Antagonist’s Anarchy: Derived from Dianthus

[Legolas]

Ydalon

The blood ran freely from the slain bandit, red rivers diluted in the syrupy streams native to whatever realm they had entered. He thought he could feel tremors in the pink earth, as though it tried to reject the violence, the intrusion upon its gentle peace. Wasn't this what had disrupted his moment of calm? But looking down, he realised it may have been his own motions as his rabbit feet hopped closer to the scene.

Bandit Jason lay on the ground, cut open with merciful brevity by the crazed Nivram. Once counted among the most kind-hearted of the group, Ydalon had been forced to reassess him. This was a man of pent-up frustrations, capable of a terrible and mindless rage. His thoughts were utterly self-serving and his apparent team spirit, the democratic question of what to do next, was now revealed as his way to break up the world into two groups. Useful, for whatever reason, and Obstacle. The boy tried not to wonder how many marks he'd scored on each side of the balance.
Isokla was just recovering from a violent shove, the mystery lady of the group helpless to stop the bulky man. The only one who might have, Telryn, stood idly by, cradling his rabbit nose.
The boy remembered the group being larger, once. Many had fallen by the wayside or been lost, the woodland bandit tower and the town of Talryr both claiming multiple henchmen. He would have liked to think that those he was left with were the best of that pack, the strongest, the most capable, the best suited. But were they really?

He looked to Isokla a moment longer, then turned to Telryn.
"See if you can find something rope-like in this place. I'm not sure we can trust him when he gets up."

[Ivelliis]

Telryn

Before Telryn could even move it was over. Nivram, the quietest of the group barring Detheriel, exploding in a fit of rage. It was out of the blue, Telryn thought he was the calm talking, logical one of the group.

Nodding in reply to Ydalon, Telryn started to rummage through the area for something, anything they could use to tie up Nivram.

[DrowArchmage]

Jason did his best not to flinchas Nivram hit the ground. Then, suddenly, he felt very tired. He tried to shake it off but he couldnt, he was losing blood and fast. He looked toward Iskola for askance,and tried to say something. It came out incoherent and slurred. His vision started to blur and at the edges it was a fuzzy black color. What was happening? Was this to be how he went out? Nothing more than a theif? Oh how far the mighty have fallen. He closed his eyes in sad relization that he was not going to die next to companions in battle, or the woman he loved. Oh no, he was going to die a slow one. Air was hard to come by now. He wanted to apologize for everything, but breath was precious. He laid back, awaiting his fate.... then the world went dark.

[Legolas]

"Thar be mem'ries, and then thar be Mem'ries. When ye live through's many squalls as I did, ye either got no heart for the business or there be brain dribbin' onto deck from the last grapeshot what kissed yer face if it's all the former. Me, I got more Mem'ries 'n a Spongish war galleon drags barnacles.

This one time, might have been '06 or '07, the boys an' me was sailin' for Straws, comin' down windwards nice an' easy in me old sloop "Sweet Revenge." We'd just stocked up on loot after a kiss with one o' them fat merchant sows shippin' mounds of sugar to the Powers know where. 'course, a sloop's hold ain't all that roomy so we took what we could an' sank the rest. I figure it were '07 what with the fizz long gone.

Well, the crew hadn't but crossed a mile from the skirmish, huggin' the coast right tightly like some likely tavern wench when I notice we was slowin'. An' I don't mean a knot or two, neither; them gulls what was following the Revenge were as fifty pounders the way they shot past before they knew it. Now might be as there's surprises left to old cap'n Sugarbeard, but I know me lemonade. Aye, it gets sticky, but this here was syrup pure an' thick.

It be a right terror, let me tell ye. I'll get in a fight wit' a large frigate or two sooner 'n get caught in one of those currents again. Har. Come ta think of it it wasn' -that- bad. But I order me crew to set all the sails we got, an' no amount of flowery pattern adornin' the masts gets us clean. Not that we's dead in the water neither, I notice t'coast be closin' in about as quick as I'm marryin' my intendeds across the glass.

After a bit, we're on this broad river runnin' inland. The crew'd been digging into our loot and we be kind of wishin' we brought that trader along. No food makes fer a grumpy crew, an' those make dangerous times t'be a cap'n, sez I. Now the land is for the lubbers, an' so much of it all 'round, well, that be makin' me even less a cheer than the lot o' good the helm does us. 'course, we got out in the end. Leave that to Sugarbeard. But it weren't without a fight an' a good long tale or two, by the powers!

So whadda ye say, me beauty? Fetch the old cap'n another bottle an' let him tell ye of a land o' giants. Now I know me giants, an' ye best not mistake that charmin' leer fer a spasm. But these, arrr, the first we spied dressed like a giant cabin boy. Looked like one too, only he was on land, see, wit' huge rodent feet like a mutant bilge rat. Ye know what's said of feet like that. So me an' him, we shared a knowing look, and the next I know the river be runnin' red with blood. This here salty dog can tell ye... are ye gettin' me rum yet? Smartly now lass, and Cap'n Sugarbeard'll let you know it."

[Calaethis Dragonsbane]

Isokla was still on the ground when Jason looked towards her. She did not see his eyes. Instead,s he clutched her stomach and as gracefully as she could, rose to her feet; a sort of nobility about her, despite the pain she was in, or perhaps because of it.

However, a strange occurrence occurred. The body of Jason as he was mourning the 'woman he loved' phased from reality, and it began to dissipate fading into the pinky realms of the pinky realm.

The blood that soaked through to the land became purple, and then pink once more reigned over this place. Nivram's wounds began to heal, his fingers reattaching themselves and bunnies with wings hopped all around them.

Vines grew up from the ground for Telryn as he searched for rope.

An old man with a salty beard appeared and then faded, leaving behind him a keg o grog, and a bottle o rum...

What was happening?

[dplax]

Nivram

Things weren't as they seemed to be in pink fluffy bunny land. Death didn't seem to be death and severe injuries were trivial matters repaired in mere seconds. As Nivram opened his eyes to the dazzling pinkness the first thing that hit him was the splitting headache. Apparently even in fluffy bunny land alcohol withdrawal symptoms persisted.

What brought Nivram out of his unconscious state was not the rapid improvement in his health, neither the fact that his severed fingers were reattached. The smell of fresh alcohol was like the sight of an oasis in the distance for a man without water in the middle of the desert. As a drug addict craving for his drugs and having a sachel of the illicit substance dangled in front of him was the way Nivram felt about the grog and the rum not far away.

Fighting down the extremely strong urge to jump up and rush to the booze Nivram surveyed his surroundings. He had vague memories of Jason, of repeatedly stabbing the limp body of Jason after cutting his throat...but how could one have so violent thoughts in such a peaceful place? Could it have just been a dream? A bad nightmare? Nivram could spot no traces of his violent outburst. His fingers were all attached to his body, no blood flowed down his arm and Jason was nowhere to be seen. Could it have all been imagined in such livid detail?

Then he glanced at his feet and saw a small, almost unobtrusive piece of pink crystal at his feet. Immediately he knew that he hadn't imagined everything. He shuddered, but then all these unpleasant thoughts evaporated. He stood up. Luckily Detheriel wasn't there, or he might have guessed what Nivram was planning to do. Before anyone even had the time to blink, the bottle of rum was at Nivram's lips and its contents were rapidly disappearing down his throat. A quarter, even half of the bottle was rapidly gone, before the flask was removed from his lips and Nivram heaved a contented sigh. Then he lifted the bottle again.

[Calaethis Dragonsbane]

While Nivram chugged what appeared to be booze, the liquid seemed to change, turning from rum to a sugary-honeyed sickly sweet liquor - completely non-alcoholic.

Meanwhile, Jason's body faded completely - wherever he was, he was no longer with them.

From the distance, figures in bright pink robes appeared... small at first, five of them, and then they moved closer... closer and closer until they were forty-feet away from the group. Their faces were all covered by faceless masks and pink cowls...

[dplax]

Nivram


*splutter* *cough* *spit*

Nivram doubled over as he spat the disgustingly sweet liquid from his mouth. With an expression of distaste he let the bottle fall and it shattered on the shards of cristal at his feet.

"Who are those?" Nivram asked, once he managed to clear the taste of the liquid from his mouth after several vigorous spits.

[Calaethis Dragonsbane]

Just as Jason had faded, so too did the world begin to fade. The pink blurred from their vision and darkness consumed them...

...They awoke; those who were left. Scattered around on the ground, they lay close by one another; Jason, the 'dead man walking', was also there... and very much alive. Smoke drifted from the nearby town... a town ruined by mobs and fire.

The grassy bank with the sunlight streaming down, the soft gurgle of water and the faint breeze through the nearby forest was a startling return of reality in the still of the afternoon. How long they had been out, no one could say. The scent of smoke was still heavy, and it was not just wood; it was what was known within darker market circles as 'greenleaf' - taken from a plant with hallucinogenic properties. Not that anyone without criminal or herbal knowledge would know that...


Isokla stared at the sky and said nothing, just lying there. What had happened?

[Legolas]

Ydalon

The morning, it appeared, did not treat them well. In fact, it'd ignored them completely on the way to noon and beyond. But now at last, the day had decided to include them, a decision Ydalon was uncertain he appreciated.

"Meeuuhh..," groaned the boy, and he pulled himself over to a ditch where he purged his body of whatever ill foods he had ingested. The foul, burning sensation didn't leave him feeling much better, but at least it was done with and his head began to clear someways.
He wiped his mouth on a yellowed sleeve and pushed himself away. What had happened?

Lacking the heart to check for rabbit feet, he nonetheless turned over to regard the others - one in particular.
"I'm not sure we can trust him when he gets up."