Lab of Abyll (http://www.labofabyll.com/forum/index.php)
- Roleplay (http://www.labofabyll.com/forum/board.php?boardid=8)
-- The Theater (http://www.labofabyll.com/forum/board.php?boardid=11)
--- Acid Reign (http://www.labofabyll.com/forum/threadid.php?threadid=1473)

"The name's Peter Streicher." Peter answered the hunters question as he followed him through the forrest. "Ah, "The hunter grinned widly. "and what wind of fate brought you here on this Island?"

"Thats something I would like to know myself," He answered and evaded some low hanging branches. "The last thing I remember is that I entered an emty warehouse to meet someone, then I woke up in this forrest." Suddenly he felt a strange energy rising in another Part of the forrest, as if a creature released powerfull magic for a short time, just to stop within seconds. "Hey whats up?" the hunter asked, you're not going to pass out are you?"

"No..." Peter replied. "I just thought I felt something. Would you mind if I ask you some Questions?" The hunter smiled again and continued to walk. "Sure thing pal, what is it?

"Who is that Leader you told me about earlier, and why do we have to report in the capital?"

Sting scowled at the Dryad. "Then what's a Drow again? I could have SWORN you call woodland spirits Drows....no, wait, that's the Elves that were on our side.....I keep forgetting.....Alright, Dryad, take us to the town. I'll just gut a few people and take the produce I want. And as for you," Sting pursed his lips, and grabbed Saber, "unattach yourself or I squeeze your insides out. I don't like having other creatures on my head."

Sting felt his hands light on fire.
"You cant touch me!" she razzed him and formed a barrier around herself, going back to sleep."

Sting shoved his hand in his mouth, extinguishing the flame. He hissed loudly. "When we get to town, let's see how long you can stay underwater, shall we? I'll have you off me soon enough!" He looked at the Dryad. "Take us to the town!"

"Mommy taught me how to breathe underwater." she purred.

The Dryad had shrieked briefly when she saw the flame, and only started to breath again after it had been put out. "Don't do that! Now come on, Odla is this way, and there we can go through a gateway to Kandrona." She turned to Moore, "and I told you who I am. I'm a dryad of this forest."
"I mean, what's your name?"
"Hmph. You humans need a name for everything, don't you? It isn't real unless you've nailed it down, given it limitations."
"I didn't mean-"
"Well, if you absolutely must have something, the villagers who can tell us apart call me by Laurel. I don't know why, there aren't any laurels in the forest let alone me, but they do for some reason." She stopped, "Wait, wasn't there one more of you?"

Arthur got himself mildy aquanted with the old man, whose name was Tortus, and the other castaway, Kaie. He also found out that they were in a small village and it was a short walk to Yor, where they could depart to Kandrona. Tortus was apparently the local healer, and Joseph, the boy of few words who had been watching them, brought them their when he'd seen them. Joseph didn't appear to be the sharpest tool in the shed, but he was amiable enough. Kaie was rather out-spoken and friendly, and began to get on Arthur's nerves a bit. On the walk to Yor, he ask Tortus more about Daku. "First off..." he looked around to make sure noone was around, and only saw the four of them, "he's a madman and a tyrant."

Dunvan sighed, "Well... like I said, our leader's name is Daku. He's a very powerful sorcerer, and he runs pretty much the whole kingdom,"
"With an iron fist, as though we're his playthings, and never..."
"...thinks about what the people need, and what they can pro-"
"-vide him entertainment, and all you can do is hope he doesn't..."
"...notice everyone, which is why he rules so efficiently, if a bit imper-"
"-sonally, I wish someone would give him a good showing, take him down a few pegs."
"But that's just my opinion. If you asked someone else, they might well tell you different."

The girl pointed into the center of the city, where a huge tower loomed overhead, rising far into the sky. "Now then, that's the Great Tower. That's where you'll have to register, and I'll have to come, too, so that... um... I make sure everything goes fine."

Dace studied the old man quizically for a moment, a cold wind blowing. "Which way is it?" He asked. Studying the ground. It was odd... sand with patches of grass, and trees spread sporatically across it. There seemed to be an ocean nearby.
"Eh? Oh, just follow me here. It's this way." The old man replied, and he gestured towards the east. Before giving his hacking cough again. That is if directions were the same here as compared to the sun, and other things. Dace wasn't sure that they were though.
"Right." He said after the old man stopped. He began a swift but smooth stride. In the other direction.

"Erm... the nearest town is over thisaway, sonny."

Dace turned his head and mock-saluted with two fingers. "Exactly why that's not the way I'm going."

Peter suddenly stopped walking and said: "If you can only hope not to be noticed by him, wouldn't it be better to avoid the registration?"
Dunvans face suddenly became very serius, and even though peter wasn't able to see it, he felt that he was deadly worried about something.
"No no, he said hasty. "he would find and punish you if you don't register!"
Peter hesitated for a short moment "You better don't try to fool me....."
"No realy." Dunvans voice sounded nervous "His power surpasses everything in this land...you have to believe me."
"Well.... Ok. but I still don't like the sound of this."
"I was doubtfull when I arrived, too" Dunvan replied and started smiling again." but isn't so bad here, realy."
"Like I said sooner, thinks can only improve..." Peter said and they continued their march through the forrst until the finaly reached the edge and the small road to Odla.

Abyss nodded and proceeded. But, now he didn't know to trust this woman. Stalling in midsentence sometimes leads to worser things.

Abyss and the woman entered the base of the tower. From the outside, it looked like the tallest tower ever built.

Sting cleared his throat. "Tell me, Dryad, are there any precision magiks that will burn a small reptile off of one's head? Without, of course, taking off one's head altogether..."

The old man sighed, "Oh? And just where do you expect to go? Daku is much more powerful than you think."

The Dryad pouted, "No, and stop talking about fire! Finally, here we are." As they stepped into a clearing, she walked over to a tree at the edge, and reached into a knothole. She pulled out what looked almost like small ivory statue, in the shape of a leaf, on a string. "It was carved from a hunter's skull, you see, and helps remind people not to bother me when I have to go into town."

Dunvan and Peter walked up to Odla, which looked from the outside more like a fort than a town. There were tops some buildings visible, but most of them were blocked from view by a large wall of logs. "There's a wall around Odla their to keep wild beasts and some forest spirits out at night, though the more powerful spirits know enough to be afraid of Daku's wrath if they were to destroy the town." They walked toward an open gate on one side, but Dunvan steered them over toward a spot on the road leading out. "We won't need to enter the town proper, there's a doorway to Kandrona over this way. You know, you're taking this 'never able to leave' concept much better than I did.

Neo appeared suddenly, seemingly lost in thought.

Whatever magic this leader of yours has, it's very powerful."

Sting snarled. "I'll make you a deal. I register, you get this dragon off my head. If you don't agree, I don't register, and torture some innocent on the street for the information....what do you say?" Sting pushed his cloak back and out of the way, showing off the blade protruding from his elbow, hoping to help make his point.

Moore showed his own blade handle at Sting,"touch my daughter and you`ll die"

Sting snorted. "Hmph. Your threats are hollow. I could kill a man three times before he hit the ground, if it so pleased me!" Sting pushed his cloak all the way back, showing off his collection of shrunken skulls, as well as the blade that extended from either elbow. He would have looked imposing, if not for the dragon sitting on his head.

Moores hand began to crackle with lightning.

"heheh,don`t be fooled by apperances,hundreds have yelled in frustration since I wouldn`t just die"

Sting began mumbling, and the air behind him shimmered. A huge dragonic creature faded in, looking menacingly at Moore. It opened it's jaws, and a low growling noise seemed to emanate from it. Sting's illusion magic was fairly strong, though he still couldn't add in smells. He would have liked to give it's breath a stench to go with the image and sound.

The trees around them made a low rumbling, as the branches began reaching for them. His knowledge of forest magics was also sufficient, as he knew many effective scare tactics. Such was his specialty.

"Hmm..." Dace thought for a moment. It would go against his nature to go to the town and register. And he would hate to indulge the old man like that. And chances are he was only bluffing. But it was always good to play it safe. He sighed.
"Alright old man. Show the way."
Nodding as if he expected no less, the old man turned and began on his way. Waiting for Dace to follow. Grumbling under his breath, the he did so.

Laurel thought about Sting's offer, the look on her face suggesting a difficult choice was being made. "Okay, I'm sure Daku will be able to do it." When she looked up and realised what Sting was doing, she frowned again and stopped it. "Stop that, all you're doing is agitating them."

The old man led Dace toward a beach-side city, which seemed to have mostly wooden huts closest to him, but was denser, with paved streets and stone buildings farther in. Oddly enough, while there were small fishing boats along the shore, there didn't appear to be docks of any kind. "If you wish, we can pick up a language charm in the town. We have no real name for our language here, but we have never known an outsider to speak nor understand it immediately."

"Sounds like an awfully fun guy," commented Kaie, dryly. "So... Arthur, what were you before you landed here?"
"Adrift."
"I mean, what did you do before you were out at sea?"
"I was... self-employed."
"..."
"I'd rather not talk about it."
Tortus nodded, "Let the man be, you know, it is an awful lot to take in."
"No, it's not that... it's just something I'd rather not talk about."

Sting dropped the illusion, and the trees returned to normal. He scowled at Laurel. "Just.....just take me someplace where I can get this blasted dragon off my head, alright? I'll register AFTER that, I swear it." Sting had his cloak back on, and his fingers were NOT crossed. He preffered just lying outright.

"Fine, fine. As long as we get to Daku and he knows it was me."

Sting nodded his agreement, and swiftly walked into the town, pulling his cloak tightly around him, looking disgruntled because he couldn't get the hood on over the dragon on his head. He was quite embarassed, actually.

Saber woke up and began to sing, very loudly.

"YOU ARE MY SUNSHINE! MY ONLY SUNSHINEEEE YOU MAKE ME HAAAAAPPPPYYYYYYYY! WHEN SKIES ARE GREEEEEEEEEEEY! YOU'LL NEVER KNOW DEAAAAAAAR HOW MUCH I LOVE YOU! PLEEEEEASE DON'T TAAAAAAAAAAAAKE MY SUNSHINE AAAAAAAWWAY!!!"

She then went to singing it over and over and over.

Abyss entered the registration tower. It WAS grand. Even for only the ground floor. Regal and artistic masterpieces were perfectly laid out across the walls, the ground felt durable and smooth. Abyss whistled and turned to the lady so kind to help him.

"So...where to next???"

Sting clamped his claws over the sides of his head.

"AUGH! Condemn you, Hellspawn, is this hell, and you my tormentor?!"

Sting motioned for Laurel to hurry up. "I WANT THIS THING OFF!"

"But I love you uncle Sting!"

Sting growled. "Be that as it may, I don't want you on my head! I can't go hunting with you sitting on my head like that, and I can't intimidate these primitive humans with you on top of my head either, condemn it all!"

"You know, you're taking this 'never able to leave' concept much better than I did."

"Well, there isn't much left of the outer world by now" Peter replied as he followed Dunvan to a huge door near the city walls. "The reploid wars turned huge areas into liveless wastland, the humans in the remaining citys are suffering from omnipotent companys, maverick raids, and the constant dieng of plants and animals."
They walked through the door and instandly appeared near a huge tower . "So thats what the outer world has come to..." he opened the towers door and spread his arms. "So here we are, doesn't it look impresive?"
Peter shrugged. "Well if you say so it's surely true. "

edit: fixed the door thing

She smiled.
"If you let me hang around you, hug you n call you my uncle sting and never try to run away I can get off!" She grinned her devious dragon grin.

"but you're shiny and green and neat and deadly and I love you!"

*pinch*

"Owww..."

*pinch* *pinch*

"Ahhhh!! AHHH! AAH! aaahhh! AHH! AAiiiiiieeeeeeEE!" Bobby leapt to his feet and ran around in circles, screaming his head off. "Whyyyyyyyyy?"

The crab that pinched his ear looked at him blankly. He kicked it into the ocean and spit out some sand.

"That's right... I fainted. They must have forgiven me and dopped me off on this beach! The ol' Blackbeard charm Strikes again!" He winked at no one in particular. Then the washed up pirate saw the forest and leapt back. "Woah! Kinda snuck up on me there. Well let's check it out."

Bobby ventured into the foilage.

Sting sighed pathetically. "Alright, alright, alright.....just get off my head....." It looked almost painful for him to admit defeat.

"heheheh,you can`t say no to lil Saber,besides you couldn`t intimidate me if you tried"

She yayed in victory and jumped off, scurrying down his shoulder and hugging his neck tightly.

"THANKOO UNKIE STING!!!"

Sting flinched. "Yes, indeed...." He sighed, having resigned himself to deal with Saber.

Laurel smirked, "Alright, alright." As they walked over toward the wall around Odla, she seemed to avoid going near the wall, and held her arms across her chest, obviously uncomfortable (imagine someone walking through a graveyard, or past a village with bone houses, etc.).

Dunvan saw the woman and narrowed his eyes. "What are you doing here?"
She turned around, "I found an outsider, why do you care?"
"I found one too."
"Well this one's mine."
"Fine."
"Fine."
They glared at eachother for a moment.

Neo stepped near Laurel.

"I see you are uncomfortable being around here. I apologize although none of this is my doing."

Abyss stood between the two and brought them back easily with his arms.

"Now now. I wouldn't want you two to fight to the death. I'd hate to subdue either of you."

"No, no, we're fine."
"Absolutely peachy."
"..."
There was another moment or two of uneasy silence, and Abyss coughed.
"Oh, yes, sorry, it's just over... eh..."
Dunvan smirked, "Over here, Peter, up this staircase."
The four of them walked to the back of the tower, where there was indeed a staircase leading up to the higher floors. There were a couple flights with only stone on either side and an occasional window, and then a couple flights of bookshelves. Finally, they reached a floor with a desk and an elf behind it, scribbling on papers and filing them. The odd thing about this elf was that he had four arms, and was using all four to fill out... whatever he was filling out.

Laurel shook her head, "It's... it's fine. Let's just get past here."