Burning, Flaming Fire that is also on Fire

[ArcanistSupreme]

Thanagar’s Tale

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The manor was a beautiful house. Its expansive three stories were painted a delicate shade of blue that contrasted nicely with the white trim and roof. Each window contained large, crystal-clear glass panes (not the small, semi-opaque ones that themselves were ridiculously expensive); each one a testament to the occupants’ wealth that were aflame in the setting sun. In front of the house, a driveway formed a gentle loop that allowed carriages to drop off and pick up occupants with minimal trouble. At the center of this loop, a wonderfully exotic and well-maintained garden gave new guests the message that no expense had been spared in acquiring the best of everything for the grounds and house, no matter how far it had to come. In the center of all of this, a massive fountain spewed water several feet in the air, and the water arced down to fall in the exact center of the pool. The water originated from the mouths of half a dozen little cherubs (of course) that danced gaily around the fountain’s edges.

Beautiful as all of this was, it was only a taste of the art and luxury that could be found on the sweeping (and enormous) grounds or within the manor itself. But Thanagar wasn’t really interested in the sculptures, paintings, or landscaping marvels. He was much more interested in what he was about to create, which was (in his humble opinion) much more beautiful than any of those trivial things.

Standing by the side of the elaborate dwelling, Thanagar was himself something of a work of art. He stood just short of six feet, and as he worked, his silvery white hair blew behind him in the evening breeze. His rather fashionable shirt (red) had the sleeves rolled up to the elbows, and his purple and equally fashionable pants were tucked in the ends of his highly polished boots. Thanagar most distinguishing feature (and the one he like most about himself), however, was that while the right half of his face was smooth and handsome, the other half was covered entirely with the pearly red skin of a burn. The silvery eyebrow was missing from this side, and the mouth was frozen in a permanent leer. The eyelashes too were absent on his left eye, as the eyelid itself had been partially burned away so that whenever he blinked it became a sneering wink. The burn ran partway down his neck, but it stopped (in an unusually straight line) just before seeping onto the right side of his face. His hairline and ear were also untouched.

Bending down to rummage around in his pack, he threw the cloak that had been lying on top of the bag to one side. After a moment, he found what he was looking for and straightened up. He began to unscrew the lid on the flask, but then he paused and gazed toward the edge of the grounds, wondering where the others were. Grim would surely be finished by now, and the other two would probably arrive within a few minutes. Not that he was going to wait for them, but they should be there at any moment, all the same. With a shrug, he finished opening the flask and then promptly dumped its contents on the house, making sure to spread it as much as possible.

He heard a twig snap and the right side of his face smiled, completing the leer. Unless he was very much mistaken, the first one was here now.

Grim’s Tale

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Grim sighed as he gazed out the window this really was a waste of his prodigious talent. The gagged and bound man on the bed across the room gave a muffled shout, and Grim walked over and shoved him off the bed with a black-booted foot. After the satisfying thud, Grim said, “Shut up.” The man looked like he would be quiet. His wife and daughter also looked like they got the message. With that, he turned his back on the trussed-up trio and stepped over the guard’s corpse and into the hall.

Turning his black eyes toward the stairs, he flexed his hand and a meter-long glowing shaft of energy sprang to life within it. Its green light gave an eerie cast to exposed black skin on his face and hands, and his short-cropped white hair took on an electric green glow. The black body suit he wore, in contrast, seemed to absorb the light rather than reflecting it. Grasping the beam with a grim smile, he dragged the tip along the wall as he descended, savoring each crash as portraits were slashed from the wall, statuettes were severed, and lamps were cut from their fixtures. Living in such luxury was foolish, and he was glad he found no pleasure in owning such things.

On the landing, he was both surprised and pleased to discover that he had missed a guard on his way to the top floor. His happiness was short lived, however, as he easily sidestepped the clumsily swung pike and drove the point of his energy blade through the man’s throat. This really was a waste of his time. With a sigh, he relaxed the hand gripping the beam of light and the sword disappeared into nothingness. The guard, now unsupported by either his legs or the blade, fell backwards down the next flight of stairs, and Grim followed him to the ground floor of the entrance hall. Kicking the broken corpse out his way, he walked past it and the three other bodies and pushed open one of the massive oak front doors.

He was about to begin searching the grounds for Thanagar, but the smell wafting from the north side of the house made this completely unnecessary. He began walking toward the smell to let his companion know that he had finished when he heard a twig snap ahead and to his left. Turning his head toward the sound, he spotted a figure running toward him at full tilt. Immediately, his hand began to tense, but then he recognized the man and he relaxed. It was just that idiot from the tavern.

Rain’s Tale

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“You know, hrrnt, I really, oof, don’t see why, ow, damned thorns, he didn’t think, gah, that he’d need me,” panted Rain as he extracted himself from the hedge on the south side of the estate. He examined his now torn cloak with disgust, and then pushed himself to his feet and took in his surroundings. Directly ahead of him, perhaps a 100 yards from the hedge, were several cottages that housed the staff of the manor.

“I’ll give him ‘loudmouthed showoff,’” he muttered under his breath as he broke into a sprint and ran toward the cluster of houses. Right before reaching the wall of the nearest one, he twisted and slid so he came to a stop with his back against it. He reached under his cloak, and his hand emerged clutching a slender dagger. Slowly, he rose to his feet and peered through the window. There was no glass, but the shudders were open and the curtains were pulled back to let in the breeze. In one corner of the room stood a bed with a straw mattress and adorned with a homespun quilt. Under this bed, a man was shaking and taking large swigs from a clay jug.

Without looking, Rain flipped the knife in his hand and caught it by the tip. Then he placed his free hand on the windowsill then used it to assist his jump into the cottage. Going in headfirst, he landed smoothly on his shoulder, rolled to his feet, and then hurled the knife directly between the man’s eyes before he could utter a sound. Staying low, Rain dashed across the room and grasped the handle of the knife, allowing himself a self-congratulatory smile before extracting the blade.

Next, he dashed to the door and pulled it open to peer outside. Several guards, some only partially in their armor, were coming out of a slightly larger cottage that in the center of the other houses, probably what passed for the barracks here. Although all of them were carrying pikes and were obviously alert, not a single one was looking his way. They were obviously intent on some sort of trouble going on in the manor itself. Perfect.

He waited for the last guard to leave the barracks, and then he pushed the door open and quietly dashed from house to house until he was within throwing distance of the rearmost guard. There were a dozen of them, but with a little stealth and cunning, their numbers wouldn’t be a problem. Couching behind a water barrel, he took careful aim, cocked his arm, and then let the dagger fly.

His first knife went exactly where he wanted it to, and the man in back began to topple sideways with the blade protruding from his unarmored back. Before he could hit the ground, Rain sent another knife at the next man’s head. It was a beautiful throw, and it surely would have killed the man if he hadn’t sneezed at that exact moment. As it was, the blade went right over his head and instead struck the helmet of the man in front of him with a resounding clang. Had Rain still been behind the water barrel, he would have been able to perhaps sneak around another cottage and come at them from another angle. As it was, however, when every single guard turned around to see what the noise was, he was midway across the narrow road that separated one row of cottages from the next. So, naturally, they all saw him.

He managed to retrieve another dagger and hurl it, but it only caught the man in the shoulder and dropped him to the ground rather than killing him. Now out of daggers, he ran around the corner of the next house and flexed his fingers. A gleaming red blade of energy sprang to life in his hand, about the same size as one of his daggers. Two guards charged after and he was barely able to hurl the mindblade into the first one’s throat before the second guard’s pike swung through the space he just occupied. Seeing that three more guards were moving to cut off his escape, he decided that discretion was the better part of valor and sprinted toward the manor before they could encircle him completely.

“We need help from the town garrison! You two, go tell them to get their asses up here now!” barked a rough voice from behind him.

“Whoops,” muttered Rain as he charged across the sloping lawn. Still, maybe the others hadn’t heard and wouldn’t realize it was his fault. He hoped.

As he ran, he was distracted by another guard coming toward him from the front entrance. Only this guard was walking, apparently in no hurry, and he carried a guisarme and wore spiked scale mail rather than the chainmail of the guards. Distracted by this unusual sight, Rain almost fell on his face when he stepped on a fallen branch. It snapped like a breaking limb, and this reminded him that he didn’t want his limbs broken, so he refocused his attention on simply running.

He just had to hope that the other guy was friendly.

Sue’s Tale

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Humming tunelessly to himself as he walked toward the gate, Sue found himself thoroughly enjoying the evening. The weather was perfect, the crickets were chirping happily, and the sunset was gorgeous. Truly, was there anything more beautiful than such an evening as this? He was incredibly glad that the odd fellow with the burn had asked for a meeting up at the manor. It gave him an excellent reason to stroll about in his wonderful spiked armor, something that always excited him. His new guisarme, recently polished, gleamed blood red with reflected sunlight. It was a good night.

As he crested the top of the hill, he heard shouting from beyond the hedges the circled the estate. He supposed it was the lesser rabble up to their usual disruptive, unruly, ungodly…his grip tightened on the polearm. But no. That was for later, much later, once he had the means to back his cause, to drive it onward. For now, he had a meeting to attend, and he was nothing if not punctual.

Reaching the wrought iron gates, he found that they were already open. He marched through and saw a rather excited pair of men running toward him. The first, nearly fifty yards ahead of his companion, was almost upon Sue.

“Excuse me, kind sir, but I was wondering if you could direct—” Sue broke off as the man not only dashed past him, but ignored him completely. “Well that was quite rude.” Again his grip tightened on the weapon, and again he forced himself to calm down. The next fellow would surely answer his inquiries.

But this time Sue didn’t even get out so much as “Excuse me” before the next man smashed into him and sent him sprawling into the hedge. The other man stumbled and fell to the ground, clutching the leg he had gashed open on Sue’s spiked shin. Slowly, Sue extracted himself from the bushes. Then he brushed leaves and twigs from his armor. Then he picked up the guisarme.

“Excuse me, sir, but was there something you wanted to say to me?”
“Yeah, we need reinforcements!” The other man made a grimace of pain. “There’s a—gah—madman up at the manor!”
“I meant did you have anything to say about running into me just now?”
“I think I’ll be okay, if that’s what you mean, but Holy Hopping Heironeous it really—” but he was unable to finish due his lack of head.
“The proper response,” interjected Sue, “would have been ‘I’m sorry.’”

He kicked the headless corpse out of his way, being careful to avoid the fountain of blood spraying from its neck. His armor had just been polished, after all.

Muttering about how difficult it was to find a helpful person these days, he strode purposefully toward the mansion, and he soon spotted Thanagar on the north side of the building. Two other men, one sprinting and the other walking, were also headed over to Thanagar, and he supposed that these two were the men Thanagar had said would be meeting them there. Pleased that he was dealing with others quite as punctual as himself, Sue haled the trio.

Thanagar struck a tinderwig and threw it onto the house. “Sue, this is my companion Grim, and that is Rain,” he said, indicating them each in turn. He lit two more tinderwigs and threw these onto the house for good measure. “Grim and Rain, this is Sue. I think it’s time to go.” Sue realized why Rain had been in such a hurry when sixteen or so guards came charging around the house in a distinctly hostile manner.

Out of Character (Hereafter OOC)

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Well, I finally finished everything and got it posted. As you can see, I've assigned a color to each character and bolded their speech to make it easier to read (reading unbolded colored text is like repeatedly stabbing your eyes with blunt pencils). We don't have to keep those specific colors, but as long as we are consistent, it would really help me keep characters straight.

The character sheets, with the exception on Sue's, aren't done quite yet. I'll work on them as we go, and they should be done by the end of the week. If you could give me your mythweaver's ID, I'll make it so you can mess with the sheets too.

My preference would be to do all Out of Character stuff either in spoilers or via FB or whatever so the rest of the thread looks cleaner.

[hestbechinator]

"I'm not one to judge prematurely, but it seems your friend Rain may have carelessly led us into a heap of trouble" said Sue coldly. Rain looked indignantly at Sue, and said "I killed at least three of them, and I'm ready to fight the rest! I just needed to strategically relocate myself; you don't need to stay and fight. Thanagar's got my back, we don't need the help of a vagabond such as yourself." Rain looks hopefully over at Thanagar.
Thanagar, however, seems lost in thought, and pays no attention to what Rain says. Sue's eyes bulge, and some spittle drips down his chin; Rain looks thoroughly disconcerted. Grim interjects, "I hate to be the bearer of bad news- but it looks like our friends, the town guard, seem to be dangerously close. And although I love slitting a warlock's throat and scrotum simultaneoulsy just as much as the next guy, I don't think this is the best time. Thanagar, what was your plan for bringing all of us together here?"
Thanagar doesn't appear to have heard what Grim said either; his inattentiveness has even caught Sue off guard, and he had completely forgotten about the previous offense that Rain had committed against him. All of a sudden, Thanagar looks up, with a large grin on his face, and joyously says "More tindertwigs!"
The others look amongst themselves, confused, when Thanagar lights his shirt on fire and takes off sprinting towards the town guard, screaming at the top of his lungs: "ASLKGHGOWOEUJEIFJIDSLGHEIWOIE!!!!!!!!!
The guards immediately look terrified and begin backing up as a flaming Thanagar runs across the courtyard at them. Rain and Sue are consumed with curiosity, mingled with horror, when Grim whispers "Quick, we need to get out of here; Thanagar and I have a rendezvous point set up. Let's go!"
And as the town guard are scrambling trying to fetch a bucket with which to put the human torch out, three strangers stalk off around the inferno into the night.

[ArcanistSupreme]

OOC:

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A bit of an unorthodox strategy. I think it will work out well/hilariously this time, but keep in mind that if the characters continue to act suicidally there may be consequences. Remember, Chaotic Stupid is not on the alignment axis for a reason. Also, please restrict yourself to words pronounceable by a human being in the future.

After a rather unusual escape involving setting someone on fire, cutting apart large sections of shrubs, and disguising themselves as hedge merchants, Grim, Rain, and Sue make their way to the designated regrouping location.

Before entering the warehouse on the edge of town, the pieces of hedge, the appropriated turbans, and the hand-lettered sign advertising shrubberies for only 3 sp were all discarded through a conveniently open window. The occupants began to protest, but once the elf's eyes settled on the trio, his face turned the color of chalk and sank back out of sight.

Someone had inconsiderately locked the doors of the building, so Sue returned the favor by inconsiderately knocking the door down. They walked into the vast storehouse, the moonlight behind them casting huge and monstrous shadows on the shelves. They settled themselves to wait. And wait. And wait.

It was nearly three in the morning by Grim's reckoning when Thanagar entered the warehouse. Sue had fallen asleep, and Rain was struggling to keep his eyes open, but Grim had just finished trancing, so he was refreshed and ready to proceed with the plan. Assuming that Thanagar had a plan. As planning wasn't really his strong suit, Grim assumed he didn't. He sighed.

Rain finally noticed Thanagar's appearance, and he raised a hand half-heartedly in greeting. Thanagar ignored him and began pulling boxes off of the shelves. He looked considerably the worse for wear. His hair, which had only been partially singed before, was now almost completely burnt off. His eyebrows were also gone, and a nasty burn covered the entirety of his naked torso, slowly oozing pus. His pants weren't in much better shape than he was. They too were scorched and singed, and there were at least a dozen burn holes of various sizes. The polished black boots, however, had surprisingly escaped completely unscathed.

After gathering about a dozen or so boxes around himself, he began prying off the lids with his scabbed fingers. Then he rummaged through each, pulling clothes from some, baking goods from another, and garden tools from a third. He considered each item critically before tossing it aside, finally discovering a lurid pink pair of pants and a bright orange shirt that he seemed to like. An hour and ten boxes later, he had also found a neon green cloak, a leather backpack, several pints of oil, and a dozen bundles of tinderwigs. "All courtesy of Goodman's Goods," he giggled to nobody in particular.

Grim simply leaned against a shelf and crossed his arms as Thanagar sorted through the general store's inventory, but Rain shifted around uncomfortably, unsure of what to do. After Thanagar finished, Rain cleared his throat. When Thanagar failed to respond, he tried a more direct approach.

"Well, what are we doing?"
Thanagar responded by taking his pants off.
"I said-"
"We are going to speak with Prince Panagoth." He put the new pants on, the pink clashing horrifically with the angry red burns.
"We've been invited to speak with his lordship the prince?" Sue had woken up, and he rubbed his jaw sleepily.
"Not really. It's just that he needs to talk with us. I think he wants us to do something. It's rather urgent."
"So we're just going to walk in uninvited because you think he needs someone to talk to? That's about the stupidest-"
"While Thanagar is undeniably quite-" Grim interrupted, frowning as he tried to find the right word.
"Insane."
Grim raised an eyebrow, but then shrugged and continued, "-insane, he also usually knows what to do for the best. We will do as he says."
"It is incredibly rude to arrive at the palace uninvited," Sue growled, his hand moving towards the guisarme.
"Not to mention the dozens of warlocks climbing and flying all over the place," Rain added.
"Or the royal family themselves. I must admit, Thanagar, even I am curious as to how you intend to accomplish this and survive."
"One at a time, one at a time," replied Thanagar, waggling his finger at the others. "First, it would be rude not to go see the Prince. He requires assistance that only people with our talents could provide him. Second, we aren't going to the palace."
"How are we going to talk to him then? Gods, this is a waste of my time. You know what I'm going to do? I'm leaving and finding a nice whore and a nice bed and I'm sleeping until noon. This has got to be the most ridiculous-"
"It will be difficult, of course, but if you are afraid of such a little bitty thing as this..." Thanagar's voice trailed off as he leered mischeviously at Rain's retreating back. "Why, everyone will think you're a chicken."
Rain froze in the doorway. Slowly, he looked over his shoulder and glared at Thanagar. "Nobody, and I mean nobody, calls me a chicken. When are we leaving? Where are we going?"
"We are going in the morn-ing," sang Thanagar. "To the prince's vacation home in Maldua. Still plenty of warlocks to burn, but not so many as might burn us. Anywho, time for sleep." And he refused to answer any more questions as he curled up with his new cloak and began to snore.

OOC:

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So, my eyes are bleeding after looking at what I just wrote. Any color recommendations/preferences for Rain and/or Thanagar?

[hestbechinator]

OOC:

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I like the color scheme. Also, I didn't realize it was impossible to climb over/beneath hedges. My understanding was that it was a mansion; I did not think escape from outside it would be difficult.

When Thanagar finally awakes, everybody prepares their equipment, and they await further instruction from Thanagar. He looks around at the disgruntled group of ragtag miscreants in the warehouse with him, and grins stupidly. And without warning, Thanagar says:
"JDISOHGSJHIEFLJSDHGI!!!!! Everybody out, quickly! We head north, on foot!"
Surprised, and slightly alarmed, the three travelers quickly leave the warehouse, but then turn and look at each other confusedly.
"What is the meaning of this?" asks Sue;
"I don't appreciate being kept in the dark and treated like a child!"
Grim responds with "Let's be patient with Thanagar; believe me, when I first joined up with Thanagar I had trouble with the uh. . . unorthodox way he does things. But beneath the crazy is a brilliant strategist. If you stick with him like I have, things will work out well for you."
At that moment, Thanagar walks out of the warehouse, with a look of ecstasy on his face. When he sees the others, he looks surprised, but then a guilty smile spreads across his face.
"Sorry about that, I had something to take care of. Off we go!"
And with that he marches off; Rain and Sue make eye contact, each wondering what Thanagar had been doing in the warehouse. Eventually they realize Thanagar and Grim are about 50 yards down the road already, and they shrug their shoulders and head in their direction. As they turn a corner and enter the outskirts of the village, a spiral of smoke can be seen rising suspiciously close to where the warehouse would have been.

OOC:

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Sorry if there are any more unpronounceable words, I sometimes struggle with what is and what isn't pronounceable by the human tongue.

[ArcanistSupreme]

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Ass.

"How much farther?" demanded Rain.
"Not far. Not far now. No, no, no. Not far."

The group crested the hill and looked out over the valley before them, the noon sun glinting off of weapons and armor.

"Unless I am much mistaken, and I am rarely mistaken, the prince's vacation home lies before us. How shall we approach?"
"Well, as there are about twelve warlocks wandering around, I wouldn't suggest the front gate."
"Twenty," corrected Grim, his fingers flexing in anticipation.
Thanagar cackled. "And there are sure to be even more inside!"
"Isn't that wonderful?" A fevered grin spread across Grim's face.
"So the front doors are most certainly out of the question." He frowned at the unavoidable rudeness that was about to take place. He would need to work extra hard in the future to make up for this.
"They would pay dearly for every drop of my blood that they spilled."
"I could probably take on fifteen of them myself, of course-"
"While I'm sure we could make things unpleasant for them, I fear that things would be rather more unpleasant for us." Sue chuckled amicably and ran a finger along the blade of his polearm. "I feel that a plan is the way to go in this situation. Preferably one that involves a minimum of interruption, schedule interference, or rudeness in general. So, gentlemen, any ideas?"

OOC:

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I'm finding it difficult to pin down how Sue acts, as mayhem and slaughter in general are kind of rude things to initiate. And this group will definitely be initiating a lot of both. How do we deal with this?

[hestbechinator]

OOC:

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Sorry, I only had time to do this. I think you are on the right track with Sue; he lives by a code of honor, but as a result of his ridiculous temper, he is constantly breaking it, and maybe even punishing himself. He will display mercy at times, and he respects worthy opponents. When he kills people, or maybe even when he attacks them, he feels the need to apologize. That is, unless they have initiated it, then there are a number of ways that their actions could be seen as rude. I also think that Sue has a distaste for sneaking up on people, and although he understands the strategic value of sneak attacks, he has almost a turrets-like compulsion to give some warning before a sneak attack. Despite the fact that it may not be helpful in the slightest, Sue will sometimes yell "Watch out!" to a warlock a split second before Grim sticks him like a pig. It makes Sue feel better about himself, and he uses little things like that to justify his actions; it may, however, prove to be extremely annoying to the rest of his party.

[ArcanistSupreme]

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Okay, good.

The three men walked directly up to the front gate. The two warlocks, dressed in the military greens of House Dagonar, widened their stances and folded their arms.

"State your business," commanded the one on the left. He also wore a bronze circlet, which marked him as an officer of some sort.

The warlock focused on the men by the gates. One was heavily armed, and he looked like he might be difficult to take down. Then a glowing shaft of green light burst through his head, and he stopped worrying about it. 19.

"We need to talk with our lord-high-and-mighty-oh-so-wonderful-I-can-hardly-wait-to-kiss-his-bum Prince Panagoth. Could you let us in? It is rather urgent."

The two hiding in the trees hadn't even noticed the guests at the front gate as it was partially blocked by the house itself. They died just the same. 17.

"Then I'll need to see some identification. I wasn't informed of anyone being invited to see his lordship today."

Slash. Thunk. 16.

"I sincerely apologize for our unannounced arrival. However, it is most urgent that we meet with his highness."

That was odd. There were two dark shapes lying under that tree that hadn't been there moments earlier. He opened his mouth to call the others' attention to this, but found that the hole in his neck was rather prohibitive of this. The punctured lungs weren't helping much either. It was turning out to be one of those days. 15.

"Look, are you deaf? I'm pretty sure that the sergeant asked to see some form of identification." The other guard had joined the conversation. And he didn't like how it was going, based on his stance.

She heard a gurgling noise and rounded the corner. Peering down from her position on the wall, she saw the black-clad figure withdraw some kind of glowing blade from her friend's abdomen. "Intruder! Intruder in the-" Good thing she was stupid enough to be so low on the wall. Shame about the alarm. Oh well. 13.

"I am dreadfully sorry for what we are about to do," said Sue as the guards whipped around toward the source of the commotion. Rain and Thanagar simultaneously stabbed the sergeant, Rain with a knife and Thanagar with a longsword he had gotten from the warehouse. Sir Cedric took care of the other one. "But you were rather rude."

Rain tore the sergeant's keys from his belt and rammed them into the lock on the gate. Soon they were tearing up the front path, lawn ornaments exploding around them as the surviving warlocks blasted away at them.

"Looks like our elf buddy missed a few."
"Only ten of them. And you managed two of them, so there are only eight left."
"Oh, you've finally decided to join the party."
"I don't think even I could have gotten the other eight anyway."
"And why is that?"
"Well, six are on the roof and those two-"
"They can fly, they can fly, they can fly!"

The next blast missed Thangar by mere inches and he giggled madly as he dove behind a statue of a scantily-clad woman. Rain turned and called his blade into existence.

"You fool, that won't-"
"Look, you may have trouble if they're farther than two inches away, but I-" He threw the blade at the warlock that was zooming after them twenty feet above. It struck him in the side, but the look on his face was one of anger rather than pain or fear.

"I apparently can't do much either." A blast hit Rain in the chest, taking him off of his feet. He screamed.

"Idiot! Sue! Thanagar, get that door open now!" Grim hauled the wounded man to his feet and staggered with him to the front door of the mansion. He grunted when a blast grazed his right leg. The other two pulled the double doors open and then half helped half shoved the other two inside. Sue and Thanagar were right behind them, and they yanked the doors shut once more. The three still capable of standing wrestled a table and two chairs in front of the door after barring it.

"Well, it appears we ended up using the front door after all."
"And now all we have to do is find his princeliness before the guards in the house blast us to itty-bitty pieces. Or the guards on the outside blow up the door and blast us to itty-bitty pieces. Or they all blast us to itty-bitty pieces at the same time. It's like hide and seek!" Thanagar's brow furrowed in concentration. The door shuddered. "Maybe I should smoke him out?"
"No!" "No!" "No!"

OOC:

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You just have to get them to the prince. Please don't actually start the house on fire, unless you can actually make it work.

[hestbechinator]

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What's with the Sir Cedric business? His first name is still Sue right? And what about the numbering? I assumed you were counting down the amount of guards in the place, but the count definitely did not add up with what Grim said.

"We're going to do this by the books gentlemen. Rain, can you walk? There's a good lad Thanagar, you support him. Grim, scout ahead of us, try to figure out the best path to the Prince. We'll follow behind cautiously, and I'll take out anyone we run into. Allright, let's move!"
Grim looked shrewdly at Sue for a moment, then with a quick nod of his head slipped up the hall and disappeared around a corner. Thanagar happily, helped Rain up onto his legs, while Rain grimaced with pain. Sue gave his guisarme a quick horizontal slash, which then smoothly turned into an upward swing. He then began to walk down the hall, motioning Thanagar and Rain to follow him.
Once they walked down the hall a ways, there was the option of going left, right, or up a stairway; Sue hesitated for a moment: "Well, Grim went left, so I'd feel a bit redundant following him. However, we don't want him to find the prince and not be able to find us; I don't know what it is, but there seems somethings a little off with that chap." Sue turned to face his companions, with his back to the stairway, when suddenly his eyes bulged and he leapt forward, pushing Rain and Thanagar out of the way. Sue charged right into a warlock, the spikes on his shoulder catching the unsuspecting guard in the throat. Sue, being a person who always follows through with his choices once he makes them, ran at an angle with the guard on his blades, until a few feet later he encountered a wall, with a sickening crunch that resulted in the separation of the unfortunate warlock's head from his body. The other guard, taken completely by surprise by the viciousness of the attack, looked away when he saw his companion decapitated. Rain let out a gasp; whether it was in empathy with the guard, or it was a result of his wound, the remaining guard looked in his direction. The sound of a swish brought him back to reality, and he turned to take revenge for the death of his partner, just in time to meet the blade of Sue's guisarme. Sue had turned, and taking a two-handed full circle above his head with his guisarme, connected with the side of the guard, nearly cleaving him in two. The warlock looked down in shock, and grabbed the shaft of the guisarme; blood gushed forth from his mouth, and he went limp.
"Can't say I feel bad for them, sneaking up on us like that. Well, it seems I have the situation under control, there don't seem to be any more around--"said Sue, when an arrow whizzed right by his head, grazing his ear. Before he could react, a green light shot up the stairs, followed a split second later with the body of a guard, which was rolling lifelessly down the stairs.
Rain looked smug "I'd say that makes us even; I don't want anybody to doubt my value to this team. Even with a mortal wound I still have perfect aim."
At this point, Grim came loping down the opposite hall from which he had left them; his eyes darted hungrily around at the bodies on the ground, but when he saw there were no others he seemed disappointed. "Well, it seems like you three have yourselves taken care of. The prince isn't on the first floor, he must be upstairs." Sue looked flabbergasted: "There's no way you could have checked the entire first floor by now, I mean even without distractions it would have taken--"
"Well, despite what you think I'm capable of, I have checked the entire first floor, and I'm certain he isn't down here; so come on and follow me upstairs. And I don't know what you consider a distraction, but what would you call six guards?" Grim smirked as turned and leapt up onto the stair railing; he was quickly out of sight onto the next floor.
Rain and Sue shared a look; Sue seemed a little disgruntled, and Rain had a look of disbelief mixed with envy in his eyes. Thanagar broke the silence: "He's here for a reason boys, he's good at what he does. But let's not let him have all the fun! Prince Panagoth, ho!" And Thanagar charged up the stairs, half dragging a griping Rain behind him. "Cut it out! Ow, we're talking about a flesh wound here!"
Once they reached the top of the stairs, they saw Grim sprinting back towards them. Sue looked exasperated, and said "Don't tell me he isn't here either!" Grim responded breathlessly, licking his lips: "He's here all right; he's just a little more powerful than I expected. He's got about eight guards in the room with him, as well as his son. I'm sure you want to keep the Prince alive Thanagar, but can we take out the rest?"
"Why don't we let them make that decision once they hear what I have to say?" And then Thanagar began marching down the hallway, once again towing Rain behind him, singing "Prince Panagoth, Prince Panagoth, your guards were slow, just like a sloth; they could not slow our way to you, for as you are a flame, I am a moth." The other two quickly ran up to provide Thanagar and Rain with much needed cover, and soon they came to the room the prince was in.

[ArcanistSupreme]

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Sir Cedric? What are you talking about? But seriously, I got this mixed up with a story I'm working on. My bad. As for the countdown, it doesn't completely add up because I wanted you to infer that a little more was going on between paragraphs. It obviously didn't work. *shrug* I'll post more later today. I didn't know that the prince had a son. Interesting twist. We'll see where it goes.

No sooner are they all in the room than the massive doors are slammed shut behind them. They see two tall men wearing the Dagonar green surrounded by warlocks, also in green. One of the tall men is about sixteen, while the other is closer to perhaps forty. Both wear the golden armbands of royalty. Both look seriously pissed off. And then one of the warlock makes a gesture and everything goes black.

"You have exactly thirty seconds to tell me who you are and who sent you. What you tell me in these thirty seconds will decide whether I kill you quickly or I let my son play with you before I kill you."
"Oh, please let me just spend five minutes with them, Father. I promise I won't even ruin the furniture this time."
"Patience, Fath. twenty-five seconds."
"Perhaps you should ask yourself what you have to tell us, your most hopping-mad highness."
"Twenty seconds."

Thanagar lapses into silence.

"I think we can take them," whispers Rain. "We can't see them, but they can't see us either."
"Based on the knives, I'd say they can."

Rain swallows as he feels the blade on his neck.

"Fifteen."
"Thanagar, perhaps you should tell the prince whatever it is you wanted to tell him. By the way, your lordship, we apologize profusely for barging in like this. I assure you we have the best of reasons for being here."
"And these reasons are?"
"Er, I'm terribly sorry, but I'm not sure, your worship."
"Five seconds."
"Thanagar? If you're holding something back, now might be the time to say it."
"Very well, Fath, you may-"
"You are having troubles with the church of Pelor that I believe we might be able to help you with."
"How shall I kill them, Father? Fire would undoubtedly ruin the carpet, so perhaps that new-"
"Hush, Fath."
"You're right, Father. That would probably get blood everywhere. I'll-"
"I said silence, Fath! Now, 'Thanagar,' continue."
"You are having problems with certain priests of Pelor. Problems that are standing in a certain prince's way. Problems that you can't take care of because of certain agreements and treaties. Problems that a certain four nameless wanderers could take of for a certain amount of gold."
"Guards, remove the darkness and then leave."
"My liege, we-"
"Do I need to repeat myself?"

The darkness is lifted and one by one, the warlocks filed out the doors and windows. The ones taking the latter exit hovered outside, watchful for the slightest indication of trouble.

"So, what did you have in mind?"

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My idea was for them to go whack some clerics that were getting in the way of some of Prince Panagoth's business interests (slaves maybe?), but whatever direction you want to take this is fine. I have noticed that I like count-downs a lot. I think this one was implemented a bit more effectively, though.

[hestbechinator]

"Cute kid", grimaces Rain to anyone who will listen.
Thanagar sits down in a chair, leans back and crosses his arms behind his head. "We understand the need for an honest business man to make a living. Even in the movement of such a. . . unique item. And you have at least one mouth to feed besides your own; as well as the large sum it costs to afford these wonderful guards! I mean, taxes only cover so much of the expenses. Who are these priests to say what is right and what is wrong? I mean, isn't that all relative anyway?" He turns to Grim for a second, lips pursed in thought: "That's how the saying goes, isn't it? Or is it that right and wrong is all related? I can't ever remember."
Sue looks suspicious, and interupts, "What are you shipping that the priests of Pelor would want to interfere with? Are we talking about alcohol? Drugs? Evil artifacts?"
"My dear Thanagar, what a rude thing to ask! As humble swords for hire, it is not our place to ask such questions. All we seek to do is to make a modest living, and to help out those who ask us. Now, your princeliness Panagoth, with a few suggestions as to where your shipments are having the most issues we can swiftly be on our way; Grim, I believe you have the map. Why don't you two stick your heads together and get all the technical stuff worked out?"
Prince Panagoth has a glint in his eye, and looks as if he is imagining something; as Grim walks over to him, pulling out a map, he quickly comes back to reality and looks wary. "And what kind of payment will you be expecting? I mean, you just slaughtered at least a third of my men. You can't just waltz in here and expect me to give you whatever you want."
Thanagar smiles at Panagoth: "In order to prove ourselves, and to make up for the damages we may have caused, this first act we do for you is out of the goodness of our hearts. Oh, with the condition that you heal my friend here." He jerks a thumb at Rain. "You see, we are trying to make a name for ourselves; what better than helping out one as eminent as yourself, and fighting those as well known and disliked as the meddling priests of Pelor?"
Panagoth surveys the four of them, eyes squinted. After a moment of thought, he snaps his fingers; a servant is at his side, seemingly out of thin air. "Jeeves, fetch the healer; also, send for Auron. It seems our guests may be able to help me with a problem I've been having." Jeeves bows out of the room, and about ten seconds later two men enter: one has on robes and quickly walks over to Rain, looking over and healing his wounds; the other strides over to Panagoth, looking over at our antagonists with confusion. Panagoth looks crossly at the man and says "Jecht, what are you doing here? I sent for Auron." Jecht kneels at Panagoth's feet, and speaks loudly, to the floor: "I'm sorry my lord, but Auron was killed in the. . . intrusion. As second in command of your guard, I have now risen to fill his position. I am ever ready to help and serve my lord, and hope that I can provide the same services that you required of Auron."
Panagoth's eyes widened in surprise, and after a moment he burst out laughing. "Oh ho ho; stand up Jecht, don't look so glum. I never liked that prat Auron, he was always so judgmental of my business dealings. That prat was a member of the guard before my father died, they always got along great; of course, my father and I never saw eye to eye, even up till the end." The Prince sighs, looking reminiscent; but once again he snaps out of his daze, and grinning at Jecht he says, "Well, Jecht, you made out like a bandit! You got a promotion, and you'll get a chance to make us rich, all in one day! Well, down to business; I have a few things I need to fill you in on Jecht my boy." Grim, Jecht, and Panagoth go over to a desk on the far side of the room, and Panagoth speaks animatedly to Jecht.
Rain's full attention is given to straining to catch everything that Panagoth is saying, while Sue is staring unhappily at the windows, out at the grounds where the guards can be seen carrying the bodies of their fallen.
"If you must know," whispers Thanagoth to Sue, "the Prince deals in the trafficking of children slaves." Sue turns to Thanagoth, with a horrified expression on his face. "Now, before you lecture me on morality Sue, know that our job will be to eliminate any priests of Pelor that interfere with Panagoth's business prospects; I do not care what happens to any of slave caravans that we come across. If your conscience compels you to act, no one would blame you; we just need to make sure that the Prince only hears of the good work we do for him, not any of the potential adverse actions we make take against him. Got it?" Sue looks shocked, having barely heard Thanagar speak so much, let alone so perceptively. Slowly, Sue gives Thanagar a swift shake of his head, and Thanagar winks at him.
Thanagar then looks around, and smiling stupidly says to the people in his vicinity, "Is it just me, or would this place be much nicer with a dense smoky fragrance?"

[ArcanistSupreme]

Before Thanagar has a chance to burn down the royal vacation home, the prince addresses the group.
"The situation is this: Certain merchants that I am completely unconnected with in any way regularly send caravans of certain goods to a client that resides in the Marmalade Forest. For the past ten years of this arrangement, there have been few problems aside from the occasional bandit or overzealous 'freedom fighter.'" Prince Panagoth smiles, inviting the others to share in the joke. "Recently, however, due to an increased demand for makebelieve lumber, the presence of loggers has also increased, bringing with them settlers and the church of Pelor. The church has an unfortunate and unfounded dislike of our client, and have started raiding these caravans as a result. Now, we can't have such a ridiculous impingement on free trade, can we?"

He waits for the others to politely shake their heads in agreement before continuing. "Sadly, my hands are tied due to certain agreements and treaties which prevent the royal houses from engaging in direct conflict with the clergy of the gods. And, as these merchants have absolutely nothing to do with me (other than operating in the bountiful and perfect lands of House Panagoth, of course), I can't intervene with these church-sponsored raids. However, if a group of independent adventurers was to see to it that the merchants reached their destination unhindered and unharmed, that would be a great blow for capitalism and free trade."

A smile creeps across his face and he leans forward in his throne. "And if the church was, ah, shall we say, heavily discouraged from ever interfering with honest merchants again, I might not even have you hunted down and killed." He raises an eyebrow. "Do we have an understanding?"

[hestbechinator]

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That mutant class is pretty sweet.

"It will be a good fifteen days travel on foot. I suggest you start your journey now." And with that Panagoth turned his back towards our antagonists, facing the window with his hands clapsed behind his back.
Sue was about to protest to the rude goodbye, but Grim silenced him by putting his hand on his shoulder. "We have everything we need, we may as well get a headstart." And with that the adventurers walked out the door, down the hall, down the stairs, down another hall, turned around when they realized they went the wrong way, went out the front door, accidentally knocked over a couple guards who were carrying the body of one of their dead companions, briskly walked through the gate, and set off to the [insert cardinal direction here].

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I know, I know, epically short. But I don't know where to go with this, plus I'm really tired. I've just hit a snag, I'm sure we'll get past this once the action picks up.

[ArcanistSupreme]

Several days and miles of burnt houses/trees/crops later, the four come upon what could only be the Marmalade Forest. They set up camp and wait, Grim only barely managing to prevent Thanagar from starting the woods on fire on three separate occasions. Unfortunately, even the stoic elf was unable to watch him constantly, and Thanagar managed to actually start the woods on fire an equal number of times. Fortunately, either Rain or Sue was fast enough on his feet to stop the fires before the fires spread.

Later that afternoon, they heard the steady clopping and clattering of approaching wagons. Following the sound closely was it's source; ten different horse-drawn wagons came around a hill and into view one by one. Two armed men sit atop each of the wagons, but several of them appear uncomfortable in their armor and ill at ease with the crossbows in their laps. The wagons seemed to be intended as prison transports, and this was further evidenced by the dozens of small, manacled children in each wagon and by the cage-like appearance of the wagons.

It isn't long before the lead wagon driver notices the quartet. He isn't one of those that is unfamiliar with his weapon, and it is loaded and pointed at Sue in an instant. The other driver gives a whistle, and the other men follow the first man's example, albeit much more slowly.

"You there! What business do you have within these woods?"
"I am a knight, lowly knave, and I fully expect to be addressed-"
"What my companion is saying, Signoir Spazzy, is that we have been sent by his most high highnessness, Pompous Prince Panagoth the Pampered, to protect what I believe to be your caravan of goods."
"I think you had better accept our offer," Grim adds with a contemptuous glance at the drivers, one of whom has managed to shoot the donkey pulling his wagon. "I hear that the bandits that live here can get rather nasty."

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You just need to get them to the destination (a cottage cheese cottage deep within the forest). And thanks for the compliment on the class. It's clearly not done, and I have something of a mental block on how to keep going. Ideas are welcome.

[hestbechinator]

The caravan leader looks at them warily. "If the Prince sent you, I want each of you to state your name and occupation, and show me the prince's seal. Let's start with you, Knight." He puts a condescending emphasis on the word knight, and the two stare at each other coldly.
Sue clears his throat, and proudly begins saying, "I am Sir Sue Cedric, son of Sir Ivana the Terrible-"
Sue was cut off by derisive laughter from the caravan leader, as well as some guffawing from the men in the closest caravans. "Sir Sue? What kind of name is that? It seems to me that this is one merry band of men! Does Sue do the cooking for you? He seems rather effeminate, is he male or female? If this is the Prince's idea of a joke, sending fairies in an attempt to relieve our stress, you may as well turn around now; tell the Prince thanks, but- hey!"
During the caravan leader's little speech, Sue's right eye began twitching. Rain went to put a hand on his shoulder, but upon realizing there were spikes there, he decided against it. Sue's grip around his guisarme tightened, until both his hands were bright red, and as his right eye continued twitching, his left eye slowly opened until it was bulging from its socket. Thanagar sat back, playing with his tendertwigs, while Grim slapped a hand to his forehead. He whispered under his breath, "This guy must have a death wish."
Suddenly Sue charged forward; the other soldiers looked alarmed, but the caravan leader was fast enough to shoot his bolt off. It hit Sue square in the stomach, but did not seem to deter his progress one bit; a second later his guisarme arched high over his head and crunched into the caravan leader's helmet.

[ArcanistSupreme]

The scene exploded into chaos. Panicked wagon drivers fired their crossbows. Sue, in rage-fueled frenzy, ran from wagon to wagon extracting payment for their insults in blood. Committed to the fray by his comrade's charge, Grim waded into the melee. Thanagar alternated between bashing open the locks on the cages and setting the children free. Rain, miffed by the fact that he had an arrow sticking out of his leg, began firing soulknifes indiscriminately into into the crowd.

A full thirty seconds later, every single wagon driver lay dead, and every wagon was in various states of being on fire. The children gathered listlessly around the bonfires, gazing imploringly at their saviors.

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I love the direction you took! Fighting the crown right off the bat is way better than not doing it for a while. This post is pretty short, but I did it so we could try picking up the pace a little in the hopes that maybe this will get things moving a little faster.

[hestbechinator]

As Grim went around slitting the throats of every guard, he scolded Sue in an angry but soft voice, in order to not be overheard by the children. "Well Sue, that was brilliant. Just genius. As if Panagoth didn't already have one reason to have us killed, now we irrevocably have set ourselves against him. Because of your damn pride, now there's a swath of country that we have to avoid. Bloody brilliant!" Sue's brow was furrowed, and he had a slightly guilty look on his face; he was following Grim and dragging the freshly killed bodies off the road and into the underbrush. "You're right Grim; I have a slight problem controlling my temper. I've been working on getting it under control, and it really has been a lot better lately. I mean, you should have seen my father. A peasant sneezed when my father was talking, he slew the entire village. Completely unreasonable; why kill everyone else when only the peasant deserved to die?" As Sue finished talking, Grim heard a gasp from one of the felled guards; he went over, and with his souldblade repeatedly stabbed the man's body, clearly taking out some anger on his unsuspecting victim. "You're a liability Sue! If we can't figure something out, I don't know if we can make this work. We need to regroup and discuss our situation with Thanagar. We need to get off this road, and find a place to get rid of these children. Come on."

As Grim and Sue took care of the guards, Rain was scouting around the area and finding food, while Thanagar entertained the children. He had them enraptured; he played his flute, while performing magic tricks, most of which involved fire. The children were oohing and aahing, clearly much happier with their current situation than the one they had just come from. They seemed very much at ease with Thanagar, despite his appearance, and the fact that they had just recently been a part of a slave caravan. As Grim and Sue sidled over to the group, which was off the road a good distance, in a copse of trees with a campfire in the middle, Rain entered on the other side, with a deer over his shoulders. "Oy! Sue! I'm going to need some help carrying all of this. We have a lot more mouths to feed than usual, and I'm not about to kill and carry all of these by myself."

A few hours later, after stuffing themselves with whatever Rain could find scampering around the forest(mainly marmalade), and a few tales around the campfire, the group of children were all sleeping on the ground in a large circle around the campfire. Sue looked over the children with a small smile on his face. He spoke to himself, in a quiet voice, "Well, it's good to see that something good can come out of losing my temper." Outside the circle of trees, Grim seemed to melt from the shadows, his arms crossed over his chest. "Yeah? What are we going to do with them now? This is the biggest problem with helping others, then you have their problems to deal with as well as your own." Grim motioned to Thanagar and Rain, who hopped over the scattered children to join the other two. "Aren't they just adorable? And they have a great appreciation of fire. You know, I haven't had the slightest urge to light a single one of them on fire. That almost never happens with people; I can't sleep a wink without dreaming about what Rain's hair would look like as it went up in flame." Rain looked over sharply at Thanagar while at the same time moving his hands to his hair. Rain had no chance to inquire to the strange thought patterns of his companion, because Grim interrupted, "Well, it's great that you are all getting a kick out of having kids, but they aren't really the reason I'm here. If I got off on doing charity work, I wouldn't be in the line of business that we are. Or, are at least supposed to be. What do you want to do with the kids? And more importantly, what are we going to do after we figure that out?"
"We could take the children to the Temple of Pelor, I'm sure they could take care of them-" "Hold on, are you saying we don't get to kill the priests? I was really looking forward to it!" "Oh, believe you me, I was looking forward to it too. But it would be the pinnacle of stupidity to finish the mission now. What point would it serve anyway? I think, and I'm sure Thanagar will agree with me, that we should keep heading west and get as far away from the Prince's territory as possible. Keep quiet for another ten days or so-"
Thanagar interrupted cheerily, "Oh no my dear, dear Grim. We are going to fight the priests. No doubt about that. We'll set the children up with a couple days worth of food, and we'll raid the temple as planned. Then we let the children have the temple. We give them the weapons, take a couple days to teach them the basics of hunting and fighting, and then we carry on. Now let's get some sleep men; we have a big day ahead of us! Rain, be a dear a take the first watch." Rain grumbled, but turned to begin pacing around the outermost circle of sleeping bodies; Sue seemed satisfied with Thanagar's words, but Grim seemed incredulous, almost in shock. After the group split, Grim stood there with his mouth open for a bit; What were they thinking? What was he thinking? This was a sure way to get killed. . . but on secondthougt, I will get a chance to kill some goddamned mages- I guess everyone dies sooner or later. And with that he sighed, leaned back against the trunk of a tree, and resigned himself to sleep.

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Sorry it's so long, it just kind of came tumbling out. And I hope that wasn't sarcasm you used in your last spoiler, because I really couldn't tell one way or the other. If it was, I don't appreciate it. If it wasn't, then these three sentences will be completely irrelevant to you.

[ArcanistSupreme]

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Don't apologize for length, though if you don't have the time for longer posts, feel free to post shorter ones that move the story forward.

It wasn't sarcasm, though with me it is hard to tell. From now on, I'll put "[/sarcasm]" after a sarcastic phrase. I'm ignoring those three sentences.

The children thrust spears into sacks of flour suspended from a tree, the sun gleaming off of their sweaty faces. Sue checks adjusts one boy's aim, pointing to the girl next to him as an example. Under a starry sky, the children are lead by Rain through the woods as they stalk a deer. The mud and leaves in their hair and clothes make them difficult to see against the backdrop of the makebelieve trees. Watched carefully by Grim, the children run along the road in the rain. When the smallest girl begins to fall behind, Grim shouts at her until she catches up with the others. Now the children are building fires against the backdrop of the setting sun. Thanagar adds copious amounts of makebelieve wood to each child's fire from an enormous pile of firewood. Sue, Rain, and Grim put out the fires before the surrounding wood can also burn.

"That certainly was a difficult week, but I am confident that the children will be able to take care of themselves until we return."
"They better be able to! I am sick of pretending to care about every stinking runny nose and every boo-boo that these little hellions get."
"For once, Rain, I agree. It is time to put babysitting behind us and to get on with the uninhibited slaughtering of the thrice-damned priests." To emphasize his last word he shoves his mindblade deep into the trunk of a makebelieve tree. Bright purple sap oozes from the gash.
"Now, now. We also needed time to fix up the wagons. And you know how hard I worked to not set them on fire." Thanagar gestures at the four remaining that they had managed to save or cobble together from the burnt remains of the others. The bed of each was now entirely enclosed, making them resemble cattle wagons with roofs more than the cages they had previously been. It was impossible to tell if there were any children in the wagons or not.
"Less talking, more decapitating."
They each took a seat on a different wagon, flicked the reins, and set off along the road. Aside from an occasional complaint from Rain, they traveled in silence, deep into the Marmalade Forest.