Infestation

Above all the Chosen are a roleplaying group, and this forum is the place to do just that. All posts are expected to be in character except when specifically noted otherwise. A few rules to keep it fun for everyone are posted within, please read them before posting. Otherwise we encourage everyone to participate. Please keep the out-of character discussions to the Out Of Character forum.

Moderators: Shir'le E. Illios, Bhaern Quel

Post Reply
Rooky
Legend
Posts: 1607
Joined: Wed Feb 15, 2006 11:34 am
Location: A spooky wood, with man-eating little giant space hampsters
Contact:

Post by Rooky »

Black, damp, and squeaky.

That was all that came to your minds while in the hatch; You brushed up the wall so often while climbing down only to feel a rather subtle change from unworked stone, to a pleasant feeling of worked soft stone.

To your own suprise, your drow eyes had no use; you saw only the small trails of the impenetrable shadow, and the edges of... pipes? The darkness seemed impenetrable.

The squealing sounds belonged to the very same pipes. By the pitch and groans they were old and very rusted.
This raised several questions in your minds;
The pipes mustn't have been there for too long, else they'd have simply disintegrated...then there was the issue of what they transported, to where and from where...and to who.

Your trek down was...long...Rooky was getting impatient, and yelled for you to get back up...the way down was almost like eternity...
The orb in Ilene's hand hummed; she examined it, and covered it from the light Talwyn's own sword gave away. The orb glimmered in a soft blue tone.

[color=darkblue:337fi326]"It seems the shaft is an exit to the Astral. Are the two elves still there?"[/color:337fi326]

Rooky looked back to Ilene grimly; "You tell me this -now-? Lothir, Zzandrina...Get your asses up here!"

...
:3
Aylstra Illianniis
Legend
Posts: 1933
Joined: Tue Jun 16, 2009 12:51 am
Location: Texas
Contact:

Post by Aylstra Illianniis »

He shrugs, and sighs, wondering why he ever bothered going down in the first place. "Couldn't you have said something sooner?" he yells up, annoyed at having to climb all that way only to go back up again. <Screw it,> he thinks, <I'll levitate back up. At least that way I don't have to tire myself out with more climbing. Been out of practice too long.>

He closes his eyes for a moment, then silently wills himself back up the shaft to Talwyn and the others, waiting only for Zzadrina to begin her own ascent back.


OOC: Not using levitate spell- old school spell-like ability (2nd ed). All my drow still have it, in place of dancing lights (which was a dumb power for drow to have anyway). Don't know why they ever took it out in 3.5. It's so much a part of their in-game history....
By the Dark Maiden''s grace do we meet. May she guide and protect us.

"Where Science ends, Magic begins." -Spiral, Uncanny X-Men #491

A link to my tales, including my Marvel hero!:
http://mickeys-tavern.com/index.php?showforum=188
Talwyn Aureliano
Lord||Lady
Posts: 1480
Joined: Sun Mar 16, 2008 2:27 pm
Location: Western Australia
Contact:

Post by Talwyn Aureliano »

I waited patiently for the others to come back up from the tunnels they'd just started to explore.

I looked across as Rooky and Ilene examined the faintly humming and glowing orb Ilene held in her only hand.

I wonder what's got that going?

Still, I wasn't about to say anything as Rooky would only get annoyed and I was more concerned about the others safety than being snarled at by a tetchy werewolf woman.

I stood back over the rim of th hole and held out my sword so Argoth, Zzadrina and Elenwe could see how far they had to ascend.
In War: Resolution. In Defeat: Defiance. In Victory: Magnanimity. In Peace: Goodwill.

Image
Aylstra Illianniis
Legend
Posts: 1933
Joined: Tue Jun 16, 2009 12:51 am
Location: Texas
Contact:

Post by Aylstra Illianniis »

The drow bard slowly floated back up to the top, and simply hung in the air a few inches from the edge, arms crossed over his chest, with a cocky little grin. "Aw, Tal, did you miss us? How sweet. And look, you even left a light on for us!"

He snorted with half-choked laughter, but remembered to keep it low, in case there is anything lurking about below. He just dangled there, looking down toward the others making their way up the more conventional way, and finally stepped back onto the ground to help each of them over the top as they returned.
By the Dark Maiden''s grace do we meet. May she guide and protect us.

"Where Science ends, Magic begins." -Spiral, Uncanny X-Men #491

A link to my tales, including my Marvel hero!:
http://mickeys-tavern.com/index.php?showforum=188
Zzadrina Kel'Shri
Maid
Maid
Posts: 116
Joined: Tue Jul 07, 2009 12:40 am
Contact:

Post by Zzadrina Kel'Shri »

Drina catapulted herself over the side of the shaft and used Lothirs wrist to pull herself all the way up. Elenwe followed in much less wild fashion, then untied the rope and coiled it back up in her pack.
[color=darkblue:2cwrapto]" Well, there wasn't much down there anyway, it was too black to see." [/color:2cwrapto]Zzadrina mumbled, shifting her weight from one foot to the other.
" Hey Lil, what''''s going on in the world news today?"
" Some woman got whacked!"
"....Apparently, this is cause for celebration in Lil Land."
--My friend and I
Talwyn Aureliano
Lord||Lady
Posts: 1480
Joined: Sun Mar 16, 2008 2:27 pm
Location: Western Australia
Contact:

Post by Talwyn Aureliano »

"Miss you? I should aim better next time...now where is another boulder?" I pretended to look around for a rock to throw at Lothir then grinned and winked at him.

"Ahh good to see some friendly faces at last," as Zzadrina and Elenwe emerged from the tunnel.

"No luck down there eh? Maybe Ilene might be onto something as that orb is making humming noises," I added nodded in the direction of Ilene and Rooky.
In War: Resolution. In Defeat: Defiance. In Victory: Magnanimity. In Peace: Goodwill.

Image
Aylstra Illianniis
Legend
Posts: 1933
Joined: Tue Jun 16, 2009 12:51 am
Location: Texas
Contact:

Post by Aylstra Illianniis »

He snickered at the paladin's joke. "Ah, now what would you do without someone around for you to play the straight man to?" He returned the wink with a jovial punch at Talwyn's armored shoulder, then moved back over to where the others were staring at the orb. Something about it was making his head hurt, like a barely audible sound that was almost painful.

"I don't suppose you know how to make it stop? Do you know why it's doing that? Other than having some sort of portal around, obviously."
By the Dark Maiden''s grace do we meet. May she guide and protect us.

"Where Science ends, Magic begins." -Spiral, Uncanny X-Men #491

A link to my tales, including my Marvel hero!:
http://mickeys-tavern.com/index.php?showforum=188
Rooky
Legend
Posts: 1607
Joined: Wed Feb 15, 2006 11:34 am
Location: A spooky wood, with man-eating little giant space hampsters
Contact:

Post by Rooky »

Ilene's serene expression never seemed to change during all your time together; but for once you could make out curiosity etched over it; her apathetic eyes sprang up to life for a moment, unlike her voice...that never seemed to change;

Lightly circling around the shaft, Ilene took note of the details, but mostly, she watched the rile of rats move about. The last expedition down the shaft seemed to stir them up. Once or twice she tried to entice a few to speak to her; The reaction she got was unlike rats - they hissed, squeaked and few even tried to bite her.

Ilene knew better, she backed off quickly from the shaft signaling the others to move away as well.
The orb was no longer 'alive'. The glow and hum stopped entirely.
[color=darkblue:2vwdaxmv]"We are to far from the shaft. The orb no longer responds...unlike those rats..."[/color:2vwdaxmv]
She stopped midway lost in thought;
[color=darkblue:2vwdaxmv]"We must leave for now. If we try to pursue down the hatch we may end up dead much sooner then we all hoped for, and those rats may come after us...I at least am not that well equipped to fight off a thousand rats at once.[/color:2vwdaxmv]

Rooky turned to the shaft herself. A long whiff of it's stale air, she flinched and coughed violently;
"There's more then a thousand of them..."
Squeaks and chirps surrounded them; the group looked about. The cavern in all it's size and might was filled with thousands, upon thousands of glowing minute orbs - rat eyes. And each pair looked hungry.
From the shaft to the roof, and covering the walls each rat sent an ominous look to one of the group.

"Any arguments Talwyn...? Or can we just leave...?"

He shook his head, and trying not to turn their backs to the shaft, the group made their way out, one slow step at a time. The light of...midday reached their faces.
There was a two minute argument about whether or not they should close the gate. Ilene reassured them she will stand over the cave tonight.
[color=darkblue:2vwdaxmv]"I am unwelcome in the village and will rest here for tonight. I will come see you sometime in the night hours....If you need my, I've set up camp up there..."[/color:2vwdaxmv]

She pointed to a nearby hill and there bid her farewells.

Rooky gave a sigh and shrugged; She rubbed her eyes and gave a long yawn. She tried covering them, but her oversize fangs just couldn't be covered.
"Can we go home now...?"

(...)

The cave never went to sleep...
It had a voice of it's own; The rats spoke in a low voices, each filling the others sentence before one finished...

"Mansie fools come in our cave...!"
"Not's all mansies...!" "...some bees elvses..." "one is wolfise lords..." "wolfsie...hiss..." "...i tasties ones blood..." "what's it be..." "what's it bee...?" "it's be like deadsie downs in cave..." "what's it be..." "what's it be...?" "it bees likes elvses bloodsie too..."
"there was crab man..." "i likes them crabsies..."
"we get's crabsie mans..." "crabsie mans! yess, let's us gets crabsie manfool!"
"we needs to tell the ratsy lord..." "yess ratsy lord needs to be told..." "ratsy lord now how we gets the crabsie man..."
"ratsy lord know what's we do withs wolfsie, wolfsie smell and hear us..." "wolfsie is blind! wolfsie not smell us!" "wolfsie smell us! all wolfsies do...!"
"...wolfsies kill us no mores, now we speaks and wolfsie don'ts...!"
"eat's us the wolfsie and eats us crabsy manfool!"
"...eats us them all!"
"...go to ratsy king...ratsy king give us orders...ratsy king says us what us need to do..."

(...)
:3
Talwyn Aureliano
Lord||Lady
Posts: 1480
Joined: Sun Mar 16, 2008 2:27 pm
Location: Western Australia
Contact:

Post by Talwyn Aureliano »

I was beginning to wonder if my skills were really needed on this trip.

We had withdrew from the cave and the shaft after it was discovered to be rat infested. That in itself wasn't really surprising as rats are prolific breeders and as long as they have a decent food supply, their numbers will only increase expodentially. However smiting rats is, well to be blunt, beneath me.

I had no objections to leaving that pest hole and a thought occured to me as we walked away and headed back to the village.

[color=orange:ymjo7u6g][b:ymjo7u6g]"You know Lothir old son, I only wished that we'd brought more fire oil, preferably two wagon loads, to pour down there and burn out the furry little bastards. My old prelate and tutor back in Tantras always used to thump his desk with his iron rod and scream [u:ymjo7u6g]"FIRE IS THE CLEANSER!"[/u:ymjo7u6g] to pretty much any thing foul or evil that needed dealing with. Yep, old Father Levitzke was a great believer in the extremely liberal application of good old fire & brimestone to just about every situation he could think of actually. He was a dam handy shot with a piece of chalk too. He'd fling it at boys not paying attention in his class, make no mistake! Madder than a bag of hammers and meaner than a snake with a salted cut on it's arse, yep, that was Father Levitzke for you. Ahh great days, great days..."[/b:ymjo7u6g] [/color:ymjo7u6g]

I trailed off thinking about my schooling with a semi fond smile, then continued my reminiscence,

[color=orange:ymjo7u6g][b:ymjo7u6g]"Yep, good old school...awful food, cold baths, iron fisted discipline, regular beatings, mind numbingly boring sermons and lectures, semi lethal sporting events, death marches in full gear every morning and half dead, incomprehensible or completely insane teachers...ahh that's the sort of school that builds CHARACTER in a lad! I look at the schools today and I think how soft they are and how lucky things are for the youth of today. We used to have to get up in the middle of the night, scrub the privies with our toothbrushes, eat a lump of COLD coal for breakfast, then run 25 miles across dead mans moors in full armour before doing 20 hours of schooling and religious study and when we got back our house master would thrash us within inches of our lives. But you try telling this to the young people today and they won't believe you, oh no...tsk tsk," [/b:ymjo7u6g][/color:ymjo7u6g] I said with a straight face as we strolled towards the village in the fading light.

[color=orange:ymjo7u6g][b:ymjo7u6g]"So then, what's the plan for this evening then eh? Dinner and perhaps a few rounds of charades maybe afterwards? A bit of shove piggy shove? Or is that just too exciting for some folks?" [/b:ymjo7u6g] [/color:ymjo7u6g]I said with a faint grin.
In War: Resolution. In Defeat: Defiance. In Victory: Magnanimity. In Peace: Goodwill.

Image
Aylstra Illianniis
Legend
Posts: 1933
Joined: Tue Jun 16, 2009 12:51 am
Location: Texas
Contact:

Post by Aylstra Illianniis »

He tried keeping a straight face at the knight's over-the-top descriptions, but after a while, it was just too much. He started in with a fit of choked laughter, shaking his head in amusement.

"Well, at least he wasn't thumping YOU with that rod! My tutor used to whack me just for asking questions. Can't count the number of times I ended up with bruised knuckles, or arms, or a lump on the head. Or worse, sometimes he used his wands on me; try getting zapped in the arse sometime. He was a perverted old creep, too- remind me to show you some of the spells I found in his books sometime. And then there was Misstress Shiallin and her "hands-on" education, if you know what I mean. Which was fun at first, but she insisted I should learn EVERY way to uh, keep a matron happy. Some of it was really disturbing. Bet your tutor never did that!"

As they approached the village, he remembered to put his alteration spell back up. "What do you suppose all those rats were doing there? Seemed like there were far more than is natural. Really creepy."
By the Dark Maiden''s grace do we meet. May she guide and protect us.

"Where Science ends, Magic begins." -Spiral, Uncanny X-Men #491

A link to my tales, including my Marvel hero!:
http://mickeys-tavern.com/index.php?showforum=188
Rooky
Legend
Posts: 1607
Joined: Wed Feb 15, 2006 11:34 am
Location: A spooky wood, with man-eating little giant space hampsters
Contact:

Post by Rooky »

OOC: Polkka or llama?
on another note, sorry for the lousy writting as this is actually worse then usual. I'm just in a block, and didn't want to keep you waiting.

The trip back was a slight bit more fun with Talwyn's rant in the background.
Rooky kept her mouth shut, as she was unable to say anything relatively nice to him, and she didn't feel like having another argument.
She still cracked a smile so often.

On their return, the villager's gave them a hero's welcome indeed. There was truly food for the masses and enough to spare as well.
A table full of food, food to suit anyone's taste buds, along with vine's, beer and mead.
Music filled the air and didn't stop into the late hours of the night.

Rooky looked on from a safe distance, and with a sigh retread to the relative peace of the inn;

[i:15n3o5tw]'d be nice to join them... it'd just make me angry...[/i:15n3o5tw]

Before she left she slipped something to Zzandrina;
"Lothir's got his little illusion and he can join the party. Shame you can't. Take this..."

From her pockets she produced a little silver medallion; it bore a lizards face on one side, and a human face on the other. It glistened lightly under the moon's light.

"It isn't as effective as a true illusion, but it will make you look like any other elf. You'll too look at something while you put the medallion on, as it needs to mimic skin and hair. I suggest Elenwe.
Have fun."

Rooky left and took her station back on the roof under her window in the inn and stared at the full moon; it was the second night, and like yesternight, it was huge.
:3
Aylstra Illianniis
Legend
Posts: 1933
Joined: Tue Jun 16, 2009 12:51 am
Location: Texas
Contact:

Post by Aylstra Illianniis »

The bard stared up at the huge moon overhead, wondering why the villagers seemed so welcoming this time, and what the fuss was all about. It seemed a bit premature, considering what they had found in the caves, and the vague sense of dread he had that the worst was still to come. He wondered again what could have killed all the drow and slaves down there, and if it might come to the illage next. And what was with Rooky, anyway? She kept disappearing, and acting like nothing was wrong later. Strange.

He had mostly skipped the feast, staying only long enough to avoid seeming rude. He was worried that his spell might fail at some inopportune moment, and so he had gone outside the inn to be alone for a while. The rats had left a cold feeling of danger in his gut, and he was restless, constantly fighting the urge to draw out his blades at every little sound of the night.
By the Dark Maiden''s grace do we meet. May she guide and protect us.

"Where Science ends, Magic begins." -Spiral, Uncanny X-Men #491

A link to my tales, including my Marvel hero!:
http://mickeys-tavern.com/index.php?showforum=188
Post Reply