RPGWW

Richard found quite suddenly that he wouldn't be able to heal everyone all the time as he had been doing. He realized just how limited his magic was. And he also sensed that his allies were getting hurt too quickly.

Oh well... time to go after her. Maybe if I put her eyes out they can more easily get rid of her.

Richard drew out his sword rapidly, glancing at it for a moment.... and then he rushed up to the woman, bringing the sword back and aiming high....

(Raven Stab.)

As Richard's blade shot out at his opponent, he hit nothing but air. It seemed that in the moment it took him to attack, the woman was able to move quiet easily out of the way. However, it then occured to him that perhaps trying to take the sight of a blindfolded person wasn't such a great plan to begin with...

(Miss, Dhargun's turn.)

That was IT. Dhargun was not masochist, he didn't like pain, and this woman was just ASKING for it. Besides, he didn't think it'd work out, her trying to kill him. He pointed his palm toward the woman, letting lose his energy in a controled blast. The power of Anarchy would be too much for that woman, he was sure.

(Anarchy.)

The spell sped from Dhargun's palm, and in that flash of darkness, their opponent...disappeared. However, a few feet away from her last location, they did spot footprints, and slightly farther, blood fresher than that which had been drawn earlier. One thing that was clear was that while the drow's spell did damage, the woman certainly had more fight in her, and was out there, somewhere, still alive.

As if to add insult to injury, soon the group noticed that scrawled in the dirt a few meters further yet was a short message:

Next time, there will be no mercy.

(55 damage, and combat is over! :D!)

Richard glanced around now, breathing a bit heavily. He paid little attention to the writing in the dirt, as he didn't care about 'next time'. Next time, he'd be more ready. He hoped.

At least I didn't have to transform for this girl.....

"Right, so what do we do now, just keep going?"

Ayri sighed. "Well, at least we got rid of her. But that was a tad bit more than I had been expecting. Anyone recognize anything about her?"

"Other than she's proof that we're getting into something more dangerous than probably any of us thought at first, not really. I'm used to people with power, but if you can just stand there and take it like that... well it's new to me." Xia sighed yet again.

"I think we should heal a bit more before we move on, she didn't specify how soon "Next time" would be." With that she cast one more healing spell on Dhargun, "Oh, and that was a beautiful spell, perhaps you can teach it to me sometimes, when we're not so busy..."

Edited by: Dark Xia at: 6/26/03 1:39 am

Dhargun grunted. "Perhaps." He was disappointed that he didn't kill her. After all, most of his magical studies revolved around the control and creation of skeletons and zombies, and what good was that without a usable corpse? Though it did seem that this woman was out there somewhere. And he'd get her. He grinned. "Well, that was fun."

((Sorry I'm not able to post more. I work nights/mornings now.))

Cuimacc breathed heavily, sheathing his sword quickly.

"She won't be a problem again..." He said to the group. "I know what to do next time..."

"...at the very least..." the nekojin began, sheathing his on weapon as he spoke. "...it seems that she has enough of a sense of honour that she'll likely not attack again while we sleep."

At the same time, the healing energies sank deep into Dhargun...

(Assumed Cure2, 38 healed.)

"This is good, I really hate worrying about getting murdered in my sleep..." Aya muttered, glancing over at Dhargun, "Are you okay?"

Richard simply listened at first. Atoujirou's comment about honor seemed to make no sense to him.

"...you can't be too sure about that. If she was chasing us the way she did, her *ahem* honor could be, well.... not as much as we think."

Getting uneasy again, Richard glanced to his allies, Cuimacc and Dhargun especially. They were still a bit hurt, and Richard wasn't interested in taking chances with that.

He slowly and more carefully traced a pattern in the air, eventually bringing the tracing fingers to his eyes. He was thankful that he had a spell for just this kind of situation.

(Spread Heal. Targets are Dhargun and Cuimacc.)

"Jeeze!" Dhargun raised up his hands at the latest heal. "I'm okay, I'm okay! You know, there's GOT to be adverse effects when you heal someone TOO much." He nodded to Aya. "Yeah, I'm just peachy. Too bad we didn't kill 'er, though." He nodded. Too bad indeed. "In any case, I don't think she'll show her face again for a while, especially after the ass-womping she recieved. So we SHOULD be fine."

"You'd be surprised at how much honour was displayed there." Atoujirou mused. "After all, with as fast as she was moving, she could have easily focused her attack on one person and killed them, then moved onto another, and another...but she didn't. As far as following us, it doesn't appear that she uses any form of magic, thus it was likely the easiest way to keep track of us."

At the same time, even though Dhargun refused treatment, Cuimacc felt his wounds busily repaing themselves as a result of Richard's spell.

(10 healed, Richard is down 4 MP. Sorry about forgetting that the first time, Div.)

Edited by: [url=http://pub30.ezboard.com/brpgww60462.showUserPublicProfile?gid=flamingdeth>FlamingDeth</A]&nbsp; at: 6/27/03 9:08 pm

Ayri shrugged. "Well, we have an honorable tracker. But that could be as bad, or worse, than a dishonorable one. At least a dishonorable one we might be able to bribe into not reporting us."

"Indeed, honor is not always a pro in every situation. Well let's just hope they, whoever "they" are, continue to underestimate us, instead of sending a large amount of troops to anhiliate us completely, in which case we really should withnk of some way to deal with such a situation."

Cuimacc nodded gratefully to Richard, as he closed his eyes and began to meditate.

(Meditate: He's turning 10 MP into 5 TP)

The nekojin nodded to the group.

"Well, do you have any plans as to what you're all going to do now?"

"I dunno. I suggest we keep going." Dhargun nodded. Always be on the move. It worked better that way.

Richard, although he agreed with Dhargun, felt the need to explain why the group should get moving.

"Yeah, if we stay here, someone or someTHING worse could come along. I don't know about the rest of you, but that's the LAST thing I want right now."

Ayri nodded her own agreement. "We also have someone we need to get to before he runs into trouble. Time is of the essence."

A brief moment of silence ensued, and Atoujirou looked to the rest of the group, as if awaiting some kind of input from them. After determining that all who wished to suggest something had already done so, he turned back in the direction they were headed in originally, and began silently riding.

(OOC: Following Pervy's lead, I am going to be GMing every two days, or more often if deemed necessary. If it is during combat and you don't post within two days of your turn, your turn is skipped. I also will no longer ass you all over IM, so pay attention to the thread!)

"Hm..." Aya also urged her mount onwards, frowning to herself. I'm sure we can deal with this tail, come the right time...I'm not afraid of any ninja. Psh...

"Let us make haste, who knows what trouble Yuji is into..." she gave her chocobo a kick and raced off ahead.

Dhargun grumbled something, then found his chocobo. After several minutes of kicking, yelling, and pecking, he was off, following Aya.

Richard simply followed after Aya, not having any more to say. He did continue to wonder, however, just what it was that the person chasing them was doing such a thing for.....

Ayri followed the others, and, sensing that the mood was grim, she refrained from her usual humming of tunes.

Xia sighed again as they raced down the road, she hadn't really mined the bard's singing, oh well, she mustn't become attached to any pleasure, pleasure breeds weakness.

The group moved briskly down the road, with no signs of their previous tail. The trip passed uneventfully for some time, until partway through the evening, as Atoujirou began to slow his mount.

"Wll.." he began. "We may not be able to see it just yet, but we're nearing the Valthi border. Anyone have any plans on how to get across without aquiring any extra holes in our bodies, courtesy of their infernal firearms?"

"Firstly I'd like to speak with the border patrols, hopefully in that case we won't be riddled with bullets...and I can use my royal leverage..." Aya grinned slightly, "Other than that, I'm open to suggestions as I don't know any invisibility spells or whatever."

Ayri flashed a charming grin. "Oh, I dunno. I think that if we ask nicely enough, we can make it through one way or another. It's always worked for me."

Richard tried to think quickly. His mind came to one conclusion suddenly, but he was hesitant to say it.

Oh man, I am SO going to hate saying this.

"And..." Richard started hesitantly, ".......we... should be honest about what happened. Maybe.... if they hear the whole story, they'll be more.... inclined to let us through."

.......that didn't come out right. I hope the others don't try to embarrass me when they reject that idea.

"...inclined to let us through?" the nekojin said, quizically. "I am...skeptical...as to why that would work."

"Listen, kid. Telling the truth never got anyone anything besides dead. I say we lie through our teeth, and possibly live to see tomorrow."

"Lying through the teeth leaves pretty big wholes sometimes, unless you're good at it. So, anyone thought of something that could pass as the reason of where we're going and why, that wouldn't arose suspicioun? Any common reason for people going to this place?"

"Well..." began Atoujirou. "I suppose that I'll alow someone else to lead the way. Deception is not my area of expertise."

Richard, now incredibly disgusted with how Dhargun was treating him, turned his face away.

"Dhargun, let me put it this way. If we lie, they're gonna know it. Guaranteed. It always happens. If we tell them the truth about this, like I said, we stand a better chance of getting through."

And also remind me to castrate you for the way you're treating me when we get back, Dhargun.

"Fine then, well Aya, you're our leader, decide. I guess getting caught in a lie might be likely if some of us are not adept at it." she sighed again, UGH, how could people expect to just tell the truth all the time.

"Well, they're on a need to know basis, and what I deem they need to know, I'll tell them. Though I'm not very interested in telling them much..." Aya narrowed her eyes, searching the area nearby for a suitable point of entry.

"But won't they grill us, and not let us in unless they're satisfied?"

"Perhaps, perhaps not." said Atoujirou. "Either way, there is a checkpoint not too much further down the road. If we plan on getting in legitimately, it seems as good a place as any to do so."