[Last Time, on El WHAT?!: A single night can seem like an awfully long time. A midnight attack caused our heroes to lose some sleep, when a cleric of the god of justice dropped in in an attempt to destroy Fadi's new sword. When a pillar of fire failed to harm the sword in any meaningful way and the party's resistance made just taking the blade too costly, the priests retreated... for now.] [After salvaging what remained of the night, our heroes, or the ones that were present, anyway, rode off into the sunrise, heading for The Gap on the way to Gateway.] [We open on our heroes just settling in for the night after their second full day of riding. Two more days or so should see them safely to The Gap. All they have to do is pray that the elves don't find them before they get there.] [Session... START!] * Tiffany appears from thin air in the middle of the proposed camp, while Sophie makes her lack of presence felt. * Harold, too, finally returns from wherever he was. * Harold looks around, trying to orient himself. ..Hey, it's the altarboy. * Fadi smirks. "Yeah." * Tiffany yawns, stretching her arms into the air and cracking her back. Her arms stay there and her mouth continues to hang open as she surveys her new location... and party member. * Fadi looks at Tiffany. "And Tiffs back too! Now only if Sophie would stay around to see it." * Chiaki turns. "...Another one of us?" she asks Nick. ... I don't know you. Or...two. * Harold points at Chiaki. Uh... me either. Harold... who's she? They're friends. * Fadi looks over at Harold and Tiffany. "She's a friend." This is Chiaki. She's in a similar situation. My name's Chiaki. Not like she had a choice. Then again, none of us did. Uh.. oh.. ok. I'm Tiffany and this is Harold. * Emmet eases himself out of his saddle and onto the ground at the edge of the prospective campsite. "Oh," he says as he walks life back into his legs. "Hello, Harold. Tiffany." Woah! when did we pick up horses? Wait... How long have I been gone? Tiffany's our magic-person, and Harold.. does something. Awhile. * Chiaki nods. "Nice to meet you both." While back. And... Has it been five, six days? Um, so how long have you guys been here? Eventually, I'm supposed to be a priest! Nice to meet you, Miss. Yeah. But for now he just hits stuff like the rest of us. * Emmet searches for firewood fuel as he limps around the site. "I was gone for a while too, Tiffany. At least we seem to save on food and footsore this way." * Chiaki nods. Instead, some of us are just sore in other tender places. * Fadi, in particular, seems to be a tad bowlegged. We were here since the beginning. Though I've began to lose track of time. So where are we... headed? * Chiaki laughs a little, though by the careful way she's walking, she's obviously sore too. * Nick dismounts easily and grins. * Chiaki dismounted a brief moment earlier and is now riffling through the saddlebags to recover her schoolbag, bow, and quiver. * Fadi dismounts as well, wincing when his feet hit the ground. "Some place called The Gap. Damn, riding those horses hurts..." ... oh, I see we got the horses! * Nick mutters something about wasted money and pulls his tent off the horse. * Tiffany snickers. "I suppose we're not off to buy pullover 'T's?" * Emmet can't help but scowl as he returns to the animal he was riding. He retrieves a ten and goes about setting it up. Nah. * Fadi pulls out the tent and starts setting it up as well. ...pullover 'T's? T-shirt. Oh, I see. Now, I hope you'll excuse me for not helping, but I'm dead tired.. Sorry, my humor must be rusty. Shopping was... a hobby of sorts. I suppose it's an inside joke. * Emmet grunts a response at Nick and checks the sky. * Nick sets up his tent, unsaddles the horse, and proceeds to go fall asleep. So why is everyone so sore, and Emmet so watchful? Elves! Well, I imagine they've been doing lots of things without us. ... should we take watch? I'm not the least bit tired. You try riding one of those things without training. * Chiaki nods. "And a man snuck up on us last night." And that too. A man? How dreadful! He said something about destroying Fadi's sword. I'm not sure why. * Fadi shrugs. Was he just a bandit, or was he someone in particular? A priest, I think. * Emmet ducks into his tent and emerges a moment later with a sturdy bow and a cylindrical quiver bristling with arrows. "Sorry to interrupt, guys, but I'm going to see if I can get something bigger than a rabbit tonight." * Chiaki glances up at Emmet. "Do you need any help?" He claimed to be a priest. But if he was, why the hell did he attack us in the first place? I don't know what he did, but I suddenly fell asleep... * Emmet smiles. "Sure. I could use an extra pair of eyes and a good shot." * Chiaki returns Emmet's smile. "Okay." She turns to the others. "I'll be back!" * Chiaki slings the quiver over her shoulder, picks up her bow, and follows Emmet into the woods. * Nick snores. Loudly. Well... it sounds like he was dealt with. Nn. I wish I hadn't missed it. Yeah. You're good at making sure people like that aren't lying, right? * Emmet fits an arrow to his bowstring as he leads Chiaki away from the campsite and toward the forest. I probably could have. * Emmet holds his hand up when they get closer to the trees. "Wait here," he says softly. "Keep your eyes open. I may scare something out this way, but... don't shoot if I come out alone." He grins. * Fadi unbuckles his armor and starts taking it off. "Well, if he decides to run to us again, let me know." Fadi... is that your same sword from before? I'm a bit concerned about the motives of that guy. He probably wasn't a priest if he cast sleep on... the new girl. * Chiaki stops at Emmet's signal and does as he suggests. The one that I found? Yeah. * Emmet slinks off into the twilight. Time passes... ... well, he could a priest... but possibly not one of a benevolent deity. I suppose. * Emmet whistles as he approaches the spot where he left Chiaki. "Hey, Chiaki. Could you come help me out? This buck practically walked out in front of me... it was great." * Chiaki nods silently and follows Emmet, an arrow nocked. * Emmet leads Chiaki to the animal. He's already managed to remove the killing arrow, and to clean the buck fairly well. "Mostly we just need to carry it back to camp and finish preparing the meat," he says with a nod. "Up for a bit of heavy lifting?" * Chiaki puts her arrow away and shoulders her bow as well. She nods and smiles, impressed by Emmet's work. "I'll try." Poor thing...but we have to eat. Yeah. If we tried to eat vegitarian out here we'd probably all have terrible gas by now. The only edible plants I've seen the last few miles looked like wild cabbages. Anyway... ready? * Chiaki giggles and nods, moving to heft part of the deer. * Emmet lifts his part of the animal and, with Chiaki's help, carries it all the way back to camp. "Hey," he calls out when he gets close to the site. "Who wants venison?" Nngh? * Sophie and Thundar appear in the middle of the camp, next to the just starting campfire. * Fadi chuckles. "I'm up for it." * Chiaki, who (despite her best efforts) seems to be letting Emmet bear most of the weight, waves with her free hand and smiles. ... well, at least we're back in time for dinner. The best time of the day. * Sophie takes in the general environs. Oh, and moves Thundar away from the campfire. Always is. * Chiaki almost jumps and drops her half of the stag when Sophie and Thundar appear. Oh, hi, Sophie. * Nick peeks out of his tent, grunts, and heads back to sleep. * Fadi looks over and laughs. "Now we have a complete set." * Tiffany smirks. "Hey Sophie." * Emmet staggers a little when Chiaki starts. "Sophie? Cool. Just in time for supper." He moves the animal closer to the campfire and directs Chiaki to help lay it out so that he can finish cleaning it. * Chiaki helps Emmet lay out the animal and offers to help clean it. * Emmet accepts the offer, and glances around the campsite as he and Chiaki set to work. "Who's cooking?" You really don't want me to cook. * Sophie tends to her horse then comes to join the others. "Supper, eh? Not bad; I believe I've missed most of the walking today." Me either. * Sophie peers. "Venison for dinner? A fine choice; do you know how to prepare it adequetly?" * Chiaki shakes her head. "I've never had...venison before. Do you?" * Emmet grunts. "I'd just make jerky out of it." Just make it edible. * Sophie shrugs. "I have no idea. I'm not one for cooking exquisite food, really. I just eat it." * Chiaki suddenly makes a face as she starts aiding Emmet in cleaning out the deer. * Emmet glances across the carcass at Chiaki. "You okay over there?" * Tiffany puts her right hand over her mouth. "I'll be over there." She then maneuvers away from the caracass and stares toward the horizon. * Nick just keeps on snoring. ...Yeah. I've just...never had deal with the...insides of dead animals before. * Chiaki visibly steels herself and continues cleaning the deer, despite her evident reaction. Just think of it like cleaning out a pumpkin. * Fadi shrugs. * Chiaki nods and smiles weakly. "I'll be okay." * Harold sighs. "I imagine we'd roast what we ate tonight, and then dry the rest." You don't look that okay. But what do I know. * Fadi smiles toothily. * Tiffany responds to this exchange from across the camp. "Pumpkins weren't running around minding their business before you gut them." And I'm sure you've never eaten meat before? Sure they do. Plants are every bit as alive as animals. * Sophie stays silent on the matter. (My statement was to Tiff, by the way. ^^;) I just haven't seen the insides of them before, Fadi. But Emmet's right. And we need to eat. * Chiaki resolutely continues to clean. * Emmet uses part of the deer's hide as a mat on which he lays strips of meat. "At any rate, we should probably just roast it all now. I don't think we have the equipment to do any better. Just get a slice, put a stick in it and rotate it over the fire, I guess." Fine with me. * Chiaki follows Emmet's lead in preparing the meat. * Emmet uses a rag to wipe most of the blood from his arms, skewers a slice of meat for himself, and holds it over the modest fire. * Chiaki does likewise with a handkerchief, grimacing a little at all the blood. "I hope there's somewhere to bathe nearby." * Fadi takes a stick, skewers one, and holds it over the fire. "If you find one, let me know." * Tiffany picks up a long stick and follows suit, her eyes obviously averted as much as possible from the body. So, how 'bout them Bears? * Chiaki spears some meat on another stick and does the same. "I'll try looking after dinner, I think." * Chiaki turns, startled, toward Fadi. "You've been attacked by bears too?" * Sophie takes a stick and does likewise. "I don't pay attention to American sports, I'm afraid." * Emmet grunts and holds his dinner high over the fire to examine it. "I think I know where to start looking. For water, not bears... Maybe about ten or twenty minutes away." * Nick keeps on snoring lightly. * Fadi blinks, then laughs. "Football team." I may be American, but I still second Sophie. * Chiaki blinks a few times, then laughs too. What, don't follow sports? It's a shame, really. Doesn't mean jack, but still a shame. Just American sports. * The sun sinks below the horizon and the nocturnal critters come out to play. Never had time. Well, never thought I had time... * Sophie smiles. "I'm quite the fan of fencing and horse riding. Noticed. * Fadi chomps on some of the meat that finished cooking on his stick. Horse riding is a lot of fun. Though I prefer the debate team over fencing. * Chiaki murmurs a quick "Itadakimasu" and nibbles carefully at the hot venison. I like archery, personally. Oh, I love to fence. It's a great contest between both your physical and mental skills against your opponent's. Timing, technique, tactics... It's great fun. * Emmet swaps a piece of cooked meat for a slice of the raw stuff, and cooks that. He watches the sky with a faint frown as the others talk, and continues to cook pieces of meat until they're all done. Well, Sophie, I'm not strong enough to do well at a physical game like fencing. But if you'd like me to talk down someone from your school, just give me the word. * Chiaki eats a few more pieces, then stands up and stretches. "I'm going to look for a place to bathe, I think." * Harold chews on a slice of meat, pensive and lost in his own thoughts as he listens to the chat. * Sophie smiles at Tiffany. "I thank you. I shall do that." Oh, Chiaki. I think I can point out some water to you, but... you shouldn't go alone in the dark. Good luck. * Chiaki nods. "I guess it's not safe around here." Well, if I've been gone a few days, I probably need to bathe too. here, let me go with. I have some soap anyway. * Chiaki smiles. "Thanks, Tiffany." Did you see some water somewhere, Emmet? * Tiffany gets up and ruffles through her stuff for a few hunks of soap. "Sophie?" * Emmet nods. "I'll lead you part of the way and then come back here to camp." He sets the meat aside--except for the piece he decided to eat--and stands. "Whenever you're ready." * Chiaki nods. "I'm ready to go." * Chiaki waits for Tiffany and Sophie. Don't get too lost now. * Tiffany stands. "Me too." * Chiaki smiles at Fadi. "I'll try my best." * Fadi grins back. * Chiaki quickly grabs her quiver and bow as a second thought before they head out. * Sophie waves. "I'm not going to go right now. One of us has got to stay here and watch the boys." * Fadi chuckles. "What, you don't trust us?" * Chiaki nods. "Okay. We'll be back soon." I'm hurt. No, really, I am. Well... No. Suuuuure, Fadi. Thanks, Soph. So just Chiaki and I. Let's go. * Emmet trades the bow for his two-handed axe. "Let's go." He leads Chiaki and Tiffany away from camp. * Chiaki follows close behind Emmet. * Tiffany follows as well. * Fadi shrugs and sits down, leaning against a tree trunk while munching away on some meat. * Sophie waves again. Thanks, Emmet! * Chiaki briefly inclines her head to Emmet before cheerfully walking toward the sound of water. * Meanwhile, back at the camp... * Nick keeps on snoring. So exciting. * Fadi munches away. As usual. * Fadi reaches over to his sword as he eyes something in the darkness. "Guys... I don't think we're alone." * Sophie stops in mid munch. "Hn?" * Nick sits up. "Holy shit we're in trouble." ... something's wrong. * Nick bursts out of his tent and starts putting his armor on. * Harold stands up, hand on staff, straining for some sign of what the oncoming threat is. * Fadi gets up and starts putting his armor on quickly. * Sophie gets up and grabs her sword. "What? Where? I don't see a bloody thing!" No idea, but it's bad. Yeah... * Harold stiffens quite suddenly, then his mouth opens and out pours a haunting female voice that is definitely not his. He can't seem to move of his own volition as the Rhyme recites him. o/~ If you are near to the dark I will tell you 'bout the sun. o/~ Omens, presences.. Dammit, I was having a good dream, too.. * Fadi finishes putting the armor on, looking at Harold. "Well, that's fuckin' wrong." * The Rhyme releases Harold, who slumps a bit as the power of the Rhyme opens his mind. Bloody hell! Wake up, Harold! * The fire in the center of the camp goes out, plunging the area into darkness. * Harold swoons a little, relying on his staff to keep from toppling over. Then his head shoots upward, eyes wide with panic. "We're surrounded!" * Nick finishes dressing and loads a bolt into his crossbow. "..Beautiful." * Fadi draws his sword and curses in Russian. * Sophie draws her sword. "Where?" I swear, next time I set traps. At least some warning traps would be nice. Six of them! Around the camp! They have weapons... I'd think so. But that doesn't help. Someone usually gives some kind of warning when they're shot with an arrow, you know. They're.. shifting about. I'm not sure what they're doing. How the fuck can you tell? I don't know! Whatever. Keep it up. * An arrow flies out of the darkness, skimming just past Harold's ear, close enough to take a lock of his hair with it. * Harold jerks away from the arrow, taking a step to the side-- but no farther. He can sense what's outside the camp, but not terrain, and too much motion is dangerous. * Fadi looks around warrily. "Fuckin' hate fighting in the dark..." * Sophie keeps her sword drawn, but she doesn't say anything. * Harold drops his staff and pulls his crossbow out of his pack, a bolt already loaded into it. He seems to be trying to take aim... * Harold fires, and it's almost like someone else is guiding his aim. Nothing of his usual clumsiness in combat is there; the bolt flies, swift and sure, and buries itself deep in one of the shadowy assailant's vital points. * There is a strangled cry as someone in the darkness takes a crossbow bolt in the throat and falls heavily to the ground. * The fire's light suddenly flares up. * Sophie looks around for enemies. ... they're retreating! * Fadi flicks off the shadows. * Chiaki approaches the camp, her bow readied as she looks around for the attackers. * There appear to be no enemies present within the radius of the firelight. * Tiffany runs up to the fire, a dart in hand. "Are you all ok?" * Harold begins running forward, as if he means to give chase. * There is, however, a pool of blood where there was no pool of blood before. * Chiaki lowers her bow and runs after Tiffany. "What happened?" Probably elves. * Chiaki narrowly notices the blood and nimbly jumps over it. "Ah!" * Emmet veers away from his jog toward the fire and kneels by the blood. He switches his grip on the axe to only one hand. "You guys got one of them, whoever they were." * Tiffany 'darts' after Harold. "Harold! Wait!" ..Well, I'm awake now, at least. Where's dinner? * Sophie follows. "Hold up, Harold! Do we really need to chase them?" Dammit Harold, we don't need to kill any more! We're in enough shit as-is. * Emmet glances in Nick's direction. "Should still be beside the carcass. Deer. It's all cooked now." * Harold stops himself short, the voices seeming to bring him back to his usual sense of self. ... you're all right, I just... I could _see_ them before, and... * Chiaki huffs a little from all the running and sits down by the fire with a sigh. * Tiffany stops by Harold and sets her left hand on his shoulder. "Let them go. It'll be all right." Whoo. * Nick grabs a piece and sits next to Chiaki. "You alright?" * Chiaki nods. "You?" * Sophie stops when Harold does and sheathes her sword. "Yes. Let's head back." * Harold mutters. "... I really did kill one of them by myself, didn't I?" * Fadi sheathes his sword. "Was sure that'd come to more blows than that." * Emmet leaves the wet spot on the soil and returns to the fire. "There's a lot of blood there," he says to Harold. "If you didn't kill him I'd be surprised." Oh, fine. Still a little tired. * Fadi whistles. "Nice shot." Enjoy your bath? * Chiaki nods to Nick, her expression sympathetic. "I could have taken another watch that night and let you sleep." * Tiffany catches the guilt in Harold's voice. "You did what you had to do. And you may well have saved our lives in the process." * Harold lets out a deep sigh. "I know you're right. Here, let's go back..." Nah, I'm alright. I feel cleaner...but the water was very cold. * Sophie nods. * Emmet turns and looks back at the dark patch on the already-dark ground. "The blood would probably be easy to follow. Should we?" * Chiaki nods. "Well, okay, but maybe you should go back to sleep if you're tired." She pauses. "Was it really elves earlier?" What do you think? No idea, but they put out the campfire temporarily. And I'll get plenty of sleep later, so I don't wake up at dawn or something. I'm not sure it was elves. ... I'm not entirely sure what it was, but it wasn't anything like regular humanoids or an animal. They seemed very unearthly to me. * Fadi takes off his armor. "What else was it then?" They're not human. They know magic. And they definitely don't like us. Why? * Nick starts shucking his leather. FuckifIknow. * Chiaki shudders visibly. I don't think they just _know_ magic... I'd guess they _are_ magic. I couldn't begin to tell you what they wanted, but I guess it had to do with the Rhyme. Great, so we have another group of enemies? Oh, that's just great. The Rhyme? It's, ah... it's a thing a dragon gave me. Yeah. Ya know that thing he said right before they attacked? But it's not a _thing_, it's a little bit of poetry... but it's not _just_ poetry, it's also magical... * Harold gestures vaguely, and hopes Chiaki doesn't just think he's the party lunatic. They're using a common adventuring spell called Blacklight. Whoever they are, they're prepared. * Chiaki blinks uncomprehendingly. * Sophie sighs and has a seat. Okay, so we got some adventurers after us then? We met a dragon and he put these words into Harold's mind. That's.. about it. Someone as prepared as a set of adventurers, at least. ...Oh. I suppose it's no stranger than anything I've encountered here so far. Yeah. Harold's got some magic-mind-poetry or something. Sorry, Chiaki, I'm not entirely sure how to explain all that... stuff... or I would have earlier. Ask Harold, he might know how to explain it. Yeah, you missed the weretiger and the goblins. Oh, and the half-dragon. They must not have been expecting much from us, if I could kill one with a single shot... When they return, they'll probably be stronger. Either that your you got damn lucky. So, yeah. We gotta get stronger too then. * Chiaki nods and continues to listen to Harold. We could catch them before they have a chance. ... I know it wasn't _skill_, but I'm not sos ure it was luck, either. * Fadi smiles at Emmet. "Is it worth it? Do you think we could *really* take them?" * Chiaki gazes into the darkness around them and clutches her bow more tightly. * Emmet smiles back at Fadi, but only briefly. "You would know better than I do, Fadi. We missed most of the fight." I get the feeling that luck was the only reason we *survived*.. I'm not a fan of fighting in the dark. * Chiaki looks at her shoes. "I'm not really a fan of fighting." Okay. The trail will still be there in the morning. * Nick pats Chiaki on the back. "Don't worry, hopefully we won't need to do more." * Chiaki smiles at Nick. "Hopefully. Somehow, I think I'm just going to have to get used to it, though." It happens. When it does, you can fight, flee, or try and talk it out. * Fadi shrugs. It's sort of a rude awakening. It was tough for all of us, Chiaki. * Emmet nods his agreement to that satement. * Chiaki nods. "I'm sure it was...but if the rest of you can adapt, I can too." Yup. * Harold nods, too, lost in his own thoughts again. I'm still working on it. * Fadi roasts another piece of meat. "This is pretty good, really." * It is, however, not as good as that pig on the way to Crossroads. We should have enough for tomorrow, too. It won't be as good then, but it beats wild cabbages. * Chiaki nods. "How far are we from...wherever we have to go?" Yeah. If we had salt, it would keep longer. * Tiffany grabs another hunk of meat as well. I have no idea. I've forgotten where we are going. We're going to the Gap. Not the clothing store. ... Fadi, that was horrid. Is this Gap place settled, anyway? If we aren't carrying salt, we probably should be. * Fadi points at Tiffany. "She brought it up first." * Tiffany shrugs. Oh, and if you need the food preserved, I can do that for us. * Nick leans back and yawns. That would be a good idea. Better than having to hunt for it every night. Really? Can you work your magic on the leftover meat there? ... they've _got_ magic that does that sort of thing? Hey, that's sweet. * Chiaki watches with interest. * Emmet nods at the neat pile of cooked venison on a bloody deer hide. * Tiffany stands up and walks over to the rest of the meat. "Sure, magic does... just about everything." After a few hand wavings and incantations, the food is ready to travel. * Chiaki is still impressed. I'll help you pack the food, Emmet. * Emmet waits until Tiffany is finished, then grabs a slice of meat and tears off a small piece. He pops it into his mouth to test it, and nods. "Yeah, that'll work. I'll pack it up." Great. Thanks, Chiaki. * Chiaki grins. "No problem." * Fadi laughs. * Emmet drags the remains of the carcass some distance from the camp after the food is all packed away. When he returns, he rubs at his eyes with the back of a fist. "Mind if I take last watch tonight?" Now, if you'll excuse me, it's time for me to lay down. I'm pretty spent as far as spells go. Sure. I'm not tired yet. I can stay up. No problem. I'll take watch right now too. * Fadi looks at his armor. "I'm all suited up and everything." Agh. I never get first watch. * Chiaki says goodnight to the people going to sleep. I think I'll take the first watch, if no one minds... I'm not ready to sleep yet. I'll probably wake up early, so I'll get last watch. * Emmet smiles at Chiaki and Fadi both. "Great. 'night, guys. Wake me when it's my turn." He ducks into his tent, puts away his equipment and more wrinkle-prone clothing, and falls asleep rather quickly. ... Bloody hell, you can't all take first watch. ..Maybe. * Nick heads in to sleep. * Tiffany yawns and curls up on the ground. "No arguments here. Wake me for third watch, if you need another awake person." * Sophie rubs her head. "I strongly object to middle watch." Well, here, you can have first watch if you want it, and I'll take the middle. Alright. Yeah. She might want to keep an eye on me. * Fadi smirks. * Chiaki laughs. I might, at that. * Chiaki fetches a book from her school bag and sits for watch. [Session... END!]