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Storyboard reference
Storyboard reference
Storyboard
To those just visiting--this is a storyboard, NOT a guestbook. If you'd like to send us a message, please email us at rather than posting here. Thanks!  Name: Lora Redish City Coming of Age Character(s): Sashami and the Silver Bullets Title of Post: Loyalties Sent: 9.26 pm - 12/21 In the cell beyond, Jimmy was straining on his toes to try and catch a glimpse of his friends through the high cell window. He could hear them arguing with Ekrit. Would they hear him if he yelled? What would he tell them, anyway? I'm in here? Run like hell, this bastard's insane? You can't leave me? Then there was a barely audible click. He jerked his head around, saw nothing but a faint shimmering in the air. But the manacle fell off from his wrist. *** Michael sighed, and paced in the ether. There wasn't much else he was going to be able to do here without revealing himself to Thalia. This Ekrit SOB had better not lay hands on her or there was going to be Hell to pay, and Michael Dean didn't mean that figuratively. *** "You're suggesting we do WHAT?" Sashami was so aghast it had taken her a few moments even to get the words out. "I--I've never been so insulted in my life!" She wasn't sure which was worse: the implication that the Silver Bullets were such cowards, such mercenaries, or such crappy friends. "Unhand him or face us in battle, miscreant!" She hadn't bothered to check her teammates' reactions before speaking, Sashami realized too late; unbecoming of a War Woman, but honestly, who could possibly disagree with her on this? "Ah, the loyalty of youth," Ekrit sighed to Wenro. "A pity it's so misplaced." *** "I reiterate," the wizard was saying, as Jimmy did a chin-up to the cell window. "My quarrel is not with you." To Jimmy's relief the Silver Bullets looked alive and well, no one missing, not much the worse for wear. Berryn's shoulder was banged up and bleeding. Jason was missing a boot. He almost didn't recognize Sashami at first glance; her armor was gone, and she was wearing plain black pants and a turtleneck. She looked pissed as hell. "You kidnap us, rob us, capture our friend and offer us coin for him, and now you say you have no quarrel with us?" she demanded. "I reiterate; hand him over or chew steel. It seems like a perfectly good day to die to me." "Aren't they all?" said Berryn rhetorically. "Have it your way," Lord Ekrit sighed. "I don't get much out of needless bloodshed myself, but there are worse things in life, one supposes." And he activated his spell trigger. *** The evil sorceror flashed grey for a moment, which Rissa recognized as a stoneskin. Then he flashed orange for a moment, which she recognized as a fire shield. Then the room exploded in a fireball, which even Melissandra recognized just fine. Name: Jonah Cohen City Coming of Age: Sins of the Fathers Character(s): Jimmy, Ekrit, Wenro + the SB Title of Post: Hands Clean Sent: 8.36 pm - 12/21 Three months ago Jimmy had never known that anything could feel this bad. When he had found out, it had been just shock first. No pain yet - not until he was able to convince himself that she had really done it. That it hadn't been some kind of tragicomic misunderstanding. It had to be. Then the argument, and it got even worse. He had never seen Mary like that before. Defensive, desperate, out of control. It had frightened him. Days later, still dazed and terrified at the thought of facing another day, he could still hear her words ringing in his ears. It didn't mean anything It was only those two times You can't leave me I made you what you are You can't go, you'll be nothing without me I love you "Right on all counts," he whispered. Then he packed and left Saginou. Destination: anywhere but here. * * * * * He had banged on the pipe until the knuckles on his right hand were raw, and was about to give up, when he heard 7 soft clanks answer him, in an unmistakable meter. Ignoring the possibility that it was some guard or whatever, dicking with him, Jimmy decided that this meant the Silver Bullets were alive. "Oh, thank God," he said. Then, a few minutes later, he heard muffled voices coming from outside the door. * * * * * Alexke fidgeted with the wire. "Got it!" she said, standing up and opening the door. * * * * * "My lord, an alarm just went off. The boy's companions have reached level 2." "I see. Time for us to take a personal hand, it would appear." * * * * * "And what have we here?" Everyone looked around at the room, incongruously lavish after the stone dungeon chambers. A short sword hung in a glass case on the wall, opposite a coat of arms. "Living quarters," Thalia said. "It's classic dungeon design, really. You put the brig and the traps and monsters and stuff on the lower dungeon levels, then the villain's home on the top. This would be... the bedroom." "Shag carpet," Alderon said, shaking his head. "Tragic." Before anyone else could dis the decor, one of the doors in the room opened. The man who had called himself Wenro entered, immediately followed by a taller, white haired man in wizard's robes. Hands went to weapons, but the wizard held up a hand. "Wait!" he said, in an accent that several of the Silver Bullets recognized as Cynystran. "I believe this has been a misunderstanding, I would not wish you to do anything rash." "Who are you?" Sashami demanded, hands tense on her axe. "I am Lord Ekrit, and I must apologize for the manner in which you were brought here. I intended no harm to anyone present in this room. I simply had to be certain that you were not in league with an enemy of mine. I had assumed that you would be kept from harm's way while I investigated. However, and I congratulate you, you managed to loose yourselves from my holding facility - I trust no one has suffered serious injuries?" "Where's Jimmy?" Alderon said. "That is, frankly, not your concern. Young Mr. DiLaurentis must remain with me. This is not a negotiable point." Before anyone could beg to differ, her hastily continued. "If you wish, I can give you all the morbid details about the Dilaurentis family - the murders they are responsible for, the thefts, the extortion, the way they framed me for their crimes. As I'm sure you have noticed, 'Jimmy' is well on his way to continuing the family legacy. I will not allow that. I have no quarrel with any of you. You are free to go, and I will happily offer you compensation for any material losses or inconvenience you have suffered. But if you insist on contesting custody of Mr. Dilaurentis, we will have... issues." There was a heavy silence, and then Ekrit said. "You are, as I said, free to depart. Or you can start a melodramatic confrontation that will be suicidal. The choice is yours." Name: Lora Redish City The Shape of Things Character(s): Heart Title of Post: Battling alien monsters makes GREAT practice for your thesis defense! Sent: 11.49 am - 12/16 Heart scrambled down the alien hill with her spear, her heart racing. The huge flat monster Rhynwa had just initiated combat with was bad enough, but if the battle wasn't over quickly enough the small group might attract the attention of another dragon, and that would be bad. Heart would like to think the dragons might be grateful to Rhynwa for trying to rescue the hatchlings from the scavenger, but given that it had been another dragon that had slain the brooding mother, she saw no reason to be that optimistic about their species loyalty. Rhynwa's first spell was a blade barrier between the scavenger and the remaining hatchlings. This did in fact stymie the monster, which paused and looked uncertain as to how to get around the magic ward. It only held that confused pose for a moment before it started lashing out at Rhynwa with its spiky pseudopods, however. Rhynwa next tried her death mask on the creature, but that didn't seem to have any effect on it. Unfortunately, because the intelligence level of the alien monster was unknown, Heart couldn't draw any useful conclusions from this about the nature of the spells. We need to get into some fights with some bandits or wolves or something else that's a known quantity... "Boy, it would be useful if I could fly," she heard Carter say behind her, and then felt the air pressure as he whizzed over her head and down to the fight. Well, good. Heart was a hardy enough girl, but not exactly what you'd call a warrior. A flying superhero might help this battle reach a swifter conclusion. Then again, knowing Carter and his idiosyncratic powers, maybe not. Heart sighed and started stabbing prosaically at one of the pseudopods with her spear. Name: Lora Redish City Coming of Age: Sins of the Fathers Character(s): Sashami and the SB Title of Post: Escape Artists Sent: 10.25 am - 12/12 "I don't like this," Rissa shivered, trying not to look at the dead men slumped on the floor. "Whatever killed them may still be around here somewhere." "Perhaps Jimmy slew them while escaping," Sashami offered. Alexke was examining the door the guards were sitting in front of. "It's locked, and I don't have my tools with me. Has anyone got a good stiff wire on them?" "Like we carry wires around in our underwear, Alexke," sighed Berryn. She rolled her eyes at him and looked expectantly at Sashami. "I'm wearing a sports bra," she said apologetically. "Thalia?" "Soft-cup," said the princess. "But I do have a bobby pin in my hair." "That'll do." "They really are from another planet, aren't they?" Berryn said to Alderon, with a quirky grin. *** Their belongings were stacked neatly in the storage room, with no obvious signs of sabotage. Sashami was relieved to find Ahvo's axe leaning against the wall in good condition. She'd been afraid Wenro might have sold it, as it was of superior quality. Her backpack was intact as well. So her only loss had been a suit of scale mail. That would be expensive, but eminently replaceable. Tyler shoved his notebook into his pocket with a look of great relief. "Do you think your book might be in there?" he asked Rissa, gesturing at the small cedar chest Alexke was struggling with. The young thief had retrieved her lockpicks, but was not succeeding at getting the mechanism open. Rissa leaned over the chest and did something fluttering with her fingers, then gave a real smile for the first time since she'd awakened in her jail cell. "It sure is," she said. "Let's just bring the whole chest with us, Alexke... we'll be able to open it later, I'm sure." "Okay," said Alexke, looking a little nettled. *** The Silver Bullets headed carefully up the stairs, stopping at a pipe curving up the wall that caught Berryn's interest. "Shave-and-a-haircut," he placed the rhythm coming out of it, "two bits. I'll be an illusionist's uncle if that's random." "Jimmy!" said Rissa. Berryn still wasn't completely convinced Jimmy was still on their side, but he knew better than to start that conversation up right now. "There's somebody sentient imprisoned up there, anyway," he said instead. "If it's not Jimmy, it could be another victim of Wenro's, and a potential ally. Either way, we ought to investigate." "Let's go upstairs and try to trace the pipe," Sashami agreed, feeling much better with her axe in hand even if she did have an AC of 8 now. "Perhaps we can find the room it leads to." "We should let him know we heard him." Rissa leaned over and knocked back: shave-and-a-haircut, two bits. "At least he'll know we're looking for him, now." "Good," Sashami nodded, looked left and right. No sign of guards on the stairway. "Let's move." *** "Lord Ekrit?" "Yes, Wenro?" "There's been an... irregularity." The Cynystran-born wu-jen sighed. "A major one, or a minor one, Wenro?" "Minor enough, lord. The adventurers you had in the dungeon seem to have escaped their cell." "Really." Ekrit put his fingers together. "Well, I wasn't expecting that. I did have their cell warded against magic, didn't I, Wenro?" "Yes, sir." "Ah well. You never do know what to expect with that sort. They won't be able to get upstairs without the guards raising an alarm, and if they escape through the back tunnels there's little loss to me. See that the Dilaurentis lad's quarters are monitored. I would hate for his progress to be interrupted by an untimely rescue... or an untimely death." "Yes, Lord Ekrit." Name: Jonah Cohen City Coming of Age: Sins of the Fathers Character(s): Jimmy n friends Title of Post: Soundtrack to Mary Sent: 7.07 pm - 12/11 "Wenro, I do believe this calls for a toast," Ekrit said. He then told Jimmy "Don't go anywhere, we'll be back shortly." "What the hell was that stuff you injected me with?!?" "That is... of no matter." Great, Jimmy thought as the two men departed, an asshole with a weakness for the classics. He was trying to stave off panic that he had just been poisoned. He didn't feel anything wrong - apart from being chained to a wall. Maybe it was some delayed-action, slow-and-painful-death poison! But it had looked like blood, since when was that poisonous? Unless it was super-toxic dragon blood or something. And why the heck was this guy doing any of this? Jimmy had just about ruled out the possibility that Ekrit was in league with Ewens, or in any way connected to whatever craziness was going down with Rissa Minarye's amulet. No, this seemed to be a whole new species of craziness. So assuming he's telling the truth, and dad screwed him over, what on earth does he think he'll gain by kacking me? It would be the bitterest irony Jimmy could imagine if he ended up dead because some yahoo mistakenly thought that his severed head in a box would cause the old man grief. Dad would probably keep it on the mantle. And what was up with that magic book the guy had been reading. It lay on the table across the room, somehow not looking menacing - just looking old. Not for the first time, he was feeling very alone. * * * * * Three years ago; Saginou, Cynystra "You want to join up with us?" the leader of the trio of thieves asked the sixteen year old, incredulous. He nodded, very enthusiastically. "I've got skills! I've got the know how, I've got the experience, I've got the complete package." "I've got your wallet," she said, tossing it back to him. The boy's jaw dropped. "Keep your nose clean, kid." "Wait!" Desperate now. "The lift isn't really my specialty." "Your specialty?" the halfling said. "Yeah. Honest. I'm really good at getting into high places. Here, watch!" Not caring if he looked desperate at this point, he quickly scaled the alley wall. The thieves considered, then decided that maybe investing in a trainee to fill the role of second story man might be worth it. And so, the dishonorable runaway who introduced himself as Jimmy D joined their crew, and they began to teach him. Avery "Little Bit" Phelps taught Jimmy about lockpicking and how to maintain concentration. He taught him how to play darts - at which Jimmy became excellent, though never quite as good as Avery. He taught him how to cuss people out in the language of the Little Folk. "The best part is, the mother tongue is so lyrical and cheerful sounding, you can call someone a blood-belching vagina and they assume you've just bid them a good afternoon." Chris "Cuz" Moltisanti - actual cousin of the group's leader, and who favored just about any robbery, "just cuz" - taught Jimmy how to fight "like less of a retarded monkey." He trained Jimmy in how to scan for trouble, check the blindspot, and how to look cool hanging out in a bar. Though no one was ever as cool as Cuz. And Mary, the no-nonsense pack Alpha. She could slip into darkness like a shadow and her lift technique was immaculate. And she was a stickler for planning, for always relying on using one's gray matter. She trained Jimmy in these skills, too, though she was a stern teacher. In his first lesson, she handed him some picks, and a large lock - made of glass so he could see the inner workings - and told him he was out on his ass if he didn't open it by the time she was done with her reading. It wasn't until much later that she revealed to him she had been reading David McCullough's "Blackspur", which was 1,000 pages. When he did manage a task successfully, she sometimes favored him with The Smile, turning her heart-shaped, ringlet-framed face from taskmaster to the most beautiful thing Jimmy had ever seen. As his first week of training ended on a Friday afternoon, the three thieves started debating which bar to hit. Mummbling "Seeya Monday," he tried to slip out quietly. "The hell?!" Cuz demanded. "Ain't you coming with?" Jimmy tried not to grin to dopily. He was nervous about whether he had enough money to buy any drinks. Mary picked up his tab. Everyone laughed when he told them his father was nicknamed "dead meat". At some point, Jimmy knew he had found something new in his life: a family. And eventually, the three thieves became four. It was a year later when the famous band of bards called JJW brought their hot sounds to Saginou, and Mary was happily shelled out big coin for tickets. When Jimmy protested that he didn't know how to dance, she taught him that, too. As they were leaving the show, she took his arm and said "I'd like you to come home with me, Jimmy." It was the best lesson ever. * * * * * Despite having no clue what was going on, it was safe to say that this Ekrit guy was bad news, and that getting the heck out of here and finding the rest of the team would be jolly good. It was just going to be a little tough to do, what with being chained up in the corner of a room. Yanking on his manacles, Jimmy noticed a small weakness. The one around his right wrist hadn't gotten on as tight as the left one. He scrunched up his hand and yanked. It slid down a bit, but still stuck. Come on, skinny boy... He twisted and steadily pulled until his arm was sore. Almost there.... With one huge pull, he was able to liberate his right arm. The chains ripped a gash in the side of his right hand, but it was free. Trying not to repeat "Ow" too often, he took stock. The stilletto he normally kept hidden up his sleeve was gone. No tools of any kind on his person, in fact. Nothing within reach. And his left arm was bound far more securely than the right had been. "Think, farmboy." That's what she would have told him. "Use the gray matter." Then he noticed something beside him on the wall. "Oh, what the fuck. Worth a shot." * * * * * The Silver Bullet came to a set of half a dozen steps, leading to a door. "Hey, does anyone hear that?" Berryn said. Everyone fell silent and strained their ears. After a respectable time, Sashami said "I hear some rattling in that pipe" - she indicated the metal tube running from ceiling to floor - "and us breathing." "Something about it," Berryn said, narrowing his eyes in concentration. He moved closer to the pipe, which disappeared up through the ceiling, as well as down through the floor. There were five quiet but distinct bangs, a pause, then two more. Longer pause. Then it repeated. "Pattern," the necromancer whispered. As the bangs repeated again, he said in a singsongy tone, perfectly aligned with the bangs: "Shave-and-a-hair-cut" pause "two-bits. I'll be an illusionist's uncle if that's random." Name: Lora Redish City Coming of Age: Sins of the Fathers Character(s): The Silver Bullets Title of Post: Dead Man's Hand Sent: 10.03 am - 12/11 Hey, d'you hear that?" said the older of the two guards. "Hear what?" said the younger guard. *** "I still say any trap that tells your horoscope at the end is all right with me," said Alderon, as the wall slid shut again behind the departing Silver Bullets with an ugly scraping sound. They were in another corridor, this one torchlit and somewhat more pleasantly decorated than the dungeon tunnels had been. To the north, stone steps led upward, and to the west, the hallway ended in a closed door, with two human figures sitting in front of-- "Get back!" hissed Alderon, flattening into the wall as best he could. The rest of the team followed suit, some more successfully than others. By some miracle, the two guards didn't seem to notice the giant troll trying to blend into the wall tapestry. Alderon breathed slowly, and snuck another peek down the hallway. There were some cards arranged on the floor between the two men. They weren't looking up from the game. "Didn't you say you have a sleep spell or something?" Berryn whispered to Rissa. Neither guard played a card. Alderon frowned down the hallway. His infravision was screwed up in this torchlight, but something was... off, here. "Lullaby, yes," Rissa whispered back. "You guys should get ready for a fight, just in case... it doesn't always work." Alderon stepped into the hallway. Alexke tried to grab at him, to keep him out of sight, but he shrugged her off. "Save your spell, Rissa," he said aloud. He put his fingers to the dark stain trickling across the floor tiles from where the guards were seated. "They can't hear you." *** Michael cleaned his knife on a stray coil of ether. No telling whether the alarm the mooks had been going to raise would have caused any actual problems for Thalia's bunch, but some things were better off safe than sorry. Now he just had to hope they could get the door open on their own. Michael hadn't had time to check the door for traps and still get back off the dimension without Thalia seeing him. He wasn't normally a big one for keeping promises, Michael Dean, but the promise that Thalia wouldn't have to see him again was one he was taking seriously. The cambion watched, and waited. Name: Sylvia A. Rudy City Coming of Age Character(s): Thalia, Alderon Title of Post: As anyone who's been camping knows... Sent: 12.37 pm - 12/10 "Where the hell are we going to find a piece of wood in here?" Alderon asked. Thalia checked her sleeves. No luck. The buttons were ivory, and she was pretty sure the buttons on her boots were ivory. On the other hand... She looked closely at Alderon. "Hold still for a moment." She pushed aside his hair and pulled a tiny twig from underneath. "There. They must have dragged us for a while when they were bringing us to the dungeon." "How come there aren't any twigs in your hair?" Thalia tapped one perfect golden curl and rolled her eyes. "Fairy blessing." Name: Lora Redish City Coming of Age: Sins of the Fathers Character(s): Sashami and the Puzzled Bullets Title of Post: One Last Hitch Sent: 11.25 am - 12/10 "Wow, so the statues do different things depending on your personality?" Alderon took a closer look at the jade-eyed dragon, and then the hematite-eyed one. "Nothing so far... hey, here we go! The white one winked at me! What's that mean?" "You must have a predominantly Water personality," Rissa said. Alderon regarded the whimsical dragon, his thumbs through his belt loops. Indeed, it did look uncomfortably like him now that he took a closer look, its ears pointed, smile crooked, form wiry and lean. "How's it do that?" he wanted to know. "Are they changing how they look in response to us?" "Probably," Rissa said. "At least when we're right in front of them, and our elements match. It's probably a pretty basic filter in Shikinti magics, actually." "Huh." Alderon solved the piss/tears dilemma by spitting into his dragon avatar's mouth. Its eyes flared to life, looking for all the world amused at being used as a spittoon. "So what is this is saying about me... I'm silly?" "Well, that, or flexible, or charming, or unpredictable... I mean, they are horoscopes. There's only five of them, so each one has a lot of ground to cover." "Cool. Which one are you, Sashami?" "Shouldn't we be getting out of here?" Sashami wanted to know. "We still have to find our things, rescue Jimmy, and escape, right?" "We will," Alderon sighed. "Sheesh, how often do you run into a trap that tells your fortune? We might as well enjoy it, right?" "I would enjoy being in a place with better airflow." She frowned at the red-eyed dragon. "Perhaps we could strike a spark with the knife?" "No need," said Berryn. "I have a fire spell memorized. It's probably better if I do that bit last, though... if the fire died out while we were still trying to do puzzle things, we'd be out of luck." "Then that leaves... wood," said Tyler. Rissa looked at Sashami. Alderon looked at Melissandra. They all looked at Berryn, and then at Thalia, and then at the empty-mouthed amber dragon. "Where the hell are we going to find a piece of wood in here?" Alderon finally said. Name: Jonah Cohen (with thanks to Laura for the evil idea) City Coming of Age: Sins of the Fathers Character(s): Jimmy, Ekrit, Corrado, Wenro Title of Post: "Sad to say, I must be on my way..." Sent: 6.14 pm - 12/9 Cynystra, several years ago... "Lord Ekrit, please. We must be going before the authorities can locate you." "I can't believe it," the wizard said. "How did it come to this. Oh, Dilaurentis, you bastard." "Sir, please." "Some day..." He folded his cloak around him and boarded the ship, bound for Shikintu. * * * * * Zulya, Cynystra - three years ago "Are you paying attention, boy?" "Yes, dad," Jimmy sighed. He made the mistake of rolling his eyes. That was when Corrado smacked him in the face, hard enough to turn Jimmy's head. "How many times I gotta tell you to show some fucking respect, you worthless brat?" Corrado bellowed at him. It's not like I care, he told himself, later that night. It's not like there's any reason to stay. Certainly not that I'd miss anything or be missed. He could praqctically hear his mother's voice in his head. 'So you're just going to leave after all we've done for you, eh? Brilliant idea, Jimmy.' The last sentence said with the same inflection as 'You're a friggin retard, Jimmy.' Fortunately, he reminded himself, he didn't care what she thought either, and hadn't for some time. He waited until midnight, packed what clothes he could fit in a backpack, what cash he could steal from around the house, and went to the barn to saddle up his favorite horse. Saginou was maybe a week's travel, but there were places to stop along the way. "And none of their bullshit will ever bother me again." * * * * * "Now," the creepy old wizard said, "if you're going to assist me, son, there's something you have to do." "Uh, what's that?" "Stand still." Ekrit cast a spell, and Jimmy gawked with surprise as chains connected to the wall sprang up like serpents. He tried to leap out of the grasp of the menacing links, but he was too slow. They pinned him to the wall, hand and foot. Shoulda seen it coming, he thought, bitterly, why does magic always seem to involve inanimate objects coming to life and attacking you? "P-please," he said, not bothering to even try to hide the panic now. "You don't have to do this." "Relax. This will pinch a little, but should be mostly painless." He nodded to Wenro, then started reading from his book. The skinwalker picked up a syringe, filled with what Jimmy correctly guessed was blood. With clinical detachment, he rolled up Jimmy's sleeve, tapped his forearm a few times, then inserted the needle. A pinch, some sting as the liquid was injected. That was all. "See? Not so bad, eh?" Ekrit was smiling now, in a way that conveyed the exact opposite of mirth. A lot like mom. Then the wizard said something that sounded like he was quoting somebody. "My object, all sublime, I shall achieve in time, to let the punishment fit the crime. What was that, Wenro? Mikado?" "I think so, sir." Name: Kristin L'Kar Andersen City Coming of Age: Sins of the Fathers Character(s): Rissa, Berryn, Melissandra Title of Post: All right, out of the trap! Other people need to use this room, you know! Damned kids! Sent: 3.37 pm - 12/9 Rissa decorously fled to the other side of the room, winding up in front of the dragon with the amber eyes and the curious expression. Melissandra came with her, no more willing than Rissa was to remain in the vicinity of such ungentlemanly behavior. It was entirely possible that others had followed as well, but given that Rissa had her back firmly to the room, Melissandra was the only girl whose presence she could easily sense. Berryn's laughter echoed behind them as Rissa stared determinedly at the pillar. She was resisting an urge to stick her fingers in her ears and hum. Loudly. That would be childish in the extreme. Really, really tempting. But childish. "Rissa, I was JOKING," the necromancer chuckled. "I vote using something ELSE for water, thank you," Rissa tossed primly over her shoulder. "I imagine that tears would work just as well. Perhaps better, tears being effectively salt water." "And how do you plan on making someone cry?" Berryn wanted to know. "What's next, spankings?" Alderon grinned at him. "Why, are you volunteering?" Berryn's mouth twisted into a wry smile. " Only if Chloe shows up." The room went still for a moment, everyone's thoughts turning to their absent companions. Two of them, now. Or perhaps three, from Thalia's point of view. Rissa sighed, pushing her worry over Jimmy and Chloe aside. The faster they solved this puzzle, the faster they could get to them. Their recent incarceration had given her a much better idea of what Chloe was probably going through, and Fenmarel only knew what was happening to Jimmy... "I can provide tears if we need them," she offered, studying the dragon before her one more time, hoping desperately for some subtle clue that she had missed the first three times. "You can cry at will?" Berryn asked incredulously. "You can't?" Rissa inquired distractedly, most of her attention focused on the statue. "Goodness, what an um, obedient childhood you must have had," she remarked, automatically choosing the most diplomatic adjective. "Rissa," Melissandra said suddenly. "This dragon it looks a little bit like you." Rissa blinked. She stepped back and took another glance at itnot examining it for secret panels or hidden writing or complex symbol codes, but simply looking at it as a work of art. The dragon's amber eyes seemed to return her look of polite inquiry as if it were examining her as well, a fellow scholar trying to identify what sort of creature she was without running the risk of discourteous questions. It looked as if it were considering how best to describe her in a poem. "I'm sorry, that was probably a ridiculous thing to say," Melissandra began. "No, Melissandra, it DOES," Rissa said in surprise. The rounded angles of its coils, almost like knotwork, were remarkably evocative of the complicated loops of braid pinned at the nape of her neck. The amber eyes gleamed a warm, luminous gold. Rissa had a rather spiky corona of exactly that shade around her pupil, but it tended to shade out into the darker brown surrounding it unless she was using her night vision, for some reason. Some strange elf thing her father couldn't explain. Melissandra's eyesight in the dark must be very good indeed to have noticed that. "But that can't be right. Not unless they really ARE switched around, and we have to do them in sequence Yellow is Earth, and my Shikinti element is Wood." The amber dragon eyes flashed for a brief instant, subsiding before the sound of her startled yelp had even begun. Amber. Amber is fossilized resin. It comes from plants. Amber-- hematite-- pearl-- "It's not the color of the gemstones!" Rissa gasped. "It's the kind!" She stepped close to the dragon again and laid her hand on a coil. "Wood Dragon," she said clearly. The dragon's eyes flamed to life. Warm golden light danced over her face for a moment, and then the amber eyes faded to a dim but steady glow. Excited, she raced over to the jade-eyed dragon. "Earth Dragon," she said, touching the heavy, regularly spaced coils. The sunlit glow was reprised by a flash of verdant green. "That's it, that's it!" She looked around the room rather wildly for a moment, then smacked herself on the forehead. "There's Earth all over the place, what am I thinking--" She tugged at one of the dragon's outstretched claws, with about as much chance of breaking it off as a toddler had. A large green hand with delicately painted nails reached past her. "Please, let me do that, Rissa," Melissandra said kindly, and snapped off one of the dragon's talons. She then reached over Rissa's head and placed it carefully in the dragon's mouth. The jade eyes flamed to life like a thousand summer forests. It didn't seem all that pissed about being fed a part of itself, contrary to popular expectations. "We have Earth and Metal," Rissa called out, and then blushed faintly as she continued, "and Water, I suppose, if we really must. We need to find Wood and Fire." She ran back to look at the Wood Dragon and stood in front of it, nibbling thoughtfully on the tip of one of her gloved fingers. Its eyes beamed down at her in what she would almost swear was mild approval, reminding her greatly of Dr. Hayak. "Oh, that's tricky," Rissa murmured quietly. "Even once you figure out they must be the Elements, the colors for Earth and Wood are switched, and also for Water and Metal. Whoever this person is who has Jimmy, I want to kick him a LOT " She patted the intricate coils affectionately. "How funny." Berryn looked at her curiously. "What, wanting to kick this guy? I think most of us do." "No. This is my birth year." Rissa smiled at the statue, a hard gleam of triumph flickering in both pairs of eyes. "Wood Dragon." Name: Lora Redish City Coming of Age Character(s): The Puzzled Bullets Title of Post: My bet's on the "curious" dragon being the one to respond to the water... but I cheated by looking the Chinese zodiac up online Sent: 12.55 pm - 12/8 "No, air isn't one of the elements in Shikinti mythology," Tyler corrected. "The five elements are fire, water, earth, metal, and wood." Melissandra looked disappointed. "Still, your idea of trial and error seems like the best one anyone's had yet... Let's try the sequence idea, shall we? Black is currently showing, which ought to stand for water." "I can handle that," offered Berryn, unbuckling his belt. "I've needed to go for a while now, actually." "ACK!" Rissa clamped both her hands over her face in acute embarrassment. "I'll be over... here..." Name: Alyssa Gulledge City Coming of Age: Sins of The Fathers Character(s): Melissandra and the Think Tank Title of Post: Blowhards and windbags Sent: 10.36 am - 12/8 Melissandra watched her teammates thinking and debating what to try next. She wandered over to Tyler and cleared her throat. Forgive my lack of education, but if one of the elements is air, why isnt one of the dragons constantly active? Tyler looked up from his conversation with Rissa and Thalia. Huh? Melissandra looked unsure of herself. She spoke quietly, Well, we are breathing air, correct? I mean there is air all around us, so some of it has to be in the dragons mouths, right? she hesitated. Im sorry. I shouldnt have interrupted you with a stupid question. Rissa smiled and said That isnt a stupid question; its a good question, Melissandra perked up, as Rissa continued. However, I suspect that if we are discussing actually placing the elements within the mouths of the dragons, then perhaps wind or blown air may be necessary to activate it. I am tall enough to try blowing into them. Does it matter where I start? Thalia looked around The order might be important. Tyler and Rissa both quirked an eyebrow, The order. All three of them seemed to come to the same conclusion. Maybe the eye color indicates the next dragon that needs to be activated! Perhaps it is both activation and sequence that will get us out of here. Melissandra looked at each one in turn. So um where do I start? Name: Alyssa Gulledge City Shape of Things to Come Character(s): The V'ax Pack Title of Post: See Rhynwa Run. Run, Rhynwa, Run. Sent: 4.54 pm - 12/7 Rhynwa yawned. She briefly considered rolling over and going back to sleep. Perhaps she could recapture the dream she was having about Luthien. Shluffy-pops, I hope I get to see you again in this lifetime... Skreeeeee-skreeeeeee So much for sleep. Rhynwa gently woke up Akron, as Heart shook Carter. They mumbled about more sleep, and not time for school yet. Rhynwa picked up her scythe, and moved up the wall of the small valley. She lowered herself to the ground as she approached the lip of the valley, flattening herself at the top. In the first feeble rays of dawn, she was able to make out some of what was happening. She saw two great, long bodies down the slope, likely dragons. Although entangled, they were not moving at all. Then she focussed in on the sounds, and saw very wide but nearly flat shapes trundling around the corpses. Skreeeeee-skreeeeeee. The scavengers began tearing into the flesh of the giants as the sun finally crested the horizon. The rest of the group clambered up beside Rhynwa to look at the scene below. "Uh... Rinnie? Please don't tell me dat dose dragons was fu... uh... makin' babies when dey died." Heart raised herself up a bit to get a better look. "Unless mating involves tearing out the throat of one, and eviscerating the other, I would say that they were actually fighting." "OK, Akron. I won't tell you that they were 'making babies'. Do you feel better now?" "Tanks, Rinnie. Tanks a whole lot. I haven't had enough sarcasm in my diet lately." Heart said, "Do you notice that one of them seems to have been significantly smaller than the other? Why would it continue to fight, instead of run?" A faint sound drew Rhynwa's attention. One of the scavengers had started nosing around under some dry branches, when the branches suddenly fell away. Underneath was apparently a nest with several eggs. The sound that had caught Rhynwa's notice was a quiet little 'pip-pip-pip' of a hatchling so young that it had pieces of shell hanging on it. She began to rise to her feet as the scavenger shambled over to the nest. "That's why," said Rhynwa. As the creature reached down to bite the newborn, Rhynwa shouted "Oh no you don't, you bastard! NO one kills an orphan on my watch!" She leapt up and began charging down the hill, scythe at the ready. Her team watched her retreating back, then sank back down below the lip of the hill. "Well. D'ya tink she was overreactin a little?" Akron said. 8T nodded his agreement to the question. "We don't know her story, Akron. That might have been a perfectly reasonable reaction," said Heart. "Not likely," mumbled Carter. He spoke up "Should we follow her?" They looked back over the hill at the still receding back of Rhynwa. The scavenger had eaten the hatchling, as well as several of the eggs. The group realized that they had initially misperceived the scene. The dragon corpses were actually immense and the scavengers were merely huge. Rhynwa, screaming angry curses at the scavenger, was getting smaller and smaller. When she got there, the creature appeared to be shoulder height but as wide as several 6-horse carriages, side-by-side. It didn't seem to notice the first scythe hit. "Yes. I think it would be best to go help her," said Heart. Hopefully Rhynwa would have to resort to using magic. Combat magic would probably be very helpful to her thesis." "Or save Rinnie from her own stupidity..." Name: Lora Redish City Coming of Age: Sins of the Father Character(s): Sashami and the Puzzled Ones Title of Post: Too Bad The Silver Bullets Don't Have Google Sent: 10.40 pm - 12/6 Sashami stood quietly. She had no skills that could possibly be of any use here. There was no shame in that; different people had different abilities, which was why it was well to have brothers-in-arms in the first place. Still, there was part of her that longed to reach the Hanchu peninsula, where her wilderness skills might finally be of benefit to the group. Sashami didn't like feeling like a freeloader. "There's got to be a simple solution to this," Rissa was saying. "If we were locked up on one side of this room and our stuff on the other, then Wenro must have passed this way recently, and probably even goes back and forth regularly. The answer has to be something relatively straightforward." "Maybe we have to do something to the statues in a certain order," Thalia suggested. "Alphabetical order of the names of the colors or gems in Shikinti, maybe?" "Shikinti doesn't have alphabetical order," Jason said apologetically. "They use calligraphic characters for each word. There are a lot of complicated word games based on which characters sound the same as other ones, but there's no way I'm familiar enough with the language to figure anything like that out." Alderon had moved on to checking the dragons' mouths for hinges, and as he poked the back of the aggressive-looking one with his knife it suddenly roared to life, its eyes glowing like two black coals. Sashami sprang up ready for an attack, and saw Melissandra on the other side of the room doing the same; but the dragon statuette didn't uncoil from the pillar it was perched on, or bite Alderon, or anything else. In fact, as he withdrew his hand in startlement, its eyes faded back to gray. "I must have--hit a trigger somehow," he said, clearly not sure what he'd done. "Let's see if I can find it ag--" As soon as he put his hand with the knife into the dragon's mouth, its eyes lit up again. He took the knife out, experimentally; the eyes turned off. Put the knife back in and left it there, and the eyes stayed on. "Well," said Alderon. "I--guess it likes the knife." He looked at the statue in confusion. "So much for the colors. The knife isn't black." "Hm," said Tyler, considering the set-up. "Well, there are five elements in traditional Shikinti mythology, rather than the four most of us are used to... fire, water, earth, metal, and wood, if memory serves, and each of them is associated with a color. Unfortunately for that otherwise rather elegant solution, black is not the color for metal. It's the color for water." "Are you sure?" asked Thalia. "I'm, uh, I'm afraid I'm positive, actually. I'm quite the competitor at Trivial Pursuit." Berryn sighed. "Maybe we should switch the eyeballs around till everything matches?" "The eyeballs don't come out," said Alderon. "So we're back where we started." "Well, not quite," Rissa offered. "I mean... at least we know the dragon mouths do something, now. We just need to figure out what it is." Tyler frowned like there was something else he had tucked somewhere in the back recesses of his rather eclectic mind, but couldn't quite put his finger on it. Thalia and Rissa seemed to be thinking hard too. Sashami sighed, leaned back against one of the pillars, and hoped her teammates were better at this sort of thing than she was. Name: Jonah Cohen City Coming of Age Character(s): Jimmy, Ekrit, Wenro, Jason Title of Post: Touch Sent: 5.38 pm - 12/6 "Well," Jason said slowly. "There's five of these creatures. And there are five key terms in Kung Fu-Tzu's philosophy." He examinined the carvings. I suppose this one could be seen as Jen - that means benevolence. And that arrogant-looking one might represent Te, or power. But, uh... the rest don't quite seem to fit. Plus I've got no idea how that would correspond to the colors in the eyes. Or to how that helps us get out of here," he added. * * * * * "Uh, yeah. That's great," Jimmy said. "But just so's you know, I haven't seen the old man in over three years. And it ain't like he trusted me with the secrets of the biz or nothing." "I'm sure you can be of some assistance, lad," Ekrit said. He opened his book. "And while we're at it, my friends and me are in the middle of something kind of urgent. I'm sure we'd, you know, be happy to help you once we straighten that out. Clear yourself of this crap my father got you into. With which I had nothing to do, I'll reiterate." Ekrit was reading now, and in a strange-sounding language. Weirder than whatever it was Jimmy had heard babbled in Shikintu. It was about as foreign-sounding as the gibberish Alexke has mummbled that one time. "Ow!" Jimmy said suddenly. Something had painfully knicked the back of his hand. That creepy s.o.b. who'd suckered the Silver Bullets had walked past him, just barely grazing him. Jimmy hadn't even seen the blade the guy had used. "A thousand pardons," Wenro said. Ekrit smiled. * * * * * Zulya, Cynystra "Damnit," Corrado Dilaurentis muttered, looking around. Must have been a wasp that had stung his hand. Name: Lora Redish City Coming of Age Character(s): Sashami, Alderon, the Silver Bullets Title of Post: This reminds me of playing a classic CRPG, somehow... Sent: 11.45 pm - 12/5 "What the--" Berryn turned around and shoved at the giant stone slab that had sealed them in. It didn't budge. "Dammit!" "We're trapped," Alexke sumemd up succinctly. "Well, there must be another way out of here," Sashami pointed out, "or else Rissa's spell wouldn't have led us this way. Who's good at finding secret doors?" "That would be me," said Alderon. "Which way are we supposed to be going, Rissa?" "That way." Rissa pointed towards the northeast wall, between the impatient and calm dragons. "I--I hate to tell you this, though, but my spell duration just gave out." "Well, no biggie, if we can get out of here we should be golden, right?" Alderon started scanning the wall. Rissa was looking at one of the dragon statues, the curious one. "It--looks almost like its mouth is meant to hold something," she said aloud. "What kind of something?" "I don't know." She put her hand into its mouth tentatively. Nothing happened. "About the size of a fist." "Or a human heart," offered Berryn. Pretty much the whole party stopped everything they were doing to turn around and look at him. "What? It's true. I wasn't suggesting anything." "We don't have anything that would fit in there," Sashami said. Alderon was casing the pillars now, looking for secret compartments that might be holding convenient fist-sized globes or something. No dice. "Well, what about those eye stone things?" he offered, taking out his bread knife. "Maybe if we could pop those out and put them into the mouths, something would happen." "You think I'm gross, yet you think feeding dragons their own eyeballs is a good puzzle solution," said Berryn. "Bite my ass." Alderon struggled with the knife, but the eye stones were in good and tight. The impatient dragon face seemed to be smirking at him. "Wait a second. Berryn, could you bring that light over here, please?" The young necromancer complied, and Alderon squinted at the statue. No, he wasn't imagining it. "This is a jacinth," he said. "I've never seen a gray jacinth before." "I don't know what's wrong with it. It's smudged somehow." He scraped at the gem's surface with the knife edge. "And it's uncut, but trust me, it's a jacinth. I've been smuggling gems around the Montas Archipelago since I was about seven." He tapped the knife blade on the gem's surface. "Look." Indeed, there was a reddish-orange gash where the knife had scraped the surface. "What does that mean," said Sashami flatly, choosing to once again ignore Alderon's glibness about his pirate past. She already knew he hadn't done half the things he liked to imply he had, much less anything genuinely despicable. "Beats the hell out of me." He moved from statue to statue, scraping a little bit of the residue off of each. The whimsical dragon's eye was apparently made of white pearl, the calm one's of green jade, the curious one's of amber, and the arrogant one's of hematite. "Well, great, if we had some nice fist-shaped gobs of semi-precious stones on us we'd be set." "There must be something else we can use, though," murmured Rissa, thinking. "Do you think it might help to match colors?" Alderon obligingly took off his boot and crammed the toe into the black-eyed dragon's mouth. It looked even more pissed-off than before with a boot stuck in its mouth, but nothing useful happened. "That doesn't exactly fit," Berryn pointed out. Alderon sighed. "Well, I'm out of ideas," he said frankly, and looked around the room. "Anyone else?" Name: Kristin L'Kar Andersen City Coming of Age Character(s): Rissa, Alderon, Alexke Title of Post: Please Do Not Shoot the Overeducated and Impractical Bard Sent: 9.43 pm - 12/5 Rissa walked quietly down the corridor behind Alderon and Alexke. The back of her neck was still crawling from seeing that chained up corpse, and she tossed her head sharply, trying to shake the memory off. Alexke peered around a bend in the hallway up ahead, then came back to Rissa and Alderon. "Come take a look at this," she whispered. "The hallway just sort of ends." Rissa crept forward and peeked around the corner. The corridor took a sharp turn, and then seemed to end at the threshold of a very large, oddly shaped room. "Is it safe?" she whispered to the others, after a long pause in which she strained every sense she had at the shadowy doorway. "I don't hear anything in there," Alderon offered under his breath. "Alexke?" Rissa looked hopefully at the planeblazer. She shrugged. "It's more of that stone that I can't force my way through, but other than that, I don't sense anything wrong with it." "Well, it's either this or go back over the green goop," Rissa sighed, and tiptoed towards the doorway. The chamber was empty. A whole big lot of empty. The cavernous room that the corridor emptied out into was in the shape of a pentagon, with a large column placed at each point. The bottom of the pentagon was the side that they came in on-- a rather blocky opening like an unrounded archway, with no doorframe or ornamentation. The columns were set close to the junctures of the walls, making it impossible to see into the shadows behind them, and each column bore a detailed carving of a dragon. "Do you think there might be exits behind the pillars?" she whispered to Alderon, who had come up behind her and was now peering over her shoulder. "Should we go in?" "Only one way to find out," he said, grinning, and stepped into the room. Nothing happened. Rissa breathed an audible sigh of relief, and he chuckled, stepping back out again. "I'll tell the others to come on ahead. Just don't wave that amulet at anything." Rissa puffed at him with indignant amusement and went in, making her way around the room to study the carvings. The pillar to the left of the entrance was graced with a rather whimsical creature, spiraling smoothly and skillfully around its pillar, looking back at her with an almost compassionate air. The pillar to the right of the entrance was decorated with a creature jarringly different from its neighbor; the dragon glowered arrogantly at her, its gaze piercing and relentless, its claws and scales and tail stabbing at the air in sharp spikes. Halfway into the room, on the left, the third dragon peered at her with respectful but intense curiosity, coiling around its pillar in a complex knotwork of smoothed angles. Its counterpart across from it was a much more straightforward sort of creature, its gaze calm and direct and without hostility, its body scrolling up the pillar in heavy, precisely placed loops. The final pillar at the far end of the room had a lithe, quick-looking creature winding up it, glaring at her with a blatant challenge in its eyes. The fifth dragon was undeniably a thing of beauty, with long, curving spines, but it looked as if it were terminally short on patience. Each dragon's eyes were of a gemstone of some kind, but whatever their colors may have been, they had all peculiarly faded to an identical ashen grey. Each dragon's mouth was open and set at about lantern height, as if they were meant to hold something. None of the pillars had exits behind them. Frowning, Rissa turned to the others. The party was milling about, investigating the almost starkly empty room, many of them looking as bemused as she felt. "I think we might have to go back," she said reluctantly. "Unless we can find a hidden exit or something, this looks like a dead end." Unfortunately, as the last of the Silver Bullets stepped into the room, a thick stone wall crashed down from the ceiling and sealed off their only way out. Name: Lora Redish City Coming of Age: Sins of the Father Character(s): Sashami and the Silver Bullets Title of Post: Air Melissandra Sent: 12.06 pm - 12/5 "I really see no reason to assume Jimmy would be imprisoned in the same place as our belongings," Sashami pointed out. Unless he were dead, of course, but Sashami didn't want to think about that. "We'll have to recover them before Rissa's spell runs out, and then try to think of some way to locate him. He may be in better straits than we, if he escaped from that gas trap... he is the stealthiest of the group, after all. Besides, if he is in need of rescue, we'd surely be more effective with our weapons." "I--can't actually promise that our weapons are with my book, either," Rissa admitted ruefully. "I can only focus this spell on one object at once." "Well, we'll find it all eventually." Adrenaline had helped focus Sashami's mind, too. "We also need to find out who captured us and why. Your suggestion about marching order is a sound one. I'm not used to dungeons, I guess." She took a running start and cleared the pit with room to spare, scrambling up quickly to make sure nothing else terrible was going to happen, like the walls closing on her or something. Nothing did. "All right, Melissandra... I'm ready if you are." *** "Hey, d'you hear that?" said the younger of the two guards. "Hear what?" said the older guard, dealing cards boredly. "Kind of an irregular thumping sound. Sounds like a cyclops taking some target practice or something." "Well, who knows what kinda weird monster the boss might've put down here this week," sighed the older guard, picking up his hand and surveying it. *** Rissa and Alderon were as light on their feet as they promised, and with Alexke the main problem was catching her before she hit the ceiling. The girl couldn't have weighed more than ninety pounds. Jason and Thalia were no problem. Tyler's glasses fell off, but Rissa managed to snatch them out of the air before they could shatter on anything. Berryn landed harder than the others, his shoulder thumping hard into the wall. Melissandra's breastplate made it over okay, though it knocked Sashami over as she tried to catch it. It was unbelievable how strong the troll warrior was. Alderon's mithril mail landed and skidded, throwing up a couple of tiny sparks. It was Sashami's armor, unfortunately, that took a bad bounce off of Alderon's outstretched arms and went caroming down into the green slime with a plop and a fizz. Sashami sighed. Her bad luck, she assumed, for succumbing to claustrophobia and stress earlier. "Don't worry about it," she said resignedly. "It's just scale mail, I can buy a new one anywhere." Melissandra looked relieved, and bounded over the pit in one oddly dainty leap, without taking a running start or anything. "I am so terribly sorry, Sashami..." "Nah, it was my fault," said Alderon. "That was cool, Melissandra, really. Like being in the circus or something." "Uh, guys," Alexke said, pointing at Rissa. Pointing to the wall just behind Rissa, actually. The bard turned her head and jumped just about out of her skin; there was a human skeleton manacled to the wall about four inches away from her face, pieces of skin and ligament still sticking to it. "That, uh... that wasn't Jimmy, is it?" said Alexke, her voice uncharacteristically worried. "No, that's a female specimen," Berryn said reassuringly. "Pelvic bones are built a little differently." He pointed his fork at the skeleton's groin instructionally. "See?" Rissa did, actually, but a rack-and-wire skeleton in an anatomy workshop was proving to be an entirely different matter from a human corpse chained to a dungeon wall. She put her hand to her racing heart, keeping calm by force of will. "Well, we... we'd better get going then," she managed, in only slightly shaky tones. "Lemme give her some last rites first." Berryn reached into his inside jacket pocket and sighed. "Dammit, I forgot. No holy water. This equipmentless thing sucks." "Rissa's spell has a time duration, remember?" Alderon reminded everyone impatiently. "Dear Arawn, welcome this lost soul to you in the bosom of death." The apprentice necromancer glared at his friend in annoyance. "Amen." "Beautiful. Come on guys, let's blow." Name: Kristin L'Kar Andersen City Coming of Age Character(s): Rissa Title of Post: Rising Above It... or Is That Flying? Sent: 10.49 am - 12/5 Rissa looked down into the pit, staring at the green goop in horrified shock. That just nearly ate Jason. Oh my gods. The near miss was as good as having a pail of cold water dumped over her head. She closed her eyes and took a deep, slow breath, tightening every muscle from the ground up as she inhaled, then forcing each one to relax as she exhaled-- as if the shell of her skin had filled with the tide, and when it withdrew, all of her tension and agitation were swept away with it. When she opened her eyes again, she was much calmer... although a faint blush hinted at her embarrassment over letting her friends down by flipping out. The fact that truly awful things would happen if someone read the book suddenly seemed less important next to the fact that one or more of her teammates could get killed in the next five minutes. "I second the not-splitting-up vote," Rissa said firmly. "Aunt Khyrisse told me that things go straight into the dustbin when you split up." The Cynystran bard eyed the gap in the floor. "And I hate to bring this up, but Locate Object only lasts so long. We need to be more careful, and we need to be quiet-- but we also need to hurry if we're going to find Jimmy and our gear." She looked around questioningly as she walked over to Melissandra. "Should we put the more sharp-eyed and stealthy people in front? That way we can avoid finding traps and guards by bumping into them." She hesitated, studying the members of her group. "I guess that would be me, Alderon, and Alexke... unless other people have some skills in that arena?" She aimed an inquisitive, almost amused look at Tyler for a moment, then continued more seriously, "I would stay in back-- and I will, if people think I should-- but I can also try to lull the guards to sleep from a distance." Rissa held out both hands to Melissandra. While there were people in the Silver Bullets that she wasn't quite sure about, her trollish comrade-in-ladyhood had never been one of them. "I certainly can't jump that, but if you can get me across, Melissandra, I think I can land just fine," she said with an open, trusting smile. "Toss me." Name: Jonah Cohen City Coming of Age Character(s): Jimmy, Ekrit Title of Post: Exhuming McCarthy Sent: 9.27 pm - 12/4 Cynystra, some time ago... "So what's the word?" Corrado Dilaurentis said, uncharacteristically nervous. "I have it," Alexander Raymond said, characteristically nonchalant. "It required an unfortunate toll in blood, but I have it." "Unfortunate? What do you mean?" "Unfortunate for those who got in my way." "Heh. I'll tell you what's unfortunate. If this had happened six months ago, we could have made this play on Ekrit and gotten a really big payoff. As is, we may have to wait a year or two." "Still, once we turn this over to the authorities, he's out, we're off the hook on this regrettable incident, and eventually profits will follow. I saw McCarthy, by the by." "Really. What was the unlucky s.o.b. like?" "As bad as they were saying. It was fascinating, really. His brain was like a moldy sponge." "Not like he had used it all that much anyway." * * * * * Jimmy was still reeling, trying to figure out what this meant, trying desperately to figure out a way out of this mess. What would Mary do? Trying not to panic about whether the rest of the Silver Bullets were still alive. Or whether they really thought he was in on this shitstorm. "Do you believe in fate, boy?" Ekrit said. "Say what?" "Fate. Destiny. That our lives are ruled by invisible forces, shaping the events that effect us in ways we can neither control nor comprehend. Do you believe that?" "Can't say I do." Keep this bozo talking. "I do. I most definitely do. You see, it's a series of amazing coincidences that have brought the two of us here, to this room right now. Far too many to be mere chance. Do you know what they called your father, in his less official business capacity?" "Dead Meat Dilaurentis," Jimmy muttered. "That's right. It was purely by chance - or rather fate, as I now prefer to see it - that caused he and I to cross paths and enter into a partnership, those many years ago. It was fate that led a minor deal to fall through, causing your father to try an ill-advised penny-pinching tactic. Do you know what happens to those who feed upon their own kind, to cannibals?" "Again I'll have to say no." "It can be a blight, something that marks one with an evil taint. Even animals. Say, for example, cows that dine on feed made from their own kind. And if humans then eat the meat from one of those cows... the results can be grotesque." "I'll make a note not to do that. I don't see what it's got to do with me, though." "When the results of this accidental occurence came to light, when the bullshit hit the fan, if you will, the authorities came looking. Your father hadn't planned to screw me over. That was the part that confused me at the time. You see, had he wanted to do so, he had a chance to do so, and far more profitably, some time earlier. No, he just needed a convenient scapegoat to cover his own ass. And with a little evidence planting, it seems that the local wizard would do. I didn't learn this until later. I was lucky to escape. I think I might still be on the most wanted list back home. And so I came here. I dreamed of revenge, but had no opportunity. Then this came into my possession." Ekrit held up what looked to Jimmy like just an old book. Rissa probably would have found it fascinating. Oh God, what if she's not alright? "But this, too, seemed like it would be of no use to me. Its magics are very specific, its requirements quite precise. I had no illusions about obtaining them. I was ready to sell it to the highest bidder, and I'd have gotten an excellent price indeed. Then, out of the blue... who should come to Hanaman but you. By some path no doubt as long and complicated as my own. Really now, could all this be the work of chance?" "Look, I know my old man's a prick, and I'm sorry he screwed you over. You wanna do something about that, cheerio. If you just let me and my friends leave, I promise we won't do anything to stop you." "Stop me? Quite to the contrary, young Dilaurentis. You're going to help me." Number of entries: 92 [ ] |
