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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Jon Potter" data-source="post: 1454454" data-attributes="member: 2323">[PLAIN][Realms #262a] The 1,000 Yard Dash[/PLAIN]Mad with unreasoning fear, Feln, Vade, Ledare and Morier sped off into the trees. There was only one obvious path leading out of the clearing and they all made a dash for it, colliding with one another a few paces in, for it was a narrow path and the trees pressed in close on both sides. Ledare and Morier clanked against one another and Vade ducked low beneath a tangle of legs to pop out the far side. But Feln, unencumbered by weighty armor, merely vaulted over the knot of steel-plated limbs, landed amidst a cluster of bright red mushrooms a few paces further on and sped off down the path. He never looked back, and it didn't take him long to leave the others far behind.Not that they didn't try to keep up, mind you. They were all single-mindedly intent on putting as much distance as they possibly could between themselves and the ruined shrine. But both Ledare and Morier were burdened by armor that prevented them from moving as fast as they otherwise might, and Vade's legs were quite simply half-as-long as the others'. So they trotted along in a tight knot, none of them pausing to speak to their fellows, the only thought in their heads being to run! Get away!At times, Ledare would lead, until her foot would snag on a root and Morier would push her down to get passed. Then he would lead for a time, until a low-hanging branch would strike him in the face and send him to his knees. Then Ledare would knock him aside and push onward. Once, Vade planted his foot squarely in Morier's eye as he clambered over the eldritch warrior.At last, after what seemed like an hour but was more likely only a couple of minutes, Ledare could go no further and she pitched forward onto her hands and knees, her breath coming in ragged, wheezing gasps. She crouched there, panting, unable to catch her breath, a stitch stabbing sharply into her side.Morier skidded to a stop a few paces onward and Vade slammed into his backside, nearly sending them both to the ground."Sorry," the halfling apologized, grinning nervously up at the eldritch warrior. Then, abruptly, Vade's smile grew broader and more genuine. "Hey!" he cried. "I'm not scared anymore!""Yes," Morier said breathlessly, his hands planted on his thighs. "The spell seems to have run its course."Vade looked around at the thick forest. The path continued on in both directions before being swallowed up amidst the trees. "It looks like we did too," the halfling joked but neither of the others laughed."Are you alright, Ledare?" Morier asked, noticing the Janissary wheezing on her hands and knees. He approached her fearfully, but she sat up on her haunches and waved him off while she wiped away a string of saliva with the back of her hand."Armor's. Heavy," she panted. "Not. Used to. Running.""May I help you up?" the albino asked and Ledare shook her head and peeled off her helmet."Just gimme. Minute," she said. "I'll be. Alright." Her coppery hair was plastered wetly to her head and Vade scowled at her."Aww, Ledare," he groaned. "And your hair was just starting to look really nice. Maybe if you had a nice brush." he shrugged off his pack and started to rummage. "I think I might have one in here somewhere."Ledare just glowered at him and said nothing."Say," Morier began, looking concernedly up and down the empty trail. "Didn't Feln run off with us?"Feln plunged around a bend in the trail and stopped short quickly. The trail he had been following had ended abruptly and another path intersected it leading off to his left. He paused and looked up the new path until it was swallowed by the gloom of twilight several dozen yards away. He paused and listened in the manner that Windstryder had instructed him over and over during their time together. He had never truly developed the skill at woodcraft that seemed to come so easy to her, but he had picked up a few of her tricks along the way. Listening to the wood was one such skill, but he heard nothing apart from the rustle of branches and the crackle of tumbling leaves.Sighing, he turned back the way he'd-The path was gone.He turned back to look down the path leading left and then back toward the spot where the path he had followed to reach this spot should have been. There was a tree there now. He looked behind the tree, but there was no path there either. He could see his footprints in the soft loam, but they just appeared out from beneath a layer of last autumn's fallen leaves. He cleared them away, but the tracks disappeared after only a few paces.He listened again for any sign of his companions, but heard nothing save tree branches rattling against one another in the night breezes.Feln shook his head. "Sh*t," he said.</blockquote>

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