Tamora

When Balth started talking about the Thri-Kreen, Tamora walked over to where the creature lay. First she ran a professional eye over the creature’s anatomy noting its protection, natural weapons and any possible points of vulnerability. She studied the wound her arrow had made and attempted to retrieve it. Nodding to herself at what she had learned she turned her attention to the packs strung around the creature, looking for anything interesting or useful.

She turned back to the party at the sound of Bas’ voice and heard his invitation for the strange elf to join them. ‘So be it’ she thought, reassured by the Learned One’s caution in not mentioning the portal. A local guide would be valuable to learn from and from the little he has said Balth’s lifestyle seemed similar to her own. It would give her something else to think about in keeping the party safe though – she made a mental note to privately ask Bas’ feeling about the stranger the first opportunity she got.

She agreed with Bath’s suggestion that they shouldn't linger. “You are right about keeping moving though” she said to their new companion. She straightened up and made ready to move.

[ 02-12-2007, 11:19 AM: Message edited by: Armen ]

It took a while, but Ulik eventually mapped out the entire multiverse in his head and discovered the meaning of existence. With the small things taken care of, he moved on to more important tasks like aimlessly searching the ruins for something interesting. He tracked down Lorath and helped him search, though he let him lead the way this time. It was his turn to be the meat shield.

<font color=silver>Gan Vahnsen

<font color=skblue>“A moment, before we leave.”</font> Gan addressed his companions, <font color=skblue>“This area may contain more creatures but if what you say is true,”</font> he nodded to the Sun rider, <font color=skblue>“Which I do not doubt - then these mandibles; can this 'terrible, paralyzing poison' be harvested? We have a dead Thri-kreen here...”</font> He left his words to hang in the air for a moment.

<font color=skblue>“Such a weapon would prove useful. If we have time, I suggest we take some and move on towards the cliffs.”</font> Depending on how the rescued elf responded, Gan would react accordingly; obviously there is no point suggesting Bas (since he's the druid) take the poison if it cannot be harvested, or if there is a need to move on.</font>

Anne

Almost subconsciously, Anne's mind reacted to the flow of the conversation.

Poison. Her mind rattled off the various uses of poison she had learned while plying her trade. Poisons to kill, poisons to maim, poisons to cause discomfort, poisons to disable. Anne had previously used minor poisons, but never aiming to permanently injure someone. She was not of a violent nature.

"Are the effects of this poison the Thri-Keen have permanent or merely temporary?" she asked of Balth.

<u>Evon</u>

Crickets chirped as the munchies started to set in and Evon began to ask himself deep, important questions, like: What was it all about, when you got right down to it? Why is red red? And possibly more urgently, had it really been that good an idea to smoke those weird reeds he found on the way to the ruins? Like, whoah. Dude.

Growing out his hair and only wearing sandals started to seem like a very good idea.


<u>Ulik, Lorath</u>

Lorath's infravision turned everything into shades of blue and black. Outside the sun at least provided some heat, but in the shade of the building, it was very chilly.

To his infravision, the staircase and the holes were merely blacknesses in the blue of the floor, which was why he tripped over the corpse.

When Ulik entered the building, he saw the elf lying flat over a very runny corpse sprawled over the stairs, as though the person's strength had given up just as they were reaching for the top step. The corpse was clad in tattered and torn platemail, covered with a stained white tabard. A two-handed sword and a tower shield laid a few steps further down, both badly rusted. Most of the skin was black and swollen, while the soft parts like the eyes had long since been chewed away by scavengers, but it was still possible to tell that the dead person had once been a woman.

The only intact pieces of equipment were an ankh on a chain around her neck and a belt pouch.

The stairs continued downwards at a rather steep angle for a few meters before reaching a room with completely dark water just a few feet below the ceiling, though it was hard to tell whether it was dark from waste or just lack of light. It was also impossible to say how deep the water was, it could be waist-deep or it could reach above their heads.

As their eyes adjusted to the darkness, they could tell that the room was a square shape and had three corridors leading away, two on their right and one on their left. A faint glow came from far up the nearest one on the right and the one on the left made a sharp turn just a few yards away from the room. Otherwise they all seemed relatively similar.


<u>Gan, Bas, Tamora, Anne</u>

To Tamora, it was obvious that the creature was formidable. It's chitinous plates were as thick as any armor and it's claws were the size of small daggers, the addition of two extra arms to wield them was hardly necessary to make it a tough fight. The mandibles were small, however, and besides delivering poison it looked doubtful that they were particularly dangerous.

Examining the bags, she noted that they looked to be of the same make as the one she'd recovered from the bird, but the bird didn't seem to particularly care about the dead Thri-Kreen. Either it only responded to whichever one had been it's owner, it's owner hadn't been a Thri-Kreen or it didn't have much loyalty. Within the bags were few surprises. Some herbs, a surprising amount of dried meat and three odd globes with a waxy feel and look to them. Each was somewhere between a softball and a volleyball in size, two were a light colour, and the third dark. When jolted, they sloshed slightly, suggesting they contained liquid.

"Temporary," Balth said to Anne, then spoke to Gan, "And I've never tried harvesting it, but you're free to try if you're skilled with that sort of thing."

"At any rate, if you are headed southeast, you might hit a big chasm that I saw when I crested a ridge some distance back, it looks too wide to get around without losing at least a day of travel, but possibly there's some way to cross it, I suppose we'll have to see when we get there. If the rest of you want to try playing with the Thri-Kreen's corpse, then perhaps the lady and I should scout ahead?"

<font color=silver>Gan Vahnsen

<font color=skblue>“I'm not sure that's a good idea.”</font> The half elf answered coolly to Balth's suggestion about splitting up, <font color=skblue>“It's safer to stay together as a group, I think.”</font> He glanced at Anne, <font color=skblue>“If you know anything of poisons, you're more than welcome to give it a shot - if you're versed in venom, I can try after you should you fail. Otherwise, I've no objections to trying my hand first.”</font>

Gan looked back at the rest of the group, <font color=skblue>“But its your decision Commander.”</font> Gan put the emphasis on the word this time, implying that Tamora should decide, <font color=skblue>“Under the guidance of the 'Learned One', of course.”</font> He smiled, not at all sarcastically; he seemed actually sincere and somewhat amused by the duo's arrangement.</font>

Anne

"I don't have time for this crap," she softly muttered under her breath. She was not one to play childish power games, and did not care how they played out in the group. She had no desire to lead, wouldn't have had any desire even if she weren't as insecure as she currently was.

She knelt down next to the Thri-Kreen and took out her knife from its protective leather sheath. She picked up a leaf and a piece of hollow bark from the ground. Holding the leaf over a mandible with one hand after having placed the bark on the ground she sliced into the mandible, hoping that the poison did not squirt out in an inconvenient direction, but dripped onto the bark.

Bas was starting to worry he had made a mistake in agreeing to attack the thri-kreen. They should have tried to move on without interfering. This elf was causing the druid more anxiety than he had counted on.

Bas frowned at the elf's suggestion of splitting forces, and nodded at Gan's suggestion. "I agree that we are better off staying together, especially considering that we are all unfamiliar with this area and the dangers we face here. Gan, please finish your work with the thri-kreen quickly so we can move on." Bas leaned on his staff and peered at the sun runner. "Tell me, traveler, you mentioned that the thri-kreen use their Will as a weapon. What exactly did you mean by that? Magic?"

Lorath looked at the two corridors with distinguishing characteristics, and looked to Ulik. "If it's all right with you," he began, "I'll take the one on the left." Into his bag he reached and pulled out a torch, then lit it. He cautiously edged around the corner, his shield peering out first, then his torch, and finally his head, just enough to see what was beyond.

Tamora

Tamora packed a share of the dried meat and offered some to the others if they wished to take some. She also stowed the herbs to show to Bas later when they stopped to rest. She examined the globes with interest. They appeared to be organic somehow rather than ‘made’ and appeared completely uniform. She held one up to the sun and peered through it seeing nothing but a faint translucency. It seemed pointless to carry them if they were of no use so she held one up to Balth and asked, “Do you know what these are?”

(OOC: If Balth doesn’t know she’ll lay a couple of large leaves on the ground to make a sort of bowl and then slit one of them to see what comes out.)

Tamora watched Anne’s attempt to extract the venom with interest. She wasn’t sufficiently advanced with her training to manage poisons but she knew the more senior members of her community made extensive use of them for defence if not for normal hunting.

She nodded through Gan’s and Bas’ objections to Balth’s suggestion that they should split up. She didn’t entirely agree with either of them that there was necessarily safety in numbers but for this group it was probably the least worst option and besides Bas had invited the elf along and she wasn’t sure about him yet. “I agree that we should stay together”, she confirmed to the others.

[ 02-13-2007, 08:36 AM: Message edited by: Armen ]