[ We find Our Heroes gathered in the common room of the Flying Couches home! 'Scept for Kenji, who's been conspicuosly absent. You haven't even seen him around campus, today. ] [ It's mid-morning, but you've all gotten up by now. Yes, even Patrick. It's Spring Break now, so none of you have classes for a week. Why are you already up if it's spring break? Because you're used to getting up at this time, and you haven't had enough time to ruin that yet. ] [ Session... start! ] * Ariake is sitting in the corner, sipping hot chocolate and tinkering with another part for Antoine the Disassociative Quiz Machine. * Patrick is up all right. Wait, since when did he get up late? <.<; Anyways, he's up and about and eating some pigs in a blanket for breakfast. * Seylin comes walking down the stairs. She's working on the final steps of braiding her hair. Her winged dragonscale hairclip that Istvan made for her is currently in her mouth, as her hands are busy. She mmphs something that might be "Good morning!" as she enters. * Patrick smiles and waves at Seylin. "Heya! How're ya doing?" ^_^ * Ariake waves. "'morning!" * Seylin ties off the end of her braid, then clips the top. Her hair's about mid-back-length now. "Morning! I'm doing well! How are you guys?" * Patrick grins. "Pretty good. Still need some breakfast?" Sure! How's your machine coming, Ariake? * Patrick sits on the table where he got the pancake and sausage. There's some typical breakfast fare, which shouldn't be too unusual considering he's brought breakfast in like this every so often. Very well, thanks! I'm working on some more features. * WillS walks in waving hi to everyone. "Morning guys. What are we having for breakfast?" * Patrick smirks. "Like?" Hey Will! Got some pancakes, sausage, and cheddar-cheese scrambled eggs today. * Seylin walks over to the table, takes a few pancakes and some scrambled eggs, and sits down to eat and watch Ariake work. * WillS nods happily to Patrick and goes to get some food. "Awesome!" * Ariake gets up, snags some food, and consumes it with her left hand while continuing to tinker with her right. Skill! ^_^ * Alcinoe comes walking down the stairs right about now, toweling her wet hair. She's wearing jeans and a tied-up shirt; her midriff's showing. "What's this Ah hear about breakfast?" * Ariake pauses in her consumption of said breakfast. "'morning!" Morning, Alcinoe! * Patrick chuckles and waves at Alcinoe. "Hey Alci! I managed to 'procure' some more breakfast today." * Seylin motions to the table. "Breakfast is served!" * WillS looks up after grabbing a sausage from the breakfast table. "Good Morning Alicnoe! Come and join us!" * Alcinoe waves back at Patrick. "Smells good. Sure." She wraps her towel in her hair, walking on over and helps herself to the food. * Tia trots up the stairs from the basement and enters the common room, beaming. She is a bit soot-stained in places, having evidently been working in the forge. * Tia waves wildly. "Hiya, guys!" * WillS waves back. "Morning Tia!" * Alcinoe has a seat next to Will and waves at Tia. "Mornin'." * Patrick grins back. "Heya Tia." ^_^ Morning, Tia! Have you been helping Istvan? * Tia grins and nods. "Yup! It's lots of fun!" * Ariake waves. "'morning!" * Tia pads over and sits down by everyone else. * Ariake finishes tinkering and slides the cartridge into the side of the quiz machine. * Patrick finishes his meal. "Hey, any of you seen Kenji today?" * Seylin finishes eating, puts her plate down, and watches Ariake more intently. Not yet...thanks for the excellent breakfast! * Alcinoe munches. She shakes her head. No problem! ^_^ * Tia looks around. "Yeah, where's Kenji?" Nope, I haven't seen him yet today. * Tia frowns a little. Don't know where he is. Sorry. Ah figured he might've needed time alone. * Seylin nods. "That makes sense." * Tia nods and looks at her feet. It ain't yer fault, Tia. Ah won't have ya thinkin' it is. * WillS nods along in agreement. * Patrick smiles and nods. "Don't let him get'cha down." * Tia looks up at Alcinoe and nods. "I guess not...but--" She pauses and shrugs. "Well, it's okay." So... what's on the agenda for today? [ There's a knock at the door. ] * Tia stands up. "I'll get it!" [ How's that for timing? ] * Tia runs over and opens the door. "Hi!" * Seylin giggles. * Patrick chuckles. "Speak of the devil." [ Standing there is a short wizard Tia recognizes as being from Pensword hall. He smiles constantly like Patrick and has neck- length purple hair, and he says "Why, good morning, Tia. Kenji left some things to be given to you all this morning - and isn't it a lovely morning?" ] * Patrick grins back. "Of course. What's he got?" * Tia blinks a few times. "Why, yes, it is a nice morning-- Left some things?" He did? * Tia moves from the door to let the wizard in. * Ariake blinks. "Hmm?" [ "Oh, some medalions and rings, pleasant enchanted trinkets all. Oh, and a letter." He hands all this over, still smiling. ^_^ ] * Alcinoe raises an eyebrow at that and puts her fork down. A letter now? ^_^ * Seylin frowns slightly. * WillS finishes off the last bite on his plate and turns around to look at what's happening. [ "Yes, a letter. I believe he went off on some errand of vengeance or wrath or something similar." ^_^ ] Oh no... he didn't! * Tia accepts the items with some confusion, but she passes the letter to Seylin upon seeing her name on it. Vengeance...? Why'd he need vengeance? * Seylin blinks, then takes the letter and opens it, reading it quickly. * Alcinoe frowns now. [ "Well, unless his ancestors demanded it, I can't think of a reason myself." ^_^ ] * Ariake hms, and watches Seylin's reaction. * Patrick glances over Seylin's shoulder. * Tia puts the shinies down on a nearby coffee table and sits down heavily. * Seylin inhales sharply. "He... he's says he's withdrawn! And that he's left these things for us." Wha...?! * WillS blinks in surprise. "What did he say!?" * Tia 's head snaps back up, and she turns to Seylin in shock. "W- what?" * Patrick chuckles and walks upstairs to equip himeself. "Get ready to leave. I'll track him down in no time." * Alcinoe stares. "Why..." And then she stops and stands. "Oh." He's goin' ta get 'imself killed. Or married. Or both. * Istvan comes up the stairs, looking significantly more soot-stained than Tia. "Hey everyo- mmm. What's goin' on?" * Seylin blinks a few times, fighting back tears. She folds the letter so it won't get wet. * Tia turns and smiles weakly at Istvan. "Hiya, Isty." Kenji left! * Tia nods sadly. * Istvan blinks. "Left? Like 'I'm gonna be dumb and fight the necromancer on my own' left, or 'I'm moving back home' left?" I think it's the former. * Patrick comes back downstairs in his black-dragon leather armor and equipped to fight. He grins. "What do you think? Ready to go? I'll start looking for tracks." I don't know for sure, but the guy who brought these said he went off on an errand of wrath. Ah, the dumb one. Shoulda known. * Ariake sighs. "I think we have to follow, then." * Seylin picks up one of the rings and slips it on, looking down at it sadly. "He left us some things." * WillS stands up. "We'll have to go after him then. We can't let him do this alone." * Tia nods. "I said I wouldn't let 'im do anything stupid." * Tia gets to her feet and retrieves her axe from where it was leaning against an adamantine couch. * Alcinoe nods and stands, heading up the stairs to grab her equipment. This one, he said was for me. * Patrick raises an eyebrow. "What do they do?" * Ariake heads out to collect hers. "I'll be back in ten." Medallions of Contact, a Ring of True Sacrifice, and a Ring of Scribing. * WillS goes to his room to prepare too. I'll be right back. * Seylin leaves the remaining two rings and the medallions on the table and heads up to her room. * Patrick picks up one of the medallions. "Cool." Meet me outside Pensword when you're ready to go. Remember, we don't have much time. ^_^ * Patrick exits the building. * Tia runs outside after Patrick. [ The smiling wizard is long gone by now. Probably just as well. ] * Istvan mutters. "So much for a nice long shower... gimme a minute to get my stuff together and put out the forge fire." * Istvan heads to his room to get his stuff together. * WillS comes back into the commonroom completely decked out in platemail. He looks about the room for Patrick. "Pat?" * Alcinoe comes down the stairs, too, wearing plate and carrying her runed shield. She tucks some now dry hair behind one ear and picks up one of the medallions. "Where'd they go?" * WillS looks back at Alci. "Don't know. Where did they go?" * Istvan returns, clad in his red dragon-scale full plate and carrying his war pick, pack, and backup weapons. "So what's the plan?" * Patrick is not there. He told you to meet by Pensword when you were ready. * Seylin runs back downstairs, wearing her chain shirt, halberd in hand and haversack on her back. "Where're the others?" * Patrick walks back into the room. "Little did I know Tia would follow me." He smirks. "Com'on people!" * Patrick strides out again to Pensword. Why wouldn't Tia follow you? And wait up! Oh, there ya are. ... Yeah. * Seylin heads out the door after him. * Alcinoe walks after, putting the medallion around her neck as she does. * Ariake walks back over just as you're all heading out, with travelling clothes and her Pack-o'-Stuff. * Ariake peers back in the door. "Hold the fort, would you, Antoine?" * WillS follows along side of Alci. * Istvan follows the rest of you out, wiping a last bit of soot of his face as he goes. * Tia has already run halfway to Pensword Hall. Luckily, she'd already had her things with her, as she's rarely without her bag. * Patrick screetches to a halt outside Pensword hall. Go that uber running speed. * Seylin walked intsead of flying, so she's still back with the others. * Alcinoe arrives eventually! Really, she does. * Istvan mutters. "Figures the sonuva bitch'd pull a stunt like this..." * Ariake arrives with most of the group. What'd ya expect. ^_^ * Tia waves at Patrick as he joins her. * Patrick waves at Tia. * WillS arrives when Alci does. ^^ Where do we go now? * Tia 's tail lashes behind her in agitation. * Patrick has been searching for evidence of where Kenji ran off to. [ Patrick finds enough for you to all get underway right away. ] * Patrick nods. "Com'on guys, let's move!" * Patrick starts following the trail at a decent pace. * Seylin takes off (literally, this time) after him. * Ariake follows! * Tia trots ahead after Patrick. [ Pat leads you down through the city, to the riverside trade highway. ] * Alcinoe nods and follows! Follows follows follows. * WillS follows along, trying not to run out of breath by pacing himself. [ You reach the edge of town, with it's mighty and lovely wall. ] Ah shit. He took a horse. Aargh. [ There's a place that rents and stables horses near the exit of the city. ] Grab a horse guys. I'm better off on foot, but those of you who can't move that fast might need one. I'm flying. * WillS nods then goes to buy himself a horse. How far are we going, Patrick? * Alcinoe nods and heads off to get a horse, too. I'll go with you, Sey. * Istvan gets a horse. "Been a while since I rode... eh, no biggie, I suppose." * Tia stretches her wings. * WillS notices Alci is getting a horse too and turns to the stable master. "Two of the fastest horse you have and can carry us wearing full armor please." Three. Istvan's gonna need one, too, ya know. [ The stable master shrugs. "And one fer the elf, too?" He points at Ariake. ] * Ariake nods. "Yes, please." * WillS nods. "Four horses." [ Horse, Get! ] * Alcinoe gets a horse and returns, riding it! She's not great, but she seems comfortable enough and isn't going to fall off anytime soon. * WillS climbs on top of his horse and rides up next to Alci. He's had enough training not to fall off at least. ;) * Istvan rides out on a big reddish-brown warhorse, looking a little unsure but overall fairly steady. * Patrick pulls the hood of his cape over his head. "Ready?" * Seylin fully unfolds her wings. Impressive wingspan she's got. "Ready." [ You set out! ] * WillS nods. "Let's go!" * Patrick sets out! * Seylin takes off! * Tia launches after Seylin. * Ariake is riding a white horse, small but powerful. She's...not very good at riding. * Ariake follows! Sort of. * Alcinoe managed to get herself a black horse. She's frowning and looking around, and generally not happy about this at all. * Patrick is being very diligent in following the tracks. * Seylin is murmuring something to herself as she flies. None of you can likely hear it, but it's probably a prayer of some sort. * Istvan rides, looking a bit more comfortable as he gets moving. "If Kenji did go to that necromancer on his own... we're gonna be walkin' into a helluva lotta undead." *looks at Will and Alci* "Hope you guys are feeling especially faithful today." * Patrick motions for Seylin to lower her altitude so they can talk while he's tracking. * Seylin descends in a swift and easy motion. Ah don't know how ya can be especially faithful, an' Ah wasn't prepared. But we'll do our best. * Patrick whispers to Seylin as he keeps going. * WillS looks grim. "We're always ready to handle undead Isty. Just hope Kenji can hang on long enough for us to reach him." [ Our Heroes ride on through the day. ] [ They go through a trade-tunnel - one of the paved and leveled ones, thankfully - and emerge into a canyon that's probably more of a sinkhole. It's dark now, but Patrick is still on Kenji's track. ] * Tia coasts along, keeping about the same speed as Patrick as he tracks. * Patrick looks around and nods. "Com'on, we still got a ways to go." He continues moving. * Alcinoe looks around as she continues trotting. "Yeah." * Seylin flies onward. She's been silent, except for the occasional whispered remark to Patrick. * Istvan scritches his horse between the ears as he keeps on riding. "s'a good girl..." * Ariake rides on. She's been thinking, watching the scenery, and trying to talk to her horse. * Seylin points at something in the distance. "I think that's him! And a *heck* of a lot of zombies." * WillS rides on. Thankfully the ride has been pretty simple on the nice paved roads of the trade-tunnel. Sixty, seventy, maybe. * Tia looks down. "Kenji!" * Alcinoe looks at the zombies, then Will, then pushes her horse to go faster. Good lord... * Tia dives down toward the zombies. * Istvan draws his war pick, then urges his horse forward. "This is gonna get messy..." * WillS blinks. "Wow, that's a lot of zombies." * Ariake prepares to fight! [ Soon you all see him; he's on top of a hill some hundered or so yards off, amidst a sea of undead. I'm gonna go ahead and ask for initiatie. ] * Patrick pulls out his shiny new bow and aims... * Tia brandishes her axe and roars. [ Patrick, go! ] * Patrick runs forward a good 60 ft and looses one arrow at one of the undead. "Let's go!" [ Pat hits a zombie with an arrow, and it looks about to fall, but doesn't. ] [ Kenji! ] * HKenji is glowing brightly as his ancestress strikes in tandem with him, guiding his blade as it cleaves three undead in twain and badly wounds a fourth. * HKenji is, unusually, using both his katana and wakizashi to smite undead quite well, even as his ancestress did five hundred years before. [ Seylin! ] * Seylin soars overhead, flying straight above the horde. She says something in a very lyrical voice as she goes, then thrusts her hands downward at the undead. A beam of bright light comes down from the sky and strikes the horde. [ 14 undead fall before Seylin's display of holy smiting. Will! ] * WillS holds his holy symbol in front of him as he bids his horse to ride to the horde of undead. He releases a wave of holy energy in front of him as he gets within range. "Don't hurt my friend you fiends!" [ Will sends out a surge of white light! 10 undead fall before him! ] [ Alcinoe! ] * Alcinoe leans forward and gallops after Will, staring straight into the zombies and yelling something as she holds her shield before her. The runes shine, a golden light beginning to form. [ Alcinoe sends out another surge! 9 undead turn to dust! ] [ Tia! ] * Tia dives down toward the undead near Kenji and roars, swinging her axe in a great arc as she meets them from above. * Tia looks enraged. [ Tia lands amidst the zombie and splats one but good. The zombies attack! ] [ Zombies attack Kenji and Tia, since they're the closest targets; their limbs imact uselessly agaisnt Tia's hide, while Kenji dodges nimbly. ] [ Ariake! ] * Ariake smiles ferally and unleashes a Fireball on a group of zombies! [ The fireball explodes, tossing dead zombie all over the place. Tia's at the edge of the blast, but she doesn't seem to be at all bothered by it. ] [ Istvan, go! ] * Istvan rides his horse up to near the horde of zombies, muttering words in dwarven to raise the flames on his pick. He then hops off and swings at the first zombie he reaches. [ Istvan splats an undead, too! ] [ Istvan hacks apart another two zombies before he runs out! And now it's Patrick's turn! ] * Patrick steadies his bow and fires four arrows in quick succession at the zombie horde. * Istvan scowls. "Damned zombies..." [ Pat fells two more zombies! There's less than a dozen of them, now. ] [ Kenji's turn! ] * HKenji turns into a blur of flashing steel, blades swinging in every possible direction as zombie body parts go flying like smurfs in a blender. Two zombie heads fall to the ground, and two other zombies fall missing various other body parts, leaving only one standing within Kenji's reach. [ Seylin's turn! ] * Seylin swoops past the horde again, and in a far less impressive display, hacks at a zombie with her halberd as she goes. [ Seylin almost but not quite destroys a zombie! Stubborn things, zombies. ] [ Will's turn! ] * Will unsheathes his sword as he hops off his horse. He then swings at the closest zombie he reaches. [ Will finishes off Seylin's zombie! ] [ Alcinoe! ] * Alcinoe approaches and slows, looking steadily at the remaining zombies. No last words for these guys. [ Alcinoe sends forth another wave of light, obliterating the remaining zombies. ] [ And that's that, for those poor undead fellows. ] * HKenji flicks the zombie gore off his blades and sheathes them in a nice smooth motion. It then becomes apparent that he's well on the way to being badly bruised, and he stinks, too, courtesy some nasty zombie- pus. Kenji! * Patrick sprints forward at the last of the zombies. "Kenji, what the hell were you doing?!" * Tia runs up and envelops him in a hug. "Are you okay?" * Ariake rides forward, waving. Tia, put me down. * Tia does so and glances at Kenji sadly. * Seylin lands, halberd still in hand. * Istvan says a few words, and his pick flares up, burning off the zombie bits before returning to normal. He lumbers up to where Kenji and the others are. "You're welcome." * Patrick skids to a stop right next to Seylin and winks at her. "Nice job!" * Will wipes his swords clean before sticking it back into the scabbard. * HKenji turns away from Tia to face the opening in the cliff from which the zombies came. "Your assistance was not necessary. It was, however, appreciated." * Seylin grins briefly at him, before turning her attention back to Kenji. Why did you follow me? Why did you think we wouldn't? You're our friend, Kenji, and we care about you. Because, for some reason, we don't wanna see you get your dumb ass killed. Did you really think we were just gonna let you go like that? Dude, dead friends are bad Karma. * Alcinoe slides off her horse. "'Cause Ah can't have mah arranged friend dyin' on me before Ah even gave 'im a ring." Why'd you go off by yourself, Kenji? You told me you wouldn't... We lost Vall. We weren't going to lose you as well. * Will nods. "I don't want to see another friend die." * Ariake nods. "We couldn't possibly ignore this." You do realize that going off alone in this is almost as dumb as what Vall did? * Patrick smirks. "Almost?" I am nothing like Vall. I think it was what Vall did. I would have won. It was merely a matter of time. And when the next wave came? With no healer around? * Alcinoe watches, staying quiet. ... or maybe you figured this was an easy way out of your arrainged marraige, hmm? Can't force you to get married if your dead? * HKenji GLARES at Istvan. "How DARE you imply that I would try to dishonor my family?!" * Tia cringes. * Patrick rolls his eyes. * Istvan smirks. "Touchy, touchy. I'm just tryin' to figure out why an intelligent, well-trained warrior like you would do something as dumb as going after a powerful mage by yourself when ya got a bunch of willing backup." * HKenji stalks off towards the opening left in the cliff by the emerging undead. Only things I can think of are ego or my previous suggestion... *shakes his head at the retreating Kenji* Yer lettin' yer anger get the better of ya, Kenji. * Tia quickly follows behind Kenji. "We just wanna help, Kenji. Don't be mad." * Istvan mutters. "Ass." * Seylin shakes her head. "Here we go..." * Patrick whispers to Seylin. * Ariake sighs. * Istvan collects his horse, and saddles up, walking in the direction Kenji's going. * Ariake follows Istvan. * Alcinoe looks at Will for a moment, then heads after them. * Seylin whispers back to Patrick as they head in after Kenji. * Patrick nods and heads after Kenji. * Will sighs, then goes and follows Alci. [ And so they walked off into the dungeon of the Necromancer! Session End. ]