Taylen slowly circles the campfire making sure the drieds grasses are sufficiently away from the fire so he doesn't set the whole area on fire and then walks over to where he left his pack

Taylen puts his flint and steel back in his pack and goes to find Willias's elf and the dwarf to see about making aggrangements for watches over the camp

Hide, you fool! They might see you!

Slowly, yet quicker than before, the lizardman began to flatten himself down below the high grasses. It did not offer the best camouflage in the world, but it was cover. And cover was absolutely necessary.

ooc:
For those who opened straight to page 4 (this page), the last post on page 3 is important. Don't let it slip by unnoticed

The rock with the twinkling spots appears to be quickly sinking into the grass. It may not be a rock after all. However, as it has dropped from your line of sight, you can't really examine it further from here.

Taylen

It appears you cleared a wide enough area around the fire, though there's no telling for sure what a strong wind would do.

As you return for your pack, you notice the half-human girl is up and about. She smiles at you as you pass by.

Taylen yawns sleepily and gazes out across the landscape

(ooc darn writers block I ran out of ideas)

Well, the meat doesn't look any different...

There it is- That rock... Or, maybe it was an animal nest? Or maybe... This wasn't the time for wondering what it was- It was moving. And that meant it was alive.

"I knew I saw something..." Khazmon mutters to himself, slowly going over to his pile of equipment to retrieve his axes.

After sitting down for a while, he hears another voice asking, "Excuse me sir." He looks up and sees an elf standing above him. "Ah hello there." Aust says after swallowing a bite of the ration. "My name is Aust, um, you were that guy who saved the young girl right? Anyways, what do you need?" Aust stands up and looks at the elf. "May I know your name?" He pauses and listens to nearby footsteps. He turns around looks over to Khazmon, noticing that he is grabbing his weapons. "Khazmon, what are you doing?" he asks.

[ 01-12-2002: Message edited by: Willias ]

Taylen waits patiently smiling for a response when he hears the voice of Freya at his elbow
Taylen looks over and smiles taking the meat from her "Thank you Frey I was wondering what I would do now that my rations are gone"
Taylen sniffs the meat cautiously decides it smell edible and tears off a bit chewing slowly
Taylen smiles in mild surprize that it not only is edible but actually fairly tasty

"I saw something... It moved... There!" Khazmon pointed to where he saw it move.

"Probably a forest thing waiting for a chance to get our food..."

ooc:
For reference, once your character has received a formal introduction to another character (i.e. once your character knows another character's name), you are perfectly free to use the character's name when speaking about him or her. Actually, you could use the character's name anyway, as long as your character only speaks/thinks the names that he or she knows. I've personally found that it helps with roleplay to use the names your character knows.

Just my two coppers

You can hear conversation coming from the camp. Most of it is too low to be distinguished, though not so quiet as whispers would be. One voice, however, stands out. The dwarf speaks quite loudly, and is a good ten steps from the others. While you can only make out bits and pieces of the brief conversation between him and one of the elves, you hear the dwarf say very clearly, "There!" The overturned wagon partially obstructs your view of him, he does appear to be pointing in your direction.

So, taking his axes, the lighter one in his left hand, he began to slowly step towards what he saw move.

"Khazmon, right?" she asks, approaching the dwarf. "I'm Ara. If we hadn't been gagged, I would've introduced myself before. It feels kind of silly now." She seems not to pay any attention to where Khazmon is pointing.

At this, Drakkenclaw paused for a moment. He would have cursed his stupidity, if not for the urgent need to retain his hidden state. His actions had only contributed to the hostility he would meet with if caught!

He thought of standing, presenting himself to his pursuers in a display of harmlessness. But his body would hear nothing of it, and continued on his path. A series of voices flashed through his head. His instincts were screaming for a mad flight away into the dreary-but-glorious cover of the forest. His teachings floated back to him as well, urging him to fight the predators who would certainly pursue him - Though ants may have venom, they cannot kill the bird. It is more powerful, for it is stronger and faster, and it shall remain so no matter the number of foes. The ants flee when the bird turns its eye to them.

And there was also the wisp of a memory tugging at his mind again, as the voice of an old lesson forced its way to the front of his mind. Bargaining is the tool of the weak, it murmured,a tactic used by those weakened by denial to get what their instincts crave without having to abandon their fantasy.

Faced with such opposition, all Drakkenclaw could do was crawl onwards. He could not bring himself to stop, and fought his predator's fire with all his mind. It was the only recourse, and it was taken.

While you cannot see the object or creature you noticed before, you do see very clearly that something is moving through the grasses, though you have yet to get a clear glimpse of what it might be. The overturned wagon now stands between you and the fire, allowing your darkvision to slip back into the edges of your sight.

Willias

The dwarf, Khazmon, seems to be focused on something in the grasses. At first you see nothing. Then, after a moment, you can see the grasses swaying, as if being brushed aside in a zigzag path. Its movement is slow, but purposeful, as it makes its way around you and the two others beside you, towards the edge of the forest.

What...Whats going on? I just saw an...explosion of sorts come from here...

[ 01-13-2002: Message edited by: Falaanla Marr ]

"Now I gotcha..." he muttered to himself, and began running towards where it looked like the thing was going.

ooc:
As I've already mentioned, there's a close-up overhead view of your immediate vicinity on the game's website. I've been keeping it up to date as best I can, and thanks to my brother, it now has a script that will force the maps page to refresh every few minutes (just in case).

You notice, quite clearly in fact, that the center of the camp is lit by a decent-sized campfire. You can now see all around the camp, as well as 15 or 20 feet beyond in most directions. At the edge of this distance, you can make out movement and passing shadows. The profile of your familiar has nearly disappeared among the branches, though the eyes of the owl you saw seem to glow orange in the firelight.

Just then, you hear Ithar chime in, "Where fat guy going?" The little bird darts down, landing on a now-horizontal bar of the overturned wagon.

Drakkenmaw

It is obvious at this point that the dwarf has spotted you. To continue at this rate would allow him to catch up with you. You could make a break for the trees, but doing so would reveal you completely, losing any cover you might have. He is already within ten paces of you, so whatever you decide, you would need to decide quickly.

Ruvyen

You close quickly on the moving creature hidden in the grasses. Another few steps and you will be upon it.

Taylen & Aanile

The little winged girl hovers up beside you, and it is towards the two of you that she has directed her inquiry. The robed elf has walked over to the supply cart, while the one in traveler's clothes and the red-haired half-human walked over to the dwarf (who has since started to run away from the campsite).

Willias

You notice Khazmon bolt after whatever is parting the grasses, with an axe in each hand.

Drakkenclaw's body had in the meantime gone stiff as hardened iron, freezing in its crouched location. Its eyes darted wildly about in a feral fashion, rapidly scanning the scene for motion and almost as quickly sorting it into a list of pursuers and unimportant errata.

Below its monk outfit, the lizardman's tail twitches slightly. It sniffs the air, and pauses.

ooc:
Well, Reyolen's back. I'm giving him another shot, but this is his only chance to redeem himself.

The creature stops suddenly as you draw near its path, and in your streaking charge, you manage to pass right by it, missing intercepting it by no more than a few feet. At this range, though, you'd have no trouble finding it if you simply double back for about eight or ten paces.

Falaanla

"Okay!" Ithar responds. The bird remains perched for now, as it apparently has a decent enough view of the surrounding area. The bird's eyes are probably a good deal better than yours, and it's already closer to the action, though at a safe enough distance to avoid getting involved.

Drakkenmaw

The dwarf ambles past you in a run. However, an new sound reaches your ears. Chanting, coming from the campsite, reminds you of the place you once called home. An elf on the near edge of the campsite appears to be pointing at you. Beside him, a half-elven woman with bright red hair has a rather confused look on her face, as she calls out, "Hey, were are you going?!"

Reyolen

You're hungry, you're tired, and nobody is paying any attention to you. You could get at the supplies in your pack at this point, though the pack itself would be quite difficult to liberate. Then there's the cart of supplies, which you've found yourself walking towards in a sort of half-daze. As you look into the camp, there is now a fire going. It might have been the initial blaze of the fire which put you in a daze... or perhaps that's what brought you out of it. Right now, you're really just too hungry to care which.

On one side of the camp, an elf in leather, a fellin woman similarly clad, and a small winged girl are gathered, apparently engaged in idle chatter. Towards the other side of camp, where your backpack is still strapped on the dead creature's shoulders, the half-human woman and an elf you had paid little mind to before are looking out towards the darkness. The elf is chanting, most likely the beginnings of a spell. If that is the case, it is still too early to discern what he is casting. Not that it's likely to make you any less hungry or thirsty or tired. Your wrists are still sore from being bound so long.

He continued his thinking until he had reached his pack attacted to the lizard's corpse. He paid little attention to the other people around, or what was going on at all. His attention was split between the pain in his head, his hunger, and his pack, from which he took his belongings. Then, still hearing the chanting, he watched the elf's casting closely, trying to determine what he was casting, so he could have an idea as to why. He would head back toward the cart in a bit.

ooc: I could not find anywhere exactly what is in my pack at the moment. I read of a stack of a shortbow, rapier, and daggers, but that was in the cart. I will assume it was any of my stuff you didn't say it was in there.

[ 01-18-2002: Message edited by: Reyolen ]

OOC: I cast magic missle.

[ 01-18-2002: Message edited by: Willias ]

ooc:
Willias, good casting description, but I handle the spell effects, understand?

quote:

---

I'm attacking the darkness!

---

The contents of your pack are, as far as you can tell, unchanged from when you last repacked it. Your bedroll is still strapped to the pack's underside. Inside the pack, you notice that many of your possessions are covered in black ink and small shards of glass. Your vial of ink was crushed, and though you couldn't say for certain when it happened, the most likely time was whenever the lizardman landed on it. Fortunately, any supplies that might have gotten damaged by the ink were wrapped in cloth or encased, and seem intact. The ink is still wet.

As for the spell, that becomes readily apparent. A glow forms at the elf's fingertips, and with the shouting of a few sharp words, his four fingers are encircled in a single white light, which looses itself in a spiral. Spinning and flaring like a festival firework, the spark of light streaks through the air, making a whistling sound as it goes. The spell is a magic missle, something which you have found some use for on occasion.

Willias

The bolt of silvery light breaks free of your fingers, giving you a slight shock as it goes. The feeling is nothing unusual to you, though from what you heard at the Vista School of Ancient Arts, it isn't supposed to happen.

The bolt of energy swirls in a neat spiral, striking downward into the grasses at the spot where you had been concentrating a moment before.

Ruvyen

As you turn to face the creature, whatever it may be, you notice a flare of light streak towards you from the campsite. It travels in a spiral, and turns downward only at the last second, striking into the grasses no more than six paces from where you stand. Perhaps you did not overrun the creature as far as you thought.

Drakkenmaw

A flare of white light drops into the grass beside you, bursting at your side. It hits the fringe of your cloak with a spark as it goes, and the possibility of fire quickly runs its way through your mind. The bulk of the sparks, however, fall upon a single blade of grass, which they utterly annihilate. Other than a small zap, much like the jolt from a static-soaked shirt, reaches your side.

ooc:
Drak, you take 1hp of damage. The grass stalk (which filled the majority of the space designated as the target) took 3hp of damage and died.

There seems to be some commotion coming from the other side of camp. Twin Moon swoops out of her perch in the trees, and begins circling over some spot beyond the far side of the camp. It appears the dwarf is over there, searching the grasses.

The elf and half-elf standing on the far side of camp both shout, first the half-elven (or half-human for Taylen) woman, then the elf a few seconds later.

While these throughts were running in Drakkenclaw's disembodied mind, his physical self was busy. At the pain of the spell's contact, it leapt from its position towards the cover of the woods - almost floating above the grass as it springs off its four limbs and into the air. As it lands, it scurries in high flight towards the brush. It leaps randomly, shifting location and direction slightly every time, yet makes a general dash for the cover of the dark woods.

ooc:
Woah, this is gonna add a lot of new stuff. Pay attention everyone, and welcome to your first in-game combat sequence . I'm updating the map to make things easier.

The first item that comes out of your pack in your hand is the small, steel mirror you carry with you wherever you go. Without paying much attention, you start wiping it off with your sleeve. This seems to work well enough, though your outfit, if not completely filthy already, is now ink-stained.

Willias

You see a large brown object leap forth from the grasses quite suddenly, scaring you half out of your wits! It bounds past the dwarf, headed for the trees beyond.

Ruvyen

Out of the grasses before you, a tremendous lizard, shrouded in brown cloth, leaps suddenly in your direction! At the last instant it strikes the earth and turns aside, bounding past on your left in a single leap. If you move quickly, you could take a single swipe at the beast before it escapes your reach once again.

Drakkenmaw

Your course takes you directly past the dwarf. While it adds the benefit of surprise, it makes you vulnerable. However, it is too late now to reconsider. You leap past the rotund being with his sharp blades, seeking the promised cover of the trees before you.

Falaanla

"Fight! Fight!" you hear your familiar crying out. The small bird takes to the sky, and joins the owl in its circling, though Ithar's circles are wider and more quickly made than those of the larger bird.

Consider that if I my character's thoughts dictate it he could take at least one party member with him to the grave, and especially that he does not wish to. Let's try to find a way that all our characters might survive, shall we? People involved in this combat, try and IM me so I don't have to resort to using my backup person the moment after Drakkenclaw is introduced to the party. My IM name is Drakkenmaw.

*sigh* And my introduction I had planned for him would have all the inherent distrust and dislike this one will likely give him, without the accompanying wounds.