Perditions Tale, Chapter 1: "The First Night"

[CelesJessa]

"Alright men," The king said, pacing about the room. "As you may already know, at the changing of the guard last night, it appears someone got inside and kidnapped the princess Lady Seilen from her own room. We believe it was the work of the sorcerer Skurai who is rumored to live near the Hikage Mountains." The king stopped pacing and looked at the misfit group of 'heroes'. "You have been chosen, heaven knows why Sir Hessian chose you, to undertake this mission of finding the location of the princess and rescuing her... good luck, and godspeed."


The large group wandered out of the castle after the king had breifed them.
"Finally done?" Cesia Illuser said. She was leaning against the castle walls, waiting for them.

"Why didn't you come in?"

"Meh..." Cesia scoffed, then walked over the the group. "I hate castles. Everything is too... formal." She rummaged around, "Plus I figured that if there was anything I needed to know. I'm sure one of you guys will be able to tell me. Unless none of you were listening." She smiled as she pulled out a small bag, "Plus while you guys were in there, I saved us some time by buying some items for us." She tossed each of them a few potions, giving any left over to Dawn Trevelyan, since she was the healer in the group.


After a long afternoon of walking, the group finally set up camp for the first night. They had camp set up a few yards off of a large horse trail in the woods. A small fire was burning in the center of the camp...

(OOC: alright, just talk and do such like that. An event will happen soon enough. But I'll be off and on, we're re-arranging my house for some dumb reason and I have to help every now and then. ^^; But, thus starts the RP. Whew. I hope I did alright. ^^)

[Raiden]

Tamakatari searched the ground near the camp. He found a broken stick by an old tree. He picked it up gently, and slowly pulled his leather gloves off. He took a firm hold of the stick, and closed his eyes. The stick began to glow, and then became almost a liquid. In a few moments, it transformed itself into a large Zanbatou. It's pole was thick, and the large blade on top had several symbols inscribed in it. It wasn't one of his better ones, but he didn't need to be fancy. He just needed it for guard duty.

He looked at the others in the camp, and sniffed. He didn't like groups. He'd rather be by himself. He would have gone after the princess alone, but he knew he'd have been killed going in alone. Whether he liked it or not, he needed them.

[Dante]

Kazuki stretched and yawned, then chided himself for his weakness. Granted it was pretty late... but he had to keep his eyes open. After all, they were in the middle of the woods, and who knew what evil lay in the darkness?

He took out a portion of his beef jerky and started chewing on it idly as he looked around the campsite. A motley crew indeed. There was a healer sitting down by the fire, not bad-looking, but Kazuki wasn't in the mood for it. There was the Captain of the Guard with his big shiny sword and big clanking armor. Then there was a wizard type, looking all grim and fierce. Kazuki pegged him as being one of those evil mages that he'd had to spy on during his internship. Beside the wizard was a cat curled up by the fire. Kazuki took the it to be the wizard's familiar, and mentally revised his opinion of the wizard down a couple of notches. He hated cats.

He looked to the perimeter, where one of their group had made a huge sword appear out of nowhere. Kazuki thought of asking him how he had done it, but decided not to. The other guy didn't look like the talking type.

[Squishy Cheeks]

Cid took the break in the travels to sharpen his sword. He looked over the group. Each had a reputaition for "special" talents let's see if those talents would be necessary.

[CelesJessa]

Cesia was sitting in the grass, close to the fire. She glanced around at the misfit group. <Why would the captain pick these people to go on this mission?> She sighed and looked up, trying to see a sign of some stars through the trees.

[Dante]

Kazuki finished the last of his jerky and sighed.

Oh well, I should at least get to know these guys a little better.

He stood up and walked over to the girl Cesia.

"Hi. Heard your name was Cesia. Mine's Kazuki."

He extended a hand to her and smiled. Or at least he tried to smile, under the mask.

[CelesJessa]

Cesia looked over at Kazuki, she uneasily shook his hand, "Nice to meet you. Looks like this group is gonna be together for awhile now until we save this princess."

[Dante]

"Guess so..."

He picked up a pebble and tossed it into the fire. The silence was getting a little too awkward for him.

"Well... the king did say something about all of us having a special ability of some sort before telling us to go. I guess being a ninja counts for me, but what do you do? Wait - let me guess - you're a *thief*."

[Squishy Cheeks]

"Can the chatter and get some rest." Cid said. He resheathed his sword and leaned against an oak.

[Forever Zero]

Vace had found a nice tree close to the campfire and was leaning against it. His eyes carefully looked over the group, assesing strengths and weaknesses, but he still couldn't figure out why they were all there. <Meh, such is life, always unpredictable. Who knew I would end up as part of this band, trying to save the princess from a dark wizard. Desperate times call for desperate alliances> He thought, then settled back against the tree he was leaning against and rested his eyes, still alert to the events happening around him.

[CelesJessa]

(OOC: I wanna wait until everyone has had a chance to post at least once before making the event happen. Or should I just go ahead and make it happen?

[IHateMakingNames]

OOC: You don't have to wait for me... It's a cat next to something warm... He's not moving any time soon

[gh0st]

OOC: I woke up 5 minutes ago. curse you non-PST people.

Taim stretched out full length a little distance from the fire, fully prepared to go to sleep. After all, it wasn't like he'd /volunteered/ for this particular mission. And the rest of the group looked like a bunch of law-abiding citizens...or at least closer to it than he was. So he was willing to bet conversation with them would be minimal.

And besides....maybe once that damn knight was asleep he could make a break for it.

[CelesJessa]

(OOC: well, I'm gonna get it going. hopefully more people will post once some things start happening)

Cesia was about to answer Kazuki's question when suddenly the sound of a group of unfamiliar footsteps walked close to where the heroes were camping.

"Hello? Is somebody there?" A distressed sounding voice drifted from the direction of the footsteps, which had stopped.

[LilWhiteMage]

Wouldn't have mattered for me either, though I only just woke up a few minutes ago as well @-@;


Dawn held her hands out towards the fire for a moment, just long enough for them to warm up before pulling them back and folding them into the depths of her robes.

Her mind was slowly processing through just about the same thoughts as everyone else as they sat there quietly. Finally the silence was broken by the one that called himself Kazuki. She gave a faint smile-though the talking wasn't directed to her, it was definately something better than having to sit in complete silence.

Before the two could really start up a conversation, Cid butted in and had told them to hush. She let out a light sigh as she looked back down in the fire.

Dawn knew him from the very few times she had seen him at the castle, and he wasn't exactly the friendliest person. She was at least hoping that he would maybe TRY to be nice, but now it was looking as though he'd probably be like this the whole trip.

As she forced herself to glance around the rest of the group, she spied the bobcat lying by itself on the other side of the fire. A childlike grin ran across her face... she had always loved cats, and was now forcing herself to stay in her seat and not pounce him.

Her train of thought quickly came to a halt as she heard footsteps nearing the campsite. She frowned, pulling her attention away from the bobcat and looking in that direction to now hear a faint voice. "It sounds like someone's in trouble..." She said softly.

[gh0st]

Taim opened his eyes at the sound of the footsteps, and then closed them again. If it was something important, he was sure he'd find out about it. Eventually.

[Forever Zero]

Vace shifted against the tree so that he could draw his swords faster if he needed to, and leaned at a good angle so it looked like he had shifted in his seat, when he was actually now keeping an eye on the direction the voice had come from.

[CelesJessa]

Cesia looked at the others, wondering if they should answer the voice. <The voice sounds like they're in trouble... but maybe they're robbers in the woods, trying to trick us... if only we had someone who could see them without being seen.> She looked around, her eyes fell upon the cat, <Ah-hah> She creeped over to the cat, she shook the cat, "Hey," She whispered, "Go see who's out there."

(OOC: hehe, tear the poor cat away from the warm fire.)

[LilWhiteMage]

That good-hearted healing side started to really get to her as she just sat there, nobody else making a move to go and see who or what it was that had stumbled so close to their camp. She just had this feeling that whoever this was might be in trouble.

Dawn pushed herself up her feet, rubbing her hands together to warm them back up again. "Don't everyone all jump up at once." She started to walk towards the edge of the campground. "I'll go and see what it is since noone else will..."

[GatoFiero]

[OOC] that's what i get for sleeping in [OOC]

Thid was having such a nice sleep, he had dreamed that he was in a land without wizards, without magic. It had wondrous machines like cars and computers, ah computers, that was the best part of the dream. But then he was woken up by that tingle in the back of his neck. He couldn't quite explain the tingle, i had just always been there, and whenever he felt it he knew something was about to happen, usually bad for Thid's health.

Making sure not to seem awake he cracked open one eye to see what was going on. Apparently they had heard a some unknown footsteps. Thid looked around the camp, spotting a good hiding place in the bushes. If things heat up i can get to there in a hurry. Quite frankly, Thid never wanted to be in this situation, and, when it was explained to him that he and his abilities were being “nationalized” (political talk for steal) in order to help save the princess, he felt more like they had pressed him into slavery.

[CelesJessa]

As Dawn pushed through a few bushes, she ran into the person who had been calling out. It seems he was looking for the group since he didn't get any answer.

"Oh! So there are people here!" A tattered looking man said, eying the group of adventurers. "Please, you have to help!" The man said, nearly hysterical.

[LilWhiteMage]

Dawn let out a bit of a startled yelp, having not expected to come across the man so soon. She stumbled back a few feet back into the camp, trying to regain her composure. "Yes, what is wrong sir? We'll try to help you."

[CelesJessa]

Cesia, having given up on waking the cat, walked over to hear the man better, since he was talking softly.

"I-I was driving a carriage with my wife and child, but we... we got attacked by bandits!" the man tried not to cry, "I was knocked out and when I finally came to, my carriage, wife, and son were all gone... All I found was this:" He held up a paper with the signate of a theives guild. "You are all warriors, are you not? You must help me find my wife and son!"

[IHateMakingNames]

The cat slowly stretched itself out, the new comer waking him up. After he stretched out, he sat down and began to clean himself a little.

OOC: I did something, yay

[GatoFiero]

Thid strained his ears in order to hear the soft conversation going on but all he heard were bit and pieces. Through his half closed eyes, Thid saw that the camp was starting to liven up, even the cat was awake. Crud, moving again so soon? This sucks.

[Forever Zero]

OOC: Well at least IHMN is staying in character for a cat...

Vace jumped up quickly, one of the few that was actually fully awake, and walked over to the desperate man. "We will be glad to help sir. Can you take us to where you were when your family was kidnapped? Maybe we can pick up a trail from there." He said to the man.

[IHateMakingNames]

OOC: Hm... Should the Lynx's mouth move when he talks, or kinda a telepath thing, were you just hear it?

The Lynx finished licking himself, turned towards the man as he said his story. The cat crouched down, getting into a pouncing position. When the man had finished, the cat jumped at him.

He was knocked over, and dropped the paper he had pulled out. The feline got off of the man, and walked towards the paper, which was now on the ground. He stopped when he got near the paper, lowered his head, and smelt the paper a bit. After batting it around, it stared at it for a moment. "This looks familiar..." He commented on it, studing the signate.

OOC: Celes, should it be familiar?

Zero, want a avatar of that same thing, but better quality?

[CelesJessa]

OOC: it can be. I don't mind. They man's gonna tell you who it's for anyway. And I think it should be kinda like a telepath thing.

The man's eyes widened at the sight of a talking cat. "F-familiar?" He stuttered, getting down to business, "It only belongs to one of the most feirce band of theives... I... I know where their hideout is... I would have gone there myself, but..." He looked down, "I'm too weak to save them by myself."

Cesia looked at the others, "I think we should help him out."

[Forever Zero]

OOC: I think that mental speak would be easier overall for the RP. And IHMN, PMed you about the Avatar.

Vace helped the man back up to standing and said, "Sorry about the cat, I think it must belong to one of the others, and its been following us without bothering us, so were letting it tag along."

[GatoFiero]

Upon hearing the words "We will be glad to help sir" and "..most fierce band of thieves.." Thid abandoned his fake slumber.

Thid: "What?! We don't have time to help him out with a (nervousness creeps into the voice) some band of thieves."

Thid rises and begins to pace back and forth, there is an audible thud every time he takes a step because of the led boots locked onto his feet to prevent escape. "Don't you have a princess to save or something?"

[Raiden]

Tamakatari watched from a little bit away. He had put the Zanbatou he made into the pack they used for weapons. He didn't like carrying the same weapon around all the time. He was now carrying a broad axe he had made from a rock. When he heard them talk about going after the thieves, he butted in.

"Excuse me. Not to be a bad person or anything, even though I am, I'd just like to point out that we're on a mission here! One that has much higher priority than helping some old guy with his thief problems."

[IHateMakingNames]

The cat walked towards the forest, in the direction the theives guild would be. "The princess can wait... Lets go help this man first. And don't worry, it's theives, they don't use much magic."

OOC: How does rock=axe? I would think it would be rock=mace or something

[Forever Zero]

"The princess isn't going anywhere, and it is our duty to help anyone that needs help. This man needs help now, and we don't know what may happen if we don't act soon," Vace responded.

[GatoFiero]

*in respons to the cat's statement* Thid mutters, "s'not their magic i'm worried about, it's their daggers and crossbows."

[IHateMakingNames]

The cat stopped, having heard what Thid muttered. "Your the magic shield, are you not? Wouldn't you rather fight bandits with metal, where your not a big use, or fight a wizard, where your in front?"

[Squishy Cheeks]

"Our mission stands that we rescue the princess, but it doesn't say we should allow general lawlessness thrive. Get your gear we're riding for the hideout."

[LilWhiteMage]

Dawn turned and faced the rest of the group, a scowl on her face and her hands on her hips. "They're right, the princess can wait just a little bit. This man's family is in danger, and I have no intentions of just leaving when there is someone in trouble. Surely the rest of you have SOME sense of goodness in you." She glanced over at Cid. "I'm definately in."

[GatoFiero]

Looks down at the cat, "Good point. I'll just stick back and provide you guys with moral support." Maybe i'll find some lockpicks there...one can only dream.

[Raiden]

Tamakatari fumed quietly and began to whisper to himself.

"If I didn't need you people, I'd tell you right now that you can take your general lawlessness and shove it up yo' ass."

Tamakatari tossed his axe into his pack, and grabbed a new stick. The stick instantly changed into a nice shortsword, with a golden hilt and a blade that reflected your image.

"Fine. Whatever. We'll help the poor old man. But we go in, we come out, and we find the princess. I hope you guys don't mind seeing dead people, because once I get in there, there'll be plenty of them."

[CelesJessa]

"Alright, it seems we are all in agreement." Cesia said as the group followed the man, Tamakatari fuming to himself the whole way.

Before long, the group had reached a small run-down town. It looked as if whatever people that might live there never leave their houses. The man lead the group to the inn... it was deserted. He motioned for the group to stay quite as he lead them down some celler stairs. At the bottom was a cold, dark, and drafty room.

"Umm.... theres supposed to be a hiden panel here somewhere..." The man said, feeling about some of the walls.

[Raiden]

Tamakatari tapped his foot irritably.

"Hurry up, old man. We don't have time for you to lose your memory."

[Forever Zero]

Vace had his Claymore drawn and was on full alert. Thieves and Bandits had a tendancy to get the drop on you, and he was trying to make sure that didn't happen.

[CelesJessa]

"I'm.... not... and old man..." The man said, still looking for the hidden panel, "Ah here we are...." He pushed it aside revieling an even draftier and more neglected looking hallway. They walked carefully down the long, downward-sloped hall.

"Brr.. It's rather cold down here." Cesia said, rubbing her arms. <I wonder how far we go until we reach the theive's hideout...>

[Raiden]

Tamakatari walked in the back of the group, with his older shortsword put away and two new gleaming katanas in their places. Since he was super against this, he decided to think. It made him wonder a little, when an old man would know of a thieve's hideout, know how to get into it, and how to sneak in without getting caught. If Tamakatari was a thief, and somebody had that knowledge, he would have killed the man. It smelled a little fishy. He tightened his hold on his swords. If it was a trap, he wasn't going to die.

He still had to save his angel.

[Forever Zero]

"It's not that cold," Vace said, walking towards the front of the group, still with his sword drawn and ready for an ambush.

[LilWhiteMage]

"Shows what you know..." Dawn shivered a bit, pulling the hood of her robes up over her head and folding her arms over her chest as she had done earlier. "It's kinda creepy down here too.."

[IHateMakingNames]

"I would assume it would cold to you, since you don't have fur and all." The cat adressed to two women of the group. "Either of you want to carry me? I'm quite warm."

[LilWhiteMage]

Instantly that kid-like grin reappeared. "Ou! I wouldn't mind carrying you! Not at all!" She pulled her arms from the warmth of the robes. "And I don't really have to carry anything else right now.. so you wouldn't mind if I did would you?"

[CelesJessa]

"Thanks but..." Cesia said to the cat, "it looks like we're finally here."

The hallway finally ended at a room with no other obvious way out.

"Hmmm." The man said, looking around, "There much be another switch somewhere..." He started inspecting the walls again... a very slow process.

[Forever Zero]

Vace was more than a little suspicious at this point, with the multiple secret entrances, yet seemingly no theives had noticed yet. And this guy was supposed to be an innocent bystander mugged on the road, yet he knows everything there is about this base. <Maybe I'm paraniod, but none of this is fitting like he says, and I'm not liking how it IS fitting...> Vace thought, not wanting to express his opinion to the others.

[IHateMakingNames]

The cat jumped into Dawn's arms, and began to purr. Under the cover of the purring, he whispered something to her. "Extremely high chance of trap, get to middle of group."

[LilWhiteMage]

She leaned her head down and gave a light nuzzle to the cat, just happening to lean in in time to hear his clear warning. "Hn?" She pulled her head back slightly, quickly remembering just where she and the others were. "Oh.. right." Still holding him in her arms, she eased her way back further into the group as he had said, still looking around while the man searched for the next entrance.

[Raiden]

Tamakatari's eyes kept darting around the area. They also kept looking back to the old man's neck.

<The moment a trap is sprung, or we're ambushed, that old man's dead.>, he thought to himself.

[CelesJessa]

The man was still looking for a switch she felt along the walls in the hallway right outside the door "Ah!" He said as a part of the wall came in, releasing a switch. Suddenly a think panel fell back down, closing off the room everyone was in, trapping them. "Oh whoops." The man's voice said from the other side of the wall that was seperating them.... wrong switch." the sound of him knocking the wall a few times came through, "Uhh... there's gotta be another switch here... just... gimme a second. I'll find it."

"Great... more mishaps and switches." Cesia sighed while she tried to look for a switch on their side of the wall.

[Raiden]

Tamakatari looked as the wall fell down behind them, locking them in.

"Dammit! Wrong switch nothin'! See what happens when you stray from the mission! We get caught in a trap. God, I'm surround by a bunch of soft imbeciles!"

[LilWhiteMage]

"Would you just calm down?" She held the cat a bit too tightly after the wall had come down behind them. "I'm sure there's a way out of here... There's no need to freak out."

In all honesty though, she was quite a bit frightened now. But even so, she still felt as though they needed to still try to help this man and his family no matter what.

[IHateMakingNames]

Worming his way out of the mages grip, the cat began to lick itself, to straighten out it's hair. When it finished, he began to sniff around the room and walls, looking for the disable switch.

[Forever Zero]

"Great, just great, we go stumbeling into the theive's base without a clue to what we're doing, and people are surprised when we end up in a situation like this," Vace growled, but also seathed his weapon and began looking for some sort of switch.

[Raiden]

"Good. At least I know that the ENTIRE party isn't idiots."

Tamakatari continued to mumble to himself, while looking around for any spare objects lying on the ground.

[CelesJessa]

Cesia was still inspecting the wall when a vision hit her... she took a few steps back and knelt down weakly as the premonition hit her.

Fire... no way out. Surrounded... no way out. She saw herself gagging for air as the fire crept closer and closer, being fueled by the wooden boards of the hallway and the musky furniture.

The premonition vanished as soon as it had come; her hand trembled as she started frantically searching for a switch again. "G-guys. We have to get out of here right now." she said shakily yet forcefully.

[Raiden]

Tamakatari sneered at Cesia.

"Those are some famous last words, aren't they. Too bad that's what we're doin'!"

Tamakatari knocked on a few of the walls.

"These were nicely built. I think they've been expecting us for a while."

[IHateMakingNames]

OOC: Want me to just hit a switch? The cat has the best chance of finding it...

[Squishy Cheeks]

"Hmm wood." Cid said, having examined the trap walls. He drew his broadsword. His sword blazed with blue flame.

[LilWhiteMage]

She frowned, particially hearing Tamakatari's continuing grumbling about this whole thing, rolling her eyes as she joined the rest of the group to help look for a switch.

Turning her head she saw Cesia fall, fixing to go try and help her up as she got back up in a bit of a panic and began to look for a switch again, urging them all to hurry. "This is definately not good." She murmured and pulled her hood back down to broaden her range of vision, returning to the wall to search.

[IHateMakingNames]

The cat saw this, and sighed(If cats can do that.) "Yes, burn us all to death, smart idea." He went back to his sniffing. He had found a scent that wasn't one of the groups or the old mans, and was following it.

[CelesJessa]

(OOC: I wouldn't think there'd be a switch in the room, but we can break down the wall seperating the hallway and the room.)

"This is no time to be getting snide! Or to be arguing because we are going to burn to death down here if we don't do something!" Cesia yelled, she noticed the faint smell of smoke coming from a crack in the wall seperating them from freedom.

[IHateMakingNames]

OOC: I would think there would be a switch. Incase some of the theives accidently get stuck, wouldn't they want a hidden switch that can free them from the inside, just in case?(A very well hidden switch though)

[Squishy Cheeks]

"I'm quite controled, Felix. Do you have a quicker way to extridite us?"

[Raiden]

Tamakatari found an old metal rod in the corner of the room.

"Perfect. Just what I need."

He picked it up, and the rod changed into a large and heavy warhammer. He walked over to the wall, held his hammer up, and swung down heavily. He made a dent in the wall, but it wasn't much.

"You know, you guys can help anytime you want."

[Forever Zero]

Vace watched the cat sniffing away from the others. "I'm no expert, but it looks like he's detected something important," Vace said.

[Squishy Cheeks]

Cid joined Tamakatari in trying to break down the wall leaving scorched slices in the wall.

[Raiden]

Tamakatari continued to beat at the wall with the hammer. With Cid's help, they had managed to break through a portion of the wall. Big enough for one person to get through at a time.

"Hey. Somebody bring the cat over. We'll stick it through, and have it look around for danger."

[Squishy Cheeks]

Cid grabbed the bob cat by the scruff of the neck and tossed him through the hole.

[IHateMakingNames]

OOC: That only works with kittens...

[Raiden]

(OOC:well, it just worked with you. look around, Puss-in-boots.)

[LilWhiteMage]

"Well aren't you two just big strong brave men!" She snapped in irritation and heavy sarcasm. "Why don't one of YOU go through there instead of forcing the poor kitty!"


Wouldn't grabbing him and shoving him through the hole constitute as moving his char without permission? -.o

[IHateMakingNames]

The cat jumped back into the room, barely having been outside. "I'm not a scout. You go look."

[Squishy Cheeks]

ooc: it works on bigger cats too, Ihmn. It's how my cat prefers to be picked up.

Cid went back to battering out the hole. He went through and adjusted his shield.

"Area's clear"

[Raiden]

(OOC: WMage, that only works if you have somebody else say a line, push a button, or kill somebody. But if YOUR character throws THEIR character somewhere, then that's allowed.)

[IHateMakingNames]

OOC: That's a house cat for one... This cat is about 5 times bigger then a house cat. And my cats would scream and claw out your eyes if you picked them up like that.

"And unarmored, going into a potential trap. Your fully covered in armor, you go through."

[Raiden]

"We can't fit. Because we've got armor. Unless you have a BETTER idea, mr I'm-a-cat-that's-smarter-than-you."

[IHateMakingNames]

"Then make the hole bigger."

[Squishy Cheeks]

"AREA'S CLEAR! stop arguing and get moving!" Cid continued further his sword providing light like a torch.

ooc: a bob cat is about the same size as my cat since he is 1/2 bob cat. He's a little wildman, but he can be really sweet too.

[CelesJessa]

The smell of smoke was stronger, and farther down the hall, they could see fire making it's way slowly down the hall. it looked like it was still small enough forthem to jump through with only minor burns....

[Squishy Cheeks]

"If I can get through the hole in full armor it's big enough." Cid said as he waded through the smokey hallway.

(can I use my power to supress fires?)

[GatoFiero]

"Screw you all, i'm not going to burn to death in here!"

And with that Thid charges the hole on the wall and does a drop kick through it, using his lead boots as a ram to widen the hole.

Through the hole you can hear Thid cursing about how he hit his head.

[OOC] the holes big enough now [OOC]

[Raiden]

Tamakatari jumped over the flames, with only the ends of his cloak getting scalded.

"Hurry up, and let's go! We have a mission, remember!"

[IHateMakingNames]

OOC: How big is it then(Your cat)?

"I suggest we hurry." He nimbly jumped over the flames, only a slight little burnt patch of fur on his belly.

[LilWhiteMage]

Dawn followed the others through the hole, but stopped, coughing a bit as she continued to walk along the smoke-filled hallway. She soon turned back, starting back towards the room. "Smoke's too bad that way... There has to be a different way somewhere in there."

[GatoFiero]

*gets up from the ground cursing* "Smoke bad, go other way!" said Thid.

*runs (if you could call it that, s'more like a fast walk) in the opposite direction of the smoke*

[IHateMakingNames]

OOC: Wouldn't that be running back into the room we were just trapped in?

[Forever Zero]

OOC: That's how it looks to me too...

Vace said, "Unless you have an immediate plan for a new route, hold your breath and get ready to jump," Vace said to the two remaining that hadn't jumped.

[CelesJessa]

"I don't think there's any other way." Cesia said, venturing into the smoke filled hallway, "It's probably a trap, after all. Just cover your mouth with your cloak and run for it." Cesia did as she had just insructed and ran and jumped through the fire; her legs getting slightly burnt. The stairway leading up had been drenched to keep the fire from spreading upstairs. "Come on you guys!" She yelled to the others who hadn't jumped through yet.

[GatoFiero]

*sees that there is only one way out*

Thid: "Crap."

[OOC] i gtg eat get/dinner, i'll be back in 45 min. Just assume my character silently follows along, and runs though the flames. [OOC]

[Forever Zero]

"Take one good breath, then jump," Vace said, then followed his advice, leaping over the flames and avoiding major injury.

[Raiden]

(OOC: I need to get off soon. God, it's hard being the hard-ass all the time. I'm tempted to be helping the girls get through, but I can't.)

"Let's go people! Unless you WANT to be burnt alive!"

[LilWhiteMage]

She just stood there for a moment, then took a short breath as she cover her hand with her robe, then covered her nose and mouth. She took and running start, then jumped over the fire. She didn't fair as well as the others though, and slammed hard onto the floor.

She whinced, coughing again since her hand was no longer covering her mouth. As she started to try and get up, Dawn realized that the bottom of her robes had started to catch fire, and frantically tried to put it out.

[Dante]

[edited due to my stupidity... that's what you get for only reading the first page of a 3 page thread and thinking that's the last post...]

[Forever Zero]

Vace helped Dawn put out the fire, then helped her up. "See, no problem Dawn, now we all need to get out of here," Vace said, coughing in the smoke.

OOC: Umm, Dante, you seem to be way off where the rest of us are, since smoke is filling that room and the rest of us just got out of it...

[IHateMakingNames]

OOC: Dante... You might want to read it all, instead of just skim... Or skim more then you do already...

[LilWhiteMage]

"Thanks.." She choked out, raising her hand to cover her mouth as she coughed. Dawn started to follow the others again, praying that they would be able to get out of here before she passed out from all this smoke.


Gotta go shopping now.. hopefully be back in about... thirty minutes..

[Dante]

Kazuki took out a small piece of cloth and soaked it in water, but as he was about to clap it to his nose he saw Dawn struggling with the smoke.

Oh well. Time to see how long I can hold my breath.

He handed the wet cloth to Dawn.

"Hold this over your mouth and nose. It should help with the smoke."

Then, he nimbly jumped over the flames and landed with the rest of the group.

[Squishy Cheeks]

Cid was the first one out of the smoke. He held his position and waited for the others helping them to get to fresh air, and out of the smoke.

[Forever Zero]

Vace got out of the smoke, and when his eyes stopped tearing, he realized they were now back in the main entrance, back through the first secret door. He drew his sword again, and said, "I hope this isn't a case of out of the frying pan and into the fire..."

[Squishy Cheeks]

"I think I'd like that better. I'd rather face my assailants directly."

[MasterZero]

The large form of the werewolf lumbered close to the group and saw them trying to get out of the fire. His form changed back to his original orc form. Kalimare walked up next to Cid, who had gotten out first.

"Does anyone need any help getting out? Oh, and sorry I am late, big first meal today."

[LilWhiteMage]

Dawn looked up, taking the wet cloth and holding it up over her mouth and nose. She shut her eyes and ran blindly through the smoke the rest of the way back up.

As she came to a stop back at the first doorway, she pulled away the cloth and took in deep breaths. "At least..." she huffed out between breaths, "..we made it out of the fire."

[IHateMakingNames]

Lynx(New name, since no one named him) came out, completely black from the smoke. He settled himself a nice spot in a corner, and began to wash himself as best as he could, coughing up a lot of hairballs.

[Squishy Cheeks]

"Where are the others?"

(ooc: good night.)

[MasterZero]

(ooc: same here, see everyone tomorrow. just have my character stay with the group[he'll be quiet until i get back on])

[gh0st]

OOC: Poor Taim. I head off to my Chem Final and the poor guy has to sit quietly through 9 new pages of posts.


"I'm right here," Taim spoke up for the first time from behind the knight, "if anyone cares, that is."

[Dante]

Kazuki looked back toward the billowing cloud of smoke.

"Is anyone still inside?" he said to nobody in particular.

[GatoFiero]

Thid examins the recovering group. Wimps, that's nothing compaired to a level 3 fire ball. *shudders with the memory* the pain....

*sits down next to Lynx* "I told you we shouldn't have come here."

[Squishy Cheeks]

"And how were we to know this was a trap. We are servants of the kingdom, it's our job to protect it's people."

[Dante]

Kazuki looked around. Thid was sitting beside Lynx and complaining about the trap they had walked into. Cid the guard captain was talking about duty, though nobody seemed to be paying attention. Kalimare the werewolf had just lumbered in, from god only knew where. Vace was still with Dawn, whose robes were singed from the fire. Tamakatari was still glowering at everyone. And Celes was looking back at the flames.

Kazuki shook his head. They'd walked straight into it, and it was pretty much their fault too. There wasn't a lot of teamwork - hell, there wasn't any teamwork here. Tamakatari didn't seem to care about the group, Celes had trouble relaying her premonitions to everyone, Lynx was as bad as Tamakatari sometimes... and then there was the matter of himself. He'd somehow tuned out of everything while the group had followed the old man, and when disaster had struck, he'd acted just like any other commoner, struggling to save his own ass first.

Clueless, self-absorbed, useless to the group... God, I'm pathetic beyond words!

It was time for affirmative action.

Kazuki stepped up to the fire and reached into his gi for a scroll. He unrolled it and laid it on the floor, then he concentrated, feeling the familiar tiredness as his strength was drained to produce chakra. As he forced the chakra into his hands and fingers, he rapidly made the series of gestures needed to focus the mystic energy more fully.

"Fuuinjutsu... Fuukahouin!"

He slammed both hands down on the scroll, and the flames were drawn into it. Kazuki rolled it up and tied it tight, still feeling the heat from within.

This fire may be of use to me still...

He turned back to the group.

"Well," he said, pointing at the smoky hallway and the staircase. "Shall we go back, or shall we go up?"

[Raiden]

"That's a nifty trick. Too bad you couldn't have done that BEFORE we got through. I'm getting out of here. And hopefully, you guys will do the same. I'm not coming back for you."

Tamakatari began to head up the stairs, keeping his katanas and his new warhammer by his side.

[LilWhiteMage]

Dawn just tossed down the cloth, giving a glancing look at Tamakatari as he started to leave. Her eyes then shifted to look back towards the area they had just come from, it still being a bit smoky down in there.

She let out a bit of a sigh. She would suggest that they continue on since they no longer had to worry about the fire, but who's to say there wouldn't be any other traps down there? And was it really worth their lives to try and go back in there again?

Of course it is... There are possibly others down there who need your help!

Torn between what to do, she turned and looked at the others members of the group now.

[gh0st]

OOC: I like how whenever someone lists the party members they conveniently forget Taim. : P

Taim shook his head sadly. No wonder it was so easy to fleece people. They were apparently all stupid. But that was fine. It meant that he might be able to get some kind of recompensation when he escaped. Although, unfortunately, he was pretty sure that in the middle of a hostile fortress wasn't the correct place to make a break for it.

He spoke up. "Well, if this /is/ supposed to be a funneling trap, which is what I'd do, then I'd vote for going back the way we came. Since, you know, it isn't on fire anymore."

[IHateMakingNames]

Lynx stopped cleaning himself long enough to respond to Thid. "It's good that we came here. No one is injured, save a few small burns the mage can heal. And I now know some new things about some of you. Take Cid for example, his solution to being trapped is to burn things. And Tamakatari's solution is to smash things." Lynx began to clean himself again.

[Squishy Cheeks]

"I honestly doubt there are anyother people in here." Cid made his way up the stairs.

[Forever Zero]

"First off, where did that guy go?" Vace said, looking around for the guy that had led them into this trap. After not noticing him, he decided he was probably still in the room. "Second, we can't just back off now, we come against our first challenge and say 'Ohh, that was scary, I give up', well if we do that now, what are we going to do when instead of a band of thieves and robbers, it is the dark wizard himself? We can't tell him, 'Your too scary, please let us run away'. We have to draw the line somewhere, and if we can't even stand up to a band of bandits, how are we supposed to complete our quest?" Vace said, angry that the others were just going to give up.

[gh0st]

Taim made another note to self: obviously self-preservation was not a trait these people were familiar with.

"Of course. And if you lot get yourselves killed by walking into a trap, then i would imagine the princess is perfectly capable of rescuing herself." Taim said under his breath.

[Squishy Cheeks]

"I have a solution it just requires us to get out of this building." Cid yelled back.

[GatoFiero]

*Gets up and looks down at Lynx* "Ya know, I’ve been on the receiving end of plenty of traps. And it seems to me that if these bandits are worth their wage they'll have a backup plan." *looks toward the top of the stairs with apprehension* "And i bet it involves a lot of pointy objects, some of them moving at great speeds through the air."

*thinks for a second* "So i guess it's a good thing Tamaki's volunteered to take point."

[OOC] for those who aren't swift, Tamaki = Tamakatari. I'm thinking this is going to be how i annoy Tamakatari. [OOC]

[gh0st]

Taim had decided that Lynx and Thid were the most sane individuals on this little expedition. So he walked over to join them, just in time to catch Thid's comment about the sharp pointy objects.

"Actually, if this is a thieve's den, then it probably involves sharp pointy /poisoned/ objects at high velocities. We thieves do have a reputation to uphold..."

[CelesJessa]

"I don't know about you... but I never want to return to that room." Cesia shivered at the thought of how they almost got burnt alive. "The sooner we leave the better. Plus, we have a wizard to find." She said as she climbed the stairs after some of the others.

(OOC: this chapter will be over shortly with everyone going upstairs if that's alrighty, there's not gonna be anything else really in the room you came from. ^^ We're already past the 100 posts locking-point. (they lock the threads for RPs at 100 posts) and this would be a good time to start a new chapter anyway. ^^ )

[Dante]

OOC: OK, started the new thread... And now I have to go to work. I hate my life. :(