[Last Time, on El WHAT?!: The group journeyed further south and found a road. They followed the road in what they _hope_ is the correct direction. As they walked, something fairly flew past them on the north side of the road, so fast that they could not identify it. Later, they were rather wary when they found something small standing in the middle of the road. They haven't quite gotten to it yet... ...but they have seen that it is ropy, seems to have no ends, is likely colorful, and is at least partially composed of flowers. It's suspended on a short stick held in the air by two sticks placed upright in the middle of the road.] [The session opens right where it left off, with all four girls trying to figure out what the object is, while still trying to stay out of any danger that another strange bit of flora or fauna might pose.] [Session Start] * Rocky is trying to figure out what it is too! ;_; * Cara continues to peer at the floral arrangement. * Ichi's plushie begins flashing with light, illuminating the object in brief flashes of light and nearly blinding the poor people with him. Okay. So. * There is a final flash of light and then Ichi reappears. It appears to be a necklace. It.. looks like a necklace. Weird. What looks like a necklace? A necklace? * Daphne finishes rubbing her face. "Huh? Oh. 'Lo, Itchy." Hi Ichi. That thing up ahead. * Ichi looks at the thing in hanging above the road. "Ohh." Um. Should we do anything with it, or leave it? Probably leave it. We should probably leave it. Somebody went to a lot work to put it there, so there's probibly a good reason for it to be there. * Cara nods. "'kay." * Shiho nods. "If it wasn't in the middle of the road, it'd be different. But the fact that it is probably means someone put it there for a reason." * Ichi scratches the back of his head "When did we get to a road anyway?" Right. It's probably immensely useful or signifficant in some way we're not aware of. Too bad they didn't put booze here instead. I think someone left this here as a gift. And it's fresh. The flowers have not wilted yet. Hmm. Maybe they're enchanted. Huh. Maybe it's like a shrine or something? Or a memorial? I wonder who it's a gift too then. Doesn't seem like an offering. Uh.. I'm gonna try somethin' ok? Okay. ^_^ Probably not a good idea, but... Fine by me. * Amy walks up to the odd thing, sits down, crosses her legs and focuses. "Nobody bother me, ok?" * Shiho frowns. * Daphne closes her eyes and things about beer. 'kay. * Rocky paces back and forth. * Daphne thinks about it, too. Ok. * Cara peeeeers at Amy. * Ichi paces while he waits. * Rocky draws a roasted chicken in the sand with a paw. * Cara sits down, pulls out her sketchpad, and starts drawing the flowers. * Daphne has a seat on the road. * Shiho checks her remaining arrows. * Amy whimpers a bit. * Amy winces. * Cara stops drawing, and looks at Amy. * Daphne looks over at Amy, but doesn't say anything. * Ichi sighs and wishes there was something he could do to help. * Cara goes back to her drawing. * Amy shakes her head and stands up. It was the elf from earlier. The meanie who tried to take all our stuff. * Daphne nods. He left this here. What was wrong? You cried out... Nothin'. Just kinda hurt when he picked them. No worries. ^_^ Oh, okay. Why would he do that? Uhm...right. So...you don't know why he left them, though. Maybe he has a girlfriend, and he left this here as a gift! Maybe they're for Shiho? Elves seem to like her. ^_^ * Daphne smirks. I doubt that Aww! That is sweet! Presents for Shiho! * Daphne snickers. I bet that is it! He has a crush on her. Because she stood up to him. ... Just like in comics! * Ichi blinks at Amy. That's silly. No it's not. ^_^ That's confusing. It happens all the time in movies and stuff like that. * Cara goes starry eyed and puts her hands on her cheeks. "How romantic!" * Daphne tries to hold in her laughter, and is at least partially successful. * The dancing beer bottles, apparently angry that Daphne isn't lusting after them anymore, return and begin circling Daphne's head. This time, they've got arms and legs, and are performing in a chorus line. That puts Shiho in a situation, because she now has two people with crushes on her! Should she keep true to the love she left behind, or find a new love in a new world. How neat! * Cara nodnods at Amy! ... It's like a fantasy-soap opera! Anyway, we should continue on. Unless Shiho wantsta wait here and try to meet the elf. ^_^ * Shiho picks up the necklace and puts it in her pack. "Come on. We've wasted enough time here." * Daphne does her damndest to ignore the dancing beer. "Yeah. Let's go." * Ichi thinks outloud "If I were this new elf...I'd apolgise to Shiho and everybody, and then give the flowers in person so there wouldn't be any of this confusion..." * Shiho nods. "And that's probably just what it is, too. * Ichi nods at Shiho and starts walking. * Amy starts walkin' too, Spike sitting on her shoulder. * Rocky walks too. * Cara walks after everyone, a little more spring in her step now. * Daphne gets to walking, too, muttering. "Damn elf could've left some whiskey or something." * Cara giggles at Daphne. * Daphne stumbles occasionally as she marches along, and can't seem to keep up a straight line. * The night proceeds, and the march goes on. The road is, thankfully, beginning to turn in a distinctly southerly direction. * Amy walks along, humming a cheery song. * Ichi walks, and walks, and just for variaty walks some more. * Daphne stumbles along, muttering incoherently to herself. * Cara 's stomach growls. * A low buzzing can be heard to the northwest. It's hard to tell where it's coming from, though. ..how long has it been since we've had anything but water? * At least a week. Uhm...I don't know...how long was I gone? A long long time. Oh... * Shiho frowns. "There's some buzzing sound in the northwest." * Cara makes a face. "I need food." There is? I wonder what it is. Uh.. I've seen some scrub that might be edible. Huh? Oh yeah, I hear it too... * The buzzing gets a little louder. I wonder what it is. More bug guys? * Daphne swats aimlessly at the air next to her, and almost tips when she does. "...fuggin' bees..." I suppose it would be too much to ask that that's "Bears-much-Food." * Cara grins. "That'd be nice, even if those guys ARE creepy." Maybe it's "Bears-Much-Beer". I think Daphne would like that. * Daphne looks around. "Beer?" * The buzzing proves to be an insect, but it's not a bee. Something launches itself out of the dark at Amy. It's quite large, especially for something that apprars to be flying, and at a fairly high speed. Waa! Geddown! What's That!? Huh? Amy! * Whatever it is flies in a line straight for Amy's neck. Amy's life is saved by her new friend, however, as Spike lashes a long, froglike tongue out of his mouth, catching the insect mid-charge. It's too loud to fit entirely in the poor little guy's mouth, though, and he hasn't quite killed it yet. * Daphne blinks. "Wow. Neat trick." Spike! Thank you. ^_^ * It appears to be something akin to a gigantic mosquito, almost nine inches long. It's thrashing around in Spike's jaws, striking ineffectively with its long proboscis against Spike's steel-hard scales. * Cara boggles at Spike and the insect. "What is THAT?" I.. donno. A giant bug. Nice job Spike. Huh. At least *he* has something to eat. (brb) * Akin in that its long needlelike nose is apparently cruelly barbed, and sized appropriately to the rest of the beast. It also possesses six pairs of wings, and its tail has a cruel, scorpionlike stinger. The tail is twitching madly, but it apparently lacks the motive power to strike at Spike, if the stinger could even pierce the scales. How nasty. * Note that although its wings have stopped beating, there is still a buzzing sound from the northwest. Uh-oh.. Um. I think we should get going before more of them come. * That buzzing appears to slowly be getting louder, in accordance with the Doppler effect. * Shiho scowls and picks Rocky up. " Come on! We have to get out of here!" Let's go! * Shiho puts Rocky in her pack and runs, readying her bow as she does. * Ichi looks northwest "...oh no." * Daphne leads the way, running hastily down the road, stumbling occasionally. * Cara runs after Daphne. * Ichi runs down the road after Cara. * Amy heads down the road. * The buzzing follows, apparently having detected some sort of prey, but they aren't darting out of the darkness, so they must not be quite sur.e * Amy and Shiho begin to fall behind! * The buzzing is getting louder! Gulp. * Daphne absolutely fails to notice. * Cara isn't paying attention to anything beyond her own feet. * Ichi is running as hard as he can away from the noise. * Shiho puts on an unexpected burst of speed and passes you all, leaving poor Amy in the back. * Amy begins chanting, but lack of breath forces her to stop the spell and take in more air. * The buzzing begins to intrude on the buzz in Daphne's head! * Daphne sneers. "Goddamn ...somethings." 2d6 * Dicesuke throws the bones for Amy (2d6) and gets 5. * Amy takes a deeper breath and the words seem to tumble out of her mouth all in a jumble, but it appears to be enough, as she passes you all up. * Her breathing becomes steadier, and her steps seem to take on a smoother quality. Soon she's running at an easy lope in front of Shiho. * The buzzing begins to recede a bit. * Ichi is the first to hit the wall. He stumbles for a minute, and then it sinks in that if he falls down and stops, he's going to be insect food, and he keeps running somehow. * Very swiftly, the other Amy, Cara, and Daphne hit the wall, and just like Ichi, they manage to keep going. Shiho's training and natural talent pay off here, and she's able to keep going without a problem. * After five minutes or so, and quite a bit of ground covered, the buzzing is gone, replaced with the tortured scream of some predator off in the darkness who discovered that he was prey after all. * Feel free to rest, you've earned it. * Shiho slows to a halt. "Looks like we're safe for now." * Cara slows down to a walk, gasping for breath. * Daphne gradually slows down, resumes stumbling, and eventually pitches forward. * Amy stops and gasps for breath. Good. ::stops running and starts panting:: * Shiho actually isn't gasping for breath at all. ^_^_v * Rocky pokes his head out of Shiho's pack and looks around. That...*gasp*... was awful. * Shiho puts her bow away. * Daphne manages to sit up, still breathing somewhat heavily. "I'd like... you all... to know. Just ...for the sake... of you having complete... ...information." ...huh? * Spike continues happily munching on the mosquito thing he caught. "That I... fucking HATE... this Godforsaken excuse for a world." ...I...I don't like it either. Also... I'm pretty sure I'm going through withdrawal. But that's not nearly so bad... as just being in this place. * Ichi nods "There doesn't ::ghasp:: seem to be anything good here." It's not THAT bad. It has lotsa neat animals. It is just hot.. very hot.. * Cara finally flops down on her butt. * It's also very cold. ^_^ It's...all this stuff...that wants to kill us. It doesn't really want us dead. They're just hungry. Same...same difference. ...I need a drink. * Shiho scans ahead. We have some water Daphne. You could have some of that, and maybe if you pretend really hard, it'll TASTE like beer. * In the light of the twin moons, Shiho can actually see fairly far. The road has turned farther south, and the land here is still more hospitable. There is quite a bit more plant life, and even patches of grass in a few places. No. No, if it's like last time it'll taste like... I dunno, kinda' like pepto-bismol, I guess. * No, Pepto tastes like chalk. That water tasted like wet cardboard. There's a difference. Blech. ...but I suppose I need to have some water anyway, in this place. * Daphne struggles to her feet. "...who has the water, again?" Amy, I think. * Amy hands Daphne a water. Better hurry. It looks like someone's camped up ahead. Camp? * Shiho nods. Maybe it's Shiho's elf friend! Some kind of fire, at least. * Shiho rolls her eyes. Maybe they have food... I hope so. Camp... maybe they'll have tequila. Maybe they'll try to take all our stuff, like the elves did. * Daphne makes a pained face as she chugs the water, then hands it back to Amy. "Uhg. Thanks. * Cara is on the edge of drooling as she imagines the food. I doubt it. I hope not. At worst, they'll probably just turn us away. Bandits aren't too likely to camp on a road. If they try that Amy, I'll hit them so hard... that... it'll hurt. Yeah. There's my master plan. So. Les' go talk to 'em. * Shiho starts walking. Amy...can I have some water? * Daphne stumbles after Shiho. Uh, sure. * Amy hands Cara a water. Thanks! ^_^ * Cara drinks some as she walks after the others. * Ichi walks onward twords the hope of food. * Rocky peeks backwards at the others from Shiho's backpack. * The group presses on through the night. The light quickly gets brighter, and more apparent against the night sky. You're still quite a distance away when the sky first begins to brighten, however. The air begins to warm with the nearing of dawn. Let's keep going. I wanna see what this is... * Shiho keeps walking (you expected different?) * Ichi looks at the sky, but follows the girls. Uh.. Shouldn't we camp? We have a bit more time, I think. Yeah but.. If they have beer it'll be worth it. Or ale. Or whiskey. Or tequila. Or wine, even. * Twenty minutes later, you're close enough to the camp that you can see humanoid figures moving about. There are a few moving about freely, and a large number on the ground, moving. As the light increases, you see that what you thought was an exceptionally large wagon was really a gigantic lizard, curled up to sleep. There are several actual wagons near it, all hitched together in a row, like a series of railroad cars. Wow. Coooool. Neat. Hmm... Wonder if we could hitch a ride? Biiig. Cute! Right. Cute. * Coralled off to one side are a number of smaller, stranger animals. There are perhaps a half dozen birdlike creatures that rather resemble ostriches, or featherless chocobos. Corraled near them, but separate, are what appear to be a number of immense spiders. There are men moving about the spiders, occasionally carrying something away from the improvised corral. Wow. Quite the menag... muh... ...zoo. * Amy has sparkles in her eyes. "Oh wooooow.." What she said. * As you approach closer, perhaps a hundred yards away, you can see that the men moving back and forth between the corral and the stationary group of men are carrying buckets, and apparently ladeling something out. As the men raise their arms to recieve the substance in the buckets, you can see chains dangling from their wrists. You can also see that you've been noticed, and two of the men are standing between you and the caravan, eyeing you. Uhoh. * The men are armed, but have not drawn weapons. ... * Daphne frowns. Slave traders? Great. I think we've run into slavers. Bad. Maybe not traders, but... ... I think we should go. * Cara nods. * Ichi nods. "We can get food somewhere else." * Amy turns around and starts to walk away. * Shiho frowns in thought. She glances at Rocky from time to time. Um...Shiho? * Daphne stops walking. "But... what if they have... maybe we can at least ask how far it is to the nearest city?" Slavers are very bad Daphne. * Shiho is still standing in the same spot, thinking. There's a lot more of them than us, what if they decide we don't get to leave? Even if they bathe in whisky. Yeah, they are. But they might have booze, and I *need* beer. You don't *understand* how I need it. You can't. Then I draw their picture. I think this is a very bad idea. A very very bad idea. I don't care if it's Satan himself, I _need_ a drink. I'll talk to them. You guys wait here. Shiho, no! * Shiho starts for people. Be careful, Shiho. Then you'll get captured and enslaved and all sorts of bad things will happen. * Shiho nods. * Daphne goes with Shiho. * Ichi nods at Amy. "This road leads somewhere, and that somewhere will have drink." * Amy sighs. "Fine. Go off and get enslaved. Don't blame me." 'M goin' with you. Insurance. * Amy grabs Daphne's arm. "No! You don't go too!" * Cara grabs Daphne's arm. "No, wait for Shiho!" * Daphne is grabbed, and her feet walk right out from underneath her, and so she falls. "Uh?" * Ichi would grab hold too, but the only places left would get him slapped ^^; Don't go! We can't have you gettting enslaved too. Oops. ^^; 'M not gonna get inslaved. I'm gonna get... I'm gonna make sure Shiho doesn't get all anslaved, n' whotnot. Shiho always knows what she's doing. But I think if you go with her, it wouldn't work. You just wanna get drunk Daphne. But if they enslave you, that won't happen! Yes, Amy, I do. If they try to enslave me, I'll killum. Won't be no prollem. Unless they hurt you. ... * Daphne tries to get back on her feet and fails. If Shiho gets captured, then we beat them up and take their beer. ...s'a good plan. I like it. 'Specially the part with the beer. * The part with the beer? Pure genius. * Amy frowns. " I just wanna leave. Slavers are bad people." * Cara nodnods. But if anyone can deal with them, it's Shiho. ^_^ I want to leave as well, but I don't think Daphne is going to leave unless we hit her over the head or she suddenly turns into a plushie. Turn into a plushie Daphne! Then you won't have to worry about beer. Yup. But they may be bad people with beer. And if you touch me in any way I don't explicitly ask you, Itchy, you become a eunuch. * Ichi takes a step back and crosses his legs. * Cara sweatdrops. * Daphne tries to get to her feet again. "Uhm. Culdja' help me up?" * Cara offers her hand to Daphne. No. This way you don't go getting drunk and enslaved. * Amy nodnods. It's for the best. ^_^ * Cara quickly pulls her hand back at Amy's words. Oh yeah. ^^ * Daphne mutters. "Don't mind 'drunk'. Don't fear 'enslaved'." Maybe we should sing a song to pass the time. No. You have this bad habit of picking evil songs, Amy. ;_; Why don't you chose the song then? ... * Cara looks back over at the caravan. "As long as we don't start singing any spirituals." o/~ Row row row your boat, gently down the stream... o/~ * Daphne sings raucously o/~ "How dry I am! How dry I am! Nobody knows, how dry I am!" o/~ * Cara sweatdrops again. o/~ There was a lizard who had a name a Spike was his name! S-P-I-K-E, S-P-I-K-E, S-P-I-K-E and Spike was his name! o/~ Hm. What's taking Shiho so bloody long? Your turn Cara! She probably got captured and is being enslaved as we speak. * Shiho appears to be conversing with the two guards. Um...no thanks. ^^;; Aww shucks. Not yet Amy. I don't know any good songs. We need to hurry and set up camp.. I wish Shiho would hurry.. * One of the guards runs off. * Daphne shivers some. o/~ 99 bottles of beer on the wall, 99 bottles of beer. We take them down, and give them to Daphne, now she is drunk all day long. o/~ * Shiho comes back. * Daphne glares evil hoary death at Amy. Well? What did they say? * Shiho sighs. "You're right. They're slave traders." * Daphne tries to get to her feet and succeeds, this time. "Did you get booze?" We should leave then. They're willing to sell us supplies. But they said alchohol'd be expensive. Please don't spend all your money Daphne. * Cara makes a face. "We're gonna BUY stuff from slavers? Eww." You might need it. * CaravanMaster comes quickly out of one of the wagons. He is dressed in loose, light cloth that could be taken for silk. He's dark skinned, like most of the people here, though it's more a tanned type of dark than that possessed by naturally dark people. * Amy nods. "Plus, Cara is right., Buying stuff from slavers is... " How is our food supply? How long has it been since we ate, again? * CaravanMaster waits with the two guards, rubbing his hands together eagerly. If it's not too bad, maybe we can just wait until we get to the city. I don't like it. City? How far? They didn't say. Guh. I doubt it's more than a few days, at worst. * Ichi's stomach chooses this time to let out a loud rumble. Then I guess we have to buy from them... I don't like it.. Yes, defenatly going to buy food. Christ, Amy, none of us do. Sometimes you have to do shit you don't like, tho. ... * Shiho nods. "Luckily, the king was just killed, and the new one will be freeing the slaves. That's why they're leaving. It's an attempt to get their slaves out of the city first." ... I don't trust them Shiho. I think it's a trick. They'll get us all down there, then capture us! Just like in books. I don't think so. They can try. * Amy frowns. "I really have a bad feeling." They're weapons are much lower quality than ours, and I think we could beat them fairly easily if we neeeded to. Let them try. I'd love to hurt something, about now. Realy? * Shiho nods. "The caravan master will probably try to cheat us when he sells us supplies, but that'll probably be the worst of it." * Daphne snarls at something the rest of you can't see. "You have no idea." * Daphne rests her face in her hands. "Christ save me. My hallucinations are making puns." ...? Lets go get ripped off shall we? I need food and Daphne needs drink, and we still need to get our own camp set up. ... Fine. If we get enslaved, I'm blaming you. ;_; * Shiho sighs. I'll leave the decision to you. You've got the money, after all. I don't think we should do it. I say we go ahead and get ripped off by the nice wretched scum. * Amy sighs. "Fine. Let's go." * Shiho sighs. Rocky patpats her on the shoulder. * Amy shrugs and starts towards the caravan. * Ichi walks after Amy. * Shiho follows. Towards the back, for once. * Cara follows Shiho. * Daphne starts towards the caravan at a fairly quick pace. * You all trot off across the last hundred yards or so, right up to the eager caravan master. He also bears a weapon, but he's relaxed, as are the two guards. * CaravanMaster smiles greedily, all his teeth showing in what is probably supposed to be a friendly smile. [Session End]