RPGWW

...Yeah, but if I die, you don't go home! Paige snapped back. Man, she was already begining to get angry again.

'Well done, Paige,' Kelne sent, with ringing sarcasm, 'You have established that we would prefer that you not die.' Kelne rather doubted that Paige kept the Fortune running single-handedly, and even if she did, it was perfectly possible to sail back, though the trip would be longer and more hazardous.

No, Paige was by no means indispensable. Nobody was, when all was said and done. Of course, he had no intention of bringing this to her attention - that would just get her arguing the point or back into 'You want to kill me' mode. Neither of which suited him. For that matter, he didn't want her believing that her exalted position insulated her from the consequences of her actions. Still, that point could be pounded into her thick skull later.

'With that established, perhaps you would care to rejoin the group, as opposed to running off to play hostage?'

Not that he intended to give her any option in the matter. Only the promise of her certain death otherwise would prevent him from hauling her back.

"Idiot woman," he muttered, even as he set about working out the odds. He figured they could get to within about 200 metres of Paige before their adversary tried to make good on its threat. Though he had no way of knowing for certain, he was gambling that its control over the creatures of the desert was less than absolute. A well-timed distraction might succeed in breaking that hold, at least long enough to get Paige off the ground. If the distraction was only momentary, it could still be long enough for him to get Jak into range for blasting any lurking snakes.

Speaking of which, it was time to fill Jak in on the plan. "I'm going to get as close as I can and then try and disrupt its control of anything near Paige," he said quietly, "If you see anything, blast it. No sense taking chances. We get in, grab her, and get the hell out again."

"Right you are." he responded, flexing his fingers. If the snake was close enough to Paige to be within striking distance, assuming one was even behind her, the use of fire or lightning would be inadvisable. The latter had a habit of grounding itself via metallic objects, and he was certain Paige carried plenty of those. And fire was just messy, glorious as it was. That left ice magic, along with a few other, non lethal spells. He could try to shied the creature's mind from mental magic, but he'd need to touch it. So much for that idea. The other option was to try and dispel whatever magic was affecting the creature. Assuming it didn't just lash out anyway once it's own instincts returned. Nope, a good, therapeutic impaling was clearly the solution here.

Dia lands next to Jeridan. 'I'll report my findings in a minute,' she told him curtly, before stretching down akwardly in order to bring her forepaws around the front and sides of the coyote. 'Please watch for EF, I'm exposed. They should be looking for the coyote pack.' She then swiftly set to giving the beast a thorough astral scan.


From Jeridan's perspective, he would find himself faced with two sets of semi-transparent ivory claws--tipping the digits of two paws roughly half his height--carefully held apart to give him room to keep his hold on the spotted coyote and still have room to back away if needed. Perhaps he would note that, now given a close-up view of Dia in full dragon glory, her head seems surprisingly small for her body--no wider than a foot where the jaws meet, and tapering evenly to a short hook at the end of the narrow, cone-shaped muzzle. It rather looked unbalanced at the end of her thick neck--which was currently arched so as to better angle her head down toward the coyote she was examining.

Her ears were easy to spot.

Say, where was Fluffy?

While this was all very, very impressive, he did have two jobs to keep him occupied at the moment: Keeping a hold on the coyote, and looking out for EF members. Poor Fluffy was forgotten entirely.

The voice returns to Paige. I told them I would kill you if they followed you any longer. The coated one is talking with you? Tell him you just saw a snake behind you, that should convince him. Of course, if he wants you to die anyways...

****

Jeridan suspects it will take a little while for anyone from town to get here. And the Coyote still tries to struggle, and gets nowhere. It's wearing itself out now.

****

Dia can see Jeridan is holding a perfectly ordinary animal. However, there are some remanents of mental magic about its aura, disappating nicely.

Edited by: Uncle Pervy  at: 2/15/06 2:36

There's a snake behind me! Paige mentally screamed- Hoping Kelne could hear her.

Kelne was, to say the least, not entirely convinced by this statement. Oh, Paige sounded sincere. But the whole thing smacked of desperation. Unable to come up with any other way of getting rid of him, she'd seized on his earlier question as something that might cause him to back off. She hadn't spotted it when he told her to look; what would have gotten her to look again?

The idea that she might have been prompted wasn't something he seriously considered. Not even Paige could be stupid enough to listen to buzzing, disembodied voices, could she?

Of course, there was always the possibility that there was a snake behind Paige irregardless of whether she believed in it or not. In which case she'd be in even more danger than if she could see one.

There seemed one simple way of finding out whether or not she was lying to him for certain. 'Paige, if you're going to lie to me, this conversation is at an end. Do try to be more convincing next time.'

With that, he went dead silent, as if the connection had been severed. In fact, it remained very much open. Kelne was 'listening' for any incautious thoughts or particularly strong emotions from Paige.

The real hell of it for Paige was that it didn't really matter whether she was lying or not. This struck him as their best opportunity to get her back with minimal risk to anybody. Try and get her back later, and there sure as hell would be snakes, plural. And a simple retreat skywards would be impossible to pull off if she was stashed in a cavern somewhere.

And if either Paige or the voice thought he'd trade Dia for her, they could damn well think again.

Paige will simply continue to run, until the voice contacts her again.

He seems to not care whether you live or die. Observes the voice.

****

Very soon, Kelne thinks that he should be close enough to see her, were it light out, now that he's been following her mental signiture.

The fact that he couldn't see Paige was faintly worrying to Kelne. Intellectually, he knew he'd have difficulty seeing anything in these conditions, but he couldn't shake the feeling that he was chasing shadows. Was his adversary good enough to do that? Or was it just the paranoia talking?

A fat lot of good asking the question now did him. If he'd been suckered, Paige would be miles away by now, and he'd never find her.

"It's time," he said, by way of warning to Jak. Setting his doubts aside for now, he dropped altitude to around head height. The focus of his telepathy broadened to include the area around Paige, and he sent the scream of a diving eagle into the night across it. It was a noise calculated to cut straight through to the instincts of any small desert creature, disrupting any control that might be placed upon it.

Nor did the barrage end there. A cacophony of psychic noise followed it, plucked from his memories of a dozen battles. Let anybody just try and maintain mental domination through that.

Dia sighed. 'There was mental magic on this thing--that makes sense. It's disappating now. I ran into three EF and warned them of the coyotes and myself. I was warned that the EF and AD might not believe me, so to stay away myself for awhile. I think I may see how Kelne and all are doing, if they could use my help.'

First, however, she gave one last critical scan to the disappating mana. She doubted it would be traceable to a caster, but she was just paranoid enough, considering her family, to look for 'marks' of familiar casting style; after all, mental magic ran in the family, and her relatives certainly had a...style...of their own.

Once again, Dia got a kind of mental nod back.

I don't see anyone coming. The other coyotes seem to be running away from the city... we should be fine to head back to the others and report what we've learned when you're done with this.

Edited by: [url=http://p068.ezboard.com/brpgww60462.showUserPublicProfile?gid=besyanteo@rpgww60462>Besyanteo</A]&nbsp; at: 2/15/06 20:01

Kelne concentrates, extends his mental reach, concentrates some more, then unleashes his barrage. Then he finds the astral is simply too thin to support that much. The barrage is able to echo out some of the way, but he has no clue how far.

****

Paige neither feels nor percieves any sort of mental barrage from anyone.

****

Dia can't really find any sort of signiture. she suspects if there is one, she can't recognize it due to unfamiliarity with the one using it.

Edited by: Uncle Pervy&nbsp; at: 2/16/06 0:51

'Nothing--not getting anything else out of this.' Dia sighed with disgruntlement--a somewhat gravelly sound. 'We should probably kill it before going, that it doesn't cause any mischief in our absence. Ready? If you climb onto my neck and grab onto the two longer horns at the top of my head, I can jog us both back to the farm quickly enough.'

Given the chance to do so, Jeridan will toss the Coyote to freedom. Then, speaking just a moment later:

"It'll be fine. Without anyone controlling it, it'll instinctively avoid town. Too open with too little to scavange, in this kind of place."

He then follows her directions, getting onto her back and holding onto her horns and such. This would be... interesting.

The coyote is all to happy to run as fast as it can back into the wastes, and Dia gains a passenger.

Jak, meanwhile, had readied himself to put a bolt of ice through anything that was chasing Paige.

"Damnit," Kelne muttered. That barrage had been a key part of the plan. It might have gotten through, but it probably hadn't.

For the first time, he slowed his flight, pacing the fleeing mental signature rather than trying to overtake it. "No luck disrupting anything," he said angrily, "If there is a snake there, it'll be able to strike before we can stop it. Paige says she sees one, but I don't believe a word that stupid bitch says right now. I don't suppose you can get enough detail on the astral to tell?"

Damn the woman. She still had no idea what she'd let herself in for.

Jak sighed and shook his head.

"Listen, can't we just risk her getting bitten? If worst comes to worst I do have an antitoxin vial on me. Don't know if it'd work on the poison of whatever snake may or may not be down there, but it might save her if she gets bitten. And, failing that, I'm sure Dia has some magic that can fix her up."

He didn't particularly like the idea of using something he paid good money for on Paige, but he hated indecision even more.

"Excellent," Kelne said, a smile spreading across his face at this news. Serve Paige right if she got bitten. Their speed picked up once more. He considered doing a little gloating at Paige, but decided that the less warning she got the better. She hadn't exactly been helpful thus far.

It wouldn't be long now...

And thus, did Dia begin making her way toward the farm.

It seems that they want you dead after all, says the voice to Paige. She is definately going to have a headache from it now. Oh well, I did my best.

****

Kelne and Jak close in on Paige; they are now close enough to see her moving if they pay attention in the darkness.

****

Dia makes her way back toward the farm. Luckily for Jeridan, she is able to keep the ride a fairly smooth one. Still, carrying that much beefy wolfman is not easy, and upon landing, she is going to have to rest for a little bit.

The farm sure is empty, though.

What?! Paige screamed, mentally. No!

At this point, Paige did the only thing that came to mind when someone was coming up fast behind her-

She hit the deck, screaming.

Jak suppressed a chortle. He had more important matters at hand. Such as scanning for threats.

Kelne was also keeping an eye on things, wary of any possible threats, snakes or otherwise. Paige was certainly a sitting duck for such at the moment.

Presuming no interruptions, he would float the carpet over next to Paige and glare at her huddled form for a few moments.

Kelne does not see any snakes out there. Unless it is hiding. What if it is hiding, though? What if it got on the carpet somehow? That voice might be able to do that, this could be a trap!

Jak, however, doesn't see anything either.

"Hah, bluffing." the mage stated, relaxing his stance.

As for what to say to Paige, Jak left that to Kelne. It was his right to deal with her, after all.

Of course it could be a trap. Anything could be a trap, given the right circumstances. Given that neither he nor Jak saw any snakes, however, he rather doubted it.

Right now, he was deeply regretting bringing the mechanic along. Not only was she dead weight, but she'd proven herself to be stupid beyond belief. And Kelne had a great deal of experience with idiots. Clearly it was impossible for him to go anywhere without being lumbered with at least one fool.

"And what, exactly, do you expect to accomplish with this?" he asked, in a voice laden with contempt. He didn't expect a coherent answer, but the question might at least prompt her to show some dignity and face him.

Or it might set her running again. In which case, steps would have to be taken.

Dia immediately lowered her neck to let Jeridan to the ground; then she began to stretch and roll her head, neck, and shoulders around in a random series of movements, trying to loosen up the muscles. A low rumbling sound accompanied the exercises, originating somewhere near the base of her neck. It seemed--vaguely discontent.

'Well now, I wonder where they are?' Dia gave a sniff to the air to see if she could get a better idea of that herself, but she figured Jeridan would be more fit to tell that sort of thing than she. 'Guess it makes sense they wouldn't stay still. I could scan for them--astrally, that is--I guess. Though, it'd help if I knew what direction they went off to. I might be able to contact Kelne, too.

I'm tired.'

Edited by: pd Rydia&nbsp; at: 2/20/06 13:47

Jeridan dismounted when prompted, and now was already at work since it appeared that the group had disappeared somewhere. Over the time spent on the ship, and even more time working in the guard with Jak, he'd learned the scents of their missing friends quite well. He just had to hope that this air and sand had held their scent, or Paige's footprints.

(Track, 3 TP again.)

Jeridan finds the scent of Paige heading toward the desert fairly easily, given how recent the scent is. It shouldn't be difficult for him to follow.

Jeridan was quite satisfied with only picking up Paige, and began to head in the direction she had travelled.

"This way..."

Recalling now that he had Ushyu with him, he carefully went to check on her in the pack. How had she fared through this ordeal?

SIGH.

Dia lifted herself up--when had she laid down?--and followed after Jeridan by way of a lazy stroll.

"I don't wanna die!" Paige screamed.

"I am not going to kill you, you stupid woman," Kelne snapped, "No matter how much you provoke me. Will you kindly get that through your thick skull?"

Jak simply looked on with a quiet chuckle. He'd have preferred to have shocked her senseless, but this would have to do. That, and because she was the only one who resorted to violence, he and Kelne could claim the moral high ground! He'd always wanted to try that.

"THEN WHY ARE YOU CHASING ME?!" Paige shrieked back.

"Because whether you remember it or not, you do actually have a use - keeping the Fortune flying. You want to run off into the wilderness and get yourself killed or captured or worse? Do it on your own time - when we get back home."

"Then why are you always yelling at me, when you're clearly the one being dumb sometimes?!" Paige demanded.