The Forest - Chapter One

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Re: The Forest - Chapter One

Post by willpell » Fri Feb 21, 2014 2:13 pm

Eventually Lilly seems to get the hint that Kast isn't planning to respond to her amorous advances, whereupon the small talk gradually peters out, and she spends more and more time looking at and speaking toward the bear. Evidently she knows that he's human inside and doesn't especially care about his outward appearance. Kast is still semi-included in the discussion but could probably excuse himself without trouble, since it seems the woman has largely lost interest in him. Of course, she is still half elf, so maybe she's thinking he'll change his mind in a couple of years, and is happy to continue sowing conversational seeds toward that end, to whatever extent he'll cooperate with.
You either die Chaotic, or you live long enough to see yourself become Lawful.
Glemp wrote:To some extent, you need to be arrogant - without it, you are vulnerable being made someone's tool...for Herbert's sake, have the stubbornness not to submit to what you see instantly, because you can only see some facts at a time.
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Re: The Forest - Chapter One

Post by spiderwrangler » Sat Feb 22, 2014 8:59 pm

No longer the focus of Lilly's attentions, Kast stands up and checks in on where Kzri is settled in the corner, running his hands fondly over her carapace. Why had Lilly seemed so upset about Joyce? Where had her tower come from? Did it have anything to do with the crystal he'd found? Turning back towards the one-way conversation between Lilly and Rian, he pulled the crystal from his pack. "We found this when we entered your tower, does it belong to you?", he asks, holding it out to her.
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Re: The Forest - Chapter One

Post by willpell » Sun Feb 23, 2014 10:01 pm

"Yes, it does," the woman says a bit testily, reaching out to snatch the large crystal from your hand.

(I should probably make an attack roll to see if she can grab it, but I'd rather have you make a Reflex save if you wish to prevent her from doing so.)
You either die Chaotic, or you live long enough to see yourself become Lawful.
Glemp wrote:To some extent, you need to be arrogant - without it, you are vulnerable being made someone's tool...for Herbert's sake, have the stubbornness not to submit to what you see instantly, because you can only see some facts at a time.
My long-neglected blog.

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Re: The Forest - Chapter One

Post by spiderwrangler » Sun Feb 23, 2014 10:30 pm

Kast, Reflex Save
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Re: The Forest - Chapter One

Post by willpell » Mon Feb 24, 2014 11:58 pm

You're fast, but not fast enough; she gets the crystal back, and hastily locks it away into one drawer of a small dresser that you had previously mistaken for a part of the "cave" wall. (Even in your tribe, allowing moss to grow on the furniture would be seen as eccentric.)
You either die Chaotic, or you live long enough to see yourself become Lawful.
Glemp wrote:To some extent, you need to be arrogant - without it, you are vulnerable being made someone's tool...for Herbert's sake, have the stubbornness not to submit to what you see instantly, because you can only see some facts at a time.
My long-neglected blog.

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Re: The Forest - Chapter One

Post by spiderwrangler » Tue Feb 25, 2014 5:29 am

"You might have asked.", Kast says, frowning. Lilly had seemed so pleasant when they had just been talking earlier, what had changed?
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Re: The Forest - Chapter One

Post by Amara » Tue Feb 25, 2014 6:34 am

Now the bear perked up, when the two started moving again. He tensed, ready to spring forward if necessary. All of this felt absolutely wrong to him, but he still had no idea what was going on! Lilly was eyed warily. Rian was quick to make note of where the 'dresser' was.

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Re: The Forest - Chapter One

Post by willpell » Tue Feb 25, 2014 9:03 am

"Asked for what? My own property to be graciously returned? I think we're done here, young fellow. You can show yourself out."
You either die Chaotic, or you live long enough to see yourself become Lawful.
Glemp wrote:To some extent, you need to be arrogant - without it, you are vulnerable being made someone's tool...for Herbert's sake, have the stubbornness not to submit to what you see instantly, because you can only see some facts at a time.
My long-neglected blog.

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Re: The Forest - Chapter One

Post by spiderwrangler » Tue Feb 25, 2014 9:22 am

"I found it lying about. Perhaps if you kept better track of your things, you wouldn't have needed me to return it to you.", Kast bristled at her tone. It appears Lilly may not be that much different from every other person that had pushed him out of their lives.
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Re: The Forest - Chapter One

Post by Amara » Tue Feb 25, 2014 11:00 am

That was all it took for the bear to produce a low, warning snort. His ears lay flat against his skull, and with a forceful stamp of his feet, he moved closer to Kast. He certainly wanted to avoid conflict if they could, but he already distrusted the female greatly. He was certainly wary of her intentions now, and was watching her carefully.

(Bear aggression is weird. All the grumbly roaring anger noises are purely Hollywood, ahah. I guess it would be somewhat less impressive for bears to make snorting sounds and grind and clack their teeth in movies instead, though.)

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Re: The Forest - Chapter One

Post by willpell » Thu Mar 06, 2014 8:56 pm

With that, "Lilly" blows her top - almost literally, as her exclamation of "OUT!" is accompanied by the leaking of what looks like a thin rivulet of roiling green steam from each of her ears. At the same time, the earthen wall behind Kzri opens up, and both of you feel the floor begin to move underfoot; you have little time to even react before a sort of horizontal landslide carries you into the newly opened tunnel and propels you along it as it seals itself behind you, shoving you on a rapidly upward-slanting path which eventually disgorges you onto the surface. The moldy-earth smell saturates Kast's clothes and Rian's fur in the wake of the experience, but conspicuously vanishes from the earth itself moments after they're clear of it.

As they're getting their bearings (no pun intended in Rian's case), the two adventurers promptly hear a "KRAKOOM" kind of noise from quite nearby, and turn to see the stone tower they originally stumbled upon collapsing in on itself, the rubble vanishing into a hole in the ground which promptly seals itself, much as their own ejection chute seems to have done. Moments later, Joyce's voice can be heard. "Well...I don't know if you guys did something wrong or something right, but you sure did something. First I see Twinkle-Toes go flying out of here like his perfectly sculpted bum was on fire, and now this. As enigmas go, I would say this one has been rather conclusively settled."
You either die Chaotic, or you live long enough to see yourself become Lawful.
Glemp wrote:To some extent, you need to be arrogant - without it, you are vulnerable being made someone's tool...for Herbert's sake, have the stubbornness not to submit to what you see instantly, because you can only see some facts at a time.
My long-neglected blog.

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Re: The Forest - Chapter One

Post by spiderwrangler » Fri Mar 07, 2014 10:15 am

"Huh... guess she wasn't as friendly as she seemed after all... is everyone alright?", Kast remarks, checking Kzri over for damage.
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Re: The Forest - Chapter One

Post by willpell » Fri Mar 07, 2014 1:48 pm

Kzri is unharmed. The roughness of the ejection has bruised nothing other than your ego, and of course your spider is blissfully devoid of that particular attribute. She takes it no more personally than a micro-spider would being blown across the room by a puff of some human's breath; her behavior immediately after the eviction is disoriented, of course, but she quickly re-situates herself in her new surroundings, and devotes no further proto-mental attention to what is now a solved problem.
You either die Chaotic, or you live long enough to see yourself become Lawful.
Glemp wrote:To some extent, you need to be arrogant - without it, you are vulnerable being made someone's tool...for Herbert's sake, have the stubbornness not to submit to what you see instantly, because you can only see some facts at a time.
My long-neglected blog.

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Re: The Forest - Chapter One

Post by spiderwrangler » Fri Mar 07, 2014 2:08 pm

Relieved that his arachnid friend seems unharmed, Kast turns to Joyce and describes what happened his encounter with Lilly... leaving out her more pointed suggestions, but providing enough detail to give a good sense of what occurred. "Does she sound like anyone your druid friends have encountered in these woods before?"
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Re: The Forest - Chapter One

Post by Amara » Fri Mar 07, 2014 2:19 pm

Rían had been quick to look himself, and Kast over as quickly as he could. No one seemed harmed, and he eventually relaxed. His ears were still flat against his skull, however. He too was quite interested in knowing if anything like this had happened before. That entire situation had not felt right, from beginning to end... and the fact that his newfound traveling companions--one of whom would no doubt not be seen again--had both somehow been so ensorcelled as to wander off on their own... was a disturbing one.

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Re: The Forest - Chapter One

Post by spiderwrangler » Fri Mar 07, 2014 2:26 pm

"Thanks, by the way. Thanks for coming to find me.", Kast says sincerely to Rian... there weren't many people in his life that could be counted on to do that for him.
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Re: The Forest - Chapter One

Post by Amara » Sat Mar 08, 2014 1:25 am

The bear glanced over. Of course he'd come! ...he wanted to say. Tried to say. Speaking didn't still work very well. Still, Kast's words were enough to coax a better mood out of him rather quickly. His head raised, and he nodded (somewhat sheepishly, after yet another garbled attempt at communication,) toward Kast.

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Re: The Forest - Chapter One

Post by spiderwrangler » Sat Mar 08, 2014 4:34 am

Kast smiled...however small and brief... at the bear's attempt at acknowledging his gratitude.
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Re: The Forest - Chapter One

Post by willpell » Sat Mar 08, 2014 8:57 am

When you reach the end of your story and mention the green gas that seemed to emerge from the woman's ears, Joyce obviously reacts, then suppresses any further reaction, saying simply "Alright, I think we'd better head back to the Center and make a full report to Hansel, or if he's not around then to one of the Elders."
You either die Chaotic, or you live long enough to see yourself become Lawful.
Glemp wrote:To some extent, you need to be arrogant - without it, you are vulnerable being made someone's tool...for Herbert's sake, have the stubbornness not to submit to what you see instantly, because you can only see some facts at a time.
My long-neglected blog.

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Re: The Forest - Chapter One

Post by Amara » Sun Mar 09, 2014 11:04 am

Rían agreed with this, though this time he thought to simply nod. He really, really hoped someone would be able to better explain what was going on...

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Re: The Forest - Chapter One

Post by spiderwrangler » Tue Mar 11, 2014 10:50 am

"If you would rather the Elder explain things, I can abide by that, but I do want to know just what is going on here... is there anything you're willing or able to tell us?"
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Re: The Forest - Chapter One

Post by willpell » Tue Mar 11, 2014 1:59 pm

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"Let's just say that I've heard stories involving animate green vapor, and I think we were all lucky to get out of there with the same number of limbs and sense organs that we went in with. Anything beyond that, I think you'd better hear from someone who's better able to weigh the possible consequences of full disclosure."
You either die Chaotic, or you live long enough to see yourself become Lawful.
Glemp wrote:To some extent, you need to be arrogant - without it, you are vulnerable being made someone's tool...for Herbert's sake, have the stubbornness not to submit to what you see instantly, because you can only see some facts at a time.
My long-neglected blog.

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Re: The Forest - Chapter One

Post by spiderwrangler » Tue Mar 11, 2014 2:07 pm

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"Hmmph.", Kast mutters with a frown, as he swings atop Kzri, ready to travel.
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Re: The Forest - Chapter One

Post by Amara » Tue Mar 11, 2014 7:28 pm

The bear padded along beside them once they were finally moving. He was concerned (though he had been for some time,) but in his present form, he couldn't very well ask any questions. He would have to simply be patient, and hope Kast asked everything for him...
He was very much looking forward to morning.
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Re: The Forest - Chapter One

Post by willpell » Wed Mar 12, 2014 1:39 pm

(Let's assume that it's in the neighborhood of dawn when you get back to the Center. Yeah, I should probably have come up with a better name for it than that by now.)
You either die Chaotic, or you live long enough to see yourself become Lawful.
Glemp wrote:To some extent, you need to be arrogant - without it, you are vulnerable being made someone's tool...for Herbert's sake, have the stubbornness not to submit to what you see instantly, because you can only see some facts at a time.
My long-neglected blog.

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