Ellendera, Hillia - Chapter 1

[The Pilot]

ooc// Does Egypt exist in accordance with this world? >>; //

[Lady Hammer]

((OOC: No, and I was gonna pick at that... xD))

[Jesse]

"You'd do best to stay out of politics, Scyndil, things...happen to people who stick there nose where it doesn't belong. At least where we're from, I don't know about here, but I wouldn't like to find out." It could be taken as a threat from Tain's tone of voice but she meant it as a warning, while she didn't care much about strangers she didn't like to see children dragged into things and it looked like Cynthia would be.

"It doesn't sound as if there's a job waiting for you anyways." Zaon said. He settled back in his chair and closed his eyes, breathing slowly and deeply he looked asleep at first glance but he was very much aware of the conversations going on around him, especially the one held between the strange man and his companion.

"It looks like we aren't the only ones listening in on a conversation." Tain eyed the boy sitting at the next table, he looked like trouble for all of his small size.

[Tainted Sunshine]

Kadoori was paralyzed, her eyes were wide with fear and her heart was racing. The dog was back; the big brown dog that had attacked her was sitting plain as day in the middle of the street. Why doesn’t anyone else see it? Why does no one ever see him? The dog growled a warning; Kadoori paled and let out a squeak. Hesitantly, she took a step back, and froze yet again when the dog bared its teeth.

“Oh Kadoori, help me now,” Summoning the strength of her namesake, she closed her eyes for a moment. When Kadoori opened them the dog was closer, but an icy calm had given her back her senses. Fight or flight…? She mused; her eyes still riveted to the canine's pointed teeth. The dog started forward, without any hesitation Kadoori turned tail and ran. Definitely flight.

As she rounded a corner, the Beryl Mug Inn came into her view. Escape clouding her mind, Kadoori wrenched open the door and crossed the threshold of the building. "Bonnes sunnhet," she muttered, before dashing to a table. Ignoring the curious glances she was sure she was getting, Kadoori pulled out a chair and sat down. She looked down at her hands and willed herself to concentrate, a moment later three Golden Violets appeared in the palm of her hand. Barely able to resist the sweet aroma, Kadoori began to nibble on the flowers. Bliss…

[The Pilot]

"Damn," Ender muttered, and began to tear the white cloak from his shoulders. He wadded up the fabric into a ball and set it in his lap. "It's too hot in here. If I had sweat glands, I'd be sweating."

"Ah, your kind never ceases to amuse me, sir."

Just then, a small girl rushed into the tavern, a wild look in her eyes. Ender raised an eyebrow, but only looked on for a moment or two before turning away. He leaned in toward his servant. "This neck of the woods seems to be a magnet for an assortment of characters," he said in a low voice. "I'm starting to think that I was pretty sheltered over in Agathon."

"See? Perhaps this trip was for the best after all. You've got to get out once in a while, you know."

Ender paused, downed the dregs of his beverage, and rubbed his chin in a very human way. "You know, you're right. I wonder what kinds of exotic weapons they'd have here..."

Daedus narrowed his glowing blue eyes. "I didn't mean that kind of getting out."

The Ardenan shrugged dramatically. "Why not? It's all the same. Besides, you know it's a guilty pleasure of mine. It's the whole reason I bothered to go through all the tribulations involved in walking to begin with."

If a body made from wood and iron, animated through the invocation of a young page's lost spirit, could wince, he did. "Ah, yes, sir. If it's the one thing I remember about excruciating pain, it that I didn't much enjoy it."

"Well, chloroform certainly helps."

ooc// I think at this point we need a sudden, though not totally random, event to occur, preferably of the disastrous variety, so that our characters will have a good reason to form a cohesive group, and also to jumpstart a storyline.. //

[Lady Hammer]

Scyndil was about to do two of two things: make a comment back to Tain, and make a comment of the strange girl conjuring things at her lone table, but something interrupted the flow of things happening in the Beryl Inn.

From a higher story, something small and round tumbled down the stairs and rolled around by the entrance for a few seconds. Cynthia and Scyndil both squinted.

"What's--"

A bright flash emitted from the object, and before anyone could tell what was happening, an explosion went off. An explosion of the invisible kind. Scyndil watched as she saw the building crumbling, drywall falling and toppling over everyone that was previously having an enjoyable time. She also saw the building perfectly stable. The destruction was hardly visible, in fact, it was like only a part of her mind could see it.

"It's an Ethereal Bomb!" Cynthia shouted, motioning for everyone to duck under the table. "As long as we can take cover, we should be okay! It only harms your ethereal body, not your physical one. Scyndil, tell them!" The white-haired woman cleared her throat before taking a chair and holding it over her head.

"HEY EVERYONE!" Screams faltered for her voice. "DUCK AND COVER!"

It was just a few moments of ethereal terror, and everything was back to normal.

Save for five tall, black-armored humanoids standing, armed, in front of all exits. The Beryl Mug Inn was under seige.

"Do as we say. You will not be harmed."

Cynthia gave her acquaintences a warning look and shook her head as faintly as she could, her eyes bulging wide.



((ooc: Sorry for the messy, horrible-quality post. I've had an extremely stressful day and I can't really do anything coherent. Please forgive me... -_-))

[Jesse]

Tain winced as the bomb went off, watching reality seem to split down the middle as she saw the building both destroyed and completely intact was sickening. Following Scyndil's lead both she and Zaon dove under the table beside Cynthia.

"What the hell is an ethereal bomb?" Zaon demanded, eyes closed tightly to avoid looking at the two seperate images. "Couldn't they just use a normal one?"

"Maybe they didn't want to kill everyone." Tain muttered. As she watched people around the room dove for cover, just as whatever had been going on stopped as quickly as it had begun. Unfortunately it had left behind another problem for them to deal with. "What are you going to do? Kill us if we don't? Seems like you took some effort not to with that fake bomb of yours, so why would you want to do it the hard way now? Doesn't make much sense the way I see it." She stood, knocking the table sideways and out of her way, dragging her sword out of her bag as she straightened.

"Tain, it's not exactly brilliant to start a fight before you even know what they want." Zaon hissed, wrapping a hand around her ankle to keep her from moving any farther from the relative safety of the table.

"I don't care what they want, they aren't getting it this way. Honestly I'd just like to see some spilt blood before the day is out."


(ooc: Lady, that was better than most of my posts ever are. XD)

[The Pilot]

"Cet... duar-," he said in his mother tongue. "I mean... what?"

All 300 pounds of Ender Mosley had been knocked off its stool and onto the ground. He coughed for a moment as the wind had been knocked from his lung and scrambled up to his feet again. Daedus was standing there like nothing had happened.

"Are you alright, sir?" He asked, offering a hand.

"What happened?" Ender suddenly had a migraine. "If that was an explosive device, it certainly didn't do its job very well."

"No explosive, sir, and no flash grenade either. Ethereal bomb."

The blue creature managed to stand up again, and caught his breath. Through the spots in his eyes he could see that the building was still perfectly intact, but everyone was not where they were a moment before. And yes, there was some chaos."Ah, that explains it..."

"Do as we say. You will not be harmed."

Ender jerked his head up, looking for the owner of the voice. Menacing men in suits of black armor blocked the exits, and it was one of them who had spoken. His toxic yellow green eyes darted from one shady villain to the next. After a brief moment, he whispered to Daedus: "Do you ,in all your infinite wisdom of the world, happen to know who these people are?"

The golem stepped behind his master, who was still a few inches taller, and attempted to remain unseen. "Fear, sir, as you might know, begets stupidity."

Ender knitted his brows and chewed on his lip. "That's what I was afraid of." Unbeknown to him, however, his skin began to darken the slightest bit.

[Tainted Sunshine]

Peeking out from under her table, Kadoori couldn't help but feel a rush of excitement. In all of the stories she'd ever heard, adventures had always started out with something rather unfortunate and unexpected. This most definitely fell into both categories. The only downer that Kadoori could see was that she was still hiding under the table, and not forming a heroic plan of action. Time to save the day!

"Do as we say. You will not be harmed."

Nevermind. I like this table, I'm staying here. Clutching the table leg, Kadoori remained on the floor with no intention of moving. The dark men sent shivers down Kadoori's spine, and she didn't think they would be amused by her foolish plans for heroic action. I should do something though...

Kadoori reached into one of her jackets pockets and felt the rough texture of one of her wooden needles. She firmly grabbed it and slowly brought her hand back up to the table leg. Biting her lip worriedly, Kadoori hoped that the dark soldiers had not noticed her small movements. A wooden needle wasn't going to do much good, but it made her feel as if she had some control over the situation.

[Pyre]

Tom licked his lips and dove under the table, willing to blend in for the moment. Excitement and evil: just what he was looking for.
Do what we say. You will not be harmed.
Tom furrowed his brow, his eyes darkening slightly. Couldn't they tell pure evil was with them in the room? Couldn't they sense him? He craned his neck and gazed at them. They looked intimidating; he wished he was in a slightly more frightening form, but there was no time to change it now. He puffed out his chest and crawled over closer to the men.
"What's going on?" he shouted, aware that he was taking a risk. "I demand to know what is going on!"

/Not the best. I have a horrid case of writer's block./

[Pyre]

/Whoops, I thought that made italics xD/

[The Pilot]

ooc// You gotta do it in BBC code I think it's called.
Forums generally don't recognize normal html.

[Lady Hammer]

A lanky, somewhat feminine man approached one of the figures standing at an exit, and made a rather intruding demand. Scyndil couldn't believe her eyes. Was he that dumb? You didn't just demand to know things from someone who looked much stronger than you! Especially when they came in numbers!

"Scyndil!"

Cynthia's whisper caught the white-haired woman's ears, and she licked her lips to show that she had heard.

"I sense more ethereal weapons! Do something or that man will get hurt!" Cynthia shot quick glances to Tain and Zaon as well, hoping that they had heard her. Suddenly, the guard that the strange man had questioned growled and materialized a heavy mace. Scyndil's eyes widened.

"You are not the one in control here! Do not ask questions!"

At once, Scyndil coughed up all the saliva she could and spat, and then flexed the muscles in her hand. It became a frozen sliver of ice floating in the air, and she sent it zooming towards the guard with the mace, cutting the skin on his face.

"Okay guys, call dibs on your guy and start hammering!"

Stupid, stupid, stupid, Scyndil thought. She had made a stupid move. The mace-armed guard glared at her and clenched his fist around his weapon, and swung it into the nearest normal-looking civilian. A poor woman's head was smashed in, blood and brains splattering the floor, and screams and cries splattering the air.

"We told you to obey!"

Scyndil's heart beat fast. She had to act. Quickly, she flashed a glance at Cynthia.

"Get me some water!"

[The Pilot]

Ender's eyes widened in sheer horror as he watched a woman's gray matter make a beautiful Jackson Pollock on the floor and surrounding furniture.

Unable to conjure a witty comment about the current situation, he stared, mouth agape and dry, at the scene unfolding before them. Women and children shrieked and and began to weep as one of their innocent comrades was struck down. A small glimmering thing had cut his cheek and thrown him into a rage.

Suddenly, and off to his left, a young white-haired woman became apparent in his line of vision. Was she to make the first move against these men? He felt compelled to help, but he was rather unarmed.

"Do something, master!" Daedus hissed from behind Ender.

"With what!" he whispered back.

"Sir, you're at least 100 pounds heavier and a foot taller than any of these men! That's got to count for something! And what's that rumor about your skin?"

Ender swallowed. Daedus was right... he could probably punch one of their faces in if he tried. And he was right about the rumors too. Mariners were known to have used their rough skin as weapons in battles. Much like tiny teeth in certain parts, they could do some serious damage if used right. It's where that saying came from: You don't want to rub a sea-farer the wrong way.

With a deep inhale, he flexed his fingers. "Gotta try everything at least once."

[Pyre]

Tom saw this all happen through wide eyes. They turned pink again and he dived for cover, flushing. Perhaps, he thought, that risk was too risky.

A thought hit him in the side of his head like an anvil. Could it be that these monsters couldn't sense his true form? He had been stuck in this tiny thirteen-year-old boy's form for a long time... had he suddenly become molded into it? He used up some of his energy to change his hand into a puff of black smoke and sighed in relief.

Another thought suddenly frightened him. Perhaps- just perhaps- they didn't care. Maybe they were so evil that they could not be bothered by demons.

He chuckled, though he felt like shivering. The only forms that were more evil than demons were... he could not bring himself to even think the name. He had once heard of these monsters. They were shape-shifters, a hollow shell of their leader. Their leader controlled all of them with his cruelness, and the bigger the army, the more horrible their leader was bound to be.

Tom licked his crimson lips, his eyes darkening. He crawled over to the others and quickly explained his findings in a hushed tone, wishing that his chest would stop hurting. It strained against him every time he breathed, forcing his breath to sound ragged.