The Closed Eye, part II (DM: covaithe, Judge: garyh)

[Atriden]

Atreus is a bit taking back by Woe’s answer. Taking in his words, he looks at him with a puzzled expression revealing that the rogue is not sure how to approach Woe and his delusions.
“ Woe, I do not know of these individuals you speak of “ taking a moment to pause to see how Woe reacts “ This is Tander and not Corex. The other one you spoke of is Palindrome, not Jaera and we are not even close to Bacarte “ taking another pause to add to the effect “ What ever demons you may have, they have crippled your mind by bending the reality around you, filling your mind with fear and illusions denying you the truth. There is only one outcome if you continue to travel on this road, and that is one that is surrounded by death. Be it yours, mine or others, this is where you travel towards but it does not need to be so. Take control, face your fears, tell me of your demons ” he say's with a harsh tone, but he clearly shows that he wishes to aid him .



[sblock=OOC]
To Joe Not Charles: Hopefully this doesn't take that long so that we can fetch Hacker, but this is a very important roleplaying point which would be a shame not to grab. We are also still waiting on Tanders wolf lady, I believe.


To Covaithe: Atreus spends 3 surges to regain 21hp

[/sblock]

 

[covaithe]

ooc: Surges noted.

[sblock=status]

Woe hp 40/40 surges 5/10
Atreus hp 24/29 surges 0/7
Palindrome hp -12/24 dead
Tander hp -17/29 surges 6/8, dead

Resources used:
Tander: beacon of hope, cure light wounds
Palindrome: flaming sphere
Atreus:
Woe: inspiring word
[/sblock]

 

[KenHood]

Down the road a ways, you hear a baritone voice drawl in a conversational tone, "Nope. Naw. Uh-uh. Now, when I mentioned 'meat in the pot', little lady, I weren't thinkin' about no gawds-***** corpses. I don't know where you think you're headed, but this here is the gawds-***** cemetary. It's been a ***** of a long time since ole' Hacker ate himself some humanoid corpse (and that was some dire times, indeed), and I'm ***** sure I don't want to eat it again."

 

[nerdytenor]

An unnaturally high, saccharine-sweet voice responds in the distance.

"Now snookems, you know I didn't mean for you to eat dead people! It's just the mushrooms love to come up near tombstones, and they do have a lovely meaty taste. Hmm?

"Although I must admit, real meat sounds kinda nice right now. And I can smell some rabbits near by. But they're so cute and cuddly I could just never..."

[sblock=Relationships]
We've already gotten started on our next dysfunctional relationship - the characters may change, but some things remain the same...



[/sblock]

 

[KenHood]

"Although I must admit, real meat sounds kinda nice right now. And I can smell some rabbits near by. But they're so cute and cuddly I could just never..."

"Well, just you no nevermind 'bout that, and go fetch them gawds-***** mushrooms. While you're gone, I'll whip up a tune and have them rabbits beggin' to be supper. Then, we'll take chop an onion, a couple of cloves of garlic, and them mushrooms, stuff 'em in the belly of the rabbits, and have ourselves a proper bar-*****-b-*****-que. 'Cause it's like a wise man once said, 'The best way to hug a bunny is inside your belly.'"

 

[Atriden]

[sblock=OOC]
Nice, Nerdytenor and Kenhood are back
[/sblock]

 

[covaithe]

[sblock=Fishing for narrative control]One of Atreus or Woe needs to post actions in character indicating that they've encountered Hacker and Kathalia, and then we'll at least all be in the same place.

Narrative control is with you guys (mostly A and W at this point); I have absolutely no idea what you're going to do next, so I need you to tell me.
[/sblock]

 

[Dunamin]

[sblock=Narrative control]

One of Atreus or Woe needs to post actions in character indicating that they've encountered Hacker and Kathalia, and then we'll at least all be in the same place.

Narrative control is with you guys (mostly A and W at this point); I have absolutely no idea what you're going to do next, so I need you to tell me.

I'll be finishing a reply to Atreus soon, which should resolve some of the trauma-mode to return things somewhat to normal so we can move on.

It would come prior to encountering the new PCs, though, so if you guys could have a little patience... [/sblock]

 

[Atriden]

[sblock=Narrative Control]
Yup, me and Dunamin will finish our conversation as soon as possible and then let our paths cross. That will certainly turn out to be a interesting turn of events . Then we will try to get a hold on Palindromes things, rez Tander and hopefully get an extended rest. Then go after that bloody cult...after that perhaps go find Goldtusk, before he finds us. ( man there are a lot of loose ends, perfect to expand the plot/story, if Covaithe wants to that is )

Nerdytenor: How is it going with your druid? Couldn't find it in the character sandbox.
[/sblock]

 

[Dunamin]

Atreus is a bit taking back by Woe’s answer. Taking in his words, he looks at him with a puzzled expression revealing that the rogue is not sure how to approach Woe and his delusions.
“ Woe, I do not know of these individuals you speak of “ taking a moment to pause to see how Woe reacts “ This is Tander and not Corex. The other one you spoke of is Palindrome, not Jaera and we are not even close to Bacarte “ taking another pause to add to the effect “ What ever demons you may have, they have crippled your mind by bending the reality around you, filling your mind with fear and illusions denying you the truth. There is only one outcome if you continue to travel on this road, and that is one that is surrounded by death. Be it yours, mine or others, this is where you travel towards but it does not need to be so. Take control, face your fears, tell me of your demons ” he say's with a harsh tone, but he clearly shows that he wishes to aid him .

“My… demons?”

“They were not, though they would put demons to shame.” Woe sneers. “Elves. The most sadistic, bloodthirsty, fanatic, murderous bunch you’ll ever see. Take everything you’ve experienced with us and it will only amount to a choir boy stealing chalice wine, compared to the massacre I witnessed.”

The fighter shakes his head, realizing he is getting ahead of himself. “Well, you asked for it.”

“Before working on retainer for that lazy, fat gravy-elemental that poses as our employer, I threw my lot in with the finest band of mercenaries this side of the Shifting Seas. Skyborn Company – the awe of our presence is enough to make grown men and women wet themselves, one way or another.”

Woe sighs, recalling fond old memories.

“The best bloody bastardly warriors you ever heard about across the Transitives all came from there or worked with us, Arek Steelsheath and Keshana Thayul included. If we survive long enough to see Bacarte again, I’ll show you around the premises and you’ll see what I mean – the Skyborns will be the ones booting your brains in while downing a tankard of ale. They may not have taught me everything I know, but Juna’s erect nipples, that’s where I learned the best parts of life!”

“So a group of my best buddies and I were dispatched on an escort mission almost three years ago. You may have heard about Dylanthas, the so-called “Fleeting Isle” that drifted near Kythira? Settlers flocked to colonize, and our captain Kern figured we could handle the contract to oversee a village being founded.”

“We could, for the first few weeks. Hell, the wine cellars were so full, the maidens so feisty, and the folks so jolly I might even have considered moving there, if not for the complete lack of action in the bruising department. It didn’t last.”

Woe’s face hardens and he gets that distant mournful look again.

“They came in on ships made of bone, mistaken to be pirates by the scouts who survived long enough to cough a brief report before their lungs gave up. Elves wearing skulls and bones, howling to the moon. There was some sort of priest who branded us all as “defilers” with a scroll made of entrails and a bone staff which seemed to pump with blood. I don’t remember much after that.”

“I do recall that we didn’t come close to standing a chance. There are flashes… friends splattered all over me, breaking off bone arrows with blood pumping in them, as if they’re alive.” Woe looks Atreus dead in the eye. “You haven’t really experienced horror until you’ve seen a pregnant mother flailed to death with her own baby.”

Possibly without noticing, Woe starts to massage his left hand again, seething with anger.

“Don’t know if I was the only survivor. Jaera nearly made it to the deck of the boat I ended up stealing, before she was perforated before me. She tried to tell me something, but the arrow sticking out of her mouth got in the way. There was some sort of… high-ranking soldier among the bone elves, he slipped aboard while I was drifting out to sea. Babbled about feeding the isle with blood for new forests, before he charged me with his spear and gave me this.”

Woe rips the glove off his shield-hand. There’s a sizeable hole straight through the palm, at least big enough for an arrow to pass through and lined with some ring-formed alchemical device that somehow maintains the functionality of his hand, despite the loss of bone and nerves.

“I tried to have it healed, but whatever mojo was in that spear resists it. This cursed contraption hurts like hell, sometimes I just want to tear the whole damn thing apart. Sometimes I just want to tear the whole damn world apart!”

Never has Atreus seen Woe this furious. It takes some moments of blind raging and foul curses, but eventually the warrior seems to calm down again. It does seem to have done him good to speak of the massacre, however, and Woe appears to recognize his surroundings as they are once more.

[sblock=OOC]Yeah, the name Woe wasn’t exactly picked out of a hat.

When planning his character I thankfully ended up far less McSeriousFace, but I thought it was important to pay homage to the original conception.[/sblock]