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The
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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."
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