Songs echoing [tavern tales (tails?)]

[steuben]

steuben follows emaarhe and watches as she slips into  the sewer. he stands over the hole and straps his sword around his waist. he pauses. thoughts about how every sewer hunt can turn into a royal rat hey-hey!. but, the few that he had been involved in had turned out poorly for the other guy. he slips down into the sewer. the sound of the splash covers the rest of the sound of his landing.

he moves into the shadows to allow fen to descend. he pulls out his sword. the sound has the note of a carnivore stretching before the hunt, of a blood lust waiting to be sated.

\"lead the way, miss emaarhe, we\'ll follow,\" he says, grinning like a skull. his cloak adding to the effect.

[lyistra]

Emaahre nods, quietly, to Steuben, then sniffs the air once or twice, wrinkles her nose.   She evidently didn\'t think too hard about the sewers, so she shrugs, and sniffs the air again, ears flicking and tilting, as she listens, for several moments, then, her ears flick foreward, tilting toward a certain direction, and she turns, then blinks.  In front of her is a huge hunting cat, but ghostly, near transparent, looking at her.

The great cheetah looks at Emaahre for several minutes, then turns, the being is near transparent, but also seems to be darker in the body with lighter spots.   Emaare motions for speed, her tail flicking as she starts to run after the other, who moves rapidly, flickering now and again, less solid under torchlight, as she follows faster.

The chase ends by a wooden door, some sonorous snoring coming from behind it.. the cheetah looking at the door, nodding, then flickering through the doorway itself, slipping in between the cracks or perhaps penetrating the door itself.  Emaarhe looks at the heavy iron-bound zhandah-wood door, the wood nearly as strong as the iron, with dismay, turns to you both, and points at it, shrugs, then tries to pull it open, without effect.

[steuben]

steuben watches as the ghost cat bounds downs the sewer. he follows after both emaahre and the ghost cat. his cloak billows out behind him. the splashing of the feet seems to carry down the tunnel. he winces slightly at the sound. it will alert anybody down there that they are coming. but, then probably the ghost cat would alert anybody.

he watches its movements. there is something about it that seems familiar. the coloring and pattern, such that can be seen in the faded out state, seem familar. the nature of a chase sometimes allows one to think. he continues to follow. his mind chases around things emaahre, lyistra\'s coma, this vaguely familiar ghost cat.

they round a corner. steuben watches the cat. the way it rounds the corner reminds him of something he saw once. when lyistra \"danced\" in the tavern, she had moved something like that. steuben follows round the corner riding high on the wall as he does so.

then some of the pieces click into place. he looks up at the cat, and slows slightly. \"lyistra,\" he says faintly. he picks up speed again, moving faster then before. now only two questions are focused in his mind who, and how to fix this.

steuben stops in front of the door, watching the cat move through it. \"typical,\" he says between deep breaths. he hears the snoring beyond the door. \"i think, i prefered the mewling,\" he says to himself.

he watches as emaahre tries to open the door. \"you\'re sure it\'s a pull door,\" he asks with a bit of a smile.

he motions her aside. he studies the door, his hand gliding over the surface. his forhead creases in concentation. it moves around the hinge mount bolts. he prods the door gently feeling its play. he crouches and studies the lock. he frowns as he stands up.

\"a properly made and mounted door. they never make things easy.\"

[dragonfire999]

[ OOC : this story is so great ill get in it ]

Taser walks down through the sewers, on a petty rat hunt to gain a few hides and eyes to sell to the blacksmith. suddenly she hears something. her ears twitch and she sniffs the air  and smells an eerie scent like nothing she has ever smelled before. it smells like pure evil in a sense. she hears footsteps and splashing water and she follows them, tail whipping in the muck and water.

she sees a man with a long cloak running down the channel and starts to follow him. She sees a ghostly shite figure that has no explanation. Taser yells to the man \"what are you chasing?\"


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well pick up  if i contributed good ill stop by again if you would like ^^

[lyistra]

Emaarhe nods, quietly, then blinks as the other comes through, slipping to one side, watching the other, then attempts to silence them, almost vanishing in the shadows and awaiting, then leaping, attempting to tackle them.

The door itself is very heavy iron and wood, a well made door, warded with a glyph at the entry... the snoring continues, as Lyistra looks at her quarry, then blinks.  She bites her lip, and just motions for silence, dusting the other off and looking at the door again.  She gazes at the other for a full moment, her claws flexing as though deciding if they are a threat or not, then just nods to Steuben, still keeping a watchful eye upon the other.

Her paws run around the door frame, and she shrugs, and looks at it.  She looks to Taser, curiously, then considers a moment.  Motions, quietly, to see if the other has a knife or even a mining pick, or a flat strip of metal sewer grates that sit around, gazing also around the area.  She tailflicks, as though.. sensing something, then nods, turning back to Steuben and taser, the scarring on her throat visible as she nods, indicating Taser, drawing the sigil \'safe\'.

After a moment she looks at the glyph, drawing an empyry feather from behind her ear, and brushes over it.. the feather sizzling as it falls to the ground, she jumps back as the substance exuded on it draws down to etch into the rock a half-inch.

She continues looking, motioning for a bar, or anything, not wanting to waste a blade on it, but.. she snags a dagger from an ankle-sheath, and offers it to Steuben, or Taser.

[Under the moon]

Fen pauses in the dark and suddenly looks at a blank wall.  Not at it, the others realise, but through it.

\"I must go,\" he says and walks into the shadows.  Then he is gone.



(OOC) I will come back when I fix my computer, or get a new one.  Sorry to leave you hanging for so long, but I haven\'t had access to the net.

[lyistra]

Emaarhe gazes at the shadow where Fen disappeared, and thinks for a moment, pokes the area around it, and shrugs, poking at the door with the dagger, the snoring still sounding.  She pokes at the join of the door, running the thin-bladed knife around it, till she finds the hinges.  Then nods, puts out her midclaw, and runs it over the door.  Nods to the lock, signs for \'careful\' and mimes holding the door up.  She sticks her finger.. into the door, a small clicking sound, and the door comes loose on the bottom hinge, then she starts with the top, leaning on it.

[steuben]

with taser\'s arrival, steuben swings around, his sword high. his cloak billows with the motion of him drawing his sword. he fixes her with an icy stare. his sword stands ready to strike swiftly. seeing emaarhe\'s reaction to the new comer, he relaxes his pose. his sword returns to its sheath, the sound has the note of death willfully restrained.

\"later,\" he whispers as he turns back to the door.

steuben frowns as fen leaves, not that there would have been much that he could have done to have stopped him.

before emaarhe can finish with the top hinge, steuben motions her out of the way. he crouches down and takes the bottom hinge in one hand, and the door ring in the other. he lifts the door slightly. dispite the awkward position he manages to shift the bottom of the door outward about an inch.

he nods emaarhe back to her work.

when she finishes he douses his light, and motions to taser to do the same.

[lyistra]

Emaarhe nods a little, and cuts the top hinge, carefully.. the runes on her fingers glow a bit as she does so, then nods to Steuben, and Taser.  She earflicks once, then carefully helps Steuben lift it out and away, laying it down on her cloak.. inside, it seems but a simple cell, a monastary cell, almost, but in the sewer?  A small hole lies in the ceiling, a grate of steel in it.  Above can be seen a mirror..  It\'s difficult to say where the mirror shines, naught else in the room, save a lantern  on a stone near the door, the sound of snoring moving on, even as the cheetah-spirit prowls around the room, tail lashing, it stiffens, then closes its eyes.  it is female, that much is definite, her tail lashing as she prowls the room, looking.. the snoring sound is more definite somewhere near the centre of the room.

A soft sound also lifts from the room, a soft sound, as though from a young child, the snoring stops, and the sound of a hand slapping.  A soft cry rises from somewhere near the middle of the room, then silence, the sound of a small whimper, and Emaarhe stiffens, a look of pure rage on her face.  She pokes around, but finds nothing, pawpads moving silently as she wanders through the room.  She gives a silent growl of frustration, as the snoring begins again.

[steuben]

steuben follows emaarhe into the room. he looks around taking stock, watching the ghost cat as it paces. he ponders the lamp in the corner for a moment. the way that it seems waver, as if it is on the cusp of reality.

\"they\'ll never find us in the oubliette,\" the words come back to him. \"and here we are,\" he thinks. \"but, then how to find you? how to see...\" his thought trails off. he looks up at the mirror. he crouches down in front of the lamp. it seems to waver even harder as if trying to avoid his attentions.

upon seeing emaarhe stiffen, steuben stands up and walks over to her. he places a calming hand on her shoulder. \"focus, miss emaarhe. else, you\'ll be able to help neither of them,\" he whispers. \"but, perhaps i have the next step.\"

he turns and reaches for the lantern. he pulls out a pump tinder box*. he pumps it a couple of times and uses the glowing tinder to light the lantern.

*ooc: this one may need a bit of explanation. basically it works like a diesel engine.  the air is compressed and it heats the tinder until it begins to burn. the once reference i was to it was during the roman times. so it may be legit.

[lyistra]

Emaarhe looks curiously at the device, then at the mirror in the ceiling, the tilts her head, not seeing any way that the lamp can be tilted to shine on it... then blinks, tilting her head, looking up through the grating at the mirror, then down at her feet, a back wall of the tavern visible.  She rubs her chin a moment, shrugs, and gets out a pocket mirror, and looks to steuben and Taser.   She looks around, for a moment, then looks at the pocket mirror and up to the other one, blinks a bit as it doesn\'t show the same reflection and nods.   She shrugs, offers Taser one mirror, holding the other up, and nodding to Steuben to control the lamp.  Her toe traces near a small hole in the floor, not moving over it, as she looks at the lamp, then at the floor again.


The mirror above is concave.  She tilts her had, pondering, then looks up at the reflection above.. the lamp is too big to fit up there, though there is another hole wherever the mirror focuses above.  She seems a little frustrated, still, but has calmed down a bit.  She goes over the walls again, uses a single fingertip to scratch at the floor, the sound ever so slightly different.  She nods to the floor, and shrugs to the two present.

[steuben]

steuben hears the change in the sound from the stones. he pauses for a monment while he considers it. he smiles. \"a rather novel idea for a door bell,\" he thinks to himself.

the lantern throws off a beam of light, steuben adjusts the position of the lantern, and motions the others until the beam bounces into the concave mirror and off to where it goes.

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ooc: if needs must \"position\" us a little bit to move it forward.

[lyistra]

As Steuben positions the mirror, Lyistra tilts her mirrors until the light hits it, then glares at it, it seems to flow on the floor, the floor itself shimmering a little, rippling, and she nods, then adjusts it a bit more.  She motions to Steuben to move back a little, then nods again, adjusting the mirrors again, as he does so.  She ponders a moment, then nods, as the floor slips back, she blinks, seeing what appear to be eyes on the surface as it fades and rolls away, some type of life form.

She steps back and looks down, the snoring interrupted again, and she nods to Steuben as it restarts, though it sounds a little forced at the moment... perhaps they\'re aware that there are others here.

She looks down, and points, signaling to jump down after her, if possible.

[steuben]

steuben gestures for emaarhe to wait. his first instinct is to have someone drop a fireball spell down there and sort out the pieces. but, that would displease emaarhe and probably wouldn\'t help lyistra.

he crouches and listens. he closes his eys, as he tries to hear the sounds coming from below. he hears two yliaki* snoring. one is wheezing, ill sounding. the other is slow, regular, what snoring should sound like. but, it never does.

steuben opens his eyes. he doesn\'t see any movement below. he shifts his position and looks again below. nothing obvious is moving below. but, it is usually not the obvious that kills you.

steuben stands and takes a few steps back. under his cloak he removes his sword and sheath. he slides his cloak off, silently to the ground.

he considers emaarhe\'s rope for a moment. but the words of an old seargent come back to him. suspended between heaven and earth is the surest way to hell. besides it never seems to be as quiet as yliaki think it to be.

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* http://www.planeshift3d.com/wbboard/thread.php?threadid=14670&boardid=13&styleid=3&sid=63d97db91e108edd2d305b1a56d8dd47&page=2

[Under the moon]

[OOC]Just couldn\'t help myself, had to get back into the tale. This happens right after Fen dissappears. Hope you like it.  

Roethus hums happily to himself as he walks down the dark alley. Ever since he used the Glyph on the Enki woman in the tavern, everything had gone just as his master had planned. No one could stop them now. His wide belly shakes with a self indulging chuckle. Barik, his massive guardsman, grunts in surprise at his side and stops, his hand going to the brutish curved sword on his back.

?What is it now, Barik, another rat?? Roethus asks in irritation before he sees the figure out lined in the lamplight at the alleys mouth.

?Who goes there?? Roethus demands.

The figure stands motionless, waiting silently.

?Kill him,? Roethus growls to his brute.

Barik grins and pulls the sword free of its sheath with a rasping hiss and begins a slow advance on the figure.

?I have no wish to kill you,? the figure states calmly, ?I am here only for answers.?

With a roar, Barik rushes the smaller man with his sword held low. His thrust meets only air as the man dodges easily to the side.

?Draw your weapon, fool,? Roethus laughs, ?You give poor Barik little sport as you are.?

The man glances down at his left arm, which is heavily bundled in coarse cloth.

?As you wish.?

He brings his arm up to meet Barik?s overhand swing. The brute?s triumphant grin turns to shock as his sword is turned aside with a metallic ring. Before Barik can recover, a short length of silver colored chain extends from the man?s bundled arm and slams into his chest with sound of breaking bone. Barik?s bellow of pain is cut short by the chain whipping into the side of his head. He drops unconscious to the ground. The man turns to Roethus, light from an open window falling on his face.

?You!? Roethus gasps, recognizing the man from the man from the tavern. The man who called himself Fen.

?Yes,? Fen says as the chain disappears back into the cloth. ?Fate did not allow me to stop you at the doorway, but I will stop you now. Give me the answers I seek and you may yet survive this night.?

The fat man reaches into his pocket.

?You should have stayed in the tavern, Fen. Now you will burn!? he finishes in a shout and throws the Glyph he pulled from his pocket.

Halfway to Fen, the Glyph bursts into a billowing fireball and rolls over Fen. Roethus barks a laugh, but his eyes widen as the smoke clears.

?Your Glyphs mean nothing to me,? Fen says and steps toward Roethus. Not even his cloths are singed.

Roethus turns to run, but again the chain flashes from Fen?s arm. The cloth loosens and falls away as the chain extends to its full four pace length and wraps about the fat man?s legs, dropping him in a heap. Fen walks over to him, the chain coiling itself back around his arm as he goes. He rolls Roethus over with a foot to look into the man?s terrified face.

?What are you?? Roethus whimpers as he sees that Fen is not holding onto the chain. Instead, it seems to sprout directly from his palm.

?I walk Fate?s path, that is all you need to know. Now, who is your master??

?Le?Leckard,? the fat man stutters, unable to take his eyes from the chain. ?He will kill us both.?

?Then you had better tell me where he is.?

Roethus opens his mouth, but only a gurgling sound emerges. His eyes bulge as his tongue swells from his mouth and turns black. A glowing Glyph appears for a moment on the bloated flesh before bursting into flame. His body gives a final death spasm and lays still. Fen shakes his head.

?No, I didn?t feel it before it activated either,? he says to himself, then nods, ?Weak, but effective.?

A groaning draws his attention. Barik is just awakening. Fen grimaces in disgust, then after a short pause draws a small dagger from his belt.

?You are right. A man can say much?even without his tongue.?

[OOC] For more info on \'Fen\', as you know him, read \"Chain of Souls\".