Aanparon says, "We need to adjourn to a private room. We can't take any chance of being overheard. Also, we need to post a watch of some sort. Need to keep an eye out for Garth, he may yet return. And I'm not certain if that will be good or bad."

"Ah vote fo' 'bad,'" Kira muttered.

Ganthanor says nothing on the way back to the inn. He can't believe he acted in such a manner. It's not like him... It's undignified... It violated his code of honor. "What have I done. Adriena... I'm so sorry..." he thinks to himself.

Ganth waits until they arrive and are settled back at the inn before speaking, "After my actions today, I have decided to return home. I'm going back to the lady and I'm telling her I'm happy the way I am now and she can kiss my ass... uh... what? uh... Did I just say..." Ganth's eyes go wide as he realizes how quickly and easily he shifts from human to orc. When will the time come when he shifts permanently, "I'm telling you right now... I'm going back. To hell with this mission."

"Well," Kira snarled, "Ah fo' one am most definitely NOT happy with this o'c body! Ah want mah own body back, and Ah don't care who Ah have to kill to get it." During her tirade, she flipped her hair back a few times and stomped one or twice.

Barak says, "Ganth, I think that you should stay with us we will no what to watch for and will be able to deal with it instead of having you run off and change completely and have you forget to go back to this 'Lady.' I think that we need to stick together we must complete your mission and do it quickly so that you can get back and be transformed... I think someone should explain to me where you are supposed to go to meet this 'Lady' so that a least one of us will still be heading for that goal if you all start to change." Barak pauses and looks around "We also need to figure out a plan for completing your 'mission' in the quickest possible time."

Adriena finally speaks after listening to the others. With the whole of the mission on the brink of break-down, she praises the heavens for Barak's sense, "Barak is so right. Going back to the Lady will not change anything. DO you really think that she would be willing to help a bunch of failures? We MUST succeed in our goals if we hope to get our lives back!"

Adriena continues, "Barak, there are two things we must do : Recover a powerful magical device and rescue a human Lord. If all else fails - huh! like it hasn't already - we are to rescue the Lord. Once this is done we must return to the Lady's sacked manor house a few days to the south. Apparently, she'll know when we have succeeded and save us."

Adriena continues, "Now, it is obvious that we had better get used to the idea of at least some of us being 'orc'. I can easily be to our advantage, IF we don't let it get to our heads and make us ally ourselves to these true orcs. Ganthanor.. my love.." Adriena speaks hesitantly, but passion quickly builds in her voice, "You must remember what we share! No matter what happens, remember that we have to get back to the Lady so we can be together as we should. Remember, we must save the human and return him to the Lady if we.. you and I.. are to be free to love. Focus your intent and we can make it still."

She turns to the others, "That goes for all of us! Well," she blushes, "the focusing part, anyway. If we keep our minds focused on what we have to accomplish, maybe we can use our 'state of being' to a great advantage. I think our biggest hurdle will be Trust. I haven't seen a speck of trust in any of these orcs. We should make some sort of pact to trust each other, maybe that would help. I wonder what Garth is ding right now?" Adriena takes a seat.

Barak listens carefully when Adriena speaks of the artifact and the human.. he nods and takes careful note of the direction and the place where the group must return to at the end of this. "I dont know about trust i trust you folks now but if you start turning to full fledged orcs well I can probably expect the same treatment for you as I have from the other orcs I have known. I think that you folks should make a pact between yourselves I will worry about my self when the time comes and if you can find away to keep yourselves together even after you change then I will do my best to get you to the Lady's house." Barak pauses for a moment then turns to Ganth "I am sorry for invoking the change in you more quickly my only thought was for Adriena's safety so that you wouldnt hurt the one that you love." Barak waits for a reply from Ganth and then says, "Right now we need a plan the will allow us to complete your mission quickly, chances are that the artifact and the human are in the same general place because orcs arent likely to share. If we can find a way into Haratai's house we may find them there that seems to be are best choice now"

Adriena shakes her head, "Oh.. no, Barak. I think you misunderstood. The Lord and artifact are inside the Keep. Malis and my spellbook are inside Haratai's house. They are two totally different things. Things that make our lives even harder. I have almost come to the resolution that my book is lost to me forever. Aan, can you tell us what happened in there? I saw the statue walking around the house. Tell us, please."

Barak says, "Hmmmm do you know where in Haratai's they are?" Barak asks "then we need to get the books and find a way into the Keep... hmm this doesnt appeal to me but if some of us were to get drafted then we would already be in the keep and be able to move around"

Kira rools her eyes just a bit at Adriena's comments regarding her love for Ganth. She seems to find the whole idea somewhat ickky. "Has anyone considuh'd that this Lady could be somewhat, um, less noble than she would have y'all believe? Aftuh all, she did tu'n us all inta o'cs without mentionin' this cha'ming little side effect, did she not? P'haps we ought to be questioning her motives."

Aan starts to speak, "Not a lot happened at Haratai's. I tried to sneak in the chimney. Don't know if I gave myself away or if it was just bad timing, but three orcs came out before I got off the ground. One was the tin soldier, who proceeded to chase me all over town. I lost him, went back only to find him waiting for me, and the chase began again. I lost him again, and returned to find all of you there. The two orcs who sicced metal man on me were carrying a third. I didn't get a look, but it may have been Malis. I saw no movement."

"Now let me see if I have this right. Two of you want to go see the Lady and get changed back. Two of you think we should try to finish the mission quickly before we return. Lacking Garth and Malis, there are five of us. That would give me the deciding vote. And I most definitely have an opinion on this."

"Barak, you seem a decent fellow, for your heritage. But you mean nothing more to me than being the friend of a friend. I suspect I can rely on you if I need to, but you don't know what we're going through here. Like it or not, you are orcish from birth, and you always will be. We are not, and I'll be damned if I'm going to stay this way."

"Adriena, I really hate to say this, I've admired you since we met, but I'm really disappointed in your vote. We've been 'orcish' as you put it since we got here. For whatever reason, it hasn't helped us at all, and it's cost us three of our friends already. Now Ganth, the man you love, is becoming an orc. Near as I can tell it will be a permanent change. It took three or four days in Garth from the time I first noticed it till we lost him. If we leave now it will take a minimum of three days to get back to the lady. Do you really want to love an orc for the rest of your life?"

"Whatever this change is, it appears to be related to intelligence. Which means I'm next. Call me a selfish bastard, I am, but it isn't going to happen to me."

"Anyone who wants to stay and try to save Lord Whosit has my permission, but you won't have my assistance. I've never even seen this Keep, I don't think any of us has. How could we possibly get in, get out, and get back in time to save Ganth? This Lord is no friend of mine. Ganth is. I'll save my friend, the Lady can save hers."

"Frankly, though this might offend some of you, Honshar means nothing to me. I'm not from here, and I won't be staying. I'm a thief on the run; I probably always will be. Half the reason I accepted the change is I knew the assassins after me would never recognize me. Still, it's a disguise I have no desire to see become permanent."

"I'm leaving with Ganth. Anyone who wishes to come with us is welcome. Anyone who wishes to stay, I wish you the best. I hope you can complete the mission. I can't, and I'm no longer going to try."

This said, Aan turns to Ganth. "We should be going, we have little if any spare time." Aan starts for the door. "Anyone else?"

Barak says, "I know that i am descendant from Orcs and if I could reverse that I would however i cant so i am forced to live with that. Any of you who wish to return and be changed back do so... i would leave with you but this seems to important... if you do go Back tell the Lady that she should keep an eye on the old house because I will try to get this lord and artifact if you can give me a description of the artifact it would be most helpfull I should be able to find the Lord in a buidling full of Orcs." Barak looks at the group trying to gage their reaction to his words...

Kira walked over to stand by Aan. "No' am Ah from HonShuh, and Ah no longer find the Lady's motives so pure. Ah have no wish to be stranded in an o'c's body. Ah'll be damned if Ah let if happen without a fight."

Adriena's face shows the war that goes on within her. In the end, she faces the group with resolve, "I am staying."

Ganth's eyes grow wide as her words finally put at ease the thoughts that perhaps she didn't feel the same way he did. He stifles an urge to hug her, "I'm fine the way I am... what are you all talking about? I merely want to go back and shove my left foot up that woman's *%$ so far, it will take..." Ganth slaps his mouth shut, "Damn it! I don't $*#$ cuss! Argh!" He sits down, he thoughts warring within him then says, "Aan... I don't need to tell you I consider you my friend but I have to stay with Adriena. I'd give my life for you Aan but right now, I can't think straight. Hell I can't even make a decision based on logic. My... feelings are in control. I can't stop thinking about these horribly lude, crude and rude things. I can't leave Adriena for nothing. Perhaps if I could think I might drag her back with us...."

Ganth says, "Aan... please stay... we need you and once we complete this mission... " Ganth snaps again... speaking quickly as if his mind were racing from one thought to another... "I can get down to some SERIOUS sex! All DAY mind you! None of this short time and it's over... I'm talking all day, constant..."

"Uh..."

Ganth looks around at the group. He shakes his head in resignation and sits back down. The conversation continues around him but he says nothing further.

Adriena watches Ganthanor's violent personality swings, and dread begins to creep into her heart. 'Oh, where have the days gone that I used to walk the beach and ... draw ?!' A sudden thought hits her, an idea.

Adriena calls out, "Wait, Aan. If you must leave I won't stop you, but there is still a chance that you and Kira will turn orc before you reach the manor." The young mage removes a couple of items from her sack; a battered scroll case and a small box. From the case she removes a piece of parchment and from the box she removes a small quill and an ink bottle. As she tears up the parchment into several pieces she continues, "I am going to draw a picture of the manor and a some indication on where it is from here, that is .. as best as I can recall from the Lady's map."

She does so, her body and mind instinctively relaxing into the task. Soon she has one for each member and hands them out, "If your memory starts to slip, this should help. I really wish you would reconsider, Aan, Kira. Have you consdiered that the Lady might not have the power to do undo the transformation without the aid of the Device? The three.. or four of us might not be able to make it without you, and to travel all the way back to find out it was for naught..? Please, won't you see this through?"

Aan looks at Ganth in disbelief. "I don't believe you just said that. You can't even think straight for ten seconds, how can you possibly think your staying here is going to help anyone? I could kick your ass right now, because you can't hold a thought long enough to finish drawing your sword. The only thing you could possibly do is lose your once famous self-control and ruin things for everyone involved. Do you really want to be the reason they catch Adriena? Think about what you've been saying recently. Don't you think they will do all that and more to her if they find her out? Is that what you want to happen to the woman you love?"

Not satisfied with hurting just one friend, he turns on Adriena. "And you. You realize by staying, you are sentencing him," I wave a hand at Ganth, "To a life as an orc, permanently. He won't leave as long as you stay. Do you really want to do this to him? For what? Some guy you never met? And what do you possibly think you can do to rescue that man, anyway? You being an orc mage with no spell book, you're going to be a big help raiding the Keep? I can do more spells than you right now. Watch me disappear!"

Aan turns his back on them and starts for the door, he doesn't make it the entire way before he turns back to look at them and saw in a more mellow voice, "I just don't think you two are looking at this logically. It's the two of you who should be leaving. For all of the reasons I just gave. And then some. The only chance this mission has of success now, since the Lady doesn't seem inclined to send more help, is stealth. Stealth works a lot better with smaller numbers."

Aan glances over at Kira, "No offense, Kira, but when I went back looking for help I had hoped for more than one fighter." Turning back to the twosome, "Will you please rethink this?"

Adriena shakes her head slowly, "No, Aan. I'm sorry, but I can't turn from this now. I guess it just my nature, not to stop before something is finished, one way or the other. There is very good reason to save Lord Herpein; the lives of thousands depend on it! And I'm not helpless, you know. I have three good spells memorized. Though it seems like too little, I've lasted a few days without having to use even those. I'll not return defeated until every resource has been exhausted. This must be done, apparently only by those with some heart and backbone!" She puts her hands on her hips and plants her feet, "Well, are you leaving or what? Some of us have important plans to make."

Aan swears, "Dammit, no. I'm not leaving without you and Ganth." as he stomps over by Ganth and takes a seat. "Since you two aren't sensible enough to get while the getting is good, I guess that means I'm stuck here too. But I don't have any plans for storming the Keep. I sure hope one of you does."

Kira rolled her eyes at Aan. "Wimp," she muttered. She knew she couldn't get out without Aan's help. with a defeated sigh, she found a place to sit and glared around the room, arms crossed at her chest. She shook her head to flip her hair back a couple of times, then said, "So, what now?"

Ganthanor exclaims, "Hah! Good! I knew you'd stay... even if just to be there to tell us you told us so! Ok.. what's the plan... we gotta save what's his name.. lord hairpin... and return him to the hag. Any bright ideas? My part in this thing takes place at the tip of my sword."

"Now," Adriena replies to Kira's question, "We get a little more information from Aan." She looks to the thief and asks, "Did you notice where those orcs were heading with that body? It is very likely they were taking Malis to dump in an alley, like they did to Ganthanor and me... if she was alive, that is. I think our first order of business is to try and find her. We can spare the time if it will get her back to us. Next, perhaps Aan would be so kind as to try and draw out that statue again. There were several traps in the house, but that statue was the one thing stopping me from trying to get in again. With Aan's skills as a thief we stand a much better chance at success. If the rest of you are not up to raiding Haratai's house, then we should turn our efforts to entering the Keep. I know you all want to get out of here ass possible, so perhaps Haratai's house is out of the question. I imagine there are ways into the Keep that are not well guarded... like the sewers or something. If we can find a way in that would take us directly to the dungeons our searching would be much simpler and quicker. Anyone have something to add?"

Aanparon says, "Sorry, Adriena, but Tin Man was chasing me, I don't even know if it was Malis they were carrying. I never got a look at the body, and I was preoccupied running and I have no idea where they went."

"Who," Kira asked, "is Malis? Ah thought we were suh'posed to be looking for a man." She cocked her head inquisitively at Adriena.

Kira shook her head negatively as Adriena spoke of entering the house. Then, after the description of entering dungeons via sewers, she said, "Ah vote for th' house." She brushed back her hair, grimacing at the orcish texture. "Y'all's spell books are there, are they not? Seems like y'all'd need those b'fo' tromping around any dungeons."

Adriena replies to Kira, "Malis is a cleric that came with us. An orc priest.." Adriena blanches, "got her pregnant and his followers were holding her captive. As for my spell books, I agree. I would dearly love to have them back in my possesion, but if we determine ourselves to be short on time, then they may be out of the picture for good." Adriena begins to feel the old hopelessness rising up in her throat again, so she sits down and puts her head in her hands.

Barak ponders aloud, "Well if some of us get drafted that get a couple of us into the Keep and access to more places without suspiscion. Then we can sneak the others in after dark when most of the habitants are asleep," then sighs and shakes his head at the idea of being drafted.

Adriena looks up at Barak with fear in her eyes, "Oh, please, let's not get seperated again! We've tried working in smaller groups and it has left us in shambles. I doubt that yuo would be given the freedom to move about as you please, especially being new recruits, and we are going to need muscle if we go into that house again. Let's stay together. Please! But, enough talk. Let's get moving. Aan, take us back to the house and from there we can determine where they may have taken Malis," Adriena rises slowly and waits for the men to take the lead.

Aanparon says, "I agree with Adriena, anyone recently drafted is unlikely to have a good chance of roaming free, they'll expect their recruits to try and escape and go home."

Aanparon continues, "You want me to draw out the Tin Man again? Okay, I could do that, but then how will you get anywhere? You may know about the traps, but I'm the so-called expert on those. If I'm busy running from the Blacksmith's nightmare, how am I going to help you get past the traps?"

"Just keep in mind," Kira said, still annoyed, "that Ah cain't speak o'cish. Ah'll help out, but someone'll have to stay with me in case one of those filthy cree-chuhs tries to speak with me." She seemed completely oblivious to fact that there was an actual orc in the room.

Barak just nods his head sagely at Kira's observations about orcs.

Adriena replies, "I think if you keep your head down and avoid eye contact there will be few orcs to take notice of you. However, you and I should probably stay close together and let the men handle any contacts that are made. Until I get my spellbook back, I am through playing the orc priestess. The few spells I have will be reserved for emergencies... well, very dangerous emergencies. Seems like every moment is an emergency for us around here. I learned the orcish language while training in the mage school. It was difficult to manage, but once it's learned and the enunciation's are understood it is fairly simple. Stay by me and I'll translate what I can."

"Why, thank y'all," Kira replied to Adriena, smiling prettily as only an orc can.

Ganthanor stands, "Aren't you all tired to sitting around doing nothing? Huh? Well, I am... let's get the *$* out of here and go kick some orc *%*$#!!! oops... sorry about my *$#* language... It's $#$ bothers me to talk $#$#& like a #$(*#$ orc.... ahahahahahhha," Ganth laughs so hard he's about to bust. "Hey., let's get out of here.... Quick talking and start walking...." Ganth gives Adriena and pinch on the rear, "Nice buns ya got there deary...."

Adriena jumps when Ganthanor grabs her butt, but she quells her desire to slap and sighs in resignation, "Just remember, dear-heart - the buns of my true form are much nicer! Let's work towards getting them back, shall we?"

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