Roleplay: The fall of Herion

[the blue magian]

Rules:

Oke after a long time it’s there, finally.
This is the roleplay that we have been discussing in the other (roleplay) thread.
Please read this post carefuly before posting anything in this thread.
If you have any questions or want to join the rp after it started please contact me or Draugwen by pm. Do not post anything outside of the roleplay. ( the “roleplay” thread is for discussion of this play.)

Rules would of course first be the general rules of any forum roleplay. I think more specific things, if necessary, can be established once this thing gets started.
This is not supposed to be a pen&paper thing with points and all that, but consist only of text, which of course requires some attention to detail in what you write.

Standard rules are:
1) Do not powerplay, meaning, do not move other people's characters, or write anything that happens to them without them being able to influence it. for example. you can throw a stone at them, but you cannot decide whether, or where, it hits them. (Unless that character's player gave you the very specific permission to do so)

2) Do not do overly powerful characters. Not only is it no fun for yourself if you can just do everything, but it's freaking annoying to everyone else. Try to make your characters realistic... give them strengths, but also give them weaknesses, and try to give them some character, too.

3) Keep your character's actions and your own thoughts and actions apart. If some character is mean to your character, it has nothing to do with that player being mean to you.

4) You all know the general forum rules.

5) Posts should be written in third person and the past tense. It gets messy as soon as everyone does it differently.

6) If you want to add something out of character to your actual post to inform your fellow players of something or the like, please put “OOC:” in front of it.

7) For better... well, 'readability' (or something ) please put your character's speech in bold and his or her thoughts in /these/ and italics.
For example:
”This is not a good idea” he said to the others.
/This is not a good idea/ he thought to himself.

Have fun! That's what this thing is made for

[Draugwen]

Introduction for the characters:

It probably had been a normal day for you. You had been doing whatever you usually busy yourself with, when suddenly, unexpectedly, the world around you went out of balance, and then black. If you ever fainted before, you would probably have found it a similar feeling. People around you, however, would not have seen you faint – what they would have seen is you disappearing in a sudden, blinding flash of light, leaving no trace at all.
Returning to awareness had not been pleasant either. You had found yourself quite sore, like having fallen from a bit of a height. You were now in a large clearing in the middle of an old, dense forest, on what seemed to be midday of a slightly clouded spring day, with a couple of small mistbanks floating around the clearing – a place you didn’t recognize at all. In the middle of the clearing, there was a block of stone that might have been an altar, and curiously, there was a figure slumped over it, garbed in long, but simple robes. Around you, the forest stretched out far in all directions. What was most noticeable, however, is that the entire place lay in an eerie silence, hardly ever interrupted by even the rustling of a leaf. Looking around in the clearing, you found that you did not seem to be the only one waking up in that place. What had happened?

OOC:
To Be Continued – by you! We as the moderators of the play (being Draugwen and the blue magian) have the outline of the story in our heads and minds, but are still open to any suggestions. We will place hints and the like as the story goes along. If you feel under-occupied you can also volunteer to take up NPCs (Non-Personal Characters) that will be necessary every now and then to move the story along. In that case, just PM either me or the blue magian, and the same goes for any suggestions you might have. We don't bite, so suggest away. We'll seriously comnsider everything

BTW it would be nice if you showed what I described in the introduction from your character's point of view in your first post, along with what you were doing before the damn thing happened. That would be interesting to see

Edit: As Dentarthurdent suggested, it would be nice to deactivate the signatures here to let the play flow better... so please remember that too.

[the blue magian]

Lardon:

Lardon was walking in the forest of his home lands. After long travels he was finally home. /It will be good to see my family/ He thought. The night before he had the hounor of a visit of one of the elders of his clan telling him that the spirits told him that lardon's devotion to his clan, was enough to ensure him a place among them. When he would come out of the forest he could let go of his human shape and fly as a true dragon of the clan. In the distance he could see the edge of the forest and after that the green grass plains with beyond that the nest of his family. Suddenly he stumbled. The world looked like it was turning upside down. Just before everything around him turned black he could feel his body fall to the ground and he could catch a glimpse of his home land. Then black.

As he opend his eyes all the world around him was blurry. As he sat up he blinked a couple of times to get his vision back. His body felt like he had been falling down a mountain. Slowly moving his arms to drive away the pain he looked around. /This isn't the forest i was walking in/ He thought. He was on a clearing in a forest. Looking to the sky he could only see a couple of clouds. /What time of day is it?/ He thought. The sun was still up but when he arrived on the edge of the forest it was already setting. He looked around the clearing again as he got his vision back. There were other people lying around. In the middle there was a huge stone with a figure hanging over it. He tried to stand up but immediately fell down again. his head was still pounding. He looked around for his hat. but could not find it. "My head" He mumbled to himself.

[Dentarthurdent]

Gregor was busy. Some children had inexplicably vanished from the small village of Driochvann, and rumours spoke of a witch haunting the nearby forests. This meant a promising job for a professional witch-hunter like Gregor Institoris was one - and not an unsuccessful, as has to be mentioned.
The disadvantage of these jobs near populated areas was that his faithful compagnon Formicar, a tamed Kreelix, caused too much of an outrage, so he had to remain hidden in the woods, while Gregor was in the village inquiring about the witch.

Finally, his researches had delivered deciding hints, and he now gained knowledge of the location of the witch's shat in the woods. Without losing time, he returned to his winged steed, got up and lifted off.
Soaring lowly above the treetops, he drew closer to the witch's lair.

/I hope she will be at home... otherwise it'll be a difficult fight, without the element of suprise and Formicar on my side.../

A higher power must have had a strange sense of irony, for exactly after Gregor finished these thoughts, he was utterly surprised. In an instant, the world around him seemed to sway and then, everything just went black.
For a moment, a blinding flash of light jolted across the trees, which caused some birds to take to the air in fright. For a moment, there was utter silence, then some birds took up their song again.
However, there was no sign of the witch-hunter and his Kreelix, just as if they had never been there at all.


/She must have spotted us and took us down with a deadly spell! I fear this is the end.../

These were the first things to cross Gregor's mind when he came around.
He felt not well at all, yet his senses were all highly alert, and the adrenaline rushing through his blood held the level of pain quite low.
Being an experienced mercenary, he let show no sign that he had come around. He just kept lying, on what seemed to be soft grass, with his eyes closed, perceiving the new situation first with his other senses. He could feel the warmth of his great beast lying near him, so they had not been separated.

/Foolish of her, not to kill him instantly. Well, she hasn't killed me as well, this is very strange.../

He heard something rustling, which made him not any comfortabler.
He kept lying unmoving for another minute or two, then he carefully opened his eyes. He ws lying, as far as he could see from his position, on a clearing in some forest. It might have been the same forest he had been flying over a few minutes ago, but then it could not have been it - forests tended to look very similar from the inside. He could see a strange shape lying a few metres away from him. He could now definetely hear something - or something - moving. It seemed the witch had taken them directly to their lair. Mumbling a protective spell and fingering the knife he wore on his belt in his hand with as few movemtn as possible, he prepared himself for a fight.
When he had a tight grip on the knife, he sprang up, screaming:

Take this!

He threw a bolt of lightning from his fingers, with wandered off without hitting anything into the forest. Then he looked around.

In the middle of the clearing stood a stone, squarely, just as if it was there for a purpose, probably an altar or something similar. Above it was a strange robed figure. Around it, several other shapes were lying, which Gregor now recognised to be other more or less human beings, at least from the looks. One of them moved a bit, that was probably the movement he had heard. It didn't look like awitch's lair though, it was lacking a witch to beign with. Adn there was no cauldron even, or a fireplace. He put his knife away and grabbed his bow, that hung on his back and fitted an arrow on the string. He turned around, but there was also nothing behind him. He turned around again, and just for security aimed for the strange figure on the stone...

All right... Whoever you are, come out and explain yourself!

[Draugwen]

Sarabian

These were the less enjoyable parts of his job. His Imperial Majesty, Sarabian the emperor of Tamuli, leaned back in his chair with a heavy sigh and passed a hand over his face wearily. Tamuli was a realm of great stability, but that also meant that its government was badly adjusted to any kind of unusual happenings, and the slightest political unrest would mess the ministries up quite a bit - which caused a lot of paperwork. And someone who had his eyes on everything then had to sort it out.

That someone, of course, was him. Of course, he had help from the foreign minister and the minister of the interior, and under normal circumstances it turned out quite fine. But this time... it was a bit more.
There was trouble in Arjuna, one of the nine kingdoms the empire consisted of. That was nothing new in itself; there was always trouble in Arjuna. But lately... it seemed to grow organized.
Above that, there was unrest at the far border, and the Atans, the defensive force of the realm, were growing restless, anticipating an invasion. No one in his right mind would want the Atans restless.

And he was, currently with a considerable lack of sleep because of the matters, trying to smooth things out. A knock on the door made him turn his head and call the person in. In turned out to be his foreign minister, whom he had sent for some time ago to discuss matters. He nodded at the man when he stepped in.

"Ah, Oscagne" he said. "We need to-" He broke off in mid-sentence.
"Your Majesty?" Oscagne's worried question hardly reached him anymore as the world around him suddenly turned blurry - and then black. Nothing more.

~~~

Awareness returned only slowly. The first thing that he noticed was a general feeling of pain; he felt quite sore all over. The next thing was that he was lying on the ground...

...on grass.

He blinked.

It took him a while to actually see something, and when he did, it was mostly clouds in a blue-grey sky, and some treetops. What on earth had happened? Where was he? He sat up very slowly, to keep a certain dizziness at bay that rose in his head as soon as he moved it. Sitting like that he took a look around. It was a clearing in a forest... a forest that looked nothing like those of Tamul proper. The weather was a bit chilly, he noted, especially with the light linen shirt he was wearing. Hadn't it been summer in Tamuli?

There were... people around him, he noticed only now, when a rather harsh voice sounded in his ears. He turned his head, tense now, but not yet making a move to get up. There was an altar right in the middle of the clearing he had landed in, and someone slumped over it, probably unconscious, maybe dead even - and, weirdly, a man pointing an arrow at the motionless figure. This man was obviously the one who had uttered the... command.

And close to that man, there was a creature that Sarabian could only attribute to some of the most imaginative fairytales he had heard so far. It was... well, huge, and somewhere between a lizard and a bird and something else that made a voice in the back of his mind whisper: Dragon. It had been nice to view creatures like that only as a myth, or a fragment of some writer's imagination, but unfortunately he had had to change his views about myths several times already. This seemed to be another one of them, since neither this strange place, nor the man with the bow, nor that creature vanished when he closed his eyes and opened them a moment later. He took a deep breath, trying to calm down. It wasn't easy. At least though... The creature didn't seem aggressive so far. It probably belonged to the man with the bow.

Sarabian did not rise to his feet. Quick or unexpected movements around an angry, armed person were generally not a good idea. He just sat as he was, pushing all the questions in his head to the back of his mind to focus on this man and the person on the altar-like stone.
"I do not think aiming at him will have any effect" he suggested with a voice that was much calmer than himself. Before making any move, he would wait for the man's reaction.

[the blue magian]

The pain in Lardon's head faded away. He heard voices. He tried to stand up again. As he stood up he could see over the stone that two more figures were awake. Rubbing over his forehead he looked at the two. One was pointing a bow with an arrow on it towards him.
Next to the man was a creature.
"Is that a dragon?" He asked with suspicion, making sure that he was out of the way of the arrow.
"And what is going on here?" He didn't wonder who the persons were in his confusion. His eye was still on the creature next to the man with the bow. If it was a dragon then it was one he didn't know about. Although it looked a bit wierd for a dragon.

[Dentarthurdent]

So you'd rather that I'd aim for you? But then again, there seems to be no direct thread right now. So I think I'll simply put it down.

Gregor put down his bow and returned the arrow to his quiver. He then turned towards the other man who had stood up just now and inquired about his companion. A little smile played around his lips.

No, my faithful Fornicar here is no dragon, even though he is often mistaken for one. He is a Kreelix, in fact, a very rare beast. Kreelixes are hunters of magic, from which they nourish themselves. But do not worry, he is tame and only attacks those whom I tell him to. Yet I would still warn you not to enrage him, even the tamest beast can be dangerous when it's furious.

And on behalf of you're second question... I could just return it to you. And I'd also like to know where we are, and how we got here. You seem to have arrived in very much the same fashion as I did...

But allow me first to introduce myself. My name is Gregor Institoris, hunter of necromancers and other vile sorcerers, witches and magicians.

[Draugwen]

He shook his head. "I'm not much of a threat either" he informed the other man. It did help to see him put down the bow, and, relaxing slightly, Sarabian finally rose to his feet with a slight grimace. He did feel like having fallen flat onto his back from four or five metres of height. On hard ground. Considering the fact that he couldn't rule out anything here, he probably had.

Getting up also allowed him to see that another man had joined them, standing on the other side of the altar, inquiring about the... well, giant feathered lizard? The man had his eyes fixed on the creature.
His eyes... goodness, couldn't anything or anyone be normal around here? Even from this angle he could see that the man's eyes were yellow, snakelike. He turned his head away quickly to keep himself from staring. If this was just a weird dream, wasn't it time to wake up about now? Unfortunately, Sarabian knew his dreams, and they were nothing like this.

While he listened to the explanation about the feathered creature, he turned his attention back to the figure on the altar, who looked like he had just collapsed standing in front of it. He stepped a bit closer while the other two were talking to look more closely at this person, but he was reluctant to touch him to see if he was still breathing.

A change of topic in what the other two were saying made him look at them again for a moment. It seemed as if they were just as much out of place here as he was. "Good to see that the confusion is universal" he noted dryly, before pointing at the motionless man and the altar. He did have the impression that both belonged together, meaning, that the man hadn't come here the way they had - and, possibly, also that he had had his hands in it. "Maybe we should try to find answers here?"

He gave Gregor a critical look after his introduction. Interesting occupation, huh? "How do you decide whether a sorcerer or sorceress is vile?" he asked pointedly, while his gaze moved back to the man on the altar, who probably should be their main focus of interest just now... and maybe also needed help as well, but he wasn't exactly a physician...

[the blue magian]

Lardon noticed that the other man was looking at him a bit longer than normal. He knew that the man was looking at his eyes but he didn't have a hat to hide them under, so he had to make the best of it.

"A kreelix? Never heard of it. But if he feeds on magic I have to make sure he doesn't attack me." He said with a small smile, as the man explained to him what the creature was. "A witch hunter? Where I come from they hunt pretty much anyone who has a hint of magic."
The other man pointed to the figure hanging over the stone as he asked them something. Lardon looked at the man on the stone.

"My name is Lardon. And I was on my way home when the world turned upside down and then turned black. The next thing I know is being here." He said looking back at the man calling himself Gregor. He noded and walked up to the stone and looked closely to the man.
He seemed to belong here looking at the way he was dressed.

[Dentarthurdent]

I think we should first get a grip on this strange situation before we start discussions about my profession. But I agree with you that this strange person, or whatever it is, may be the key to it. But let us not lose our caution. I'm not altogether sure whether all this happened for the good or the bad of us.

He turned to the other man.

Greetings, Lardon. Do not worry, your maigc is safe as long as you don't give me or him a reason to turn unto you.
In fact, hunting everyone magical is what Kreelixes have originally been bred for. But not all magic is evil, this is at least how I see it.

Gregor also stepped closer to the strange stone. Fornicar was coming to his senses again, too. he had raised his head, but stayed where he was. It was obvious that he did not like their situation.

[Draugwen]

"Good point." They did indeed have better things to do than wonder about each other's profession. He hadn't even introduced himself, mostly because he had other things on his mind. Even while he had his eyes fixed on the man on the altar he listened to what the other two were saying, and stored the conclusions in his mind for later use. The snake-eyed man was a magical creature it seemed... well, that had to be expected. As long as he wasn't hostile, which he showed no intent of being, Sarabian figured that he could well live with it.

When that man too introduced himself he decided that it was in order to do the same. He did have a tendency to skip protocol whenever he thought it cumbersome, but that at least he should stick to.
"Since we're all busy introducing ourselves... He glanced up at them critically. "Call me Sarabian."

Now that they were all standing around the altar, with no one making a move to approach it, he finally took another step closer with a soft sigh. Hesitantly he placed a hand on the unmoving man's shoulder and, when he still made no move, carefully turned him over onto his back, so that his head was lying on the stone. The man was still breathing, though very shallowly. He was bearded, well past his youth though not exactly elderly, but his face looked haggard, drawn in a very strange way.

"Can you hear me?" Sarabian asked finally. He doubted that the man was awake, but it was worth a try. Maybe he wouldn't even understand him... but then, those two other men did too, and they could have come from anywhere, couldn't they? He didn't have the impression of speaking anything else than Tamul, but that they understood Tamul was very improbable. Maybe that was part of the magic at work here, somehow...

[the blue magian]

The man on the stone:
The man slowly tried to wake up but felt unable to move. /Am I too late? Did the others manage to get here? Or am i the only one?/ He had used his last bit of magic to complete the spell but he wasn't sure if it had worked. Just after he had spoken the last word of the spell he had collapsed onto the stone. Around him he heard voices.

A hand on his shoulder. Still not able to move or even open his eyes he felt that he was turned over on the stone. /They got me now, all hope is lost. /He thought, still fighting to open his eyes as his breathing was getting weaker. / I..I..I'm dying/ He fought even harder to return to consciousness. Finally after what felt like ages he managed to open his eyes. There was a man standing in front of him.

"Where?...Where am I? Who are you?" He moaned. He still couldn't move his body. /Were they the creatures?/ His mind kicked back to life with the realisation that he might have been captured. He prepared a defensive spell in case he was. He looked at the man standing over him again. He had a bit of a bronze tone over his skin and had black hair. His eyes looked black and showed a great intelligence.
"Who are you?" He asked again.


Lardon:
The man said that it would be bad for Lardon if he had a reason to attack him. /You have no idea of what I am do you?/ He thougt. He looked more closely at Gregor. His full beard and short hair fitted a hunter and his weapons looked sharp. /But would he be able to take on a real dragon?/

The other man he was not sure about. He looked unarmed and was wearing a light linen shirt and slippers. Slippers? /Why would someone want to wear slippers?/ He wondered. Lardon could see the intelligent look in the dark eyes of the man. / He may look unarmed but intelligence is also a weapon./ He thougt.
The man introduced himself as Sarabian.

As the man called Sarabian turned the figure on the stone over after first trying to wake the figure by placing his hand on the shoulder, he walked closer for a look. The figure turned out to be a man. He could see the man breathing very shallowly. The looks of the man did surprise Lardon a bit. He had expected to see an old man but this one looked younger. He wasn't one of the youngest but he could not be called old either.

Suddenly he saw the man open up his eyes. "Where am I? Who are you?" The man asked. Although it sounded more like moaning. His eyes got narrower. /I can understand what he's saying?/ He thought. He had never realized it before. / I shouldn't understand any of them. But yet I am. It must be the work of magic./ He thought.
Then a scent came to him. Magic. The man was gathering magic.

"I would take a step back if I were you." He said to Sarabian when the man repeated his question. He laid his hand on his own sword and waited.

[Draugwen]

Sarabian

Sarabian watched the man anxiously, as he knew the two people beside him did, too. And after a while, surprisingly, said man even opened his eyes, and spoke. He couldn't help an ironic smile at the question. It sounded rather precisely like what he had first thought after waking up in this place. That offered two possibilities: Either he had, after all, come here the same way they had - which would mean he couldn't help them either - or he was just confused and not very clear in his mind - which had the same effect. Oh joy.

A quick look at the two others told him rather clearly that the speaking would be left to him. Oh well. As to where you are - I had hoped you could tell us that" he said, looking worriedly at the man. He didn't look good, but without knowing what was wrong he couldn't do anything for him. Probably he couldn't even if he knew. "And as to who we are..." he then continued, "...well, we're three people that have no idea where they are and what they are doing there." That sort of summed it up.

The warning from the snake-eyed man's side surprised him a little, since he did not expect this weak man to be much of a threat. Nonetheless he stepped back a bit, heeding Lardon's words.



The man on the stone:

He had some difficulties concentrating enough to understand the man's answers, but after a while he grasped the meaning of what he had said. An expression of relief crossed over his face and he closed his eyes for a moment. His spell had worked. And he had not been captured.
Now... it was hard to open his eyes again. He wanted to take a deep breath, but that too was hard. Yes, he was dying. The spell had worked, but he now paid the price, having poured all of his strength into it. He did not have much time left.

"Listen" he said weakly, not having opened his eyes again. "I don't have much time... His voice trailed off for a moment, but he pulled himself together. Only last for a little longer. Then he could go...

"This is the world Herion. I summoned you... We need your help. This world... is of balance. If this goes on it will die." He fell silent again, and there was hardly a sound on the clearing while he didn't speak. It was harder to begin speaking every time. He would like to explain, there was so much to tell these people and he was aware of how lost they must be feeling, but he had no time. He had to tell them what to do and hope they managed. For the sake of Herion.

"You have to go North-East. There is a lake close to the town of Berimor. On its southern shore, there are the ruins of an ancient temple. You will find..." His voice had grown weaker and weaker with the words, and now it trailed off again, but he did not resume speaking. He lay still, and for a few more moments he drew in his shallow breaths, until finally, he exhaled one last time, and did not breathe in again.

[Dentarthurdent]

Anxiously, Gregor had watched how the man awoke and heard how he spent his last breath. When he had said his last words, he quickly felt for the man's pulse. He found none.

"He is dead." he said. "What a strange man. Yet I think his last words were true, and it's the best explanation we've got so far.
So this is another world, eh? Looks very much like the one I was used to... And it is dying? I have never heard of a world dying. This is all very mysterious, but I feel inclined to do as this man said we should.
I say, we stay together and at least go to that town, to find out what really is going on here.

What do you think?"

Expectantly he watched the other two men.

[the blue magian]

/I'm on another world?/ Lardon thought. He was a bit confused. At first he wanted to tell the man how he felt aboute being here. He also wanted to know how he could get back to his own world, but now the man was dead and had taken his answers with him, nonetheless his curiosity was sparked. This man had also asked for his help and as he had sworn to help the humans if they asked for it. What kind of a guardian would he be if he didn't try to help the man, even if it was on a other world? He might be able to learn more about humans this way too.

"I suppose we could go and at least check his story. It's not that we can go anywhere else and there is no point in waiting here for something to happen. Besides I owe it to my ancestors to help the man" he said after a short silence. He was still looking at the man that was now dead. He could not help asking himself. /What would possess the man to summon people from other worlds to his to help with a problem?/

[Draugwen]

Sarabian felt somewhat dumbstruck after the man had fallen silent, and after Gregor, with unnerving calm, had attested his death. Death from what? Sarabian retreated a few steps from the altar, an errant part of his mind cursing his lack of proper shoes as he did so. The rest of his thoughts was busy trying to get through what had just been told.
'The world Herion'... he had never heard of it, but he could safely take any bet it was not his own. Another world... An uncountable amount of questions whizzed through his always busy mind and it took him a while to get it to focus again. Focus on what was at hand.

He stored away the information the man had given about the location they should go to and looked back and forth between the to others. He was inclined to ask Gregor how the hell he could be so cool after recieving the information of being worlds away from home, but he held back and tried to be constructive. He was, however, nervously playing with his fingers meanwhile.
What was it now? A probably several days' march in the company of two... more than weird people, with, especially in his case, a definite lack of supplies - and a lack of shoes, too? It sounded far from enjoyable, but... he sighed. "It's not like we had much of a choice" he agreed to their words. They had to follow the only trail they had. What Lardon said about his ancestors sounded strange to him, but he decided to inquire about it later, as soon as they had sorted out where to start.

"I am, however, very much in favour of finding the nearest place where people live, and finding out as much about this place as possible." He looked around on the clearing. Something didn't quite feel right about the place and he didn't like it much. If the rest of this world was like that, the time ahead promised to be spooky.
"Oh, and get some supplies" he added with a slight grimace. Those two, by their looks, were used to living out in the wilds. He wasn't, and it showed, in the fine material of his clothes, his elegant hands that showed that they weren't used to much work beyond writing, his pale complexion that showed he didn't get out in the sun very often, and the fact that his only weapon was a slender rapier. At least he could handle that, and well.

He looked at the others again. "I suppose you two can figure out a direction to go?" If he dug up all the things he had read in some book at some point he possibly could too, but they should be better at it than him, shouldn't they?

[Dentarthurdent]

Gregor was thinking, anxiously.

/What to do now? This Sarabian is surely right, we need some provisions first. And some equipment, he doesn't seem to be clothed fitting to what seems to lie ahead of us./

He had experienced much that magic can do, so the shock of being transferred to another world wasn't that hard - and he couldn't grasp it as well. The death of the man had come not quite unexpected, he had been lying as still as dead from the very beinning. He seemed to have lost all his power, maybe by bringing them there. Such a spell must have been very exhausting - exhausting to death maybe.

"Well, if it were only the matter of food, that could be taken care of. In this forest will surely be some animals, and I could for sure shoot one. But you, Sarabian, also seem to need some equipment... a good pair of boots at least.

As to figuring were to go, that could be difficult, since we have absolutely no clue what time fo day it is, and therefore by no means we can say were northeast actually is. And above that, if this is really another world - I wonder what he meant by that at all - how are we to know that the sun rises in the east here just like it does in the lands we know?

Yet I could mount my good Formicar and explore the nearer surroundings from the air. Maybe I can find villages or something similar not far away."

[the blue magian]

Lardon looked at the forest like he had heard something. He agreed with Sarabian that they needed some supplies. He needed some clothing and food aswell. But the food part could be a problem. Gregor said that there had to be some animals in the forest but he could not hear anything. Not even the sound of the trees themselves.

"I think the food part could be a problem. Does any of you hear a sound? it's way to quiet for a forest and I dont hear any animals in the surroundings either. It sounds a bit like this forest is deserted of all kinds of life." he said as he tried to listen even better. he had a very good hearing but it was disturbing for him that he didn't hear anything.

He looked at the creature that had come with Gregor. "That might be a good idea."He said to the suggestion of Gregor to have a look around in the sky. The thought of flying gave Lardon the desire of changing back in to a dragon and going fly aswell but he knew that he couldn't just do that with these people around. It could scare them, or worse, they could turn against him.It wouldn't be the first time.

[Draugwen]

Sarabian looked down at his feet at Gregor's mention of the fact that he needed boots. Yes, definitely. But it hadn't been his idea to be 'abducted' out of his palace after all. He listened to what the two others had to say, and pulled up his shoulders slightly. This was not exactly the part where he was someone to bring in any suggestions. "We could start collecting berries" he commented dryly, but it clearly wasn't very serious. For one, he wouldn't want to eat anything out of this forest, and besides, they couldn't tell for sure what was poisonous and what wasn't in this world, even though the plants looked familiar.

He did approve of Gregor's idea though, since it was the best that was about so far. "I think so too" he then said after Lardon had voiced his approval. "And if you find some sort of settlement, you come back to inform us?" Whatever way he looked at it, he didn't like the thought of just staying here and waiting for that man to return. He sighed softly and threw a glance at Lardon. That man's eyes unnerved him slightly; he couldn't help it. "Any suggestions of what we could busy ourselves with in the meantime?"

[the blue magian]

Lardon could hear Sarabian sigh and felt his gaze upon him. He knew the feeling because it had happened often before when people saw his eyes. /What could we do? That is a very good question./ He thought. He looked at Sarabian. "I suggest that we find a way to bury this man instead of leaving him to the animals. And then we could look for a path out of here. He had to come here somehow. The forest looks to thick to just walk through." He said. Without waiting for an answer he walked to the the edge of the forest where the trees started and started looking for a piece of wood that would be strong enough to dig with.

He didn't know if the man would follow his example but he wanted to get away form the look that the man gave him.
As he went through the undergrowth he noticed that everything he touched broke of very easily. /Am i that strong? / He wondered and picked up a small branch and looked at it closely. From the outside it looked normal but when he saw the inside he stumbled backwards and dropped the branch on the ground. Staring into the forest he took another step back.

"This is not good" he mumbled. He quickly turned to the others. "The forest is diseased." He picked up the branch he had dropped on to ground and showed it to the others. The inside of the branch was completely black. Lardon was holding it between his thumb and indexfinger and squeezed softly. The branch didn't resist to the pressure and broke in small pieces to the ground.

[Dentarthurdent]

Gregor looked at the dust that had seconds before still been a twig.

"This must be what he meant when he said that this world is dying... I guess that much of his story is true. And I also agree with you in what you said about animals... On second thoughts, I think that you are right.
I guess I'd better quickly get up there and look for something helpful.
I hope I won't be long."

He went back to the Kreelix, which had during the men's discussion kept very close to himself. He looked almost afraid, just as if he sensed that there was something wrong here.

"All right, my old friend. Let us look for some better places than this. It is... creepy."

With these words he climbed upon the beast's back and sat behind his neck. Formicar spread his wings and lifted off. He beat his wings twice or thrice, and then he was already as high up as the treetops. With a few more flaps, he was above them.

The first thing Gregor saw, was that the forest was not very wide, it seemed to exist only to surround the clearing. Beyond it, there was directly a big sea. Only in one direction there was land - the forest was a peninsula. Since the mysterious old man had sent them northeast, North must be the side were there was land. Beyond the forest, Gregor saw farmlands - the land was green and brown, but it looked a bit strage, even from this distance one could see that there was something wrong with it, even though you couldn't put your finger on it.
Gregor made Formicar fly northwards, to explore the way they had to take. He saw several farms, widely spread over the land.

Further away, he could dimly see a great river, that flowed in to the sea and then bent northwards. As he flew further northwards, he could see that the farms were in no good condition, some looked pretty much deserted. But he still hadn't found a village or similar.

Finally he saw something, several darker spots south of the river, which he finally recognized to be houses. There was a village there, not a big one, but it looked large enough that they could satisfy their most pressing needs.

/I'd better return now... I have been gone long enough and now I at least know where we ought to go first./

In a wide semi-circle Formicar turned around and soared back. He was flying a bit lower than before, so Gregor could even see a small road, that seemed to run from the villages to the farms.

Finally he returned to the woody peninsula and landed on the clearing, while he cautiously reminded himself, in which direction they had to go. He sprang down from the kreelix's back.

[the blue magian]

Lardon looked as Gregor flew away. When he was gone he turned to Sarabian. "Would you mind to get some big pieces of wood? I don't think we can bury him but we can give him a funeral like they do in my home lands." He said as he walked to the man still laying against the stone.

Carefully laying the dead man on his back he saw a small pouch on his side. Lardon tried to find the knot that held the pouch together but could not find one.
He pulled out one of his bone knifes and placed it against the string of the pouch. As he pulled the knife it went through the string like it was air and lardon caught the pouch.

He quickly glanced at Sarabian to see if he saw it and if he did what he would say about it. "You don't need it where you're going my friend." He said to the dead man softy as he touched the eyes. After a quick search he placed the pouch beside him and placed his hands close together. / It won't make any more of a diferrence if they see me do this i suppose/ He thought as he slowly moved his hand like they were flowing over a sphere.
As soon as there was a spark in the middle he blew on it and the spark flamed up.

He placed his hands onto the body and opend them. The flame sprung on the body and started to spread out over the length of the man. Lardon blew another time into the flame and it shot up into the sky.

[Draugwen]

For once, Sarabian was happy that someone else took over organising function - this was a situation so unfamiliar that he had no idea how to really deal with it. He was feeling more than uncomfortable about all this, but did, as Lardon told him. The wood broke easily, but the hard part was to find bigger pieces that didn't fall apart when he touched them. Was that contagious? he wondered, but for the sake of his mind decided humans could not get plant diseases.

Carrying back one big piece of wood that was actually staying in one piece, he caught sight of Lardon seemingly removing something the man had owned. He couln't see it properly though. Laying down the piece of wood he addressed the snake-eyed man. "What are you doing?"
He went back to fetch another piece of wood while he waited for the other to reply, and then a new one. Still trying to pick that one out between the black, decaying wood he heard a strange sound behind him, turned... and stumbled backwards in surprise. The dead man was burning, entirely on flame, and beside him, very calmly, stood Lardon.

"Right, even if it is a stupid question..." Sarabian slowly approached the fire, dragging another piece of wood along. "How did you just do that?" That didn't really make him any less nervous about that man. Occupied with the fire and its maker, he didn't even notice that Gregor had returned.

[the blue magian]

lardon looked at sarabian. "It is a trick that my people know." He said hoping that he wouldnt have to explain any more. He picked up the pieces that Sarabian had collected and place them on to the burning body.

He also took a step back as Gregor returned. He picked up the pouch from the man and placed it around his own waist. Then he would look in it when he had no other eyes upon him and could find out what in it was of use for him or them.

"Did you mange to find anything?" He asked Gregor without looking at sarabian.

[Dentarthurdent]

The first thing Greogr noticed as he returned was that the other two had obivously decided to burn the man's corpse rather than burying it. He did not wonder much about the how, Lardon probably had some tinder with him. He seemed to know how to make a fire in the wilds.
So he took directly to answering:

"Yes, I managed to find out a bit about our surroundings. First of all, this forest is not very wide, we should easily cross it. We are in fact on a peninsula and this forest is surrounded by the sea on three sides, so I guessed that the one remaining side must be north. It is the only way we can take from here anyway, so I explored further in that direction.
Beyond the forest there's a stretch of farmland, though not in a very good condition. A bit further north is a great river, and near this river is also a village which should be the first station of our journey. I don't think we will get much from the farmers, the farms seemed to be in a very bad condition, some where even deserted.

Unfortunately, we do not know what time of day it is, so I can by no means tell if we can make it to that village ere nightfall.

That much to my tale. I think we shuld start off as soon as possible, that we can at least leave the forest behind us while it is still light, and even if we should not make it to the village today, we can ask for a lodging at one of the farms."

/This is the best plan I can come up with, and it's not a very good one. If I only knew more about this strange country.../

[Draugwen]

A trick indeed? Sarabian gave Lardon a sceptical look. That was a neat trick to know indeed. He preferred the traditional ways of making fire. But then, magic and everything related to it always made him slightly uncertain. He decided to speak no more of it for the time being.
He greeted Gregor, who had just now returned, and listened to his report quietly. Well... he hoped it wasn't too far to the village. He didn't look forward to a long march without proper boots much. He memorized what Gregor said as well as he could, for later use. A map might be something much more useful though. Maybe they could get that in the village. Then again, maybe they needed a town for that.
He thought that this was about the time to voice a discovery he had made while bringing wood for the fire, which was still burning and had started to creat an unpleasant smell. It was really time to leave. " We should get going then. I have found a small path leading through the forest, so we don't have to work our way through the undergrowth. Is that what you found to be North?" He pointed in the direction of the path.

[the blue magian]

Lardon listened to what Gregor had discovered and looked at the sky. /The sun is moving in the opposite direction./ He thought but decided not to tell the others yet. Sarabian told about a path through the undergrowth. He looked at the forest in the direction that Sarabian pointed.

"The path looks good enough for us but can your kreelix get through?" He asked Gregor. As he looked at the forest around the path he felt a chill running down his spine. "The faster we are out of this forest the better. I have the feeling that we are being watched." He said to nobody in particular.

He walked along path and set foot in the forest making sure that he didn't touch any of the leaves and branches. He felt a slight tingling in the hand where he had held the branch before and looked at it. The fingers with which he had held the branch with were changing colour. They were getting the colour of his dragon skin, brown-red. Quickly he looked over his shoulder to see if the others were coming and if they didn't see his hand changing colour.

[Dentarthurdent]

Gregor looked at the path Sarabian had found. It left the clearing in the same direction from which he had comne, so it was due north.

"Yes, it's leading in the right direction. And if we are lucky, it might even lead us directly to an inhabited place, maybe even the village. There were roads, very crude ones though, between the farms and the village, maybe there's also a path leading to this forest.
And don't worry aout Formicar. He can easily fly above the trees and meet us on the other side."

Directly after he had finished, Formicar made acroaking noise. Something had disturbed him, but Gregor could see nothing that might have been the reason. He went to the Kreelix.

"Psht, my boy. There's nothing here. But this forest is surely creepy.

I'd say, we leave right away. Not that we had anything we ought to pack beforehand...

[Cerbere]

Caelwyn

Caelwyn crouched behind the log. The gryphon saw him, he was sure of it. Normally he could easily take down a gryphon with his bow, but not with his hand in this condition.

While traveling to Bakutis, a goblin had taken him by surprise. Caelwyn killed the goblin, but only after taking a serious blow on his left hand. The club had broken several bones, Caelwyn suspected. He had hoped to find a healer in Bakitus, but hadn't made it that far when he spotted the gryphon.

Caelwyn pulled out his short sword.

/It has to be just a few meters away by now/ he thought.

He stood and turned to face the gryphon. It let out a mighty roar, then charged him.

Just then everything went black.

When he came back to his senses he was lying in a forest. He felt sore all over.

/Have I died?/he thought.

He decided he must not have, because if he did he wouldn't be sore. He got up immediately, and saw several other people lying on the ground one stirring a bit. There was also a strange altar, with a man lying on it, not moving.

Caelwyn limped a few meters to a large tree, and hid behind it. He had no way of knowing if the people on the ground were hostile. He waited behind the tree and listened to them talk to each other.

He observed the people for what he thought to be about an hour. From what they said, it sounded like they arrived the same way he did, and they didn't seem to be hostile.

Then, the "kreelix" saw him.

/How could i have been so careless?/ he thought. /What the hell is a kreelix anyway? I've never heard of one in my life/

He decided to reveal himself. (OOC this is now current timing)

Hello, my name is Caelwyn, he directed to them all. I have been watching you for an about hour. I think I arrived in the same way you did. And you, magic caster, he said to Lardon, do you know a way of healing my hand? I think I broke it.

[the blue magian]

Lardon looked to the side as a figure called out from the forest. From behind a tree appeared a man. At least he thought it was a man. Being on his guard he looked at the man with his snakelike eyes. The man looked fairly pale and had lightblond hair. He said that his name was Caelwyn.

"What do you mean you have been watching us for over an hour?" Lardon asked, surprised that he hadn't hear the man. /He was either very good at hiding and keeping quiet or he was just lucky,/ he thought.

"I'm sorry i can't heal, i'm not a spellcaster."He answered the man. He looked at his companions for a bit of help. He couldn't do much for the man but maybe one of them could. The man looked friendly enough but there was something that bothered Lardon. / Maybe it's just this place/ he thought.

"If you want you can join us. I guess that when you were watching us you could also understand what our plan was?" He said to the man as he stuck out his hand that hadn't touched the distaesed branch to the man. "I'm Lardon."

[Cerbere]

"Yes, I heard you talking about it," Caelwyn replied. He shook Lardon's hand. "I would like to join you, but I won't be much of a help, unless I get my hand healed."

Caelwyn looked at the forest. It was different than any he'd ever been in, and he'd lived in forests his whole life. There was something about it that put him on edge. The trees were diseased, but there was something more than that. He wanted to get out of here as soon as possible.

"We'd better get going like you said," he told Gregor.

[Draugwen]

Sarabian looked at the newcomer critically. A young-looking, fair-haired and fair-skinned man, but he too looked much more used to being out and about than he did... which wasn't hard, truth being told. But he didn't seem hostile, which was, currently, the most important thing.

"Let's put it that way. If you got here the same way we did you won't have much of a choice but to join us, help or no help" he noted dryly. "So... welcome to the group. I'm Sarabian." He picked up a small twig beside the path that they were planning to take, and it fell apart when he pressed thumb and fingers together on it. That wouldn't do. "If your hand is really broken, we should splint it to keep it stable" he then said to the man that had introduced himself as Caelwyn. How to do that he could probably figure out.

"But... he lifted the rest of the twig between his fingers. "I don't think we can find much here to do that with... since everything falls apart on touch. If we can't do anything for you, I'm sure we'll find someone who can when we reach a village." With that he decided that there had been enough talk. They had all agreed to leave, so what should they be waiting for? He wanted to get out of here, so he carefully started to walk north along the small path, looking where he placed his bootless feet, expecting the others to follow behind.

[Dentarthurdent]

Gregor absolutely had not expected that. An elvish-looking man - or was he really an elf? - seemed to appear out of nowhere suddenly, and told them he had been transferred to that place, too and had hidden in the forest. He eyed him suspiciously.
However, the other two had directly invited him to their little group, so he seemed to be alone with this opinion.

"My name is Gregor. I am sure you've had enough evidence that we are not hostile, and it muses me that you did not reveal yourself earlier.

But anyway, I think we've settled on leaving this mirky forest, so let us go. After you," he said to Caelwyn.

/How strange will this adventure yet become? It has started off strange enough... I'll have an eye on this elf.../

[Cerbere]

Lardon seemed nice enough, and Sarabian harmless, but there was something about Gregor that made Caelwyn uneasy. He said he was a witch hunter, Caelwyn had very little magic so, he should be okay. Like Gregor had said he was not hostile, but how much would it take to turn him hostile?

Caelwyn decided not to reply, silence had suited him well in the past. He turned and started up the path. His hand was throbbing, but like Sarabian had said the wood simply wouldn't work for a splint. /Maybe the villagers have some wood from before the trees became like this./ he thought hopefully.

[the blue magian]

Lardon looked at Gregor and felt a tension from his side. He could understand the man. Lardon thought it was suspicious that an elf showed up out of the forest, but decided not to show anything and to give the man a chance. Agreeing with Sarabian he started to walk behind the elf and Gregor, closing the lines of the group. It also allowed him to hide his hand. He knew that his magic was disturbed, and he didn't know how long he could stay in his human form. /When I get the chance to slip away for a night I might change and try to fix the transformation by changing back myself and just come back to them in the morning as a human again./

A snapping sound drew his attention. As he looked back over his shoulder he could see a shadow following them. He blinked a couple of times to make sure that he saw it correctly. Looking towards the egde of the forest again he could hear another snapping of branches to his side.

For some reason the sadows he saw weren't getting any closer and just following them. His senses were working on overdrive. He knew that something was wrong about them, but he could not ut his fingers on it.He gave one of the shadows a glance and tried to sent his thought to it. It didnt seem to respond to it. He looked at the others, hoping that they had heard it too.

[Draugwen]

Finally they had got to start walking. Having no proper shoes wasn't as bad as he had expected, mostly since every twig or the like that he stepped on crumbled to dust immediately. He wasn't too happy about it though - he'd much prefer a healthy forest to this one.

He was a bit nervous about the surroundings already - and wary of his fellow travellers, to a healthy degree - but it wasn't long until he thought that he had heard something move in the otherwise so eerily silent forest. Had he just imagined it? No, certainly not.. wasn't it there again, though very softly? Looking around, couldn't he see something move?

He looked back at the men walking behind him. "Am I seeing ghosts already, or does anyone else think that we have company?" he asked quietly, not slowing his pace. If there really was something, the three of them should have noticed it already. They were trained for that kind of thing, weren't they?

[Cerbere]

"I heard something too," Caelwyn responded softly, as he reached for his short sword. There was surely something back there, even if he could not see it. In his own world, there were some magicians who were able to make themselves invisible, but they were rare. He wondered if this world was the same as his. "Show yourself," he called out to the seemingly deserted forest. No reply came. Oh well," he told the others. "Let's just get out of this forest"

He heard the noise again, a quiet rustling. He looked back, but there was nothing, this was magic for sure. /Maybe he has a reason for not revealing himself,/ Caelwyn thought. /If he is anything like where I come from, he will be a hideous creature, barely human/ Caelwyn thought of a childhood friend he had who used magic quite a bit as a kid. Back then, Caelwyn was jealous, he never could cast anything but simple spells. Later when Caelwyn had saw him, he was so twisted Caelwyn didn't reconize him.Caelwyn tried to keep his mind off dark thoughts, though.

They walked for what Caelwyn guessed to be about 20 minutes. then they came upon a farm. Like Gregor had said it was in pretty bad condition. It looked like the wood had rotted, just like the trees. The boards were falling apart right off the house. The only reason the house was still standing was it had some stone supports, which seemed to be doing fine. Caelwyn glanced at the others, who were examining the farm. "Let's go in," he said.

[Dentarthurdent]

/Strange schemes following... this forest gives me the creeps. I hope we'll soon be out of it/

He heard the Elf call out to them.

"I'd rather not disturb too much here. This forest is creepy, we'd better get out of it as fast as possible, and the less we disurb in here, the better."

He had barely finished when he saw a light ahead. The strange shapes didn't come nearer and seemed to be no direct thread. Yet he was cautious, and was ready to use a defensive spell if need would be.

But it did not seem so, light appeared ahead. The forest was coming to an end.
When they emerged, they saw one of the farm houses before them. It was abandoned and lay in ruins.

/Strange that anyone, especially a farmer, should live so near to this forest. It can't have always been that dreary./

Caelwyn proposed to go into it. This puzzled Gregor.

"Why should we do that? It's obviously abandoned, we won't find anything there. I think it would be better if we got on, so that we can get to the town as quickly as possible.
Look, there is a path thre. This may lead to a town, and for sure it's better to Sarabian's shoes than this track in the forest."

[the blue magian]

The shadows didn't appear to follow them out of the forest but something aboute them didn't add up. Caelwyn called out when he saw the farm. The wood of the farm looked effected in the same way the trees were. "I agree with Gregor, besides if the wood is the same as the trees then it might collapse ontop of you."

He said he saw the trail that Gregor mentioned. He nodded to the remark of Sarabians shoes. "Didnt you said that the village was in the North?" He asked Gregor. He gave a quick look to his hand. There was more of his skin turning back. /I don't know how long I can stay this way./

He looked at the others. /Would they see it?/ He wanderd. He knew that if he could not stop this they would eventualy find out. He covered the place with the sleef of his shirt. He started walking down the trail to get some distance between him and the others so he could try to find out what is happening with his skin.

[Draugwen]

Sarabian left the forest with a certain relief. The air was fresher out here, smelled better and invited to take a deep breath, after the gloomy, heavy atmosphere of the forest. Still... it wasn't quite right somehow, not even out here. Maybe it was just that the air was different from where he came from, he told himself. Maybe though... maybe it was just a little wrong.

The deserted farmstead looked close to collapse, and he avoided stepping too close to it. It didn't seem to reveal much that was interesting anyway, not at the first and not at the second or third glance. He looked along the path Gregor had mentioned instead, and just gave a curt nod. He was indeed having quite a bit of trouble with his shoes, or rather lack thereof, and was happy to walk an easier trail. He'd had a hard time keeping up already, as it was close to walking barefoot and that was quite unpleasant to someone not used to it.

He left Gregor and Caelwyn to themselves and quickened his steps a bit to catch up with Lardon, who had walked ahead already, to catch him for a word while the others weren't listening. There were two things he had noticed that he would like to have a word about with him. Having reached him, he slowed down to fall in step beside the yellow-eyed man and looked up at him - he had to, since the other was almost a head taller than he was.

"What was it you took from the man that brought us here? he asked directly. It was, after all, possibly something that could be useful for all of them. It wouldn't be very... polite to just keep it. He gave a brief smirk. In a group like theirs, a certain measure of politeness was essential. A certain directness was too, though.
"And what is wrong with your hand?" He had seen the way Lardon had often glanced at it, and pulled his sleeves over it with obvious nervosity. Sarabian's words were spoken rather softly, but with a casual tone of voice. It didn't urge the other to answer, but in some way implied that any reaction would be an answer in itself.

[Balaak]

/Shit,/ Thought Aethilfrith as a rock rolled noisily away from under his foot. They had nearly seen him twice now, and all of that ale certainly hadn't helped. That would be a lot of coin to lose over something so small.

Come to think of it, he did not even know why he was keeping so quiet. The man just said to find out where they were going, not anything about how to do it. He noticed that one of the men had a badly wounded hand. The little good and kindness in his soul got the best of him. /I suppose it wouldn't kill me to do something for somebody else without being paid/ he thought. He was unsure though. He had never tried it before. /Ah, what the hell./ He let out a short whistle. "Over here." he said. After a moment of silence he added, "I ain't gonna bite ya or anything."

[Cerbere]

Caelwyn cautiously stepped forth. The elf was decorated with interesting tattoos, the likes of which Caelwyn had never seen before. He wore jewelry that Caelwyn had only seen kings wear in his world. /Or was he an elf?/ Caelwyn thought. He had obvious elf features, but was looked remarkably like a human.

"I am Caelwyn," he said. He figured if he wanted to have killed them, he would have already; he had a large ash bow on his back and a short sword by his side. "What do you wish to do with us?"

[Balaak]

"Where are yeh headed?" asked Aethilfrith. "Most of the folk in these parts don't take too kindly to newcomers. Probably be best if you had someone who knew the area."

Aethilfrith started to nervously shift his weight from one foot to the other. The huge creature was like nothing he had ever seen before. /Maybe this wasn't such a good Idea.../ His hand slid to the hilt of his sword and he began to back away. One of the men had a very unnatural look about him. His hair was almost a red colour and his eyes were yellow like those of a snake. At this point he was very anxious./I'm gonna fucking get myself killed. Load of bloody lunatics by the looks of them./

"Err... Right then. Suppose I'll let you folks alone and be on my way then. I take it you don't like newcomers too much either..." He turned and began to head off parallel to the forest.

[the blue magian]

Lardon looked to his side when Sarabian walked up next to him and looked at him. "What it was? Just a pouch with some money I guess" he replied. At the question of his hand he fell silent. "There is nothing wrong with my hand." he said. /Which is true in a way.\ He slowed his pace and eventually stopped. He turned around to see if the others were following too.

He looked to the edge of the forest and saw a guy appearing from it. In looks he reminded Lardon of the other guy they met in the forest. "Who is he?" he asked softly to nobody in particular and looked the man straith in the eyes only to realize that he didn't have his hat on and quickly looked away again. "We are heading for a village close to the river to get your kinsman healed." he said out loud in reply to the question of the man, thinking that the two men were related.

Something was bothering Lardon about the man and forgot that his sleeve was slipping back over his hand. After a short silence he looked again at the man after he had announced that he would be leaving. He looked at the others. "He does have a point in having someone around from here. Maybe he could tell us why we are here."

[Dentarthurdent]

The sudden appearance of another strange figure prevented Gregor from taking notice of the private communication Sarabian had with Lardon. After some small talk with the other Elvish newcomer, the tattooed elf backed away. He had seen Formicar, who had been circling above them and just came into sight again.
Gregor whistled, and the Kreelix went down to land beside his master.

"Yes, I agree.", he said to Lardon, then turned his attention to the newcomer.

"Do not worry about my good Formicar here, he won't harm you unless you give him a reason for it. And a guide who knows the area might indeed come in handy. My name is Gregor, and I don't know these parts.
Say, what has befallen these woods... and these lands?"

/So we were followed after all.. I wonder how long he watched us, and how he could stay in that gloomy forest for so long. But we need to know more about this strange world we've come to, so we'd better keep him with us./

[Draugwen]

Sarabian was a bit too occupied with the private conversation to notice the newcomer at first. He gave Lardon a slightly sceptical look at his reply. "And you didn't even bother to check?" This was, even though he didn't say it directly, a suggestion to just do exactly that at some point rather soon. Nothing wrong with the hand indeed? He smirked for a moment. "You shouldn't bother to hide it all that obviously then" he suggested with a certain measure of irony. He was going to find out what it was about at some point.

Lardon's turning back towards the rest of the group made him do the same, and he also laid eyes on the newcomer, who seemed rather strange to him. And rather nervous about the group he had just encountered. Looking around at his companions, Sarabian couldn't really blame him. He studied him with interest, but said nothing, since everything worthy of mention had been said already. Instead, he cast a glance towards Lardon, when a stray thought trailed back to the talk they had just had. His sleeve had slipped back and the skin of his hand was visible... except that it wasn't really skin. It had a reddish-brown tone to it and seemed to consist of... scales? What on earth was he? Sarabian quickly moved his gaze away and back to the newcomers. The others would find out in their own time. He, meanwhile, would have to get back to that talk with Lardon at some point.

He turned his attention back to the newcomer. He appeared slightly elven, and not really menacing. He might be useful as a guide... but Sarabian would be keeping an eye on him anyways, inconspiciously. He certainly wouldn't be the only one.

[Balaak]

"Alright then... Gregor. My name is Aethilfrith. This land is a strange place. Not too sure what's going on. Seems that the whole place is dying though. To answer your question about the woods though, they are haunted. That's what the humans say anyways. The elves say that it is the spirits of the wind and trees, gone evil with time. As the trees rot and die, hatred is released in a shapeless form. Many a traveler has been lost or found mutilated in these woods."

"So, what are your names?"

[the blue magian]

"My name is Lardon. and this is Sarabian" Lardon said to the question of the elf. He looked at him. /Something was not right about him. On the other hand this world wasn't right either.\ he thought. He noticed that Sarabian was looking at him and then quickly turn his eyes away again. As he looked down he could see that his hand was visible again, and quickly hid it once more. "I suggest that we get a move on before Caelwyn's hand gets infected." he said. He wanted to get moving and find a place were he might be alone so he could change back. On the other hand he didn't wanted to lose the newcomer out of his sight.

[Cerbere]

"Is there some sort of settlement nearby?" Caelwyn asked Aethilfrith "My hand is really hurting. And, do you know any healers? I'd rather not let this heal on its own."

Caelwyn was anxious to get moving, all these delays were very frustrating. This is why he liked to travel on his own. He also hated not knowing what was going on. Hopefully this elf (or human?) could help them.

"Yes, let's get moving" he told Lardon.

[jophelerks]

"Settlements?" Aethilfrith said in response to Caelwyn's question. "Oh, well, of course there's settlements. There's one only a couple hours' walk from here where yeh might be able ta spend the night, but if it's a healer ya need, the closest one I know of meself is about a day and a half north of here, that is if we kin get ourselves some steeds on the way."
/Heh,/ he thought. /Healer indeed. I hope they buy into it so I kin get my payoff and get away from these strange people./
It wasn't that they were a bad group, really, it was just that he was still a little uneasy about Gregor's friend, whatever it was, and that snake-eyed man, Lardon. The others he didn't mind so much, but all the same he'd rather be alone again as soon as possible.
"So," he said, "Should we get movin', then?"