Volkanenborg

[Sareth]

I crept down the hill towards where I could hear the shooting going on. I wasn't sure what all was going on, who was shooting at who, or any of that. But I was pretty sure that with whoever it was shooting at whoever it was, I was likely to be reasonably safe from being spotted. When shots are flying, people tend to stare at the place the shots are coming from, not towards some perfectly innocuous, shotless bush. All I needed was to get into position long enough to get a feel for who was doing what to whom, and it should give me some clue as to where I could find the Mesuinu chick. Grab her, get out of the area, then go collect the rest of my reward from Elke and her love muffin... life would be good! After that, I might even go for one of those steak dinners I was owed, though I still was not keen on hanging out in Volkanenborg. I'm sure mother was over her terminal case of groinal distraction.

Ew... I really did not need to put that image into my own head. ick ick ick...

As I slid under a bush not far from the shooting, I carefully began to look around to assess the situation. Group here... group there... this one shooting at that one... Looks like the ones in the cave are outnumbered, but they have better cover. And being that they are in the mouth of the cave shooting outward, I'm betting they're more of the guys holding the damsel in distress. Which makes the other group allies. Or rivals. I'm thinking rivals.

So now what, Jamie? Think, think, think...

[Graybeard]

Much better, Grope thought. The pain in his Blood-Binding scar had gone away, to be replaced by the low-level itching that he was coming to accept as more or less normal when Lucas was around. The world that the man inhabited was ... colorful ...

As far as he could tell, he had no further business with the conflict that continued to engage the Small Ones. It wasn't that conflict was bad; for a troll, it was pretty well a normal way of life. But why this particular conflict? Grope couldn't make any sense out of it. Lucas' explanation had helped somewhat, but there were just such profound cultural differences between the things that created conflict among the Small Ones and those that engaged his own people that he was never going to understand fully what was happening in this place. In any event, it was their problem, not his.

"Farewell, Friend Lucas," he called. "I must go into the mountains. Be well, and if you need me, I will come." He waved and turned to head up the crest of the ridge leading into the Mountains of Madness...

...But wait a minute. Was the female Small One coming along too? Or did their paths just happen to be parallel through this rough terrain? Well, no matter; these things had a way of sorting themselves out, and Grope had time.

[Viking-Sensei]

"Grope, wait!" Lucas shouted, chasing after the troll as he started along the path. "If you're headed in that direction, I thought I should warn you. Further along, about two major mountains over, there's an isolated retreat for one of the obscure Veracian religious orders... Mallatarians or something like that. I accidentally stumbled across them several months ago while their abby was still under construction... and they were incredibly hostile. Without warning, they just started throwing magic at me the likes of which I've never seen before. It'll add a couple days to your journey and put you closer to human territories than I'm sure you'd like, but you should probably skirt along the range to the north here-" Lucas held out one of his maps, indicating to where to avoid "-to here."

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Sherry wasn't dead. She was very badly injured, but not actually dead... not yet anyway. The cold world was muffled through a veil of gray, the hazy filter of a person on the verge of waking or of sleep. Sounds of gunfire echoed in the distance and it suddenly occured to her that it really wasn't her problem anymore. She had bigger problems.

All her life, she'd been alone. Oprhaned or abandoned by her parents as a baby, shunned by other children because of her magical abilities (which manifested at an early age), outcast from the other teens for her social awkwardness... it was only when she'd reached her twenties that anyone had ever found a use for her, as a witch-for-hire. Healing and hurting, casting good magic along side bad, she'd gone whereever there'd been a need - not like Neverinal, who was all about money - no, she went where she was needed. Wanted. Important.

Then the Eisenfaust had recruited her, and she'd been a part - and it was the happiest time of her life, for a while anyway. Then came the cursed Volkanenborg assignment. She'd been sent to observe - that's it, just observe - the town and it's people to make sure that the Wraith weren't sneaking in or making deals with Saiko. And she'd been sent partnerless. They set her up with a nice place and she was given plenty of operational funds, but she was alone... too alone... Sitting there, day after day, watching happy children and happy families come and go from the amusement park, thinking about all that she'd lost or never had in the first place. It tore her heart in two.

Then came "the rebellion". A group of Eisenfaust and Wraith looking to take Volkanenborg as their own... and they wanted her. So, she joined... she gave her best... she faught... and now, she died. Or nearly so. The cold world slipped colder away. Voices echoed, but she didn't recognize them. Nobody came for her. She was going to die, as she had lived...

Alone.




...or not.

Sherry awoke on a very soft bed. Several things suddenly occured to her - she didn't hurt anymore, not just in body but sort of in soul, if that was possible. She felt more at peace than she could remember. She struggled to her feet, an act that seemed a little more complicated than she remembered, and sat on the edge of the bed taking her surroundings in. The room was very organic looking, vines growing from the ground to the roof, and it made her feel sort of like she was inside a giant pumpkin.

She looked down and got a bit of a surprise as well... her body was, while still her body, not quite her body anymore. It was more like she'd always imagined she'd look if she'd ever bothered to use transformative magic on herself to make her look beautiful... perfect skin, perfectly manicured nails, just the right amount of muscle on the arms to make her look athletic and fit but not rock hard or uncomfortable to hug. Her ideal body. She noticed on one wall was a full-length mirror, so she walked over to it and got another shock - she now had wings.

Not big feathery angel wings that would indicate heaven, nor leathery bat wings that would indicate hell... no, these were more insectlike, like moth or maybe dragonfly wings. The dress she was wearing (not a dress she rememebered putting on, either) obviously had taken into account the fact that she'd have wings, because the back had been taylored to allow them space to connect. This explained why she was having trouble sitting/standing up... she gave them an experimental flutter, and suddenly found herself aloft, floating above the ground.

"Ah, you're awake." A voice said from her doorway. She looked and immediately saw a giant face peering in at her. "Are you feeling ok?"

Giant face. No, as it pulled back, she suddenly was struck by something of an issue of scale - the outside of her 'house' was a normal looking house, except huge... or, more likely than not, normal sized, but huge in comparison to the fact that she was now tiny. "I... I feel ok, but I'm a little confused. What did you do to me?"

The man... no, not quite a man... elf? He didn't look like Neverinal did, he looked much more like elves were supposed to look, smiled at her and backed away to give her room to come out and stand on her stoop. "I saved you, my dear. I felt your emptyness, your sadness, your lonliness, and I saved you from that death. Your body didn't make it, I'm afraid, but you don't need it anymore. You're now a spirit, of a sort... a being of pure magic energy, an indestructable magical construct made of mana and soul."

She looked at herself, amazed, but somehow knew that it was true. "Thank... thank you. Who are you?"

"A friend." He said, smiling.

"Do... do I owe you anything?" She fluttered, and took off like a dart through the air, now hovering before his incredibly kind face. "You've given me something amazing, surely there must be something that you want in return."

"You don't owe me anything. A gift given only to expect a gift in return is no gift." He turned away, looking out one of the frosted windows for a moment. "But... if you *would* want to come with me and help me do the very important things I'm working on, I can promise you this. You'll never be cold, or alone, or unloved ever again. You will be a teacher... a great teacher... and I will call you Compassion."

[Sareth]

Fortune, it seems, favors the foolish. And it would seem I am quite foolish. As I watched the two sides duking it out with fire arms used with more enthusiasm than skill, I caught a movement out of the corner of my eye. It wasn't hard to catch. Not hard at all.

"What the hell is she wearing? God, I need to take her shopping some time."

I scooted back from under the bush and down the backside of the slope until I was clear, then jogged over to the small hole in the ground in the small ravine I'd been hiding at the upper lip of. Sticking half out of it was a figure wearing the most garish outfit I have ever seen in my life. Even covered in dirt, it was horrifyingly bright. I had no doubt, at all, who I was looking at.

Well, half looking at.

"Want to get your other half out of that hole so I can get you out of here before they realize you've gone missing?"

Saiko Mesuinu looked up at me from where she was struggling to get out of the hole. "Daaaaaahling! That would be just lovely, but I'm stuck!"

Sighing, I leaned down to lend an arm to the effort of getting the... eccentric woman out of the hole. If I was lucky, her pants wouldn't make the trip. If I was unlucky... dead unlucky, she'd keep the pants, and they'd be a perfect mismatch to the color of her top.

[Viking-Sensei]

(OOC: If nobody minds, I'm just going to FF us back to the town now...)

"...and that's how we got back here." Lucas said, casting a glance over to Marcus and Jamie, then firing a lingering 'how awesome am I?' glance at Annika. "Easy as pie."

"And I appreciate it, daaaahling." Saiko said, running a complicated device through her hair to repair the chunk that was missing. "Vhen ze tunnel started collapsing, my cage door came off zhe hinges and I vas able to eskape... but it vas this cutey-" She reached a talon out and tickled Jamie under her chin "...zhat pulled me to vreedom."

"I'm still a little worried about that elf." Lucas admitted. "Something tells me we haven't seen the last of him."

"I vas not seeink anyvone else in zhe tunnels as I vas eskaping." Saiko said. "But, to be beink zhure, I vill zend out zhe Happy Vuntime Patrol to make zhure zhat if he zurvived, he is brought to zhe justice."

Saiko then reached down on her desk - no, under her desk, and flipped a hidden switch. One of the walls of her study slowly slid to the side, revealing a large and significantly awesome armory chocked full of weapons, armor, and various magical devices that would be the envy of the Tsuirakan elite. A table flipped over with a wide assortment of guns, while another wall opened up to reveal a large array of white containers holding magical spell components.

"I know zhere vas no 'official' revard offered vor my rescue, however I vas thinking zhat perhaps you all could be usink zhome... levelink up, is zhat how zhey say it, yah? Help yourselves."

[AdamZero]

I love paydays.
Especially ones I didn't plan on.
It's really just that simple.
Stuff. Hot, shiny, brand new, STUFF.

As Boris walked over to a rack of weapons, he pulled a long rapier from a rack where it was held. He tapped the thin, flat side against the bones that would be his palms support before going into a quick, rapid, barrage on a non-existent opponent. Had there been a person there, he would have been ventilated in four places and lot most of his arm. Boris clacked his mandible a few times and stuffed the swore up into the pocket dimension ring I'd placed there.

For myself, it was a matter of restocking on medicinal herbs, and basic casting supplies. However as I walked over to where Jamie was, I scratched my chin. "You think I should pick up a piece... you know in case you aren't around or you're busy shooting bigger targets?"

[Sareth]

"Well," I considered, as I began perusing the wall of goodies. "That depends on several things. The most important ones are, 'can you shoot?' and 'Would I be safer standing behind you, or in front of you if you were so armed?'" I ran my fingers along a finely engraved hold out pistol, contemplating it, before deciding the nickle plating might be way to shiny and flashy for someone in my profession and moving on.

[AdamZero]

I shrugged as I rolled my shoulders. "I'd prefer it if you were next to me, less chance of either of us shooting each other, unless you turn to your side." I held a gun in my hands for a short while. It was fresh, untouched, these guns had never seen battle and never caused death, every one was brand as a baby's ass new. The blades, however, weren't as clean, metaphysically speaking. I set the gun down and pulled a short sword down from the wall. It was a nice weight, balanced, and the pommel was a silver, smiling, skull. The whole thing had the look of a slice of moonlight. I liked it rather much.

"I don't supposed a quantity of gold, or maybe some manner of freebie-coupon to the local food joints would be in order as well?" I turned to her with a smile. If she went through what I went through, she didn't look nearly as bad for it. I couldn't help but wonder though, those images... somebody had felt that pain, maybe just under an illusion of Saiko... but Neverinal had caused that pain...

I stared into her eyes for a short while, trying to figure out what I saw in them, beyond that smile and accent there was.... something... but her eyes held a shield as well, and whatever I might have gleaned from her gaze was well hidden. I only hopped she didn't look to deeply into mine. I was still tired, and the pain of Neverinal's dungeon... still fresh in my eyes.

[Graybeard]

"Well, I have family to find," Grope said as he resumed his long, loping stride toward the Mountains of Madness.

"Why did you help them?¨ Chippy asked from his shoulder.

"Truthfully, I do not know," Grope answered. "There was a clash of tribes there, even though I do not know who the tribes were, and who was in what tribe. It was all very confused."

"Yeah, I sure got faked out," Chippy agreed. "I work for that crazy Mesuinu woman, and I thought we were supposed to be rescuing her. But now it turns out that we were really rescuing your friend FROM her? And with her active consent? I tell you, I´ll never understand humans."

"Nor will I. But I do understand friendship."

They headed for the mountains, trying to remember what Lucas had told them.

[Sareth]

As Marcus was wrangling with the odd woman I'd pulled out of a hole in the ground, I continued to peruse the options until a nice shotgun came to rest under my hand.

"Oooh. Shiny!"

Despite my comment, the weapon was, in fact, not shiny. The barrels had been blacked, and the stock was a nice dark wood color. There was little fear of reflections showing on this! 12 gauge, double barreled, short barrel length... Yeah, a person could make quite a mess with this at close range.

"This up for grabs?" I asked. Only problem is, with five pistols and a rifle already, I was running out of places to stick my guns. But one could never have too many guns.