Under a Dark Sun(2nd Ed. AD&D)

[PurpleXVI]

Lorath, Ulik, Evon

"Not fun," commented Cassandra, having recovered from her coughing fit, "It's different here, I've died before, but you don't go to the same place if you die here..." She shuddered, "An endless ocean of gray, full of the dead and the ones half in the grave. Occasionally someone submerged and doesn't resurface, or is plucked from the waves..." She grimaced, "I'd rather not talk about it."

"On a different note, though," said Ors, interrupting, "If Roraz is down there, corrupted or not, we need to find him..." He started packing the few posessions he had scattered about on the ground, "Tleil, Cassandra, are you in?" The lizardman and the woman both gave affirmatives, and Ors then turned towards Lorath and his friends, "We can't bring Jarval, however, he's too badly injured... Would the three of you take him with you? Not permanently, of course, but just until you find someone who'll take care of him? We have nothing to pay you with, though."


Bas, Balth

"More than are currently here," said Jonas to Bas, giving Balth a friendly greeting which the elf returned, "Not many have come back so far, though, and most have headed southwards. It could just be that they are loath to return until they've found something to justify the trip, but I suspect not all of them are coming home... I hope you manage to find the others again."

The other members of the group around the fire also gave the druid their well-wishes, "Watch out for spiders," one of them added, he had an arm in a sling, "Some trader had tied up a mule near the treeline while answering the call of nature, then one of those webspinning bugs, bigger than the mule I'll add, just zipped in, bold as brass, and carried the poor creature off! As if that wasn't bad enough on the nerves, we had to listen to the poor thing braying for an hour or so until the spider finished it off."


Anne, Tamora

The trader Tamora had found picked up one of the arrowheads and examined it critically as he turned it around in his fingers, "Elven craftsmanship," he finally said, after inspecting the thing for almost a minute, "Good quality. Throw in a few silver and I'll call it a deal."

"Few people talk to an old soldier," he said, as he pocketed the money Tamora gave him and handed over the arrows, "But I do notice what they buy. That pack of elves over there, for example?" He indicated the group that the ranger had spotted by the tavern, "They bought crossbows and bolts, you don't use those if you expect to defend yourself against an ambush or a sudden attack by wild beasts, you use them if you expect to ambush others or know where something large and violent is likely to come after you."

He scratched his chin with the nock of an arrow as Anne joined her friend, sizing them up with his eyes and seeming about to say something other than what he did, "Now, do either of you ladies want anything else? It's not that I don't enjoy the company, but there will probably be other customers along soon."

[Armen]

Tamora

Tamora thanked the merchant for the arrows and stowed them away as he related his information about his other customers. She was intrigued to know what brought this other group of elves here and more than a little curious about them in general. Her upbringing meant she knew little of elves outside her immediate forest home. In response to the seller’s final question she indicated that she at least had finished and looked quizzically to Anne to see if she had too.

“I’m going to talk to that group.” She indicated the elves near the tavern before heading in that direction.

OOC: Tamora’s greeting to them will depend in part on their reaction to her approach. If they speak to her she'll reply. If not she'll initiate conversation a bit formally and cautiously such as between two hunters coming across each other in the wilderness. Her objectives are to find out what they're doing or have done, and to gather any useful information which she'll also offer if she judges they're basically good people.

[ 04-18-2007, 06:27 PM: Message edited by: Armen ]

[Man Who Fights Like Woman]

Lorath nodded. "Sure, we can take him with us. There's probably someone we can find to make sure he recovers." He looked to his friends to make sure they agreed. "I wouldn't hold my breath about finding Roraz though, especially not in any condition you'd want to see him. We last saw him in a room fully ablaze, hitting the floor." Then he shrugged and walked over to Jarval. He got on one knee and asked, "Hey, can you speak? Can you hear me?"

[Kazilan]

The druid stood and smiled at the group by the fire.

"Thanks for the conversation. I suppose my friends and I should set out sooner rather than later to find the rest of our group, given the dangers. I wish you the best of luck."

The druid walked away in search of Anne and Tamora, intending to discuss their future plans if the two were not busy.

Bas assumes Balth will follow, but if not, the druid will not stop the elf from following a different course of action.

[Caleb808]

As the group prepared to leave, Ulik told them "I believe I know what happened to Lina. A woman covered in symbiotes attacked me and while defending myself, I knocked her over a waterfall. Shortly before her fall, she was restored to her original form, but I don't know if the healing wave reached her after that. It was a far drop."

He nods when asked to take care of Jarval and asks Lorath "Can you come outside and help me gather wood, please? I am too badly wounded to take Jarval's pains on myself as I did with you. We need to construct a gurney to carry him."

Ulik didn't know if Jarval was well enough to walk, but his main intention was to have a private conversation with Lorath. He takes his cloak off and looks for suitable branches or pieces of wood to tie to both sides. Assuming Lorath follows him outside, Ulik tells him "It's best if we return to the lizardman village now. Something still isn't right with those people and they're likely to become just like Roraz if they go back down there. We also need to keep an eye on Jarval."

[PurpleXVI]

Lorath, Evon, Ulik, Jarval

Jarval didn't react to most of what Lorath said to him, and when he did, he seemed incoherent, mumbling about things that didn't make sense and generally just appearing to want to be left alone. Upon closer examination, most of his injuries seemed to be severe bruises and broken bones. One of his arms had broken just above the elbow and his chest was shaped in a very unhealthy-looking way, at least part of hisribcage had caved in, and he was lucky if all his organs were in one piece.

Most of his injuries had been bandaged, splinted or otherwise taken care of, however.

Evon offered to keep an eye on Jarval while Lorath and Ulik went outside to gather branches.

Once they finished talking, and had gathered enough wood for a gurney, they found that Evon and Jarval were alone inside the building, the other adventurers had already departed.


Bas, Balth

"I'll stay here and talk to these fellows for a while," Balth said to Bas, as the druid stood, "It's rare that I've had a chance to talk with humans. But I'll follow the rest of you once you're ready to move on, so come and let me know once it's time to go."

Jonas and his friends gave Bas friendly waves and returned his wishes of good luck as he left them.

It took a bit of searching to locate his other companions, but he soon found the two women. Anne seemed to be keeping a bit of distance while Tamora was approaching a group of elves.


Anne, Tamora

None of the elves paid Tamora any heed until she spoke to them, which elicited a expressions of surprise, they apparently hadn't expected anyone to care about their presence or their business. But even so, they responded in kind, the leader greeting her back. The others remained silent, letting him do the talking. None of them stood out particularly, even to another elf like Tamora, all were dressed in green and had the metal of their weapons and armor blacked.

"We're here pursuing criminals," he told her, when she asked why they were on the new world, "You don't need to know the details, but some lawless men see the portal as a chance to escape justice. We're here to ensure that doesn't happen."

He was polite to Tamora, but rather tight-lipped, unwilling to tell her much, "Do you have some business asking us?" He inquired of her, "Or are you just a nosy adventurer, prodding and poking everything until you find something to get rich off?"

[Armen]

Tamora

“No, no business. You had the look of a hunting party is all and only wished to compare notes. As you ask, I am not an adventurer and have no interest in getting rich. I am a hunter and traveller. I would ask if you know of any criminal that might threaten those who I am helping to escort but will not intrude further. I wish you well in your searches.” With that Tamora bowed slightly to the group, turned and walked the few steps to Anne and Bas.

She greeted the druid. “Have you learned anything about the nature of the people here? Will they come into conflict with the lizardfolk do you think?”

[ 04-20-2007, 07:49 PM: Message edited by: Armen ]

[Kazilan]

Bas shook his head at Tamora's question. "There doesn't appear to be any cohesion here, just groups of adventurers heading off on their own. Surely some of them will cause trouble, but nothing on the scale that would threaten the lizardmen."

Bas glanced around the clearing and gestured at the weak palisade and wounded men at the fire. "This is still very much a remote, disorganized outpost. Until someone imposes a strong will to organize, it will not be a threat. I would be more concerned for the welfare of those here rather than those in the jungle."

The druid shook his head while his eyes lingered on Balth. "Our friend is certainly enjoying his visit." A moment later he turned back to face Tamora and asked, "Have you discovered anything?"

[Man Who Fights Like Woman]

Lorath, working with Ulik, quickly assembled the gurney, and helped lift Jarvis onto it. "Well, I have no objections to heading back to the lizardman village. They'll be better suited to deal with him if he winds up bad in the head, and could possibly stop the process." On the way back teh village, he would work with one of them to carry him back towards it while the other kept watch, and switch off every few hours. During one of his watches, Lorath would do his best to identify the blade he had found.

[ 04-21-2007, 06:48 PM: Message edited by: Man Who Fights Like Woman ]

[dplax]

Anne

Anne stayed silent while Tamora spoke to the group of elves, managing to hide her reaction to the leader of the group announcing they were hunting for fugitive criminals.

She barely listened to Bas speak and when he finished she whispered in a soft voice.

"Could we get further away from that group of elves? I feel uneasy so close to them."