Planescape: Chrysalis

[Ashy]

Noi'nu nods his thanks and then puts voice to it, "Keen eyes are a basher's best friend. Many thanks, Rexx", he says... When they arrive to the ruins of the city, the Old Man says. "Peery eyes, cutters and loose blades. Fan out, but stay within eyesight of one another. If you see something, let someone know - no one goes anywhere without the rest of us."

Noi'nu's masked visage lingers on Nara with his last words, but then he draws his blade and begins moving ahead slowly...

 

[Cabe Zeree]

Everything about the ruins seems one step from Nowhere

Buildings surround the group, crumbled shells of a forgotten time and people. None of the remains within sight rise higher than Noi’nu’s waist, he at least has an unobstructed view of his companions as they fan out down the forgotten streets. Everything about the ruins seems one step from Nowhere; even the forest and its inhabitants act as if the ruins simply don’t exist, or actually, they’ve existed too long and are now disregarded.

Still the streets have a spiritual feeling that strikes a chord deep within Noi’nu, the voices sing in harmony with something that soaks every fallen stone. It’s not the power of any specific god, but something more fundamental, something greater.

The trail is tougher to see, but signs, the occasional boot print, broken limbs, still lead on deeper towards the North East. After a few hundred strides a yawning chasm splits the earth like a deep sword wound, its sides of the pit are ragged with dirt and stone. The fissure descends to an unknown depth, and the bottom is lost in darkness. Warm and humid air wafts up from the darkness, and the air brings the scent of wet earth and ancient stone. The chasm jaggedly snakes through the ruins towards the northwest, and widens as it cleaves though roads and buildings.

OOC: Follow the western side of the chasm or the eastern? By Noi’nu’s mental map the arena is probably on its eastern side.

Any further plans of attack? Or plans in general?

 

[Ashy]

Noi'nu leads the group along the eastern side, still looking for signs of his quarry. "Look lively, lads and lasses", he comments. "There's no tellin' what's lurking about here..."

 

[Cabe Zeree]

Angels? Or Devils? Come at last?

As the six progress towards the north, keeping the fissure in sight, the great rend widens. For the most part the ruins are uniform in their layout and current state; most look to be former houses while a few have larger dimensions, and most have collapsed to their foundation walls which rarely reach to above the knee. A handful of ruins have one wall, or a corner that displays the structure had a second story, and those walls loom and tilt.

“Those walls shiver as the wind blows,” Kort breathes as the group passes one of the listing remains. “I wouldn’t believe it, but I saw it with my own eyes,” he whispers.

And every so often, Noi’nu spots the remains of a tower, at least that’s what he believes, because the ruins are stouter and always stand above the rest. Still with all the crumbling stone and trees, Noi’nu’s immediate vision is unobstructed, and he picks a path through the rubble that ensures it remains so.

“Hooo! Six more! Sooooo many!” A voice echoes through the ruins. Noi’nu isn’t completely sure, but it sounds like its coming from the east. A few hundred strides away, one of the listing towers rises above normal tumble of quarter walls, and its pinnacle even pierces the canopy. At least part of it does, because the northern half of the structure is gone, leaving the inside open to the elements.

“Bats an bees, birds an trees
Squirrels with flees
That’s all we ever sees!”

“Haha! Angels? Or Devils? Come at last? Oh no, by the look, you’re as lost as the others. Messengers from heaven or hell they were not!”

Noi’nu hears the sound of sliding and falling stone to the east.

 

[Ashy]

OOC: A BIG sound of falling stones (like an avalanche) or a small sound of falling stones?

 

[Cabe Zeree]

A small sound, like someone in/unintentionaly pushed a pile of stones over.

 

[Ashy]

Noi'nu calls out, "Show yourself, or else you'll be picking the fletching from your ribs before your next breath!" The masked man looks to his party, nodding as if to tell them to ready themselves.

Rexx draws his blades, spinning them comfortably in his hands; Zee also slides his blade from its sheath silently...

 

[Cabe Zeree]

Perhaps we should teach him a lesson?

"The faceless one is boustful and proud!" The voice is high and nasal and mocking. The watcher has moved much closer, but still no one can see the voice's owner.

"Yes, the hunter is loud," a new stentorian voice comments, but it sounds as if it came from the same direction as the other. As Noi'nu's eyes scan the ruins to the east, a man emmerges from behind a tree.

"By the Nine Pits, its one of Cedric's dogs!" Nara exclaims, and takes a step forward. The man is dressed in battered gray hard leather armor, his hair is light and lanky and pulled back into numerous locks. His eyes are deep brown, and his light tan complection and pointed ears hints that fey blood runs through his veins. A long blade remains in its sheath at his side. He certainly does look a lot like one of the mercenaries that escaped with Cedric.


"Perhaps we should teach him a lesson?" the man asks in a sultry female voice. He cocks his head to one side, and the dappled sunlight dances in his eyes as they sweep over the six in front of him.

"Six lost in the wood, in their quest for good,
Before them stood one, a man undone," yet another voice, this one masculine, rhymes. "I have a riddle for you, Noi'nu," the man says with a smile. "When is one, not?" As he asks he taps his temple with one finger.

As the man does so the voices within Noi'nu erupt in a cacaphony of sound. They scream and gibber, mewl and howl, each one tries to outdo the other in furious intensity. The sheer magnitude and surprise drives Noi'nu to his knees, he tries to bring his hands to his ears, a useless reflex when the noise is within. He unsuccessfully tries to keep the voices bottled up, but they erupt in random bursts from his lips.

Nara lets out a shout of suprise, a prayer quickly tubles from her own lips. "You just picked on the wrong man," Kort exclaims and releases a bolt from his crowsbow. The man easily sidesteps the shot, and closes the distance to the group, but he doesn't draw his blade. Zee, the closest to the new assailant, sees sanity left the merc some time ago, madness dances in the man's eyes.

OOC: Rexx next. Then Panaver. And Zee. Noi'nu is currently out of comission for attacking.

 

[Ashy]

Noi'nu screams, and he tries to force his will over and above the others. He imagines himself as a massive stone slab that falls down upon the others within his psyche, crushing them, at least for the moment. As he battles the voices, he writhes in pain on the ground, clutching his head with clenched fingers.

Rexx's blades, already drawn, spin in his hands - he slinks into the shadows and begins making his way back around as best he can. The tiefling tries to keep one eye wary for additional attackers and the other on possible opening's in the madman's defenses.

Zee draws his blade, and never being one for subtley, charges the raving lunatic...

OOC: Can Noi'nu speak?

 

[Cabe Zeree]

Stand aside dog of Strife!

Noi'nu feels the voices quiet, but they still remain, and he can feel claws scratching at the wall while it shudders under the blows of great fists. As he struggles to tame the voices, he feels a cool calm spread from the base of his neck and rush throughout his body, it soothes like a lover's caress, and the pain subsides to a dull throb.

OOC: Noi'nu can stand again, and he's regained enough control to speak, but any strenuous activity would be challenging.

Zee closes with the madman, blade held to cut from ribs to shoulder, but the swing ony cleaves through air. The merc may be mad, but he still possesses skill, he shifted to the left just in time, and now the githzerai has his full attention. His pupils shift colors as a smile grows on his lips, at some point he drew his blade that shines like a silver dragon fang in the dappled sunlight.

"Time forgets, empires crumble, races divide, and heroes disappear..." the stentorian voice intones as the merc readies his blade.

Pressed against a tree, like a shadow himself, Rexx watches the battle unfold. With the merc's last staement he pivots, and turns his back to the tief, Rexx smirks, "Clueless as a lemure."

Nara finishes her prayer, fear and apprehension melt away as a calm and confidence blooms within the six wanderers. "Were on a just mission, stand aside dog of Strife!"

"Perspective," the femaile voice says, but the merc's eyes never leave Zee's. "Just, fell, terrorists, heroes, the gith walked such a line, and they weren't alone." The mercenary smirks as he closes with Zee.

OOC: Rexx and Noi'nu can still do something before the next round.

Enjoy the eve...