Parting Gifts: Ch 1 - Dusk - IC

Jemal · Mar 27, 2007

Kurina nods to her airborne companion, then leaps off the roof, levitating downwards. Halfway down she begins speaking. "It's not within sight, so the city is safe, at least for now, but it would be best if someone did something about this before it can do any more damage." She turns to the girl as she touches down softly beside her, her bow once again safely stored. "With all due respect to Mr Foster, I think he may wish the 'giant beast slaying' up to someone else." She turns to the Druid "Grandfather, we must find out what's going on to the North.. Perhaps it's wounded or angered, and we may calm it without any bloodshed. And if not.." Kurina looks around to her powerful companions with a shrug.

Shayuri · Mar 27, 2007

Grandfather helps the girl to her feet and waves an impatient hand at the queries of the others.

"Tell me something about this monster," he says in calm, kindly tone. "Did it have a great shell on its back? Like a turtle, almost, but spikey? And two enormous horns pointing straight ahead, like this?"

He raises his hands to his forehead, and extends his fingers out, like horns jutting straight out over his eyes.

sans · Mar 27, 2007

"Or was it a dragon with giant wings like this?", Yolo asks as he jumps up and down flapping his arms in the air. Perhaps the war had finally gotten to him.

kinem · Mar 27, 2007

The girl looks up in wonder as Kurina levitates down.

"You're heroes too, aren't you? It - the monster - it kind of looked like that! Like a giant turtle dragon with horns. No wings. You think you can stop it?"

Jemal · Mar 27, 2007

"A giant, horned turtle? Doesn't sound so bad.." She stops as she sees Grandfather's face.. that wasn't any normal turtle he was describing. Switching to Sylvan, which she knows he understands, but doubts anyone else would "What troubles you so? An overgrown turtle should be little trouble.. It isn't even winged, we could attack it from the air with little repurcusions, drive it to the sea perhaps."

Shayuri · Mar 27, 2007

On hearing the girl's words, Grandfather's eyes close for a moment, and he seems not only to be playing at being old, but actually old. His seemingly boundless vitality flickers, and in that instant he seems painfully vulnerable, tired, and feeble.

Then he draws a deep breath and smiles encouragingly, if a bit tiredly, at the girl.

"You've done very well to come here so fast, and you've saved a lot of lives. I'm very proud of you. I want you to go into the inn there and wait just a moment while we decide what must be done, all right?"

He shoos her into the inn, just waving a hand at Kurina until she's safely out of earshot, upon which time his expression turns bleak.

"What she described is a monster of antiquity, unleashed as Bylan was beating back the dread Empire in an act of desperation and -spite-." Grandfather says, his face twisting on the last word. "There will be no reasoning with it, no compromising, no peaceful resolution. It's fury and hunger rule it so completely that not even those that unearthed the thing could control it."

His forehead beetles and he rubs between his brows.

"We must evacuate this town at once. The tarrasque has awakened again."

Voidrazor · Mar 27, 2007

"If it is headed directly for the city, then there is likely to be little time for evacuation. Everyone, please take hold of my arm. I will transport us to the northern gate. From there we can plan and ask the guards to evacuate the citizenry south."

Unbidden, memories of the last time she had seen the Tarrasque. It had been over a century ago and she had no idea if some sorcery had been worked upon it to make it yet more devastating since. But then, it had been a true terror. Several times, even as Haessellekh and other Sasoguese troops supported its tireless but plodding blitzkrieg advance, it consumed fellow soldiers that strayed too near. But that wasn't the worst of it. The worst was when she was forced, though the changes the others had wrought upon her brain, to use her own arcane skills to herd regrouping Bylanese back into the dread creatures path. She could still hear the screams, smell the blood, great pools of it from crushed bodies. No, this time would be different. They would turn the beast back, destroy it if they could, saviors rather than butchers.

Jemal · Mar 28, 2007

Kurina lets loose a stream of VERY Unlady-like words in Elven, Halfling, and Orcish as they head to the gate. Noticing a couple odd looks, she responds "What? I WAS a sailor for over a decade! And this IS a bit more of a problem than I thought... I've visited several sites in my travels that were once large cities, even powerful empires, brought down by this single mindless beast!" She steadies herself with a deep breath. "What do we know? I've heard it's nearly indestructible, incredibly huge, eats anything.. Does anybody know more? Wait.. No wings, right? That should make it simpler... Right?"

kinem · Mar 28, 2007

The girl accepted 'Grandfather's' directive and went in to the tavern. Inside, she sits at an empty table. The waiter who had been at Kurina's table brings the girl a mug of beer to calm her nerves.

(ooc: Are you going to discuss tactics a bit more first, or teleport to the northern gate?)

sans · Mar 28, 2007

Yolo grabs a hold of Haessellekh's pant leg, "Let's go!"

Addressing everyone, "For strategy, how about Grandfather summons a plump n' tasty dire boar? We can then grant the boar flight and lure the hungry Tarrasque to a more suitable area. The most suitable areas being the mouth of a volcano followed by a bottomless pit. Unfortunately, I don't think there are any of those around here. I suppose we could lure it into a large cave and then collapse the entrance. Any caves around here? No? Oh well, I guess we're just going to have to beat the crap out of it. Ew, thats quite a disgusting expression if you think about it... beating the excrement out of something.

Ooo, ooo, I remember a story this bard was told me. A psychotic druid once created some magic berry bombs and jumped into the maw of an undead, half-dragon killer blue whale lycanthrope. The druid ignited the bomb somewhere in the lower intestine, probably near the colon... killed, err, re-killed the undead beast in an instant!"

Yes... Yolo has finally lost it.