The Scar, bridging the smaller river (Ozurr; Jann, Varg; Rosalind; Chitara's Wagon and crew; motorcycle escorts; Zarokh)

Now there were two harpies, one at the beetles' harnesses and the other at the river. Zarokh blurted out a warning to the harpy at the river, and when he said "There's something here that smells...tainted," Rosalind was about to interject that she'd smelled it, too, but second-guessed herself. She knew zombies stunk badly enough to where even humans could smell them nearby, but she wasn't sure if human noses were sensitive enough to smell zombie-gore-pressed mud being ever-so-slowly eroded by running water.

The large group already had Rosalind on edge and prone to nervous twitches. Ozurr's somewhat sudden movement descending almost directly above her head nearly sent her flinching, but she squashed the urge to duck and cover. It only manifested as a barely perceptible twitch. She listened to Ozurr and thought about what to say to Zarokh next.

With Ozurr's information in mind, Rosalind raised a skeptical eyebrow at Zarokh. "Careless? How? That wound's on the top of your head, and I doubt you bonked your head on the underside of this bridge. That area's blocked off with grate fencing."

More chattering from the wagon. And then whispering. Rosalind cast a wary glance at the wagon, and heard, "Then obviousssly thisss isss a job for me." And then a humanoid snake exited, approaching with determined purpose. It sounded like they'd figured it out.

Rosalind blanched and fled from Jann's side, screaming "Nonononononono!" ducking behind Ozurr, who was still kneeling in a convenient posture for hiding behind. Trembling, she cried, "Don't let her get me!" As the snake lady approached, Rosalind smelled way too much perfume. In response, she coughed once and flattened her tongue against the roof of her mouth before the perfume could overwhelm her vomeronasal organ. And thus she didn't notice that the snake lady was also undead. Rosalind prepared to flee some more. If she had to, she would leave everyone behind.

If not for this anchor I'd be dancing between the stars. At least I can try to write better vampire stories than Twilight.

[Forest]

Marie nodded at Mequoql's question.

"That's what typically happens," she said, "Like, there's a huge gap in Henry's memory. I can hear it, cause something must've happened to scare Mael off, and I'm sure Henry standing still wasn't it." She then realized something, then turned to Joseph, "Hey, sweetheart, can you tell us what you remember about Mael?"

"I'm guessing the reason you remember and not him," Maya said, "Is because...well, you're not human. No offense." Her face then contorted into one of discomfort, "Shit, you remembered everything you did? God, I can't imagine a worse fate. You're not too traumatized over it, are you?"

Nick's eyes widened when the name of Henry's traveling partner completely sunk in. Joseph! Joseph's actually here!

When he got a good look at him, he instantly realized that this was not the same Joseph he knew back in the city. The biggest giveaway of this was the fact that he couldn't understand a single goddamn word this guy said. That, and he didn't recognize Adam...which meant he probably didn't know the rest of them either.

"Should I go up and hug him?" Amy whispered, "Maybe that'll jog his memory!"

"No, you'll freak him out," Jackson whispered back, "This Joseph doesn't know any of us and if we give away that most of us know him, we're going to make him more afraid. Let's just...act like we're strangers, okay?"

Adam knew he was being unfair. Joseph—or this Joseph—didn't do anything wrong. He was confused and scared, and him sulking around probably didn't help at all.

Morpho offered a theory, which made sense; he did look a little different, and the way he talked was garbled. Maybe this was a version of Joseph from way before he even went to the University or City.

"I guess so," he said, "I mean...it makes sense." He sighed heavily, "That just means I have to start all over..."

Nick walked over to his buddy and rubbed his back. "It'll be okay."

Edited by Masterofchaos on Sep 7th 2018 at 2:47:42 PM

Wasteland ~ Southeastern Coast (Lerna, Nerea; David; Varla; Sallara)

Oh, of course David wasn't an otter, his ears were the wrong shape.

Varla nearly mistook the suddenly appearing crustacean for an escaped snack, but after watching it groom David's (oh, white) fur, she realized the isopod acted more like a pet. She smirked at David's startled reaction.

And then she noticed the sorry state of David's pants. Her fingers twitched towards the hilt of her sword, but she didn't grab it. Instead, she warned (perhaps a bit too cryptically), "XYZ, David."

Varla gestured to the umbrella, "...I sometimes hunt vampires, and that looks like a disguised tool of the trade. Not one that I often use. Usually my goal is to capture the vampires alive instead of impaling them on a wooden stake."

David indicated the umbrella wasn't for hunting vampires after all. And he had a question of his own.

Varla answered, "I didn't see which way that blob chased your friend, but maybe I can find out from my telepath friend in orbit." She paused to wait for a reply on her microchip communicator, then reported, "Your friend is still alive, but exhausted and slowing. The blob hasn't caught up to him yet."

And then her attention was caught by yet another aquatic humanoid, this one bleeding. She sighed, "And on the morbid subject of predators and blood, looks like that poor wounded stranger got out of the water just in time to avoid whichever sharks might be tracking the blood trail previous to hers. I wouldn't re-enter the water anytime soon if I were you."

WFS Hummingbird Cockpit (Maequoql)

Maequoql briefly noted the intangible "cord" leading from the predatorial blob to the quicksand pit and from there deeper into the water, but didn't think it was worth mentioning or investigating further. She had a mind-controller to find. Whoever was in the town square with the laptop hadn't typed and sent a reply to her request to identify himself yet, so Maequoql swept her telepathic "searchlight" around the shoreline once more — no sign of Mael — and started scanning other parts of the Wasteland.

If not for this anchor I'd be dancing between the stars. At least I can try to write better vampire stories than Twilight.

The Scar, bridge over the smaller river (Ozurr; Jann, Varg; Rosalind; Chitara, Naiolo; Saen; Sindar, Nyceme; Jamie, Aubrey, Pearl; Zarokh)

Zarokh gripped the edge of the bridge with his claws and pointedly looked away from Rosalind. "J-just drop it."

A voice came from inside the wagon. "Then obviousssly thisss isss a job for me."

Zarokh stared at the creature that emerged. She appeared to be another hybrid between the bipedal mammals and a reptile, except this one was part snake. He wasn't sure how such creatures had come into being, and he wasn't sure he wanted to know. And...was that a flying mushroom just then? What was with this world?

He gave a cursory sniff in the half-snake's direction, and immediately recoiled at the overwhelming, vaguely floral, stench that assaulted him. And yet, underneath it, he smelled something else. Something fainter, but much more familiar. It was the unmistakeable scent of death. But not decay, no, more like...dessication. But how could that be? She was moving around and talking, she couldn't be dead.

Ozurr also noticed the strange creature emerging from the wagon. Great, he thought to himself. First we have talking harpies, and now talking nagas. Although, he supposed, she wasn't really a proper naga, since she only had two arms and no extra snake heads growing out of her shoulders. Now that he thought about it, the harpies weren't really proper harpies, either. They didn't have wings, but rather talons in place of hands.

He was so engrossed by this that he didn't even notice Rosalind until she suddenly bolted behind his leg. He didn't need a Third Eye to see she was terrified. Her panicked glances kept going to the snake-woman approaching them. With a stern glare, Ozurr unhooked his axe and pointed its eye directly at her. "All right," he said, "that's close enough..." he gave her a once-over, "...ma'am."

Traveling Up the River (Akane; Krakka'a)

So, Krakka'a thought, she's helping me because she was bored. While this was a much more familiar motivation to him than altruism, it did complicate things. She wasn't all that moved by his supposed plight after all, and while he was glad not to have to worry about going overboard with his sob story, knowing that her loyalty was dependent on keeping her interest was suddenly quite stressful.

"Humans, eh? Well, that's certainly faster than saying 'bipedal mammals' all the time." And now my enemy has a name. "And yet, you refer to them as though you aren't one."

Tidesson Son of the staves of time

Wasteland ~ Southeastern Coast (Lerna, Nerea; David; Varla)

Nerea lowered her head. "Many apologies. My assumption got the better of me; I shall refrain from guess what, specifically, you are, other than that you are a person," she told David, before casting her gaze inland, "as for that abominable spawn of chaos, I distinctly remember hitting it with a Water Bullet, but it had no effect on it. It left my range at that point."

"If your friend is still being pursued by that parasite, I pray for his safety, that that thing finds him naught," she said solemnly.

She then turned her attention to Varla, "You... hunt vampires..." The empress shivered slightly, "I do not suppose you are hunting one now?" Lowering her head again, she spoke up after a moment, "It is good that you capture them alive."

Meanwhile, Lerna managed to figure out how to deploy the umbrella. She then headed back over, giving Varla a broad smile before turning her attention to the newest addition to the beach that the lovely mermaid had pointed out.

"Oh! We should help them out!" the serpentine girl said, before darting off towards the wounded girl.

With an exasperated sigh, Nerea followed after her servant, gesturing for the others to follow suit with her tail, "I may not have any skill in direct healing, but I can provide you with a soothing compress," she told David, before flicking her fingers, resulting in the formation of another tendril of water, one that had a faint glow to it. She directed it to firmly wrap around the areas where she sensed pain in the man, giving off a cold, but soothing aura to her patient.

---

Traveling up the River (Akane; Krakka'a)

Akane smiled, "Aye, but biped mammals sounds funnier," she told Krakka'a, chuckling softly, before returning to a strait face, "Are you telling me that you didn't notice the horns?" she asked, tilting her head for effect, "Anyway, I'm not a human. You think a lowly human could suplex a wyvern without resorting to one of their fancy toys or parlor tricks?"

She jabbed her sternum with her thumb, declaring, "I am an oni. A being that surpasses that of a mere human."

Forest

Greeting circle near Truck

Distractedly, Mequoql murmured to Henry, "Yeah, that's what telepaths do..." and took a step towards Carol. Mequoql tilted her head and fixed Carol with an intense stare, examining her. Apparently the message had bounced off of some mental shield? Mequoql focused and tried another telepathic message with a slight oomph. "Knock knock, can you hear me now?"

Enormous Tree (Morpho, Matiu, Joseph)

Mequoql blinked a few rapid blinks, then turned away from Carol and smiled encouragingly in Joseph's direction. This time he'd been clear enough to not require a translation from her.

Greeting circle near Truck

Mequoql asked Henry, "Can you run through that memory again in your head for me please?" She telepathically measured the memory gap again, paying attention to the omnipresent shadows and a random background squirrel before and after the... what would be called a jump cut if the memory were a movie. "It's not as big a gap as it sounds. Whatever interrupted, it happened in less than a minute. And assuming that Mael was instructing Henry like he instructed me, Mael was probaby interrupted mid-sentence."

Enormous Tree (Morpho, Matiu, Joseph)

Mildly surprised and puzzled at what Marie just called Joseph, Morpho swiveled his head around too far again, before turning back to face Joseph and holding out a hand in what he hoped was a friendly beckon. "You heard her, how about you c'mon over and join us?" he invited.

Greeting circle near Truck

Mequoql shrugged it off, "None taken. That's one hypothesis..."

Mequoql shook her head, "I'm fine, I'm used to it. Still unpleasant though. I could tell you tales about what my evil brother made me do, but at least he never erased my memory! Eesh!" She shuddered. "I'd rather know exactly what I did than be stuck forever wondering..." A beat, then Mequoql exposited to Henry, "Oh, yeah, that's the other hypothesis, I've had prior experience resisting a different mind-controller, so I was able to keep a tiny corner of my mind free, and maybe that protected my memories somehow." With a wry smile, she added, "And it wouldn't be safe to experiment to find out if either or both is the case."

If not for this anchor I'd be dancing between the stars. At least I can try to write better vampire stories than Twilight.

Forest's Edge ~ Campsite (Bonnie, Carol, Lily; Mequoql, Morpho; Henry, Joseph; Matiu; NCH)

Carol slowly turned around, before frowning at the fuzzy off-white alien attempting to stare a hole in her. "Why the hell are you starin' at me like that?" she grumpily asked. Her frown deepened; she could have sworn she hear the alien's voice just now, despite not moving her mouth.

Bonnie hesitantly tugged lightly on Mequoql's arm, "Uh, don't mind her too much, she's a bit dense."

Meanwhile, Lily addressed Henry, "I guessed that from what you were saying. As I said, transformations are generally unheard of where I'm from. It would take a sufficiently skilled mage to do so, or if he had a run in with some form of phenomena."

She suddenly snapped her fingers, upon realizing something, "Ah, Bonnie! You could check our lizard friend; see if you can detect anything," she called to Bonnie.

The lagokin nodded and headed over towards Joseph, out stretching a hand towards the lizard, small, complex magical circles at her fingertips. "I'm going to check to see if there is any form of magic at work here," she told him.

The Scar, bridging the smaller river (Ozurr; Jann, Varg; Rosalind; Chitara's Wagon and crew; motorcycle escorts; Zarokh)

Seeing Rosalind dart away in panic, Jann instinctively grabbed his gun and raised it halfway up towards the snake-woman before immediately regretting it. Appearance aside, she didn't actually seem threatening at all. No drawn weapons or active spells as far as he could tell... And in the process of a rather polite greeting, actually.

Nevertheless, Jann placed himself between her and Rosalind, and began to focus his mind enough for spellcasting, should it be needed.

"No one's 'getting' anyone..." he quickly exclaimed, his eyes darting between the other members of his group, and back to the new woman.

At his side, Varg had drawn her own weapon as well but remained relaxed and stationary, calmly analyzing the situation. She glanced back at Rosalind.

"You two know each other..?"

Still a great "screw depression" song even after seven years.

WFS Hummingbird Transporter Room (Pilot 0037, Unit 09; Moquoql, Nyorla)

Author's note: This post was delayed by an out-of-universe Poor Communication Kills and scrambling to fix the consequences.

Nyorla giggled, "Yeah, exactly, but some people think our fur isn't enough."

Nyorla answered, "Yeah, but it's exhausting and the longer we do it the clumsier we get. Gliding is usually more energy efficient and we save the levitation for making sure we don't crash when we land." She wasn't paying attention to Unit 09.

Meanwhile, Moquoql's intense focus on Unit 09 picked up its self-diagnostic on her telepathy. She muttered, "That's unexpected." She pulled open a wall panel to reveal a small storage area and pulled out a toolbox. Rummaging, she grabbed what looked like a magnifying glass, only a magnifying glass didn't show false-color images. She looked at Unit 09 through the lens and sure enough, it was more magically active than the background. She could barely see the cord of her own levitation. It was plugging the fuel leak, not that the image showed that very well through the glitches. "Well now, that's suspicious," she muttered quietly to herself. When the magic detector glitched, one reason could be the tool was faulty. Another reason could be the magic was messing with the tool, probably for the purposes of trying to hide something.

Before Moquoql composed experiments to execute, she watched for Pilot 0037's reaction to Unit 09's out-loud statement.

---

Town ~ North Gate (Moobly, Nora; Karl, Peggy, Sophia; Murquoql and the Dragonhorses) -> Parking Lot (Kris, James, Kaitlyn; Murquoql and the Dragonhorses)

"I wish you good luck as well," Murquoql waved goodbye as she signaled the dragonhorses to turn around. They took off into the air and glided. Murquoql spotted movement in the parking lot and signaled a swerve in that direction.

As the dragonhorses landed in formation, she realized the movement she'd seen were people getting onto similar-looking bikes... "Lemme guess, you're going in the opposite direction of the rainforest too?"

Edited by Miss_Desperado on Sep 9th 2018 at 9:38:52 AM

If not for this anchor I'd be dancing between the stars. At least I can try to write better vampire stories than Twilight.

WFS Hummingbird Transporter Room (Pilot 0037, Unit 09; Moquoql, Nyorla)

The boy shrugged, "Well, if it means anythin', I think your fur is just fine," he innocently said.

"Unable to complete scan. Additional authorization required to share results."

Pilot 0037 blinked a few times. Nyorla's sister wouldn't be able to fix Unit 09 if it wasn't sharring info and stuff. He shrugged again, "I suppose it wouldn't hurt to tell her what she wants to know; go ahead."

Unit 09 sat silently for a moment. The pilot could have worded that better. ''...Affirmative."

"This unit received moderate damage during the engagement of the lanceros. Fuel processing has been halted due to damage to an aetheric pleura and the pseudojejunum. Raw fuel is currently building up within this unit, which will eventually cause damage to certain vital components. In addition, there is foreign organic material lodged in the ninth circuit node, preventing this unit from completing its self-diagnostic."

Edited by WillDeRegio on Sep 10th 2018 at 3:29:26 PM

Wasteland: Southeastern Coast

Slowly but surely, Sallara's vision started clearing, and her head stopped spinning. At this point she could hear that the group of creatures were what one could call 'people', and at least two had caught her attention. Sallara rose to a sitting position, and shook her head at the comment she heard. Forget sharks, it was the Skrarr she was worried about. Who knows what they might have sent after her. "It's not the sharks I'm worried about. I have bigger reasons to stay away from the sea for now." Sallara said aloud, not sure if to herself or to whoever had talked. Maybe they hadn't even referred to her.

The Onden turned to adress the others, and her blood ran cold. The one coming at her was a Skrarr. How could they have caught up to her already? Was it a trap set up from the beginning, to give her the hope that she could escape? The serpentine shape was enough for Sallara to react. "Stay away from me!" She crawled back in an attempt to escape her would be captor, stood up with some stumbling, and put herself in a defensive position. There was no way she could face them in a phisycal fight, but she still had her magic.

Sallara raised her good arm and motioned it pointing at the sea. If only for a moment, her focus wandered to the immense mass of water, trying to grab a part of it. It responded, and the waves started accumulating in an unnatural way, forming a dome ready to explode or burst in any direction of Sallara's choice. It wouldn't be enough to deter the Skrarr, but it may buy some time for Sallara to run away.

Wasteland

This place was empty.

All right, maybe not completely empty. It had some interesting rocks and ruins to explore, but it lacked the important stuff. Like food. Nasur hadn't been able to find anything to eat as of yet, be it physical or even the smallest amount of mana. Not even a lizard or a bug to munch on. So here he was now, exploring yet another bunch of empty ruins.

A single lone figure crawled the remains of what could have been once a beautiful temple, but now the ceiling and much of the structure had fallen down, exposing the interior to the elements, and was completely abandoned. Down on all fours like an animal, Nasur kept sniffing on the dusty floor, searching for anything to throw down his gullet. His body was consumed, almost completely skin and bones. His skin, once a healty purple and now a faded light blue due to exposure to the elements and his poor health, had runic tatoos embedded on his back, left breast, and the back of his left hand. His only garments were a pair of worn pants, still tied to his thin hip, and a hood that covered his head, and part of his torso and shoulders.

Suddenly, Nasur caught a whiff of a familiar smell and went still. His aching stomach lurched in anticipation. Food. He crawled following the smell, until he stumbled upon a pedestal. His horribly gaunt face looked up, and his eyes (big and white, with no pupil), caught sight of a stone sphere on top of it.

Licking his lips, he stood up and grabbed the sphere, bringing it to his mouth. The sphere, despite it's stony appearance, was rather light, and had a large crack on it. With a shake, a tiny wisp of blue smoke escaped throught he crack. Nasur dropped the sphere and caught the smoke as he could with his hands, carefully slurping it up.

Mana. Old and stagnant, but it was still the real thing. Nasur didn't remember the last time he had tasted it. Perhaps it had been not much long after being exiled, as he made his way to the surface, probably even before that. He had been hungry for so long...

Nasur savored it as much as he could, but it had barely calmed his hunger, this accursed constant hunger eating away at him, be it for magic or anything remotely edible. At times it was so much that he felt his mind slipping, specially at night, when he tried to catch some sleep and was alone with his thoughts and the pain in his guts. But he refused to go, he wouldn't become a mindless ghoul, like so many he had seen already. But he needed to eat, and this place certainly had given up the last that it had.

Nasur made his way out by the temple's entrance, a rather narrow passage that was still standing. He climbed up a column to scan his surroundings. The temple was located at the center of what seemed to once have been some kind of town, mostly of its stone houses now in ruins like the temple. Beyond that, there didn't seem to be anything beyond lifeless plains as far as the eyes could see. Nasur sighed, he would have to retrace his steps, maybe visit thet circle of rocks he had seen before...

Something caught his eyes. In the distance, soemthing, or maybe someone, was running coming from beyond the plains he hadn't yet visited. It was being followed by some kind of giant blobby thing.

Poor Nasur was left there dumbfounded. This was definitely not something he saw everyday. But the runner seemed to need help, as it looked like it was starting to slow down. Having a predator hunting him for food was the last thing Nasur wanted, but maybe the person could help him back. 'Maybe they even have some mana to eat.' He thought. It was worth the try.

The runner seemed to not have noticed the ruins yet, but hopefully it was close enough to hear Nasur. He put two fingers on his mouth and whistled loudly, then waved at the stranger. "Over here!" He yelled, then got down the column and dove under the temple's entrance. It was narrow enough that the blob could not pass through, and it would buy both of them time to escape. That trapdoor on the ground behind the pedestal could be enough.

_{^< cont. from} Wasteland, Southeastern Coast - Trouble Ashore _{^> David — Varla — Lerna, Nerea — Sallara}


David nodded and smiled slightly as Nerea resolved to consider him simply as a person before anything else. "Thank you," he said. "That is much appreciated." With some reluctance and a dismissive wave of his hand, he added, "There is a tiresome, twisted story to it all, but now just isn't the time to tell it."

He wrinkled the bridge of his snout when the aquatic woman recalled hitting the sand monster with what she called a 'water bullet'. He was certain he was wrong, but David couldn't help but think of the plastic Flash Gordon water guns of his youth. 'No effect' sounded about right.

What little humor or relief the thought might have brought him was quickly quashed by Nerea's well-meant but ultimately grim take on Joseph's situation. David closed his eyes, brow knitting tightly. He brushed back his whiskers and pressed his hands against the sides of his head, as if it would fall to pieces if he didn't. He drew in a long breath, and-

"Your friend is still alive, but exhausted and slowing. The blob hasn't caught up to him yet."

David's ears flicked up and he nearly jumped out of his shorts, the hitching on his tail being the only thing to spare the others from a furry mooning. He spun around and—while he fastened his droopy-drawers—exclaimed, "He's still alive?! Varla- Varla, you jewel, thank you! But-" he took a few anxious steps up the beach, then back, "if he's still out there, we've got to help him! We've got to... we've got to do something. He's just a kid- I..." his attention snapped back to Varla. "You said you had a friend in orbit? Do they have missiles, or a laser, or-"

Before he could finish, all attention was drawn away by the slipshod arrival of yet another aquatic woman, this one wounded and weary. David dragged his hands down his head, swearing under his breath at the untimely event. But she was clearly injured, and after his own fortuitous rescue mere minutes earlier, it would be terribly selfish to ignore her, no matter the reason.

With a sigh to match Nerea's, he began hobbling after the other three, only pausing for a moment to seize a sharp breath at the sudden sensation of his new, watery binding.

"Thanks..." he murmured, though the sentiment seemed somewhat uncertain. It did feel good against his bruises, but the means that kept the water in place unsettled him all the while.

Back on the shoreline, the wounded girl seemed to be taking the group's sudden presence... poorly. She yelled at them to stay away, then, with a motion of her arm, seemed to take control of the nearby water.

Water fights. What is this, a public pool?

With a slight grimace, David sped up gait to a near run, aiming to put himself at the forefront. He'd be loathed to ever admit it, but a part of him knew that his... smaller stature, and... certain aspects of his appearance, could sometimes help to put people at ease, so to speak.

"Now hang on just a second," he called, raising his hands up. "There's no need to panic. We're not here to hurt you, but," his gaze followed the blood trail she'd tracked from the water, "...you sure look like you're in some trouble."

---

_{^< cont. from} Wasteland, Heading Northwest -> Ruined Temple Entrance - The Demon's Shadow _{^> Joseph —- The Sinking Demon —- Nasur}

Somewhere between wheezing and weeping, Joseph began to slow down. And once he began, he slowed down fast. His knees threatened to buckle beneath him, and then they did, sending him scraping onto his hands and knees. He only registered the fresh stinging pain for a moment before it was overtaken by the burning in his throat and chest. His tongue lolled out the side of his mouth like a dog, even it feeling nearly as dry as the clay he knelt upon. He half expected it to crack up in the same way. It was too much. He was broken. He was burned out.

Why couldn't he have just shot straight? Nick that stupid thief in the leg, or the shoulder, or anywhere just to slow her down. Why did he have to drop on his belly like an idiot? Why had he distracted Dave and let the thief get away— let her steal his truck and strand them in the desert? Why did he have to be so horribly incompetent? And why hadn't he been crushed or swallowed whole yet?

Blinking through the haze of heat and pain, both related and unrelated, Joe turned his sharp blue eyes to the wasteland behind him. There it was. The sand creature, surging onward, ready to overtake him. It had no face, little in the way of a distinct form... it was just a haunting entity, hungering, consuming, destroying.

Maybe it was his incompetence, taking a life of its own. Joseph grimaced, his lizardy smiles long outlasted.

There was his inescapable fate. There was his doom. There was... actually kind of far away. Somehow he'd put a fair bit of distance between himself and the monster, though it was closing that distance without pause. Still... if he had outrun it before...

Nudged on by curiosity, if nothing else, Joseph scurried forwards, pattering on his hands and knees for a few seconds before he had the gumption to rise back to his feet. It was agony, as if someone had given a rusty old gate nerves and then shoved it open. But it wasn't being eaten. It wasn't dying. It wasn't giving up. Soon his tail was in the wind again, and somehow he was running. He was getting away. He had energy, and strength, and stamina, and he was slowing down again, and his legs were shaking and before he knew it, he was on the ground once more.

Glancing over his shoulder, he could see the monster in the distance. It was further away, but not as far as the first time he stopped. It was with a quiet, creeping dread that he resolved to try again, for as he ran and fell a third, a fourth, and a fifth time, each attempt shorter and harder than the last, he could see that he was only prolonging the inevitable.

Before long, he could hear the monster— hear it sliding across the ground, propelled by god-knew-what. Inching closer and closer to its prey. Unrelenting. Uncompromising. If that was the last sound he ever heard...

Suddenly, a sharp whistle pierced the air. And then...

"Over here!"

Joseph jerked his head upward, staggering to his feet. Ignoring his pain, he swung his gaze this way and that. He'd barely registered his surroundings until that moment, when he spotted it: a building! Maybe part of a city or- no no, a village! People! Safety!

Seizing upon a sixth wind, he stumbled as quickly as he could towards the building, not noticing how dusty and decrepit it was through his addled tunnel vision. The beast pursued, not a hitch in its endless charge. Joseph was no longer outpacing it, and had little more than twenty feet to live by.

At fifteen, he was halfway to the entrance, running on white hot flames.

At ten, he could feel a strange tugging on the end of his tail, as if he was made of metal and the monster was a magnet.

At five, the tug had gripped his whole body. He was at the entrance, but he could barely move. The monster hadn't even touched him, yet some force was drawing him backward while the horrid thing moved in to take him.

With a wordless cry, he threw all his weight, his fear, and everything he had left forward, reaching his arms out for anything to save his life.

Edited by Ryuhza on Sep 11th 2018 at 4:13:28 AM

the color today

(Chitara's Wagon- Horde)

Saen poked her head out of the wagon to see something surprising- and more than a little terrifying. A gigantic... alligator? Crocodile? Saen was never quite sure of the difference- had come up to the wagon. It seemed to be injured, which triggered something in Saen, much to her annoyance. Curssse my need to help everyone, she thought.

Slithering over to the massive reptile, she looked at him with concern. Uncertain if it could communicate, she placed her hand on his flank and muttered a spell. It wouldn't do much- she had an excellent grasp of the theory behind healing magic, but was awful at actually performing it- but it would take the edge off.

Forward, boys! For God's sake, forward!

WFS Hummingbird Transporter Room (Pilot 0037, Unit 09; Moquoql, Nyorla)

"Thank you," Moquoql nodded at the young pilot. She turned her attention back to Unit 09 and muttered, "Why am I hearing a computer?" She felt something brush against her mental shields and narrowed her eyes in suspicion. "Wait a minute..." she muttered, then shifted position so that the lens could show both Unit 09 and Nyorla. She double-checked her mental shields and carefully asked, "Nyorla, did you ever question why this pilot was carrying around a box?"

The magic on Unit 09 flared and sent an energy packet into Nyorla's head. Nyorla shrugged and stated, "It's a computer, does he need a further reason?"

"Aha!" Moquoql instructed, "Nyorla, raise your mental shields." Nyorla did so, and Murquoql knocked on them to make sure. Moquoql muttered, "All right, let's try this again." She didn't want to repeat her last question, so she picked a similar one, "Nyorla, did you ever question why this computer runs on liquid fuel instead of a solid battery?"

Nyorla blinked. "Now that I think about it, there's a million different questions I have about that computer that I never asked..."

Moquoql grinned, "There's the curiosity I know my sister has! Somebody cast a sneaky, sneaky subtle spell to hide something about this computer. Don't know any more details than that, but..."

"...it makes sense when trying to protect classified information," Nyorla mused. She turned to Pilot 0037, "You did mention mages, right?"

Moquoql muttered "Okay, now..." She sent her telekinesis probing through Unit 09 without moving anything, tracing solid and liquid surfaces to build up a mental image of what was inside. Her telekinesis probed through again, collecting drops of spilled fuel within the mechanism and returning them to the fuel tank. Her telekinesis combed through a third time, "Well, well, well," she mused, "There's definitely something organic inside, I heard that loud and clear on my telepathy." A gentle telekinetic touch on the organic, "Is this the ninth circuit node?"

Oops, wrong sister

---

WFS Hummingbird Cockpit (Maequoql)

Maequoql hadn't finished scanning the wasteland, not by a long shot. But she'd found someone not under Mael's mind control, who'd then noticed Joseph and (thankfully) seemed to want to help. Maequoql tried to lock the tractor beam onto the blob. Only then did she realize she had to narrow the beam, she'd nearly caught Joseph in it because it was still calibrated for the lanceros. She narrowed the beam.

"Gotcha," she growled quietly, pinning the blob. "Now, where shall I put you?"

---

Wasteland ~ Southeastern Coast (Lerna, Nerea; David; Varla)

Varla gave a small smile of amusement at the world "jewel", one hand instinctively checking the net securing her ponytail and the item hidden within. She finished David's list with "Tractor beam. She's already using it. The rest can't guarantee not hitting your friend."

"Of course, the usual missions are for friendly neighborhood vampires who just need some help coming to their senses when they fall Off the Wagon." Varla admitted, "I was about to investigate a rumor of a fiendish vampire in the rainforest, but, in a nutshell..." She gestured to the sea, then to David, then to the wounded stranger, "...I got majorly interrupted." Now was not the time to tell tales or mention the missing kid, not with closer people in distress.

Was this a race? Varla was game. She adjusted her stance into something crouch-like. Her powerful tail tensed and then suddenly launched herself forward in a ground-covering leap. Varla's landing seamlessly transitioned into a somersault. Spine braced stiffly in a large ring shape, Varla pushed off with her arms for another somersault, then uncoiled face-up on her back at her destination. Re-coiling the small loop at the tip of her tail, one last flex of her core muscles brought her upright again in a move not unlike some vampires. Thanks to their ownership bond, her sword and dagger were still in their sheaths.^{Author's note:} slight retcon edit — magnets would be a bit more trouble than they're worth. She glanced over her shoulder at Nerea and David.

When Varla returned facing forward, she witnessed the stranger's fearful reaction. Varla asked, "Whoa, easy, what's the problem?" She traced the fearful stranger's gaze to Lerna, saw the growing bubble of raised water, and took a gamble.

"Calm down and explain yourselves, both of you!" Varla warned, drawing her sword and angling it as a barrier between Lerna and the stranger, flats facing both instead of edgewise. "First one to attack without giving me a darn good reason for their aggression gets sided against, is that clear? This is Cold Iron, don't make me use it."

---

The Scar, bridging the smaller river (Ozurr; Jann, Varg; Rosalind; Chitara's Wagon and crew; motorcycle escorts; Zarokh)

Rosalind was grateful for her new friends leaping to her defense, and puzzled by the intimidating snake lady's small-talk greeting. Rosalind shook her head 'no' in answer to Varg's question — the dark purple snake lady was a stranger, and Rosalind was acutely aware that the snake lady hadn't given a name. Rosalind hadn't seen any snake folk, unless she counted the illustrations and not very understandable plans to somehow make a snake person all scribbled in a notebook in enemy territory.

Maybe the snake lady wasn't there to kill Rosalind after all, but there were still plenty of potentially hostile intents. Who would want Rosalind captured alive, and who would employ, manipulate, or manufacture a snake lady for the purpose of a fetch quest? No names, personal or organizational, came to mind, but with Rosalind's stress-blurred memories and many enemies, that was par for the course.

Still braced to flee at a moment's notice, Rosalind clutched Jann's amulet for reassurance, peeked out from behind Ozurr and gave the snake lady a suspicious glare. "Who are you? What do you want? Did somebody send you?"

And then she spotted a second snake lady, this one dapple brown, approaching Zarokh. Rosalind adjusted her positioning to keep Ozurr in between her and both snake ladies. That ward Rosalind sensed earlier, the brown snake lady was carrying it.

Edited by Miss_Desperado on Oct 8th 2018 at 3:18:11 AM

If not for this anchor I'd be dancing between the stars. At least I can try to write better vampire stories than Twilight.

Wasteland ~ Southeastern Coast (Lerna, Nerea; Sallara; David; Varla)

Nerea slowly nodded at what Varla said about rumors of a vampire. This was exactly the sort of lead she was looking for. "The rain-forest, hmm..." she muttered to herself as she followed after the surprisingly nimble mermaid.

"Whoa!" Between the merfolk summoning up a mass of water to defend herself and Varla bounding ahead of her, Lerna slid to a halt with her hands up. She whipped her head around, "M'lady..." she whined.

"I noticed," the empress said, following behind the others. She held up a hand, partly as a sign of piece, and partly to start redirecting water should it come to that, "My servant and I mean you no harm, little one," she called out to the green-scaled merfolk, "We are merely here to try to render assistance to you."

---

WFS Hummingbird Transporter Room (Pilot 0037, Unit 09; Moquoql, Nyorla)

The boy gave Moquoql a smile as she thanked him, "No prob," he said.

He began glancing between the sisters and Unit 09 as the former were talking about the latter. The questions Murquoql was asking of her younger sister caused the boy to stare at Unit 09. It was just a computer, right? Why was there so much fuss about it?

Pilot 0037 snapped back to attention when he realized Nyorla was talking to him, "Yeah..." he said, frowning slightly.

Meanwhile, while Murquoql was probing Unit 09...

---

Unknown spell detected.

Irrational Hindrance #02 exceeding recommended parameters.

---

The organic designated Unit 09 began squirming within its container (though not enough to actually cause the entire unit to visibly move), something it hadn't done in quite a long time.

During the passes, the telekenetic probe would encounter four areas, arranged in pairs, where it was being deflected by mechanisms made of arctic calibreum, a metal with anti-magic properties, embedded in the organic portion of the unit, two near the base, and two about a third of the way from the top.

And then Moquoql poked its nose.

Unit 09 calmed down slightly, if only to answer the alien's questioning.

"Negative. That is the rostrum. The ninth circuit node is superficial to the median dorsal point between this unit's aether core and caudal point," it stated.

The boy gave the box a blank look and tilted his head. "What?"

Edited by WillDeRegio on Sep 11th 2018 at 10:43:28 AM

WFS Hummingbird Transporter Room (Pilot 0037, Unit 09; Moquoql, Nyorla)

"Just a computer?" Moquoql chuckled at the young pilot, "If this were just a computer, there would be no need for secrecy spells battering at my mental shields. There's something special inside." She complained to Unit 09, "I'm working blind here, I can feel around but I don't know which names go to which parts. Is there any way this box can open up and let me see?"

Nyorla asked Unit 09, "Are you gonna kick me out of the room first? I do have lunch to prepare."

---

Ridge (Mustang Herd, Whisper, Skvader)

It was a steep way down, but after taking the time to look, Lead Mare Flashfoot spotted a zig-zagging path that wasn't as steep. The herd would have to go single file down it.

The skvader launched himself off of Whisper's saddle and took a gliding shortcut.

If not for this anchor I'd be dancing between the stars. At least I can try to write better vampire stories than Twilight.

WFS Hummingbird Transporter Room (Pilot 0037, Unit 09; Moquoql, Nyorla)

"There's something special inside."

"Military secrets?" guessed the boy, curiosity rising in anticipation of finding what his computer was made of.

"Affirmative," Unit 09 chimed ambiguously, "the left panel is fastened in the back with four screws. Unscrewing them will allow you to slide the panel off. This will allow you to perform internal maintenance on this unit. It is recommended to lie this unit on its right side first, though."

The boy complied, placing Unit 09 on the side it indicated. He then gestured for Moquoql to work her magic.

Unit 09 then addressed Nyorla, "This unit is a computer. It has no limbs to kick you with," it's sad attempt at humor falling flat due to its mechanical monotone. "If you have other matters to attend to, this unit is incapable of keeping you from them."

The boy nodded, adding, "Food would be nice." His stomach growled softly in agreement.

[Town-Square bench/Henry]

Henry finally got a response form the ship above him. As he opened the message he got a chill up his spine that soon went into his head. Someone was trying to read his mind.

He chuckled at the though of someone going through the effort to read his mind only to find his brain waves are too scrambled to be able to read. They were probably trying to find out who he was.

Entertaining them he read the message asking who he was.

Deciding to be honest he started to type a message like one would a resume.

{Name: Henry A. Safon the 2nd.

Birthdate: 445 C.E.

Birthplace: Constantinople, Turkey.

Positions held: Various positions in U.S. Armed Forces 1862-1865 and 1894-1951,FMR U.S. Senator R-NY 1901-1913, FMR U.S. Espionage officer 1898-1953, FMR Professor of physics at Stanford University 1983-1990, FMR Oregon State Representative 1993-2001, Oregon State Senator 2001-present, More upon request ;)}

Scar - Bridge Crossing Smaller River (JSNORVZ)^note Jann, Saen, Nyceme, Ozurr, Rosalind, Varg, Zarokh

Nyceme was used to people being intimidated by her presence. And not just because she was undead. Even while alive she had held that impression, at least in part because of the magic she wielded. What she did not expect, though, was the vampire, of all people, to be the most frightened one in the group. Was she not undead? In Nyceme's experience, undead did not experience fear except possibly with regards to their weaknesses—she wondered if this one's fear had to do with how she still had a soul. And not one that was sealed inside an object either. And then there were a couple of people who were intimidated by her scent. It was true, she had worn so much perfume in order to mask the stench of death on her... but it seemed she had overdone it.

Predictably, the weapons pointed at her—even that big ol' axe—did not deter her. In fact, as soon as she saw them, she tossed her scepter behind her, where it landed upright on the ground and sprouted a cage of crystalline spikes all around it. The spikes drew the eye, perhaps, but at a very close distance they would also draw life, and even those standing close by would feel its malicious aura.

"Would throwing down my weapon be of any reassuranccce?" Nyceme said to the new group. This was not entirely true; she didn't necessarily need her scepter on hand for her spells to work, but usually preferred having it close by anyway. "Anyway, my name is Nyccceme, and I come from the land of Crownen. And thisss..." She glanced behind her, but the mushroom fairy was nowhere in sight. "...well, if you sssee a flying mushroom, that'sss Sssindar. My companionsss and I are mere travelersss in sssearch of wondersss in the wildernesss. Might I presssume your intentionsss are sssimilar? And that you traveled here in that?" She gestured over to the truck. "Now, whereaboutsss might you be headed?"

Come, my child of the devil. Your mother is calling you. Hear my call in Hell's grand hall, where all our dreams come true.

Wasteland: Eastern Coast

Sallara's frantic gaze shifted between the newcomers. First to the one issuing commands to stand down, then to the others, that offered peace with gentle words. This trew her off. They were... not worried about the danger right in front of them?

"I... uh..." Sallara blinked, and looked back at the Skrarr in front of her. Except... it wasn't a Skrarr at all. The serpentine shape gave her a knee-jerk reaction, but with a moment of proper observation, she saw that this one did not look like one of them at all. For once, her scales were a bright gold, not a murky dark green. If she was a female, according to the pitch of her voice, then she also lacked the extra pair of arms, and upon colser inspection, the protrusions on her head seemed to be horns, rather than tentacles. Even her face seemed more gentle, rather than the constant snarl filled with sharp fangs that seemed to adorn female Skrarr's heads.

Then, in a burst of sudden self-awareness, Sallara realized that she still was in a defensive position, against four newcomers that didn't seem hostile. This was... quite awkward.

"Oh...ehm... Ahem." Salalra cleared her throat, and let go of the mass of water beside her. The watery dome collapsed, sending some seawater splashing everywhere. "My deepest apologies. I... mistook your companion for someone far more malicious." She attempted to curtsy, although since she lacked a proper dress, she instead lifted the fins on her sides instead.

"I could use some assistance, if it's not much of a nuisance." She responded to the one with her eyes covered, grabbing her injured arm. Still, Sallara stood alert. Although these people did not seem out for her blood like the Skrarr did, they could still mean bad business. Most of them looked like seafolk, though not anything she had seen before.

Wasteland

The stranger seemed to have listened to Nasur, as it made a straight line towards the temple's entrance. Nasur ran past it, ready to signal them to dive to the trapdoor.

The stranger seemed to run slower with each step they took. At reaching the entrance, they stopped to catch their breath. With the blob beast still in tow. Nasur was about to yell at them to get out of there, until he saw the stranger trying to reach forward.

'Oh, right. Can't move.' But the thing could still move, and in fact was getting closer and closer. Already panicking, Nasur ran back to the stranger, grabbing their arms and pulling back as hard as he could. Despite his starved state, he still had strength left on his body. Hopefully, it would be enough to pull them away and into safety before the blob caught up.

"Push!" He screamed as the blob was nearly upon them. When it was close it seemed certainly bigger. "Push with all your strength!"

WFS Hummingbird Transporter Room (Pilot 0037, Unit 09; Moquoql, Nyorla) -> Kitchen (Nyorla)

Moquoql waited for Pilot 0037 to shift Unit 09, then unscrewed the indicated screws.

"See ya," Nyorla grabbed the heavy cart loaded with moufreta corpses and hauled it away, first at a lugging walk, then a jog, and rounded the corner into the labyrinthian corridors.

---

WFS Hummingbird Cockpit (Maequoql)

Maequoql shifted her use of the tractor beam. Instead of simply pinning the blob where it was, she started dragging it back the way it came — away from Joseph, to give him more wiggle room to get away. She glanced at Henry A. Safon II's new message, she'd have to resume reading it after Joseph was safe.

---

Wasteland ~ Southeastern Coast (Lerna, Nerea; Sallara; David; Varla)

"That's better," Varla smiled, sheathing her sword. "Now, I have a healing cantrip that can stop that bleeding. That'll end the trail for all sorts of unpleasant beings. With your permission..." She prepared to sing.

If not for this anchor I'd be dancing between the stars. At least I can try to write better vampire stories than Twilight.

Rainforest (Seenarnha, Swanwhite, Lectri, Plasma, Witch Snake)

The dead tree Seenarnha inspected with the magnifying glass wasn't just dead, but blackened in some parts of the trunk. From a distance it might appear that the tree had been burnt, but the black portions bore no trace of fire damage. Instead it was more as if a disease had struck the tree, and only that tree; the others around it were alive and well. However, the same could not be said of some of the foliage on the ground; there were some patches where all the plants had wilted and lost much of their color.

And yet, if there ever was any magic affecting the tree, it was not active. And not on the other plants either. However, the dead foliage on the ground, if inspected more closely, followed a path deeper into the forest; it was as if something had walked this path and killed everything it touched. Occasionally, the path passed by another dead tree.

No sign of Fred yet. However, one dead tree finally showed up under Seenarnha's magnifying glass, provided she was still using it. There was a snake coiled around this tree, one with a purple and black diamond pattern on its scales and that looked... kind of shabby. And the magical activity was coming from it.

Edited by ladytanuki on Sep 14th 2018 at 11:38:32 AM

Come, my child of the devil. Your mother is calling you. Hear my call in Hell's grand hall, where all our dreams come true.

Hotel Lobby – Mark and Farah

"Did a certain James Turner check in?" asks Mark the plant girl receptionist. "He's put a notice at the board to look for him here."

"Generally, we don't give out information about our occupants to third parties," says she. "Unless they specifically say to do so if someone asks about them, as mister Turner did."

"That's nice. So, where is he?"

"Unfortunately he checked out about ten minutes ago," says the receptionist. "He and his group came into the Town on bikes. If you'll hurry, you could probably catch them at the parking."

"Let's go, Farah," Mark nods to his companion.

"He also left his cell phone number," the receptionist hands mark a piece of paper.

"Alright, thanks," says Mark. "I saw a communicator at the Town Square."

Near the Notice Board – Mark, Farah and the Inquisitor

Farah, sitting on the back of her horse, takes full lungs of fresh noon air and looks around the park, starting to become crowded at this time of the day. Passersby taking slow walks, sitting on the benches and having a picnic on the emerald grass under the umbrage – even if you rarely see a crowd so diverse, the view is usual for such places.

Except for the tall figure standing still near the notice board. A black-haired woman in black leather armor with a red hooded coat slowly turns around, scanning the area around her.

What is she looking for, I wonder?

"Hurry, Farah, we still might be able to catch James Turner," says Tanzer, catching up to Farah on his gray mare. "What's the matter?"

The woman's gaze moves from Farah, freezing up on Mark. The woman's pale gray eyes flicker with recognition.

"You…" says she with barely-contained fury. Farah notices the awfully familiar murderous intent in her eyes.

"SHIT!" Mark spurs his mare away from the woman. Farah hears something crack through the air before her. Something small and black hits the gray mare on her rump - a mere pebble - which nevertheless sends her rearing, and Mark – tumbling on the ground, with his body convulsing. His horse, neighing in pain, is thrashing on the ground, too.

Farah pulls her rifle out of the saddle, and jumps off her horse. Hearing another crack mid-jump, she tumbles once she lands, evading another charged stone. Half-sitting and quick on the draw, she points her rifle on the woman.

"Drop 'em!" shouts Farah.

The woman raises her right arm in a defensive gesture, her palm facing Farah.

"You're not the first person to point a gun at me this morning," says the woman matter-of-factly.

"Both hands in the air or I will be the last!" shouts Farah. The gray mare stands up and runs away.

"I just want to talk," calmly says the woman.

Farah hears Tanzer's pained groans.

"You a'right, Fingers?" asks she.

"'Fingers'?" says the woman. "Interesting."

"Run the fuck away, Farah," says Mark hoarsely. "She's too much for us both. Meet me at the rendezvous."

And where that would be? The Ghost Town?

"Got it," says she.

Farah hears the sound of his footsteps moving further and further away. The crowd around them quickly disperses. The woman makes a step forward.

"ON THE GROUND!!!" roars Farah.

"No."

Three shots echo in the air. The woman stops, but doesn't fall. Farah's jaw drops once she sees three pieces of lead floating in the air in front of the woman's raised palm.

"Oh, shit…"

Farah feels the strength leaking away from her arms. She lowers her weapon. The woman, quizzically tilting her head, picks up one of the bullets from the air. The three pieces of lead flicker, Farah hears yet another crack, the bullets fly in her direction, slow enough to be seen with a naked eye…

...I'm not paid for this...

…but not slow enough to dodge them. Farah falls on the ground, wringing. Intolerable pain hits her, as every single muscle of her body contracts. Farah wants to scream, but she can't control her voice. She feels a strong hand picking her up by her collar. She sees the woman curling up a fist. A flash of blackish red — and then black void consumes her.

Near the Notice Board – Parthenia, Farah, and the Guardian

She picks the mercenary up, saddling the girl over her shoulders. She stands up, and, after a blink, sees John Smith appear in ten feet before her. The Guardian lets out an exasperated sigh, wags his finger, and when Parthenia blinks again, he's no more. Along with the park and the notice board.

Parthenia finds herself, along with the mercenary girl and two horses belonging to her and her companion, deep in the forest. The Inquisitor slowly and carefully puts Farah down on the ground, looks around. The air is thick, filled with the scent of fir-needle and decomposing leaves and life.

"Well, shit."

Edited by Millership on Sep 16th 2018 at 12:15:15 AM

Spiral out, keep going.

Scar - Bridging the Smaller River (JSNORVZ)^note Jann, Saen, Nyceme, Ozurr, Rosalind, Varg, Zarokh

Jann hesitated for a moment before holstering his pistol, keeping a close eye on the scepter that the snake woman - Nyceme, apparently - had tossed behind her. After his years of secret studies back home, the foul scent of it's dark powers felt rather familiar. Not letting himself feel intimidated, he channeled a decent amount of magic of his own, letting it radiate outwards to signal his status as a mage to anyone who could perceive such things.

"Jann of Grimmsford," he answered, giving Nyceme a polite nod. "Scientist and thaumaturge." Glancing to the side, he saw a second, somewhat less sinister looking snake woman slither up to Zarokh, and felt her use a healing spell. He nervously clenched his teeth, unsure of how the big lizard might react.

Varg slung her shotgun onto her back, and took a few steps forward.

"I'm Varg," she said, giving the two snakes a casual wave. "And that's ours, yes," she continued, pointing at the parked vehicle. "Heading south, looking for a lost herd of horses along the way."

She looked back at Rosalind, who was still hiding behind Ozurr's leg.

"I think you can come out now."

Still a great "screw depression" song even after seven years.

Forest

[Henry, Joseph, Bonnie, Carol, Lily, Mequoql, Morpho, Henry, Not-Chaos-Hunters, Matiu]

Matiu's grin broadened as Joseph looked up and thanked him. Even though the words were somewhat mangled, the sincerity was clear.

Matiu was amazed at how well Joseph was managing. It undoubtedly wasn't easy to speak English with a non-human mouth and he had the impression that Joseph hadn't been in this form for long.

"So, you wanna join us over by the truck? We've got kai - that's just every-day food, to you - an' we c'n sit down 'n' relax a bit after all the excitement.

North Gate

[Murquoql, Nora, Moobly, Sophia, Peggy, Karl]

After the alien and her trio of strange riding beasts quite literally took off, Sophia glanced back at the others. "OK, let's get this show on the road, it's gettin' late."

She turned her attention forward and took off.

Peggy and Karl followed suit, noting through their rear view mirrors that the alien was heading back towards the square, presumably to find help there.

Forest - Eastern End

[Jean, Ulf, Teri, Wolfe, Gwion]

After a fairly short, easy ride along the "Scar", the bikes reached the Eastern end of the forest and Teri turned off the scar and made her way between the trees. At the edge of the forest, the trees were widely-enough spaced and the undergrowth was sparse enough that it was easy passage for the bikes - even a "townie" bike like Gwion's should manage it without too much trouble. It was like some of the parts of the Terra Novan Beech Forests where she and her fellow Mad Bastards spent most of their time.

Up ahead, the trees grew closer together and the undergrowth became heavier, the ground more uneven.

Gwion battled along over the bumpy ground, occasionally bottoming-out his suspension on some of the worst bits and tearing up bits of the undergrowth with the underside of his battery pack. His bike wasn't built for this shit! He watched Teri's bike nimbly making its way over the uneven terrain and started to feel real concern when he saw how much her bike's suspension was having to work. Wolfe's bike was fairing better than his, but he had a pillion passenger as well, so there would be a limit to how far he could go.

Gwion was immensely relieved when Wolfe abruptly brought his bike to a halt just short of a rather nasty furrow in the ground that Teri had blithely scrambled over, and told Teri it was time to stop. He managed to get his own bike up to where Wolfe had stopped and parked behind him, glad that the crazy cross-country scramble was over.

Teri turned her bike about and made her way back to the furrow and parked up. "So it looks like we're on foot from now on."

Wolfe nodded as he dismounted. He looked about and fished his vape out of his pocket. "This seems a safe place to leave the bikes."

Gwion looked around. The scar was no longer visible behind them; they would be quite invisible to anyone using it as a road then he looked down at his bike - it had random pieces of vegetation sticking out from the frame and battery box. "Unless someone sees our trail."

Wolfe shook his head and exhaled a cloud of vapour. "Not very likely unless they're specifically looking for it. The bikes'll be safe." He took a puff of his vape. "The bikes will be quite safe here - I have said it thrice; and what I tell you three times is true."

Teri groaned and shook her head slowly but Gwion grinned. "So... what? This is a snark hunt?"

Wolfe gave an impish grin and nodded enthusiastically. Then he turned to Jean and put his finger up in front of his face in an exaggerated 'be quiet' gesture. "Be vewy quiet... we're hunting Snarks!" He followed up with a staccato Fudd-esque laugh.

Teri gave Jean a sympathetic look. "Don't worry... Wiv any luck, one'll be a Boojum an' Wolfe will just vanish away..."

At that moment, with a silken rustling, a large black bird - a raven - descended and landed on the handlebar of Wolfe's bike. It cocked an eye at Wolfe then uttered "Never-fuckin'-more" in Teri's voice.

Gwion looked at it. Not a raven; the raven. The semi-tame one that had followed Wolfe from Terra Nova. It must have followed the bikes from town. He watched as Wolfe scratched the raven's head then turned to Teri. "He's got quite an affinity with that bird, hasn't he."

Teri snorted. "You should see 'im back 'ome. 'e walks through the woods followed by so many bloody birds, you'd fink 'e was Snow White or Mary-bloody-Poppins - they know 'e's the sucker that'll feed 'em 'alf 'is lunch. Quite fond'v birds, is our Wolfe - 'as 'em eatin' outta the palm of 'is 'and." She grinned, " 'e tells me 'e 'ad quite a few of 'em back on Earf, too."

Due to his parents' tastes in movies and television shows, Gwion was familiar with 20th Century Cockney slang and recognised the double meanings inherent in having 'birds' eating out of the palm of your hand. He was also quite certain that the double meanings were deliberate.

"So what's his name?"

Teri shrugged. "I usually just call 'im 'that bloody bird'."

Wolfe smiled. "He's a raven - a wild animal - so he hasn't really got a name, but he'll answer to 'Hi!' or to any loud cry, such as 'Fry me!' or 'Fritter my wig!'"

Gwion chuckled. "Lemme guess, his intimate friends call him 'Candle-ends', and his enemies 'Toasted-cheese'. Did you go to school with my dad, by any chance?"

Teri shot Gwion an exasperated look. "Don't tell me you've memorised that bloody poem, too!"

Gwion shook his head. "I had it read to me as a bed-time story numerous times but I managed to escape that fate. Bits of it've stuck in me brain, though."

Teri gave him a look of pity. "I know the feelin', mate."

Wolfe just let the jibes wash over him. He propped his rifle against the side of the bike and hung his sleeveless jacket over the rear view mirror then opened one of the pannier cases on his bike and pulled out a stout Nylon gun belt from which hung an assortment of pouches and a sheath knife.

Gwion noted that the belt had been fitted with a set of webbing suspenders that had a home-made look about them - obviously to help support the weight of canteen, knife and whatever was in the other pouches.

Wolf slung the suspenders over his shoulders and fastened the belt about his hips then transferred his pistol and holster onto the belt. After putting his sleeveless jacket back on over the top of the suspender straps, he took a small black bag with a single strap from the other pannier and slung it across his back before retrieving his rifle.

Teri opened one of her panniers and pulled out a belt-and-suspender yoke system with pouches attached. From the style and the camouflage pattern, Gwion surmised that it was surplus military equipment that she had bought.

While Teri put on her '90 Pattern PLCE, Gwion took his own smallish pack from the lockable storage box on the back of his bike.

Wolfe looked about at everyone. "OK, we all sorted?"

Parking Lot - bikes

[Kaitlyn, Kris, James + Murquoql and the Dragonhorses (which sounds like the coolest band name evah!)]

Kaitlyn, Kris and James approached the three remaining bikes. James' bike - like those of Peggy, Teri, Pearl, Karl and Wolfe - was of Terra Novan manufacture; 'futuristic' compared with the technology of his own time. Kris' bike had been made on Earth in the late twenty-first century, as had Kaitlyn's rental bike - but, it turned out, they had been made on different Earths...

There was a strange sound behind them and a voice hailed them. "Lemme guess, you're going in the opposite direction of the rainforest too?" They turned to see a strange alien with fur riding the most unusual-looking mount and accompanied by two others.

Kaitlyn gave a grin. "We're going to the Ghost Town and, according to the map, they're both in the same general direction from here."

At that moment, a loud shout followed by the sound of a horse in pain caused Kaitlyn, Kris and James to direct their attention towards the noticeboard in time to see a couple of people being thrown from their horses.

To James' surprise, he recognised the man and the woman as those he had seen earlier when he had been sitting outside the restaurant - the 'purloiner of the living' and the Asian-looking woman who had shouted it out to everyone within earshot.

The woman levelled a rifle at someone - again, James was surprised to see it was someone he recognised... the woman in leather armour who had dragged a bound man into town. It seemed that there was some sort of problem between them.

The Asian woman challenged the armoured woman to no avail and then fired three shots. Surprisingly, none of them seemed to hit - the armoured woman just stood there with her palm outstretched, then the Asian woman collapsed to the ground as if she had been shot.

The armoured woman then picked up the Asian woman by the collar with one hand and punched her in the head with the other. As if the fracas weren't strange enough, a man dressed in a suit suddenly materialised in front of the two women and wagged his finger at the armoured woman and then both women and the two stricken horses suddenly vanished as though they had never been there.

Of the 'purloiner of the living', there was no sign and James wasn't sure whether or not the strange besuited man had made him vanish as well. "Did all three of them just vanish?"

Kaitlyn had unashamedly listened in with her enhanced hearing once her attention had been called to the drama. "Yeah, nah. It seems that only the two women and horses vanished. 'Fingers' ran off while Farah - the Asian woman - was busy with the other woman. Before he left he told Farah to run and said he'd meet her at the rendezvous."

James continued to stare in the direction of the noticeboard a moment then returned his attention to the furry alien and her unusual beasts. "I do apologise, that was quite the distraction. May I ask why you are interested in our destination?"

Edited by Wolf1066 on Sep 17th 2018 at 6:18:46 AM