Ye Old Adventure (Freeform) (IC)

[Blockhead]

Blockhead had noticed the interaction between the two from the exclusive view of being 'tied up' and gagged next to Raz, more of less able to see the movements of the two.

Blockhead laughed through his gag, which sounded like choking. "Yephf 'nf Hf cophfd drphf hif, Pf yopf vanpf." He replied.

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Translation, since he's gagged: "Yes and I could drag him, if you want."

[Blockhead]

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I know that my bonds have been cut, but I'm not going to move my hands and take the gag out myself, the manticores would notice and we'd be rumbled

EDIT: I'm confused whether us and the manticores are on the same side, I'm assuming we're not of course

[Lonna]

Lan sighed quietly. "If ya take out the gag, I don' think them's gonna mind," he murmurred, tilting his head toward manticore's. "Else they'd a stopped me when I cut ya loose. 'Sideswhich, they didn' bother with gaggin' ol' purple robes and if they was gonna hobject to us talking seems like they'd a started wit' 'im. If ya really don' wanna risk it, jest nod once and I'll take out the blasted thing."

OOC:

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Firstly, to answer your question, no the manticore's aren't on our side. Secondly, when you wrote "Blockhead noticed the interaction" do you mean that he understood the conversation or just that he noticed communication seemed to be occuring?

[Blockhead]

Blockhead removed the gag and said, quietly: "Yes and I could drag him, if you want." The dwarf stood up, dusting himself down and taking in a breath of non-gagged air.

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I meant that he noticed communication was going on, but not what it meant

[MrEdwardNigma]

"I don't know what you lot are mumbling about, but I do hope you're not planning to run from these things. There's a lot of them, they're fast, vicious and they can fly. Plus, the beady little bastards have got us surrounded. Just leave the decisionmaking to the big boys and you might actually get out of this predicament alive"

[Raz_Fox]

He should have seen it coming a mile away, but before he knew it his fatal flaw had struck again. Oh dear.

"The big boys, eh? They certainly don't get bigger than you, berk. If your brain is half the size of your belly, then your enormous brain-box will save us all."

With an impish grin, Raz slid down next to the noble idiot of a wench. If that crazy wizard didn't fry him, he'd ask her if she wanted to get out of here alive.

[Lonna]

"Pr'aps ya shouldn't insult them what your trying ta work with?" suggested Lan mildly.

Thrice damned wizard's right though; we need a distraction if we're ta run fer it. With a low whisper and a few finger movements, he conveyed his thought to the others.

[Blockhead]

Blockhead, unfortunately, did not understand Lan's intentions. He walked close to Lan and whispered: "I don't understand lad, what's with all this finger moving?"

[Goglas]

Right, enough wait.
Also, in case you misunderstood- The beasts can't actually talk. Or rather, you never actually heard it (The one that found you) talk.
And since it came up, I'll clarify it a little more: The beasts can understand language like any humanoid, but they can't talk.

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The Manticores guarding the prisoners ignored all talks and movements, except when Raz stood up, one of them giving him a stare and a low growl. It was obvious that as long as they didn't try to escape or attack, the Manticores pretty much didn't care what they did.
The lord sat down on the ground and held her head, which was hurting more than even the wound on her shoulder from that Eastrener. She looked for her sword and saw it was in a pile of a few other weapons, probably those of the other prisoners, right beneath one of the Manticores that was standing guard.

The storm of sand between the two beasts circling each other grew stronger, faster. They roared and spread their wings, taking flight.
As they did so, circling the storm in mid-air, something shone from inside the sand storm, and a hand burst out. It was leather bound with a ruby ring on its middle finger.

"Sermilion..." The lord whispered.
The beasts roared again and quickly landed on the ground, causing dirt to fly up into the air around them, concealing the sand storm. When it cleared, the prisoners could see the two beasts dropping a knee to the ground, bowing before their master.
"Ah, my lord" The general bowed, mocking her. "I see you are as beautiful as ever".
"Bite me, Sermilion" She said coldly.
"Tsk tsk. Now there's no need for that sort of language, is there?" The tall man said with a grin, and started walking towards the group. The three Manticores around bowed.
"Now, let us see, a Dwarf, a Half-Elf, a purple-robed man and..." His eyes narrowed, "The messenger...". With a pace you never thought possible, the general closed the distance between himself and Lonna and grabbed her by the throat.
"I saw you, messenger, in the twisting sands. Tell me, why have you come? Who sent you?" His head turned to the rest of the prisoners. "Perhaps you know?"

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Since I'm going to talk as two of the characters here, the general and the lord, I'll respond whenever you do something to which they'd react - Conversation, attack, etc'- So I'll be responding whenever I get the chance.

[MrEdwardNigma]

Blast. They knew each other. What kind of sense did that make? When could they have possibly met, the wizard wondered. It didn't matter. He was out of bargaining chips. She'd been his ace up the hole, and he did hate to get caught without one while cheating at the game. He didn't even know anything about the messenger, something the others probably did know. He was just a footsoldier now, cannon fodder.

The wizard grumbled and retreated his head under his robes, where he pulled out the shiny item he'd picked up in the tower. None of the others could see what he was doing, as his robes covered his every move.

Let's hope this trinket is of some use...

[Raz_Fox]

Raz lept up. Bloody berk, comin' in and grabbing a kid half his age! "Hey, what do you think you're doing? The lad was just doing his task - give him two moments to explain and you might just get an answer!"

Raz tensed - running very soon seemed the best option. With Lan and the dwarf, hopefully. Noble twerp and the wizard too, if they were smart...

[Lonna]

{{OOC: FYI, feel free to refer to my character by either gender/name in the narrations, and either gender in other posts. For the sake of clarity I'm using "Lan" and male pronouns in my posts until the group figures out that "he" is actually "she."}}

Lan gagged a little as Sermilion's hand hit his throat, but the general wasn't actually choking him. As far as Lan could see, this was the only upside to the situation.

Raz lept up. "Hey, what do you think you're doing? The lad was just doing his task - give him two moments to explain and you might just get an answer!"

Lan's fingers twitched, well below Sermilion's line of sight. Calm. He could only hope the half-elf saw; much as he appreciated the verbal defense, it wasn't going to help the situation.

"M'name's Lan Swiftfoot. I delivered a message from the 43rd Regiment of the 2nd Imperial Army. I dunno what them twistin' sands are or why you woulda seen me in 'em."

[Goglas]

Sermilion disregarded Raz and turned his eyes back to Lan. "And what was this message?" He asked.

Nigma looked deeply inside the inner pockets of his purple-robes. He could feel the rounded ends of the object; Small, metallic, polished. Moving his hand, he could also feel parchment. It was dry, and felt is if it could crumble to dust at any moment.
A scroll, he realized. But he's going to have to let some light in if he had any intention of trying to read it.

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OOC: Sorry it took me so long to reply. Anyway, very close to getting your first point.
And yes, Nigma, the rounded metallic ends of the scroll were the shiny part. The question now is- Is it worthless bronze, or gold?

[MrEdwardNigma]

Nigma turned his back to the others and then placed his arms a little bit further apart, allowing for light to come in his makeshift hideout. He read the scroll.

[Lonna]

Lan considered and quickly discarded the idea of lying. For one thing, Sermilion had the ability to choke him with a slight application of pressure. For another, there as a good chance the man was a mage too. "I was to tell the Lord that relief troops had been delayed, but more are a'comin."

[Goglas]

Lan could detect a slight smile from the general as he heard the wonderful news. He was just about to say something when he noticed a light blue fog around his feet and around those of the prisoners.
Immediately recognizing magic whenever he sees it, his looked about, searching for the conjurer.
"You! Human! What are you doing there!?" He said, dropping Lan and quickly pacing towards Nigma.

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OOC: I thought I should just decide what happens by myself, but then I figured it'd be more fun if you decided. Think of something and post (Obviously still from your character's point of view). Go as wild as you want with it, since every poster after you would be able to mess it all up anyways (It's magic, anything can happen).
So conjuring some divine beast, teleportation somewhere- That would be the best kinds of magic. But feel free to write whatever you like.

[MrEdwardNigma]

The thick blue fog had filled up Nigma's entire improvised tent. He gasped for breath in shock and took in a whole mouthful of the mist. The world went woozy. Nigma let his robes flutter, spreading the mist around even more, and waggled up to Sermillion.

"Y'know, you look an awful lot like James Dean, you know that? Has anyone ever told you you look like James Dean? Cause, you know, you do!"

Nigma tried to lean on Sermillion's shoulder but regretfully missed and tumbled down onto the sand. He started making a sandangel while giggling. He felt about ten thousand times as drunk as when he'd spent the whole night in a tavern. The world was dancing and the wizard's tower seemed to be doing the macarena. MrE just knew it was that fog that did this to him. Instant drunkenness, all round. Useful partytrick, he realised. He then groaned, lay back and started imitating a policesiren rather fetchingly. Never mind that he never even heard a policesiren.

[Lonna]

Abruptly released from the enemy's grip, Lan staggered slightly and fell to one knee. Thankfully he didn't breath in any of the magical fog, though he quickly noticed its effect on the wizard. Glancing at the thief, he signed a question. Small diversion. Run now?

[Raz_Fox]

Raz was at the dwarf's side in a moment, nodding at Lan. "Get the wizard," he choked out. Then he was on his feet and running. The fog made his head hurt like blazes, but maybe they could get out alive. He grabbed Lan on his way out of the fog - two were better than one, after all.

[Blockhead]

Unfortunately for Blockhead and his smaller height, he quickly inhaled the intoxicating blue fog. Fortunately for Blockhead, dwarves had a high natural resistance to intoxication. Still, the dwarf wasn't completely free of the effects. "Aye... *hic* Bloody good fog ya got there wizard! *hic* Cmon then laddy!" Slurred Blockhead, having trouble remaining upright as he ran towards the wizard. He grabbed the wizards hands and began dragging him out of the area, desperately trying to follow Raz and Lan without falling over.

[MrEdwardNigma]

He grabbed the wizards hands and began dragging him out of the area, desperately trying to follow Raz and Lan without falling over.

"Wow, hey, pass along the vibes!" the wizard giggled. He then tried to do the worm.

[Goglas]

Nigma: For being the only one to do something with the magic spell, and something so original, at that, I award thee one point. (Spending options at the end of the update).

Wow, I was all ready yesterday with a cool update, putting all of you in a cage in the Baras main camp and then give you a chance to join them, or escape, and then you'd stumble onto a treasure, and meet a dragon, and have him as an ally...But, I fell asleep. And now in one hour each one of you replies, what the hell?
Now I have to think of an entire new update...

I got it!
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Raz looked back as he ran and noticed the Dwarf and purple-robed man running after him. Behind them he could just see the general's head covering up in fog, his eyes almost completely red. The lord was nowhere to be seen.
The four rounded up a corner and kept running, sure the general or the Manticores were just behind them.
"Hey!" They suddenly heard from a nearby building. They looked to their right and saw an old man popping his head out of a half-open door. "In here, quickly".
Next to the door, a little bit to the left, they saw a hole in the ground, big enough for even the Dwarf to fit through.
In front of them, further up the road, was the battered main gate. Nobody was there. Nobody alive, anyway.
They stopped, unsure of what to do.
Footsteps from behind the nearby corner reminded them they should hurry.
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Right, so let's call this the beginning of chapter 2 of the story. So you all get a point (That's two points for you, Nigma). Spending options (Remember you can just keep your point and spend it later):

Note: Any ability which has an upgrade to it, you can upgrade at any time, as long as you have the points to spend- Meaning you don't have to wait for the next set of options if you wish to spend your point on upgrading an ability you already have.

A- Befriend Beast: Gives you the ability to befriend one beast at a time. If it's wild, it will follow you and obey your commands unless the command would cause it's death. If you're given a trained beast, it will do whatever you tell it. If the beast is trained and against you (Like a guard dog), it would simply ignore you. The effect lasts until you use it on another creature, or if the creature wins it's will back (Won't happen with most guard dogs, but I wouldn't trust a wild bear to guard you at night- You know, might eat you). The stronger the creature, the more chances it has of winning it's will back.
Upgradeable to: Befriend Monster (Hydra, Minotaur, etc') --> Befriend Magical (Manticores, Dragons, fey, and the like).

B- 1st Circle of Arcane Magic: You gain the ability to use the 1st level spells from the Wizard spell list. Each point invested in this ability grants you the next level (Up to level 9). Feel free to use the magics as much as you'd like, but don't go overboard, and if I specifically say that you ran out of magic for the day (That is, until you rest again), don't use any.

C- Underground Ally: Whenever you enter a city or meet an underground group (rebels, thieves, assassins, etc'), you gain the ability to find and meet an old acquaintance of yours, opening the doors to many, many options. Note: The idea here is that you'd be able to use this even when those sorts of groups are not directly involved in the situation. For example- You want to break into someone's house and steal some important document, you can use this ability to contact the local thieves guild for help- Which otherwise you won't be able to do.

D- Dueling: Since this is Freeform, in most of your battles against simple soldiers and goons, unless incredibly outnumbered, you would win. However, against named, high ranked or monstrous characters you would have a tougher time. Using this ability will effectively block my tries to have that character win (In-Character-wise, this means, for example, that, when activating this ability, you'd be equal or better at sword fighting than the Captain of the City Guard).

P.S- Don't worry, a third eye and a talking ear would probably be at the next set of options.

[MrEdwardNigma]

Nigma pulled himself up on the messenger, since the dwarf didn't exactly provide that much support for someone of his height.

"Y'know" he said, swaying back and forth and waving his finger at the dwarf, "Thatsh the nishest thing anyone'sh ever done for me- Hiccup"

He then slumped down on the messenger's shoulder. He wasn't completely passed out, but he sure wasn't reponding either.

((OOC: I'm not spending any points. I'm quite enjoying my incompetent wizard without any skills and it would make sense for my character to just grow skills out of thin air. I may have him master that one zeroeth level spell sometime soon, but I'm certainly not giving him access to first or second level spells at this point in the game))

[Lonna]

Lan shifted to take the weight as he realized what the wizard was doing, then looked at the main gates warily. It didn't seem likely that the enemy would have left it unguarded - it was too obvious of an escape route. Then again, the old man's appearance was conveniently timed, and there was no evidence that that too was not a trap.

Lan glanced at his sober companions questioningly. "Man or gate?"


{{OOC: Is the man indicating we should get in the hole? Or is the hole a different option from what the old man is offering?

Also, I'll spend my point now for the Underground Ally skill. My character is a messenger now, but as his/her understanding of thief's signs indicate, there's more there than meets the eye. This skill will allow me to use my backstory to my own advantage. }}

[Goglas]

OOC: The hole is a different option. The old man wants you to get inside his house.

And yea, your hand signs communication is what led me to present you with this option.

[Blockhead]

Blockhead stood, or rather swayed quietly to himself as the more sober members of the group decided what course of action they should be taking.

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Hmm... I'll take Befriend Beast.

[Goglas]

OOC: Would somebody just pick a path already? I'm gonna wait a day, and if nobody replies, I'm gonna pick a path (Muhahaha).

[MrEdwardNigma]

((OOC: Well, Raz still needs to answer... I suppose I could let the wizard pick the way, but he's really pretty drunk...))

[Lonna]

{{I was waiting for Raz, but if he doesn't post by the end of the day I'll decide.}}

[Raz_Fox]

Raz makes his descision quickly. "House." With that, he dashes in past the man, hand on the hilt of his knife.