached the window and squeezed through.
"What's that horrible smell you old biddy? Did you die in here?"
Jilly poked her head back in the window and moaned pitifully. "Don't bother coming in, I believe I have the plague. I just got sick. It's probably contagious. Just leave me alone to die."
"Ugh! Stay away from me then! I don't need your nasty disease you old crone! You'll be thankful if you die in your sleep. I'm sure the alternative isn't pleasant."
And with that, the guard left the door. Jilly pulled her head out into the fresh air. Salem had already untied the rope and had it laying by Jilly's feet. She picked it up and the pair slipped away into the night, back towards the inn.
Tsu Tze and Morrow
[center
Morrow and Suzy[/center]] .. TSU TZE! Tsu Tze, Tsu Tze, TSU TZE! Ooops! Yes, yes of course..
Morrow and Tsu Tze![center
Danaks Don't Do Dungeons[/center]]Calie sent a baleful glare at the guard and slumped down against the cell wall. The prison was a small one compared to others she'd seen. There were only four cells, two on each side, with a guard strolling the walkway between them. Her cell had stone walls with a small barred window at the back and door of bars with a lock at the front. It was still dark out but there were two lit torches set in sconces outside the cells on the wall.Calie had just leaned her head back to try and get some rest when a scratching noise came from the window. Giving a quick glance at the guard, she slowly stood and wandered over. She casually looked out and had to bite back an exclamation when she saw a goblin face peering back at her. Before she could make any noise the goblin whispered, "It's alright, it's me! Morrow!" Calie put her back to the wall next to the window and watched the guard. When his back was turned she whispered, "What is it? Can you help me get out?"
"I can't get you out, but I brought some things that might help you escape on your own. There are three packages." Morrow whispered back. Calie watched the guard pace back and forth. When he turned his back, she put her hand through the window, grabbed the first package and quickly slipped it into her sash. She watched the guard pace again and repeated the process twice more, hiding the packages in her sleeves. "Thank you, Morrow. Tell my friends I'll meet them soon!" After Morrow left, Calie went to the back corner of her cell out of direct sight of the guard and sat down facing the wall. She pulled the packages from her sleeves and sash and laid them down between the wall and herself. It was time to find out what Morrow had been able to sneak in to her.
There were three pieces of paper carefully wrapped around several items. The first held a misshapen spring and a small bundle of sand spirit brand incense sticks. Excellent! I can use the wire to make lock picks! But, incense? The second held a small acorn bomb. sigh What does he think I should do? Blow the place up? With me in it? But...maybe I can use the gunpowder inside. And the third held a container of fine gold hair dust. Now where did he find that?
While keeping track of the guard, she contemplated what to do with all the items as she bent, broke, and reshaped the spring into usable lock picks. She didn't want to blow the place up, so she definitely needed to take the acorn bomb apart. The gunpowder inside could be used for small explosions, but what to use the incense and gold dust for? She looked up at the cell window in thought. The black night had turned into a dark navy blue. The sun would be coming up soon and would shine through the window. She wouldn't have long to keep what she was doing hidden. Then it came to her; how to escape! Misdirection and distraction!
She laid the three pieces of paper flat and poured some gold dust into each. She carefully opened the acorn bomb and poured a small bit of gunpowder on the paper with the gold dust, then very carefully rolled each paper up into a tightly packed scroll shape, pinching the ends to keep the powders from flowing out. Next she took a piece of straw from the floor of the cell and carefully tied an incense stick to each rolled paper with the length sticking out from the paper. Checking the sky out the window and the now yawning guard, she pulled a sleeping Geep from her pocket. She would have to time this exactly, and quickly did the calculations in her head then rubbed the little gecko.
"Alright you, wake up!" she whispered. "It's your turn to do a little work." Geep opened an eye and seemed to glare at her. Calie set Geep on the cell floor and whispered instructions. Geep sighed and picked up the first bundle in his mouth and scrambled through the cell bars. He quickly went up the wall and over to a wall sconce holding a torch. He pushed and shoved the bundle into the sconce near the burning torch and then stopped. Calie made an exasperated sound at her gecko 'sunning' himself and silently urged him to hurry up!
Geep sighed and slowly made his way back to the cell. Calie furiously whispered, "You can sun yourself all day once we get out of here, but if you don't hurry it up there won't be any almond roasted crickets in your future for a while!" Geep squawked and Calie anxiously looked at the guard. He yawned again but didn't seem to be paying attention. Calie blew a breath of relief and handed another paper scroll to Geep. The little gecko was able to place the last two paper scrolls in the other wall sconce.
Calie looked again at the window and the growing dawn. "Come on, come on..." she whispered, and looked at the first wall sconce, hoping she'd timed it right. The first bundle started to smoke as the incense stick started to burn. The other two incense sticks also started to burn and smoke slowly filled the room. Looking again at the window and the brightening sky, she crept closer to the lock on the door with her lock picks ready.
Several things then happened at once. The smoke from the incense sticks had filled the room, making it a little hard to check the alertness of the guard. The sticks had also burned down to the paper, catching it on fire. The paper quickly burst into flames and burned, thereby sparking the gunpowder to explode with POP! POP! POP! as the gunpowder threw the fine gold dust into the air. The guard jerked from the noise and looked around just at the sun rose and the first rays of light shown through the window. The sunlight hit the gold dust, making the smoke glitter and glow. Calie leaped for the lock on the cell and quickly used her lock picks. Slipping through the door, she raced past the shocked and disoriented guard. She paused at the outer door to grab a jug of water and hit the guard over the head to knock him out before he made too much noise.
Again using her lock picks, she opened the main prison door and found herself facing the back of another guard! She hefted the water jug and managed to hit him in the head just as he started to turn, knocking him out. She tried to drag him into the prison to keep him out of sight, but Goodness!, those guards are heavy! She had to leave him and hope no one noticed too quickly. Calie slunk along the outer wall and quickly slipped through a small gap in the fence. She was free!
Life is short... Count your Blessings, Love your family and friends and lend a helping hand whenever you can!
R.I.P. Karen Garvin, beloved sister. Tom Garvin, beloved father. Jo Garvin, beloved mother., Donna Honeycutt, baby sister
reaver @ Greenrowan
(Turo posted the rp above for Kennys solo mission)
Team Reavers Avatars
~ Cowboys & Russians ~
Tsu Tze and Morrow
[URL=http://s600.photobucket.com/user/Amdir/media/Tsu20Tze.jpg.html][IMG]http://i600.photobucket.com/albums/tt83/Amdir/Tsu20Tze.jpg[/IMG][/URL] [URL=http://s600.photobucket.com/user/Amdir/media/Morrow.jpg.html][IMG]http://i600.photobucket.com/albums/tt83/Amdir/Morrow.jpg[/IMG][/URL]
Tsu Tze in disguise. Morrow dressed in his new best.
Here are our Morrow and Tsu Tze HA entries:
A Danhak, a Goblin, and a Unicorn walk into a bar...
Myra looked around, bewildered, trying to take in the chaos. What does that mean, she being a captive? She knew folks here had called her a Danhak and made innuendos yet only now her unsuspicious soul realized the true scale of this status. They wanted to put her in jail! Confine Shimmershadow because he was her companion!
Her whole heart rebelled against this fact. Somehow, she knew she would escape and in the end and be safe yet she was sure her unicorn friend would respond badly being caught again, she was pretty sure he would get sick or even die in imprisonment. Unicorns have a deep desire for freedom and her poor soul mate had already suffered a trauma like this some years ago.
Repressing her emotional uproar, Myra tried to stay sweet and composed on the outside and nevertheless, searched for her inner telepathic bond she shared with her closest friend who’s whirling, storm-clouded eyes showed his anxiety.
“Shimmershadow, fly away, quick!” the alchemist sent through their bond, hanging two little bags with her alchemistic supplies around the unicorn's neck, securing them with a brown leather chain. She know she would be stripped or them if she didn’t get them into safety.
A denial came back through their telepathic connection, Shimmershadow tossing his head and rearing. “I won’t leave you! Never!” she received.
“You have to, love!” Myra begged, seeing the attackers took even more interest in them, now that the unicorn behaved like this. “Bring me a harness!” one of them ordered, and several others sprang into action.
Seeing this, Myra sent their secret word for emergencies over - if the unicorn waited another one minute, he wouldn’t be able to escape on his own anymore. Reluctantly and with a last desperate whicker, Shimmershadow pirouetted around. With an enormous ‘Whoosh’ only Myra was able to hear, his secret wings came out, silvery-white yet strong feathers with a span of two metres each. To the complete astonishment of attackers, friends and companions around, he leapt into the air, clapping his gorgeous feather garment. One of the raiders managed to clutch the leather string around the unicorn's neck and a little purple silk bag fell out, unnoticed. Myra bent and tried to snatch it quickly yet one of the attackers was faster, waving his bounty around to the loud and earthy approval of his comrades.
When the alchemist turned around to make certain her friend had managed his escape, he was already gone. Where was he? Myra worried. Commotion was all around, attackers were swarming the place.
“Have you seen this…?” “I can’t believe it…” “Gone in a blink, faster than light!” “I wanted to sell its horn, darn!”
Myra was only able to hear clipped sentences yet what she heard made her feel nauseated already. Quickly, she felt for Shimmershadow through their bond yet she couldn’t find him. First, Myra was frightened yet after some seconds, a slow smile spread over her face. Her friend was safe now and she had just the idea how he had done it. She only didn’t know so far he could do it already.
Myra sighed with relief yet one of the assailants, a young and brutal looking man, went over to her and jerked up her arm painfully on purpose, seizing her up.
“Up, Danhak!” he demanded, “Let’s see what dangerous items you’re hiding in the pockets of your dress!”
With a mean grin, he laid his big hands on Myra’s shoulders, feeling the smooth fabric of her hakama under his fingers. “´Tis a rich one!” he exclaimed with glee and bent down to see to his task.
An older, and apparently, superior man with a gray beard, wearing a long sea-blue kimono from good quality, looked up, taking the scene in. At a smart pace, he walked up to the pair, taking in Myra’s distressed expression. “Grouch, let me do this one!” he ordered, pulling the younger man away. “Smarty pants hang all her belongings to the unicorn’s neck already!” and with swift yet firm hands, he searched Myra’s pockets and socks, even her shoes.
He rose, looking thoughtfully. “She’s good yet she could be dangerous nevertheless. Bring her into a solitary cell and post two guards before her door!” he commanded and shoved Myra and Grouch in the general direction of the Inn. On her way, she collided with a bent and shuffling Morrow who slipped a little silken bag into her hand. Quickly, she hid it between her breasts, close to her flute. Perhaps, that would be a place she wouldn’t be scoured if they did it again!
The jail cell Myra was confined in was very sparsely furnished. A crude carpentered bed, a plain wooden table with a water flask atop, accompanied by two uncomfortable looking stools and in place of a cupboard, only two empty shelves at one of the walls. No pictures, carpets or accessories adorned the windowless room which had seen clearly all kinds of miseries already.
Myra sat on the bed, trying to make a plan. It was always good to have one, even in difficult or unpromising situations. You never know when a plan would come in handy. So what to do to manage escaping? She was sure her fellows would think something up, too, yet she wanted to leave this tristesse more sooner than later.
The alchemist had already searched the room for ideas yet it was all empty of items which would prove useful, no window to climb out and two guards standing watch, pattering the whole time. The door lock would be no problem, Myra thought, fingering for her chopsticks which held her buns. The ends were pretty sharp and Krios had shown her all kind of non-magical tricks to open a locked door with only so much as a hairpin. However, it made no sense opening the door and then running into the arms of the two guards on her way out.
Let’s see, the Danhak mused, are there any other items on me useful for elopement? She inspected her beautiful adorned and now dirty hakama, her socks, her sandals, her back bow and the items she had stored away between her breasts. Mmh.
A belt for strangling somebody unconscious yet there was hope she wouldn't have to do this by finding a more elegant way of escape. A long stretch of fabric from the bow for binding and gagging somebody when overwhelmed. Two chopsticks for opening the door. A flute. A purple silk bag with unknown ingredients.
Wait, was this HER bag? The one the attacker had snatched from Shimmershadow? Cautiously, Myra opened the little bag, peering inside. She had packed a lot of them, they all looked the same from the outside. However, this one felt much lighter than her packed ones, Myra thought, disappointed. It seemed like the catcher had already removed some things before Morrow could steal it back.
One by one, Myra extracted five items and laid them onto the wooden table. She had packed this bag for treating wounds, and after a quick overview, the alchemist knew exactly which items the thief had taken: Papaver somniferum, opium and codeinum - all drugs used by the healer as strong painkillers.
They would sell well on the black market!
The items which remained were:
Normally, Myra used lavender and lemongrass in a concoction to pour over wounds to prevent infection. The herbs also were useful for deep concentration and learning. If patients were in need of a strong painkiller which would make them drowsy, she mixed the special grounded coffee beans and sprinkles of dried momobo berries under the drug concoction when it was necessary for the patient to stay awake. Dried momobo berries had a very sour taste which makes your mind snap immediately back into sharp alert.
The alchemist chuckled. Grounded, mixed together and dissolved in water, the remedies would result into a strong stimulant. Not something very useful here, she thought, having it vice versa so she could try to apply a nightcap to the guards would be much more wise in her situation!
Absentmindedly, Myra swirled her flute with her fingers. The flute reminded her of her peaceful days in the elven forest. There were other reasons than being able to play a beautiful song, harmonious music, which made the elves teach her the flute. Some songs could alter the mood of beings, some even let them fall asleep…
Without loosing time, Myra put all of the ingredients into the mortar bowl, grabbed the pestle and gave them a good extra grounding for getting a soft powder out of the mix. Then, she put about three ounces of the herbal mix into the waterflask and shook it well before using. Wrinkling her nose, she drank the fluid all at once without second thought. Now, she would have to wait twenty minutes. Myra sat down onto the floor with crossed legs, highly focused on the tune she had to perform soon. After a time, she felt the well-known alertness and absolute concentration kicking in. The alchemist grabbed her flute and listened a last time for the sounds outside, the heavy banter of the guards watching her door. Then, she began to play on the flute.
She coaxed a sweet and soft tune out of her instrument now, full of relaxation, promises and neverending dreams. A song well known in the elven forest, a song known to let all beings fall asleep at speed when they heard it. Even the player herself was in danger of succumbing to the composition.
After three minutes, Myra heard the first clonk from outside the room, one down, she thought. Feeling some drowsiness forming in her head already, she took another deep breath and played along until a second clonk told her the guards would be sleeping like babies now after hearing her lullaby.
Quickly, the healer opened the door with one of her chopsticks, stepped cautiously over the sleepers, bound and gagged them, and made for the exit. All attackers seemed to be engaged in something, nobody saw her slipping out of the inn. Free again!
Now up to look for her friends after she had found Shimmershadow! She stole away to a nearby meadow, gleaming in the moonlight now. Patiently, she sat down and opened her mind for a telepathic connection. Again, she couldn’t feel her friend yet after some minutes of waiting, the beautiful unicorn materialized out of nowhere right before her eyes and landed softly at her feet, alchemistic supplies still bound to his neck. The alchemist leapt up, hugging her soulmate, taking in the well-known and beloved scent of his body.
“You´ve done it! Like we trained!” Myra cried out, happily. “Congrats!” “You did well, too!” the unicorn answered through their bond, content and smug.
[font=book antiqua]—
(occ) having these do late on in the week is so tough for me working 60+ hours a week and most of those hours Wed-Sun. Im sorry. It probably to late to be judge (or can take points off...but this is what we had)
Jalapenos
Tea_Roll comes back to the Jalapenos table after mingling at the other tables of protectors.
“What's a Illjimae?” Tea_Roll asks the group.
“What's a Illjimae? Well from what I gather it's just basically the alchemist when in this particular land. But... Maybe my brain made that up”, Springjoy answers.
Thinking about this answer Tea_Roll replies, ”Oh, okay. I would hate to be one of those guys.”
“You were one of those guys!” Lovecraft says with one eye brow arched.
“Why?” Springjoy asks with a worried look on her face.
“It’s nothing, that’s just who they are arresting over there.” Tea_Roll says, jestering with her thumb in the direction of another table.
“WHAT!?!”, the group says louder then they expected.
“Yeah, that guy over there was talking to Teislyns group, something about ‘papers please?’ and then said Danak are under arrest. And then that guy,” points at another,” said some things a lady would never dare to repeat but it was words that Lovecraft likes to use, about being a bloody Illjimae ” Tea_Roll explains.
“I am an alchemist!” Kaiidth shrieks, Lovecraft puts a hand over her mouth. …………….. Edit: some more in by Lovecraft
"No way they would arrest someone who just had a baby," Terrena smiles at her reassuringly.
Kaiidth quickly ducks down under the table to Howie whispering something and no sooner she pops back up the authorities show up and seem to know instantly that she is the Illjimae.
"You there!" They say and point at her "Over there with the rest of them."
"What's their crime?" Reaper says trying to stand up, while pulling her top down more revealing her boobs to them.
"Just stay seated and nothing else has to happen here," They say to her ignoring her actions.
"Are they eunuchs?" she mumbles under her breath.
"Lovecraft," Springjoy tries to whisper loudly over the commotion. "DO SOMETHING?" But she just sits there sipping on her drink without saying a word.
"This has got to be the calmest she has ever been," Tea says nodding towards her.
Terrena nods her head in agreement as they all watch as Kaiidth is marched away and disappears.
"Now what?" Springjoy asks.
"Probably join the with dealing with the two Tanaka's over there," Tea points with cake in her mouth.
"Um guys," Lovecraft says startling them suddenly that she has finally spoken.
"What?" Reaper says harshly "You had nothing to say when they took Kaiidth off."
"Yes, but I think I was the only one that noticed what she left on the seat when she left." Lovecraft replies. "And I have no clue what to do with it."
All of them look to see what had Lovecraft silenced, when they see the cute little baby boy laying soundly asleep in a blanket with Howie's head softly nuzzled next to him.
"NO WAY!" Terrena yells
"Not it!" Reaper says. "I am so not prepared for one of those," she takes a deep swig off of her drink in front of her.
"MINE!" Tea says trying to reach for the baby with Springjoy slapping her hands away.
"I am not sure that is the right plan either, Tea" Spring tries to be nice to her about it, but Tea sits down sulking.
Meanwhile with Kaiidth...
Kaiidth sat on the hay cot looking around at her iron bar jail cell. The sun high in the sky kaiidth worried about her son with the rest of her group, hopefully howie would keep him safe once he got back with Morrow. She knew if she transformed she'd be able to move pretty undetected guards rarely look down but she was unsure if she'd be able to fit through the bars.unfortunately it was too light out to transform without being seen, her best bet was to wait till nightfall.
Kaiidth sat knees to her chest as she watched the guards patterns so she'd know when to transform so they'd see an empty cell. As night fell kaiidth waited for the guards to do their rounds before she transformed into her black fox self. She moved into a corner and waited for the next guard to make his rounds.
Kaiidth smirked as she heard the jingle of keys as the guard approached. The guard stopped outside her cell looking in a moment before realizing she was gone. “escaped prisoner, cell 21!” He goes through his keys pulling out the one to her cell. Opening the door he walks in checking the bed and the window bars. As he does this kaiidth pads out of the cell and starts running down the corridors trying to remember how they brought her into the jail.
Kaiidth stayed in the shadows her black fur making it easier to hide. She took a few wrong turns and cursed as she got lost. Seeing a guard on tour she decided to take a chance. She followed a bit behind him as he headed back to the front of the prison. Seeing the door to the prison closed she hides under furniture sighing.
Kaiidths eyes get heavy as she falls into a light sleep as she waits. Hours go by as night passes and the doors open. Kaiidth jumps hitting her head on the underside of a wooden desk drawer. She winces and starts to crawl out from under the desk heading for the door and freedom.
Kaiidth gets out of the door a couple guards notice and shouting. She takes off running faster heading into town. Wandering around looking for her team. Once in town kaiidth goes down an alley and transforms back. She heads towards the last place she knew her team to be.