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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Nonlethal Force" data-source="post: 3029550" data-attributes="member: 35788">The next day the party woke before the sun crept over the horizon.  In a matter of minutes they had Rapheus out of bed to bring them their horses.  They were more than pleased to be able to leave Scarhaus and travel a good half-hour before the sun began to show above the treetops.  The previous night the party decided to make an early start in the hope that the maneuver might enable them to escape detection if yet another group of Drakontai were following them.  This time they headed east out of Scarhaus and passed along the outskirts of Ardensdale.  Ardensdale was known for its hunter’s guild; although the village itself only had a few hundred people if that many.  The traveling foursome assumed that since Ardensdale had so few people living within it there would be little risk of traveling so close to its boundaries.  At this point in their journey they wanted as few people as possible to know of their coming.  To be safe they passed only along the very outskirts of the village.By noon the party had begun to climb the gradual inclines leading to the Tongra-Quehalost Mountains.  After a few more hours of climbing they found the face of the rock that they were looking for.  There was a simple hole in the mountain with an outcropping of stone directly above it.  In the few maps and charts they could find in Scarhaus this hole in the mountain was called the Cyclopean Fissure.  It had gotten the name many centuries ago since the massive outcropping of stone overtop the hole looked very much like a massive hairy eyebrow over a single wide eye.  The party also discovered that there were stories about this entrance being cursed.  The resulting reputation meant that this road was less traveled.  That reference alone spoke volumes about the trail because few of the passageways into Quehalost were traveled frequently.  If this passageway was frequented less frequently than the others then it must be hardly ever used at all.  This was a designation that suited Ischarus and his friends perfectly.  The road less traveled might be a simpler path to take in the long run.The party quickly dismounted from their horses and Ischarus took the lead from Rhema.  Shauvry snorted as Elistra passed her, but Rhema quickly settled the dominant horse down.  Rhema followed after Ischarus with Semeion following her.  Charis and her great skill with the pick pulled up the rear of the traveling group.  Once they had passed into the tunnel, Ischarus stopped when he could no longer see.As he stopped his progression he spoke loud enough for the whole party to hear.  “Semeion, would you do me the favor of lighting my sword with your magic?”Semeion’s eyes rolled back for a few seconds while Semeion searched within his mind and brought forth the magical command.  “Arack!” Semeion stretched out his hand towards Ischarus’ weapon and the sword began to glow with a soft bluish yellow light.  “What we need the next time that we buy weapons is to make sure that we have enough money to afford something magical.  Master Sathwright was a master at creating magical weapons that would glow on command and cease on another command.  He had even perfected his technique enough that had had over twenty different hues of light in which any given item could shine.  I guess that’s a bit misleading.  The buyer had to pick one of the hues that my master would use in the enchantment process.  From that point on, the color was always the same.”Rhema chuckled a bit at her own thoughts as the party began to walk forward and continue talking.  “You know, we’d sure have to make sure our command words were all different, though.”Charis quickly agreed.  “I was just thinking the same thing!  Wouldn’t it be odd to have the weapons or items all tuned into the same command so that they would all turn on or off with only one of us speaking?  That could be a real nightmare!”Ischarus chimed in his opinion from the front of the party.  “Yeah, but imagine the money we could make in a local tavern showing off our power of suggestion!”The party had a good laugh and continued talking for almost a good hour as they walked through the darkened cavernous tunnel.  The conversations constantly lead them back to reminiscing about Rhema’s home in Huetown.  They spoke of their most recent trip home in terms of friends, family, the local servants of the villa, and even Grick’s stay in prison.  As they journeyed through the mountains they knew that the next light they would see would be in a hostile land that would think nothing of their destruction.  Therefore, subconsciously their thoughts continued to return joyously to their home.Suddenly Ischarus pulled up short and instantly sheathed his sword.  The effect of this maneuver was to cast the party in the pitch blackness of the tunnel.Rhema whispered.  “What’s up, Ischarus?”  She was closest to him and was the first to notice his intent to stop.Ischarus whispered in return just loud enough that Semeion and Charis could only hear if they strained their ears.  “I heard what sounded like a splash of water further down the tunnel.  It was the kind of splash that I’ve heard time and time again when I step into a puddle on a street.  It wasn’t a dripping, it was a solid splash.”Nobody in the party spoke for several minutes as they all listened for any other sign of movement.  Before too long, Rhema caught the sound of a faint dripping in the distance.  “There, in the distance ahead of us.  I hear a faint dripping.”Ischarus listened hard, and he heard the dripping sound as well.  “Yeah, I can hear it now, too.  But I’m pretty sure that wasn’t the …”Ischarus stopped his sentence when he realized that he was rudely interrupted by the sound of bare feet slapping against stone.  The sound was drawing nearer and nearer.  It was charging down the tunnel in their direction.  As the footfalls drew closer to the party they could see no light source coming with the slapping footsteps.  Semeion’s mind quickly guessed that their opponent didn’t need light to see for one reason or another and he called out to Ischarus in the front.  “Ischarus, the light!  They know where we are and we must be able to see them, too!”Ischarus quickly drew out his sword once more.  It was a fortuitous draw.  As the light burst into the tunnel, the blade of the sword was met with a heavy force.  Ischarus’ blade was knocked harmlessly into his own chest, but the effect of the weapon draw was essentially a well timed parry.  Ischarus saw another blade heading for his person and stepped enough to the right to evade the strike.  As Ischarus looked to his assailants he found them difficult to see in the magical light. Their skin was nearly identical in color to the gray stone around them.  The creatures had an almost camouflaging nature about them with regard to the tunnel walls.The creature that had struck first swung again as Ischarus tried to ready himself.  This creature’s attack was also easily sidestepped.  Ischarus could hear Charis drawing her weapon behind him.  He could also hear Rhema beginning to speak in the voice that he had come to recognize as her gift.Her words came softly and filled with confidence.  “There is no need for aggression, friends.  If we are trespassing upon your land you merely need to step back and we can talk this matter out.  We were unaware that this ground might belong to other people.”The leading gray skinned creature pivoted its hips slightly in her direction and let out a simple growl toward Rhema.  It bared its teeth as it growled and for the first time Rhema got a good glimpse of its face.  It looked as though it had two rows of razor sharp teeth within its mouth.  Yet this was not the most disturbing fact about the creature’s opposing them.  In the place where there should have been eyes there was a simple flesh colored void.  Both of the creatures’ noses were wide and flat and they used these large nostrils to suck in a significant amount of air just before they swung each time.  After sucking in a deep breath the creatures returned its focus upon Ischarus and slashed out with their primitive axes.  Ischarus was able to parry these attacks before thinking about launching one of his own.Rhema yelled as her thoughts caught up with her ability to see the party’s assailants.  “They’ve got no eyes!”  And my ability to charm them is all but ineffective!”Charis yelled as she ran past Semeion.  Her pick was already drawn.  “Semeion, guard the horses!”  She weaved her way through Semeion, Thana, Rhema, Shauvry, and Elistra before arriving at Ischarus’ side.  She took a simple swing at one of the large gray colored humanoids.  She had hoped that her strike might just catch it off guard since she had come from the back of the pack.  Her hope was granted and her blow found its way through the creatures tougher than normal hide.  The gray assailant didn’t wear any armor, so it was not a difficult choice for Charis to figure out where to swing.Ischarus deflected another blow as he tried to swing a strike against the one that Charis had just managed to hit.  Ischarus’ blow was weakened enough by his need to stand defensively that he could not muster any sort of power behind the assault.  His blow landed on the creature’s tough hide without penetrating and wounding the creature.The first creature to strike out at Ischarus let out a soft howl.  Ischarus noted that had he not seen the creature make the noise he would have considered it more of a moan than anything else.  However, he did see the creature tilt its head back like a wolf and bring forth the howl.  The sound was almost perfectly modulated for the tunnels and Rhema noted that the sound carried considerably well within the tunnel walls.  The creature finished the howl with an overhand smash against Ischarus.  This blow managed to force its way past Ischarus’ parry and land hard upon his shoulder.  Ischarus winced in pain as he noticed his blood was visible on the gray warrior’s simple axe.Rhema saw Ischarus take the blow and called her thoughts out to him.  “I bet that howl wasn’t simply a shout of exultation.  I’d expect more company before too long, Ischarus.”  As she watched him wince from the pain caused by the axe, her mind leapt forth in a mental assault upon the same one that had struck Ischarus.  The creature yelped in pain.  The sound that came from its mouth was quite similar to that of a wolf that had just been bitten or surprised.  This creature now glared past Ischarus at Rhema as if it knew where the mental attack had originated from.  In a savage fashion the gray skinned creature exposed its own double set of razor sharp teeth.The other gray assailant switched opponents and swung wildly at Charis.  Its strong swing overcame Charis’ mild defense and battered her pick out of the way.  The Drakontos felt the cold stone axe head scrape across her skin.  When she looked down she was grateful to realize that the wound was not serious.  Ischarus had been hit for much worse.  She returned the blow to the one that she had struck moments ago.  The head of her pick sunk much more deeply into its flesh of the creature than it had just done to her.  This creature yelped in pain much like the other one yelp at Rhema’s mental assault.Ischarus was irate at himself over the fact that he had allowed his defenses to be penetrated so easily.  He brought his sword in an upwardly curving arc against the creature that had just struck him.  The edge of the sword missed gray flesh by a matter of inches as the beast began to pull away from him to dodge the coming blow.  The gray figure let out another quick set of grunts and stepped back into the shadows.Rhema thought about attacking the one who remained against Charis, but thought better then wasting her power upon an enemy that may have been hit hard enough so as to retreat.  The second gray creature did in fact move back into the shadows.  Ischarus and Charis stood with their weapons on the ready in case there was another attempt at an ambush.Semeion spoke first.  “Anyone know what those things were?”  His curiosity had been aroused and he felt bad about having not much of an avenue to use his magic in such cramped fighting quarters.  He was not only behind the other three members of his party but he was behind all the horses as well.  It was simply impossible to use his magic through all of that flesh.Charis stowed her pick and turned to make sure that Ischarus’ wound was not too serious.  Rhema shook her head at Semeion’s question.  “I’ve got nothing.  I’ve not seen anything like those creatures in the other tunnels that we’ve taken under the mountains.”Ischarus concurred, wincing a bit at first as Charis examined his wound.  “No, I’d definitely remember fighting those things.  I never realized how creepy it is to fight an opponent that has empty flesh colored sockets where the eyes should be.”Semeion mused over Ischarus’ words and then felt the need to reassert Rhema’s earlier point.  “Yeah.  But why develop eyes if you live in an area that has no natural light?  For that matter, why color skin as an attempt to camouflage themselves?  Either way, I doubt that’s the last we’ll see of them.  I agree with Rhema.  That howl seemed to have more of a meaning than a simple battle cry.”Ischarus scowled as Charis pressed hard against his skin to stop the bleeding from the deep wound.  “Perhaps.  With a bit of luck, however, our show of force was enough to convince them to stay away.”[Sblock=Color-Free Speech Section]The next day the party woke before the sun crept over the horizon. In a matter of minutes they had Rapheus out of bed to bring them their horses. They were more than pleased to be able to leave Scarhaus and travel a good half-hour before the sun began to show above the treetops. The previous night the party decided to make an early start in the hope that the maneuver might enable them to escape detection if yet another group of Drakontai were following them. This time they headed east out of Scarhaus and passed along the outskirts of Ardensdale. Ardensdale was known for its hunter’s guild; although the village itself only had a few hundred people if that many. The traveling foursome assumed that since Ardensdale had so few people living within it there would be little risk of traveling so close to its boundaries. At this point in their journey they wanted as few people as possible to know of their coming. To be safe they passed only along the very outskirts of the village.By noon the party had begun to climb the gradual inclines leading to the Tongra-Quehalost Mountains. After a few more hours of climbing they found the face of the rock that they were looking for. There was a simple hole in the mountain with an outcropping of stone directly above it. In the few maps and charts they could find in Scarhaus this hole in the mountain was called the Cyclopean Fissure. It had gotten the name many centuries ago since the massive outcropping of stone overtop the hole looked very much like a massive hairy eyebrow over a single wide eye. The party also discovered that there were stories about this entrance being cursed. The resulting reputation meant that this road was less traveled. That reference alone spoke volumes about the trail because few of the passageways into Quehalost were traveled frequently. If this passageway was frequented less frequently than the others then it must be hardly ever used at all. This was a designation that suited Ischarus and his friends perfectly. The road less traveled might be a simpler path to take in the long run.The party quickly dismounted from their horses and Ischarus took the lead from Rhema. Shauvry snorted as Elistra passed her, but Rhema quickly settled the dominant horse down. Rhema followed after Ischarus with Semeion following her. Charis and her great skill with the pick pulled up the rear of the traveling group. Once they had passed into the tunnel, Ischarus stopped when he could no longer see.As he stopped his progression he spoke loud enough for the whole party to hear. “Semeion, would you do me the favor of lighting my sword with your magic?”Semeion’s eyes rolled back for a few seconds while Semeion searched within his mind and brought forth the magical command. “Arack!” Semeion stretched out his hand towards Ischarus’ weapon and the sword began to glow with a soft bluish yellow light. “What we need the next time that we buy weapons is to make sure that we have enough money to afford something magical. Master Sathwright was a master at creating magical weapons that would glow on command and cease on another command. He had even perfected his technique enough that had had over twenty different hues of light in which any given item could shine. I guess that’s a bit misleading. The buyer had to pick one of the hues that my master would use in the enchantment process. From that point on, the color was always the same.”Rhema chuckled a bit at her own thoughts as the party began to walk forward and continue talking. “You know, we’d sure have to make sure our command words were all different, though.”Charis quickly agreed. “I was just thinking the same thing! Wouldn’t it be odd to have the weapons or items all tuned into the same command so that they would all turn on or off with only one of us speaking? That could be a real nightmare!”Ischarus chimed in his opinion from the front of the party. “Yeah, but imagine the money we could make in a local tavern showing off our power of suggestion!”The party had a good laugh and continued talking for almost a good hour as they walked through the darkened cavernous tunnel. The conversations constantly lead them back to reminiscing about Rhema’s home in Huetown. They spoke of their most recent trip home in terms of friends, family, the local servants of the villa, and even Grick’s stay in prison. As they journeyed through the mountains they knew that the next light they would see would be in a hostile land that would think nothing of their destruction. Therefore, subconsciously their thoughts continued to return joyously to their home.Suddenly Ischarus pulled up short and instantly sheathed his sword. The effect of this maneuver was to cast the party in the pitch blackness of the tunnel.Rhema whispered. “What’s up, Ischarus?” She was closest to him and was the first to notice his intent to stop.Ischarus whispered in return just loud enough that Semeion and Charis could only hear if they strained their ears. “I heard what sounded like a splash of water further down the tunnel. It was the kind of splash that I’ve heard time and time again when I step into a puddle on a street. It wasn’t a dripping, it was a solid splash.”Nobody in the party spoke for several minutes as they all listened for any other sign of movement. Before too long, Rhema caught the sound of a faint dripping in the distance. “There, in the distance ahead of us. I hear a faint dripping.”Ischarus listened hard, and he heard the dripping sound as well. “Yeah, I can hear it now, too. But I’m pretty sure that wasn’t the …”Ischarus stopped his sentence when he realized that he was rudely interrupted by the sound of bare feet slapping against stone. The sound was drawing nearer and nearer. It was charging down the tunnel in their direction. As the footfalls drew closer to the party they could see no light source coming with the slapping footsteps. Semeion’s mind quickly guessed that their opponent didn’t need light to see for one reason or another and he called out to Ischarus in the front. “Ischarus, the light! They know where we are and we must be able to see them, too!”Ischarus quickly drew out his sword once more. It was a fortuitous draw. As the light burst into the tunnel, the blade of the sword was met with a heavy force. Ischarus’ blade was knocked harmlessly into his own chest, but the effect of the weapon draw was essentially a well timed parry. Ischarus saw another blade heading for his person and stepped enough to the right to evade the strike. As Ischarus looked to his assailants he found them difficult to see in the magical light. Their skin was nearly identical in color to the gray stone around them. The creatures had an almost camouflaging nature about them with regard to the tunnel walls.The creature that had struck first swung again as Ischarus tried to ready himself. This creature’s attack was also easily sidestepped. Ischarus could hear Charis drawing her weapon behind him. He could also hear Rhema beginning to speak in the voice that he had come to recognize as her gift.Her words came softly and filled with confidence. “There is no need for aggression, friends. If we are trespassing upon your land you merely need to step back and we can talk this matter out. We were unaware that this ground might belong to other people.”The leading gray skinned creature pivoted its hips slightly in her direction and let out a simple growl toward Rhema. It bared its teeth as it growled and for the first time Rhema got a good glimpse of its face. It looked as though it had two rows of razor sharp teeth within its mouth. Yet this was not the most disturbing fact about the creature’s opposing them. In the place where there should have been eyes there was a simple flesh colored void. Both of the creatures’ noses were wide and flat and they used these large nostrils to suck in a significant amount of air just before they swung each time. After sucking in a deep breath the creatures returned its focus upon Ischarus and slashed out with their primitive axes. Ischarus was able to parry these attacks before thinking about launching one of his own.Rhema yelled as her thoughts caught up with her ability to see the party’s assailants. “They’ve got no eyes!” And my ability to charm them is all but ineffective!”Charis yelled as she ran past Semeion. Her pick was already drawn. “Semeion, guard the horses!” She weaved her way through Semeion, Thana, Rhema, Shauvry, and Elistra before arriving at Ischarus’ side. She took a simple swing at one of the large gray colored humanoids. She had hoped that her strike might just catch it off guard since she had come from the back of the pack. Her hope was granted and her blow found its way through the creatures tougher than normal hide. The gray assailant didn’t wear any armor, so it was not a difficult choice for Charis to figure out where to swing.Ischarus deflected another blow as he tried to swing a strike against the one that Charis had just managed to hit. Ischarus’ blow was weakened enough by his need to stand defensively that he could not muster any sort of power behind the assault. His blow landed on the creature’s tough hide without penetrating and wounding the creature.The first creature to strike out at Ischarus let out a soft howl. Ischarus noted that had he not seen the creature make the noise he would have considered it more of a moan than anything else. However, he did see the creature tilt its head back like a wolf and bring forth the howl. The sound was almost perfectly modulated for the tunnels and Rhema noted that the sound carried considerably well within the tunnel walls. The creature finished the howl with an overhand smash against Ischarus. This blow managed to force its way past Ischarus’ parry and land hard upon his shoulder. Ischarus winced in pain as he noticed his blood was visible on the gray warrior’s simple axe.Rhema saw Ischarus take the blow and called her thoughts out to him. “I bet that howl wasn’t simply a shout of exultation. I’d expect more company before too long, Ischarus.” As she watched him wince from the pain caused by the axe, her mind leapt forth in a mental assault upon the same one that had struck Ischarus. The creature yelped in pain. The sound that came from its mouth was quite similar to that of a wolf that had just been bitten or surprised. This creature now glared past Ischarus at Rhema as if it knew where the mental attack had originated from. In a savage fashion the gray skinned creature exposed its own double set of razor sharp teeth.The other gray assailant switched opponents and swung wildly at Charis. Its strong swing overcame Charis’ mild defense and battered her pick out of the way. The Drakontos felt the cold stone axe head scrape across her skin. When she looked down she was grateful to realize that the wound was not serious. Ischarus had been hit for much worse. She returned the blow to the one that she had struck moments ago. The head of her pick sunk much more deeply into its flesh of the creature than it had just done to her. This creature yelped in pain much like the other one yelp at Rhema’s mental assault.Ischarus was irate at himself over the fact that he had allowed his defenses to be penetrated so easily. He brought his sword in an upwardly curving arc against the creature that had just struck him. The edge of the sword missed gray flesh by a matter of inches as the beast began to pull away from him to dodge the coming blow. The gray figure let out another quick set of grunts and stepped back into the shadows.Rhema thought about attacking the one who remained against Charis, but thought better then wasting her power upon an enemy that may have been hit hard enough so as to retreat. The second gray creature did in fact move back into the shadows. Ischarus and Charis stood with their weapons on the ready in case there was another attempt at an ambush.Semeion spoke first. “Anyone know what those things were?” His curiosity had been aroused and he felt bad about having not much of an avenue to use his magic in such cramped fighting quarters. He was not only behind the other three members of his party but he was behind all the horses as well. It was simply impossible to use his magic through all of that flesh.Charis stowed her pick and turned to make sure that Ischarus’ wound was not too serious. Rhema shook her head at Semeion’s question. “I’ve got nothing. I’ve not seen anything like those creatures in the other tunnels that we’ve taken under the mountains.”Ischarus concurred, wincing a bit at first as Charis examined his wound. “No, I’d definitely remember fighting those things. I never realized how creepy it is to fight an opponent that has empty flesh colored sockets where the eyes should be.”Semeion mused over Ischarus’ words and then felt the need to reassert Rhema’s earlier point. “Yeah. But why develop eyes if you live in an area that has no natural light? For that matter, why color skin as an attempt to camouflage themselves? Either way, I doubt that’s the last we’ll see of them. I agree with Rhema. That howl seemed to have more of a meaning than a simple battle cry.”Ischarus scowled as Charis pressed hard against his skin to stop the bleeding from the deep wound. “Perhaps. With a bit of luck, however, our show of force was enough to convince them to stay away.”[/Sblock]</blockquote>

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