Yliakum Journeys (vol.1)

[Spetyco]

Spetyco rushes to get the water for Easton, or at least he tries to while hobbling on his makeshift crutch, but in the rush he fails to look where he's going and trips over Farren who is propped up against a large boulder with his feet sticking out.  He falls right on his crutch and breaks it in two.
"Ouch!  I think I got a splinter!"  Then to Farren, "Oh!  Sorry, I didn't see you there."
Then Spetyco remembers he had his own water pouch still and calls out, "Easton, I have some water here!"

[lanser]

listening to the sounds of Lady Z and Zhai repairing the cart, his eyes barely open Hokinon recounts the previous days events then as the rest of the group begins to stir slides his dagger back into it's sheathe and eases himself stiffly to his feet to run through the exercises taught him long ago...

...slowly bringing his paws together and coming to a stop, Hoki shakes his head and pauses for a second before walking over to retrieve his dagger and sword from the ulber corpses, having to chip away at the frozen flesh to free them, then picking up his pack he rejoins the others.

"Good Morning Lady Zorbels" he says and nods to the unfamiliar fenki beside her before helping himself to a coffee from the kettle on the fire, then he turns to reply to Zorbels thanks with a glance at Tovera "I just happened to be closest ma'am I'm sure any of the others would have done the same"

[zorbels]

Zorbels tries to not fall over laughing at the events taking place at the moment with Sir Easton and Spetyco. Instead she races over to Spetycp, quickly grabs the water and hands it to Easton. With a tone of laughter she says to Easton "You silly Ylian, you should have known better than to just pop something unknown into your mouth! I will go get some of my ulber milk to help coat your tongue." Zorbels wanders over to her bag and takes out a canister of ulber milk and walks back to Easton. "Here drink this, and please let me know if you have any side effect," Zorbels says in a serious tone.

Zorbels turns to Hokinon and smiles softly at him "Well regaurdless Hokinon I thank you. I was worried about her and when I looked over and saw you protecting her I was able to not think about that but keep my mind on the battle. This group is shaping up to be a great team of people. I looks forward to the next couple of days."

Zorbels then looks to Zhai "Seeing as everyone is almost awake could you maybe explain to them what you have told me about the ulbers and what you saw? I am worried something might not be quite right, the more heads we have thinking about it the better chance of figuring out this ..... situation."

[zhai]

Zhai nods at Zorbels and takes a few seconds to choose her words wisely. Not everyone has had the same experience with spirits she's had after all... She turns to Farren, who looks at her calmly and then back to the group. "As you know... ulbers don't travel in packs, especially adult, male ulbers. That is something they just don't do... I noticed their footprints near the ruins. I tracked them over here and saw as they approached your camp. As I said, all this is strange by itself but I couldn't make much sense out of it until they were all dead... I... I saw something... felt something... something familiar. It was coming out of their bodies... I felt how some spirits were leaving them, but they were not theirs... they were... minions of the underdark, lesser creatures. That only means there's a conjurer out there waiting for them with a very specific purpose in mind..."

[Siteri Kidachi]

"Not more possession stuff I hope..." Siteri said blearily. "I've..." She paused to stretch a bit. "...had quite enough of that."

[zhai]

Zhai smiles at Siteri: "Tell me about it... But these spirits were weak. Ulbernauts have strong bodies but not strong minds". Zhai then starts drawing small circles and lines on the ground using a twig, as she analizes the events. "Here's the camp. And over here the ruins... They were following a rect line, so if the camp hadn't been here... they would've continued to... the magic shop".

[LARAGORN]

"Ouch!  I think I got a splinter!","Oh!  Sorry, I didn't see you there." Is the first thing Laragorn hears. Slowly opening his eyes, he watches as the rest of the party gets up and has their breakfast. As he sits up he feels the strain in his chest, and decides not to rush anything today. Reaching into his pack, Laragorn pulls out some bread, and offers some to all. He hears Zorbels addressing the group, then Zhai. An inquisitive look comes over his face as he learns of Zhai’s thoughts. Without a sound he waits for any of the others thoughts, as he has none.

[zorbels]

Zorbels looks grim and says in a low tone "I suspect that someone had cast a spell to control the beasts. They were moving to a purpose. Now, I am not sure if it was aimed at us but I think we should all be on the look out and keep out eyes sharp."

Zorbels turns and puts her hand on Zhai's shoulder "I believe you friend. I don't think that you made this up, and I also don't think you to be crazy. I have seen some very .... odd and frightening spirit's and horrible image's in my minds eye, that would make you sleep with the light's on."

Zorbels looks at the ground and sighs. "Alll I wanted from this trip was a little adventure, not to have everyone I traveled with including myself slaughtered ....." Zorbels clears her throat and in a quiet tone states "The question is where do we go from here? Are we or aren't we in trouble and if so why? What are we up against?"

[Xylaal]

A face of darkness is close, so close she can feel it's warm putrid breath. It watches Xylaal... it watches us all!  Xylaal cannot move, she is frozen. What is this, a beast? No, far worse...she hopes it will pass her by but the darkness does not. It knows she sees it! It knows!   It gets closer, its deep cold eyes staring and right up on her when all at once she is pushed and falls backward screaming...falling...down...and down...further into an abyss...when suddenly...l

...she awakens to the happy sounds of scattered conversation and the warm smell of a wood fire from the camp. Her heavy head is followed by a trail of drool as it lifts from the moss covered tree. Xylaal bats the bugs out of her greasy hair and wipes her face as she turns and releases a groggy smile to her friends. She widens her crusted eyes and focuses to see some of them caught up in conversation. Her comrade Zhai seems to be drawing on the ground. Like a rag doll Xylaal flops back down, her head hitting the tree with a thump as she nods off to sleep again...dreaming this time of her grandparents seaweed farm and happy memories. 

[Spetyco]

Spetyco is uncertain if he should say anything.  He has his own troubles to worry about, and doesn't think he should include his new friends.  He doesn't have any reason to think any of this has anything to do with him, but the darkness...
"Did anyone else have... err... unusual dreams last night?  Did you see the Darkness?"

[lanser]

Hokinon plays with the blueish stone bangle on his wrist as he listens to Zhai and Zorbels describe their worries, his long held distrust of magic tugging at his thoughts "should I stay with these people?" he ponders, looking at each member in turn.

[LARAGORN]

The ominous implications of the ideas put forth to the group, leaves them all in deep thought. Laragorn fills his cup from the kettle on the fire, trying to rid himself of the chill that has come over him. He drinks the black bitter liquid and slowly rises to his feet. While getting his pack together, he watches the different expressions on the faces of his new found companions. He notices that Spetyco seems more agitated then the rest. Having just met most everyone here, he is not sure how to take this mans behavior. “Seems like an odd fellow to me” he says to himself. He also notices all of the beasts are frozen. “Excuse me but how and why are these creatures frozen?” he asks the group.

[zhai]

"I don't think they were meant for us, Zorbels... they probably had been ordered to attack anything in their path. I cannot help being curious about this whole thing but it seems unrelated to us. The question now should be: 'do we get involved, investigating a bit more or do we stay away from this, letting others deal with the conjurer?' Personally, I would like to investigate... but you should decide first if you wish to continue your journey. Maybe some of us can go to the magic shop and take a look while the others return to Hydlaa or keep going wherever you were heading. It's up to you."

[Spetyco]

Spetyco listens to all that is said and decides what he must do.  "My destiny lies here," he thinks, then to the crowd:
"My friends!  The wise Zhai is right.  There is something dark and evil behind yesterday's events, but they were not meant for us.  However, the Darkness is close by and whatever it's intent is, we can be certain it will not be for the good of Yliakum.  And there is something... familiar to these events.  We are a good sized company, might and brave.  Whatever evil lies ahead we will be victorious against it if we work together.  But let us not be unaware that there is danger, and some of us may not survive this quest.  So each of us must choose for himself or herself.  As for me I would be honored to fight and die along such fine people."
"I just have one question.  Who are all of you?  I did not really get properly introduced to most of you last night.  And, this may sound odd, but do any of you know me?"

[Farren Kutter]

[ACK!!! So much reading!]

Farren, slightly laughing as Spetyco trips over him, smiles and says, "It's fine, didn't hurt me." He is still annoyed at not being able to get up the first time and this time launches his upperbody forward, slightly bending his knees, and puts his feet under him and stands to his feet. He pulls on his cloak and pulls the hood over his head, feeling a bit cold. He walks slowly towards the others, his legs still weak. "I say we check it out. And you, new person who fell into the cave. Sorry, I don't know you, but I am Farren Kutter, a ranger, former Master Ranger. That position is now carried by the wise and powerful Zhai here, who saved all of our lives. If she'd not seen those beasts and made her whistle, we'd have been caught almost by surprise." Farren smiles weakly, pain still streaking through his body with each movement.